Hitler's Strategy 1940 1941: The Balkan Clue
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Book Overview
Did Mussolini invade Greece against Hitler's wishes? Were Fuhrer's plans for that country purely defensive? How did the German campaign in the Balkans affect their attack on Soviet Russia? These are a few of the questions to which Dr van Crevland provides provocative answers. Using Hitler's attitude to Greece and Yugoslavia as a vital clue, this book puts forward a novel interpretation of Germany's overall strategy in the years 1940-1. Rejecting 'traditional views', the author suggests that Hitler was in fact greatly interested in the Mediterranean and the possibilities it offered for conducting 'peripheral' warfare against Great Britain, that he authorized, or at least tolerated in silence, Mussolini's attack on Greece; that, after about 30 November 1940, he repeatedly made peaceful overtures to Greece but that these were rejected by Athens because of British Pressure; that Rumanians, Bulgarians and Yugoslavs put serious obstacles in the way of the planned German invasion of Greece; that military planning for that campaign was vague about its objectives until the last moment; that the Yugoslav coup d' tat of 27 March 1941 and the subsequent German invasion did not cause any delay to the German attack on the USSR.
Format:Paperback
Language:English
ISBN:0521089662
ISBN13:9780521089661
Release Date:November 2008
Publisher:Cambridge University Press
Length:264 Pages
Weight:0.75 lbs.
Dimensions:0.6" x 5.5" x 8.5"
Customer Reviews
1 rating
A treasure for the specialists
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 18 years ago
This is certainly not a book for beginners in World War II history, but rather an academic study of the military and diplomatic preparations of Hitler's Germany, before the Balkans campaign of 1941. The author goes in great depth analysing the strategic situation in Europe in the end of 1940 and details the complex diplomatic maneuvers that Hitler made in order to finish the war against Britain in the Mediterannean and also to set the stage for the great invasion of the Soviet Union. There is also a wealth of information for the military interested readers, especially for those who want to discover the art of finely orchestrated moves of the German divisions, as they were deployed to the East and took positions for the attack against Greece and Yugoslavia, passing through countries with extremely poor road and rail networks (Romania and Bulgaria)and under foul weather. The facts I found in this book were of an amazing quality and quantity, and they are extremely useful to anyone who wants to study this subject deeper. Of course the book stops just before the actual operations start, but this doesn't diminish its importance. Very highly recommended!
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