Table of Contents

Acknowledgements ... ix List of Maps and Figures ... xi Conventions ... xv Introduction ... 1 PART ONE: SETTING THE SCENE 1. Axis Ambitions in Europe and Greece 1933-1940 : 'Greece is assigned to the mercy of Italy' ... 17 2. The Italo-Greek War, the Powers and the Balkans : 'My friend Mussolini is a very sensitive gentleman' ... 35 3. Albania, the Bulgarian Frontier & Greek Defensive Schemes ... 71 4. The Die is Cast : German and British Planning in Early March 1941 ... 91 5. The Gathering Storm : Mid-March and Early April 1941 ... 115 PART TWO: THE DRAMA UNFOLDS 6. Opening Moves (6-7 April) ... 149 7. The Fall of Northeastern Greece (8-9 April) ... 179 8. New Battle Lines (10-12 April) ... 207 9. The Battle of Vevi (12-13 April) ... 237 10. Pressure on the Passes (14-15 April) ... 271 11. Allied Withdrawal Planning & Operations (15-16 April) ... 301 12. The Battle of Pinios Gorge (17-18 April) ... 329 13. Across the Plains of Thessaly (17-18 April) ... 359 14. The End in Epirus (19-21 April) ... 391 15. Brallos and the Thermopylae Pass (22-24 April) ... 425 16. Corinth and the Peloponnese (25-26 April) ... 457 17. The Final Evacuations (27-28 April) ... 485 PART THREE: EVALUATION 18. The Outcome Explained ... 513 19. Justifications, Vindications and Unnecessary Debates ... 543 20. Marita and Barbarossa ... 569 Epilogue ... 589 Bibliography ... 599

About the Author

Craig Stockings, PhD. (2006), is Associate Professor of History at the University of New South Wales, Canberra. He has published a number of monographs, edited works and articles on various aspects of Australian and international military history, including Bardia: Myth, Reality and the Heirs of Anzac (UNSW Press, 2009). Eleanor Hancock, PhD.(1989), is Associate Professor of History at the University of New South Wales, Canberra. She has published on various aspects of the history of Nazi Germany and World War II, including Ernst Roehm Hitler's SA Commander (Palgrave USA, 2008).