World War 2
The Balkan Interlude
The Italian dictator Benito Mussolini, was left smarting at the success Hitler was having in the West, it prompted Mussolini into invading Albania and Greece in October 1940. However, his Italian Army was driven back into Albania by the Greeks, and had to be rescued by his German ally. Hitler also wanted to protect his southern flank before launching the long-planned invasion of the Soviet Union. When the pro-German Prince Paul of Yugoslavia was overthrown in a coup encouraged by the movement of 60'000 British troops to Greece, Hitler went on the offensive.
In Operation Punishment, which began on the 6th of April 1941, the Germans overran Yugoslavia in a matter of ten days. And, subsequntly the conquest of Greece took just over two weeks. It forced the British to evacuate 18'000 troops from Greece to the island of Crete. The little Greek island was captured by the German Army at the end of May, after an airborne invasion. Nine British Warships were sunk and seventeen seriously damaged in a second evacuation.
The German campaigns in Greece and Yugoslavia cost the German Army barely 5'000 casualties. In Yugoslavia the Germans took 345'000 prisoners. Greek losses amounted to 70'000 killed or wounded and 270'000 captured. The British sustained 12'000 casualties in the Greek campaign and lost all their heavy equipment, in the evacuation to the island of Crete. The German victory in Crete was gained at a cost of nearly 10'000 German casualties. Horrified at the losses, Hitler cancelled a proposed airborne assault of Malta.