Is it true that Britain purposely abandoned Greece in May 1941 so that Hitler would not cancel his planned attack on Russia ?

Question

In April 1941 Germany attacked Greece to help its ally Italy. Britain was supporting the Greeks.. however the British intelligence were fully aware that Hitler intended to launch a massive attack on Russia in June 1941 this would have meant that a long bloody war would take place between Germany and Soviet Russia and thus both would be greatly weakened... this is why Britain chose to abandon its help to Greece and pull out so that Hitler would not have cancelled its planned attack..

Answer 1

churchill wanted to win WW2 and he chose the Battles worth Fighting and we won

Answer 2

Not on purpose.

Answer 3

Interesting theory but I think Britain was struggling with too many war fronts in 1941 and could not send a big enough army to defeat the Germans. I think at the time the Italians were holding Greece and the British believed they would be up against inferior forces as they had been in North Africa but did not expect to have to fight the Germans who were the world's strongest military at the time. Remember Britain was basically fighting the Germans and the Italians on their own at the time and had lost most of their military equipment in Dunkirk so militarily were not a strong army at the time.

Britain needed to keep the Mediterranean countries from becoming too strongly held by the Axis powers as Britain needed to keep control of the area as losing control of the Mediterranean meant possible loss of British access to Middle Eastern oil she desperately needed to stay in the war as well as loss of control of the Suez Canal which comes out in the Mediterranean Sea and losing this sea way would have virtually cut Britain off from badly needed supplies coming in from Australia, New Zealand, Malaya and India. It would mean ships took 3 or 4 times as long to do the trips around Africa and so a lot less supplies could be delivered.

Likely the British were very lucky that Malta which was a British outpost in the Mediterranean had been able to fend off an Italian and German invasion attempt after Britain itself had decided Malta could not be saved and accepted Malta would be lost. Seeing Malta being able to keep fighting gave the British the impetus to try and send in reinforcements and Malta never fell to the Axis powers so Britain still held the power in the Mediterranean and kept the Axis forces from blocking British supplies or oil.

What helped most was the British control of Gibraltar with its heavy guns and fortifications that kept the German ships out of the Mediterranean and stopped the Italian fleet from getting out into the Atlantic. The British tried to raid the Italian naval base at Taranto with limited effect using planes with torpedoes and bombs. The Italian Navy realised it would be dangerous to take on the British Navy as they could not replace destroyed battleships whereas the British could.

Answer 4

Nope. Once the German offensive began from Bulgaria, it made the Greek Campaign a 2-front war. The British, Australian and New Zealand forces were overwhelmed and had no choice but to retreat and evacuate. They couldn't have held out long enough to alter Hitler's plan.

Answer 5

Not to my knowledge,

Answer 6

Under no circumstances could Britain have held onto Greece. The place wasn't worth the casualties.

Answer 7

You have to appreciate that the British Expeditionary Force had dumped most of its equipment on the beaches of Dunkirk the year before. It was ill-prepared but Churchill was keen to recreate a Balkan Front as soon as practicable bringing in Commonwealth forces to help. They fought on for a long as possible but in the end the Greek Commander-in-Chief wanted the British to withdraw as being the best strategy to protect the country from destruction.

Answer 8

No

Answer 9

No it's complete and utter rubbish.

Answer 10

Britain fought valiantly in Greece and Crete and withdrew only after heavy casualties. Further, there was no intelligence of the planned attack on Russia.



This MA in history has read extensive memoirs and source documents from all sides of this struggle and never seen anything to indicate that Britain was motivated by anything but miltary necessity in its attempt to aid Greece. Loss of that atrategic position was a dangerous threat to Egypt, and the British were highly motivated to win there.



So what is your source?

Answer 11

Greece was abandoned because the Brits were getting their tails kicked by the Wehrmacht.

Answer 12

Purposely - no. They were beaten in Greece, as on the mainland. Churchill was so keen on doing something to the Germans that he would launch operations without thinking them thru. Trying to do operations on a shoe-string and limited resources were his specialty.



Great inspirational & political leader, but his military strategic & tactical skills were wanting.

Answer 13

No, Britain was defeated in Greece so they didn't really have a choice in the matter. Many British generals spoke out against the operation to defend Greece because they did not think that it was feasible under the circumstances and it would divert precious resources away from areas that had a much higher chance of success and strategic importance.

Answer 14

Er...not true....Instead in reality Britain saw an opening to hit the Germans 'in the flank', using Greece as a springboard to hit the Germans from the south as they warred east against Russia.