A new Osprey on a Balkan theme is a no-brainer for me. This is a rare, little-explored corner of the Second World War, as well, by Phoebus Atanassiou.
A brief introduction sets the scene following the Greek campaign and the occupation of Greece by German, Italian and Bulgarian troops. Germany's primary interest was less about Greece itself, but instead defending the Romanian oilfields from the Allied bombing. The Axis Powers divided Greece into three occupation zones. Germany controlled the most strategically important areas; Bulgaria occupied (and annexed) eastern Macedonia, western Thrace and the islands of Thassos and Samothraki; and Italy took over the remainder of the Greek mainland, eastern Crete (Lasithi prefecture), and the south Aegean Sea and Ionian Sea islands.
Despite the best efforts of the Allies, there wasn't a unified resistance in Greece. Two broad coalitions dominated partisan warfare in Greece. ELAS was the military arm of EAM, a KKE-dominated loose coalition of pre-war left-wing political parties, all but uprooted in by the repressive regime of Ioannis Metaxas. It moved to the left during the war, dominated by the Communist Party. On the right stood EDES (later renamed EOEA), the brainchild of a group of Athens-based Republican-minded political and military figures. It moved away from liberal politics and became pro-monarchist. Britain supported the monarchist government in exile, but recognised that ELAS was the most effective force on the ground. Both sides fought each other as well as the Axis.
The author describes how both groups were organised. They were much closer to the Yugoslav model than resistance groups in France, with military structures and permanent units. Weapons and uniforms were sourced from the former Greek army stocks, supplemented by Allied air drops, and whatever could be captured from Axis depots. The Italian surrender in 1943 was very helpful in this regard. However, ammunition was always limited. An interesting development was ELAS's small naval fleet, which makes Cruel Seas scenarios possible. Overall, ELAS had around 67,000 men under arms. EDES was much smaller, growing to around 5,000 by the summer of 1943, and 12,000 in 1944. EDES had an effective truce with the Germans in 1943-44. The Allied military mission in Greece fielded no more than 400 men.
The occupation forces are also covered. The success of Allied diversionary operations meant that larger German forces were kept in Greece than needed - 100,000 in 1944. However, other than a core of veterans, they were typically second-line units. The ORBAT is dominated by fortress and jager units, without the usual heavy weapons. The Italian forces were generally poor, and suffered from low morale. Bulgaria annexed their occupation region and enforced the Bulgarisation of the population. Unlike the Italians they actively deported the Jewish population. Bulgaria deployed around 70,000 troops, mostly reservists. The Greek puppet government was allowed to recruit collaborationist units, and nine security battalions were organised by the end of the war.
As you would expect from this series, there are lots of period photographs and colour plates of the main troop types. A very useful addition to the series and plenty of scope for small scale skirmishes on the table-top as well as larger scale anti-partisan sweeps.
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| Some of my 28mm Bulgarian troops. |
