Analysis at the operational level the the presecution of the Allies' Essay

Analysis at the operational level the the presecution of the consort defence of Crete in 1941 and divulge the enduring lessons - Essay ExampleMoreover, the leadership, going into the battle already defeated, did not bother to put in concert a coherent strategy for battle, but, rather, seemed to prove it up as they went along. These are all reasons for the defeat, and lessons that were learned. Nevertheless, as the Allies did delay Hitlers forces for a few weeks, which, in turn, delayed Hitlers invasion of the Soviet Union, which was the spell point of the war, one could say that the battle of Crete set into motion a chain of events that led to Hitlers destruction. This paper will examine the reasons why Crete was fought? and how the British tried to defend it? coupled with an analysis of the mistakes make and an analysis of why the battle might not have been so bad after all, as it delayed Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the Soviet Union. Why Germany Wanted Crete and How G ermany Got Involved in Greece The Battle for Crete had its grow in a demand by Benito Mussolini, Italys fascist dictator, to Greece to allow an Italian occupation of Greece in October of 1940. When the premier of Greece, John Metaxas, defied this request, the Italians began the invasion of Greece (Woodhouse, 1976, p. 16), a move that would prove to be a disaster for Mussolini (Heckstall-Smith, A. & Baillie-Grohman, H.T., 1961, p. 15), and would make Mussolini a laughingstock in Greece (Hart, 1996, p. 87). This move by Mussolini was precipitated by Germany sending soldiers into the Ploesti oilfields, which enraged Mussolini enough for him to assemble this invasion (Mazower, 1993, p. 15). The reason that the German action of sending soldiers to Greece so piqued Mussolini was because Mussolini was jealous of Hitler, and felt that he stood in Hitlers shadow while Hitler rampaged Europe. While Hitler added Austria, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium, Hung ary, France, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria and Romania to the Third Reich, Mussolini fantasized about adding the Mediterranean to the Italian column, while Hitler insulted him by not allowing him access to the fruits of victory. The final insult was Hitlers occupation of Romania, a move that was done crapper Mussolinis back (Kiriakopoulos, 1995, p. xv). This insult to Mussolini was what initially caused the Italian dictator to invade Greece in 1940, as Mussolini say that, about Hitler invading Rumania without consulting him that he shall pay Hitler back with his own coin he shall learn from the newspapers that I have occupied Greece. Thus equilibrium would be restored (Cervi, 1971, p. 60). However, this move was unsuccessful, as Mussolinis troops were defeated and pushed back into Albania (Mazower, 1993, p. 15). Hitler was incensed by the Italians failure (Van Creveld, 1973, p. 57), regarding it as definitely a regrettable blunder (Hinsley, 1951, p. 102), however, as Hitler could not allow his ally to be totally defeated, he had to launch his own invasion of Greece, which began April 6, 1941 (Kiriakopoulos, 1995, p. xvi). Greece was in like manner important to Germany, as it was seen as a prelude to the Russian campaign (Von der Porten, 1969, p. 109). This campaign proved to be successful (von Mellenthin, 1977, p. 228), as the Middle East,