THE BOOKS OF PETER C. SMITH

WAR IN THE AEGEAN. (With Edwin R. Walker)

1) H/B 1974. (ISBN 07183 0422 5), 2) New US P/B Edition, Stackpole Books, Mechanicsburg, PA, due 30 August 2008.

The first full and still most detailed account in English of this bitter campaign, fought in the autumn of 1943 which saw the last German victory of the war. With the surrender of Italy the islands of the eastern Mediterranean were of vital strategic importance viz-a-viz the Allies, the Axis and neutral Turkey. Although Churchill recognised this, the Americans did not and refused to help. Thus once more the British went into battle against the Stuka dive bombers and crack parachutists of the German Luftwaffe and suffered a heavy defeat despite some spectacular sea and land battles. A detailed account of the background, the campaign and the lessons.

Profusely illustrated with many rare photographs, and with detailed Maps, the authors for the first time drew upon German, Italian and Greek records as well as unculled data from British sources. The extent that Churchill's over-optimistic ambitions and American's stubborn refusal to face facts both impacted on the outcome of this debacle is examined, and the oft-quoted "fact" that the German paratroops were never employed in airborne operations after Crete in 1941 is shown up for the nonsense that it is. The Junkers Ju.87 Stuka proved to be the main battle winner yet again, three years after being written off by the RAF, and failure of that service to offer meaningful air cover two-and-a-half years after Crete resulted in the same heavy losses to air attack by the Royal Navy, and the fall of the strategically vital islands to German forces. A detailed and moving examination of this neglected campaign with lessons still pertinent to British defence policy today.