II
Nazi war strategy
If Hitler had a grand strategy prior to the outbreak of general war, and this is still debatable, then the West’s reaction in declaring war on account of his invasion of Poland threw it into complete chaos. The counter-reaction from the Reich Chancellory was nothing if not quick and decisive. The Wehrmacht’sFall Gelb operation (Case Yellow) set in motion ablitzkrieg assault on the Low Countries and France that effectively knocked all of Nazi Germany’s opponents, except Great Britain, out of the War. Hitler could now focus on what he considered to be his true enemy, the behemoth of Soviet Russia. With the British unable to respond following the disaster of the battle for France and Dunkirk, Hitler was confident his rear was secure. Scandinavia was in his pocket and Finland was still smarting from its defeat by Stalin in the previous year’s Winter War and willing to side with Germany to secure its northern flank. The only piece of the jigsaw left was to ensure south-eastern Europe and the Balkans were on side and then Hitler could focus all of Germany’s might on kicking in the Soviet door.
Using a combination of carrot and stick Hitler and his Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop managed to win over the majority of states in that traditionally chaotic part of Europe. Despite being the bitterest of enemies, both Rumania and Hungary signed the Nazis’ Tripartite Pact (previously an agreement between Germany, Italy and Japan), and even King Boris’s Bulgaria agreed to cooperate, though interestingly not to turn its troops against its Soviet neighbour. Albania had been invaded by Mussolini’s Italy and effectively annexed several years previously. As for Greece, its diminutive dictator, General Ioannis Metaxas, was pro-Axis but he was also a fierce patriot and the failed Italian invasion of the previous winter necessitated German intervention. But as long as Yugoslavia could be brought into the fold then Greece would remain isolated until overwhelmed. This seemed entirely probable with Yugoslavia having been led from 1935 by the pro-Axis Serb Milan Stojadinovic and his Radical Union Party. Stojadinovic even referred to himself as theVodja (Serbo-Croat for Führer) and set up his own uniformed paramilitary stormtroopers, similar to the Nazi’s brownshirted SA, to bully opponents. However he had been replaced earlier in the year by Dragisa Cvetkovic who was not seen in such a favourable light by the Germans. Consequently, what passed for diplomacy in Nazi Germany swung into action and the usual mix of bluff and promises overwhelmed the Belgrade government, which duly signed up to the Pact on 25 March 1941.
All was now set to allow Hitler to begin his momentous invasion of Russia at the very start of the 1941 campaigning season and give his troops the best possible chance of defeating the Soviet Union before the onset of the horrendous Russian winter. With everything in place the entire apple cart was knocked over by the trademark unpredictability of the Balkans. Popular revulsion in Yugoslavia at the signing of the Tripartite Pact led to an uprising against the Regent led by the military High Command, and covertly supported by Great Britain, that saw the government overthrown and an anti-Germany administration swept into power just two days after the Pact was signed in Vienna. At the Chancellory Hitler flew into a towering rage and demanded retribution. Yug
