The Greek campaign started to impact Compass in January 1941

The desert offensive was impacted by the vain effort to aid Greece. The Middle East lost three RAF squadrons. Alexandria lost its Hurricane squadron while the Western Desert lost one Blenheim and one Gladiator squadron. If the British only had the Italians to deal with, it was not a great loss. The problem was that the German Luftwaffe was gathering in Sicily to take control of the Central Mediterranean Sea. They were to make life very difficult for Malta, the Royal Navy, and even the army in the desert.