Wednesday, September 05, 2012

The ANZAC Corps had done well in Greece

The ANZAC Corps, consisting of Australian and New Zealand troops, had done well in Greece. They were outnumbered and were operating under air attack without protection. Still, they learned the craft of mountain troops, and performed well against experienced German mountain troops. By the time they had arrived in Greece, the ANZAC troops were well trained and experienced. While they assumed that the Germans were better equipped, in fact, they were at least comparable. The Germans were very happy to acquire discarded ANZAC and British equipment and arms. If anything, the difficult terrain aided the troops conducting a withdrawal and a series of rearguard actions. The defeat in Greece was not from any fault with the troops. Rather, it was a badly chosen operation, where there was an inadequate force deployed. They were badly commanded at the army level. From the corps and below, the command was above average. Churchill had put General Wilson and an inexperienced and inadequate staff in charge, and that only aggravated a bad situation. The British bias always dictated that a British officer should command. This is based on the account in Vol.II of the Australian Official History.

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