Balkan Bankruptcy

Battle of Germany (South)

At night Junkers transport planes towing gliders passed like flocks of wild geese over the hills of Yugoslavia. They were rescuing valued German personnel from Greece. The Germans were trying to save their last assets in the Balkans.

There were still an estimated five Nazi divisions in Greece, and the Nazis needed them. A British force of baby carriers and warships was blockading Crete. Allied planes bombed Salonika, port of entry for German refugees from the south, port of exit to the north. The Allied Italy-based Balkan Air Force helped Greek guerrillas, who claimed to have won most of the Peloponnesus and were even reported marching on Athens.

With the railroads bombed out, German units struggling northward had to rely on difficult mountain roads under constant guerrilla attack. German columns often zigzagged, swung now right, now left, were sometimes forced to retrace their steps to try another escape route. Others tried to filter northward in guerrilla fashion, through forests at night, occasionally donning civilian clothes.

The Germans were so intent on saving these troops that they risked five more divisions in Yugoslavia to try to keep the road of escape open. But even the Germans in northern Serbia were in danger. At any time the Russians in Bulgaria might march in to seal off their retreat.

Already Russian troops in Slovakia were descending from the north on Hungary. Another Russian army crossed the prewar frontier to enter the Hungarian plain from the southeast. The Nazis needed their savings from Greece to try to save Hungary.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.