usertron2020
Donor
As to the idea of landing in Greece? Doing it with British forces in pursuit of retreating Germans is fine. But an opposed landing from the start? That would require US assistance. General George C. Marshall was dead set against a major Balkan campaign. During one of the US/UK summit/staff meetings Churchill was going on and on about "the soft underbelly". Marshall responded with a ferocious: "God forbid that I should try to dictate, but not one American is going to die on that (Greek) beach!"I wonder how holding Crete might have played out in the second half of the war. Churchill always had a weakness for ideas proposing to strike at the "soft underbelly of Europe". Operations in the Adriatic had been toyed with IIRC. Would these speculations lead to something in this timeline?
Also, what would be the results when it comes to the Greek Civil War? The British and Greek forces in Crete might pursue the Germans once they start withdrawing in '44. The West would after all have a stronger presence in the Balkans at the end of the war.