WI British decide to make last stand in Peloponese instead of Crete in 1941?

By late April 1941 following the collapse and capitualtion of Greek Army about 42000 soldiers were gathered in south Peloponese in Kalamata ready to leave for Crete...
Germans had repaired hastily the damaged bridge in the Corinth canal and transported the 5th Panzer Division quickly to Peloponese while 1st Motorised Infantry Regiment crossed Patraic Gulf and landed on Patras intending to attack British flank through Pyrgos in Kalamata...
In OTL remnants of Greek Army along with few NZ and British regiments delayed the Germans long enough till all soldiers were evacuated to Crete...
WI British decided to throw the bulk of their forces against the incoming Germans? Peloponese is a very mountainus (sic) area so motorised and Panzer units would have been useless... The only place that Germans could move panzers would have been the road from Patras to Pyrgos but its near sea and they would be vulnerable to fire from the Navy...
Could British with Cunningham's help pinned the Germans there and cause them heavy casualties? An airborne attack would be risky for Germans too since British could launch airplanes from Crete... Is this plausible? Any thoughts?
 
The answer lies in the number of divisions/wings the Brits deployed to Greece compared to the Germans. The Brits could not deploy and in the event did not deploy enough forces to make a permanent stand on the mainland of Europe. That said there is something to be said for divisional or corps engagements during the Greek campaign, becuase as I understand it the Commonwealth forces didn't fight an engagement with larger than brigade size units. Such an engagement/s may slow the German advance and buy that most precious of wartime commodities, time. This might see a better evauation and defence of Crete, which reverses the deployment situations in favour of the Commonwealth.
 
The answer lies in the number of divisions/wings the Brits deployed to Greece compared to the Germans. The Brits could not deploy and in the event did not deploy enough forces to make a permanent stand on the mainland of Europe. That said there is something to be said for divisional or corps engagements during the Greek campaign, becuase as I understand it the Commonwealth forces didn't fight an engagement with larger than brigade size units. Such an engagement/s may slow the German advance and buy that most precious of wartime commodities, time. This might see a better evauation and defence of Crete, which reverses the deployment situations in favour of the Commonwealth.

If the Royal Navy pinned German 1st Motorised Infantry with heavy fire in the coastal road between Patra and Pyrgos the 5th Panzer division had to come through the mountains in central Peloponese and it would be an easy target for RAF airplanes launching from Crete...
 
If the Royal Navy pinned German 1st Motorised Infantry with heavy fire in the coastal road between Patra and Pyrgos the 5th Panzer division had to come through the mountains in central Peloponese and it would be an easy target for RAF airplanes launching from Crete...
Which in turn would have been easy targets for Luftwaffe fighters operating out of captured airfields in Greece.

Making a stand in Peloponese would have been pure suicide.

In the Operation Compass succeeds ATL, the British and Greeks made a small stand in the Isthmus, delaying the German advance and allowing a lot more troops to be shipped to Crete. That in my opinion would have been the best option for the British and Greeks.
Abandon continental Greece, delay the Germans as long as possible in places like the Corinth Isthmus or Tembi and then ship as many troops as possible with as many equipment as possible to Crete.
Then make the Germans bleed hard as they try to take Crete.
Beat them there and use Crete to retake the Aegean islands and capture the Dodecanese.
After this use Crete for bombing Romanian oilfields and conducting partisan support missions in Greece and Yugoslavia.
Use the islands (for example Santorin) as radar pickets.
 

Markus

Banned
In OTL remnants of Greek Army along with few NZ and British regiments delayed the Germans long enough till all soldiers were evacuated to Crete...

Almost all fo the combat troops escaped, but many service troops were taken prisoner.


WI British decided to throw the bulk of their forces against the incoming Germans?
What forces? They were already beaten and they knew it, thus the decision to get the hell out of Dodge.


The only place that Germans could move panzers would have been the road from Patras to Pyrgos but its near sea and they would be vulnerable to fire from the Navy...
Could British with Cunningham's help pinned the Germans there and cause them heavy casualties?
Three words: German air superiority.
 
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