WI British held Dodecanese in 1943?

By 18 September 1943 with the help of Italians (who had switched sides 10 days before) and of Greek forces British had managed to secure the islands of Kos (which was very important since Kos had an airport), Kalymnos, Samos, Leros, Symi and Astypalaia while the key island of Rhodes was taken hastily by Germans in a surprise attack and a massacre of the Italians followed... Germans were caught slightly off guard but by early October they recaptured Kos and in mid-November Leros was reclaimed both of them with heavy German losses... By the end of November British were kicked out of the Aegean...
How possible it is that the British/Italian/Greek forces are able to hold Dodecanese and plan a potential invasion in Crete and Peloponese?
How is a potential British air and naval base there altering History? Any thoughts?
 
Air power, air power, air power. It was sheer lack of air power that prevented the British from holding there together with the puzzled Italians. The Stukas(!) which at that point of the war were little more than flying coffins decided the campaign .

For the operation to succeed all was need was one or two pursuit squadrons kindly leased by the Yankees. They, however, refused to do anything in the eastern Med, citing British "imperialist" objectives in that area. (Like the US were innocent of any imperialist temptation whatsoever, you could alredy in those days ask any Central American...)
 
Were one to be feeling only a little conspiratorial, one could say that the American policy in the Eastern Med was just part of the strategy to destroy the British Empire, so the US was quite happy to ensure that Britihs endeavours in the region came to nought.

The fact that such policies were massively short sighted is curiously not considered in much American scholarship.
 
British could withdraw to Kos and used the local airport as an air base for RAF planes from Cyprus in order to achieve air superiority in eastern Aegean...
 
British could withdraw to Kos and used the local airport as an air base for RAF planes from Cyprus in order to achieve air superiority in eastern Aegean...


That could prove to be very difficult to pull off indeed.
The Germans could have used the Luftwaffe to cut off the supplies to Kos. No fuel, means no aircraft flying. And a single airport can be easily overwhelmed by a concentrated Luftwaffe attack.

If the British wanted to seriously try a major Balcan campaign, then in my opinion they would have to capture all of the Dodecanense, Crete and perhaps Santorin as well.
This was however not an option in 1943, since the troops and material were needed in Italy and for the preparation of Overlord.
 
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