Invasion Balkans!

by George E. Blau

April 6, 1941, the mighty Wehrmacht invaded the Balkans. Hitler's generals believed they could quickly control that strategic land. With a surprise air attack on Belgrade and a Panzer assault on the borders designed to quickly capture key bridges, the Germans plunged into the Balkans. Twelve days later, on April 18, the Yugoslav army capitulated. But the Third Reich's true war for that land along Germany's routes east and south was only beginning. Invasion Balkans!, long out of print and in demand, is the official United States Army study of that lightning campaign. Based on German military studies and balanced with American and Allied documents, Invasion Balkans! is a concise study of the strategic forces that drove Adolf Hitler to order that invasion and its immediate consequences. Taking the reader through the air attacks and land battles that achieved such misleadingly fast but not decisive results, Invasion Balkans! shows how false optimism can easily arise in that violent land.