Osprey Men-at-Arms 316 : The German Army (2) 1939-1945 : North Africa and Balkans

The Franco-German armistice of 25 June 1940 made Germany master of Western Europe. Hitler first considered an invasion of Great Britain in autumn 1940, then scheduled Operation Barbarossa, the conquest of the European part of the Soviet Union, for May 1941. Anxious to emulate Hitler's successes, the Italian dictator Mussolini embarked upon unnecessary military adventures in North Africa and the Balkans, which forced Hitler's intervention, diverting and depleting precious German resources, and a six-week postponement of Barbarossa. This contributed to German defeat on the Eastern Front and Germany's collapse in May 1945. On 31 July 1940 Hitler began to prepare for Barbarossa. Now the combat area dictated the quality of army divisions that were used: those in North Africa were generally makeshift units, reflecting the low priority of that theatre; the forces committed to Operation Marita - the invasion of Yugoslavia and Greece - were font-line divisions earmarked for Barbarossa. They were replaced by second-line units with limited mobility and combat potential, first-line units making limited appearances in the Balkans until August 1943 and the arrival of the formidable 2 Panzer Army. In this second of four books [Men-at-Arms 311, 316, 326 & 330] on the German Army of the Second World War, Nigel Thomas examines the uniforms and insignia of the forces involved in North Africa and the Balkans in a text populated with plenty of contemporary photographs, plus eight full page colour plates by Stephen Andrew.

Contents

• The Context of the North African and Balkan Campaigns
• Foreign Volunteers
• The Strategy in North Africa
• Army Uniform in North Africa
• Orders of Dress
• Uniforms and Insignia of Foreign Volunteers
• The Strategy in the Balkans
• Army Uniform in the Balkans
• Other Insignia
• The Plates