Beware of Greek ships bearing deadly gifts

melnibonian · 09-25-06, 05:33 AM

Actually Britain was making efforts since 1940 (during and after the German air campaign against them) to get Greece into the allied side. The Greek government refused almost all allied help in order not to give the Germans and the Italians any excuse for attack. After the Italian campaign of 1940-1941 (October 40-February 41) failed the Greek government was still trying not to provoke Germany by refusing to accept any British help. The shipments of allied military equipment started arriving in Greece a few weeks before April 1941 when all efforts to avoid the coming German attack had failed.

The destroyers and the new naval units that Wulfmann refers to where given to the so called ‘Cairo Government’ (the exile Greek government in Egypt) in 1942 after Greece has been occupied by the Germans.

As far as the naval war is concerned there where a number of Greek steamers and merchant ships that have been sunk by German U-Boats in 1939-1941 (before the Italian invasion) but most of them where part of allied convoys. The onslaught of the Greek merchant fleet by the U-Boats happened after the German occupation of the country.

09-25-06, 05:33 AM	#4
melnibonian Ocean Warrior Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Reading UK Posts: 3,473 Downloads: 90 Uploads: 0	Actually Britain was making efforts since 1940 (during and after the German air campaign against them) to get Greece into the allied side. The Greek government refused almost all allied help in order not to give the Germans and the Italians any excuse for attack. After the Italian campaign of 1940-1941 (October 40-February 41) failed the Greek government was still trying not to provoke Germany by refusing to accept any British help. The shipments of allied military equipment started arriving in Greece a few weeks before April 1941 when all efforts to avoid the coming German attack had failed. The destroyers and the new naval units that Wulfmann refers to where given to the so called ‘Cairo Government’ (the exile Greek government in Egypt) in 1942 after Greece has been occupied by the Germans. As far as the naval war is concerned there where a number of Greek steamers and merchant ships that have been sunk by German U-Boats in 1939-1941 (before the Italian invasion) but most of them where part of allied convoys. The onslaught of the Greek merchant fleet by the U-Boats happened after the German occupation of the country.