Anzac The Greek Chapter

Operation Lustre, the British effort to support Greece against German aggression in World War II has long suffered from a lack of the attention that it really deserves. In fact its reduction to the level of obscurity seen today may be because of the greater attention given to the German invasion of France in 1940 and the fighting in North Africa. While the fighting there seems to be primarily of importance to Australia and New Zealand because of their men who fought there, it appears to have been overshadowed by the fighting in Crete that occurred the following month. Nevertheless, the involvement of the Anzacs in Greece remain strong in the heart of Greeks both in their homeland and among ex-pat communities.

Fortunately, two new ventures have come to fruition in the latter half of this year to redress this imbalance. The first of these comes from a joint effort by Peter Ewer in Australia and John Irwin in NZ who have been collaborating in the production of a new documentary,’Anzac The Greek Chapter’, this supported by the Lemnos Gallipoli Commemorative Committee and a grant from the Australian Government’s Department of Veterans Affairs, all of it drawn on 130 hours of interviews with veterans and rare wartime footage. Since its release in October as part of the Greek Film Festival in Australia it has been shown to sold-out audiences, which has even led to extra showings there.

My new book from the After the Battle stable, ‘German Breakthrough in Greece. The 1941 Battle of Pineios Gorge Then and Now’ constitutes the second of these. This new publication, told in part through a collection of 140 wartime photographs, many of them unpublished, and over 60 modern day comparisons, focuses on two of the most critical engagements of the campaign, battles that could have settled the fate of the Anzacs had a German Panzer division not been delayed sufficiently by what was a heroic defence by ill-equipped troops. This is also a story about the strange level of intransigence shown at the higher levels of the Anzac command structure in providing timely support, something which makes it all the more remarkable that the troops on the ground avoided what could have been another major disaster so early on in the war.

Preorder your copy here.