Churchill's Folly: The Battles for Kos and Leros, 1943

By Anthony Rogers and Lord Jellicoe

In autumn 1943 the Italian-held Dodecanese was the setting for the last decisive German invasion of the Second World War – and the last irreversible British defeat. After the Italian armistice that followed the downfall of Mussolini, Churchill seized the opportunity to open a new front in the eastern Mediterranean, thereby increasing the pressure against Germany and hoping to provide an incentive for Turkey to join the Allies. Rejected by the Americans, it was a strategy fraught with difficulties and doomed to fail. Spearheaded by the LRDG and SBS, British troops were dispatched to the Aegean with naval units, but little or no air cover. They were opposed by German assault troops with overwhelming air superiority. Within 3 months, German forces had seized nearly all of the Dodecanese, which was occupied until the end of the war.

• Language: English
• Publisher: The History Press
• Release date: Feb 2, 2017
• ISBN: 9780750969581

Anthony Rogers

ANTHONY ROGERS grew up in Malta and later served there in the Royal Marines. He has written several books including Battle Over Malta, Swastika Over the Aegean and Churchill’s Folly.

Reviews for Churchill's Folly

[ten_floors_up · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

It's a while since I read this, and the writing hasn't stuck in my memory, though the subject matter has long been of interest to me since a visit to Leros and other Dodecanese islands.This book is one of only a handful of books to cover this topic - one that's often omitted from histories of WW2 in the Mediterranean or merits a brief footnote at best.