Accounts of history's greatest conflicts, detailing the command strategies, tactics and battle experiences of the opposing forces throughout the crucial stages of each campaign, The Balkans 1940-41 (1) Mussolini's Fatal Blunder in the Greco-Italian War, In the wake of Italy's rapid annexation of Albania in April 1939, Mussolini's decision to attack Greece (which rejected an Italian ultimatum to cede territory) in October is widely acknowledged as a fatal mistake. What should have been a simple conquest of a supposedly weaker opponent turned into a major, humiliating disaster for the Italians. Stubborn Greek resistance ground the Italian offensive to a halt in the challenging terrain of the Greco-Albanian border, before the Greeks launched their counter-offensive on 14 November. By December, the Italian Army had been routed and began withdrawing into Albania, unable to halt the Greek advance. In this superbly illustrated volume, author Pier Paolo Battistelli shows how only a major Italian effort managed to halt the Greeks at the Battle of Këlcyrë in early January 1941. Despite the arrival of significant Italian reinforcements and a renewed Italian offensive in early March, Greek resistance held. The Greek army would remain undefeated until German forces intervened in April 1941 with the launch of Operation Marita, creating a second front that soon overwhelmed Greek defensive capability. Book jacket.