British Strategy towards Greece in 1944

Abstract

It is easy to show that there was, during the whole of the Second World War, a strong and constant British interest in Greece. It would be a mistake, however, to think that for this reason British strategy in relation to Greece was always and consistently devoted to the aim of regaining British influence in Greece after the end of the war. On the contrary: at least until early 1944, British decisions on Greek affairs had to depend on many considerations which had little to do with the Greeks or British interests in Greece. Victory over Germany and the unity of the Grand Alliance against Germany — ‘the most unnatural alliance in the history of the world’, as Hitler called it² — remained the overriding goal, and guerilla operations in Greece and elsewhere had to play a subordinate and supportive role, which consisted mainly in tying down German forces to keep them away from other fronts, or in adding verisimilitude to the complicated plans for strategic deception.³

Greece is and always has been a vital British interest.

Sir Orme Sargent, 1943¹