1941-04-02 at 1941-06-15

37. The British and Imperial forces in Libya were weakened to meet the growing threat in the Balkars, and it was therefore in Libya that the first blow in the new German offensive was struck. There the command was taken over from the Italians by General Rommel, who with his German reinforcements of picked men to form the Afrika Korps led the Italians to the attack. Within ten days the siege of Tobruk had been undertaken and shortly afterwards the Axis hold on Sidi Barrani was re-established.
Meanwhile the Yugoslav Government of Prince Paul had adhered to the Tripartite Paa, only to be overthrown by a spontaneous uprising of the Yugoslav peoples. It was a magnificent demonstration, and the spirit with which it has been maintained during the terrible years which followed has materially contributed to the Allied cause, but it could not long hold up the German advance to Greece. There the considerable British and Imperial forces were insufficient in numbers and equipment to meet the German drive, and evacuation to the Agean Islands became the only possible solution. These too the Germans were determined to hold, and their sustained parachute attack on Crete, gaining them first the fighter station on the island, eventually succeeded, though at very high cost. In this way the months of April and .May were taken up, probably delaying the attack on Russia until the end of June, for which the German armies paid a bitter price in the Russian winter of 1941-2.