Military Model Scene

Title: Partisan Warfare in Greece 1941-44
Author: Phoebus Athanassiou
Publisher: Osprey
ISBN: 978-1-4728-6752-0

Number 562 in the very popular Men-at-Arms series of books from Osprey, with artwork by Adam Hook. A 48-page soft-cover book.
After a bit of background scene setting and a Chronology of key events over the 3 years of occupation, we are given the details of the two main resistance organisations that operated in Greece during WW2. The largest group of the two was ELAS and then the smaller EDES. They each had different political views, although that of EDES did change during the course of the war. There were plenty of supplies left by the defeated Greek army, more were simply taken from the occupying forces and some came along with support from British SOE, including operatives who worked alongside the partisans. Training, tactics and operations are all included. The occupying forces were split between German, Italian and Bulgarian forces. A useful summary of the forces involved, along with their organisation and tactics. The war in Greece with the partisans was often brutal, and the number of resistance fighters in Greece were the highest in Europe. The allies did not need to invade Greece to cause the Germans to retreat from the country, but as it says in the 'Reckoning' section, it tied down 27 Axis divisions at a time when they would have been valuable elsewhere, such as in Italy. The key element of the book though, along with archive photos spread throughout the book, as the 8-pages of colour artwork in the middle of it, each page illustrating 3 full figures, with the partisans wearing a mix of military and civilian clothing items. The last few pages in the book have more detailed commentaries on each of the individual illustrations.
An interesting story, detailing both sides of the story, while as ever, the key to this new addition to the Men-at-Arms series are the first-class colour plates, which will be of value to re-enactors and especially to figure modellers, also providing a slightly more unusual subject matter to consider. Easy to recommend.
Thanks to Osprey for the review copy.

Robin