Pen & Sword have picked an interesting subject for their next Images of War series. The war in the Aegean is not a subject that has gotten a lot of print. The Aegean campaigns were mostly a British endeavor as the US part of the Allies wanted to concentrate on the European invasion. However, Churchill was always an advocate for moving the war effort into the Balkans and Greece in a big way. Without the US, that would not be really possible, so a low level conflict was what was chosen.

Until September 1943, the Aegean was pretty much occupied by the Italians who moved into the Greek islands as soon as Greece capitulated in 1940. When the Italians signed the armistice, the Germans wasted little time moving in to these islands. Especially Rhodes, which is a fairly large island and supported a large air base. It was the British plan to invade the Aegean islands to counteract the Germans.

However, things did not really go as well as planned and on most of the islands, their invasion forces were forced off the island or captured in the process. This left the area clear for the Germans. In most cases, the Italians had enough of war and were quickly rounded up and marched off to captivity.

This book concentrates on the German operations on the islands of Kos, Leros, and Samos with the majority of the book concentrating on Leros. Each section of photos has a short historical section of a few pages to set the stage for the images. Somewhat different from other books in this series, the majority of images come from private collections and not the Bundesarchiv. In line with other books of the series, the images are well printed and are in good focus. They concentrate on the men involved in the battles and not just page after page of destroyed enemy equipment, though there is some of that as well. In all, it is a nice addition to the series and if your interest is in this somewhat 'backwater' of the war, you'll be pleased with what is here.

April 2026

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