Book Review; Kos and Leros 1943 Campaign #339

     Opsrey Campaign  #339

     Kos and Leros 1943

     Author Anthony Rogers  Illustrator  Darren Tan

     ISBN 98-1-4728-3511-6

     An intriguing little book about an intriguing little campaign. You could probably win a few bets on this campaign, "What was the last territory that the Germans captured that they held onto until the end of the war?" Very few people would be able to name the islands Leros and Kos, and fewer could spell the Dodecanese Campaign. In 1943, following the collapse of Mussolini's Italian Empire, the British moved to secure these islands between Greece and Turkey with the twin objectives of  leaning on Turkey to enter the war on the side of the Allies and preventing the Germans from moving into the area. They succeeded in neither objective. The Germans captured Rhodes (the largest island and its all-important airfields) while the British took several of the smaller islands principally Leros and Kos using an odd mixture of garrison troops and the combined efforts of the S.A.S. and the S.B.S. only to be promptly ejected by the German troops.

       The book follows the usual Osprey Campaign format of a short historical lead-up to events, followed by a chronology, then a look at the commanders involved. This is complimented by a short look at the forces available to those commanders. The contending plans are given a quick look and then a concise chronological history is provided in an almost day-by-day format. The text is well-written and easy to read and moves along at a snappy pace (although there are times that trying to follow the action on the horrid maps is difficult, thank God for Google Earth!) .

      The hallmark 3-D pictures of the battles are well done. In sharp contrast the maps of the islands are in the usual flaccid pastel colors that completely fail to indicate the violently rugged terrain that the troops had to contend with. The one German aerial photograph reproduced provides an inkling of the terrain. The already inadequate maps are further marred by the use of standard military "block" unit indicators that obscure the ground under them and a near total lack of place-names and elevations to index with the text, further confusion is provided by squiggly arrows indicating troops movements without any sort of time-reference to show when those movements occurred. 

      The photographs that are included are excellent and give an idea as to the look of the soldiers and the terrain. This certainly was a rag-tag off-the-cuff fight on both sides, with troops being scraped up from the occupying forces in the surrounding area (everyone had bigger fish to fry, the Germans had recently been drubbed at Kursk and the Allied conquest of Sicily had prompted the Italains to switch sides). The artwork is good, cleanly produced and well-detailed, illustrating in three double-page spreads the fight on land, sea and air but I found it unexciting and lacking both urgency and flair.

     This is a campaign that cries out to be fought through; the strategic choices are interesting, the forces are small enough to represent at a reasonable scale and the combination of aerial, naval and land assets (all of which are vital to success) will allow every aspect of combat in the Second World War to play a part in the game. This book will provide a good basis if you are inclined to do just that.

      Recommended (because of the poor maps, otherwise it would gain Highly Recommended)