Failure of a Mission: Anthony Eden's Balkans Odyssey to save Greece, 12 February - 7 April 1941.

Mired in controversy, the Eden-Dill Mission, which attempted to form an anti-Axis Balkan front to save Greece from Nazi occupation, has not received the attention it deserves from Anthony Eden's biographers. Yet it tested his leadership skills to the utmost as he grappled with the conundrum of how to bring Greece, Turkey, and Yugoslavia together in an anti-Axis Balkan front at the same time as protecting the recent conquest of Cyrenaica to defend Egypt. The associated military strategy owed much to General Archibald Wavell, Commander-in-Chief Middle East, whose long lost memorandum supporting intervention has been discovered and is reviewed herein. The importance of political factors - in particular trying to impress the Americans whose emissary, Colonel William (Bill) Donovan, played a key facilitating role - is shown to have influenced military strategy. The hopes invested in the mission were tinged with unreality and a Balkan front failed to materialise either diplomatically or militarily; nor was Greece saved. Eden emerged from the experience with his reputation tainted, but he survived as he was not held responsible for the military miscalculations and there were some benefits arising from his steadfast diplomacy, which he was compelled to play with a weak hand. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]