Operation Lustre

Operation Lustre was an action during World War II: the movement of British and other Allied troops (Australian, New Zealand and Polish) from Egypt to Greece in March and April 1941, in response to the failed Italian invasion and the looming threat of German intervention.

By April 1941 Greece had defeated the Italian invasion and was therefore Britain's only effective ally in Europe. British leaders, especially Winston Churchill, the British Prime Minister, thought it was politically unacceptable not to support an ally under threat. In addition, use of Greek airfields would put the Romanian oilfields at Ploieşti, vital to Germany's war effort, within reach of Allied bombers. General Archibald Wavell, commander of all the Allied forces in the Middle East, was told in January 1941 that support for Greece must take precedence over all operations in North Africa and this order was reinforced in February.

Wavell's attitude is unclear. It had been generally believed that he was pushed into the Greek campaign, but recent writers believe that Wavell approved of it. British commanders concluded that with British help, the Greek Army could hold the Germans at the Aliakmon Line. They knew German forces were being sent to Libya in Operation Sonnenblume, but thought these forces would be ineffectual until the summer. Both assessments were wrong. It is now accepted that the transfer of Allied forces to Greece had no chance of preventing a swift German victory, and that it weakened British forces in North Africa, leading to the success of Rommel's counterattack in April, and the failure of the British Operation Brevity offensive in May.

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