 The Dodecanese campaign was one of the last great defeats of the British Army in World War II, and one of the last German victories, while others have labelled it a hapless fiasco which was badly conceived, planned and executed as a "shoestring strategy".The German victory was predominantly due to their possession of air superiority, which caused great losses to the Allies, especially in ships, and enabled the Germans to supply their forces.The operation was criticized by many at the time as another useless Gallipoli-like disaster and laid the blame at Churchill's door; perhaps unfairly so, since he had pushed for these efforts to be made far sooner, before the Germans were prepared.