You got a point there.
The two sentences are grammatically passable but kind of unnatural,the second one sounds like he actually didn't leave before the war began,like I would have gone to EU if I were/was able to,meaning I wasn't able to go there.
And largely depends on the contexts,you better show us.
"Be able to do" also could imply that for instance,a rephrase for the first one is:
He finally got the chance to go to London (and so he did) and he very much enjoyed it.