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Indeed it's pretty much logical for Bratianu to have very close eyes on his superior military leader having in mind, that this one is very much axis-leaning and definitely not pro-communism. But at least as a nationalist he should be proud to defend his motherland against the evil Hungarians!
I like Perçem I think, as it can still be abbreviated to Perse. And (if you give it the tick of phonetic approval) how about Fongefips - as the middle of ‘Fotheringay’ is silent, pronounced like ‘Funghi’?
Perçem is my first choice as well (but ç is pronounced as in cherry), and the last name would be Fangifips or Fangefips if it's pronounced like Funghi.
Indeed it's pretty much logical for Bratianu to have very close eyes on his superior military leader having in mind, that this one is very much axis-leaning and definitely not pro-communism. But at least as a nationalist he should be proud to defend his motherland against the evil Hungarians!
I definitely agree. In this ATL, Turkey has actually ended up doing Antonescu a favour: he may end up far better commanding the military under a Turkish-puppet pro-Comintern Romanian government than he did in OTL. And after all this time, Romania still has possession of over half its territory (even if Transylvania still needs to be liberated from those wretched Hungarians) and a very large Soviet expeditionary army at their disposal.
Perçem is my first choice as well (but ç is pronounced as in cherry), and the last name would be Fangifips or Fangefips if it's pronounced like Funghi.
Nice - I like Fangifips. But she can still be called Perse by those who know her - if of course she takes up the option. Or <teaser alert > is indeed able to. More in the coming episode, out soon!
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Chapter 162: The Politics of War (1 February to 0600 15 February 1942)
Chapter 162: The Politics of War (1 February to 0600 15 February 1942)
1 Feb 42 – ‘Big Four’ Meeting Outcomes
Receiving direction after discussions at the Tehran Conference, the US objective for Tirane[designed to get US EFs into the Balkans] was removed. But the objective set for Athens remained – in the hope more US Marines might turn up! The objective for Bandar e ‘Abbas in southern Iran was also retained in case the US was able to land any forces there, which could be used in Afghanistan or even to support the Comintern defence against the Japanese onslaught now approaching Central Asia. The Mytilene objective also stayed – the US may want to have its marines to practice on it at some point!
Soviet and US military staffs exchanged information on Kamchatka and the terrain to its north, to eastern Siberia (where the Japanese advance had reached). Transport infrastructure was primitive and got worse further north of Petropavlovsk Kamcackij, but could sustain limited operations.
The terrain was also considered. Asked by the Soviets, the Americans confirmed any troops that may deploy would have a full issue of arctic warfare equipment.
Finally, supply was also considered. The only port of entry was already a Soviet supply source. And base to the remaining Soviet major surface ships in the region. After these discussions, the two sides agreed to set an objective to designate Petropavlovsk as a point of entry in the Far East for US forces. There was no timetable as to when US units may actually turn up - if they did at all. [Such is the lot for serving at the pleasure of AI commanders.]The priority for sending troops was rated ‘High’.
Joint staff discussions on other plans concluded the following recommendations, which were eventually ratified by the respective ‘Big Four’ Heads of Government (even if the UK were not that happy with some of the decisions):
There would be no attempted US landings in enemy occupied territory in North Asia. These would be considered further down the track, once the US had built up its capacity and depending on progress in the wider Pacific War. No lodgements were anticipated before 1943 at the earliest. The priority was rated ‘Medium’.
The UK request for US landings in South East Asia was put on indefinite deferment, pending the UK’s situation in Malaya and wider developments. The priority was rated ‘Low’.
Landings on Sicily from later in 1942 were seen as a definite option, rated ‘Medium’ in the short term (while both the US and Turkey developed capacity) but ‘High’ in the medium-longer term (late 1942 or perhaps early 1943).
The UK request for landings in Libya to divert the Italians was deferred for the time being, but as a short term response to the imminent or actual Axis seizure of the Suez Canal would be reconsidered (Medium priority). A significant breakout by the Axis into Palestine would elevate the plan to High priority as an urgent diversion.
No side was yet seriously considering a second major European front along the German-occupied Atlantic coast.
The Coalition also agreed retaking Midway Island should be the first US objective for the main Pacific War – as it was feared the Philippines was already a lost cause.
---xxx---
1 Feb 42 - Events
While the Tehran Conference was held, of course the war had continued around the world. The Axis got busy in the Balkans, launching two separate attacks on the Yeniçeri Line at midnight. The first was in Podgorica – which had been reinforced recently: the famous MAJGEN Muzir of 1 Mtn Div was in command.
“One this is One Delta Kilo, Sunray speaking. Contact: Italian Alpini are attacking our forward positions from the north. We detected them coming and have successfully ambushed them. But they are well practiced in mountain warfare and it remains a strong attack, though I am confident of holding them. That may change if they are reinforced. Out.”
NB: The Italian attack modifier will improve greatly during daylight – up to the 203.3% mark. They are well led and suited to the terrain – so too are 1 Mtn Div, fortunately. The other defenders less so.
The other attack went in on Pozega – a favourite point of the line for Axis assaults, with no favourable terrain to assist the defenders. The experienced MAJGEN Gataly of 15 Inf Div (where Metin Sadik still served, now a senior NCO, having been promoted to Sergeant after the last round of fighting) commanded the Comintern forces.
“One this is One-Five. Contact, a single German infantry division attacking from Valjevo. We are confident of holding for now and trying to determine whether this is a serious attack that will be reinforced or just a probe. Out.”
The German 6th Division will be doing it tough if they continue to attack alone against well-entrenched troops with superior numbers.
The materials for a new air base also arrived. Construction commenced in Kursumlija, south of Beograd. It could become a supplementary base for overflow from Beograd’s maxed-out airfield (repair capacity of six wings, now with seven present) and to help fighter patrols looking after the south-western sector of the line.
At 2am, a large Axis air raid was intercepted over Pozega (4 AG had remained on patrol alert and responded automatically). Four wings of Italian and Hungarian TAC bombers were involved. Some damage was done by 4 AG by 4am, but night flying was always less effective. 1 AG (with Turkey’s older aircraft, but experienced) was ordered to join the mission at 4am and were engaged by 5am. Aerial combat continued until 8am, by which time the two Hungarian wings had been moderately damaged and the Italian 4a Divisione slightly damaged. The Axis was still able to press home its first raid, despite this interference.
The other reason for ordering in extra fighter support was that at 4am, the SS fanatics of the LSAH Division had reinforced the attack on Pozega and had rushed straight into combat. The attack was now a far more serious proposition. It was hoped heavy fighter cover could degrade the enemy bomber wings and eventually cause them to abort their attacks – which were as yet unescorted.
Therefore, to give the Germans some of their own unpleasant medicine, Namut’s recently formed 1 Bomber Group (Blenheims and Yak-4s) was ordered to hit Valjevo with ground attacks, though only in daylight hours. They would be escorted by the newer LaGG-3s of Gataly’s 3 AF [both men had ‘Paradox twin brothers’ simultaneously commanding army formations ].
And while all this was happening, a single Hungarian TAC wing launched a raid on Podgorica at 4am. The men there would have to fend for themselves, with Pozega being the key focus. Then, at 5am, 1 BG took off to start its own ground attack on the Germans attacking from Valjevo. The Turks would test their newly expanded Air Force with simultaneous large-scale air operations.
Daylight brought no relaxation in operational tempo: the German 5th Heavy Armoured Division – equipped with Tiger tanks – joined the attack on Podgorica in reserve. While they were ill-suited to mountain warfare and the defence remained well in hand, the Tigers brought a certain fear factor. It wasn’t just the cold causing some ‘fundamental puckering’ among the Turkish-Soviet defenders!
The air battle over Pozega resumed at midday, with another Axis raid. Some damage was done on the ground, but less than half than in the previous raid – the interceptors must have disrupted it significantly. By 2pm the enemy bombers had taken heavy damage. At this time, a second air raid on Valjevo had been carried out by 1 BG [see damage report later].
Muzir informed 1st Army HQ at 3pm that the Italians had broken off their attack on Podgorica. The German Panzers had never joined the fight. Enemy casualties were very heavy – almost ten times those of the defenders. Muzir’s reputation increased another notch.
In Tehran, the main ‘Big Four’ talks had concluded by 6pm and the joint communique was issued.
This is very close to the original 1943 Tehran Communique, but of course I have made the usual adjustments. Naturally, the war (especially for the US) was considerably more progressed in late 1943 than it is in ATL early 1942. And also, they could be more definitive in OTL as they didn’t have to put up with intransigent AIs! Just intransigent allies.
Late that night, 1 Mil Bde had finished pacifying the rebellious Zahedan province and was ordered back north to support 1.13 Inf Bde, which was still holding Herat alone. The Soviets had begun to bring a few line divisions from the north-west by this time: it looked like they might be gearing up a counter-offensive. A relief, as the two Turkish reserve divisions were still in trains far to the west and the fighting quality of the Afghan Army was yet to be tested.
Air Report. Two raids by the four Italian and Hungarian wings on Pozega had killed 271 defenders, but the Axis planes did not reappear after the second raid had finished at 2pm. The two raids by the single Hungarian TAC wing on Podgorica killed 117 men before the attack there was broken off. And two daylight raids on Valjevo by 1 BG had killed 167 Germans.
OTL Event: Norway. Vidkun Quisling took office as Minister President of Norway.[Comment: This ATL is so far safe from this odious figure. So notorious a collaborationist his name itself became an insulting synonym for ‘traitor’. Quisling was put on trial during the legal purge in Norway after World War II. He was found guilty of charges including embezzlement, murder and high treason against the Norwegian state, and was sentenced to death. He was executed by firing squad at Akershus Fortress, Oslo, on 24 October 1945.]
Vidkun Quisling, the OTL Fascist collaborator installed to rule Norway for the Nazis. His name became a byword for traitor and collaborator.
---xxx---
2 Feb 42
Romanian intel liaison officer, RasaUrs75, provided some welcome information to the acting commander of 1st Army at 3am: Rȃmnicu Vȃlcea, directly south of the tactically important city of Brasov, had been retaken by a Romanian counterattack. This was reassuring, given recent reverses in that sector which bordered the eastern end of the Turkish Danube Line.
Another day of raiding the Germans in Valjevo began for 1 BG in the early morning. As an indication of Turkey’s increased ground attack capacity, the results of the two raids that days are shown below and a snapshot of the order of battle of the two attacking German divisions can be seen as at 5am that morning.
And, as good as her word, Perse ensured The Istanbul Times edition the morning after the Tehran Conference trumpeted the success of the meeting – and Inönü’s important role in it. Given the recent events surrounding Tom Rosencrantz and B.J. Guildenstern, she ensured she used the picture that showed Churchill looking somewhat pensive, even morose and left out.
---xxx---
And speaking of those events … early that morning Rosencrantz and Stoppard arrived to meet with a ‘friend from London’ in a British MI6 safe house in Baghdad. Or a safe as a house could be in such a fractious region riddled with spies from all factions.
Tom Rosencrantz – mercifully free of his Count Dracul disguise of the night before – had met up with Stoppard earlier that morning, as the latter arrived with Churchill’s delegation as they flew in from Tehran. He tapped out a coded knock on the door and waited.
An eye appeared at an old-fashioned peephole, which opened and shut quickly. The sound of a series of locks being unfastened followed. The door was cautiously opened a crack then, after another pause, a voice in Arabic invited them to enter.
As they did so, they saw their colleague David Callan standing within, revolver drawn – but not pointed at them.
“You’re sure you weren’t followed?” he asked, switching to English as the door was closed.
“As certain as one can be, David,” replied Stoppard.
“Can’t be too careful at the moment,” said Callan warily. “After you were blown, Rosy, London is like a kicked ants’ nest. They are pretty sure it was a Soviet tip-off to the Turks that did you in. That dolt Kaya would never have found you himself. They suspect a double-agent. In the agency.”
“Can’t be too careful at the moment.” David Callan is – legitimately – worried about betrayal.
“Well, it’s not likely to be the Turks,” Stoppard offered. “We’re pretty sure they’re not running any agents in England and wouldn’t have the capability to infiltrate MI6.”
“Yes, unless they send over one of those S.I.T.H. types – though they are needed in Italy. And it wouldn’t be the Americans – they were the ones that warned me,” stated Rosencrantz with sureness. “More likely to be the Soviets. They probably have the capacity and certainly the intent.”
“Exactly,” said Callan. “Which puts us all in a very difficult position. Including our remaining assets in Turkey or any we try to insert in the future. How do any of us know we won’t be sold out again in the future? Tricky business.”
---xxx---
The day finished with another report from Agent RasaUrs75, balancing the good news from earlier in the day. As had been expected for a few days, Filiasi – only two provinces north-east of Turkish-held Turnu Severin – had fallen to the Germans. South of those hills was open terrain all the way to the Danube and Bucharest, which was now just three provinces from the front line again.
Air Report. Two more raids by 1 BG on Valjevo killed another 173 Germans.
---xxx---
3 Feb 42
Ögel’s midnight SITREP brought news another team had been lost in Italy. He still had ten there, as a reserve team had been available, but that left nj reserve until another could finish training. The Italians only had three counter-espionage teams of their own left – but the Turks had been taken by Slovakian agents again. The bastards!
Better news arrived later that morning. At 5am Gataly reported that the German 46th Division had discontinued the attack. Then, rather than continue alone, the LSAH had broken off an hour later. Another Turkish victory after heavy fighting, with casualties among the defenders significant, but still only around half of the attackers.
Air Report. The ground attacks on Valjevo were called off at 9am. All seven wings – fighters and bombers – had emerged from their missions there and over Pozega relatively unscathed. The last raid on Valjevo had finished at 8am had sent another 107 Germans to meet their maker. The enemy had suffered 447 casualties from Turkish air attacks over the three days of the battle, compared to the 271 defenders killed from the air on the first day, before the Axis bombers had been driven off. Örlungat was well pleased.
As things began to quieten down on the Balkan front, the reinforcements made their way steadily east to the new front line in Afghanistan, with 4 Cav Div making into Tehran at 9pm, just as the last support staff had left from the ‘Big Four’ meeting two days before. They were immediately sent on forward to a marshalling area north of Kabul, where it was hoped they could join up with 16 Inf Div (on trains not far behind them) and any Soviet forces for a decisive attack on the enemy capital.
---xxx---
4 Feb 42
In Ankara, Perse had been invited into Field Marshal Calistar’s office for an afternoon tea of coffee and baklava.
“Come in, my dear. Please, make yourself comfortable.” Calistar turned to two men who stood off to one side of his desk.
“Gentlemen, may I introduce Persephonee Fotheringay-Phipps, Editor in Chief of The Istanbul Times and our Patroness of Air Force Recruiting? Miss Perse, these two gentlemen are from Minister Kaya’s office. They have a few questions for you. Just a formality, of course – you understand.”
“Of course, sir,” replied Perse, quietly but calmly. Hands were shaken and pleasantries exchanged.
“As the Vice-Minister for Propaganda and your ultimate boss, I will be sitting in on the interview, Miss Perse. Oh, and I notice you are wearing the outfit for this morning’s photo shoot for the next Air Force recruiting poster? Very fetching indeed. Especially well-timed after the great exploits of our gallant aviators over the last few days. Now, gentlemen, please proceed. Though I am quite busy, so let’s not have this drag on, shall we?”
“Er, of course, sir.”
Businesslike but fairly perfunctory questions followed on Perse’s knowledge of and past dealings with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. She assisted as best she could, shedding a few tears when discussing the personal betrayal she had felt when events in Tehran had conspired as they did.
When all was done, the men rose to take their leave. “Thank you, Miss Fotheringay-Phipps,” said the lead agent. “We’ll be in touch if we have any further questions."
He then looked surprisingly bashful and a little embarrassed. “But, ah, before we leave … could you please autograph this photo for me? It would mean a lot for my son, who has just enlisted in the Air Force this last week.”
“Oh, of course, it would be my absolute pleasure!”
Left: Field Marshal Fuad Calistar [aka İzzettin Çalışlar in OTL, we believe]. Right: Perse in her Air Force recruiting gear. She ensured Kaya’s agents left happy, with a signed photo.
After they had left, Calistar asked if Perse had thought over the question of Turkish citizenship.
“As a matter of fact, I have …”
---xxx---
RasaUrs75 was having a busy few days. His next report that evening to HQ 1st Army in Sofiya – where Inönü was back from the Tehran Conference after a stopover in Ankara – was good news. The Soviet 47 Mtn Div, fighting under Romanian command, had reoccupied the mountains of Sfantu Gheorghe, directly north of Brasov. The right troops for the right task! For now, anyway, Brasov was secured to the north and south instead of being badly exposed. Elsewhere though, in the Soviet sector, word was coming through of continued German offensives and heavy fighting. It seemed the vaunted Russian winter had not proven to be too great a problem for the German war machine after all. There were no collapses reported, but pressure was mounting.
---xxx---
5 Feb 42
Other than the materials for another new air base being ready – held in reserve for now in case of future need – events of significance were reported that day or the next.
---xxx---
7 Feb 42
At midnight, another new air base was finished and held in reserve. [Yes, I had fallen into the trap of forgetting subsequent improvements had to be done via the map rather than the production screen. Ah well, will have a few spares if I ever need any new ones]. And another British spy [one of the 'assets' Callan had been referring to earlier] plus an Afghan agent were caught in Turkey, with an Italian team eliminated in Italy. The British agent previously captured near Athens was released to the British Consulate in Athens after having ‘helped the Secret Police with their inquiries’. The latest British agent, captured sniffing around Sofiya, appeared to be just a low-level operative. Word of either the Thorn or his activities had indeed ceased with the exposure and flight of Rosencrantz.
But Kaya’s ingrained suspicion would never take anything for granted. Just because he was paranoid didn’t mean people weren’t out to get him. Or so he thought. Every waking minute of every day. And he didn’t sleep very much.
OTL Event: Norway. Vidkun Quisling abolished the Norwegian constitution and established a dictatorship.
Entertainment News: US. "A String of Pearls" by Glenn Miller and His Orchestra hits #1 on the Billboard singles charts.
(3:16 min) “A String of Pearls” #1. And you tell see why it was. Nice montage done with this recording to evoke the period. Very WW2!
---xxx---
8 Feb 42
OTL Event: Singapore.The Battle of Singapore began with the Battle of Sarimbun Beach.[Comment: the British are still holding on in Malaya at this point in ATL, despite Churchill’s dire warnings in Tehran.]
---xxx---
9 Feb 42
“More good news, my good Turkish friends,” said RasaUrs75 in the early hours of 9 February. “Things may be quiet here for now, but our Soviet friends have now helped us retake Filiasi, you will be pleased to hear. The line protecting Bucharest and Ploiesti is now secured again.”
It seemed Antonescu was at least putting all those Soviet forces assigned under his command to good use. And Romanian forces had also been in the thick of the fighting. It appeared Romania was not about to fall yet.
---xxx---
10 Feb 42
Ögel viewed his latest midnight report with satisfaction. Another Italian team taken down. Information indicated they were now down to one team in the field and another new team about to be deployed. And an unknown number of other Axis agents helping them – but they were being captured regularly as well. Given there were now enough diplomats trained and license-buying had slowed down of late, the excess capacity was put equally into more espionage training (to hammer home the advantage in Italy) and to officer training, with the diplomatic academy again going into recess.
---xxx---
11 Feb 42
With the Turkish sector still quiet, The President received reports from other theatres. In the Philippines the news was grim, with the Japanese were closing in on Manila. Things were better in Malaya: despite dire predictions at the ‘Big Four’ meeting, only one more province had been lost to the Japanese and Kuala Lumpur still held out. In Egypt, the British has lost Alexandria but regained Cairo. The threat to the Suez Canal remained but had not appreciably worsened, it seemed.
And then, at 11am, the relative calm of recent days was shattered. Orbay, commander of the Mighty First Division, once once again heard on the Army command net:
“One this is One India. The SS-Verf have launched a sudden and reckless assault on our lines - across the Danube! It seems like madness – a river assault, against entrenched troops defending a major city. We will gladly slaughter them, but this may not be the end of it, if past experience is anything to go by. Out.”
Orbay was right – it was by no means the end of it. Four hours later, the ubiquitous LSAH Division, made it an all-SS attack, advancing from the open south-eastern flank of the city from Valjevo to go into reserve positions. If they did join, it could change the equation. What the Turks really feared was other units joining in, even if they too would have to come across the Danube. But it seemed the Hungarians didn’t have the stomach for it.
The Turks reacted immediately by sending in 1 BG (Blenheims and Yak-4s), escorted by 1 AG (Hawk 3s and I-16s) to conduct daylight ground attacks on SS-Verf Division in Zrenjanin, hoping to disrupt the attack. At the same time, 4 AF (the two La-5 MR wings) were assigned to intercept duty over Beograd itself in case Axis bombers came calling.
1 BG’s bombing run began at 4pm, also giving the defenders a good look at what was there.
But an hour later, they were met by three wings of Hungarian fighters! The dogfight was on as the Turkish escorts engaged. The combat net crackled with messages, alarms, cries of victory and screams of terror. [There was no damage report so I don’t know if the raid was beaten off without causing casualties, or some other vagary of the game occurred, such as me thinking the raid was over and re-tasking the bombers – see below – in the heat of the moment, before they had actually finished.]
The SS-Verf suddenly stopped their assault at 6pm – but the LSAH remained in their reserve position and the ground battle paused but did not end. By 7pm, they were in the front line and continuing to press home their reckless assault. With that news, the entire Air Force – all five fighter wings and the two TAC wings – were switched to Valjevo, for bombing and fighter escort work. All the wings were tasked for daytime flying (striking or intercepting) only.
As it happened, the LSAH had also had enough, breaking off their attack at 9pm. And the casualty report showed why: they would have been foolish to continue.
But, despite their orders (for daytime interception over Valjevo) the entire Turkish formation became entangled with the three Hungarian fighter wings at 9pm that night over Beograd. Perhaps they ran into each other as the Turkish flyers were returning from a mission over Valjevo[though I got no reports for it either starting or finishing or causing any casualties]. In any case, the confused fighting was enough for Örlungat to claim an aerial victory two hours later. Though any hard information was hard to come by. And the confusion of having so many aircraft in the one place hampered Turkish coordination.
In any case, with the German attack on Beograd finished, all current air missions were cancelled.
---xxx---
12 Feb 42
Turkey’s considerable home-built AT holdings would benefit from improvements in ammunition and muzzle velocity from upgrades to the Soviet-designed 45mm AT gun M1937, which would now be introduced into service in all Turkish AT brigades (the TD brigades were licensed-built and had superior Soviet weaponry). Not quite cutting edge, but at least now up to the immediate pre-war standards of the leading armies. The same research was begun for Turkish field artillery.
The three Hungarian fighter wings were seen circling over Beograd on and off for the whole day, but no Turkish aircraft rose to meet them – it was assessed it wasn’t worth it. All wings would repair, refit and wait for the next engagement where something major was on the line.
A cable that afternoon from Nationalist China suspending a longstanding trade deal prompted a Foreign Ministry review of diplomatic alignments in Asia. This was a pity, as it would decrease Comintern influence on the Chinese a little. The Axis powers clearly thought they were aligning too much with the anti-fascist powers, as they were influencing them. By contrast, the Soviets had seen Sinkiang and Tibet were moving too much the other way and were seeking to influence them to the Comintern cause. Sound enough thinking - as far as it went!
By that night, the front in Romania was generally looking strong, with even more Soviet forces on the way from the east, even though RasaUrs75 reported that Sfantu Gheorghe may again fall, although the fighting there was confused.
---xxx---
13 Feb 42
All the recent upgrade advances (which Turkey always fully funded, as a matter of policy, at the expense of new production if necessary) were now costing 9.59 units of industrial capacity or the 188 at Turkey’s disposal – a historically high amount. Inönü was happy to pay: it improved combat capability without costing any more manpower or needing additional generals!
---xxx---
14 Feb 42
It seemed that the SS were about the only German troops up for a fight on the Turkish sector these days! At 7pm, MAJGEN Düvert of the LSAH Division launched another assault on Pozega. Fortunately, the amour they had was overmatched by the AT weapons of all the Comintern defending divisions. MAJGEN Gataly was again confident of eventual victory.
As a precaution, 3 AF and 4 AG (all three of Turkey’s newest fighters, LaGG-3s and La-5s) were tasked to provide air interception cover over Pozega. This order prompted a quick dogfight over Beograd with the three Hungarian fighter wings which were still lurking, but it was over in an hour to little effect.
OTL Event: Sumatra. The Japanese invasion of Sumatra began.[Comment: in the ATL this happened towards the end of 1941, but the Japanese haven’t moved since their initial lodgement in the south-east.]
---xxx---
15 Feb 42
There was another one-hour encounter over Beograd at midnight, this time one of the Hungarian fighter wings was quite badly shot up.
Then at 2am, two enemy bomber wings appeared over Pozega. In the hope of catching them in a ‘rotation formation’. 1 AG (the older fighters) was also ordered to intercept. It would be interesting to see how the Turkish fighter controllers coordinated their efforts this time.
At the same time, news came from far Herat. The commander of 1.13 Inf Bde reported he was under attack from two divisions of Afghan militia! Simultaneously, the Soviet 47 SD in Kashmar was assigned to Turkish command – and promptly came under attack from the Afghan Royal Guard in quite a serious attack. 67 SD – still under Soviet command – was still unengaged, to the north. It looked like the Afghan Army was still not yet fully mobilised and the general commanding the attack Herat was completely inexperienced.
This seems an improbable name for an Afghan general in the 1930s-40s. The HOI Fandom Wiki says “Bardolucci is an Army general in Afghanistan. It has been reported that the image used for this leader is actually that of a modern Italian film star.” Either an epic research fail or – far more likely – a Paradox researcher having a bit of a laugh!
The night-fighting over Pozega began at 3am, with 1 and 2 AF engaging, up against two Italian bomber wings. 3 AF joined the fight an hour later, but the Italians were still able to get their bombing run in, suffering a little light damage after three hours of haphazard engagements.
And at 6am the Hungarian fighters were back over Beograd for another one-hour dogfight, coming off second best against the La-5s of 4 AG. Perhaps this was preventing them from escorting the Italian bombers over Pozega? Or it may have been completely unrelated. We will never know.
---xxx---
Coming Up: How will the fights in Afghanistan turn out – can the heavily outnumbered 1.13 Inf Bde hold out against the hordes of ill-equipped and under-prepared Afghan militia? Will the air operations continue over and around Pozega – and how determined will the German attack there be this time? Can Ögel maintain the upper hand in Italy or will the Fascists band together to deny their dominance? What is happening on the rest of the Patriotic Front? While Romania now seems to be holding well, has this been at the expense of the Soviets further north? Will the US respond any time soon to the call for troops to start building up in Kamchatka? None have arrived yet. Will Malaya continue to hold and will Manila fall – or will all be lost there? What next for British espionage efforts in Turkey? And will Perse take up Calistar’s offer of Turkish citizenship? Presuming Kaya’s men don’t throw a spanner in the works.
Good report! Glad to see that the Comintern and those rump states of the Allies are beginning to consider some sort of future offensive action as they marshal their forces for the coming storm!
This seems an improbable name for an Afghan general in the 1930s-40s. The HOI Fandom Wiki says “Bardolucci is an Army general in Afghanistan. It has been reported that the image used for this leader is actually that of a modern Italian film star.” Either an epic research fail or – far more likely – a Paradox researcher having a bit of a laugh!
At least in this ATL it makes a little sense, perhaps the Italians have lent out one of their less able commanders to their allies as a token of good will?
Of course, given the quality of the most able Italian commanders, this may be more a token of ill will in reality!
Muzir informed 1st Army HQ at 3pm that the Italians had broken off their attack on Podgorica. The German Panzers had never joined the fight. Enemy casualties were very heavy – almost ten times those of the defenders. Muzir’s reputation increased another notch.
Air Report. The ground attacks on Valjevo were called off at 9am. All seven wings – fighters and bombers – had emerged from their missions there and over Pozega relatively unscathed. The last raid on Valjevo had finished at 8am had sent another 107 Germans to meet their maker. The enemy had suffered 447 casualties from Turkish air attacks over the three days of the battle, compared to the 271 defenders killed from the air on the first day, before the Axis bombers had been driven off. Örlungat was well pleased.
Who had mysteriously vanished from Turkish record for a good while. Suspicions that he was involved in SITH work weren't taken too seriously (everyone is suspected of working for SITH. That is sort of how it works) but the one about him being locked in a cleaning cuboard accidentally was. Regardless, he was here now, smelling faintly of cleaning products and bleach, ready to report on the various visions he'd recieved from the experience. Or 'intelligence' as Kaya might put it.
Fortunately for her that this edition was promised so promtly. It was this that allowed her to keep all ten of her digits from the SITH Home Inquistorial Team. Kelebek wasn't overseeing the interrogation himself and therefore his underlings might have gone entierly overboard if they weren't distracted by Racebear spilling more cleaning chemicals all over the floor. They becmae convinced he was a gigantic russian bear whom was equally onvicned it was a soviet agent designed to crush capitalism.
No one managed to take pictures of the resulting battle, which is a shame because it was really cool with lots of explosions.
Anyway, that's the offical reason why bear feaces ended up piled high over Kaya's desk and personal office.
It is at least semi-canon that Lord Pip, Churchill and Kelebek have been lunching togethet at the same club for several years by this point. It couldn't possibly have been one of us, could it?
“Yes, unless they send over one of those S.I.T.H. types – though they are needed in Italy. And it wouldn’t be the Americans – they were the ones that warned me,”
Or maybe the Amercians are playing both sides. Or maybe the British government is playing everyone against each other in some twisted game. Remember the evil PM Chamberlain?
“Exactly,” said Callan. “Which puts us all in a very difficult position. Including our remaining assets in Turkey or any we try to insert in the future. How do any of us know we won’t be sold out again in the future? Tricky business.”
It was basically a formality. SITH had already given her a somewhat clean bit of health, which was the report the cabinet actually cared about. Kaya's mob were there just to do the offical rubber stamping.
"Caught him and his handler with their trousers down," Kelebek said, melting into the chair opposite. "The good lady is for the moment cleared of suspicion. And the Thorn is supplicant. My penetration of the British Secret Services goes forward as expected. They're among the few competent resources the Empire has so I don't want to just tear them apart."
"Excellent. And thank you for our girl's saftey."
Kelebek shrugged. "I don't do much in this realm without payment of some kind. And your government has given me some very interesting gifts over the years. Your personal appeal and sacrafice for Perse was appreciated however. She and the Thorn shall be dealt with as you desire, I think."
"And the other thing we discussed?"
Kelebek chuckled, sounding like a mix between a cement mixer playing the organ and a baby rabbit bleeding out through its eyes.
"Oh yes. Most impressive. I can do that, with pleasure. So long as you provide what you promised?"
Calistar smiled thinly and took out from under his desk a heavy, lead lined box.
OTL Event: Singapore.The Battle of Singapore began with the Battle of Sarimbun Beach.[Comment: the British are still holding on in Malaya at this point in ATL, despite Churchill’s dire warnings in Tehran.]
A cleaning job? Oh no! Your information is wrong this time. I had been out for some time being on a training and patrolling yourney in the pride of the Romanian navy, the mighty Marasti! Well not so mighty as the Turkish Yavuz, but at least more modern.
Petropavlovsk looks like a decent plan right now. Any expeditionary troops that make it there can easily be integrated into the Far Eastern Theatre, not to mention that they will be starting out with ample supplies.
It seems a bit superfluous that we should remind the US that it's in their own interest to recover Midway as soon as possible. But now that it has been pointed out to them, I really hope they do something about it and start actually flexing their naval power in the Pacific.
This week's battles weren't too worrying. The Turkish Air Force surely played it's part in keeping them relatively short-lived, and in Turkey's favour. A good job overall.
This is very interesting. The H Arm is vulnerable itself, not being able to move at any kind of speed in the mountains, an encirclement seems perfectly feasible. The only problem is the amount of other units, especially mountaineers in the area that could really break a Turkish offensive in it's tracks. Ironically, it might be easier to go around the mountains if we're looking at potential encirclements. If the units in those mountains are cut off from supplies and reinforcements before you start attacking them, it should be easier to root them out. Of course, there are always risks, as going around the mountains might expose Turkish troops to other Axis Armoured units, in open terrain... It's worth considering at least.
The declaration of the four powers strikes the right tone, all the while remaining sufficiently vague as to give each of the 4 near total freedom in the means and schedule for reaching the goals that have been laid out.
I have to say, Perse seems to have just the right combination of charm, feigned naivety, and connections, to avoid any serious official investigation into her involvement with the 'Thorn'. Her colleague was found to be the foremost British spy in Turkey, and she gets off scot-free, all she had to do was sign a couple of pictures and maybe a flirty smile towards the Marshall. I understand why the MI6 tends to underestimate Turkish intelligence. Off course, S.I.T.H. has conducted, and is probably still conducting, a secret investigation into this whole mess. Pretty smart really, Perse is a powerful propaganda and recruitment asset, thus keeping her out of trouble makes sense. The N.K.V.D. often lacks such nuance. In the Soviet Union she would have probably ended up in the Gulag the moment Rosencrantz was revealed to be the Thorn.
Interesting Air Base building strategy, keeping materials and tools in stock to rapidly deploy small Air Fields as needed can definitely be useful in some situations, though for larger Air Operation over a longer time frame, nothing beats larger Air Bases built up over time.
Let's hope that we can get Sinkiang into the Comintern. They don't have a massive army, but it is already right next to our Far Eastern Front, and they would definitely help tip the scales if they ever get involved. I'm afraid the Nationalitst Chinese are a lost cause, with aspirations to be a right-wing dictatorship, but a hatred for Japan, which controls quite a bit of Chinese territory, they don't want to join the Axis because of the Japs, and they don't want to join the Comintern because of ideological reasons.
Upgrades costing 9,59 IC... is that a joke... you should see the cost for upgrades in the Red Army... that's a flash in the pan.
Interesting to see the return of RasaUrs75, conspicuously absent from the events surrounding the big talks in Tehran.
A cleaning job? Oh no! Your information is wrong this time. I had been out for some time being on a training and patrolling yourney in the pride of the Romanian navy, the mighty Marasti! Well not so mighty as the Turkish Yavuz, but at least more modern.
At least one division of those just broke off from a failed attack, so at least one is not in really good fighting shape, I think it might be something to consider
A cleaning job? Oh no! Your information is wrong this time. I had been out for some time being on a training and patrolling yourney in the pride of the Romanian navy, the mighty Marasti! Well not so mighty as the Turkish Yavuz, but at least more modern.
I understand why the MI6 tends to underestimate Turkish intelligence. Off course, S.I.T.H. has conducted, and is probably still conducting, a secret investigation into this whole mess. Pretty smart really, Perse is a powerful propaganda and recruitment asset, thus keeping her out of trouble makes sense. The N.K.V.D. often lacks such nuance. In the Soviet Union she would have probably ended up in the Gulag the moment Rosencrantz was revealed to be the Thorn.
Pretty much. I mean then we'd have to find another national treasure to replace her with, and Ataturk is dead. So...for now, she won't be impaired too much. If Calistar runs out of bribes and the war ends though...well...Kaya's men need to be fed someone at least.
Well, "stuck" is one way to put it..."gathering valuable intelligence through unconventional means" is perhaps another. And where better to conduct intelligence-gathering than hidden in a supply closet? After all...the maids know everything!
Sorry to double post, but wanted to make sure that people saw this. Regarding those commanders who have "twins" in various branches... perhaps this is akin to situations like Kesselring in Germany where some generals were tasked with joint commands and thus "existed" in two chains of command at once? Sort of like how PACOM (now INDOPACOM) or any of the other Unified Combatant Commands in the DoD operate?
Sorry to double post, but wanted to make sure that people saw this. Regarding those commanders who have "twins" in various branches... perhaps this is akin to situations like Kesselring in Germany where some generals were tasked with joint commands and thus "existed" in two chains of command at once? Sort of like how PACOM (now INDOPACOM) or any of the other Unified Combatant Commands in the DoD operate?
In the WW2 era, aviation forces were still not commonly seen as a truly independent branch of the military and were usually subordinated to the army and/or navy. Thus in most militaries the commander of an air wing/group would be a general or admiral in those branches, and thus there are plenty of cases in which the same person actually commanded both land/naval and air forces in the same 1936-1945 time frame.
IIRC, the Germans and Italians both had independent air forces as well as the British RAF, so in this case any dual-command leaders were probably at separate points air wing commanders and later front/theater types of commanders. The French air force was independent as well but only since 1934 so it could be a mix of both in that case. Japan, the US, and the Soviets all had subordinated air forces, and I imagine (but don't have the time to check for every example) that most of the minor nations were the same owing to not having large enough air forces to justify an independent branch anyways.
From what I can tell, the Turkish Air Force became a separate command only in 1944, so for most of WW2 and certainly for the timeline of this AAR up to now, they were subordinate to the army command and thus commanded by army generals, which explains why you see some overlap in the form of "twin" commanders.
Some good rationisation there - there are lots of double-hatted appointments in this ATL anyway, so these can just have the alt- history magic fairy dust sprinkled on them too
In the WW2 era, aviation forces were still not commonly seen as a truly independent branch of the military and were usually subordinated to the army and/or navy. Thus in most militaries the commander of an air wing/group would be a general or admiral in those branches, and thus there are plenty of cases in which the same person actually commanded both land/naval and air forces in the same 1936-1945 time frame.
Yeah, same with Intelligence. That's why it was called Naval intelligence for the longest time, and everyone in spy fiction is has a past in the navy. The various MI branches didn't actually separate from the War Office and Naval departments until after the war, so I believe.
Even today, they tend to be quite closely linked. The navy has spies and saboteurs, the army has special forces. Or so the stereotype goes. Plus I think it's a residual class based thing to make the British fictional spies more exotic and posh. Giving them past jobs in the blue blooded forces rather than the working class parliamentary army, that sort of thing. I don't know. I'm sure El Pip has something to say on the topic.
> is indeed able to. More in the coming episode, out soon!
