Chapter 166: Fight Club #2 (18 to 30 April 1942)
18 Apr 42
The day before had finished with the commencement of another major attack, this time on
Beograd again. But the first news of the new day came from Italy, where neither side was showing any mercy to the other in the Secret War, which was again focused on counter-espionage activity. The Turks remained well on top, but the price of victory was eternal vigilance – and the blood of martyrs. With another British spy captured snooping around in
Ankara at the same time, it was a busy night for the both Ögel and Kaya.
Just an hour after the attack on
Beograd had begun, the SS Verf Division pulled out (for reasons unknown) at midnight, leaving the German 6th Panzer and 36th Infantry Divisions to prosecute the battle. At 4am, Wehib Pasha received the new engineer brigade in
Užice to round out his division – which (as part of the reorganisation) was finally named to suit its role: 1st Zırhlı (Armoured) Division
[2 x Arm, 1 x Mot, 1 x TD and 1 x Engr].
At midday, 4 Cav Div encountered the Afghan Herat Cavalry Division in
Khanabad. This battle was a larger skirmish that many that had preceded it: the enemy would not be driven off until almost a full day later.
OTL Event: Pacific Theatre. The Doolittle Raid was conducted by sixteen B-25 Mitchell medium bombers launched from the carrier
USS Hornet against the Japanese capital of
Tokyo. Although little damage was done it provided an important boost to American morale. Fifteen aircraft reached China, but all crashed, while the 16th landed at
Vladivostok in the Soviet Union. Of the 80 crew members, 77 initially survived the mission. Eight airmen were captured by the Japanese Army in China; three were later executed. The B-25 that landed in the Soviet Union was confiscated and its crew interned for more than a year before being allowed to "escape" via Soviet-occupied Iran with the help of the NKVD. Fourteen complete crews of five, except for one crewman who was killed in action, returned either to the United States, or to American forces.
A B-25 taking off from the flight deck of the USS Hornet bound for Tokyo, 23 April 1942.
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19 Apr 42
With the current expansion of the airfield at
Beograd just being finalised (bringing it to seven wings capacity once completed), a further expansion was ordered, to take it to eight. On the outskirts of the city, by 11am 6th Pz Division, which was leading the enemy assault, had been badly disorganised and was taking noticeable damage. They were proving no match for the terrain, AT guns and IS-1 tanks of the defenders. At 5pm they withdrew from combat. Only 36th Infantry Division remained in the fight for the Germans, but they were still fresh.
Later that day 1-13 Inf Bde scared off the Iranian nationalist rebels in
Susangerd as soon as the rabble heard they were coming – there was no fight as the guerillas disappeared into the swampy countryside.
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20 Apr 42
With more industrial capacity becoming available, two more engineer brigades were put in training, based on Soviet doctrine and equipment. The US would be tapped for some more technically advanced licences in a short while.
At 5pm, MAJGEN Orbay sent a short battle report from
Beograd: the enemy had been soundly defeated, suffering over 2,400 men killed – almost six time the casualties of the Comintern defenders. The first trial of the new division organisations for the Turks had proved a reassuring success.
22 Apr 42
The next day was quiet, so Inönü had ordered his staff to provide some summaries of action on the Patriotic Front and in other theatres. These were presented in his
Sofiya command post just after midnight.
Since the start of the month, the
Patriotic Front told two different stories. In the
North, the Germans had made major advances. But in the
Ukraine, the Soviets had struck back and regained much of the ground they had lost the month before. The
Romanians too had not just held their ground, but actually advanced in a couple of places. It again showed the Axis could still generate local offensives but could not seem to sustain them across the entire front.
In
North Africa, the British had reoccupied all Italian-held territory in southern Egypt, but there had been no change in the front near the Libyan border since 1 April.
There had been little change in the
Far East and none in
Malaya since last updates on 17 April.
But the big news closer to home, and the main topic for the briefing session, was the bold amphibious attack the US was making on German-occupied
Mytiléné! Two US marine divisions were attacking the single German parachute division holding the Turkish island. And the Americans were giving them "the works". Carrier-borne aircraft were bombing and strafing the German troops; there was some naval fire being directed on the enemy positions; and the 4th and 6th Mar Divs were making their way ashore. Once again, Roosevelt had taken note of Turkish objective suggestions. This got Calistar’s Supreme HQ staff thinking seriously about that proposed invasion of Sicily: perhaps there was a real chance the US might answer the call there, if given the time and resources to prepare.
The US LO Major Tyler Durden – back from his ‘very interesting’ battlefield tour, where he had met the commanders of 3 Mtn Div and been entertained by COL Diskoerekto, proudly advised that the US had definitely joined the Fight Club and looked forward to a ‘productive and destructive’ working relationship with Turkey in the European theatre. Inönü was fulsome in his appreciation for American support in the bid to liberate
Mytiléné and suggested
Midway be held strongly against Japanese counterattack, now that it had been secured
[ie I have maintained the objective for it as a defensive suggestion]. It was being guarded by the two marine divisions that had retaken it.
After a short sleep, the early morning SITREP revealed 16 Inf Div had joined 4 Cav Div in
Mardian and was also now headed to
Khanabad. 1 Mil Bde was en route from
Bamian to
Ghazni as the Turks sought to outflank the strong defences of the Afghan capital.
Back in
Beograd, 5 Avci Filo (La-5 MR fighters) had largely completed its rest and repairs and rejoined 4 AF to reconstitute 4 AG.
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23 Apr 42
With the large slice of capacity freed up by the completion of two new fighter wings (delivered to
Beograd a little later that day), the capability planners at the War (Armament) Ministry in
Ankara decided to invest in another new high-end item. This was something the US could provide the equipment and training for, but not (yet) the Soviets. The new units would prove very expensive and take almost ten months to train and equip, but enough mechanised infantry brigades, to be produced in parallel, were ordered to help outfit a new division.
The two new wings of Grumman F4F Wildcat interceptors flew into
Beograd’s overcrowded air base that afternoon. They were formed into 2 Avci Grubu and began their work-up training – it would be some days yet before they would be fully combat ready. MAJGEN Berköz was put in charge (he had some previous command experience from before the last Air Force reorganisation). The Wildcats surpassed the older Soviet LaGG-3 interceptors in key aspects: organisation and morale (due to superior US training and doctrine); speed and night attack
[and heavily in air defence if that wasn’t bugged and therefore of minimal advantage]. However, their raw air attack characteristics were equivalent.
This table compares the stats of the new and old interceptors, the F4F and the LaGG-3. The La-5 multi-role is also shown, as it is largely being used as a fighter.
The additional numbers were very welcome, as the Italian Air Force had been the principal opponent of late, and their fighters were far better than the Hungarians’. The Reggiane Re.2000 Falco interceptor and the Macchi MC.205 Veltro multi-role fighter were both superior to even the latest Turkish counterparts in the key air attack criterion, though the F4F did have the advantage of better night fighting characteristics (being equipped with a small search radar) and better ground crew support than the Italian Re.2000 wings. The MC.205V clearly outperformed the La-5 in most of the important criteria. Thus, numbers would be vital for sustaining air combat operations.
The Re.2000 Falco (above) bore some visual similarities to the F4F Wildcat and the older I-16 Polikarpovs the Turks were operating. The MC.205V Veltros (below) had a sleeker, more modern look to them, looking perhaps more like the German Me109 or British Hurricane in profile.
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24 Apr 42
There was a brief flurry of excitement in the early afternoon of 24 April when Hungarian troops attempted a raid across the Danube on
Turnu Severin. But the action was over in just a couple of hours, when the enemy realised the folly of their attack. It did not even rate a contact report to HQ from the cavalier MAJGEN Toüdemür.
“Not worth disturbing the Milli Şef’s afternoon coffee and baklava,” he remarked dismissively to his divisional chief of staff. “Include it in the routine daily report.”
25 Apr 42
News Report: London, UK. The 16-year old Princess Elizabeth registers for war service.
The British Royal Family shows willing to help boost morale at home. The young heir to the throne does her bit.
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26 Apr 42
Cennet was back in
Zurich for consultations with Mike Ceylan.
“Thank you, Uncle Mike,” said Cennet, using the term of familiarity as she accepted a glass of the finest Turkish rakı from the Ambassador, Turkish Espionage Chief for Western European and S.I.T.H. General (or ‘Büyük Moff’, in S.I.T.H. parlance). They were not actually related. “I hear our little olive oil enterprise in Sicily has had an increase in priority.”
“It has, my dear. Recent events and the great warmth of the Turkish-American relationship has encouraged increased interest in Sicily. Any potential action there may still be months off, but we want the groundwork well in place beforehand. Your young underworld entrepreneur Vito Corleone can expect to be busy.”
“He is
always busy, Uncle Mike. I think you would like him – in many ways he reminds me of you. He understands the need for bold and decisive action, but with careful consideration and planning. And he always shows respect – to those who earn it in his eyes.”
“And do you think he respects
you? And us more generally?”
“I believe so. He also respects our money, the opportunity it has provided him and his young family … and our reach. He saw the length and power of that reach in Italy last year. He respects that. But we must work hard to retain it. He will always put his own interests and those of his family above everything else. We must work hard to ensure they are consistent with ours – and to make that clear to him. He can
never be taken for granted.”
“Very well then, you had best get back to
Naples. You will be directly responsible to me for all our southern Italian S.I.T.H. operations, especially in Sicily. Kelebek is busy and will remain so assisting our spy network in Italy and his other, ah,
duties back in Turkey. And whatever else it is he does in between times. I don’t ask – and he wouldn’t tell me if I did.”
“I will leave in the morning.”
“Yes. And there’s a message I want you to give Fredo in
Monaco, when you pass through there. Nothing written down. For his ears only.”
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27 Apr 42
By the early morning of 27 April,
Mytiléné had been secured by the US marines and returned to a grateful Turkish nation. The German prisoners left after the 1st Fallschirmjäger Division surrendered were interned on the island they had occupied. Escape from there would not be easy. Even better news followed: having retaken the island, the Americans assigned
both of the marine divisions to Turkish control as expeditionary forces!
The Turkish fleet was sent from nearby
Izmir to pick them up and take them to
Istanbul, where they would strengthen the theatre reserve and – with the 1st US Mar Div already stationed there – form the basis of a future Turkish Amphibious Corps. Inönü sent the warmest of cables to his American counterpart. And the stocks of Major Durden were certainly now riding high in
Sofiya. Even though the staff there did find him a little … strange. The marines were dropped off in
Istanbul the next morning, where the transport ships remained while the battle fleet returned to
Izmir.
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29 Apr 42
The current lull on the
Yeniçeri-Danube Line continued, while in Italy Ambassador Ceylan was forced to send in a replacement team after those Slovakian swine captured another of his teams for the Italians.
In Iran, 1-13 Inf Bde finished reoccupying the swamps of
Susangerd and began heading back to
Tehran just before dawn, where they would remain on counter-insurgency standby.
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30 Apr 42 – Monthly Battlefield Summaries
With no combat action to report that day either, the Turkish Fight Club had become much quieter after the flurry of bouts in the first three weeks of the month. Inönü’s attention turned to the wider conflict as he received a substantial folder of monthly summaries and reports.
The
Patriotic Front showed a continuation of the trend seen a week or more before, with the Germans making somewhat alarming inroads in the Northern sector but losing considerable ground in the Ukraine. The Balkans remained even for the month.
Some sporadic
partisan uprisings in occupied Europe provided some distraction for the Germans.
A more detail map of the
Northern Sector showed the Germans had secured
Minsk, were advancing on a broad front towards
Vityebsk and were also threatening
Tallinn.
Whereas in the
Ukraine, the threat to
Kyiv had been pushed back for now (the Axis had approached to within three provinces of the key city at the end of March) and many other recent German advances reversed.
Romania mainly held fast, with its usual local ups and downs.
The
Far East remained its normal tale of woe, Afghanistan not so bad.
The biggest concern in the Far East was the
western sector, where the eastern Axis drive towards
Alma Ata was unopposed, while the approaches
Maykamys and
Ayaguz to its north were also undefended. Seeing this and noting how the Soviets still had quite few units heading towards Afghanistan towards the old
Kabul objective, Inönü had the Supreme Command draft a cable to the STAVKA suggesting the defence of a line stretching from
Alma Ata in the south, on the border with Sinkiang, all the way up to
Rubcovsk. It was hoped this might plug the yawning gap in the line – and the approaches to Central Asia, including Afghanistan.
In
Afghanistan, progress during the month had been slow but steady, the planned envelopment of
Kabul taking time to complete.
North Africa had seen little change in the main front line. In fact,
both sides seemed to be running away from each other. The British had once again stripped forces away from the fight with Italy. Where were they going?
To the
Middle East was the answer – and seemingly the borders of Turkish-controlled Arabia and Iran! There was hope that some of these movements may have been in over-reaction to the earlier rebel presence on the border with Iraq. But it did appear that they may be back up to their old tricks again. Very disappointing.
The Nepalese had pushed forward in southern
Burma and into
Thailand, forcing the Thais and Japanese to scramble a defence of
Bangkok.
Malaya still held out, though the British needed another division in the front line there. Two HQs would not be enough to hold the centre of what was otherwise now a solid line across the peninsula. The British had established a strong air presence in
Singapore, where a good portion of the Royal Navy was stationed.
Other than the retaking of
Midway, there had been no other changes in the Pacific. The Turks pondered setting another objective there - perhaps
Wake Island.
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Army Reorganisation Report
The great Spring Reorganisation was virtually complete by the end of April 1942. With just the odd brigade to be swapped around here of there, the five main corps in the Balkans were fully established. All had corps commanders appointed (this had been achieved before the reorganisation) and now only four divisions in that theatre lacked a dedicated commander. Peripheral forces not shown here included the units fighting in Afghanistan, the now three-division-strong US expeditionary Marine base in
Istanbul and sundry other small reserve and garrison formations scattered around the Glorious Union.
There were four ‘patterns’ for the infantry divisional orbats. An example of each is illustrated below. 1 Inf Div had received their heavy tanks and engineers to form the first (and currently only) ‘heavy’ division, designed mainly for line-breaking, including across rivers. The most numerous (nine) of the ‘standard’ patterns contained 3 x INF, 1 x AT and 1 x ARTY brigades. There were four more that substituted AA for AT. There were three divisions with 4 x INF and 1 x ART, while 13 Inf Div currently had 4 x INF and 1 x AT, but that would soon swap out one of its INF brigades for some ART currently being held in HQ 2nd Corps. The spare INF brigade would go to HQ 3rd Corps.
The three Mountain divisions were now all ‘pure’ 5 x MTN formations, making them very powerful in the defence. The mechanised and cavalry divisions were all varied in make-up. 1 Armd (formerly Cav) Div we have already heard about. 1 Mot Div was awaiting the delivery of an SP Arty brigade in May. 3 Cav Div had been allocated a TD brigade to give it extra punch, though that would probably be allocated to 2 Mot Div (still in training) when it completed initial training in May (giving it the same configuration at 1 Mot Div).
Naval Report
The only recorded naval losses for the month were a British destroyer flotilla and a Japanese heavy cruiser (the latter the only major fleet unit to be sunk, though likely a number had been damaged along the way, especially in the Pacific).
IJNS Ashigara (足柄) (CA) was the final vessel of the four-member
Myōkō class of heavy cruisers of the Imperial Japanese Navy. Laid down 11 April 1925, launched 22 April 1928, commissioned 20 August 1929. Displacement 14,980 t, complement 920 – 970, main armament 10 × 203 mm (8.0 in) guns (5×2). Sunk by
HMS Cornwall (CA) April 1942.
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Midnight Express
Apart from the previously reported losses (on both sides) in Italy, three espionage rings were rounded up in Turkey that month – all from major powers, for a change. Japanese and German agents were given their tickets on the
Express – to find themselves on both occasions as the supporting cast for an interrogation performance by Darth Kelebek himself. As was often the case, no real new information was gleaned, but the Dark Lord of the S.I.T.H. did seem to enjoy himself, anyway. The empty husks were taken away by ashen-faced guards, the unseeing eyes of the prisoners bearing mute witness to the horrors they had endured. They were put back into the general prison population, to serve as a warning to others. And to feed the legend.
The British prisoner was treated far more circumspectly. The interrogation was relatively polite and revealed little. The man had been snooping around the new US Marine base in
Istanbul, so the British were clearly interested in this new Turkish capacity for amphibious operations. But the likely objective of the force was hardly a secret between the two powers, given the discussions in
Tehran in early February. The British just couldn’t help themselves. This agent had been picked up in a routine sweep, but of course Callan and MI6 suspected the reputed Soviet mole back in
London.
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Infrastructure Projects
In the last week of April, a number of transport projects that had been under construction for some time were completed and gradually built up to full efficiency. They were mainly designed to improve supply throughput, in addition to speeding up strategic movement.
The
Istanbul-Kavala rail upgrade was completed between 24-27 April.
The
Petric-Medveda link would complete the new line through to
Beograd and the
Yeniçeri Line.
And the first stage of the
Ankara-Istanbul upgrade was completed from 29-30 April. The rest would be finished in coming days.
[NB: for supply throughput purposes, it was not necessary for the provinces next to Ankara to be improved].
Coming Up: Can Afghanistan be knocked out of the war before the Japanese tide seeps into Central Asia? Will the Soviets respond to Turkey’s advice to defend the approaches to this ‘soft underbelly’? Will the US send more forces to Europe, or make further advances in the Pacific? Or both? Where should Inönü suggest the Americans target next, given the proposed operation to invade Sicily will still be some time off? Will the heavy fighting in Russia present any useful opportunities for a ‘surprise’ Turkish Spring Offensive in the Balkans? Or even require one if things turn for the worse for their Soviet allies?
. Also Led Zeppelin become my favourite band, followed by Queen and Heart.
