Talking Turkey: Alternate History from 1936

[stnylan]

The sinking of HMS Warspite is the true tragedy of this update. Clearly the war is now all but lost.

 

[racebear75]

Oh wow! RL kept me struggeling with reading and even more making a comment, but now I'm up-to-date again.

Mixed emotions with the great success around Split but significant losses in Romania.

For the story RasaUrs was at a troop visit in Siberia via train and horse, so the travelling took some time, of course.

 

[Bullfilter]

As my other AARs are now updated, I'm approaching the session for the new month, as the Second Great War commemorates the third anniversary of its beginning. Some response feedback:

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Great update, Bullfilter. There's definitely problems with the production AI in HoI3, and I'm finding it difficult to keep up with all of the problems (like the US only having 5 [!!!!] fleet carriers in 1942, and no new battleships).

Thank you, mate. Yes, how is the US going to take on the IJN if it isn't producing any major fleet units?

---xxx---​

I knew we had someone high up in British Intelligence, but definitely did not need to know who it is. Philby seems to be doing a great job.

The Soviets had the Brits all sticthed up at this point. The Manhattan Project later on, too.

That's definitely the way it should be. No offense to Turkish intelligence, they did not need to know.

Quite so. Can never be too careful (as the Brits discovered to their detriment - and the Germans on Enigma).

A Committee will be set up to examine the request, and of course timing is critical. Such a request would, of course, be very courageous.

And one never sets up an inquiry unless you already know what the answer should be - if there ever is one.

This is somewhat annoying. I'm sure the GRU will find a counter to this development, something to do with incriminating a loyal Englishman to put Callan off Philby's trail if I had to guess.

Callan is one of the few smart and effective people they have. What will he get up to?

Finally. 50.000 fewer Axis troops to fight! I'm quite surprised that the Turkish papers didn't round up the number of prisoners to 100.000, boasting of 10 captured Divisions.

The Sava river line comes under ever more pressure, but the freed up units from Split should allow for a more solid defence to be set up, even if some territory has to be forgone. An then, once your troops are somewhat rested, we can talk about the next offensive, or maybe an adventure in Libya, or in Sicily?

Romania is worrying, as is Ukraine. Losing Kyiv is a serious blow, though the Dniepr river line hasn't been breached yet. The Eastern front is stabilising nicely. Let's hope we manage to cut supplies to some of the Japanese units, and have our own little Siberian encirclement party.

The British are losing on the ground in SE-Asia, the only reason the Japs aren't winning more quickly, is that the whole peninsula is covered in thick jungle, which could hide more Allied fighters, so they're having to be slow and methodical about their offensive.

Despite her excellent war-record (OTL and TTL), HMS Warspite was a great war era Battleship, a very good one, but still. Mutsu is more modern, has bigger guns, better armour etc. If I was the 1st Lord of the Admiralty, and someone asked me if I was prepared to trade Warspite for Mutsu, I would do so in a heartbeat. I'd prefer not losing Warspite, but if the reward is sinking Mustu, I think it's worth the sacrifice. And of course, it's revenge for Mutsu sinking Profitern...

The Balkan situation is in one of its more fluid phases at the moment - and while I have my hopes, I have no idea how it will end up. But I believe Turkey would at least try out one of those mothballed plans to hold Ploiesti and Bucharest for as long as possible if the front were to collapse, if at all feasible.

The big consideration, as always, is how the Soviets fare in their two-front war. The steamroller is yet to gear up (all those infra projects are yet to wash through the production system, but soon should start to see some decent offensive units being produced. Hopefully, next spring will be a nasty one for the Axis. So long as things don't crash before then! The British are just fading slowly - as their imperialist ambitions will fade when the New Comintern World Order takes over! For that happy circumstance, I think some George Orwell would be 'in order'.

If you continue to have supply issues at the front, it would be wise to ship supplies from Turkey, directly to Split. Of course, it depends on whether you have the convoys to do so, and on whether the Italian navy is very active in the Adriatic.

The battle in the shadows between Comintern and Allied spies is right up my alley, and I will use any means in my power to try and counter Callan's operations in the UGNR, alongside SITH and Kaya's boys, of course.

SkitalecS3

Good tip re supplies and Split: will see how it goes, but am hoping throughput improves as battle damage to infra is repaired and the new logistic lines become mature.

---xxx---​

Thanks for a nice wrap up of the month, a lot of questions for the future to answer indeed

You're very welcome, as always. Hope the bike accident fall-out is getting better now. It could have been a lot worse - bike riders always come of second best in bouts against cars!

This is interesting because the name of the organization and the English translation of it is as you write, but you may have noticed the abbreviation is a little different because when it was first being formed in the dying phase of the Ottoman Empire its name was milli âmâle hizmet (service to national goals, sounds stupid but I guess back then they didn't know better).

Always good to have an expert on hand for these things! Interesting snippet.

By the way, what's the story behind your nickname if you want to share?

OK, you asked: it is not what many may think (ie providing a filter for all the bull one hears and sees).

It dates back about 45 years, to when we had a backyard pool in Sydney. Filters in those days were more primitive and tiresome to clean than they are now (or the one we had was, anyway). Though I Googled for some pictures and it seems the silly gizmos are still a 'thing'!

To clean it, you had to take the internal workings out, remove eight filter panels, hose each one off back and front of all the algae etc, reassemble the thing, put it back in, start it up again then pour in a bucket of water with diatomaceous earth mixed in.

Looked something like this. Each one had to be removed and cleaned off.

Diatomaceous earth. Not a recreational substance! A bit like talc. It would line the filter panels to screen out the algae. Because, that was clearly the best way to irritate teenage boys who just wanted to swim in the pool, not deconstruct and reconstruct the Moon Mission! ​

In retrospect, my late Dad (passed away two years ago, rest his soul) had the fairly reasonable expectation that if we were the ones doing most of the swimming in it, we should clean the pool filter. You may not be surprised to discover that as our indolence became more entrenched, the urgency and volume of his 'request' (ahem ) rose in counterpoint.

Until my younger brother (who retired himself a couple of months ago, just to make me feel even older), who was very good with these things, reckoned it sounded like "CLEAN THE BULL FILTER!!!! NOW!!!! "

It then became part of our home secret language, as these things do. And eventually a term of wry endearment - for him 'The Old Bullfilter' - or as a response for things which general might just generally evoke an insistent and irritated but still somewhat amused invocation: "BULLfilter!"

It wasn't really used in that sense when I signed onto this forum back when I got HOI1 - it just struck me as an amusing and idiosyncratic pseudonym to use at the time, I suppose (I really can't remember clearly - it was over ten years back.

Now, with his having passed, I find it is an amusing reminder of him as well. He was no shrinking violet before life's challenges, of which he faced and surmounted many in his eight decades. Not the least of which was regularly (though not as quickly as he would have liked, I know) actually getting us to 'clean the pool-filter'.

Now, the secret is out!

I really liked this new thread. Being a fan of cold war spy thriller tropes and aesthetics, I'm sure there'll be more good stuff to come from this storyline

Glad you did! They came up in my reading of histories at the time and how Stalin was aware of quite a few 'secrets' the Allies thought they were concealing or revealing to him, which he had to pretend to be surprised at or inscrutably let pass by, with them thinking he hadn't understood the translation or its significance (like with the atomic bomb revelation at Potsdam, I think it was IIRC). They will be used in 'alt-historical parallel'.

They should've gone for the railway! Damn it!

Just melted away - but they have caused plenty of distraction for such a small group, I think. Perhaps they will return later.

Here I want to revisit my single cav or mil brigade marauding of the transsiberian railway by going through Sinkiang behind enemy lines. If there's anything we can spare it can be worth a shot.

Will think about it.

---xxx---​

I assume Germany will have trouble replacing over 40 thousand soldiers and, more importantly, have trouble replacing those Divisions.

Me too. Not quite the Destruction of Army Group Centre, but a good enough start!

What worried me is the rest of the Front. As Turkey makes gains the rest of the line seems, mostly, being pushed in.

Russia is not too bad - the rate of retreat is slowing down again. I think. I hope! But Romania has deteriorated a bit of late. Not sure what I may be able to do about it, directly or indirectly. They do still have a lot of Soviet EFs under command - though not sure how well they are able to support them.

And while the Japanese seem to be reaching the end of their supply "leash" against the USSR, they seem to pushing back the UK in Asia and having no trouble in the Pacific. *sigh*

Yes, they are going to be a big, ugly fungal growth in the east for a long time yet, I fear! Of course, with your new AAR, you may be considering them in a different light now.

On the other hand the UK seems to be doing well in Africa. But, not to sound like downer, does that help the Comintern?

I think it does help. They are not doing that well, and like in OTL, we do still want the Axis distracted. And in the final phase, if things need to get 'Unthinkable' in order to secure the New World Order, perhaps we may just take some of it back. Though I hope it doesn't come to that.

---xxx---​

And here we see a classic example of that famous British diligence in all things!

Nailed it! Callan is one of the few that doesn't believe in just 'muddling through'. And I'm drawing here from his character in the old TV series. He was not a soft man.

Interesting to see how once again OTL and ATL converge. Will we eventually see the entire Cambridge Five, I wonder?

Yes, I'm doing things as close to 'adapted reality' as I can, but will always claim some alt-hist author's license if and when necessary. Two have already appeared - will see if any of the others do too. Depends on their OTL activities of the time.

Oh Lord. More of the shoehorned references and Shakespearean fan-fiction we've all come to know and love from our beloved authAAR!

I gotta! That and RL actors for the parts - a far greater range of photos available for them. This one won't be too tortured, I promise. It was the mention of 'the Rose' (and seeing a recent performance of the play) that brought this outbreak on!

Vur Ha!

One sincerely hopes that the troops now freed from the elimination of the Split pocket can now not only reinforce the front lines of the Bulge, but help extend its reach ever closer to Rome and Berlin!

It will be their fervent aim - we'll see how they do (not played yet - we're back 'up to date' with AAR v gameplay).

Another way of saying, the fascist scum are no longer able to prosecute a coherent offensive across the entire front. Clearly they are reaching their limit, and it is merely a matter of time and manpower before they are ground into dust!

True. I'm hoping the winter, while it may not bring the full Russian Winter effect, will also slow the Germans down right across the whole front.

Excellent news, which certainly reduces pressure on the USA to do something in the Pacific. Is this for better, or for worse?

The US AI (or 'AL' as @Eurasia would call it) has shown itself pretty impervious to all pressure to do much, so this will doubtless be no different.

In light of this and the following naval report, I wholeheartedly endorse making a Turkish landing in western Libya. More below.

I think it's a goer!

I believe Rangoon should be able to hold for quite some time. The forces there can be supplied comfortably by sea, and the Japanese will struggle to maintain their supply chain through the thick Burmese jungles.

Just so long as the Japanese don't eventually get past Burma and into India - that's starting to get a little too close to a Second Front for Turkey that I would like.

Who let the USA AI out of @Eurasia's AAR again?

Well, with what has happened over there, I think it has sought asylum and ended up taking over the US in my game!

The lack of any more significant losses by the Italians I believe confirms that they have no significant naval presence in the Mediterranean, right on time for a Fall landing and offensive in Libya for the Turkish heroes! I do believe that a fleet of transports escorted by the bulk of our surface fleet will be more than enough to get the job done. My only concern here is whether the Italians may still have some naval air power they could bring to bear to disrupt our landings - which would pose a serious problem, since we lack access to the British air base on Malta to provide air cover for our forces.

Yes, I think the modest Turkish surface fleet may now be larger than whatever small Italian navy remains! If we are attacked by air, I'm hoping I can escape in time to prevent anything being sunk. I may even station the main battle fleet offshore for a while to see what it might provoke, so as not to risk troops or transports while doing it.

I wonder if it might make sense to set some US objectives in the Balkans? They should have an easier time landing forces in allied territory than making landings across the Pacific against a substantial enemy navy, and those forces could greatly accelerate the falls of Rome and Berlin.

Have had one set since they joined the war - they never responded to it directly (though they did give us those Marine EFs, separately).

---xxx---​

Not a moment too soon. We need to reinforce our battle line and figure out how to bail Romania out again.

Right on, brudder.

If only the British could send a fleet and army in. Then again, it appears they've spent the whole war building nothing but ships and planes so they might not have an army left save for the stuff left from initially spawn and colonial stuff currently under attack. Very peculiar AI strategy given how we've seen previous evidence that they have the capacity to be a serious ally on land too if they want to be.

Yeah, that's not gonna happen, unfortunately. I can't even set them objectives. I wonder whether, if we eventually do get the Germans on the ropes, whether they'll ever try to land on the mainland in force. I'm doubting it, but you never know.

Err, actually what we need to do is figure out how best to save Romania again, and if we can't, figure out how to retreat properly, and where to.
If we can keep pushing northwards, that should pull the armies thrusting through Romanian back, or we can get a little further North and then turn right and try to flank the whole invasion force. It depends on how many troops are left in the south outside of Romania now we removed 50k from there...and how many in Romanian lands on top of that?

If the Axis still outnumber us, then we need to try to distract them for a bit to relieve pressure, or trick them into attack fortified positions instead of carrying on into Romania. If we have parity with them, for no way ATM least, we should try to manoeuvre that to our advantage.

You're right, the 'Romania Question' is back front and centre again. The Turkish High Command will be wondering what they can - or should - do, which will partly be governed by events and whether things stabilise themselves again without more (in addition to the limited eastern Romanian deployment) direct Turkish involvement. Or another counter-offensive to distract, once the resent button had been pressed.

Looks like he's doing Shakespeare again as well.

But of course!

---xxx---​

The sinking of HMS Warspite is the true tragedy of this update. Clearly the war is now all but lost.

I feel it - one of the ships I made an Airfix model of as a kid. But we will carry on!

---xxx---​

Oh wow! RL kept me struggeling with reading and even more making a comment, but now I'm up-to-date again.

Mixed emotions with the great success around Split but significant losses in Romania.

For the story RasaUrs was at a troop visit in Siberia via train and horse, so the travelling took some time, of course.

Great to have you back again! It is important to keep our Romanian allies in the war - and Ploiesti out of Nazi hands. The only thing that would cause us to pull back from them would be a threat to the Motherland itself. Am glad Agent RasaUrs returned from Siberia to tell the tale! Many don't make it home.

---xxx---​

Thanks everyone for some more great comments. I will now begin playing and then writing up in the next few days. I truly appreciate your support for this story and am looking forward myself to see how the next period works out - much strategic uncertainty remains.

 

[diskoerekto]

OK, you asked: it is not what many may think (ie providing a filter for all the bull one hears and sees).

Was my first guess actually

Now, the secret is out!

Wow, great story! I'm sorry for his passing, may heaven be his eternal residence. Who knew bilabial stop consonants sounding like each other when shouted would come back as a nickname decades later? Life's interesting.

Come to think of it, the AI of HoI3 is like that pool filter. Needs constant and tiresome attention, doesn't really work as intended, but still creates fun memories

Russia is not too bad - the rate of retreat is slowing down again. I think. I hope! But Romania has deteriorated a bit of late. Not sure what I may be able to do about it, directly or indirectly. They do still have a lot of Soviet EFs under command - though not sure how well they are able to support them.

They're not having any IC related supply issues tied to loss of industrial provinces, right? If that is the case maybe it can be rectified by just sending them some.

It will be their fervent aim - we'll see how they do (not played yet - we're back 'up to date' with AAR v gameplay).

Budapest-Wien-Prague-Berlin would be a nice itinerary

 

[TheButterflyComposer]

You're right, the 'Romania Question' is back front and centre again. The Turkish High Command will be wondering what they can - or should - do, which will partly be governed by events and whether things stabilise themselves again without more (in addition to the limited eastern Romanian deployment) direct Turkish involvement. Or another counter-offensive to distract, once the resent button had been pressed.

Given that I've been one of the aggressive expansion lobby this entire AAR in Yugoslavia, Persia, campaign plans for sicily and north africa etc it's a bit strange to not be promoting more attacks now we know the axis have nothing in the med to stop us moving troops around...

Thing is though, I'm also a firm promoter of keeping Romanian troops in the war for as long as possible so we really do need to pull back a little from our aggressive line of thinking and figure out how to stablise their front again. Now this might well mean an aggressive campaign into the north, trying to flank the german armies in the east or landing in italy to make the AI freak out but our main concern underlying our plans should be the preservation of romania and our west flank, cos we have shown repeatedly that so long as we have that, we can hold the axis off in Yugoslavia.

Edit: as a brief aside, the russians infecting british intelligence through Cambridge graduates isn't the first time this has happened. In fact, since the british have a long (700 years+) history of recruiting their spies from Cambridge, this happens quite a lot.

 

[Wraith11B]

It might be that the AI would choose to not value Libya very highly anymore... We might be forced into a situation where we combine a few of our previous doctrines (RAW and the Strategic Defensive Lines) to rapidly grab Sicily and then defend it (in Messina) from the inevitable Italian counter attack.

 

[nuclearslurpee]

It might be that the AI would choose to not value Libya very highly anymore... We might be forced into a situation where we combine a few of our previous doctrines (RAW and the Strategic Defensive Lines) to rapidly grab Sicily and then defend it (in Messina) from the inevitable Italian counter attack.

I think it makes more sense to follow the OTL strategy of securing Libya first. Correct me if I'm wrong, but the USA in vanilla HoI3 does not have a decision for Operation Torch, right? So it's unlikely the AI will ever work up the gumption to launch an invasion and it will fall to Turkey to do that - unless we want to allow the British to take all of Libya, denying the Comintern vital airbases and staging areas for a Sicily invasion. While of course a Sicily invasion against the Italy AI can probably be pulled off without those elements, it does make the job harder and frankly (OOC) I prefer the more realistic approach anyways.

@Bullfilter: It may be worth tagging to an Axis nation for the exclusive purpose of giving Italy some defensive objectives along the mainland and Sicilian coasts, just to see if it may help the AI learn how to defend itself if we end up invading Italy by sea. Italy traditionally forgets that naval invasions are possible and forgets to garrison her ports, as with most of the maritime nation AIs.

 

[diskoerekto]

It might be that the AI would choose to not value Libya very highly anymore... We might be forced into a situation where we combine a few of our previous doctrines (RAW and the Strategic Defensive Lines) to rapidly grab Sicily and then defend it (in Messina) from the inevitable Italian counter attack.

While this reasoning makes sense, I think a European conquest as easily defensible as Sicily also means Axis will also have easy time defending against us trying to springboard from there. That's why I'm advocating instead a plains beachhead surrounded by cities/mountains to grab and hold, and later use as a springboard.

EDIT: I mean like Taranto and surroundings although Pescara and surroundings fit my description better but being so close to Rome it will be much more heavily defended.

Libya is an exception because it's lightly defended and probably no Italian supplies ever make there so it's just some experience for our marines and landing craft.

 

[Bullfilter]

Next session played - another maelstrom of back and forth combat as the Axis AI shows commendable fight! So responses to comments below are written after already having played the next ten days.

Was my first guess actually

Wow, great story! I'm sorry for his passing, may heaven be his eternal residence. Who knew bilabial stop consonants sounding like each other when shouted would come back as a nickname decades later? Life's interesting.

Come to think of it, the AI of HoI3 is like that pool filter. Needs constant and tiresome attention, doesn't really work as intended, but still creates fun memories

They're not having any IC related supply issues tied to loss of industrial provinces, right? If that is the case maybe it can be rectified by just sending them some.

Budapest-Wien-Prague-Berlin would be a nice itinerary

In general, the AIs can definitely have the exclamation BULLfilter thrown at them. Though I must say the Axis hasn’t been doing too bad a job in this game, given the challenges presented. As for the UK and the US (largely, except for the marine EFs and all that lend lease): BULLFILTER!

Romania: perhaps, but I generally work on the principle that a human player will spend IC more effectively than the AI of another country ... though I have been tempted to help them out. Will see how they go - as long as they can keep their forces in supply, which I check once in a while.

Given that I've been one of the aggressive expansion lobby this entire AAR in Yugoslavia, Persia, campaign plans for sicily and north africa etc it's a bit strange to not be promoting more attacks now we know the axis have nothing in the med to stop us moving troops around...

Thing is though, I'm also a firm promoter of keeping Romanian troops in the war for as long as possible so we really do need to pull back a little from our aggressive line of thinking and figure out how to stablise their front again. Now this might well mean an aggressive campaign into the north, trying to flank the german armies in the east or landing in italy to make the AI freak out but our main concern underlying our plans should be the preservation of romania and our west flank, cos we have shown repeatedly that so long as we have that, we can hold the axis off in Yugoslavia.

Edit: as a brief aside, the russians infecting british intelligence through Cambridge graduates isn't the first time this has happened. In fact, since the british have a long (700 years+) history of recruiting their spies from Cambridge, this happens quite a lot.

The whole Balkan Front is quite dynamic at the moment. And you will see in the next chapter that the Axis AIs are quite determined to steal operational initiative from me ... how well they succeed and how Romania fares in this next little period will prove enlightening - in the short term anyway.

The way to really confuse British counter-intelligence of course is to recruit someone from Oxford instead! Those Soviets are not just Communists: they are ungentlemanly as well! The bounders.

It might be that the AI would choose to not value Libya very highly anymore... We might be forced into a situation where we combine a few of our previous doctrines (RAW and the Strategic Defensive Lines) to rapidly grab Sicily and then defend it (in Messina) from the inevitable Italian counter attack.

Could be, but Sicily remains on the back burner for now. As to Libya - no spoiler, no pack drill!

I think it makes more sense to follow the OTL strategy of securing Libya first. Correct me if I'm wrong, but the USA in vanilla HoI3 does not have a decision for Operation Torch, right? So it's unlikely the AI will ever work up the gumption to launch an invasion and it will fall to Turkey to do that - unless we want to allow the British to take all of Libya, denying the Comintern vital airbases and staging areas for a Sicily invasion. While of course a Sicily invasion against the Italy AI can probably be pulled off without those elements, it does make the job harder and frankly (OOC) I prefer the more realistic approach anyways.

@Bullfilter: It may be worth tagging to an Axis nation for the exclusive purpose of giving Italy some defensive objectives along the mainland and Sicilian coasts, just to see if it may help the AI learn how to defend itself if we end up invading Italy by sea. Italy traditionally forgets that naval invasions are possible and forgets to garrison her ports, as with most of the maritime nation AIs.

Sicily and Libya can indeed be linked (though Tunisia is even closer ...) But the next period provides some more info on Bengasi, so we’ll see where that leads and what the Italians may be up to in response to the current British offensive via Tobruk. Plus events in the Balkans may have an impact on any proposed Med excursions - and whether any tag to Italy is merited (my first impulse in this particular game though is not to ‘actively tag’ to either friend or foe and let the AIs do what the game lets them).

All: thanks for the supplementary discussion - much appreciated. Back now to some heavy duty image editing and then writing - the next ep or two will have to be more battle diary focused, I think!

 

[Bullfilter]

While this reasoning makes sense, I think a European conquest as easily defensible as Sicily also means Axis will also have easy time defending against us trying to springboard from there. That's why I'm advocating instead a plains beachhead surrounded by cities/mountains to grab and hold, and later use as a springboard.

Libya is an exception because it's lightly defended and probably no Italian supplies ever make there so it's just some experience for our marines and landing craft.

As above, the short term will shed a little more light on this. I just wish I had the joint capacity of the Allies in OTL 1943-44 for air supported amphibious operations. But it’s still only mid-1942 Turkey in the middle of a desperate land war with Germany and its Axis lackeys, with a largely dormant UK and US ... limits my power projection and follow-up capacity a little bit for such grand adventures. Perhaps in 1943 ...

 

[diskoerekto]

As above, the short term will shed a little more light on this. I just wish I had the joint capacity of the Allies in OTL 1943-44 for air supported amphibious operations. But it’s still only mid-1942 Turkey in the middle of a desperate land war with Germany and its Axis lackeys, with a largely dormant UK and US ... limits my power projection and follow-up capacity a little bit for such grand adventures. Perhaps in 1943 ...

I agree, any thought experiment about future operations also has to take into account how realistic it is resourcewise. I was prioritizing between different European amphibious operation alternatives but of course the real priority should be to stabilize the front and try to make another offensive towards Budapest to threaten all those Axis corps threatening Odessa.

In general, the AIs can definitely have the exclamation BULLfilter thrown at them. Though I must say the Axis hasn’t been doing too bad a job in this game, given the challenges presented. As for the UK and the US (largely, except for the marine EFs and all that lend lease): BULLFILTER!

Romania: perhaps, but I generally work on the principle that a human player will spend IC more effectively than the AI of another country ... though I have been tempted to help them out. Will see how they go - as long as they can keep their forces in supply, which I check once in a while.

If you already check once in a while if their troops are in supply, no further action (like sending them supplies) is necessary, it would be a waste of resources otherwise.

 

[Wraith11B]

While this reasoning makes sense, I think a European conquest as easily defensible as Sicily also means Axis will also have easy time defending against us trying to springboard from there. That's why I'm advocating instead a plains beachhead surrounded by cities/mountains to grab and hold, and later use as a springboard.

EDIT: I mean like Taranto and surroundings although Pescara and surroundings fit my description better but being so close to Rome it will be much more heavily defended.

Libya is an exception because it's lightly defended and probably no Italian supplies ever make there so it's just some experience for our marines and landing craft.

That's fair, and I'd agree that grabbing Libya (especially if the rear areas are largely undefended) would be good to get. I understand that it does make it easy to "defend" against us attacking directly from there into the mainland of Italy, but it allows us a chance at an Anzio-style to get into their rear while they're not only trying to hold us in Sicily but also have to contend with their rear, while also trying to hold in the Balkans.

 

[GangsterSynod]

I agree with the good mister @Bullfilter. These adventures are worthwhile in future, but for now, priority one must be to maintain Romania - at any cost.

 

[stnylan]

In all the planning meetings, the Romanian front has always been the weak spot. In fact I would qualify that further and say the Black Sea coast front, since the perceived weakness persists even once one enters into the Glorious Union - as opposed to the "Western" front where multiple chains of defensive terrain have been identified.

Yet keeping Romania out of Axis hands for as long as possible is surely crucial, if only because of oil. Whilst I will not so all other considerations apart from this are distractions - the integrity of the "Western" front is not a distraction - the situation in Romania should be surely becoming the moment of greatest of urgency. It has been proven the Union can more or less effectively resist the Axis in the West. If they cannot do so in Romania and along the coast, then there will be no option but to surrender nearly the entirey of the European portion to the Axis menace.

We have spoken in the past of Timisoara - but Timisoara in the past. Remember Romania! For Wallachia and Moldova! Their time, and the time of the Union, is now.

Perse - over to you for a better slogan

 

[nuclearslurpee]

I would say that, if nothing else, slapping down a couple of HARM-boosted divisions in Ploesti and Bucharesti should go a very long ways if worst comes to worst, keeping Romanian divisions in the game and keeping Romanian oil out of Germany's game. Those should give the Romanians enough support to stave off elimination, while the rest of our Glorious Army charges forward!

 

[Bullfilter]

Just quickly, there were a few plans and potential defensive lines done before for an ‘in extremis’ defence of Ploiesti and Bucharest if it came down to it, and that was when we had a good number fewer (and less powerful) divisions than we do now.

I’d try to do something before that if I thought they were actually collapsing - and that was why the screen was sent out to Eastern Romania even when I thought things were just looking a little concerning. But you will see how events have played out over the next little period - so I won’t spoil that.

Suffice it to say a careful eye has been kept on Romania all along, but I think its ultimate fate depends on how well Turkey and the Soviets are able to do in their sectors to keep the Axis from having enough troops to knock them out. But for now, I’m keen to force Romania (with Soviet EFs) to sort its own fate out. Whether that works without a direct major defensive or offensive intervention is the $64 question.

 

[diskoerekto]

I believe if we push north, especially if it's a long (albeit on the narrow side) salient it would completely destabilize the troops facing Romania. Something like a 2 province wide salient between rivers Tisa and Danube.

 

[Bullfilter]

A last few responses to previous comments, before I start publishing the latest (big and busy) chapter:

I agree with the good mister @Bullfilter. These adventures are worthwhile in future, but for now, priority one must be to maintain Romania - at any cost.

Thank you. The happenings of the next week of game time will soon be revealed.

In all the planning meetings, the Romanian front has always been the weak spot. In fact I would qualify that further and say the Black Sea coast front, since the perceived weakness persists even once one enters into the Glorious Union - as opposed to the "Western" front where multiple chains of defensive terrain have been identified.

Yet keeping Romania out of Axis hands for as long as possible is surely crucial, if only because of oil. Whilst I will not so all other considerations apart from this are distractions - the integrity of the "Western" front is not a distraction - the situation in Romania should be surely becoming the moment of greatest of urgency. It has been proven the Union can more or less effectively resist the Axis in the West. If they cannot do so in Romania and along the coast, then there will be no option but to surrender nearly the entirey of the European portion to the Axis menace.

We have spoken in the past of Timisoara - but Timisoara in the past. Remember Romania! For Wallachia and Moldova! Their time, and the time of the Union, is now.

Perse - over to you for a better slogan

Other than my comment above, Romania is not forgotten! There will be quite a bit on it in the next chapter and a bit of a look at its fundamentals as well. In essence, for a while I've wanted to let it fend for itself with Soviet support as much as possible, as I simply don't have the resources (units or manpower reserves) to defend the whole (remainder) of the country myself and still hold and win along the Adriatic-Sava-Danube Lines. But prior plans to make a last-ditch defence of Ploiesti and Bucharest would, as mentioned above, be very seriously considered: if they become necessary.

I would say that, if nothing else, slapping down a couple of HARM-boosted divisions in Ploesti and Bucharesti should go a very long ways if worst comes to worst, keeping Romanian divisions in the game and keeping Romanian oil out of Germany's game. Those should give the Romanians enough support to stave off elimination, while the rest of our Glorious Army charges forward!

Good points, although the Romanians seem to already be putting Soviet EFs in as depth garrisons and defending north of those two quite determinedly. Again, we'll see what happens later: if Ploiesti (less defensible terrain) is lost, Romania can still be kept in the war by holding Bucharest. A shortened line across to Costanta on the Black Sea could be established if necessary and that sector is quite close and accessible to the Turkish front if forces needed to be switched. Not yet, though.

I believe if we push north, especially if it's a long (albeit on the narrow side) salient it would completely destabilize the troops facing Romania. Something like a 2 province wide salient between rivers Tisa and Danube.

You will see how events shape and constrain what we can do in the shorter term. Longer term: we'll see what is possible for another offensive if the time falls ripe again as it did with the Adriatic Pocket.

All: I'll now start publishing the next chapter, which will take an hour or two probably (with RL duties as well ).

 

[Bullfilter]

Chapter 180: The Sava See-saw (1 to 7 September 1942)

AuthAAR’s Note: I played a ten day session here (for continuity purposes mainly, but not wanting to play too far ahead), hoping I might be able to get it all in one chapter. A bit too much happened though, but I was able to cover another week of frenetic action, anyway.

---xxx---​

Recap

August ended with one battle in progress – a renewed Axis push to expand their bridgehead over the Sava at Tuzla. A German division was leading the assault supported by three Hungarian divisions, attacking from three directions. The river defence was balanced by an enemy attack from three different directions and MAJGEN Hartmann of the German 19th Division executing a masterful breakthrough attack, plus the fact that he had four fresh division up against two worn Comintern formations who were only partially dug in.

​

And after much discussion at Supreme HQ, the 1st Navy was ordered to scout Bengasi to see what it might hold and whether an amphibious attack on it by the US MEF might be worthwhile.

---xxx---​

1 Sep 42

The third anniversary of the beginning of the Second Great War was marked in Italy by the despised Slovakian counter-intelligence stooges apprehending a Turkish MAH team in a midnight raid. There will be a reckoning with these obnoxious Fascist fellow-travellers one day! Certainly if 'Ambassador' Mike Ceylan had anything to do with it!

On the battlefront, the traditional Axis re-assessment of operations at the start of the month also brought an attack on Ubdina on the Adriatic coast. Another German masterful breakthrough attempt was partially countered by 1 Inf Div’s MAJGEN Orbay using delaying tactics. The initial assessment was that the enemy had attacked with too little to achieve victory, though the open terrain was not ideal for defence.

​

In their typically bloodthirsty way, the Germans extended their ‘celebration’ of the third anniversary of the start of GW2 by launching a simultaneous assault on Turkey’s own bridgehead over the Sava River at Gradiska. 15 Inf Div was well dug in and its IS-2 tank brigade gave it additional protection, but the enemy delivered a serious attack and the position was isolated, with more Axis divisions nearby but not yet committed.

SGT Metin Sadik sheltered in a trench line that contained dugouts with overhead protection at various points, giving protection from the artillery barrage that inevitable preceded a major assault.

“Keep your heads down, men” he shouted to ‘his’ platoon (the young lieutenant in charge was a replacement himself – this was his first battle).
​

The men were a mixture of a few veterans from the early days, some more experienced reinforcements from the last year of heavy fighting, and terrified new recruits.

“But when the barrage lifts, heads up! They will be coming to get us and we need to kill them first.”​

​

Concerned about the longer term potential of the attack on Tuzla, 1 Mot Div was switched across from Valjevo to Zvornik. If Tuzla fell, they would be tasked with assisted a counter-attack to retake it. The proposed counter-attack to retake the south bank of the Sava at Sabac from the Italians holding it would have to wait for another time.

​

By 1am, the Italians began a bombing raid on Ubdina to support the attack on it. Two wings of TAC bombers were escorted by a fighter (multi-role) wing. Then at 2am, the Germans sent a similar force to conduct ground attacks on Gradiska: the Axis was proving adept again at sending escorted raids in direct support of ground assaults. Knowing how dangerous the Luftwaffe’s TAC bombers were, the Beograd CAP, consisting of 6 AF (Wildcats) and 2 AF (I-16s) was sent up to intercept them, even though both were suffering disorganisation from recent combat at 6 AF was still only at 91% strength. The other fighter groups were still recovering and were worse off than those two wings.

The air battle over Gradiska began at 3am. It soon turned for the worse, with the Italians sending in an additional two wings of fighters that must have been standing by on intercept duty.

“Get them out of there!” shouted Örlungat to the ground controllers at Beograd. “Before they are blasted out of the sky!”​

The enemy raid hit home unhindered, while the two Turkish fighter wings were badly mauled. By the time the damage assessment was done back at Beograd at 7am, 6 AF had lost another 10% of its strength, while 2 AF had lost a harrowing 20% of its planes and almost all organisation. The Turkish fighter interception capacity, especially in the face of such enemy strength, would be grounded for some time to come. The Axis had achieved local air superiority for days, if not weeks to come.

​

As the fighters limped back to Beograd, old Wehib Pasha was reporting from Banja Luka. He had pulled into the province at 6am and came under attack from the advancing Germans an hour later, having had no time to establish a prepared defence:

“Contact! The German 233rd Panzer-Grenadier Division has attacked us from Sanski Most. Their ant-tank weapons over-match our old T-28s, but we in turn outgun their light armoured vehicles. The initial shock of their attack has limited our ability to bring effective fire to bear, but we will do our best. Out.”​

​

Reinforcements from the south were still some way off at that time. Banja Luka was pivotal to ensuring Gradiska was not outflanked to its south and made even more isolated, and also because there was no effective defence set to its south yet. There was still a dangerous gap in the Turkish line in this sector. At the same time, over in Ubdina, the German 93rd Infanterie Division [reinforcement chance 4.2%] had joined in reserve in the battle from Bosanski Petrovac (north-east of Ubdina). If they could reinforce, then Ubdina could be in jeopardy.

In eastern Romania, 177 SD finished its withdrawal to Cahul from Chisinau at 7am. By then, the Romanians had reinforced and held Chisinau and they and the Soviets were holding the line on the approaches to Odessa, so the immediate danger there was over. 177 SD was put on trains and ordered to relocate back to a reserve waiting area in Pozega, just south of Beograd. But as a precaution, the rest of the Turkish screen on the Romanian-Soviet border was left in place for now.

The latest IS-2 tank brigade (the 3rd HArm Bde) finished basic training that morning and was deployed into Namut’s veteran 5 Inf Div in Petrovac, which was part of the 23rd Corps’ defence of the Danube. That sector had been thinned somewhat in past weeks, especially of its armoured forces. This would give the sector some heavier weaponry in case the Axis decided to switch its efforts there. It would also give the new brigade time to work up to full effectiveness in a quieter sector. The division’s AT brigade was swapped out and would be sent to bring 3 Cav Div in Turnu Severin to five brigade strength. It would decrease their speed, but at the moment they were being employed in a static defensive role and this would give them some additional AT punch. The AT guns would probably be transferred out again if another new infantry division was raised where they could be employed.

The battery of Axis attacks in the Adriatic and Sava sectors continued all that morning, and at 1pm came news that and Italian division had joined the reserve of the attack on Tuzla [0.7% reinforcement chance]. Comintern resistance in these four battles went on through the night.

At 10pm, the 1st Navy arrived in the Gulf of Sidra. As they had sailed past Bengasi earlier, they had been able to spot quite a bit. There were five wings (German and Italian) based in the airfield there, one Italian ship in the port and at least three German and Italian brigade sized formations of unknown composition defending it.

​

The initial assessment was that this was too much to risk Turkey’s only current strategic reserve, especially when Axis pressure was intensifying along the Adriatic-Sava Front and Romania, though temporarily stabilised across its whole front, was still in danger. 1st Navy would remain on station for a while to see if it drew any enemy response by sea or air and in the (unlikely) hope that more detailed information on enemy troop positions could be gleaned. And Bengasi was out of recon range for the old Blenheim wing based in Crete. This last report closed off a very turbulent and demanding day.

Air Report. Three Italian raids on Ubdina killed a total of 383 Comintern defenders, while three German raids on Gradiska killed 883 men of 15 Inf Div – a very nasty and telling blow in combination with the ground battle.

OTL Event: Russia. The German 4th Panzer Army attacked the Soviet 64th Army in the southern suburbs of Stalingrad.

---xxx---
​

2 Sep 42

A ray of good news was delivered at midnight: Turkish central planning doctrine had been improved, with the most useful immediate effect being an increased chance of employing counter-attack tactics in the defence. The doctrine staff were kept on the same line of research, with the ultimate aim of being able to develop grand battle planning – a significant remedy for the poor rate of battle reinforcement that had plagued Turkish operational planning for years now.

​

In Gradiska, at 1am MAJGEN Gataly’s otherwise sound attempt to employ masterful delaying tactics was completely negated by the German commander Herzog blasting through with a straight-out assault. This did not help the defence at all, and combined with the furious (and now uncontested) aerial attack of the Luftwaffe. It was beginning to tell on the strength and organisation of even the tried, tested and well-armed 15 Inf Div.

At the same time, with the odds in Tuzla worsening and the defenders tiring, it was decided to pull them out while they were still capable of resistance in the next line of defence. 217 SD would head to Zavidovici and 10 Inf Div to Zvornik. Two hours later, the enemy occupied Tuzla, widening the breach of the Sava line to three provinces. At least the defenders had exacted more casualties on the attackers than they had conceded. This may well have changed had they tried to fight on to the bitter end, with no reinforcements in sight.

​

Late morning also saw the situation in Gradiska slowly worsening while enemy air raids continued. At 11am, with larger Axis troop concentrations massing nearby, the order was given to Gataly to pull out. The much sought-after (and fought-over) Sava River bridgehead would have to be be conceded. Again, the Axis had been forced to pay a heavy price for it, but exposing 15 Inf Div to further air attacks and a determined ground assault may have changed that equation – and rendered the key heavy attack formation useless for any nearer-term tasks.

​

At that time, the situation in Ubdina was also worsening: the German 93rd Division had reinforced the battle and the Italian air raids continued [combat odds to 60% in Axis favour]. But in this case, the Turks were not prepared to easily concede the ground: the loss of Ubdina would badly compromise the line anchoring the south, especially with Drvar to its east still not secured by the approaching 1 Mtn and 11 Inf Divs.

“You must fight on!” was the order to the two Comintern commanders – Orbay of the ‘Mighty First’ Inf Div [IS-1 armed, experience +47%, combined arms +25%] and Devyatov of 222 SD. “Help is on the way!”

Fighting raged in Ubdina and Banja Luka for the rest of the day, with things slowly worsening in the former but improving in the latter. Then, at 7pm, ‘Muzir’s Mountaineers’ arrived in the hills of Drvar and were ordered to make a quick spoiling attack on the German 93rd Division in Bosanski Petrovac. It was hoped this might greatly assist the defence of Ubdina. The attack went in at 8pm and met with immediate success:

“We’ve caught them in the flank,” reported Muzir. “We are pressing home the attack despite their use of an elastic defence.”​

​

The effect was quick: the 93rd broke off their attack on Ubdina an hour later, meaning the odds there improved greatly [from 62% to 30% for the attackers]. Though it also meant the 93rd would soon be oriented to face the attack on their southern flank without penalty from a multiple attack [odds now at 50%].

If the Comintern was looking for a longer break in op tempo to recover and reform the ruptured Sava Line, they were soon disappointed. The German 19th Division, after a short recovery in Tuzla (the Germans were always infernally quick in this regard), launched an exploratory assault on the Turkish depth position of Zvornik that night, at 8pm. Yamut led the defence, with his reinforced Corps HQ in the thick of the fighting. By then, the battered 10 Inf Div was withdrawing to Zvornik from the north-west while 1 Mot Div was in Visegrad and coming from the south-east. The Turks defended stoutly, knowing reinforcements were on the way.

​

Air Report. Two Italian raids on Ubdina killed another 146 defenders, while two more German raids on Gradiska had killed 341 more soldiers from 15 Inf Div before they withdrew – a total of 1,224 in just two days.

---xxx---​

3 Sep 42

The weakening Germany 72nd Division was still attacking Ubdina from Perusic. 1 Mtn Div continued its spoiling attack on Bosanski Petrovac, keeping the 93rd from interfering. Sensing time was running out and still with Italian air support, MAJGEN von Randow of the 72nd began a reckless assault at 1am. Casualties on both sides would mount, but the defenders were now confident of withstanding it [odds now 29% in the Comintern’s favour], with 222 SD still comparatively fresh, though 1 Inf Div had taken a fair pounding.

At 3am, 1 Mot Div arrived in Zvornik: they were yet to reinforce [0.5% chance], but their mere presence swung the odds firmly in Turkey’s favour [18%], given the attacking Germans were outnumbered and still somewhat disorganised from the previous battle to take Tuzla.

But the Axis was not yet done in their Sava counter-offensive. At 7am, they launched yet another attack, this time from Ruma across the Sava at Valjevo with German and Hungarian troops. HQ 6th Corps had been in location, but were soon evacuated as they had no combat strength. But the redoubtable Karabekir’s 3 Inf Div was well dug in despite the German commander of the 21st Infanterie, one Sepp Dietrich, ordering a reckless assault.

​

Spoiler: MAH report on Sepp Dietrich

Josef "Sepp" Dietrich (b. 28 May 1892) is a German Nazi politician and SS commander. He joined the Nazi Party in 1928 and was elected to the Reichstag of the Weimar Republic in 1930. Prior to 1929, Dietrich was Adolf Hitler's chauffeur and bodyguard. He received rapid promotions in the SS after his participation in the extrajudicial executions of political opponents during the 1934 purge known as the Night of the Long Knives. [OTL Note: of course, he later became one of the highest ranking SS field commanders, despite having no formal prior military training. And his vile war crimes during the Ardennes offensive in 1944, specifically at Malmedy, made him an even more odious and notorious figure.]

At 9am, the exhausted but still functional 10 Inf Div made it’s way back into a reserve position in Zvornik after their retreat from Tuzla, further bolstering the chances of the province holding. At the same time, the Italian 21st Division in Sabac joined Dietrich’s reckless attack on Valjevo. They were only in reserve for now [only 0.6% reinforcement chance – the Italians clearly don’t have Grand Battle Plan yet either], but if they did reinforce they would be unhindered by any river-crossing penalty.

At 11am, 1 Armd Div had beaten off the attack by the 233rd Pz-Gren Division on Banja Luka [but no specific post-battle report was generated]. But the defence had left Wehib Pasha’s division at only around one-third organisation effectiveness, and more Axis units could be detected heading down from the north now Gradiska had been lost. They needed 17 Inf Div (approaching from the south) to help strengthen their positions before a new enemy attack began.

At 4pm, victory was declared in Ubdina as the Germans finally broke off their attack. It had been an expensive battle for both sides, with just over a thousand Comintern defenders killed on the ground and another 754 from three days of air attacks, compared to over 1,500 German casualties. And 1 Inf Div had been left dangerously disorganised after bearing the brunt of the three-day attack.

​

With the recent victory in Ubdina, the real work of the spoiling attack on Bosanski Petrovac was done. It was called off at 3pm, where 1 Mtn Div waited for 11 Inf Div to reinforce it in Drvar.

​

As 176 SD made it to Travnik to finally give it a sturdy defence (only HQ 2nd Corps had been holding it until then), the Hungarian 16th Division launched a short-lived probe to its north against Prnjavor, which they soon called off for obvious reasons. With a growing enemy concentration in Sanski Most plus their occupation of Doboj, Prnjavor itself was at risk of becoming isolated as well, with 15 Inf Div still retreating from Gradiska. Holding Travnik was now of vital importance.

​

At 5pm, a panicked report from Nehoiu, in the centre of the Romanian front near Brasov, indicated 177 SD's trains had been ambushed by advance elements of the Hungarian and German attackers when the Romanians were forced out of the province. The division was forced out of its trains and, after a brief skirmish, began withdrawing south-west to the strongly-held Campina. [So much for letting the AI choose the route for a long move across the front! ] Although Nehoiu may be lost, the Romanian-Soviet lines in front of Ploiesti and Bucharest appeared strongly-enough manned for now. But the Axis was inching closer to them.

​

At 9pm, 217 SD arrived in Zavidovici, where they added to the strong Soviet EF presence there, with 97 SD ‘Shev’ was also on its way to join its namesake 97 SD ‘Shar’. They may have retreated earlier from Tuzla, but were still in fair fighting shape. An hour later, 7 Inf Div pulled into Zenica to add some strength to the improvised defence there as well.

​

Air Report. The Italians conducted three more raids on Ubdina that day, killing 255 more defenders, but 6pm marked the end of raids there. In fact, no more enemy air raids on Turkish positions would be launched for the rest of the week.

---xxx---​

4 Sep 42

The defence of Zavidovici had been augmented just in time, with yet another Axis attack launched there at 1am. MAJGEN Deitl’s 3rd Gebirgsjäger Division was experienced, led by a brilliant commander and at home in the hilly terrain. Both the Soviet divisions defending there were still worn down from previous battles, far less experienced and as yet only lightly entrenched. They were at an initial disadvantage, their main hope being the impending arrival of 97 SD ‘Shev’, due in another ten hours.

​

15 Inf Div arrived safely in Prnjavor from Gradiska at 8am. They would quickly refuel and, at slightly over 50% organisation, would be ready for new tasks reasonably soon – if they were to be committed before resuming 100% organisation.

The enemy attack on Zvornik had been petering out for some time and at 10am they broke it off. Simultaneously, the largely-recovered 12 SD arrived in Zenica from the south and was immediately ordered into a spoiling attack on Doboj, to help relieve Zavidovici. And freed from defensive duties in Zvornik, 1 Mot Div prepared another spoiling attack, on the Italians Sabac, to assist the defence of Valjevo.

​

The two spoiling attacks went in at 11am. This triggered the entire attack on Valjevo (including from Ruma) to be called off – excellent news. The very brief 1 Mot Div attack was discontinued straight away, its purpose served. At the same time, Dietl stopped his attack on Zavidovici when 97 SD ‘Shev’ joined their Soviet comrades there and 12 SD’s attack on Doboj struck home.

​

But 12 SD were told to keep attacking Doboj: Inönü had plans to regain some of the recently lost initiative now the units freed from the closure of the Adriatic Pocket were beginning to become available. Dietl’s mountain troops now supported the defence of Doboj by their compatriots of the 73rd Infanterie Division.

​

Three hours later, the fresh 97 SD ‘Shev’ from Zavidovici and 176 SD from Travnik joined their comrades in an all-Soviet attack on Doboj [Soviet doctrine was far better for conducting battlefield reinforcement].

​

Despite Inönü’s determination to begin reasserting the initiative, the Axis command had other ideas. At 7pm they launched simultaneous attacks on Ubdina (where the recent battle had prevented entrenchments from being extended much before this new onslaught) and on Banja Luka, where the 2nd Panzer Division assaulted across the Sava River from Gradiska. 17 Inf Div had not reached the front line in time to add to the initial defence. The armour of the old T-28 medium tanks of 1 Armd Div was outgunned by the Germans, but so too did the Turk’s guns have the advantage over the German armour, so neither side would gain a ‘protection advantage’. The main advantage for the Turks was the river line; for the Germans, it was superior leadership, assault tactics and the Turks being already worn down by the recent defence.

​

Things began drifting to the advantage of the Axis in Ubdina soon after [to 60%, reinforcement chance 3.2%] when the 93rd once again joined the battle from Bosanski Petrovac at 10pm.

OTL Event: Hungary. Soviet planes bombed Budapest for the first time.

---xxx---​

5 Sep 42

Welcome news came at midnight, with a support equipment upgrade for Turkey’s 15 mountain brigades (the new indigenously-trained marine brigades already had more advanced licensed US equipment). The next priority would be to upgrade the Turkish Army’s large artillery arm.

​

At 5am, the refueled 15 Inf Div was ordered in to attack the flank of the Germans in Doboj, where they joined the battle in reserve at 6am. In the meantime, the German 73rd Infanterie Division had been forced from the field, leaving the 3rd Gebirgsjäger defending by themselves, on ground that did not suit their specialist training. This latest ploy swung the odds heavily in favour of the attackers [88%] and proved the final straw for Deitl, who began withdrawing back across the Sava River at 7am.

​

97 SD ‘Shev’ in Zavidovici was withdrawn from the attack as soon as the victory was won, but the other three divisions kept advancing to retake Doboj.

At midday, 3 Mtn Div had completed their move to the hills of Jajce, where they were temporarily held in case the defence of Banja Luka (where the Germans were slowly gaining the upper hand) failed before 17 Inf Div could arrive and reinforce Wehib Pasha’s 1st Armoured. [Note: the recent battle experience in the Adriatic Pocket had taken MAJGEN Seven to Skill Level 1 and a good way along to Level 2.] Then at 2pm, the enemy broke off their second attack on Ubdina after suffering disproportionately heavy casualties. Vur ha!

​

Clearly not willing to surrender the initiative easily, the Axis once again assaulted Zavidovici at 4pm, with two Hungarian divisions attacking from Tuzla. The holding of 97 SD ‘Shev’ there from the attack on Doboj had proven prescient, given the residual weakness of the other two defending Soviet EFs.

​

In Banja Luka, the period from 9-10pm saw both sides trying to bring reinforcements to the front line. But the German 45th Infantry had a considerably better chance of reinforcing than 17 Inf Div.

---xxx---​

6 Sep 42

The day began with the 1st Navy being ordered back to port in Izmir, having shed no more light on enemy positions in Bengasi nor being attacked by the enemy over the previous four days. The Polish uprising continued and though Warsaw had been retaken by the Germans, the rebellion went on in three provinces, centred on Modlin just to Warsaw’s north-west. And Romanian LO RasaUrs75 reported that other than the loss of Nehoiu, the whole Romanian front remained steady, form Chisinau on the Soviet border down to the border with the UGNR on the Danube at Turnu Severin. Maybe the intense battle on the Adriatic-Sava Front of recent days had drawn strength away from the previous rolling assault on Romania.

Much to the relief of Wehib Pasha, the German attack on Banja Luka was broken off at 1am. This meant any new attack there would be met with 17 Inf Div now fully in place. Three hours after this, 7 Inf Div was ordered to march from Zenica to Prnjavor: it was time to first bolster the defence there with 15 Inf Div heading to Doboj, and then eventually look to relieve 2 Mot Div for offensive duties where their speed and power might be better used.

​

11 Inf Div joined 2 Mtn Div in Drvar at 6am, giving more options for a possible later attack on Bosanski Petrovac if the Turks wished to resume the advance at a later point.

Thousands of kilometres away, Giuseppe ‘Romeo’ Montague, David Callan’s ‘freelance’ agent acting outside formal MI6 channels due to his fear of a Soviet mole in London, was preparing his new undercover identity. It had been decided not to risk him impersonating an Arab (who mainly drew Turkish suspicion at this time) and certainly not a Turk, which would have likely led to his quick discovery, irrespective of MI6 double-agents in London or elsewhere.

He would instead ‘become’ a Free French minerals exporter based in Brazzaville, in Free French Congo. Nearby Libreville was currently the capital of Free France: Callan would use his personal contacts with de Gaulle’s Free French Intelligence Head Paul Repiton-Préneuf to ensure the new identity would be supported. The suspicious French would have no problems keeping the mission secret from their British ‘Allies’ in London if Callan so requested, without disclosing the specific reasons why.

Spoiler: Note: Brazzaville in OTL

During World War II Brazzaville and the rest of French Equatorial Africa remained beyond the control of Vichy France; the city served as the capital of France Libre from 1940–1943. In ATL the AI has chosen Libreville.

Spoiler: Note: Paul Repiton-Préneuf

[NB: the personal info on Repiton-Préneuf Google-translated from French Wikipedia, so I hope it rings true.]

Paul Repiton-Préneuf (b. 18 October 1904) is a Free French officer. By profession an engineer in the oil industry, he became director of the Shell in Syria from 1936 to 1938. He was mobilised in 1939, with the rank of lieutenant. In OTL, he was assigned to the newly raised 2e Division Blindée (2nd Armoured Division) in 1943 under Leclerc as the chief of its 2e Bureau (Bureau de Renseignements).

The Bureau Central de Renseignements et d'Action, (Central Bureau of Intelligence and Operations), abbreviated BCRA, was the World War II-era forerunner of the SDECE, the French intelligence service. The BCRA was created by the Free French chief-of-staff in 1940. This is where the Paradox researchers must have found him – not a completely unreasonable allocation, by the looks of it. We may meet Repiton-Préneuf in person later in the story.

Giuseppe Montague as he appeared in Brazzaville on his arrival on 6 September 1942 to begin establishing his new identity for his ‘under-the-radar’ mission to Istanbul.
​

The latest enemy attack on Zavidovici was repulsed by midday, with heavy Hungarian casualties. For the first time in over a week, there were no active battles on the Turkish sector of the Patriotic Front.

The icons mark the recent Axis advances on the Sava River, with Doboj not yet reoccupied by Comintern forces.​

An hour later, a very short probe by the Italian 3rd Motorised Division on Banja Luka was broken off, with 32 enemy killed for no Turkish losses. Otherwise, an eerie calm descended on the Turkish front for the rest of the day.

---xxx---​

7 Sep 42

A new engineer brigade finished training early that morning and was ordered to commence work-up training in Pozega (the central marshalling point just south of Beograd) and await assignment.

At 5am 6 Inf Div arrived in Travnik from the south and was ordered straight up to Prnjavor, where 7 Inf Div should eventually join them, hopefully freeing up 2 Mot Div from its current defensive duties. Or shoring up the defences there in case the large concentration of Axis troops building up to its north began a new attack. 15 Inf Div occupied Doboj at 7am and were joined by 176 SD two hours later. The re-establishment of the Sava Line had taken another major step forward.

​

With the rest of the day passing quietly in the Turkish sector, that night LO Agent RasUrs75 reported at 9pm that the entire Romanian front line continued to hold strong, with noticeably lighter Axis troop numbers stretching north-east of Brasov all the way up to Chisinau (most provinces with only one Axis division holding it). It looked like any potential disaster had once more been averted. For now.

OTL Event: New Guinea. The Battle of Milne Bay ended in Australian victory. [Comment: In ATL, the Japanese are still bogged down in Malaya and more preoccupied with their large war with the Soviets in Central Asia.]

---xxx---​

Weekly Update

Just before midnight, Inönü received a quick verbal briefing on events on the wider Patriotic and other fronts.

Patriotic Front as at 2359 hr on 7 September 1942. As usual, the green line shows positions at the beginning of 1 September.​

All the major front line Soviet cities as at the end of August continued to hold. The Germans had made some advances south of Novgorod, but the Soviets had advanced strongly between Vitsyebsk and Homel. Adnaces were minor and balanced in Ukraine, with most movement around Kyiv (which remained in German hands) including some ground gained north-west of Odessa. Alas, the latest Polish uprising in and around Warsaw had been completely crushed.

There had been no exchange of territory at all on the Eastern Front since 31 August.

The British reported very little change in the lines in either Burma or Malaya in the last week. In Libya they had secured El Adem, just south-west of Tobruk, but again no other movements had been reported. No changes had occurred in the wider Pacific Theatre.

The main news in the Mediterranean revolved around an apparently unopposed lodgement by a single British infantry division in Olbia, the Italian port on the north coast of Sardinia, some time in the last few days. More information would likely be provided in coming days.

Romania advised that much of their industry base [23.13 IC out of a total of 36] was devoted to supply production. Their fuel stocks were low as was the supply stockpile, but only one TAC wing (in Bucharest) reported being in poor supply. Manpower was more of a problem (zero in reserve) but officer holdings were excellent [139%]. Surrender progress had not changed [33.1%, with 25% of VPs occupied – Bucharest has 50% and Ploiesti 25% of the VPs]. Romanian infantry technology was a couple of years behind contemporary standards [Level 4 across the board, contemporary being Level 5], but not too bad.

---xxx---
​

Coming Up: With the heaviest Axis effort currently seeming to be applied to the Turkish sector of the Balkans, can Turkey hold and then start to throw back the remaining incursions across the Sava River? The mooted amphibious invasion of Bengasi has been put on the back burner again for now, given the likely opposition identified there and the relative lack of ‘punch’ from the British around Tobruk. But it could be reconsidered if the Balkans continued to hold as it had done. Rather than the MEF being used as a ‘fire brigade’ should there be a worrying reverse in Romania or towards Odessa.The Eastern Front seems to have stabilised now; a lone cavalry sortie through ‘friendly’ Sinkiang territory could be contemplated as an exploratory adventure.

Will the British expand out from Olbia to take the rest of Sardinia? And/or use it as an forward air base against Italy? Can they hold out in Malaya and Burma against superior Japanese and Thai numbers? Will the US wake up - now that @Eurasia 's US AI has sought asylum in the TT universe !? Will Callan’s plan to infiltrate his own agent into Turkey work? Montague’s aim will not be to spy on the Turks at all: he will be more interested in sniffing around the British presence there, so see if he can gain any clues as to who or what was undermining British espionage efforts. Some of these questions may be answered in the next few chapters – though others are likely to remain for a while to come yet.

 

[stnylan]

Talking of US AI - I have just had a memory back from your France game. Do I remember correctly that the US AI sent one or more divisions to have extended tour of the vineyards of southern France?

I really wonder if we shouldn't fall back before we are forced to - this extended line is proving tricksy to hold.