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I nice sentiment, though I wish it was 100% true. The main problem is with our older medium tanks: because I'm doing it all via licences, the old models don't get upgraded. Perhaps I can give them some newer model TDs at some point to at least boost the piercing attack of 1 Armd Div, at least. Basically, they are now like a slower-moving light armoured division compared to the Germans. The divs with the IS-2s though are still pretty boss!
This began great! After this, only Sabac will be left as their bridgehead so we haven't conceded much after their counterattack. After our last offensive, we were kind of in a completely passive mode waiting for the steel storm to end. This time we're punching back and we're punching hard.
A good little period - and it must be contributing to a manpower problem for the Germans by now (a little more on that in the next update). I think the Italians have plenty, though.
Now this is exciting to fight for one's life but also for the motherland and for a good cause with the camaraderie of adventurous and witty folk like Tyler. We'll just utilize the terrain as we mastered it back home and liberate another province from the fascisct scum!
He will be a slow build and is up against some formidable obstacles if he wishes to succeed. Moles in his own side, then the Soviet-assisted Turkish secret police of Kaya - and his infamous Midnight Express.
Without armor that at least either pierces or not getting pierced by their armor, I guess there's little that can be done. Maybe if the air forces recovered some air attacks?
Again, more on that in the next ep. The Air Force is starting to get closer to recovery, but after that last exchange (which wasn't all one-sided but was difficult), where they were up against aircraft from Italy, Germany and Hungary, they don't want to over-commit early and without sufficient backups.
Hmm. Or perhaps make him look so much like a spy that comintern forces just refuse to believe anyone could be this suicidal and SITH find it too funny to kill him? We'll see. I'll keep 'spy points' on this one. Anything he does that would or could attract the wrong attention.
Perhaps, but he's really not planning to engage with the Turks much if he can help it. Or only indirectly. He'll be concentrating on his own side. And Callan has picked someone very expendable and plausibly deniable to operate outside his own system. I suppose any attention can be dangerous, but as Wilde said (though I grant not about espionage operatives): "The only thing worse than being talked about is NOT being talked about." I think 'Romeo' subscribes to that school of thought.
A point here for flying across africa, constantly switching identities. First of all the natives were very eager to sell out any european for money, and the Belgian commerical air services were apparently full of communists...so if turkey doesn't know about him, Stalin might!
It's telling that the axis, even now they are trying, keep exhausting themselves on our lines. Maybe they are beginning to run out of everything on schedule?
Another point for not only arriving with a trunk full of money from nowhere but also meeting De Gaulle when he gets there. Both for just speaking with him (which would certainly put him on many people's watch lists, including potentially the british themselves!) and the speed of it.
Oh, he's just brown-nosing up to his wannabe President. In his supposed line of work, he needs the contacts and political pull. And if he's seen as French, he hopes to put the British off the scent of him actually being on the lookout for British traitors. And the Soviets will be a little better disposed towards (and probably less worried about) the French than the British at this stage.
Maybe they'll grow sick and tired of Africa all by themsevles, withdraw after the war to public demand and grudgingly support us coming in? Given how their campaign has gone, i can't see then keeping control of their puppets and client states after this.
Quite possibly so, given their lack of investment in supporting any of their colonial possessions current under attack. The response is pretty lukewarm, then half of them are colonial, puppet or expeditionary troops, not British regulars.
Good job on stabilising the front on the river line. Only Sabac left to go, and the Turkish army will be once more in a great defensive position. The push on the flank, into Bosanski Petrovac, keeps the Axis on it's toes. These positive results are quite impressive, especially considering Turkey's current lack of air cover, and multiple bombing runs by Axis Air Forces.
It was a bit of the 'bad old days' having to sit by while those air attacks kept degrading my units in both the attack and defence, but there's more of them now and they can probably absorb quite a bit, while the Axis can concetrate forces but must pay for it elsewhere, perhaps more so than a year ago.
On a side-note, it's impressive what the Regia Aeronautica can do with a horribly compromised bomber design, one wonders what they'd be able to pull off if they had bought Ju-88s from the Germans.
The stabilisation of the supply situation is also great news, with the continuation of production on those sorely needed American-licensed Fighter wings.
And some of those tech advances should help reduce the bill a little, too, when they come in. We'll need the supplies once the switch finally turns (at least we hope it does) to all-out offensive later in the war.
I now take of the casquette of Soviet LO to put on that of a Belgian with a passing interest in aviation and history (amongst many other things):
Yes, that's a serious Paradox oversight. However, one could argue that they put the Airport in the 'Boma' province because the Congo river allowed easy resupply by see-faring ships. With regards to the theoretical supply situation of the real airport, it should be right next to a port, in the same province at least, for the supply situation to be similar in game. That, or they just messed up for no reason, as usual.
Thanks for confirming. I find it easier (for the story and my blood pressure) to mainly just go with what they provide and make it part of alt-history. I leave the noble work of exhaustively calling out such things to others, who are better - and more humorous - at it!
This is mostly correct, except that SABENA's pre-war fleet was significantly larger than the 18 aircraft mentioned (though those were the most modern ones used on long-haul and high-capacity routes). 28 of the Fokker F-VII/3m aeroplanes were delivered to Sabena in the '20s, and most of them remained in service right up to the war, they were only starting to be phased out. The SM-83, little brother of the SM-73 was on order when the war broke out, with 3 aeroplanes delivered. The DC-3's were assembled by Fokker, and were also just starting to get delivered, with only 2 having arrived by late 1939.
For more on Belgian Aviation:
Before these aeroplanes, SABENA used a bunch of Handley-Page Type W airliners for long-haul services (phased out entirely in 1934).
The Belgian aeronautical industry and it's aviation sector were really started after the first world war, around an airfield that's really close to where I live. (it's not an airfield anymore). The German armed forces had built this airfield (including a massive Zeppelin-hangar) during the war, the place was heavily bombed (for WW1), and after the armistice, the Belgian government got to keep everything that was left of and on the airfield. The modern (for the time) German military bi-planes provided the perfect tools for our excellent engineers to learn how to build bi-planes themselves. That was the birth of SABCA (which still designs and produces high-grade aerospace components, some for Airbus aeroplanes, others for ESA spacecraft). SNETA, the predecessor to SABENA was quite the improvised airline, using reconverted German war reparation aeroplanes. (When they weren't being studied by SABCA engineers). SNETA was only capable of short hops in Western Europe (Brussels-Paris, and Brussels-London), but some planes were moved to the Belgian Congo were they flew the Leopoldville-Stanleyville route. (Kinshasa-Kisangani) SABENA's mission, from the very start, was to connect Belgium to the Belgian Congo. Only one of the 11 Handley-Pages that, together with the Fokker VII's, formed the core of SABENA's initial fleet, was built in the Handle-Page factory, the other 10 were built under license by SABCA. Rather like Imperial Airways, SABENA was heavily subsidised. SABENA was fully occupied with modernisation and expansion and was taken, almost by surprise by the war, having just build a shiny new terminal near the Haren Aerodrome.
The funny part is that during ww2, the Germans kindly built us a brand new Air Base with a nice tarmac runway (their Me-109s didn't like taking off from what was essentially a levelled stretch of grassland). This new runway was a few km from the previous Air Base, and it was the start of the development of Brussels Airport Zaventem. This tarmac runway allowed SABENA to start operating modern airliners like the DC-4, that required a smooth tarmac runway, almost immediately after the war, without having to go through the expense building a runway or a new airport. There was one catch, with all of SABENA's scarce post-war resources going to the purchase of DC-4's and other new aeroplanes to rebuild it's network, there was nothing left to build a proper terminal next to the runway near Zaventem. The solution was that DC-4s would land on the runway in Zaventem. They would then taxi for close to 5km along a rudimentary taxiway, across roads and fields, until it reached the SABENA terminal that had been built in the 30's, and which had come out of the war remarkably well. This went on into the early 50's. The sad part is that the location of Brussels Airport is far from ideal from a noise reduction point of view. Aeroplanes usually (under dominant winds) have to take off and fly over Brussels itself. Where exactly over Brussels they are obligated to pass has been the subject of much political wrangling. The current plan is that most aeroplanes fly over the Canal, an area which is densely populated, mostly by the working class and the lower middle class. The rich neighbourhoods in the South-East of the city can enjoy quiet nights.
Once state subsidies were wound down in the 1990's SABENA, the government sold it's shares in 1995 to SAir Group, which also owned most of Swissair. S Air group had a majority stake in both SABENA and SwissAir. Sadly, this lead to disaster, as the debt load incurred to purchase new aeroplanes and the Belgian government's shares, meant that S Air Group had to put down exceptional numbers to remain solvent for any real amount of time. Despite multiple rounds of cutbacks, the whole thing went belly-up in late 2001. Brussels Airport, SABENA's hub had just been expanded, with a shiny new terminal dedicated to the national carrier. With low cost airlines preferring Charleroi Airport, Brussels Airport lost a significant number of flights in the process, and the new terminal, which was built with SABENA's wildest expansion plans in mind, stood mostly empty for the better part of the following decade.
Today, Brussels Airlines is the spiritual successor to SABENA, connecting Brussels to Central Africa, and a couple of big destination in Europe and the US. It basically rose from the ashes of SABENA, only to have financial troubles of it's own and become a Lufthansa subsidiary. SABENA was part of those first European Airlines, like Lufthansa, and Air France, and Imperial, sadly it is no longer around.
Thanks for the extra info. Perhaps the inventory in the cited wiki (not exhaustive) article was referring more to their longer-haul international assets? Anyway, always good to have the additional insight.
In France, people wear metaphorical (or physical) caps, not hats, to indicate their job and rank (at least in this context): "Général de Gaulle wears a number of casquettes." Then again, using casquettes might not make sense because this is a bilingual sentence with English syntax, and in English 'hats' and not 'caps' are used. This sentence so confuses me.
I like that we are now closely following a foreign operative infiltrating Turkey, an interesting shift in perspective. I'm really liking the Romeo story arc, I can't wait for him to get to the UGNR, so that we can read the story both from Romeo's point of view and from that of Turkish Counter-intelligence... I can't wait.
Chapter 181: Banja Luka, Zagreb and Bratislava (11 to 13 September 1942)
AuthAAR’s Note: An episode covering three days’ worth of fighting but with some more on the activities of Cennet and Darth Kelebek behind Axis lines while ‘Calixte Charron’ establishes his new cover in the French Congo. It also has a ‘ten day summary’ of the global situation I’d originally intended for the end of the last chapter, but decided to carry over into this one. Plus some obscure background info in notes (spoilers) for those nerds like me who enjoy that kind of thing. Even a gentle jab at Paradox researchers for a misplaced initial!
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Recap
Recent weeks have seen a German counter-offensive against the Turkish 1942 Summer Offensive on the Sava River-Adriatic sector, which had ended in August with the victorious encirclement of a pocket of Axis troops in Split. In recent days, the Turks have been clawing back some of those Axis advances. But a new threat had emerged with a powerful Axis attack on Banja Luka that began on the evening of 10 September. The province had recently been reinforced, but many of the troops were tired from previous fighting and had not had a chance to dig in, in open country with medium armour from the 7th Panzer Division leading the attack.
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11 Sep 42
Turkish factories have recently begun to receive the priority to re-energise the production of the new two P51-D Mustang multi-role fighter wings, though assembly of the second wing is yet to reach 100% capacity again. The aircraft are intended to provide longer-range and more robust escorts for the Yak-4 TAC bomber wings and to help contest the recent Axis increase in fighter coverage in the Turkish sector of the line.
The P51-D North American Mustang. Models are being produced in the UGNR under licence for the Turkish Air Force.
Turkish pilots under training in the US, where they will eventually be familiarised with the new Mustang fighter, in preparation for their deployment in the Balkans, with the first wing expected to be delivered in late January 1943. [Photo courtesy of @diskoerekto Research Inc. ]
At 2am, the Turks took something of a risk by sending 1 Mtn Div to follow 3 Mtn and 11 Inf Divs into Bosanski Petrovac. Muzir’s Mountaineers have now completed their period of post-attack reorganisation and (unlike the other two formations, each of which have more than four days to wait before they can attack again) will be available for attacking duties as soon as they arrive.
This is part of the Turkish 1st Army’s plan to relieve Banja Luka by launching spoiling attacks on the Axis divisions assailing it. To its west, 7 Inf Div is approaching Prnjavar to bolster the position there against a possible Axis attack from the north-east and to provide additional support to a possible diversionary attack on Gradiska.
At midday 2 Mot Div was ordered to advance on Gradiska and the attack went in at 1pm. Toüdemür was not expected to succeed in dislodging the enemy: Inönü just wanted to disrupt the attack on Banja Luka. The problem though was that two Axis divisions remained in place to resist the flanking attack, making 2 Mot Div’s task all the harder.
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Cennet had spent the last little while establishing herself in Zagreb – the liberation of which would be sweet revenge for the Turks, who had discovered the Croatian puppet administration was an integral part of the recent assassination plot against President Inönü, in the lead-up to the Moscow Conference.
With no underworld associates or Turkish spy teams in place, Cennet needed to keep a reasonably low profile. But, having contacted a few well-paced members of the pro-UGNR resistance in Zagreb, she had confirmed the complicity of the Croatian Fascist puppet government [a narrative contrivance – not present in-game] in the plot.
Using her Vichy French Lebanese cover identity, Cennet had arranged to meet a middle-ranking member of the Croatian Interior Ministry (a pro-Turkish resistance figure) near the Meštrović Pavilion, which had been converted into a mosque in August 1941 by the Croatian NDH authorities. Designed by Ivan Meštrović and built in 1938, it served as an art gallery before the Second Great War. They met that afternoon.
The Meštrović Pavilion, temporarily converted into a Mosque in July 1941. The three minarets were built from that time.
In OTL the minarets were torn down again after the war and the Pavilion re-purposed by the Yugoslavian Communist government as the Museum of the Revolution (opened in 1955). Today, the pavilion serves as the official seat of the Croatian Association of Artists (HDLU), a union of professional artists established in 1868.
Cennet met her contact in the park area outside the Pavilion.
“You have taken a great risk to infiltrate the Fascist’s security apparatus and report to us,” she said to her interlocutor, known to her only by his nom de guerre of ‘Josip’.
“I do it for the Union, the revolution and a hatred of the Fascists. It is my honour to serve.”
“And it will not be forgotten, comrade. On to business: what can you tell me of the plotters and how high up it goes?”
“Croatian Ustaše operatives aided the hit squad, which was led by the Slovakians. It was done with ‘irregular’ support and advice from an Italian Mafia hitman – apparently a former ‘caporegime’ of the Tattaglia’s hoping for revenge against Turkey for past reverses.”
“I see. And the higher connections? Who was behind it all?”
“The Germans. They provided equipment and enlisted the personal aid of ‘Poglavnik’ Ante Pavelić himself, through Himmler. It went right to the top.”
Ante Pavelić in St Mark’s Square, Zagreb.
Ante Pavelić, who we have encountered briefly before in passing, (b. 14 July 1889) is a Croatian general and military dictator who founded and headed the Fascist ultra-nationalist Ustaše in 1929. He has governed the Independent State of Croatia (Croatian: Nezavisna Država Hrvatska, NDH), a Fascist puppet state built out of Yugoslavia by the authorities of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, since 1940 [ATL].
“Thank you, Josip, that corroborates separate reporting and adds some detail. Our people in Sicily especially will be very interested about the Tattaglia connection. It seems the remnants of their organisation remain active, even if much diminished. Good luck with your work – we long for the day Zagreb is liberated and we can subject the Fascist puppets to revolutionary justice.”
“May that day come soon.”
The two bade farewell to each other. And each wondered whether either one of them would survive what looked like being years more of both clandestine warfare. Cennet returned to her hotel room to compile her report, which she would have to deliver personally to Ambassador Mike Ceylan in Zurich.
Cennet, in her hotel room in Zagreb, ponders her return to Mike Ceylan to deliver her report; 11 September 1942.
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At 4pm, 177 SD finally managed to complete its fraught retreat to Campina and once again boarded trains, headed now for Petrovac to bolster the thinned Turkish Danube Line there. It would take them many days to recover their strength and organisation. The Comintern lines north-west of Bucharest were looking quite solid at that point.
And simultaneously, 3 Mtn Div arrived to secure Bosanski Petrovac. And hour later, the Italian 3rd (Motorised) Division blundered into their advance guard from the north-east, but withdrew immediately after a brief skirmish.
As 2 Mot Div pressed its difficult spoiling attack in Gradiska, two Hungarian TAC wings began bombing their lines in Prnjavor.
Air Report. Four Italian air raids on Banja Luka killed 440 defenders during the day. The initial Hungarian raid on Prnjavor would not finish until early the next morning.
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12 Sep 42
11 Inf Div joined Seven’s 3 Mtn Div in Bosanski Petrovac at 2am. Like Seven’s division, they would still require almost four days of post-attack reorganisation before they could plan their next assault. MAJ Durden continued to accompany the mountain troops: he was always looking for a fight.
At 9am, 7 Inf Div pulled into Prnjavor: they were given no rest and were sent straight into the spoiling attack on Gradiska by 2 Mot Div, which they joined an hour later in reserve. Meanwhile, the ground assault and air attacks on Banja Luka continued and, despite the attack on Gradiska, continued to slowly wear down the defenders.
By 1pm, the situation in Banja Luka was becoming grim, despite Commander 2nd Corps LTGEN Artunkal’s best efforts to counter-attack. Wehib Pasha’s 1 Armd Div was beginning to succumb to the accumulated effects of many days of hard combat, preceding this latest battle. And HQ 2nd Corps had begun the battle also carrying previous damage.
Italian bombs continue to rain down on Banja Luka, 12 September 1942, while the fighting goes on in the surrounding countryside.
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In Bratislava, Darth Kelebek had continued to ‘haunt’ – and unnerve – the local Fascist regime. An artist’s impression of the shadowy and mysterious figure had been circulated within the Slovakian Secret Police but not released publicly. It was felt it would be too disturbing, so was censored.
Darth Kelebek – an impression from Bratislava, 12 September 1942. A petty Fascist dictator’s worst nightmare!
During Kelebek’s stay, a football international had been played in Bratislava between Slovakia and Germany. The Germans had won the match, but the result was of no interest to Kelebek. A meeting held after it was.
Slovakia 2-5 Germany, Bratislava, 12 September 1942, played in front of 12,000 spectators. The referee was from Croatia.
This is a photo of an actual game, played in Bratislava on 22 November 1942. It was to be the last for Germany until 1950. I’ve brought it forward a couple of months in ATL to coincide with Kelebek’s visit.
He was more interested in a private meeting between Slovakian Vodca Tiso and German Führer held after the game, which had been held to mark a short state visit by Hitler. With orders to observe but not physically intervene, Kelebek witnessed a very uncomfortable meeting between the two. It confirmed both German instigation and Slovakian complicity in the assassination plot. Hitler was also complaining (and still blaming the Italians) for the disaster in Split and noting how the years of heavy fighting across the whole front was causing problems for German manpower reserves.
An untypically quiet Tiso sits and listens while a pensive and disappointed Hitler vents to him about the challenges that beset the Fascist cause. In particular, Hitler did not mention but was clearly still uncomfortable about the public relations imbroglio he himself had caused after he incorrectly claimed the attempt had succeeded. Superstitious as he was, had he realised Kelebek was lurking in the shadows, he would have been even more disturbed.
When Kelebek reported this the next day – both confirming Slovakian-German leadership of the ploy and hinting at German manpower shortages – he was asked to go to Berlin next, and see what he could learn of these issues – including whether the Germans had any new plots in mind. His instructions remained to ‘look, but don’t touch’ at this stage.
He prepared to leave Bratislava, having done as much menacing as he had the patience for. He left a stash of Slovakian currency he had spirited out of the Slovakian Finance Ministry that day, for any future infiltration by Turkish intelligence: fresh banknotes printed just the day before!
A wartime Slovakian 20 Korun note. If you look closely, you can see its issue date of 11 September 1942!
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As the position in Banja Luka slowly deteriorated, 1 Mtn Div arrived in Bosanski Petrovac at 9pm and immediately turned north-east to launch another spoiling attack, this time on Sanski Most. Again, while two of the attacking divisions (still looking very fresh) had their flanks turned, the Italian 3rd Division had remained in place and had a sounder defensive position. Unfortunately, the German commander Schaal blunted Muzir’s probe with a very effective counter-attack.
Air Report. Three Italian strikes on Banja Luka killed another 423 Turkish defenders, while three Hungarian raids on Prnjavor caused 281 casualties.
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13 Sep 42
Turkish research on doctrine and military production techniques meant the UGNR was now capable of producing home-grown motorised infantry and AA brigades. This also meant that conversions of existing units could also be conducted if needed later. The next doctrine to be researched would be the mechanised offensive. Achieving the next level would not only provide another boost [5% on top of the 10% of Level 2]to the organisation of mechanised, motorised and cavalry formations. It would also enable the development of doctrine on combined arms warfare.
Expatriate German-Jewish scientists have been assisting Turkish research efforts since the early-mid 1930s. [Another photo courtesy of @diskoerekto Research Inc.]
My thanks to @diskoerekto for putting me on to this interesting historical episode. The additional information below is sourced from Physics Today, 27 Sep 2018.
Philipp Schwartz arrived in Ankara in the summer of 1933 with modest expectations. Several months earlier, the Jewish neuropathologist had fled his hometown of Frankfurt, Germany, weeks before the passage of a law removing Jews, those with Jewish family members, and political dissidents from the civil service. He had emigrated to Zurich and founded the Advisory Office for German Scientists to help fellow displaced scholars find work. Now he was in Turkey, a country not even a decade old, to advocate for the hiring of German scientists at the newly inaugurated Istanbul University.
Schwartz entered his meeting with Turkish minister of education Reşit Galip with a goal of securing three job offers. Seven hours later, Schwartz left with 30.
Hundreds of German scientists were dismissed from their academic posts in the mid-1930s. Many of them emigrated to powerhouse scientific countries such as the US and the UK (see the related article). About 300, however, including a significant number of physicists, found refuge in a more unexpected new home: Turkey, a young country eager to modernize and ready to take them in. Out of 129 displaced physicists listed on a 1936 census, six emigrated to Turkey, making it the fourth most popular destination behind the US, the UK, and Switzerland.
Turkish President Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (dark suit on the right) visits Istanbul University in July 1933. Around the same time, Turkey’s minister of education arranged for 30 German academics to join the university. Credit: Millî Kütüphane
The early morning brought a new Italian air mission, with two TAC wings escorted by a fighter wing beginning air strikes in Bosanski Petrovac at 1am, clearly trying to disrupt 1 Mtn Div’s spoiling attack on Sanski Most. Two hours later, the situation in Banja Luka was reviewed. 1 Armd Div was approaching dangerous levels of disorganisation and may soon break. HQ 2nd Corps was not far behind. And the Italian air raids continued (they had two going at once in different locations at this point).
But the Turks still attempted to fight on. In Gradiska, and hopes were raised at 4am when 7 Inf Div reinforced 2 Mot Div at the front in their spoiling attack. The Italian 49th Division in particular was becoming more exhausted [down to about 1/3 org by that point].
However, after careful consideration, Inönü decided at 5am that despite all these efforts, Banja Luka could not be held. A staged withdrawal began in an effort to ensure a screen of units could be formed in the hills surrounding it to ‘wall off’ the Axis breakthrough, holding them for long enough for a counter-attack with fresh units to be launched to retake it.
17 Inf Div would fight on for a while longer as a rear guard, covering the withdrawal of 1 Armd Div to Jajce and HQ 2nd Corps to Travnik. LTGEN Edelhun’s lightly armed HQ 5th Corps would also move up to Travnik, but 15 Inf Div (only 32 hours away from completing their post-attack reorg) would be the main defence there, withdrawn from Doboj to prepare for an eventual counter-attack on Banja Luka. They would be replaced in Doboj by 217 SD. Further arrangements to stiffen the line would be considered subsequently.
At 1pm, 17 Inf Div was also ordered out: they would complete the initial ‘containment line’ by withdrawing to Drvar. The defence had been a very expensive one, with among the heaviest casualties suffered by Turkish forces in a single battle during the war.
As they fell back in their controlled withdrawal, the two spoiling attacks were also called off. Both Turkish attacks had incurred more casualties than they had inflicted, with heavy casualties in Gradiska. Despite their valiant efforts, the spoiling attacks had failed to stop the strong Axis assault on Banja Luka – but hopefully, they may have imposed enough delay, casualties and disorganisation on the enemy to allow the key province to eventually be retaken.
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Thousands of kilometres away from the fury of the battle in Banja Luka, ‘Calixte Charron’ was preparing to board the afternoon train service from Brazzaville to the Free French capital of Libreville, where he would continue the next phase of his cover-building work in the French Congo. As he sat in his carriage, cash- and mining document-stuffed briefcase in hand, he read his dog-eared copy of The Heart of Darkness. He was up to Book Two now – and wondered if he would meet an analogue for the mysterious Mr Kurtz sometime during his current mission. It was not as if there was a shortage of tyrannical megalomaniacs roaming Europe at the moment!
Brazzaville Railway Station, 13 September 1942. The Libreville service is just leaving.
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Later that night, as the Axis followed up its successful attack on Banja Luka, a new attack was launched against Prnjavor. Inönü’s foresight in having just reinforced it and leaving 6 Inf Div to start digging while the spoiling attack on Gradiska was launched became apparent. And the enemy air attacks on Prnjavor had ended the previous day.
The 2nd Panzer Division was the most powerful enemy formation in the assault, but (somewhat disorganised) 2 Mot Div’s T-34s were more than a match in firepower and armour than the Pzkfw IIIs they faced, while the AT brigade attached to 6 Inf Div also had their measure. It was only the AT guns of the German 5th Infanterie [looks like it could be a TD brigade with the armour factor of 4.75] that could match the Turkish armour.
The Hungarian AT guns were not effective against the T-34s at normal battle ranges, so their effect would be halved. 7 Inf Div could outmatch the German infantry’s armour support, but not the tanks of 2 Pz Div. Overall, Toüdemür (who had overall command of the defenders) was confident of holding. But when Banja Luka was taken, they would be in an exposed salient.
Air Report.Two more Italian air raids on Banja Luka conducted up until midday. They ceased when the Axis won their victory, having killed just 93 more defenders, meaning a grand total of 956 Turkish troops had been killed in the two and a half days of ground attacks, in addition to the 1,566 from the ground combat. Three Hungarian raids on Bosanski Petrovac, which continued into that night, killed another 304 Turks.
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Theatre Reports
In the first ten days of September, the Patriotic Front continued to show signs of a Comintern stabilisation, with more gains than losses on balance. In particular, a major advance in the centre of the Soviet line had made large inroads. And a broad advance on the Soviet side of the Romanian border, plus a stabilisation of the central Romanian sector, also relieved some pressure (and Turkish concerns) on the security of that front. Sadly, the latest Polish partisan uprising had been crushed.
At the request of the Turkish Supreme HQ, Agent Boğafiltresi in Moscow had requested STAVKA provide a summary of the long term objectives of the main Patriotic Front Theatre HQ – which was (a little strangely) now commanded by Marshal Kuznetsov through the Arkhangelsk HQ.
I think they mean this Vasily (Ivanovich) Kuznetsov (b. 15 January 1894 – d. 20 June 1964), Soviet general and a Hero of the Soviet Union. Pictures of him on the web seem to match the one used in the game. It looks like he’s been promoted even higher in this ATL!
On 22 June 1941, Kuznetsov's 3rd Army was stationed in Belarus, as part of the Western Front. It was overwhelmed and surrounded by German forces. In July, he and the remains of his formation broke out and returned to the Soviet lines. This feat earned him praise from Stalin when he issued Order No. 270. He was reassigned to head the 1st Shock Army on 23 November, with which he took part in the Battle of Moscow. His units liberated Klin and Solnechnogorsk.
In July, Kuzentsov was given command of the 63rd Army, positioned near Stalingrad. The formation was renamed 1st Guards Army in November. For his conduct in the campaign, Kuznetsov was awarded the Order of Suvorov 1st Class. On 25 March 1943 he was promoted to the rank of Colonel General. The 1st Guards later took part in the battles for the Donbass region and in the Dniepr crossing. On 15 December, Kuznetsov was appointed Bagramyan's deputy in the 1st Baltic Front. In this capacity he participated in the campaigns for Belarus, the Baltics and East Prussia. The Front was disbanded on late February 1945, and Kuznetsov assumed command over the 1st Belorussian's 3rd Shock Army on 16 March. The Army was involved in the urban fighting inside Berlin; On 30 April, one of its formations, the 150th Rifle Division, stormed the Reichstag. Its soldiers hoisted the Victory Banner atop of the building.
The only V.V. Kuznetsov of note and a similar period I could find was this one:
Vasili Vasilyevich Kuznetsov (b. 13 February– d. 5 June 1990) was a Russian Soviet politician who acted as Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union from 1982 to 1983, for a second time in 1984, and for a third time in 1985.
Kuznetsov held a variety of government and Communist Party positions beginning in 1940. In 1955 he became First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs. On 7 October 1977 he was elected as First Deputy Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet, a position he held until 18 June 1986. Upon the deaths of Leonid Brezhnev (1982), Yuri Andropov (1984) and Konstantin Chernenko (1985), Kuznetsov became acting chairman of the Presidium until the election of a successor.
STAVKA’s plans for Europe were certainly comprehensive – as were Kuznetsov’s requests for the men and materiel to prosecute these manifold objectives! [In essence, it looks like every VP objective controlled by Germany and Hungary in Europe – but not by Italy, Slovakia or Vichy France.
The Eastern Front also continued to show some promise of stability, with a few more gains than losses – and in more important locations. Marshal Dedaev’s Tashkent Theatre HQ had no offensive objectives identified and wanted more forces assigned – six mountain brigades and 43 infantry brigades, but otherwise believed it had around the right amount of air support.
In North Africa, the British were still on the offensive. Their immediate objective, as previously reported, was Bengasi and they aimed also to take Tripoli. The 2nd Indian was attempting to breakthrough in Bir Hacheim to complement their armoured drive along the coast, but the battle was close and hard fought.
In Malaya, the Australia 1st Division had actually advanced north to Dungun in the last few days – though that didn’t seem entirely prudent to Turkish analysts. Cukai to its south looked about to fall, with Montgomery’s 1st Armd Div trying to head south to evade the Japanese-Thai encirclement. The Far East Command still had dreams of liberating Kuala Lumpur and Kota Bharu, but that seemed a fantasy while they had so few forces to hand.
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Soviet Government and Industry
Agent Boğafiltresi had also provided an update on current Soviet political and high command appointments. Funnily enough, that reputed Trotskyist ‘counter-revolutionary’ Yakov Alksnis seemed to have survived any purge by Stalin and remained Chief of the Soviet Air Force.
They still had a considerable amount of infrastructure projects (IC -15; radars – 12; 1-2 each of convoys, escorts and underground resistance cells) to finish before the ‘meatier’ army and air force production came to the top of the queue. When they did, there were 3 x HArm; 2 x Mech and 1 x Para divisions under full production, with another 3 x Mech divisions awaiting IC to be assigned. Of aircraft, only 2 x CAS wings were on order.
The ‘standard template’ for the HArm and Mech divisions is shown below, as are the current main aircraft types of interest to the UGNR for possible licence procurement. Of note, a new TAC bomber model, the Petljakov Pe-2, had taken over from the Yak-4. More information on this aircraft could be sought (and a comparison made to the US equivalent) when Turkey was once again looking to buy another TAC wing.
Soviet tank designs had not appreciably changed since they were last reviewed (LArm VI, T34-m.44, IS-2).
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Soviet Intel on Germany
German counter-intelligence operations had limited current in-country intel teams in the Reich to just one team, performing tech espionage. Therefore, any Soviet reports could be wildly inaccurate. But they believed the Germans had run out of manpower reserves, with every new recruit going straight into the front line as a replacement as soon as he was ready. They also thought the Germans had plenty of supplies and fuel stockpiled and an abundance of resources stored to power their industry. But could any of this be relied upon?
Kelebek was sent to Berlin to see if he could at least verify the Reich’s manpower situation: it should hardly be that difficult to gain a general picture. The British advised they had no active spies in Germany, so could share no information. A request would be sent to the Americans to see if they had succeeded in establishing any presence there.
[So, I will ask the Americans and then – if they can’t shed much more light - pull the Kelebek card to definitively answer the question posed by the readership on German manpower, given the Soviet estimate is that it is exhausted. A quick tag to find out and report back may be included in the next chapter.]
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With mixed news from the front, national morale could always do with some rousing propaganda work. This time, Perse Fotheringay-Phipps (now formally known by her Turkish name of Perçem Fangefips after her citizenship ceremony) published a poster from the Turkish graphic guru Ihap Hulusi.
"[The] NATION is protected by the power of [the] army and [the] working class." A galvanising clarion call for all right-thinking Turkish and Glorious Union patriots. [Thanks once more to @diskoerekto for finding this one and providing the translation.]
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Coming Up: Can the damage caused by the enemy’s victory in Banja Luka be contained? Or will it undermine the integrity of the Adriatic sector’s current defensive line? Can that situation be countered while still attempting the liberation of Sabac to re-establish the full Sava Line defence? And can the fighter wings of the Turkish Air Force complete their repair and recovery program in time to start providing air cover from the damaging Axis air raids that have assisted their recent counter-attacks?
In the wider war, can the Soviets and Romanians continue to hold and even start to claw back territory on the Patriotic Front? And has the perilous situation on the Eastern front finally been turned around – or are these both false dawns for the Comintern? Will the British continue to press ahead in North Africa on their low-budget offensive? Or will the familiar ebb and flow of that campaign reassert itself yet again? And might a Turkish amphibious attack on either Tripoli or Bengasi still come to pass?
The Secret War in Italy has been fairly quiet in recent days, with no new discoveries (of tech secrets or of agents from either side) of late. Will that trend continue, or will Vito Corleone be left in relative peace to establish his ‘business’ network in Sicily, with Luca Brasi’s inspection tour now finished, with the old warrior now back at his olive grove ‘compound’ in Turkey? And the adventures of ‘Romeo’, Cennet and Kelebek and the Ceylan brothers (Mike and Fredo) are far from over as well.
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AuthAAR’s Endote: We are now up to date again with narrative vs gameplay. I decided to go with the shorter combat period and more narrative content this time around. I hope it worked for my dear readAARs. I shall see how the next play session goes and the balance is likely to vary again, as it has in the past. Wherever the game and my Muse take me!
Nail-biting stuff in Yugoslavia - for how long can the army hold? Well Soviet counter-offensives elsewhere in the line give the Glorious Union the breathing space it desparately needs?
Kelebek witnessed a very uncomfortable meeting between the two. It confirmed both German instigation and Slovakian complicity in the assassination plot. Hitler was also complaining (and still blaming the Italians) for the disaster in Split and noting how the years of heavy fighting across the whole front was causing problems for German manpower reserves.
hinting at German manpower shortages – he was asked to go to Berlin next, and see what he could learn of these issues – including whether the Germans had any new plots in mind. His instructions remained to ‘look, but don’t touch’ at this stage.
He left a stash of Slovakian currency he had spirited out of the Slovakian Finance Ministry that day, for any future infiltration by Turkish intelligence: fresh banknotes printed just the day before!
Just a few million of the things. Being fascist, all you have to do is march into the bank in an officer uniform and demand bags taken out through the front door.
These are becoming really bad news. Mind you, with no bsttle for Britian and no extended 'proper' axis african campaign, everyone in there can focus entirely on the balkan front (in range of most of their airfields). This isn't good for turkey.
In particular, a major advance in the centre of the Soviet line had made large inroads. And a broad advance on the Soviet side of the Romanian border, plus a stabilisation of the central Romanian sector, also relieved some pressure (and Turkish concerns) on the security of that front.
That's good. Stopping a flanking manoeuvre into romania, or a link up with finland is great. Seems like the germans really have repositioned to attack us though given this news...or have run out of men.
Hmm...Interesting. plenty to wet Turkey's beak on. Italy and Slovakia under us would be very reasonable of the soviets, and perhaps they plan on simply making france a socialist leaning ally in the years to come? Regardless, this bodes well for Turkey's dreams of dominating southern europe, the balkans, the middle east and north africa.
Certainly, I would just tag switch when focused on South America so there is no leak of info.
I'm wondering also about Italy and Hungary. I'd like to make sure that things don't just collapse, but give us a challenge through the end game.
Sorta wish there was a mechanic to allow for more intense fighting from units getting to the end of their ropes (I guess the territorial pride would be similar?), but that would be putting too much stock in the capability of the game.
Looks like Germany will soon be fighting for its life. I wonder if there are any game triggers that will give it some manpower to fight off the USSR? And how much will the Soviet Union claim once Germany has fallen?
Looks like Germany will soon be fighting for its life. I wonder if there are any game triggers that will give it some manpower to fight off the USSR? And how much will the Soviet Union claim once Germany has fallen?
Hopefully they are sensible and put most of it under a puppet german government. If that's the case, with another in Hungary and us doing similar with slovakia and italy, we neatly sew up most of europe. If france goes socialist too, even better.
I read it like so after the war, europe is put under various puppet regimes so the soviets and turks can focus on more pressing theatres like china and the rest of asia for russia, and the middle east and africa for turkey. The places they'll have to move lots of their miltiary and economic focus to subduing afterwards, that sort of thing.
However, that's mostly beyond the remit of the AAR.
Bad news from the front, but as always good writing I hope we can stop the German armor in the west. Although, if we can successfully defend the attack from Gradiska it will just be held by 0 org units and we can just counter attack there. A concurrent attack to Sanski Most might mean whoever they put into Banja Luka is trapped there. If that's the ARM division, all the best.
I'm really happy the historical pics made themselves useful Thanks for the shoutouts.
Turkish pilots under training in the US, where they will eventually be familiarised with the new Mustang fighter, in preparation for their deployment in the Balkans, with the first wing expected to be delivered in late January 1943. [Photo courtesy of @diskoerekto Research Inc. ]
And simultaneously, 3 Mtn Div arrived to secure Bosanski Petrovac. And hour later, the Italian 3rd (Motorised) Division blundered into their advance guard from the north-east, but withdrew immediately after a brief skirmish.
My thanks to @diskoerekto for putting me on to this interesting historical episode. The additional information below is sourced from Physics Today, 27 Sep 2018.
I graduated from a university that solely has engineering departments and is one of the best in Turkey at that. Most of the best professors were either the students or students of students of those emigre professors of 1930s.
The next doctrine to be researched would be the mechanised offensive. Achieving the next level would not only provide another boost [5% on top of the 10% of Level 2]to the organisation of mechanised, motorised and cavalry formations. It would also enable the development of doctrine on combined arms warfare.
The penalty when there's a unit at the other side who can both penetrate and cannot be penetrated is huge, except for some extraordinary bonuses from somewhere else (river crossing into unfavorable terrain etc) it just cannot be stopped easily
We do not have an equivalent of "the" in the Turkish language, it's either more explicit directing "this nation" or most likely like in this poster implied in context. One way of picking English speakers of Turkish origin is omission or unnecessary use of "the". I saw the John yesterday. Others include mixing of grammatical gender (we don't have gender in grammar, have one thing for he/she/it), pronunciation of w as v and th as t.
Hmm...Interesting. plenty to wet Turkey's beak on. Italy and Slovakia under us would be very reasonable of the soviets, and perhaps they plan on simply making france a socialist leaning ally in the years to come? Regardless, this bodes well for Turkey's dreams of dominating southern europe, the balkans, the middle east and north africa.
I think it makes more sense to have central Europe be a region of puppet "buffer" states, not only between the Comintern and Allies but also between the USSR and UGNR (along with Romania in the latter case). You know, preserving the post-war order and all...
I think it makes more sense to have central Europe be a region of puppet "buffer" states, not only between the Comintern and Allies but also between the USSR and UGNR (along with Romania in the latter case). You know, preserving the post-war order and all...
Great progress once again. Axis troops in Banja Luka are really exposed now, and the Axis has lost a lot of men getting there. They will loose even more if they are pushed out again, especially if Turkey mounts a coordinated attack from the surrounding provinces. On the research front, it's great news that Turkey can now produce domestic Motorised units, and upgrade motorise existing units with Turkish-built lorries. The improvements in combined arms warfare will only help the increasingly motorised Turkish army to take advantage of it's increasing mobility.
I'm glad to see that the Red Army is taking advantage of the Axis pivot to the Balkans and is pushing hard in the centre.
Menacing is quite exhausting, really. Moving slowly, in the shadows, keeping up the most menacing appearance you can muster... I still remember my time as a young man, menacing white-Russians in then St-Petersburg during the civil war..
It was only the AT guns of the German 5th Infanterie [looks like it could be a TD brigade with the armour factor of 4.75] that could match the Turkish armour.
I think it makes more sense to have central Europe be a region of puppet "buffer" states, not only between the Comintern and Allies but also between the USSR and UGNR (along with Romania in the latter case). You know, preserving the post-war order and all...
Interesting exchange here. I would expect that if Turkey manages to take Hungary out of the war, it can keep it as a puppet, if the USSR takes Hungary out of the war, we get Hungary as a puppet. That said, regardless of circumstance, Slovakia and Poland are ours, as is Denmark and Eastern Germany in General. Austria could be another buffer state, but that depends on the progress of the respective fronts. Now this is entirely out of line for me to say (no one tell Uncle Joe), but if Turkey takes Hungary and presents it's domination over the new puppet regime to the Soviet Union as a fait accompli, I don't see how we could take over without creating a major diplomatic incident and a rift in our close alliance. Something neither the Soviet Union nor the UGNR will want to do after such a bloody conflict.
All in all, the tide seems to be turning somewhat, the Comintern seems to have a slight breeze in it's sails, officials seem to have a little spring in their step, the sombre faces of a couple of months are gone, and now people, even those that have access to all of the information, seem to be entirely convinced that we will win this war.
I have a feeling that in the spring of 1943, the Red Army will be taking the initiative,
Apparently I'm going to win that race, at least individually! Will send a postcard...and maybe a few thoughts on how to divy up germany after the war so the amercians don't complain too much (they can't do much with no D Day but they can still be irritating if they want to be).
I'd imagine that if the Turks got close to Budapest, it would call out the Poles to "save" Europe against the Muslim Invaders again... You know, one of the few Polish victories in military history.
That said, there is historical precedent for Turkish control over much of the Balkans and Southern Europe.
Next session played through - until the end of the game month. Will try to pack as much of that action into the next chapter as I can, as I'm conscious of trying to push the story ahead again after some of the intense (and detailed) coverage of recent times.
Nail-biting stuff in Yugoslavia - for how long can the army hold? Well Soviet counter-offensives elsewhere in the line give the Glorious Union the breathing space it desparately needs?
Just a few million of the things. Being fascist, all you have to do is march into the bank in an officer uniform and demand bags taken out through the front door.
These are becoming really bad news. Mind you, with no bsttle for Britian and no extended 'proper' axis african campaign, everyone in there can focus entirely on the balkan front (in range of most of their airfields). This isn't good for turkey.
Yes, after a period of pretty much only needing to contend with the Hungarians (and even they were a handful when they concentrated their fighters against us) or un-escorted bombers, it has been torrid of late. More on this in the next chapter.
That's good. Stopping a flanking manoeuvre into romania, or a link up with finland is great. Seems like the germans really have repositioned to attack us though given this news...or have run out of men.
Could be something of both - the rhythm of this front has been one of German bolstering one sector with some success at the cost of progress in another.
Hmm...Interesting. plenty to wet Turkey's beak on. Italy and Slovakia under us would be very reasonable of the soviets, and perhaps they plan on simply making france a socialist leaning ally in the years to come? Regardless, this bodes well for Turkey's dreams of dominating southern europe, the balkans, the middle east and north africa.
Yes, those beaks get very thirsty after all that fighting. France is a definite major objective for the Comintern: Turkey will be encouraging them if they need to.
Yes, I checked. Priority three bars, but no live agents (and I deliberately didn't delve into their tech allocations, as they're not that close an ally and it would be breaching my in-house rules.
That's right. We have the Soviet report of zero manpower, and something as big as that wouldn't easy to cover up. Once you start drafting the 16- and 50-year-olds, its pretty obvious what's happening.
Italy is still reasonably ahead (I have pretty good intel from them, but get the spy teams there to double check this time around). I have no excuse with the Hungarians ... but I've found all the units on the Turkish front, even the German ones, seems to regain strength and org pretty quickly to date when I face them in subsequent battles. If they do collapse, then so be it: they've put up a pretty good fight for more than three years now, so if we do crack them open, then there will be no mercy. Especially with Japan occupying so much of the Soviet Union, the US playing dormant and the UK largely a wet blanket and fading in the Far East.
Sorta wish there was a mechanic to allow for more intense fighting from units getting to the end of their ropes (I guess the territorial pride would be similar?), but that would be putting too much stock in the capability of the game.
I think that's about it - mind you, there's the countervailing dynamic of soldiers knowing they're on the losing end and not wanting to be the last man killed in the last battle.
Looks like Germany will soon be fighting for its life. I wonder if there are any game triggers that will give it some manpower to fight off the USSR? And how much will the Soviet Union claim once Germany has fallen?
I can't recall - and I don't normally play as Germany (would have for 3-4 years at least) so I can't recall - and tend not to look at the wikis so I can be surprised by it! Will be interesting to see what falls to whom if we do start to win. Though of course, we may be looking at a false dawn before the darkness of an Axis victory. No hubris here ... yet!
Hopefully they are sensible and put most of it under a puppet german government. If that's the case, with another in Hungary and us doing similar with slovakia and italy, we neatly sew up most of europe. If france goes socialist too, even better.
I read it like so after the war, europe is put under various puppet regimes so the soviets and turks can focus on more pressing theatres like china and the rest of asia for russia, and the middle east and africa for turkey. The places they'll have to move lots of their miltiary and economic focus to subduing afterwards, that sort of thing.
However, that's mostly beyond the remit of the AAR.
I prefer puppeting for the larger powers - especially if they still have a fair bit of their army in the field. Makes sense in an a non-game universe too. Perhaps some bits claimed, but set them up in a Warsaw Pact type way would make sense in that way as well.
Bad news from the front, but as always good writing I hope we can stop the German armor in the west. Although, if we can successfully defend the attack from Gradiska it will just be held by 0 org units and we can just counter attack there. A concurrent attack to Sanski Most might mean whoever they put into Banja Luka is trapped there. If that's the ARM division, all the best.
Some hard news, but no catastrophe - yet. And some good news too. Their armour will find the terrain harder beyond Banja Luka - and like they did with our offensive, we will work to thicken up the line and build for an eventual counter-attack. And perhaps wait for them to be distracted away from us again if we go largely on the defensive for a while.
I graduated from a university that solely has engineering departments and is one of the best in Turkey at that. Most of the best professors were either the students or students of students of those emigre professors of 1930s.
The penalty when there's a unit at the other side who can both penetrate and cannot be penetrated is huge, except for some extraordinary bonuses from somewhere else (river crossing into unfavorable terrain etc) it just cannot be stopped easily
Very much so. It demonstrates why I usually try so hard to defend provinces with river lines, hills, mountains etc. And why establishing the Sava Line solidly is such a priority. If they do have manpower problems, let them hit their heads against that for a while!
Maybe they will - though I periodically review the alternatives and haven't changed any for quite a while, because I have the ones in there now I want.
We do not have an equivalent of "the" in the Turkish language, it's either more explicit directing "this nation" or most likely like in this poster implied in context. One way of picking English speakers of Turkish origin is omission or unnecessary use of "the". I saw the John yesterday. Others include mixing of grammatical gender (we don't have gender in grammar, have one thing for he/she/it), pronunciation of w as v and th as t.
I'd guessed that - far from the only language where that's the case. And the confusing thing with English is the gender thing is only partially - unlike German, for example.
I think it makes more sense to have central Europe be a region of puppet "buffer" states, not only between the Comintern and Allies but also between the USSR and UGNR (along with Romania in the latter case). You know, preserving the post-war order and all...
Great progress once again. Axis troops in Banja Luka are really exposed now, and the Axis has lost a lot of men getting there. They will loose even more if they are pushed out again, especially if Turkey mounts a coordinated attack from the surrounding provinces. On the research front, it's great news that Turkey can now produce domestic Motorised units, and upgrade motorise existing units with Turkish-built lorries. The improvements in combined arms warfare will only help the increasingly motorised Turkish army to take advantage of it's increasing mobility.
I'm glad to see that the Red Army is taking advantage of the Axis pivot to the Balkans and is pushing hard in the centre.
Yes, I'd rather have held Banja Luka, because despite the poor defensive terrain (you can see once again why I try to avoid holding in exposed plains without river lines) it meant holding one province instead of three and its loss will expose Prnjavor. Recoverable, if a setback. We'll see what the Soviets are able to do, distracted as they have been by their Second Front in the East. I will say though that, manpower issues or not, the Germans still seem to be full of fight. Again, in comparison to OTL, I again stress they're position now I believe should be compared to the second half of 1943 given Russo-German war is into its third year now.
Menacing is quite exhausting, really. Moving slowly, in the shadows, keeping up the most menacing appearance you can muster... I still remember my time as a young man, menacing white-Russians in then St-Petersburg during the civil war..
Interesting exchange here. I would expect that if Turkey manages to take Hungary out of the war, it can keep it as a puppet, if the USSR takes Hungary out of the war, we get Hungary as a puppet. That said, regardless of circumstance, Slovakia and Poland are ours, as is Denmark and Eastern Germany in General. Austria could be another buffer state, but that depends on the progress of the respective fronts. Now this is entirely out of line for me to say (no one tell Uncle Joe), but if Turkey takes Hungary and presents it's domination over the new puppet regime to the Soviet Union as a fait accompli, I don't see how we could take over without creating a major diplomatic incident and a rift in our close alliance. Something neither the Soviet Union nor the UGNR will want to do after such a bloody conflict.
Yes, going with the game-mechanic = in-game ATL vibe principle, it's catch and kill your own. And as one of the establishing principles and objectives of this game, we're fighting for the faction first (would have been the same whichever way Turkey had gone).
All in all, the tide seems to be turning somewhat, the Comintern seems to have a slight breeze in it's sails, officials seem to have a little spring in their step, the sombre faces of a couple of months are gone, and now people, even those that have access to all of the information, seem to be entirely convinced that we will win this war.
I have a feeling that in the spring of 1943, the Red Army will be taking the initiative,
I agree, there was a period there where, while I thought we'd hold, Romania and/or the Soviets could well have collapsed, or at least (in the Soviet's case) have had to start withdrawing into the hinterland, there to hopefully wear the Germans down anyway.
Apparently I'm going to win that race, at least individually! Will send a postcard...and maybe a few thoughts on how to divy up germany after the war so the amercians don't complain too much (they can't do much with no D Day but they can still be irritating if they want to be).
I'd imagine that if the Turks got close to Budapest, it would call out the Poles to "save" Europe against the Muslim Invaders again... You know, one of the few Polish victories in military history.
Indeed there is! And we'll usurp the old Byzantine mantle to claim Italy too (and there is certainly Arab precedent for Sicily and Spain).
All: Thanks once more for all your fulsome and enthusiastic support, comments and debates. It is a delight to see them. Now to illustrate and write up the next chapter. Off to the grindstone ...
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Chapter 183: Resisting the Tide (14 to 30 September 1942)
Chapter 183: Resisting the Tide (14 to 30 September 1942)
AuthAAR’s Foreword: I am continuing to refine the format for this period of the war – going for a little more consolidation and history book reporting, especially of the battles, to try to keep the information a little more concise and (I hope) digestible. This chapter covers battle and narrative events for the rest of September 1942. The monthly reports will come a bit later as an annex.
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Recap
By the end of 13 September, the Battle of Banja Luka had been lost and the defenders 17 Inf Div, 1 Armd Div and HQ 2nd Corps – were all in retreat to a new holding line to try to contain the Axis breakthrough. An accompanying Axis attack across the Sava River on Prnjavor was having less success, with the likelihood of an enemy win there very low [6.3%]. The rest of the Sava Line had been restored, except for Sabac, west of Beograd.
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The Adriatic-Sava Line: 14 to 30 Sep 42
The Withdrawal from Banja Luka: 14-20 Sep 42
It would take a week for the withdrawal from Banja Luka (begun on 13 September) to be completed and the new defensive line to reinforced by units brought from elsewhere. The German 7th Panzer Division occupied Banja Luka at 2am on 14 September. At 3pm, 97 SD ‘Shev’ was switched from Tuzla to Doboj to backfill 15 Inf Div (with its IS-2s), which was being sent over to Travnik to give that province some steel – and prepare for an eventual counter-attack.
HQ 2nd Corps (Mech) (LTGEN Artunkal) made it into Travnik at midday on 15 September, its badly battered attached infantry (one) and militia (one) brigades the only defence until HQ 5th Corps and 15 Inf Div could arrive. Artunkal sincerely hoped the German 7th Pz Div in Banja Luka did not attack before help arrived!
By 16 September, 17 Inf Div [down to about 30% org] was in position and digging in at Drvar, with 1 Mtn Div ordered back down from Bosanski Petrovac to reinforce them. Another (unidentified) Axis division had reinforced 7 Pz Div in Banja Luka by then.
17 September saw 15 Inf Div arrive in Travnik at 8am – to the great relief of the Turkish High Command. Up until that point, it had been the weakest position in the new line and highly vulnerable to Axis attack – which had thankfully not materialised. An hour later, HQ 5th Corps (Comintern) (Edelhun) also pulled into Travnik to add its little contribution to the defence (one MIL and one ENGR bde).
The new defensive line was not finally completed until the night of 20 September, with the arrival of 1 Mtn Div in Drvar. Their progress had been delayed by an enemy attack on Bosanski Petrovac (see below). The enemy had been unwilling (or unable) to follow up their breakthrough in Banja Luka and now the Turkish fall-back line was well-manned, established on favourable hilly terrain and becoming more entrenched with each passing day.
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Battle of Prnjavor: 13-15 Sep 42
At 2am on 14 September, Axis air raids had resumed (after a day’s break) on Prnjavor. The enemy struck with a mix of Italian and Hungarian planes: a total of five TAC wings escorted by Italian multi-role fighters! The ground assault may be faltering, but the aerial one had been redoubled. But despite the heavy enemy air presence, three large raids that day only killed 336 Turkish defenders in Prnjavor.
Early on 15 September, the recovering Turkish fighter wings were all reorganised into their original three groups, pairing ‘like with like’ aircraft types. At 2am, 2 AG (La-5s) and 3 AG (Wildcats) were sent up to contest the damaging mass raids on Prnjavor.
As the enemy ground assault petered out, a great aerial battle broke out overhead. 2 AG were the first to arrive, pouncing upon a single Italian TAC wing at 3am. Soon after, 3 AG appeared in support – but so did two wings of Italian fighter escorts! Then at 5am, another three Hungarian fighter wings turned up!
The Turkish flyers were stood down at the end of the mission, having damaged the enemy bombers but making little impression on their fighters, before too much damage was sustained. The raid only killed 29 more defenders and the bombing of Prnjavor ceased thereafter.
The end of the dogfight coincided with the defeat of the attack, repelled with very heavy enemy casualties. Whether it was the Turkish interception or simply the failure of the attack which halted the air raids was not known.
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Battle of Bosanski Petrovac: 14-15 Sep 42
Late on 14 September, The enemy began a hopeless-looking attack on Bosanski Petrovac, while (as noted above) 1 Armd Div had arrived to begin entrenching their fall-back positions in Jajce, as 15 Inf Div headed from Doboj to Travnik.
At 10am on 15 September, it became clear where the rest of the Axis bombers had gone: two Italian and two Hungarian TAC wings, escorted by Italian fighters, began hitting Bosanski Petrovac. Turkish interceptors were not launched to contest it, as the ground battle seemed well in hand.
Victory came at 7pm, another heavy Axis defeat. Three Axis raids killed a total of 345 Turkish defenders in Bosanski Petrovac – far more effective than their ground assault.
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Battle of Zvornik: 16 Sep 42
German and Hungarian infantry began an attack over the Sava River at 10am. Even though only a still-recovering 10 Inf Div and the reinforced HQ 3rd Corps (LTGEN Yamut, with three MIL and one ENGR brigades attached), the Axis assault had trouble from the start with the river crossing and strong Turkish entrenchments.
After eight hours, they faced to the inevitable and gave up.
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Battle of Sabac: 16-17 Sep 42
Preparations for the long-planned liberation of Sabac began with the arrival of 4 SD in Valjevo at 10 am on 16 September – just as the short-lived Axis attack on nearby Zvornik (see above) was starting. 4 SD was there to hold the line and remain in Valjevo while other forces conducted the attack and then (it was hoped) advanced to retake the southern bank of the Sava.
Kanatli’s 1 Mot Div arrived in Valjevo that afternoon and rolled straight into a planned attack and hour after arriving. They would be joined by 2 Inf Div from Visegrad, whose MAJGEN Gürman assumed overall command of the attack. Even though his division had a largely secondary role attacking across a tributary of the Sava, he had devised a devastating blitz attack. Combined with the superior armour of Kanatli’s T-34s compared to the Italian’s AT guns and greater numbers, this was enough to counter the enemy’s strong entrenchments.
By 8am on 17 September, the attack was making good progress [83% odds, enemy org down to about 50%]. Six hours later, the Italian 21st Division had seen enough and began fleeing across the Sava. They had suffered more than 10% of their men killed, for fewer than 50 Turkish casualties.
The fast-moving 1 Mot Div had re-occupied Sabac by 4pm that day, with 2 Inf Div not arriving until 10am on 19 September, completing the now solid Sava Line once again and still leaving Valjevo firmly defended with two Comintern divisions.
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Battle of Beograd: 19-21 Sep 42
Early on 19 September, after just a day of relative quiet in the Turkish Sector, the enemy began a major enveloping attack on Beograd, currently only defended by one Turkish and one Soviet (EF) division. With four German divisions assaulting, led by the notorious SS-Verf, the Comintern forces were outnumbered two-to-one. There was some concern this critical city could be in danger. But the determined assault and envelopment was more than counteracted by the defensive value of the rivers (Sava and Danube), the city terrain and the defenders' ample entrenchments. The Germans would find it difficult going, reported MAJGEN Bözer, entrusted with command of the defence.
Finding the fight hard but still maintaining the assault, a lone Hungarian TAC wing was sent in to bombard the defences on the afternoon of 20 September. Hungarian fighters had been actively patrolling; Beograd was protected by three heavy AA batteries; and the defenders were holding comfortably enough: so no Turkish fighters were scrambled to intercept from the city’s large air base. It was taken as an opportunity to gauge the effectiveness of heavy AA defences on enemy attackers. The Hungarian 1. Vad wing was estimated to be at 90.7% strength [and 27.6 org] after the first raid ended at 6pm [alas I hadn’t measured those figures at the start]. The single raid that day killed only 47 defenders.
Two different Hungarian TAC wings returned between 9am and 11 am on the morning of 21 September. Over the three hours of the raid, it was estimated 1. Bom had lost one aircraft [99.4% to 98.3% strength] and some organisation [36.0 to 33.0]; 2. Bom had also had one bomber shot down [99% to 98% strength, org from 42.3 to 39.2]. Their two raids that day [I didn’t measure the AA effects for the second one] only killed another 116 defenders – hardly heavy losses in the wider context.
The enemy called off their attack on Beograd at 3pm that afternoon: Comintern losses had been substantial, but the Germans had lost over twice as many men in their failed river assault.
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Relocation of 1. Tank Avci Grubu: 21 Sep 42
With nothing to do for months on the Danube Line, the two IL-2 Shturmovik CAS wings and the old Hawk III fighters of 1 AF that together made up 1 TAG were transferred from Cuprija over to the Adriatic on 21 September. Short reserve mission hops were used to decrease the disruption to organisation caused by a full rebase move. Starting at 3am, they first hopped over to Kursumlija (south of Beograd) early that morning. But, due to the short range of the aircraft, they could not make it from there to their final destination in Split in a single reserve mission hop.
The materials for a new air base had been stockpiled for weeks and it was decided they would not be used in the east. Therefore, a dirt strip was hastily bulldozed in Dubrovnik and some aviation fuel tankers sent. It was felt a base there could come in handy later for operations in the Adriatic and southern Italy; but for now would just be a staging post for 1 TAG.
But even with that stop added, the range of the Hawk IIIs was so short they had to re-base from Dubrovnik to Split anyway, taking the organisational hit. The IL-2s travelled separately and were able to complete the relocation without loss or organisation, so they would be ready if needed to counter the German armour in Banja Luka straight away, using fighter cover from Beograd if required. Whether in the defence or a later attack, this was why they had been brought over. All the aircraft were in the small (and now overcrowded) air base at Split by 7am. 1 AF re-joined the rest of 1 TAG and slowly rebuilt its readiness.
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Battle of Ubdina: 23-26 Sep 42
After just over a day of relative quiet, on 23 September the command net once again crackled into life:
“One this is One India, contact! Hungarians attacking from the west. I am delaying their assault, 222 SD remains in support. They shall not pass! Out.”
MAJGEN Orbay of the ‘Mighty First’ Inf Div was confident of brushing off this latest attack on Ubdina. He was well entrenched and the IS-1s of his armoured brigade were more than a match for the enemy AT guns. Though the commencement of enemy air raids an hour later did not do the Comintern defenders any favours. Two raids that day killed 210 defenders.
And three hours later, the German 50th Infanterie joined the attack on Ubdina from Perusic, at first in reserve. The Hungarian 20th Division was by then already down to about 50% efficiency [ie org].
The 50th joined the front line of the attack on Ubdina by 4am on 24 September: combined with persistent air attacks, this had begun to swing the odds more towards the Axis [up to 36%], though remaining in the Comintern’s favour. The Hungarians broke off at 4pm, leaving the German commander in charge ... and the odds a little more in Turkey’s favour again. But three more air strikes caused 323 casualties on the ground.
NB: Erwin Rommel makes an unwelcome appearance here, outclassing the otherwise solid Orbay.
But even the efforts of the crack new German commander were not enough to break the Comintern’s defences, though his German AT guns were clearly now a match even for the armour of Orbay’s IS-1s. By the early hours of 25 September, the Germans still strongly prosecuted their attack and 1 Armd Div was being worn down again [to about 60% org], but the attackers were not breaking through. Three air raids killed 354 more defenders.
It took more than another day however for Rommel to finally acknowledge defeat. On the late morning of 26 September, after three full days of heavy fighting, the Comintern forces prevailed. Again, while friendly losses were quite heavy, those on the Axis side were monstrous – they left well over 2,000 men dead on the field. Losses which, if intelligence reports were true (more information below), the Germans in particular could ill afford. The final three Axis air raids killed 370 Comintern troops – bringing the total over the last four days to 1,257. And substantially evening up the casualty rates for the overall battle.
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Battle of Tuzla: 24-27 Sep 42
A day after the attack on Ubdina had begun, further east in Tuzla another large Axis attack began on 24 September. Four divisions, including the light armour of the Italian 133rd Division, enveloped the defences of Tuzla from three direction. But all the attacks had to cross the Sava River and three divisions (two Soviet EFs and 14 Inf Div) provided a strong garrison which had begun to dig in, expecting just such a counter attack. The Soviet commander MAJGEN Ryzhow was confident of holding – and US LO MAJ Durden dropped in to observe what he thought would prove an interesting battle.
Axis air raids began at 11am in support of the attack – just one Italian TAC bomber wing. Two raids by them killed 91 men, but they did not return the following day.
At 4am on 25 September, the attack was making little impression on the Comintern defenders and two of the German divisions were showing signs of weariness, though all remained outwardly strong enough. But just five hours later, for no clear reason, the three infantry divisions had all broken off their attack, leaving the Italian armour by itself. And Ryzhow had launched a highly effective counter-attack as the Axis assault faltered.
But the Italians grimly fought on for another two days before finally desisting at midday on 27 September: another expensive exercise for the Axis, though the Germans had pulled out early – and perhaps wisely.
There was no more ground combat action on the Turkish Sector for the next three and a half days: it seemed the Axis counter-offensive had been slowed and now halted, in some places reversed. But how had things been faring elsewhere?
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Other Events: 14-30 Sep 42
14 Sep 42
It was midnight in Rome. And by now, everyone involved in the Secret War knew what that meant: on the twelfth stroke, it will be time to board the Midnight Express! And so it was for a Slovakian counter-intelligence operative who had just been captured by one of Ögel’s Milli Emniyet Hizmeti operatives – the Italians having been cowed into submission for some time.
“A Slovakian stooge, eh?” said Agent ‘Omer’ (not his real name, of course). “Oh, how I wish Darth Kelebek was here to loosen your tongue – and I mean that literally!”
There was a slight chill – or was it actually a breath of heat? – from the displacement of air in a dark corner of the concrete-lined cellar the MEH used for its interrogations. The Slovakian agent, chained to a chair in the middle of the room, felt the hairs on the back of his neck rise at the same time he caught a faint whiff of … something. A mixture of brimstone and rank rottenness.
“You called, Omer?” said Kelebek as he emerged from the shadows in his latest guise. “Ah, fresh meat! I was on my way from Bratislava to Berlin when I detected a small disturbance in the force …”
Turning to the doomed Slovakian agent, he let him know he had a few questions for him … including what current Italian military manpower reserves were. It seemed they were healthy enough – almost 350,000 men of military age available for service if needed. After he had finished, the MEH operatives removed the babbling and broken husk of a once-man from the chamber.
177 SD finished its interrupted train journey from eastern Romania at 11pm on 14 September, taking up its new defensive position in Petrovac, on the eastern part of the Danube Line. They would need a good deal of time to recover from their ordeal.
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16 Sep 42
OTL Event: Stalingrad, USSR. German Army Group B penetrated the northwest suburbs of Stalingrad.
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17 Sep 42
By the afternoon of 17 September, things seemed to be going well enough in Romania and its border with the Soviet Union that the rest of the Turkish screening units in eastern Romania deployed along the Prut River were put on troop trains and sent all the way back to the west. They could help garrison the Adriatic coast, relieving 2 Mtn Div in Split (now well on its way to recovery) and bolster forces holding the Sava Line.
Entertainment News: UK. The British war film In Which We Serve, a patriotic movie directed by Noël Coward and David Lean, was released in the United Kingdom. It was made with the assistance of the Ministry of Information. The screenplay by Coward was inspired by the exploits of Captain Lord Louis Mountbatten, who was in command of the destroyer HMS Kelly when it was sunk during the Battle of Crete. Coward composed the film's music as well as starring as the ship's captain. The film also starred John Mills, Bernard Miles, Celia Johnson and Richard Attenborough in his first screen role.
(1.16m)
“In Which We Serve” trailer.
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18 Sep 42
The British provided some updates on operations in Malaya and North Africa. First, the bad news. During the last week, Montgomery’s 1 Armd Div had been forced to surrender in Cukai. This left the Australian 1st Division stranded in Dugun, where it was under Japanese attack. They were resisting strongly, having earlier defeated a Thai division there. But it was hard to see how they could survive this mess as other enemy units closed in on them and their supplies inevitably began to run out. This left the entire British defence of Malaya in very serious trouble.
In North Africa, the British continued to force the Italians back, though they had still not committed large forces to the offensive as it pushed past Tobruk.
The commander of the British 1st Army, General Sir Alexander Godley, suggested a plan whereby he would push towards his immediate objective of Bengasi, while Turkey would land its three-division US Marine Expeditionary Force at the three ports behind enemy lines, with Tripoli as the final objective, thereby depriving Italy of all its supply sources in North Africa and leading to the surrender of their entire army there. He called this plan Operation Market Garden.
The plan had Churchill’s full support. Which was all Inönü needed to decide against it: neither Turks nor Australians need any education on the dangers of exposed naval landings proposed by the British for dominion or Allied forces!
“This has Gallipoli written all over it!” exclaimed the Milli Şef when he saw the plan. “They have not committed enough troops to the armoured advance, as usual, which would need to progress along a single axis of advance. I’d be dubious about their ability to take Bengasi in good time, let alone the rest.”
“Yes, General,” replied his HQ intelligence chief. “And we still don’t know what forces the enemy has in or nearby the three ports. One division each may not be enough to take them.”
“Agreed. I think they are proposing to go at least a port too far, if not two. Who is proposing it?”
“General Sir Alexander Godley, Commander British 1st Army.”
“Him! The man who commanded the British during their withdrawal from Gallipoli? He should know better. Send the British a polite but firm ‘no’!”
Godley (centre) confers with fellow generals Harry Chauvel and William Riddell Birdwood, Gallipoli, 1915.
General Sir Alexander John Godley, GCB, KCMG (4 February 1867) is a senior British Army officer. He is best known for his role as commander of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force and II Anzac Corps during the First World War. He is therefore 75 years old at (ATL) present.
Godley joined the British Army in 1886. He fought in the Boer War and afterwards served in a number of staff positions in England. In 1910 he went to New Zealand as Commandant of the New Zealand Military Forces. Promoted to temporary major general, he reorganised the country's military establishment. Following the outbreak of the First World War, the New Zealand government appointed him as commander of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force, which he led for the duration of the war.
During the Gallipoli campaign, Godley commanded the composite New Zealand and Australian Division, before taking over command of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps for the final stages of the campaign. On the day of the landing at Gallipoli, 25 April 1915, Godley came ashore at midday. Consulting with Major General William Bridges that afternoon, Godley was of the view that the Allied forces, dealing with stiffer than expected resistance, should be evacuated ahead of an expected attack by Turkish forces the next morning. Although Bridges agreed with Godley, the commander of the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force, Sir Ian Hamilton, ordered them to hold fast.
Promoted to lieutenant general, he was given command of II Anzac Corps in 1916. He led the corps for most of its service on the Western Front. Regarded as a cold and aloof commander, his popularity was further dented in October 1917 when he insisted on continuing an offensive in the Ypres salient when weather and ground conditions were not favourable. His corps suffered heavy losses in the ensuing battle.
After the war, Godley spent time in occupied Germany as commander of firstly the IV Corps and then, from 1922 to 1924, the British Army of the Rhine. In 1924 he was promoted to general and was made General Officer, Commanding, of England's Southern Command. He was appointed a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath in 1928 and was Governor of Gibraltar for five years until his retirement in 1933. During the Second World War he commanded a platoon of the Home Guard.[Comment: A bit long in the tooth to be in active command in 1942, perhaps? Couldn’t resist this little excursion, especially once I discovered the Gallipoli connection.]
Godley as Governor of Gibraltar, 1928-33.
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22 Sep 42
Kelebek arrived in Berlin on a crisp autumn morning – around about 8 degrees Celsius, though of course ambient temperature meant little to him. He went looking for a bit of sport – which in this case was a medium level Wehrmacht official who had knowledge of recruiting and manpower matters.
This inglorious bastard will do, thought Kelebek as he noiselessly glided towards the man and grabbed him off a Berlin street in broad daylight.
‘This inglorious bastard will do’. An unfortunate Wehrmacht official from the manpower directorate.
“You may call me Herr Krueger, for what little remains of your insignificant and puny life,” hissed Kelebek at the hapless officer. Kelebek applied some of his ‘unconventional interrogation techniques’ to speed up the process.
“You may call me Herr Krueger.”
Soon, the man was divulging the information Kelebek wanted. He confirmed that the NKVD reports were correct: the Germans now had no manpower reserves. They were currently 70,000 men short and were training around 46,000 per month. The figures were soon sent back to Ankara for analysis. The officer was never seen again.
OTL Event: Stalingrad, USSR. The Germans occupied the centre of Stalingrad.
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23 Sep 42
On the Soviet Eastern Front, the Central Asia sector where Turkish screening forces were deployed was looking cautiously positive. After recent Soviet advances, 4 Cav and 16 Inf Divs moved forward to concentrate at Taraz, as the Japanese-Manchu forces slowly fell back. [Sorry @diskoerekto, no lone cavalry charge through Sinkiang: I thought it might be a little gamey and want 4 Cav to take part in a few minor offensives to support the Soviet fightback, given the units are all the way over there.]
South East Asia
In Burma, the British were still holding Rangoon, but to their north the Japanese had pushed a salient out to the east bank of the Irrawaddy River by 8am that morning, threatening to cut them off. The sad news came from Malaya that the Australian 1st Division, surrounded in Dungun, had surrendered. Only a light Belgian motorised division remained on the Malayan peninsula, while the Singapore Command held one regular and two garrison brigades. And after months of inaction, the Japanese had finally crossed the Sunda Strait and were closing in on an unoccupied Batavia.
The next likely Japanese target could be resource-rich Borneo, where the British had a Gurkha division in Kuala Belait, and the Dutch divisions in Pontianak, Balikpapan and Tarakan (plus HQs).
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24 Sep 42
Agent RasaUrs75 delivered good news from Romania early that morning: the key regional city of Brasov, north of Bucharest, had been retaken by Comintern forces.
OTL Event: Stalingrad, USSR. German forces in Stalingrad broke through to the Volga River and cut the 62nd Army in two.
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25 Sep 42
In the French Congo, ‘Romeo' was still busy establishing his identity, though he was soon preparing his ‘business trip’ to Turkey in the following month. Using funds assigned by David Callan and with a letter of introduction from the Free French Government authorities, he was soon in the French colonial Bank of West Africa to establish his account and a line of credit. Money would be all important in his coming enterprise and its provenance had to be verifiable. Hauling cases of cash around the Congo may work, but it would not do in his next assignment.
The Banque d'Afrique Occidentale (also BAO or Banque de l'AOF) branch office in Libreville.
OTL Event: Oslo, Norway. Four British de Havilland Mosquito bombers conducted the Oslo Mosquito raid, intended to boost morale of the Norwegian people. The operation failed as the Mosquito bombs failed to destroy the Gestapo HQ but caused 80 civilian casualties and one bomber was lost. It was scheduled to coincide with a rally of Norwegian collaborators, led by Vidkun Quisling; from September 25 to 27 his Norwegian Nazi party Nasjonal Samling ('National Unity') held its 8th national convention.
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26 Sep 42
307 SD was approaching the end of its long train trip from eastern Romania and, while passing through Jagodina (to Beograd’s south-east) at 2pm was re-routed onto the recently liberated Sabac. They were to relieve 1 Mot Div, which would then be freed up for its next offensive task.
OTL Event: Washington DC, US. The Manhattan Project was granted approval by the War Production Board to use the highest level of emergency procurement priority.
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28 Sep 42
With 307 SD’s arrival in Sabac at 1am, the ‘light’ (compared to Turkish formations – 2 x INF, 1 x AT, 1 x ENGR) Soviet division began digging in, while 1 Mot Div was sent west to Travnik. They would become part of the build-up aimed at wresting back Banja Luka in due course. But it would be no hasty attack – full and devastating force would be applied – if circumstances permitted it.
OTL Event: Moscow, USSR.Joseph Stalin signed an instruction ordering the resumption of the Soviet nuclear research program which had been dormant for a year.
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30 Sep 42
The ‘Quiet Time’ of late September 1942 on the Turkish Front continued, with the ‘Skopje Garrison’ division ( 2 x GAR) finally disembarking from its trains at 7pm on the last day of the month.
Though things had been quiet for some days now on the Turkish lines, things had been far more active in Russia and Romania during the past few weeks – where the good news had tended to outweigh the bad. Inönü looked forward to catching up on the monthly reports at midnight.
OTL Event: Ankara, Turkey.Turkey and Germany signed a trade agreement in which Germany would get chrome and Turkey would get arms.[Comment: Bah! Not in this ATL!]
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AuthAAR’s Endnote: I managed to fit a full two and a half weeks of battlefield action into the one chapter, in part due to the modified format, but also because things did start to quieten down towards the end after what has been weeks of mainly frenetic activity. The monthly reports will be included in the next episode as an annex to this chapter – look out for it in a few days’ time. But you have been given a fair indication of where things are going in general.
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Coming Up: Monthly reports will tell us what has happened during the last two weeks in Russia, where Leningrad remains under threat and the Germans had been pushing hard in the north, while the Soviets appeared to be pushing back in the centre and south. Romania has so far been standing strong after a very shaky period, while Turkey has clawed back a few more (though not all) of its recent post-offensive losses to the resurgent Axis.
The full picture from the Allies (principally Britain) will also be provided in the Mediterranean and South East Asia. Alas, all seems to have remained quiet with the US which, apart from its valuable lend-lease and a few early expeditionary forces, has been the giant that kept on sleeping. There will also be the usual naval round-up.
Turning to the doomed Slovakian agent, he let him know he had a few questions for him … including what current Italian military manpower reserves were. It seemed they were healthy enough – almost 350,000 men of military age available for service if needed.
Ok so Italy still has some puff (could contest the invasion of their country if we tried) but not that many, especially as its split between air and army populations. If we had a stronger navy and more commandos, this information would probably provoke some island hopping in the Med to try and split the troops they have left and reduce their pops down. As it stands, holding the line should work, especially if Germany has nothing.
Soon, the man was divulging the information Kelebek wanted. He confirmed that the NKVD reports were correct: the Germans now had no manpower reserves. They were currently 70,000 men short and were training around 46,000 per month. The figures were soon sent back to Ankara for analysis. The officer was never seen again.
So the Germans are on their knees then...interesting. With this information, the war in the west against Germany should be somewhat assured. They will not be able to retreat in time to save Germany and don't have the men to defend it, let alone fight the soviets in Russia and reinforce Axis lines in Romania and the balakan front.
Perhaps we should hold the meat grinder here for a moment, establish ourselves again, and then prepare another big push concentrated along the coastline? Our main objective now isn't helping out Russia or Romania, its reducing Hungary and Italy down to the German level. So we need to go after their own land.
