Congrats to @diskoerekto on his battlefield promotion! Well-earned, I'm sure!
thanks a lot- 1
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thanks a lot
The idea that liver problems are in any way connected with the intake of copious amounts of hard liquor is obviously a western capitalist lie to harm the vodka (and raki) trade.
Many congratulations to Maj. General Diskoerekto. His experience in the field, and his strategic insight, make him perfectly suited to command a Division of Mountaineers.then he got to the letter ‘D’.
E. Diskoerekto, promoted to Major General and command of the 3rd Mountain Division, with immediate effect.
He was later advised that an exception had been made on his part based on service in the field as a brigade commander. The requirement for Senior Staff College attendance had been waived. The division would take a little while to get used to his command style, while he would need to find his feet as commander [ie the org hit on new commander appointment], but he was confident he and the 3rd would soon be prepared for whatever assignment they might be given.
Tyler Durden seems like quite the character,
Either the Turkish Army vastly over-estimates the abilities of Italian Light Tanks, or there is a brigade of Tank Destroyers in that Division.
Yes. Turkish special forces will soon be on par with our own. A force to be reckoned with.
Logistics are the lifeline of these offensives.
You should have bought Lavochkin's instead of Grumman's. All joking aside, what kind of fighters do the Hungarians use? CR.32s?
Even F4Fs should be able to deal with that.
Frost wolf was successfully concluded,
I can't wait to see how well the next offensive turns out,
SkitalecS3
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I wonder what will happen when he meets Marla
Many thanks comrade, we'll keep bloodying the fascist scum
Speaking of armors, when will your design bureaus come up with the new HArm model?
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Our lines are still open and I still have a couple of other AAR updates to do before returning to TT, but here is some interim comment feedback. With a special treat at the end ...
Haven't read her work, but will bear it in mind.
Opportunities to be seized, but also risks to be avoided.
More on this below from other learned correspondents, who I think have hit on the explanation.
Special Item
Had a celebratory birthday lunch a couple of days ago at the best Turkish restaurant (and one of the best of any type) in my home city. Thought I'd share a few pics ...
I wonder if he's any relation to our apoplectic Interior Minister! Probably best if he isn't
For starters, among other things that came later ... raki & meze, of course!
Then, after the mains (lamb, chicken, spatchcock) ...
... what better to finish with than baklava, turkish delight and coffee (though I must admit to having a good Aussie 'flat white' rather than Turkish coffee, so a small fail in that regard )
Thanks as always for the support and comments, happy to continue any discussions etc up to the next update, which will still be some days off (Rome and Q&D2 to update before then).
It was a relief to have the pocket closed and the Krauts all captured. Not without a very determined AI effort to rescue them, too! Yes, timing is everything. Inonu follows Ataturks 'careful boldness' in that regard.
Haven't read her work, but will bear it in mind.
See special item at the end of the post for a small start ...
I'm glad you liked it - his promotion was well deserved, as others have noted. But I didn't want it coming too easy
I always love it when my in-universe character is involved, but this has been huge! The delivery was perfect - I mean, even though we talked beforehand and I knew it was going to happen, I still felt the tension and suspense. And the suspense paid off, too. When the cable was received I was as relieved and excited as the in-universe me! I couldn't have been happier on a Monday morning
Thanks once again for this cameo. I'm sure my in-game avatar will do his best to lead his men to victory. Vur ha!!!!
Both appropriate sentiment and (knowing these Fascists and their degenerate ways) very likely to occur!
That's for sure.He seems the kind to start underground resistance cells
Yes, not all their offensive decisions are wise.
I almost did this time, as I'd hoped the other units would soon be following up. Also, we were once again caught out by the unreliable behaviour of our allies on the right flank, whose corps-sized advance ended up being a single weak Romanian cav division!
Time needed for both reorganisation but also redeployment. And the weather has been really bad, as alluded to in the update. More on weather in the next chapter - it's been patchy, but quite a bit of mud and storms, with many units limited to about 1kph movement rates and making attacks difficult. Not exactly the best weather for sweeping mechanised breakthroughs based on swiftness of movement!Our units are a bit more disorganized than I thought they would be after the operation is over, but they're not spent or anything. A quick reorg on the march would do wonders
They like the idea of doing something useful - and do have a little more gear on the way (modern US destroyers, LC, etc).
Sicily and (at the rate the British are going) North Africa will still be there later in the year, and hopefully even riper for picking by a stronger hand with longer reach!
Quite. A larger and more modern air force is vital. It was as or even more important than naval supremacy for Sicily, D-Day etc.
Yes, the old guard Wehib knew Vienna would appeal to the traditionalists. Though the more revolutionary generation running things these days may not be quite so prone to such romantic flights of fancy!Traditional indeed!
Good point. But to be fair, they are looking at what they might do next - Inonu will decide when, or if, that is done. You will find the subsequent updates interesting in that regard.
Opportunities to be seized, but also risks to be avoided. Too true! Now if it was MP and I could control the US ... but no. Back to alternate reality!Observers reported seeing Üngen leave the meeting and retire to his private office, surrounded by several glowing boxes of electronics and muttering about "stall packs" and "god damn shitty Allied AI".
Could be - you will have to see how things pan out for the rest of January, at which time there will be another appraisal of the general operational and indeed strategic situation.
This one was just intended to be a one-off bridgehead seizure rather than an offensive, per se. And if Orsova can be taken and held, it actually shortens the line there a little, which could free up a division or two. If ...
I was a bit taken aback too.The single most shocking and unexpected statement in this AAR bar none.
More on this below from other learned correspondents, who I think have hit on the explanation.Yes, good to get the marines doing something in the interim, and I was keen for another naval 'recon in force' to test Italian responses. Much as with the air force probing of late, as their strengths have fluctuated over time.
Rejoice!Vur ha!
Again, for January at least, I won't spoil, but this does seem like good advice and follows past Turkish practice in this war. It just depends much on weather and Axis actions - whether they keep up the pressure to take the initiative away anyway, or maybe open up some exploitation opportunities that are just too good to resist ...
Very much so. Poor Ataturk would I'm sure acknowledge the cause of his own demise, but argue it was a necessary (for him) way to manage his inner energies and tensions.
A bit self-destructive, and being in the happy position of having no real responsibilities as a free-booting LO other than to see as much as he can.
Ah, this must be it. Without an air raid to confirm their unit make-up, I think it must be that. Surely Italian light tanks wouldn't be a match for out T-34s! Unless a wehraboo has taken charge of their tank development
We may have need of them as the conflict progresses.
Very much so. Much effort has gone into this recently as we look to start switching to a more offensive posture with larger, more mobile (gas-guzzling) forces and a gradually expanding air force.
That's what I thought too - they were only slightly outnumbered. Am still waiting for the next generation of INT to become available for purchase. I keep checking both the US and USSR inventories.
Me too. Timing will be the key.
Lead on, sir!
Special Item
Had a celebratory birthday lunch a couple of days ago at the best Turkish restaurant (and one of the best of any type) in my home city. Thought I'd share a few pics ...
I wonder if he's any relation to our apoplectic Interior Minister!
Probably best if he isn't
For starters, among other things that came later ... raki & meze, of course!
Then, after the mains (lamb, chicken, spatchcock) ...
... what better to finish with than baklava, turkish delight and coffee (though I must admit to having a good Aussie 'flat white' rather than Turkish coffee, so a small fail in that regard
)
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Or just take a page from my book and run Romania as well!
Sicily and (at the rate the British are going) North Africa will still be there later in the year, and hopefully even riper for picking by a stronger hand with longer reach!
Quite. A larger and more modern air force is vital. It was as or even more important than naval supremacy for Sicily, D-Day etc.
I agree that more escorts with advanced anti-air capabilities (especially radar) will be good to add to the fleet.
Too true! Now if it was MP and I could control the US ... but no. Back to alternate reality!
Take the page from my book... even only controlling the military would be better!
It is quite unfortunate that all of the various fleet units have their own individual air defense paths, rather than working out a more logical system in order to increase the ability of anti-aircraft defense across a fleet. Ugh. What I would do if I had the slightest graphical ability to ensure everything was laid out properly in the game.
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Happy birthday! And I hope you enjoyed the turkish food. Rakı is one of those things that is better after one is used to it, but you seem to have demolished itSpecial Item
Had a celebratory birthday lunch a couple of days ago at the best Turkish restaurant (and one of the best of any type) in my home city. Thought I'd share a few pics ...
I wonder if he's any relation to our apoplectic Interior Minister!
For starters, among other things that came later ... raki & meze, of course!
Then, after the mains (lamb, chicken, spatchcock) ...
... what better to finish with than baklava, turkish delight and coffee (though I must admit to having a good Aussie 'flat white' rather than Turkish coffee, so a small fail in that regard
We also have some nice Turkish restaurants here in NL but to relive the old times now I have to travel to Turkey among the virus threat - 1
I love aniseed flavour and definitely liked the raki. Made sure I alternated with the meze to keep the tastes refreshed. I can see how poor Mustafa Kemal got to like it a bit too much. The corona virus threat is becoming nastyHappy birthday! And I hope you enjoyed the turkish food. Rakı is one of those things that is better after one is used to it, but you seem to have demolished it
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well, between the aniseed and the 45% alcohol content, rakı might be just the solution to the corona virusI love aniseed flavour and definitely liked the raki. Made sure I alternated with the meze to keep the tastes refreshed. I can see how poor Mustafa Kemal got to like it a bit too much. The corona virus threat is becoming nasty
There's the added benefit that if one of the meze contains a lot of garlic people will stay away so there's that too- 1
Coronavirus seems to be more and more like a virulent type of flu. So...pretty nasty and easy to catch but not too hard to deal with either. Unless you are elderly or young however.
Hence the problem in countries with lots of old people.
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My understanding is that it's more similar to pneumonia than flu, although the difference is rather unimportant as both illnesses certainly claim their fair share of victims even without added virulence. The virulence is really the thing though, particularly since this can be transmissible long before displaying symptoms, which makes it much harder to self-quarantine oneself away from the young, old, and sick before it can be spread.
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Yeah the NHS doesn't seem too concerned. At least according to the help page for it.
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Somehow, that observation doesn’t exactly fill me with a sense of confidence!
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Somehow, that observation doesn’t exactly fill me with a sense of confidence!
Their symptom list is hilarious.
Symptoms include:
- Coughing
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And of course
- Death
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I've given them allied objectives, but have found when I try to set them on the HQ screen, they don't 'stick'. And welcome to the commentAARs, by the way. Like your icon.
And welcome to the commentAARs, by the way. Like your icon. - 1
A quick update: next episode well into production. There's enough basic game material for one crammed rest-of-the-month or two more comfortably paced chapters, with extra narrative forays. So I've chosen the latter!
The forthcoming ep will cover the next few (eventful) weeks of January on the Turkish front, but with some brief updates on what is happening elsewhere along the way. The one after that will cover the last week of January action plus the usual monthly reports.
Both will carry through some intel/espionage/dirty work themes (and tropes) as a few game events there give me a chance to play on those a bit too. And Foundation Day for the UGNR will also be celebrated - including by Perse, among others. Hope to get the next ep out in a day or two.
The forthcoming ep will cover the next few (eventful) weeks of January on the Turkish front, but with some brief updates on what is happening elsewhere along the way. The one after that will cover the last week of January action plus the usual monthly reports.
Both will carry through some intel/espionage/dirty work themes (and tropes) as a few game events there give me a chance to play on those a bit too. And Foundation Day for the UGNR will also be celebrated - including by Perse, among others. Hope to get the next ep out in a day or two.
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Chapter 191: Onslaughts - Part 2 (8 to 23 January 1943)
Chapter 191: Onslaughts - Part 2 (8 to 23 January 1943)
AuthAAR’s Note: This episode concentrates on events on the Turkish sector in the middle of January 1943, while the Secret War begins to warm up a little after an initial ‘winter freeze’. Some S.I.T.H. ‘old hands’ will get their hands dirty – as do some others …
Recap. Following the Turkish War Cabinet Strategy Meeting of 1 January 1943, contingency plans for the next offensive were prepared. But, despite the ‘Adriatic Pocket’ being effectively closed by the surrender of two German divisions in Bihac on 7 January, events on the ground had precluded any thoughts of an immediate follow-up attack. Indeed, the Axis had their own offensive onslaught in mind, with Turkey’s main concern now being to secure the new line they had occupied. Memories of earlier reverses after major offensives remained fresh enough, even if the Comintern was now a little more confident of their ability to hold onto what they had seized.
8 Jan 43
Early on 8 January, 2 Mot Div pulled into Otocac, back-filling for 1 Armd Div, which had itself moved north-east earlier to protect Vrnograd’s left flank in Ogulin. This re-established a line from the Adriatic to the Sava River on a three-province front. However, 2 Mot Div still needed time to recover from their earlier failed attack on Lussino [about 40% average org at this point]. It wasn't certain they would be given that time.
Next came a new attack on Vrnograc (the sixth so far in the month) by the 5th Heavy Pz Div. It started at 10am but was abandoned by 3pm as both sides were still exhausted (126 Turkish, 240 German casualties). On the other end of the line in Orsova, 3 Cav Div was pulled out before they suffered even heavier casualties, voluntarily withdrawing while other advancing units stopped in place. A Turkish bridgehead over the Danube would have to wait.
Then at 2 pm, the radio net brought word of an Axis attack on Otocac, followed eight hours later with another on nearby Ogulin. It seems the line had been re-established only just in time. The attack on Otocac was the most serious, though the better armour of 2 Mot Div would stand them in good stead against the enemy assault. 1 Armd Div did not have the same advantage, but their opposition was weaker.
Another enemy probe on Vrnograc, this time by 93rd Infanterie Div in Zagreb, lasted only two hours from 10pm, called off after disproportionate casualties were inflicted on the attackers (10 Turks vs 138 Axis killed). It seems the Axis plan was to try to impose a death of a thousand cuts on the largely exhausted defenders (1, 15 and 17 Inf Divs).
Ground Damage Report. A single Italian air raid on Vrnograc killed a total of 179 Turkish soldiers.
9 Jan 43
1 Mot Div joined 1 Armd Div in Ogulin at 5am – they had only a small chance of reinforcing [0.4%], but their mere presence discouraged the enemy [attack progress down to 20%]. Wehib Pasha (Vehip Paşa) maintained a strong defence, his prospects improved when 2 Mtn Div secured Bihac at 3pm and was ordered up to Ogulin as well.
Later that evening, another militia brigade was put into conversion to motorised infantry when they arrived in their Vlasenica depth quarters. And at 9pm, 222 SD arrived in Lussino – from which the Italians had withdrawn. They made a quick probing attack on Pola but that was also a cross-straits attack and the odds were quickly determined to be unfeasible [0%!], after a handful of troops were lost in two hours of skirmishing by scouting parties against the fresh and fully dug in Italian 33rd Division. The Soviets would dig in and hold the strong defensive position instead.
The fighting in Ogulin and Otocac had continued all day, both attracting Italian air support, with three raids on each.
10-11 Jan 43
10 January started with a third Axis attack in the west, this time by the Italians on Lussino. 222 SD had barely had time to dig more than a few shell scrapes, but their defence of the straits made the enemy attack foolhardy, in MAJGEN Devyatov’s opinion. “The idiots will be butchered,” he asserted bluntly.
At 6pm that evening, the Italians had taken enough in Otocac and broke off their attack. The Hungarians did the same in Ogulin the next morning. In both cases, the Axis had taken heavy casualties, though constant air raids had evened up the score somewhat.
Then victory in Lussino came at midday on 11 January (59 Soviet vs 295 Italian casualties).
Ground Damage Report. Raids on Otocac from 9-10 January killed 478 Turkish defenders and in Ogulin another 496 from 9-11 January. Three raids in support of the attack on Lussino on 11 January killed just 72 Soviet troops.
12 Jan 43
The only combat to occur that day was an attack across the Sava River on Sanski Most by one German and one Hungarian division, defended by 11 Inf Div and the division-strength HQ 2nd Corps (Mech), LTGEN Artunkal commanding, which started at 4 pm and continued into the next day.
13 Jan 43
A full corps-sized attack was launched by a mix of Axis troops on Tuzla at 10 am – without air support, for once. It was MAJGEN Seven’s first battle in command of 14 Inf Div. They and their Soviet comrades had beaten off this substantial attack twelve hours later, without any problems.
1 Mtn Div, slowed down by bad weather and rough terrain, had arrived in Bihac at 11 am and was also sent to Ogulin: the mountain divisions would begin to bolster the line in this sector, hopefully freeing up mechanised units for offensive operations elsewhere, in due course.
The attack on Sanski Most was defeated by 9pm, with 120 Turkish soldiers killed for 724 Axis attackers.
Ground Damage Report. A single Italian air raid on Sanski Most that morning killed just 92 defenders.
14 Jan 43
The Axis had managed to refresh a number of units around Vrnograc by the start of 14 January, and they attacked (for the eighth time of the month to date) in concert at 1am, though with comparatively light air support. They were able to envelope the still-weary defenders, and their ace General von Arnim [Skill Level 8!] struck with a breakthrough attack which negated MAJGEN Gataly’s attempted ambush. But by then, all three divisions were equipped with either IS-1 or IS-2 tank brigades, while they were dug in and two of the enemy divisions were attacking across the Sava, and against greater numbers.
And although the Axis ground assault on Tuzla had been called off the day before, heavy Axis raids (two Italian and two Hungarian TAC wings, with Italian fighter escorts) struck it all that morning. At 10 am, Örlungat decided to test out the Axis air forces again. He scrambled 1 AG (I-16s, La-GG-3s) to conduct daylight intercepts, while 3 AG (F4F Wildcats) would take over at night, using their superior night-fighting capability. This would also ‘stagger’ Turkish participation, reducing overcrowding and giving flyers a chance to rest and repair a little if the dogfights continued for a while.
The ‘day shift’ hit the attackers at 11am and jousted for three hours before returning to base. The Hungarian bombers took the brunt of the damage, but the raid pushed through. The Turkish fighters took some damage too.
3 AG then took over, going up twice that night (returning to base early on the 15th). By the end of this time, 6 AF had taken heavy damage, but the two Hungarian TAC wings were badly damaged and disorganised; ground casualties had been minimised.
As the action took place, a highly secret summit meeting was held in Athens. Only a few trusted journalists were allowed to attend the post-conference press conference, with reporting embargoed until all the principals had left the next day.
The Athens Conference (codenamed SYMBOL) discussed the Comintern European strategy for the next phase of Great War Two. In attendance were United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Turkish President Ismet Inönü. Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin declined to attend, citing the recent loss of Leningrad and the ongoing Battle of Ladoga as requiring his presence in the Soviet Union. Foreign Minister Litvinov attended in his stead.
The conference produced a unified statement of purpose, the ‘Athens Declaration’. It announced to the world that the Comintern would accept nothing less than the "unconditional surrender" of the Axis powers. Roosevelt had borrowed the term from US Army General Ulysses S. Grant (known as "Unconditional Surrender" Grant), who had communicated that stance to the Confederate States Army commander during the American Civil War. Roosevelt stated at the concluding press conference on 14 January that the Comintern was demanding "unconditional surrender" from the Germans, the Italians and the Japanese. Inönü and Litvinov made complementary statements. With Roosevelt taking the limelight, Stalin was reportedly irate he hadn’t attended in person ("What the fuck have they done to go making such declarationson behalf of the Comintern!?", he reportedly remarked to Litvinov afterwards) – but refrained from saying so to the Americans, due to the large amount of lend-lease support they were receiving.
Roosevelt and Inönü at the Athens Conference, 14 January 1943. It was heavy on public rhetoric, but light on any firm US commitment to the European theatre – or indeed in the Pacific. Their main contribution for now would be through their substantial lend lease program to both major Comintern partners and the Marine Expeditionary Force currently serving with Turkey and now nearing the Sava Line.
Heavy fighting continued in Vrnograd all that day and into the next, as did Axis air raids.
15 Jan 43
As Roosevelt was flying back to the US, word came through that the Pentagon had been completed. Their Comintern partners could only hope this might encourage them to become more active in their participation in the war. [Comment: But I’m pretty sure this is just a news report and has no tangible in-game effect.]
Midnight also brought yet another Japanese-inspired uprising in the Dodecanese. As usual, the garrison brigade stationed there put it down, with victory declared two days later (16 Turkish soldiers and 90 partisans killed).
The air battle over Tuzla continued at 5am with 3 AG, but they broke off with dawn at 6am [the night mission taking them off instantly], when 1 AG took over again. The first dogfight of the day finished at 6 am, with more heavy damage dealt to the Hungarian bombers, while the second fight ending at 1 pm saw the Italian fighters and one TAC wings start to take damage too. 1 AG was getting tired but had not been heavily damaged. Again, ground casualties were kept comparatively low.
Gataly reported excellent news from Vrnograc at midday: the latest large Axis attack had been beaten off with very heavy enemy casualties – six times those suffered by the defenders. The heavy tanks were proving very effective infantry support for defence against enemy armour.
At 11 pm, 2 Mtn Div arrived in Ogulin and – with 1 Mtn Div on the way and two divisions (1 Armd and 1 Mot) already holding Ogulin - continued south-west to Otocac to reinforce 2 Mot Div. The main concern at this point was Novi Grad, which was still only secured by the brigade-plus strength 2 Armd Div (light tanks). The two US marine divisions heading there were still held up by muddy roads in Bosanski Petrovac.
Ground Damage Report. Two days of Axis air raids on Vrnograc had only killed 265 Turkish soldiers, while over the same period the heavier raids on Tuzla had killed 518. The death toll in the latter would have been far worse had it not been for the interference of the Turkish Air Force over the last two days: one of the early raids had killed 215, each after that killed only between 20-90, until they stopped entirely on the night of the 15th.
16-17 Jan 43
Things remained quiet on the Turkish front on the ground and in the air on 16 and 17 January. Not so in Ankara, where Calixte ‘Romeo’ Charon was making a ‘business visit’. His contacts had led him to suspect that Slovakian agents had recruited a cleaning contractor in the capital to infiltrate low-level spies. He had identified one cleaner for the British Embassy as a likely operative; a man of Bulgarian origins, whom Callan had identified through official MI6 sources as a secret member of a right-wing nationalist group known to be supported by the Germans and their Slovakian stooges.
The man was ambushed by a couple of thugs Charon had hired, on the pretext that the man owed him a large debt. They went on their way, richer but none the wiser. Thus, on the evening of 16 January, in an abandoned warehouse basement, Charon conducted his interrogation alone. It was not a pleasant affair – ‘Romeo’ was by now desperate to convince Callan that he should not be withdrawn due to lack of results, let alone ‘audited’. His boss’s impatience had been reinforced by the courier Callan had used to bring the latest information: a strange little man, known only to Charon as ‘Lonely’, a regular informant and unofficial dogsbody of Callan’s, based in Baghdad.
‘Lonely’: a strange little man.
By the time Charon was finished with the unfortunate Bulgarian agent – who confessed what he knew after some not-so-gentle persuasion – he had learned that the British were concerned about penetration of their Embassy by foreign agents. There were no specifics (the cleaner had not been able to gain very much detail) but the concerns seemed not to be centred on the local Turkish security apparatus, nor on any Axis agents that might be operating in the city. They were more concerned about Soviet agents, who had wide freedom of action to collect against Allied interests throughout the territory of their close partner - the Glorious Union.
The only other piece of possibly useful information (for Callan’s purposes) he had discovered was that the search for possible Soviet infiltration in the Ankara Embassy was being led by Donald Maclean, the British ‘Cultural Attaché’ (ie MI6 Station Chief) in Ankara. And there were rumblings that the investigation was going nowhere.
Afterwards, ‘Romeo’ passed this information along to ‘Lonely’ (who had been waiting outside) in a one-time-coded message, concealed in a signet ring.
“Here, Lonely, take this ring to Mr Callan. He will know what to do with it,” said Romeo, as he smoked a calming cigarette. “You may wish to wipe the blood off it first.”
“Er, Mr ‘Charon’, is there any chance this cleaner bloke might blab?”
“None at all, Lonely. You can let Mr Callan know he has been ‘neutralised’. Permanently. If he’s found, the Slovaks will suspect the Turks or Soviets got to him, and they may think it was the British. None of them will be comparing notes.”
“You can let Mr Callan know he has been ‘neutralised’. Permanently.”
As Lonely slunk off for his trip back to Baghdad, Romeo contemplated his own voyage into The Heart of Darkness, begun months before in a river-steamer on the Congo. The horror; the horror!
At 7 am on 17 January, the 1st Turkish Marine Division (1 Mar Div) finished its long rail trip from Istanbul in Banja Luka. As soon as they were disembarked, they began marching to Sanski Most.
18 Jan 43
As Ambassador Mike Ceylan arrived at work early that morning, one of his aides approached him. “I have bad news for you, Your Excellency. Word has come from Roma overnight.”
“I have bad news for you, Your Excellency.”
The capture of a Turkish espionage team in Italy led to a realignment of efforts there. Tech espionage, which had shown little effect for a long time now, was abandoned. One third of the agents were assigned back to counter-espionage work, to keep both the Italians and their hated Slovak stooges in check. The rest would start to undermine Italian national unity, through underground propaganda and anti-Fascist subversion.
Cennet Kavgaci was to be in charge of the subversion campaign. She would organise propaganda services – ‘Radio Free Italy’ broadcasts, pamphlets and posters for clandestine distribution within Italy and then go in-country to encourage the formation of anti-Government resistance groups.
Vito Corleone was to be enlisted in the effort to hunt down Italian and Slovakian agents in southern Italy. Finally, Darth Kelebek was summoned. Literally. Just by the invocation of his name.
Darth Kelebek, in his latest guise: “You called?”
“Ah, Lord Kelebek, we have some work you may find to your … liking,” said Ceylan as he handed him a small dossier of information. “I want him DEAD! I want his team DEAD! I want his house burned to the GROUND! One day, I wanna go there in the middle of the night and I wanna PISS ON HIS ASHES!”
“That seems quite clear, Ambassador. I’ll be on my way then.”
Back at the front in the Adriatic, 2 Mtn Div arrived on the coast at Otocac at 1am and began digging in: the northern flank had now been properly secured. In the Far East, 16 Inf Div and 47 SD (EF) had arrived in Bishkek and were on their way to join 4 Cav Div further east – who currently held the front line against Manchurian forces alone, though seemed under no threat of attack as the Soviets continued to slowly advance in that southern sector.
A weather report had been called for by Inönü and waited for him when he rose that morning. It showed conditions on both sides of the Sava River in the proposed breakout zone south-east of Zagreb. They varied, but the ground and weather were still not conducive to an assault and quick breakout by mechanised forces.
There was also a general report on the situation on the wider Patriotic Front. Gains and losses seemed to be broadly balancing out so far since the start of the month.
Agent SkitalecS3 also brought a highly confidential report on the Ladoga Front. Leningrad was now firmly behind German lines and the enemy was securing the Finnish border on the Karelian Isthmus. But as yet, the Finns had not moved to enter the war. The Soviets (with some assistance from the Romanians!) were scrambling to try to contain the breakout in the north.
The Far East was showing modest Comintern gains – but there was still a very long way to go to roll back the invaders there.
And the British advised they still held on to Singapore, even while their position in Burma was collapsing. There was no reported movement in North Africa since the beginning of the month.
The afternoon brought a brief skirmish in Vrnograd, the Italian 3rd (Motorised) Division losing 107 troops in just one hour, for only seven defenders lost. No wonder they called it off so quickly!
But this proved a precursor for a more serious attack that began that evening and lasted until the following afternoon, once again pitting German Tigers against Turkey’s IS-1s and newer IS-2s, the latter (in 15 and 17 Inf Divs) being an even match for the feared German panzers.
19 Jan 43
In a large villa outside Rome, midnight approached. Darth Kelebek had gained entry violently, eliminating two bodyguards (with an axe), while the lead Slovak agent barricaded himself in a room and locked the door. This did not deter, Kelebek of course. More for theatrical purposes and to create a little more terror, he took up his axe again to gain entry.
Darth Kelebek makes a midnight call.
Once he had made an opening, Kelebek thrust his ‘face’ (or his latest one, anyway) through door and called out maniacally: “Here’s Kelebek!”
“Here’s Kelebek!”
The man had the presence of mind to take his only chance of ‘escape’: he bit down on the cyanide capsule he had ready for just such an eventuality.
Outside again, Kelebek waited a short while to admire his handiwork, carried out in accordance with Ceylan’s instructions. He wondered idly whether the S.I.T.H. chieftain would ever fulfill the second part of his pledge regarding the ashes left behind.
“All work and no play makes Kelebek a dull boy,” he muttered to himself cheerily as he wandered off.
“All work and no play makes Kelebek a dull boy.”
Early that morning, Örlungat made a re-assessment of air resources for the Adriatic sector. The pushing forward of the line and the short range of 1 TAG (IL-2 CAS and Hawk 3 INT) in Split meant they could not reach Karlovac or indeed much other Axis-held territory. He contemplated what might be done to make Turkish air support more effective.
At 11 am, 156 SD in Beograd was put on trains and sent to Banja Luka, as part of the gradual realignment of forces in preparation for a future offensive. It was agreed two divisions should be enough to garrison Beograd for now.
Later that evening, Muzir’s Mountaineers arrived in Ogulin, allowing 1 Armd Div to be relieved – they would reinforce the vulnerable Novi Grad, first to help hold it, then to be in position for a future offensive. The US and Turkish marines were still marching slowly to get into position along the Sava.
And between 10 pm and 9am the next morning, the Italians tried yet another probe on Vrnograc from Karlovac with their light armour. They lost 533 men in the attempt, for only 36 Turkish casualties. Italian light tanks against Soviet-built heavy armour was clearly a terrible mismatch! But Axis air raids recommenced that morning and would continue until 21 January.
20 Jan 43
Örlungat shifted 1 TAG from Split over to Beograd at 8 am; they would swap places with the Wildcats of 3 AG (which were able to take advantage of the rebase mission due to their longer range, meaning no reorganisation penalty on transfer). By 10am, 3 AG was in place and ready. They would not contest the daytime raids that continued on Vrnograc, but were tasked to intercept there during the night.
Down in Sicily, Vito Corleone decided to call in a Napoli-based ‘business associate’ to deal with Italian and Slovak ‘meddling’ in southern Italy. He had just the man in mind.
Vito Corleone thinks over his new task in southern Italy.
And that afternoon Cennet was in a recording studio, preparing material for the new Radio Free Italy station that would begin broadcasting from Split.
Cennet would become one of the voices of Radio Free Italy, the Turkish propaganda station designed to help undermine Italian national unity.
At 4pm, the Axis initiated cross-river attacks in Doboj (on the Sava, west of Beograd, with five divisions) and at Velico Gradiste, at the eastern end of the Danube Line (with just one Hungarian division). And in a coincidence, both of these finished at the same time two hours later, when it became clear to the enemy they were doomed to fail.
21 Jan 43
The day started with a ‘customary’ probe on Vrnograc which lasted between 4 to 6 am. A German and Italian division lost 161 men between them, for just nine Turkish casualties. But this time, the Axis air support was intercepted by 3 AG out of Split, which engaged two unescorted Italian TAC wings at 5 am. Three Italian fighter wings then joined the battle, which was broken off abruptly with the coming of dawn at 6am. Some damage had been done to one of the Italian TAC wings, but the already damaged 6 AF suffered further. The intercept mission was temporarily called off, to allow them to rest and repair.
To help supplement 3 AG’s capacity, a wing of La-5s (5 AF, from 4 AG in Beograd) flew in to Split at 8am (reserve mission used again). 6 AF was grounded for repairs, with 5 AF joining the still largely undamaged 7 AF in Hitay’s 3 AG. The intercept mission over Vrnograc was reactivated, this time by day and night.
Then, at 2 pm, the bluff was called in Novi Grad: 2 Pz Div and the Hungarian 13th Infantry attacked the undermanned 2 Armd Div (still just one light tank brigade plus SP Arty). Reinforcements were still some way off – the two divisions of US Marines assigned to Novi Grad (the other was heading to Sanski Most) might not arrive for over three days, while 1 Armd Div had still not left Ogulin.
As the attack on Novi Grad began, 3 AG was again engaging the enemy bombers over Vrnograc. As before, they got some ‘time alone’ with the bombers before Italian interceptors intervened. One was quite heavily damaged but 7 AF suffered heavily. By the time they returned to base, they were at only 70% strength and were completely disorganised, though the enemy ground attack had been disrupted. The intercept mission was again called off.
A final probe hit Vrnograc again between 10 pm and midnight, brushed off easily once more (114 Italian and just six Turkish casualties). It had been the thirteenth attack on the province so far in January. It would not be the last.
Ground Damage Report. Three days of Axis air strikes from 19-21 January on Vrnograc killed 562 Turkish soldiers, but the bombers did not return after their last aborted mission. The sacrifice of the Turkish fighter pilots had not been in vain.
22-23 Jan 43
As 2 Armd Div clung on in Novi Grad, the 1st US Mar Div arrived in Sanski Most at 5 am on 22 January, as their comrades still made slow time towards the relief of Novi Grad.
At 1 am on 23 January, 1 Armd Regt was in Bihac, but slowed down my muddy roads and hilly terrain and weren’t expected into Novi Grad for another five days. Casualties were mounting in Novi Grad and it would not do to have the small unit wiped out for no good reason. They were ordered to withdraw at 4 am, while they still maintained some cohesion. It was hoped the US Marines would arrive before the enemy could complete their river crossing: if not, they would have to attack them when they got there.
And at 7am, 156 SD finished their rail journey from Beograd in Banja Luka, where they relieved 3 Mtn Div. MAJGEN Diskoerekto was ordered up to the meatgrinder in Vrnograc for his first combat assignment as a divisional commander. Thus stood the Adriatic sector as 23 January drew to a close.
Coming Up: Will the USMC secure Novi Grad before the Germans can get across the Sava? Either way, how will they perform in their first combat with German troops? With things becoming slightly quieter in the Turkish sector, are the Axis attacks now on the wane? When will the weather improve enough to make a Turkish offensive based on rapid mobility feasible, once their forces are rested and in position?
More widely, the next week will reveal how things have fared in other theatres, especially on the critical Ladoga Front. In the Secret War, what will Callan make of Lonely’s report when he gets it? Who has Vito decided upon to ‘get the Slovakian stone out of his shoe’ in Napoli? And Cennet will soon be crossing into northern Italy to make contact with a possible partisan leader – currently a serving officer in the Italian Army, but with known anti-Fascist leanings.
Endnote: I hope all my dear readAARs are able to stay safe and healthy or, if ill, make a speedy recovery. Writing, reading and commenting on AARs is at least one way to stay occupied and keep in touch across borders as 'self-isolation' becomes the new norm in these troubled times. All the very best to you and yours.
AuthAAR’s Note: This episode concentrates on events on the Turkish sector in the middle of January 1943, while the Secret War begins to warm up a little after an initial ‘winter freeze’. Some S.I.T.H. ‘old hands’ will get their hands dirty – as do some others …
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Recap. Following the Turkish War Cabinet Strategy Meeting of 1 January 1943, contingency plans for the next offensive were prepared. But, despite the ‘Adriatic Pocket’ being effectively closed by the surrender of two German divisions in Bihac on 7 January, events on the ground had precluded any thoughts of an immediate follow-up attack. Indeed, the Axis had their own offensive onslaught in mind, with Turkey’s main concern now being to secure the new line they had occupied. Memories of earlier reverses after major offensives remained fresh enough, even if the Comintern was now a little more confident of their ability to hold onto what they had seized.
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8 Jan 43
Early on 8 January, 2 Mot Div pulled into Otocac, back-filling for 1 Armd Div, which had itself moved north-east earlier to protect Vrnograd’s left flank in Ogulin. This re-established a line from the Adriatic to the Sava River on a three-province front. However, 2 Mot Div still needed time to recover from their earlier failed attack on Lussino [about 40% average org at this point]. It wasn't certain they would be given that time.
Next came a new attack on Vrnograc (the sixth so far in the month) by the 5th Heavy Pz Div. It started at 10am but was abandoned by 3pm as both sides were still exhausted (126 Turkish, 240 German casualties). On the other end of the line in Orsova, 3 Cav Div was pulled out before they suffered even heavier casualties, voluntarily withdrawing while other advancing units stopped in place. A Turkish bridgehead over the Danube would have to wait.
Ground Damage Report. A single Italian air raid on Vrnograc killed a total of 179 Turkish soldiers.
OTL Event: Stalingrad. With Germany's Sixth Army completely encircled in the Battle of Stalingrad, the Soviet Red Army commander, General Konstantin Rokossovsky, sent an ultimatum to the German commander, General Friedrich Paulus. Rokossovsky gave Paulus until 10:00 the next morning to surrender; if the Germans gave up, Rokossovsky said, they would be provided food and medical assistance. If 10:00 arrived without a surrender, the final attack would begin and the Germans would be destroyed. General Paulus was able to contact Adolf Hitler by radio, but Hitler refused the option to accept the terms. Paulus, who had been skeptical of the Soviet offer, let the ultimatum expire with no reply, and the attack would begin on Sunday.
OTL Event: UK. Richard Hillary, 23, Battle of Britain Spitfire pilot, and author of The Last Enemy, died after crashing in England during a training flight. [Comment: I read this book as a kid and still have it, though haven’t re-read it recently. It wasn’t such ‘ancient history’ when I was reading it in the 70s! I remember it was still a thing at our ANZAC Day marches that the WW1 guys would sometimes have a bit of a go at the WW2 vets for 'not having been in a real war'! ]
]---xxx---
9 Jan 43
1 Mot Div joined 1 Armd Div in Ogulin at 5am – they had only a small chance of reinforcing [0.4%], but their mere presence discouraged the enemy [attack progress down to 20%]. Wehib Pasha (Vehip Paşa) maintained a strong defence, his prospects improved when 2 Mtn Div secured Bihac at 3pm and was ordered up to Ogulin as well.
Later that evening, another militia brigade was put into conversion to motorised infantry when they arrived in their Vlasenica depth quarters. And at 9pm, 222 SD arrived in Lussino – from which the Italians had withdrawn. They made a quick probing attack on Pola but that was also a cross-straits attack and the odds were quickly determined to be unfeasible [0%!], after a handful of troops were lost in two hours of skirmishing by scouting parties against the fresh and fully dug in Italian 33rd Division. The Soviets would dig in and hold the strong defensive position instead.
The fighting in Ogulin and Otocac had continued all day, both attracting Italian air support, with three raids on each.
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10-11 Jan 43
10 January started with a third Axis attack in the west, this time by the Italians on Lussino. 222 SD had barely had time to dig more than a few shell scrapes, but their defence of the straits made the enemy attack foolhardy, in MAJGEN Devyatov’s opinion. “The idiots will be butchered,” he asserted bluntly.
Ground Damage Report. Raids on Otocac from 9-10 January killed 478 Turkish defenders and in Ogulin another 496 from 9-11 January. Three raids in support of the attack on Lussino on 11 January killed just 72 Soviet troops.
OTL Event: Stalingrad. At 8:05 a.m. local time on 10 January, the final Soviet assault on the German Sixth Army in Stalingrad began under the command of General Rokossovsky. On the city's western side, the Soviet 65th Army advanced from the west, supported by the 21st Army and 24th Army from the left and right, respectively. The 66th Army advanced from the north. and the 64th from the east.
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12 Jan 43
The only combat to occur that day was an attack across the Sava River on Sanski Most by one German and one Hungarian division, defended by 11 Inf Div and the division-strength HQ 2nd Corps (Mech), LTGEN Artunkal commanding, which started at 4 pm and continued into the next day.
OTL Event: Leningrad. Operation Iskra began at 9:30 am, as the Soviet 67th Army began its final assault on the German occupation of Leningrad.
OTL Event: Morocco. British Prime Minister Winston Churchill was flown from England to Morocco, where he would make war plans with President Roosevelt. The news was not released until January 27, after his return.
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13 Jan 43
A full corps-sized attack was launched by a mix of Axis troops on Tuzla at 10 am – without air support, for once. It was MAJGEN Seven’s first battle in command of 14 Inf Div. They and their Soviet comrades had beaten off this substantial attack twelve hours later, without any problems.
The attack on Sanski Most was defeated by 9pm, with 120 Turkish soldiers killed for 724 Axis attackers.
Ground Damage Report. A single Italian air raid on Sanski Most that morning killed just 92 defenders.
OTL Event: Germany. Adolf Hitler issued the "Führer decree on the full employment of men and women in the defence of the Reich" in order to bring another 500,000 men into the German armed forces by replacing male factory workers with women. Accordingly, all women between 17 and 45 years old were required to register for employment. [Comment: and thus the in-game event the Germans had recently.]
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14 Jan 43
The Axis had managed to refresh a number of units around Vrnograc by the start of 14 January, and they attacked (for the eighth time of the month to date) in concert at 1am, though with comparatively light air support. They were able to envelope the still-weary defenders, and their ace General von Arnim [Skill Level 8!] struck with a breakthrough attack which negated MAJGEN Gataly’s attempted ambush. But by then, all three divisions were equipped with either IS-1 or IS-2 tank brigades, while they were dug in and two of the enemy divisions were attacking across the Sava, and against greater numbers.
The ‘day shift’ hit the attackers at 11am and jousted for three hours before returning to base. The Hungarian bombers took the brunt of the damage, but the raid pushed through. The Turkish fighters took some damage too.
The Athens Conference (codenamed SYMBOL) discussed the Comintern European strategy for the next phase of Great War Two. In attendance were United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Turkish President Ismet Inönü. Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin declined to attend, citing the recent loss of Leningrad and the ongoing Battle of Ladoga as requiring his presence in the Soviet Union. Foreign Minister Litvinov attended in his stead.
The conference produced a unified statement of purpose, the ‘Athens Declaration’. It announced to the world that the Comintern would accept nothing less than the "unconditional surrender" of the Axis powers. Roosevelt had borrowed the term from US Army General Ulysses S. Grant (known as "Unconditional Surrender" Grant), who had communicated that stance to the Confederate States Army commander during the American Civil War. Roosevelt stated at the concluding press conference on 14 January that the Comintern was demanding "unconditional surrender" from the Germans, the Italians and the Japanese. Inönü and Litvinov made complementary statements. With Roosevelt taking the limelight, Stalin was reportedly irate he hadn’t attended in person ("What the fuck have they done to go making such declarationson behalf of the Comintern!?", he reportedly remarked to Litvinov afterwards) – but refrained from saying so to the Americans, due to the large amount of lend-lease support they were receiving.
Roosevelt and Inönü at the Athens Conference, 14 January 1943. It was heavy on public rhetoric, but light on any firm US commitment to the European theatre – or indeed in the Pacific. Their main contribution for now would be through their substantial lend lease program to both major Comintern partners and the Marine Expeditionary Force currently serving with Turkey and now nearing the Sava Line.
OTL Event: Casablanca. The Casablanca Conference (codenamed SYMBOL) was held at the Anfa Hotel in Casablanca, Morocco, from January 14 to 24, 1943, to plan the Allied European strategy for the next phase of World War II. In attendance were United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British prime minister Winston Churchill. Also attending and representing the Free French forces were Generals Charles de Gaulle and Henri Giraud, though they played minor roles and were not part of the military planning. Premier Joseph Stalin had declined to attend, citing the ongoing Battle of Stalingrad as requiring his presence in the Soviet Union. [Comment: As I try to do, the OTL event was adapted as best I could to the game universe.]
Heavy fighting continued in Vrnograd all that day and into the next, as did Axis air raids.
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15 Jan 43
As Roosevelt was flying back to the US, word came through that the Pentagon had been completed. Their Comintern partners could only hope this might encourage them to become more active in their participation in the war. [Comment: But I’m pretty sure this is just a news report and has no tangible in-game effect.]
The air battle over Tuzla continued at 5am with 3 AG, but they broke off with dawn at 6am [the night mission taking them off instantly], when 1 AG took over again. The first dogfight of the day finished at 6 am, with more heavy damage dealt to the Hungarian bombers, while the second fight ending at 1 pm saw the Italian fighters and one TAC wings start to take damage too. 1 AG was getting tired but had not been heavily damaged. Again, ground casualties were kept comparatively low.
Ground Damage Report. Two days of Axis air raids on Vrnograc had only killed 265 Turkish soldiers, while over the same period the heavier raids on Tuzla had killed 518. The death toll in the latter would have been far worse had it not been for the interference of the Turkish Air Force over the last two days: one of the early raids had killed 215, each after that killed only between 20-90, until they stopped entirely on the night of the 15th.
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16-17 Jan 43
Things remained quiet on the Turkish front on the ground and in the air on 16 and 17 January. Not so in Ankara, where Calixte ‘Romeo’ Charon was making a ‘business visit’. His contacts had led him to suspect that Slovakian agents had recruited a cleaning contractor in the capital to infiltrate low-level spies. He had identified one cleaner for the British Embassy as a likely operative; a man of Bulgarian origins, whom Callan had identified through official MI6 sources as a secret member of a right-wing nationalist group known to be supported by the Germans and their Slovakian stooges.
The man was ambushed by a couple of thugs Charon had hired, on the pretext that the man owed him a large debt. They went on their way, richer but none the wiser. Thus, on the evening of 16 January, in an abandoned warehouse basement, Charon conducted his interrogation alone. It was not a pleasant affair – ‘Romeo’ was by now desperate to convince Callan that he should not be withdrawn due to lack of results, let alone ‘audited’. His boss’s impatience had been reinforced by the courier Callan had used to bring the latest information: a strange little man, known only to Charon as ‘Lonely’, a regular informant and unofficial dogsbody of Callan’s, based in Baghdad.
‘Lonely’: a strange little man.
By the time Charon was finished with the unfortunate Bulgarian agent – who confessed what he knew after some not-so-gentle persuasion – he had learned that the British were concerned about penetration of their Embassy by foreign agents. There were no specifics (the cleaner had not been able to gain very much detail) but the concerns seemed not to be centred on the local Turkish security apparatus, nor on any Axis agents that might be operating in the city. They were more concerned about Soviet agents, who had wide freedom of action to collect against Allied interests throughout the territory of their close partner - the Glorious Union.
The only other piece of possibly useful information (for Callan’s purposes) he had discovered was that the search for possible Soviet infiltration in the Ankara Embassy was being led by Donald Maclean, the British ‘Cultural Attaché’ (ie MI6 Station Chief) in Ankara. And there were rumblings that the investigation was going nowhere.
Afterwards, ‘Romeo’ passed this information along to ‘Lonely’ (who had been waiting outside) in a one-time-coded message, concealed in a signet ring.
“Here, Lonely, take this ring to Mr Callan. He will know what to do with it,” said Romeo, as he smoked a calming cigarette. “You may wish to wipe the blood off it first.”
“Er, Mr ‘Charon’, is there any chance this cleaner bloke might blab?”
“None at all, Lonely. You can let Mr Callan know he has been ‘neutralised’. Permanently. If he’s found, the Slovaks will suspect the Turks or Soviets got to him, and they may think it was the British. None of them will be comparing notes.”
“You can let Mr Callan know he has been ‘neutralised’. Permanently.”
As Lonely slunk off for his trip back to Baghdad, Romeo contemplated his own voyage into The Heart of Darkness, begun months before in a river-steamer on the Congo. The horror; the horror!
At 7 am on 17 January, the 1st Turkish Marine Division (1 Mar Div) finished its long rail trip from Istanbul in Banja Luka. As soon as they were disembarked, they began marching to Sanski Most.
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18 Jan 43
As Ambassador Mike Ceylan arrived at work early that morning, one of his aides approached him. “I have bad news for you, Your Excellency. Word has come from Roma overnight.”
“I have bad news for you, Your Excellency.”
Cennet Kavgaci was to be in charge of the subversion campaign. She would organise propaganda services – ‘Radio Free Italy’ broadcasts, pamphlets and posters for clandestine distribution within Italy and then go in-country to encourage the formation of anti-Government resistance groups.
Vito Corleone was to be enlisted in the effort to hunt down Italian and Slovakian agents in southern Italy. Finally, Darth Kelebek was summoned. Literally. Just by the invocation of his name.
Darth Kelebek, in his latest guise: “You called?”
“Ah, Lord Kelebek, we have some work you may find to your … liking,” said Ceylan as he handed him a small dossier of information. “I want him DEAD! I want his team DEAD! I want his house burned to the GROUND! One day, I wanna go there in the middle of the night and I wanna PISS ON HIS ASHES!”
“That seems quite clear, Ambassador. I’ll be on my way then.”
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Back at the front in the Adriatic, 2 Mtn Div arrived on the coast at Otocac at 1am and began digging in: the northern flank had now been properly secured. In the Far East, 16 Inf Div and 47 SD (EF) had arrived in Bishkek and were on their way to join 4 Cav Div further east – who currently held the front line against Manchurian forces alone, though seemed under no threat of attack as the Soviets continued to slowly advance in that southern sector.
A weather report had been called for by Inönü and waited for him when he rose that morning. It showed conditions on both sides of the Sava River in the proposed breakout zone south-east of Zagreb. They varied, but the ground and weather were still not conducive to an assault and quick breakout by mechanised forces.
The afternoon brought a brief skirmish in Vrnograd, the Italian 3rd (Motorised) Division losing 107 troops in just one hour, for only seven defenders lost. No wonder they called it off so quickly!
But this proved a precursor for a more serious attack that began that evening and lasted until the following afternoon, once again pitting German Tigers against Turkey’s IS-1s and newer IS-2s, the latter (in 15 and 17 Inf Divs) being an even match for the feared German panzers.
OTL Event: Leningrad. The Red Army broke the German Wehrmacht's 515-day siege of Leningrad. The Germans had besieged Leningrad since August 21, 1941. That day, General Georgy Zhukov became the first field commander of World War II to be promoted to the rank of Marshal of the Soviet Union and awarded the Order of Suvorov in recognition of "successfully carrying out the general leadership of the counteroffensive at Stalingrad". [Comment: an interesting juxtaposition from in-game vs OTL.]
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19 Jan 43
In a large villa outside Rome, midnight approached. Darth Kelebek had gained entry violently, eliminating two bodyguards (with an axe), while the lead Slovak agent barricaded himself in a room and locked the door. This did not deter, Kelebek of course. More for theatrical purposes and to create a little more terror, he took up his axe again to gain entry.
Darth Kelebek makes a midnight call.
Once he had made an opening, Kelebek thrust his ‘face’ (or his latest one, anyway) through door and called out maniacally: “Here’s Kelebek!”
“Here’s Kelebek!”
The man had the presence of mind to take his only chance of ‘escape’: he bit down on the cyanide capsule he had ready for just such an eventuality.
Outside again, Kelebek waited a short while to admire his handiwork, carried out in accordance with Ceylan’s instructions. He wondered idly whether the S.I.T.H. chieftain would ever fulfill the second part of his pledge regarding the ashes left behind.
“All work and no play makes Kelebek a dull boy,” he muttered to himself cheerily as he wandered off.
“All work and no play makes Kelebek a dull boy.”
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Early that morning, Örlungat made a re-assessment of air resources for the Adriatic sector. The pushing forward of the line and the short range of 1 TAG (IL-2 CAS and Hawk 3 INT) in Split meant they could not reach Karlovac or indeed much other Axis-held territory. He contemplated what might be done to make Turkish air support more effective.
At 11 am, 156 SD in Beograd was put on trains and sent to Banja Luka, as part of the gradual realignment of forces in preparation for a future offensive. It was agreed two divisions should be enough to garrison Beograd for now.
Later that evening, Muzir’s Mountaineers arrived in Ogulin, allowing 1 Armd Div to be relieved – they would reinforce the vulnerable Novi Grad, first to help hold it, then to be in position for a future offensive. The US and Turkish marines were still marching slowly to get into position along the Sava.
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20 Jan 43
Örlungat shifted 1 TAG from Split over to Beograd at 8 am; they would swap places with the Wildcats of 3 AG (which were able to take advantage of the rebase mission due to their longer range, meaning no reorganisation penalty on transfer). By 10am, 3 AG was in place and ready. They would not contest the daytime raids that continued on Vrnograc, but were tasked to intercept there during the night.
Down in Sicily, Vito Corleone decided to call in a Napoli-based ‘business associate’ to deal with Italian and Slovak ‘meddling’ in southern Italy. He had just the man in mind.
Vito Corleone thinks over his new task in southern Italy.
And that afternoon Cennet was in a recording studio, preparing material for the new Radio Free Italy station that would begin broadcasting from Split.
Cennet would become one of the voices of Radio Free Italy, the Turkish propaganda station designed to help undermine Italian national unity.
At 4pm, the Axis initiated cross-river attacks in Doboj (on the Sava, west of Beograd, with five divisions) and at Velico Gradiste, at the eastern end of the Danube Line (with just one Hungarian division). And in a coincidence, both of these finished at the same time two hours later, when it became clear to the enemy they were doomed to fail.
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21 Jan 43
The day started with a ‘customary’ probe on Vrnograc which lasted between 4 to 6 am. A German and Italian division lost 161 men between them, for just nine Turkish casualties. But this time, the Axis air support was intercepted by 3 AG out of Split, which engaged two unescorted Italian TAC wings at 5 am. Three Italian fighter wings then joined the battle, which was broken off abruptly with the coming of dawn at 6am. Some damage had been done to one of the Italian TAC wings, but the already damaged 6 AF suffered further. The intercept mission was temporarily called off, to allow them to rest and repair.
Then, at 2 pm, the bluff was called in Novi Grad: 2 Pz Div and the Hungarian 13th Infantry attacked the undermanned 2 Armd Div (still just one light tank brigade plus SP Arty). Reinforcements were still some way off – the two divisions of US Marines assigned to Novi Grad (the other was heading to Sanski Most) might not arrive for over three days, while 1 Armd Div had still not left Ogulin.
Ground Damage Report. Three days of Axis air strikes from 19-21 January on Vrnograc killed 562 Turkish soldiers, but the bombers did not return after their last aborted mission. The sacrifice of the Turkish fighter pilots had not been in vain.
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22-23 Jan 43
As 2 Armd Div clung on in Novi Grad, the 1st US Mar Div arrived in Sanski Most at 5 am on 22 January, as their comrades still made slow time towards the relief of Novi Grad.
OTL Event: Stalingrad. The Germans lost their last airfield at Stalingrad when Gumrak was taken on 22 January.
At 1 am on 23 January, 1 Armd Regt was in Bihac, but slowed down my muddy roads and hilly terrain and weren’t expected into Novi Grad for another five days. Casualties were mounting in Novi Grad and it would not do to have the small unit wiped out for no good reason. They were ordered to withdraw at 4 am, while they still maintained some cohesion. It was hoped the US Marines would arrive before the enemy could complete their river crossing: if not, they would have to attack them when they got there.
OTL Event: Libya. The British 8th Army, under the command of General Bernard Montgomery captured Tripoli from Italy. The Italian Governor, Alberto Denti di Piranjo, formally surrendered to the British, relinquishing Italian control of Libya that had started in 1912.
Entertainment News: US. The classic film Casablanca, starring Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman, was released nationwide in the United States, after a successful opening in New York on Thanksgiving Day, 1942. [In OTL, coincidentally, U.S. President Roosevelt was secretly in the Moroccan capital of Casablanca at the time of the film's release.]
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Coming Up: Will the USMC secure Novi Grad before the Germans can get across the Sava? Either way, how will they perform in their first combat with German troops? With things becoming slightly quieter in the Turkish sector, are the Axis attacks now on the wane? When will the weather improve enough to make a Turkish offensive based on rapid mobility feasible, once their forces are rested and in position?
More widely, the next week will reveal how things have fared in other theatres, especially on the critical Ladoga Front. In the Secret War, what will Callan make of Lonely’s report when he gets it? Who has Vito decided upon to ‘get the Slovakian stone out of his shoe’ in Napoli? And Cennet will soon be crossing into northern Italy to make contact with a possible partisan leader – currently a serving officer in the Italian Army, but with known anti-Fascist leanings.
Endnote: I hope all my dear readAARs are able to stay safe and healthy or, if ill, make a speedy recovery. Writing, reading and commenting on AARs is at least one way to stay occupied and keep in touch across borders as 'self-isolation' becomes the new norm in these troubled times. All the very best to you and yours.
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