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In AAR terms, I’m going to consciously make the chapters a little shorter (less dense) and hopefully easier to follow/keep up with and a bit more frequent (across the other AARs too). It means Ive been able to flesh it out with a little bit more of the 'decorative' stuff, thoughb the espionage scene has remained fairly quiet for now. The whole of August is played through – and the pace varies quite noticeably during the month. This eight-day period fairly neatly encapsulates the first phase of that tempo and has a logical break point.
In the Krakow Sector, the German 72nd Infanterie pulled into Grybow at midday, still professing to be under Slovakian command: the enemy within! Just three hours later, another German division in Slovakian colours was seen approaching Zilina (between Krakow and Bratislava). The Turks had begun to suspect a plot from the puppet Slovakian government of those Fascists Hlinka and Tiso to deliberately infiltrate German troops for nefarious counter-revolutionary purposes!
From 1 to 5pm, an Italian motorised division tried a shock attack on the dug-in 15 Inf Div in Tata, just south of Bratislava. It failed miserably against the veteran troops and their IS-1 heavy support tanks, with only 19 Turkish troops lost compared to 139 Italian attackers. LT Metin Sadik didn't break a sweat as the Italians first advanced and then quickly retreated.
There are several recorded instances of opposing soldiers breaking into a sweat as Italian forces advanced on them. Curiously, in every instance the soldiers in question had been eating a spicy meal, often a sausage or curry of some sort. The reader is invited to conflate correlation with causation at leisure.
Around Bratislava, the securing of Dunajska Streda at 8pm released more units to reinforce the front line. A plan was forming for the seizure of Vienna. The liberation of the Fuhrer’s former home city – one of the great cities of Europe – would be an excellent propaganda coup and eventually a boost to Turkish research and production if it could be integrated into the Glorious Union. 1 Mot Div could now play a part in that, having mainly recovered from its earlier battle damage incurred during the Bratislava Offensive in July.
Looking at the map and seeing how close Vienna is to Bratislava, and along the river as well, it really is a shocker that so little culture and learning managed to filter downriver from the one to the other...
Alternatively, one would have to take El Pip's work as anything less than authoritative which I of course cannot conceive of doing.
And given the recent dominance of Axis air power in the Balkans, there was welcome news when the first of the newest Soviet fighters 9 AF, equipped with Yak-7s, was introduced into service. Although they would take some time to work up to operational readiness. The next most modern Turkish fighters, the F4F Wildcats, were weaker in air attack and equal in air speed, but superior in some other aspects, such as morale (ie ground crew training), radar and night fighting capability.
That night, a routine report was received from the garrison commander in the Dodecanese: over the last day or two, another Japanese-inspired rebellion had been efficiently suppressed, without any Turkish lives lost and 88 rebels killed.
Observers reported that the rebels appeared to be split into several factions, arguing with each other about the relative merits of battleships, carriers, and submarines even whilst being unceremoniously cut to pieces by the local army garrison.
More importantly, 8pm saw 177 SD liberate Krakow from its four-year Nazi occupation. Meanwhile, the Soviets were only slowly advancing north-west from Lwow against thin German opposition. Comintern forces were crossing the Vistula up- and down-stream of Krakow (2 Armd Div secured Miechow an hour later). German infiltrators still skulked around the sector under Slovakian flags-of-convenience.
Those guys in...whatever that province is to the west of Sanok need to get their rears in gear and help roll up the front. No slacking off in the Glorious Turkish Army!! Vur Ha!!
Late that night, President Hlinka reported that Slovakia was mobilising again and would “soon be able to field a strong army”. This communique was met with snorts of derision at HQ 1st Army. The only thing that seemed to be growing was the number of disloyal German units behind Turkish lines!
I quoted this line to make the same joke I made a few comments up, not realizing I'd already done so. This I think sums up Slovakia far more eruditely than I could on my own merits.
None of this stopped the intrepid Toüdemür’s drive on Vienna, which fell to his 2 Mot Div at 6am on 8 August. This symbolic victory should now bring the war home to Germany and begin to sap their will to resist.
All these years and he just...drove right in? Previous Ottoman generals have got to be rolling in their graves right about now, if only they'd known it could be so easy...
Coming Up: The extent of any German stabilisation of the line against the Turkish Summer Offensive, which was now essentially coming to an end with the capture of Vienna and the Vistula bridgehead, would soon be known. Comintern eyes now turned to the north and the great Soviet attempt to secure the Baltic Pocket and complete the destruction of Army Group North, while hopefully also advancing in the centre of the front to support the Turkish breakout with Stalin’s ‘big battalions’.
Frankly I think the best move is to continue the offensive, but focus on the eastern corner where our line meets the Soviets. This way our front doesn't actually get appreciably longer, since every kilometer we roll the Germans northwards becomes another Russian division pushing them westwards. Hold the line in the center and east, though, no need to recklessly waste Turkish lives, at this point the methodical approach will do the job neatly.
It's good empire building, perhaps at the expense of good warmaking. But to be totally fair and brutally honest, Turkey is not that concerned with taking down Germany itself. Turkey wants what she's already taken, plus Italy. It's for Russia to bleed, smash through a take Germany and become the European hegemon. Turkey is supposed to be a partner to that, specifically in the Mediterranean, southern Europe and the balkans, and hopefully the middle east postwar. Everyone including Stalin has agreed to that for years at this point.
Germany armies getting away to Germany are ultimately Russian problems, which they're making worse by not closing their own pockets. You can't pin it on Turkey, who have taken out two junior axis members by themselves, are about to throw down with Italy and still have found resources to fight for Russia against Japan, limited as our means are.
Whilst our goverment and nation continues to hold nothing but respect and admiration for Russia and her people, her war leaders could bear to start pushing the enemy a bit more if they want some results of their own.
I'm not sure Turkey has the capacity to invade Italy anytime before Spring of 1944, now. Manpower aside, there's simply not enough divisions to go around for such an invasion with the amount of front line that must now be held and defended.
Will the Germans crack? Or, as they have done many times in the Great Liberation War, will they manage a counterstroke to halt Comintern progress in the Balkans and free their trapped forces in Russia?
I predict a thrilling tale of utter AI ineptitude. The Soviets pull half their Northern Front to invade Afghanistan; the Germans inexplicably ignore this, leave the pocket closed, and divert their troops to retake Slovakia; the British send heavy armor to Jamaica. Thank God for Turkish sanity!
As the day began, the Turkish manpower reserve was at 10,000 and 3,060 replacements needed, even after the lower op tempo of recent days. No new battles started or air raids conducted, as Turkish units pushed forward, sticking their collective foot in the still-open door. And hoping it wouldn't be crushed if the door was slammed shut!
One notes after reading the chapter title, incidentally, that once a foot is in the door, the body must follow or else the foot must be withdrawn before it is smashed to a pulp by repeated slamming of the door. Unless of course one has a wooden leg.
“Can we not call this recalcitrant President Hlinka to arms?” fumed an angry Milli Şef.“Ah, er, I’m afraid not,” replied the Foreign Ministry staffer on the HQ.“What, even though they are an ally and a puppet government of the UGNR!?” Inönü, who rarely lost his temper, looked in need of one of Interior Minister Kaya’s apoplexy tablets.“I’m sorry, Milli Şef, I really don’t know what else to say. It’s the paradoxical Iron Law of diplomatic relations,” said the worthy as he begged his leave from the office.
...I was preparing a smartass comment about "iron laws of diplomacy", but you have not only beaten me to the punch but done it better than I could have. Well played, sir, well played.
And just before midnight on 14 August, 5 Inf Div pushed into Staszów, extending the Vistula bridgehead to five provinces wide. Though at the same time more German divisions now seemed to be massing in the vicinity of Katowice, which was quite exposed.
Katowice is as good a place as any to weather a German assault. The terrain is favorable for defending, and retreating even in disarray costs us little in terms of the overall shape of the front line. Let them busy themselves there while we prepare to strike elsewhere.
The fight in Terchova had been a savage one, but it finally ended in the early afternoon of 17 August, leaving the enemy with fewer than 600 troops alive by the time it was over.
But the plague of turncoat attacks was not over: even as fighting ended in Terchova, it broke out again in Zilina. This time, the German 6th Infanterie had discarded their Slovakian camouflage (including dastardly overcoats with cravats) to attack 3 Mot Div, who were becoming regrettably used to this kind of perfidy.
In their haste to commit said perfidy, the Germans neglected to consider that 3 Mot Div could easily encircle them with trucks, and thus that turning their coats just yet may not have been the wisest decision.
Looks like we could roll up to the Adriatic coast and pocket those annoying Italians poking holes in our front line. Would be a nice little coup, that.
OTL Event: Sicily. The US 7th Army, commanded by General George S. Patton, met the British 8th Army led by General Bernard Montgomery in Messina, completing the Allied invasion of Sicily. Allied artillery in Messina began shelling the Italian mainland.
Rigorous historical study of Paradox games has shown me that Italy in real life committed too much to the defense across from Messina, when all they really needed was to keep a single submarine within 100 km or so of the strait which would completely prevent the Allies from crossing the strait. Had the Italians ever played a Hearts of Iron game they would have known this and had more troops available to defend more important positions such as Naples.
OTL Event: Germany. The U.S. Army Air Force carried out the Schweinfurt–Regensburg mission, its first strategic air raid on German war production, attacking the ball-bearing factory at Schweinfurt, and the Messerschmitt aircraft manufacturing facility at Regensburg. General Ira C. Eaker, who commanded the Eighth U.S. Army Bomber force, made what Nazi official Albert Speer would later call "a crucial mistake", dividing the 376 American B-17 bombers into two groups, rather than concentrating on destroying the Schweinfurt factory, where production was cut by one-third, but continued. Sixty of the bombers were shot down, and 550 flyers were killed or captured.
The Germans, I imagine, laughed quite a lot at the Americans for being so ill-prepared and under-trained to fight a war. A couple of years later, I imagine, the Americans laughed at the Germans for their crippling inability to learn from their mistakes.
OTL Event: Quebec City, Canada. The Quadrant Conference between the Chiefs of Staff of the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada, continued in Quebec City with the signing of the Quebec Agreement by U.S. President Roosevelt, U.K. Prime Minister Churchill, and Canadian Prime Minister King. The terms of the pact, officially titled Articles of Agreement Governing Collaboration between the Authorities of the USA and the UK in the Matter of Tube Alloys, would remain secret until 1954. "Tube alloys" was a codename for atomic weapons. The nations agreed to combine their atomic physicists and researchers to develop the atomic bomb, and not use the weapon against any other nation without joint consent.[Comment: Yes, for those ‘tube alloys’ fans among you, here is its first honourable mention here.]
I'm split here. As a materials scientist by trade, I'm quite disappointed that this isn't a project about literal tube alloys. As a nuclear scientist by education, I'm excited about bombs.
As a pyromaniacal readAAR: Bomb the Hell out of 'em!!
12 SD retook Delnice without opposition at midnight as 1 Mtn Div still advanced towards it, while 8 Mil Div and 217 SD were ordered up to bolster the front line, including MAJGEN Diskoerekto’s 3 Mtn Div in Novo Mesto. 1 Mtn Div would returned to Delnice by 8pm that night, joining 12 SD to strengthen the defence.
Coming Up: How determined will the current apparent German counter-offensive prove to be? And what effect might that have on their ability to relieve the surrounded Army Group North or resist Soviet advances into eastern Poland? Is Inönü willing to risk running down his manpower reserves to zero in the short term, to lock in longer terms gains, now he has Turkey’s ‘foot in the door’ that opens into Germany’s soft/medium/hard (your choice) underbelly?
I'm serious, though, at this point Turkey can easily weather a MP deficit as even if our divisions drop to 80% strength we know the remaining Axis powers simply cannot handle the mounting losses. As long as we maintain superiority in spite of the deficit, we must press on!
Japan's general problem is the insipid restriction that an entire continent can only be supplied from one port, usually not the one the player or indeed any sane actor would have liked. If for example Japan could maintain supply hubs in Hamhung, Tianjin, and Shanghai, there would not be nearly so much of a problem until pushing into the Chinese interior at which point the problem becomes infrastructure rather than horrible game mechanics, as it should be.
To counterbalance this, Paradox has nerfed China into the ground, so it all works out in that depressingly Paradoxical manner.
I'm still thinking if we declare war on a microcountry we can call Slovakia to arms, and once called they'll take place in the war against Axis as well. But that's just my theory and might very well be wrong.
Right then, I'm finally caught up with this board, minus one or two AARs I've got no hope of ever keeping up with and must regretfully abandon. Please, don't mind me, carry on as usual everybody...
Tonight I heard a song that made me think of Talking Turkey: Istanbul(Not Constantinople) by The Four Lads (Canadian). While not recorded until 1953, it is still older than @bullfilfter and me, making it is close enough for government work.
Upon googling, the top video is a scene from the Netflix show The Umbrella Academy. Is the Umbrella Academy operatives of SITH?
@Wraith11B, thank you. Yes, this is the song that I referred. The 1953 version went top ten and was done on 500th anniversary of Constantinople's fall to the Ottomans. Further research reveals that Netflix and the Simpsons used the 1990 They Might Be Giants cover. Thank you.
It seems if we can link up with the Polish rebels, a lot of German divisions will be left in a very untenable position. Do those rebels still exist or are they already defeated and Germans are just reclaiming empty provinces?
I'm still thinking if we declare war on a microcountry we can call Slovakia to arms, and once called they'll take place in the war against Axis as well. But that's just my theory and might very well be wrong.
Perhaps - I might do a quick experiment separately on an earlier save. It may be either they need to finish re-mobilising; or there's a cooling off period; or it was because there were still German EFs under command.
So in 3 of the 4 new spoiling battles, the Germans have been able to use the Elastic Defense tactic which is by far the best defensive tactic. They really have some next level doctrines I guess.
I'm not really sure if we need to hold the Slovakian provinces since they're apparently at a truce with the Germans. Maybe just leave those empty and use the divisions elsewhere?
I'd not be willing to risk that and it would be a bit gamey. Also, it doesn't seem to stop the Germans going through the provinces to fight us: just not fighting the Slovakians. Yet, anyway. We'll keep the front there manned. Vur ha!
I think we'll need to grab our own rewards. Hoping Finland stays out for now, as I want the DoW on them to come when Germany is already defeated (another victory objective there for the Comintern).
As this remains the best AAR on the HoI3 board I shall endeavor to provide commentary in spite of what I'm sure will be a prodigious volume of work I've missed out on in the past three months. God help me...
One notes the passing similarity to reported comments by other world leaders about kicking down doors to rotten structures. One also keeps this observation to oneself in this day and age of high-stakes espionage and far-reaching secret police organizations...
In OTL this is an honestly fascinating and damning look at just how badly the German high command had mismanaged the war. Both sides knew months in advance that the Kursk salient was the only real possibility for a German offensive in 1943, with the real suspense being how much the Soviets could fortify around Kursk before the Germans attacked. Obligingly, despite having a battle plan ready by May '43, Hitler vacillated madly and kept moving his tanks back and forth between the Eastern and Italian fronts (this being prior to Operation Husky, mind!) before finally committing to the Citadel offensive in July, by which point the Soviets had managed to construct the most impressive defense in depth fortifications in military history. Had the Germans attacked in May as originally planned, it's entirely possible (though decidedly not certain!) that they may have been able to overwhelm the Soviets and collapse the Kursk salient, likely prolonging the Eastern Front at least long enough that we'd be learning about how the Brits and 'Mericans marched into Berlin in '45.
In the battle itself, the German northern thrust got basically nowhere, while the southern thrust with most of the tanks and the SS Panzerkorps almost managed to reach the final defensive line before Kursk proper, only to turn 90 degrees and charge directly into the massed Soviet tanks at Prokhorovka. Truly a masterclass in how not to conduct an offensive, though of course much credit is due to the Soviets who managed to massively outdo what the Germans thought they were capable of in terms of fortifying and forming up their reserves (you'd think the Germans would have learned after the debacles of Uranus and Saturn, and you would think wrongly).
It's difficult to count exactly but I believe I'm seeing anywhere from 3 to 5 Turkish divisions here, where I should think we need at the most two in-theater. A few extra divisions would be much help on the European Front, if not for their guns then for their precious MP.
Three. Two second string and an EF. And you will see their active time in the east is coming to a dignified end, now that the Soviets seem to have things in hand there, unlike the dark times when they first deployed.
TTL Event (date yet unknown): The Allied invasion of Sicily begins as U.S., British, and Canadian forces land on the large Italian island. Defending Siciliy was an old Italian boot which had been left behind by the AI and a spare bolt which had fallen off a German bomber passing overhead a year prior.
This is excellent, but at this point I would have worried more about pressing into Budapest than trying to complete the encirclement. Once you've encircled enemy units their fellow soldiers will fight doubly hard to rescue them, leaving them an escape hole allows more focus to be placed on the coup de grace instead of holding the outer lines.
Tried that before and got a bloody nose ... this way we wait until they are cut off, break their entrenchments trying to escape and weaken themselves in fruitless breakout attempts. It worked in Stalingrad ...
This likely marks the beginning of the end for the Axis stooges, now that they've got a gaping hole in their lines and one fewer puppet to fill it for them.
MP problems aside, I for one would vote for a broad offensive through the gap to collapse the German lines entirely, even if the offensive does eventually stall and get pushed back the Soviets will have free reign to attack along the entire front once the Germans are thrown into disarray! Even if we find the bottom of the barrel has no MP left to scrape, this will not prove fatal I think compared to the massive potential gains!
A brilliant update, and just the sort of rousing stuff one looks forward to from this AAR! But a long one, as always, which for me means I'll have to wrap up the commentary here and pick up the next update in a new post. I'll get there, don't you worry about me...
Many thanks. You will have noted later my guilt at cramming so much into this one in my eagerness to get through the story. Subsequent editions sought to curb that enthusiasm a little bit. As far as your humble author is capable!
It looks like the Turkish offensive is starting to run out of steam, though only locally for now. At this point, keeping a positive manpower balance is probably more important than holding on to Polish territory at any price. Now it's a question of selecting where to hold the line, and where to pull back to reduce bloodshed. There is the potential to encircle at least one Panzer Division between Turkish and Soviet Lines in South-Eastern Poland, but the German attack on Stazow does show the risk of pursuing such an operation. The encirclement operation closer to the Adriatic is a great way to gain time, as the capture of one or two enemy units in that sector will make the Axis command there reconsolidate before they go on any offensive.
The Germans at this stage are seemingly beginning to firm up their scrambling defence a little. But that means they will have less to defend Poland or rescure Army Group North with, so it all serves the greater purpose. We'll see about the Adriatic sector - for now, its more opportunistic diversions and limited probes.
I'm overjoyed that the Northern pocket now is truly sealed, and I'm curious just how many Axis forces will be taken out of the war in that area. Turkey's sacrifices will not be forgotten, as without Turkey's push into Austria and Southern Poland, the Germans may well have been able to break our spearhead once again and re-establish contact.
This was the general plan for this phase of the war way back when we brought the Comintern into the war more than three years ago. Everyone has to shoulder as much as they can, in true Stakhanovite fashion!
The question of manpower remains worrying as ever, though the small uptick to 13.000 was encouraging, the 6 battles the Turkish Army is currently engaged in will no doubt cost quite a few lives and bring this number right back down to the danger zone. The Turkish strategy of taking urban centres does prove useful in the sense that it has increased the manpower pool for the Turkish Army, and the Leadership pool for all of the UGNR's endeavours.
Yes, heavier action will drain the reserve again. But the Germans are in a far worse place. But at some point, like the British after D-Day, we'll have to look to some manpower conservation.
Cennet moving to New York is an interesting development. As she surely is just as incensed as I am by Perse's betrayal, if not more so. I look forward to the latter's 'accidental' death, or mysterious disappearance. I shall contact the Soviet Cultural attaché to make sure he lends her his full support in such an operation. At the same time, it might be wise to warn him not to get in the way of Turkish intelligence.
Looking at the forces on display here, that big clump in Tokaj(?) in the east looks out-of-position, perhaps they would have been useful in the past couple of months to take Budapest. At any rate, they're getting into the action now which is good news. Let's not forget to advance the Corps HQs behind the main lines!
They were massing for the big breakthrough as they motored north out of the Zrenjanin Pocket. But I could never get the Soviets to reciprocate for the big encirclement. It doesn't take too long to get them motoring off on their new assignments now.
I daresay the struggles in the Adriatic are a fair price to pay for these gains. Notably the big benefit we'll be pulling off as the Axis line is rolled up and the Soviets can start freeing up forces from the south end of their line to strike hard in the center.
I think so. I think this has been far more use than expending many lives in the hills and mountains to move Inonu's drinks cabinet another 100m closer to Rome.
Give them time to regroup as the front rolls up, and they will make their presence known to the German stooges! Onwards!!
Going well on the whole of it, I'd say. The situation in the Adriatic will be interesting to see how we handle it, but ultimately I don't expect nearly enough to be done by the Italians and their friends before we start striking into Poland, Austria, and the German heartland. It's a bright future for the Turks, my friends - vur ha!
Seems to me as if the choice to have the slow GAR unit march on foot to Udbina, rather than taking the trains (strategic redeployment), is likely to come back to bite some low-level MAJGEN or another sooner or later.
There once was a man named Tuka,
Who with his friend Tiso escaped in a Stuka;
They discovered the rule
That metal is not fuel,
Inevitably demonstrating the totality of certainty inherently coupled as probability of bifurcated national fate approaches the null asymptote.
One must stand on tradition if nothing else, after all.
Here we see that classic failure of Paradoxican programming. It really does seem that they just plumb forgot to add the line of code to change the government. I'm serious about the "line" of code, seeing as HPP for example solves this problem by calling an election after the government has been changed which usually puts most of the right ministers in most of the right places, for a loose definition of "right" as explored by Pip, E. elsewhere.
This seems a fairly solid sundering, this time. Two provinces wide with the reserves coming up should make it quite difficult to break through for the exhausted schnitzel-snatchers.
Australia is one of the best examples of where Paradox stopped their game design one level of granularity too short with HoI3. With so many provinces on the map, in many places especially long coastlines the game is not able to reflect the reality that many important towns and cities were (adequately!) defended by brigade-scale formations manning fortifications. In HoI3, a single brigade formation will just de-org and run away no matter what it's up against.
And it works, in large part because as strange as the game is we can all rest assured that at some point in time, history has been far stranger. At least in HoI3 a brigade of cavalry cannot, for instance, capture the entire Dutch Navy.
Of course he will, it is the eternal destiny of all great Turkish empires to attack Vienna. Beyond the point of "attack" my book of historical tropes seems to be missing a page, however, so I really couldn't say what the follow-up is here.
There are several recorded instances of opposing soldiers breaking into a sweat as Italian forces advanced on them. Curiously, in every instance the soldiers in question had been eating a spicy meal, often a sausage or curry of some sort. The reader is invited to conflate correlation with causation at leisure.
Looking at the map and seeing how close Vienna is to Bratislava, and along the river as well, it really is a shocker that so little culture and learning managed to filter downriver from the one to the other...
Alternatively, one would have to take El Pip's work as anything less than authoritative which I of course cannot conceive of doing.
Observers reported that the rebels appeared to be split into several factions, arguing with each other about the relative merits of battleships, carriers, and submarines even whilst being unceremoniously cut to pieces by the local army garrison.
Those guys in...whatever that province is to the west of Sanok need to get their rears in gear and help roll up the front. No slacking off in the Glorious Turkish Army!! Vur Ha!!
I quoted this line to make the same joke I made a few comments up, not realizing I'd already done so. This I think sums up Slovakia far more eruditely than I could on my own merits.
All these years and he just...drove right in? Previous Ottoman generals have got to be rolling in their graves right about now, if only they'd known it could be so easy...
Frankly I think the best move is to continue the offensive, but focus on the eastern corner where our line meets the Soviets. This way our front doesn't actually get appreciably longer, since every kilometer we roll the Germans northwards becomes another Russian division pushing them westwards. Hold the line in the center and east, though, no need to recklessly waste Turkish lives, at this point the methodical approach will do the job neatly.
At this point, it's largely opportunistic and designed for general effect ... pestering the Germans to help the Soviets do their bit next. Trying to do detailed coord with the Soviets just doesn't tend to work, alas.
I'm not sure Turkey has the capacity to invade Italy anytime before Spring of 1944, now. Manpower aside, there's simply not enough divisions to go around for such an invasion with the amount of front line that must now be held and defended.
I predict a thrilling tale of utter AI ineptitude. The Soviets pull half their Northern Front to invade Afghanistan; the Germans inexplicably ignore this, leave the pocket closed, and divert their troops to retake Slovakia; the British send heavy armor to Jamaica. Thank God for Turkish sanity!
To be fair, I think the AI in this game has, for its reputation, done a pretty good job most of the time. Playing a larger minor, I tend not to have ever had the overwhelming forces available to exploit it that much.
One notes after reading the chapter title, incidentally, that once a foot is in the door, the body must follow or else the foot must be withdrawn before it is smashed to a pulp by repeated slamming of the door. Unless of course one has a wooden leg.
Exactly the vibe I was aiming for with the serial titles. The wooden leg is more likely to be required for the next time we're foolhardy enough to put a foot in the door when it seems to be closing again.
...I was preparing a smartass comment about "iron laws of diplomacy", but you have not only beaten me to the punch but done it better than I could have. Well played, sir, well played.
Katowice is as good a place as any to weather a German assault. The terrain is favorable for defending, and retreating even in disarray costs us little in terms of the overall shape of the front line. Let them busy themselves there while we prepare to strike elsewhere.
Looks like we could roll up to the Adriatic coast and pocket those annoying Italians poking holes in our front line. Would be a nice little coup, that.
Rigorous historical study of Paradox games has shown me that Italy in real life committed too much to the defense across from Messina, when all they really needed was to keep a single submarine within 100 km or so of the strait which would completely prevent the Allies from crossing the strait. Had the Italians ever played a Hearts of Iron game they would have known this and had more troops available to defend more important positions such as Naples.
The Germans, I imagine, laughed quite a lot at the Americans for being so ill-prepared and under-trained to fight a war. A couple of years later, I imagine, the Americans laughed at the Germans for their crippling inability to learn from their mistakes.
I'm split here. As a materials scientist by trade, I'm quite disappointed that this isn't a project about literal tube alloys. As a nuclear scientist by education, I'm excited about bombs.
As a pyromaniacal readAAR: Bomb the Hell out of 'em!!
I'm serious, though, at this point Turkey can easily weather a MP deficit as even if our divisions drop to 80% strength we know the remaining Axis powers simply cannot handle the mounting losses. As long as we maintain superiority in spite of the deficit, we must press on!
Japan's general problem is the insipid restriction that an entire continent can only be supplied from one port, usually not the one the player or indeed any sane actor would have liked. If for example Japan could maintain supply hubs in Hamhung, Tianjin, and Shanghai, there would not be nearly so much of a problem until pushing into the Chinese interior at which point the problem becomes infrastructure rather than horrible game mechanics, as it should be.
To counterbalance this, Paradox has nerfed China into the ground, so it all works out in that depressingly Paradoxical manner.
Funnily enough, even a nerfed China was enough to defeat the Japanese in 1946 in my Soviet game - only to have France puppet Japan and hand all the conquered Chinese land back to the former enemy! Now that's a broken mechanic, right there.
Right then, I'm finally caught up with this board, minus one or two AARs I've got no hope of ever keeping up with and must regretfully abandon. Please, don't mind me, carry on as usual everybody...
Tonight I heard a song that made me think of Talking Turkey: Istanbul(Not Constantinople) by The Four Lads (Canadian). While not recorded until 1953, it is still older than @bullfilfter and me, making it is close enough for government work.
Upon googling, the top video is a scene from the Netflix show The Umbrella Academy. Is the Umbrella Academy operatives of SITH?
@Wraith11B, thank you. Yes, this is the song that I referred. The 1953 version went top ten and was done on 500th anniversary of Constantinople's fall to the Ottomans. Further research reveals that Netflix and the Simpsons used the 1990 They Might Be Giants cover. Thank you.
OK, not straight away (I only just finished a big Rome AAR update and must come up into air for RL) but TT will be next. As mentioned before, the whole month was played through (for AI continuity) and I'm wading through the stored screenshots. Thanks everyone for your support.
Many thanks. You will have noted later my guilt at cramming so much into this one in my eagerness to get through the story. Subsequent editions sought to curb that enthusiasm a little bit. As far as your humble author is capable!
I for one can never complain about the length of a TT update, they always move along as a crisp pace and have plenty of action. Aspiring authAARs, and indeed even some current authAARs who are quite successful in their own rights, should study such an accomplishment of prose lest infatuation with the sound of their own keyboards overtake them!
Yes, heavier action will drain the reserve again. But the Germans are in a far worse place. But at some point, like the British after D-Day, we'll have to look to some manpower conservation.
Just send a couple of MIL divisions to conquer India, plenty of manpower there. Pay no attention to the mad man behind the curtain attempting to start World War III...
This is Paradox we are talking about. We are arguably fortunate they left off where they did, another year of updates and we might be looking at a micro-DLC-infested madhouse catering to alt-hist wehraboos even more than the present vanilla game does. Perhaps this was all for the best?
This is certainly one perspective to have, though I suspect the Ottoman soldiers of yesteryear might take umbrage at the insinuation that their own hard grinding was of lesser value. Though umbrage taken of course may not reflect reality.
I for one can never complain about the length of a TT update, they always move along as a crisp pace and have plenty of action. Aspiring authAARs, and indeed even some current authAARs who are quite successful in their own rights, should study such an accomplishment of prose lest infatuation with the sound of their own keyboards overtake them!
Just send a couple of MIL divisions to conquer India, plenty of manpower there. Pay no attention to the mad man behind the curtain attempting to start World War III...
WW3 will have to wait for Q&D2: the current one is just enough for this story. As it is, this one will be long enough, much as I’ve enjoyed writing it!
Oh, more just a jolly jape and doffing of cap to your far grander tour. It’s nice to have so much comment you have to break the feedback into four parts! Though now I think it’s a little less clever than I did
This is Paradox we are talking about. We are arguably fortunate they left off where they did, another year of updates and we might be looking at a micro-DLC-infested madhouse catering to alt-hist wehraboos even more than the present vanilla game does. Perhaps this was all for the best?
This is certainly one perspective to have, though I suspect the Ottoman soldiers of yesteryear might take umbrage at the insinuation that their own hard grinding was of lesser value. Though umbrage taken of course may not reflect reality.
Getting back to our offensive operations and the "where we are" for planning:
I feel like Turkey is at the cusp of getting things rolling to such an extent that we better have a good framework for operations. Think the US in 1942: things are about to turn the corner, and we're launching into Guadalcanal and Torch. Obviously not designed to end the war tomorrow, but certainly designed to strip away some of the enemy's capability to render harm.
The reason I think Tobruch has become the ideal place to land the forces are all mentioned above (far away from Italian air, no chance of enemy counter landings through naval maneuver, a low-priority theater). The objective would be much like that of countering the Japanese: cut off a portion of the enemy's territory which they would be unable to reinforce, and chew that up before moving onto the next. These objectives would obviously be focused on Libya and Sardinia, as they would be unable to reinforce via traditional methods (unless they had an airborne capability that we've not seen yet). Sicily would be another option as we can hold at Messina and the Italians can break themselves against a strong defensive position which divides their attention.
While I still wish that OPPLAN SMELT had gone forward (it might have done something to lighten the load that the main front was carrying), I also see that there was a definite benefit to how things worked out, and I was sorta right on the money. We've gone from OTL1942 US, to the OTL1945 Soviet Union (with our own Bagration), and while the inner Churchill in me still wants to collect the Libyan coast and the other "soft underbelly," the realist Patton in me is saying to drive on!
Special thanks to @Midnite Duke for the trip down memory lane!
While I still wish that OPPLAN SMELT had gone forward (it might have done something to lighten the load that the main front was carrying), I also see that there was a definite benefit to how things worked out, and I was sorta right on the money. We've gone from OTL1942 US, to the OTL1945 Soviet Union (with our own Bagration), and while the inner Churchill in me still wants to collect the Libyan coast and the other "soft underbelly," the realist Patton in me is saying to drive on!
Special thanks to @Midnite Duke for the trip down memory lane!
SMELT 2.0 may yet come to pass, you never know! There will soon be a Cabinet reprise on next strategic options for Italy, without doubt. But first, another Chapter is about to hit the stands!
I have to say this chapter was quite a shocker. Kelebek exposing Cennet as a triple agent and sucking her soul from her body in front of Perse was definitely a twist, but I think the biggest surprise was the Japanese invasion of Istanbul - no one saw that coming!
I'm definitely very interested to see how the sudden-onset Second Russian Civil War will end. Looks like the Whites will be able to take most of the country, but with Germany rapidly collapsing the Red Army may be able to reach Berlin, force the German surrender, then rush back to Moskva and and mount a desperate defense.
August 1943 had begun with Turkey pushing on the open door of the crumbling Axis defence of central Europe, from Hungary and Slovakia (now a Comintern member and puppet of Turkey) to southern Poland. The chaos of German fifth columnists in Slovakian uniforms had given way to a dash forward into open or poorly defended territory beyond the Slovakian border, including to the iconic former Austrian capital of Vienna.
As the month wore on, the door began to be closed by the Germans, but not before Turkey managed get a foot in it to keep it ajar. German attempts to retake recently lost territory were met by some furious Turkish spoiling counter-attacks: some worked, others did not. Low Turkish manpower reserves were becoming an issue, though the Germans were estimated to be hundreds of thousands of men short by this time, many divisions effectively reduced to being brigade-sized kampfgruppen.
But in the north of the Russian sector, the combination of Soviet attacks and the diversion of Turkish attacks in the Balkans and central Europe seemed to have left the German Army Group North cut off and now unlikely to be relieved.
As had been the case throughout the Great Liberation War since June 1940, both fronts were linked strategically: the Axis had never had quite enough forces to triumph in both simultaneously – or to hold their ground in both if enough pressure was exerted by the Comintern across the front. The rest of the month would see where the Germans chose to place their priorities.
NB: This chapter is a little longer again, but that’s because it contains quite a bit of narrative action plus all the usual monthly reports, plus nine days of intense fighting on the Balkan Front. Vur ha and apologies to Professor @nuclearslurpee
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23 Aug 43
As 23 August began, fierce fighting continued across the Balkan Front, with serious Axis attacks on Sopron [-54% progress] and Krsko [-53%]. Turkish attacks or spoiling actions continued in Szombathely [67%], Rijeka [81%], Uhersje Hradiste [62%], Körmend [81%], and Jedrzejow [71%].
Turkey’s Split-based fighters (two groups, including four wings of mixed aircraft types) were called into action at 1am to contest an Italian bombing raid on Delnice, from where Turkish troops were attacking Rijeka. The multi-role 4 Avci Grubu was the first to be sent in. But before the Turkish fighters could do much damage to the initially unescorted Italian Cant Z.1018 Leone tactical bombers, three wings of Re.2000 Falco fighters joined the dogfight.
The Turkish response was to up the ante: the Wildcats of 3 Avci Grubu were ordered to join the fight as the older La-5s of 5 AF began to take damage.
Battle was joined again at 6 am, but this time the Turkish flyers were jumped by another two Italian fighter wings, making it an escort of five enemy wings in total.
This time it was the Wildcats that bore the brunt of the aerial combat, with only minor damage inflicted on one of the Italian bomber wings. 3 AG was pulled out of the fight, but 4 AG was left on intercept duty.
As that dogfight ended, in southern Poland 307 SD won its battle for Jedrzejow (directly north of Krakow) and advanced to deepen the Vistula bridgehead (78 Comintern, 146 German troops killed).
When 4 AG tried to respond to the latest raid on Delnice at midday, they were themselves intercepted by the Italian fighters over Split, who were apparently trying to gain air superiority.
Already damaged and coming off this exchange the worse for wear and unable to stop the raid on Delnice anyway, 4 AG's mission was cancelled when the third dogfight of the day ended that afternoon.
At 2pm, 1 Armd Div completed its desperate retreat to Prerov from its earlier defeat in Novy Jicin and kept moving back to the hoped-for safety of Zelinin. Just an hour later, the Turkish attack on Uhersje Hradiste ended in a bloody Comintern victory.
Over the Adriatic coast, soon after the Turks triumphed in their attack on Rijecka (117 Turkish, 443 German casualties), despite the persistent Italian air raids.
The rest of the day was quieter, with 19 Inf Div joining MAJGEN Diskoerekto’s 3 Mtn Div in Novo Mesto at 6pm, to help firm the line up further in the Adriatic sector.
Air Damage Report. Italian bombers killed 523 Turkish troops in Otocac and 435 in Delnice in an attempt to slow down the attack on Rijeka.
OTL Event: Eastern Front. Premier Joseph Stalin of the Soviet Union announced that the recapture of Kharkov from German occupiers had ended the Battle of Kursk with a serious strategic defeat for the German forces. Kharkov, the fourth largest city in the U.S.S.R., was the last major enemy base on the southern frontier.
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24 Aug 43
In the Slovakian sector, at 4am 8 Inf Div and the already retreating 1 Armd Div were attacked in the now-exposed former Czech province of Prerov. With 1 Armd Div on its way to safety in Zelinin, 8 Inf Div withdrew to Trencin after a brief firefight (11 Turkish, 16 German troops killed), rather than waste men trying to defend it (reserve manpower was at that point 12,000 with 6,850 reinforcements required).
The pressure and casualties were mounting in Sopron, despite determined Turkish spoiling attacks on Körmend and Szombathely. 1st Mar Div retreated at 7am, before it broke and while it could still choose its destination – lest a nasty gap be left in the line at Tata.
Following the loss at Sopron, the attack on Szombathely was broken off an hour later, even though it had been progressing reasonably well, while the ‘reinforced’ HQ 3rd Corps was brought across to assist the defence of Tata. The other spoiling attack from the south on Körmend was also cancelled (173 Comintern, 542 German casualties).
Soon after these developments, pressure further south on Krsko was mounting, as more German formations joined the attack. Spoiling actions were launched on Celje at 9am and Ptuj at midday, but neither met with success: Celje in particular was becoming a bloodbath.
At 5pm the attack on Ptuj was stopped and at 7pm the decision was taken to evacuate Krsko as well, where four German infantry divisions were now part of the attack and the odds were worsening [up to -77%]. As with the other battles, the ground was no longer considered worth the cost of holding it. The Soviet and American defenders were pulled back to Karlovac while they were still in fairly good order. Zagreb would be reinforced and the associated spoiling attack on Celje was discontinued.
In the Slovakian sector, Uhersje Hradiste was taken at 1pm, though that left a gap to its west in Hodonin, even while Prerov was already being evacuated.
Zalaegerszeg in western Hungary, just south-east of Szombathely, was occupied without a fight by the division-strength HQ 2nd Corps at 11pm., with 177 SD following behind them. This would form part of the consolidating defensive line in the sector after the loss of Sopron.
Air Damage Report. A single Italian air raid that morning on Sopron that killed 133 Turkish marines was the only air action of the day.
OTL Event: The Grumman F6F Hellcat Debuts.The Grumman F6F Hellcat fighter was first used in combat, as groups of Hellcats took off from the aircraft carriers Yorktown, Independence, and Essex. One historian would later opine that "The introduction of the Hellcat may have been the most important event of the Pacific war", while another would give the statistics supporting the opinion. "Of the 6,477 Japanese aircraft U.S. Navy carrier pilots claimed to have destroyed in the air, the Hellcat was responsible for 4,947 – an incredible feat considering the Hellcat did not enter combat service until August 31, 1943."[Comment: can we have some on license, please!]
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25 Aug 43
As 25 August began there were no ground battles continuing anywhere along the Turkish front. Manpower stood at 11,000 with 4,270 reinforcements needed. Consolidation was now the main priority – but not quite everywhere.
The Germans reoccupied Sopron at 3am, with 1 Mar Div still retreating to Tata (they would reach it early that afternoon, very disorganised) and HQ 3rd Corps still two provinces distant to the east of Tata. On the positive side, 177 SD marched into Jedrzejow at 6am and began digging in. At 8am, the Germans retook Prerov, just across the Slovakian border.
Rijeka was taken by 8 Mil Div at 6pm – 1 Mtn Div would follow them in at midnight. This was the cue for a concerted attack on the Italian-commanded German division holding Karlobag: revenge would be had for the earlier loss of Lussino, with a numerical advantage of over six-to-one for the attacking Comintern forces.
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Over in Washington D.C., British Foreign Minister Ernest Bevin was visiting for consultations: relations between the two democracies were still close, despite the US having formally joined the Comintern Pact when attacked by Japan.
One of the staff accompanying Bevin was a young man of dubious habits but great ambition. Guy Burgess, then 32 years old, was with Bevin at a diplomatic reception being hosted that night by US Secretary of State Alfred E. Smith. At the reception was a certain newly-appointed Turkish Cultural Attaché – Cennet Kavgaci.
“Oh, pleased to meet you, Cennet,” said Burgess after being introduced and then moving off into a quiet corner. “I have a gift for you from my former colleague, Kim Philby. He said it was ‘for old time’s sake’.”
“Why thank you, Guy,” Cennet replied nonchalantly, looking briefly at the inscription on the expensive-looking cigarette case. “Please tell Kim his kindness is most graciously appreciated. I do hope you enjoy your visit here. Perhaps one day you might make it here for a longer posting.”
They both went their separate ways after this brief and apparently innocuous meeting.
Top Left: Ernest Bevin. Top Right: Guy Burgess. Bottom: Cennet offers a toast to British-Turkish friendship at the diplomatic reception in Washington, 25 August 1943.
Guy Francis de Moncy Burgess (b. 16 April 1911). Born into a wealthy middle-class family, Burgess was educated at Eton College, the Royal Naval College, Dartmouth, and Trinity College, Cambridge. An assiduous networker, he embraced left-wing politics at Cambridge and joined the British Communist Party. He was recruited by Soviet intelligence in 1935, on the recommendation of the future double-agent Harold "Kim" Philby. After leaving Cambridge, Burgess worked for the BBC as a producer, briefly interrupted by a short period as a full-time MI6 intelligence officer.
Pursuing their main objective, the penetration of the British intelligence agencies, Burgess's controllers asked him to cultivate a friendship with the author David Footman, who they knew was an MI6 officer. Footman introduced Burgess to his superior, Valentine Vivian; as a result, over the following eighteen months Burgess carried out several small assignments for MI6 on an unpaid freelance basis. He was trusted sufficiently to be used as a back channel of communication between the British Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain, and his French counterpart Edouard Daladier, during the period leading to the 1938 Munich summit.
In November 1938 he resigned from the BBC. MI6 was by now convinced of his future utility, and he accepted a job with its new propaganda division, known as Section D. In common with the other members of the Cambridge Five, his entry to British intelligence was achieved without vetting; his social position and personal recommendation were considered sufficient.
Section D was established by MI6 in March 1938, as a secret organisation charged with investigating how enemies might be attacked other than through military operations. In 1940, Section D was absorbed into the new Special Operations Executive (SOE). In June 1943 [it was 1944 in OTL – this is where I’ve changed or compressed his OTL bio to suit the purposes of his role in this time line] Burgess accepted an offer of a job in the News Department of the Foreign Office. He then became an aide to Foreign Minister Ernest Bevin.
This brings him to the US for this in-story liaison visit, being used by Kim Philby to pass a message on to Cennet as Turkey's 'Cultural Attaché', via the ornate cigarette case. Burgess is not aware of the details contained in a coded message contained in microfilm therein, but has diplomatic immunity for the trip and is trusted enough by Philby to be used as a courier.
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26 Aug 43
176 SD joined HQ 2 Corps in Zalaegerszeg at 2am to reinforce the new defensive line in western Hungary. Four hours later, 6 Mil Div began marching up to Rijeka and 2 Mtn Div to Delnice, both from Otocac, to do the same there; even as the attack on Karlobag progressed well. The manpower reserve stood at 10,000, with 4,850 reinforcements required.
The Germans retook Krsko at 11am, but it was considered exposed and ripe for a Comintern counter-attack at some point in the future, when the time was right. The Germans launched a probe from the north (Ptuj and Körmend) on nearby Ormoz two hours later, but it was quickly defeated by the IS-1 equipped 1 Inf Div (22 Turkish, 90 German casualties).
That afternoon Agent SkitalecS3 brought a welcome update on recent Soviet progress: great gains had been made in the north and some progress was now also being made towards the former border with the Greater Reich in Poland. Army Group North appeared to have been irretrievably cut off. Ourah!
This progress, as well as increasing German pressure on forward Turkish positions and the manpower issues, was a large factor that led to Turkey beginning to hunker down and establish a new defensive line in their sector. As one door closed, another slid open.
Air Damage Report. A day of Italian airstrikes on Otocac caused 504 casualties.
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27 Aug 43
Very late on 26 August, a heavy German attack had begun on recently occupied Uhersje Hradiste. Three hours later, German infantry and panzers were also attacking Breclav. Both these forward positions were considered too vulnerable to hold, so orders to withdraw for were issued at 2am.
In New York, an English visitor was enjoying a late night stroll. He had made the arduous wartime trip over to meet with an old friend. Tonight he was on his way to talk to a contact who would be able to put him in contact with that friend, who was currently under American protection in a safe house, somewhere on the Eastern seaboard.
But the man had been followed from his hotel room. His hotel location had been tipped off to inimical (to him) agents – in the contents of a certain cigarette case! As the clock struck midnight, he heard a scuffing noise behind him and began turning to see what had made it …
… an action he never completed. The sound of the gunshot barely registered to him in the split second before the bullet thudded into the back of his head. His body was found a little later, with a strange card left on his forehead, above his two now unseeing eyes that were widened in slight surprise.
It seemed that a new S.I.T.H. operative, based in the United States, had made his mark – in emphatic fashion. The ‘Duke of Midnight’ showed that those who had betrayed the UGNR in general – and Inönü in particular – were not safe from retribution, even when on the soil of a foreign and allied country.
Of course, this operative’s true identity and nationality were not known by others for sure. But Soviet and Turkish intelligence sharing was clearly operating well. And an overt calling card had been left, as an example and a threat to others. [Hope you don’t mind your new in-game avatar, @Midnite Duke. Otherwise, you can plausibly deny him as a false flagger! ]
Back in southern Poland, 177 SD had not had much time to dig in at Jedrzejow before the Germans launched a shock attack on them from Radomsko at midday. An Italian divisision joined the attack at 1pm, driving down from Konskie, making the odds even worse.
In response, Naci Tinaz’s 2 Armd Div launched a quick and devastating spoiling attack on the Italians in Konskie at 2pm, hoping to peel them off before they could reinforce in Jedrzejow.
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28 Aug 43
By 2am, the Italians had pulled out of their flanking advance on Jedrzejow, narrowing the odds a little as they concentrated on their defence of Konskie. But nothing could be done to interfere with the understrength but still fierce German attack from Radomsko[back to -60% progress], which persisted.
The Germans retook Breclav (at 4am) and Uhersje Hradiste (at 5am) on the Slovakian front. They then probed Eisenstadt (south of Vienna) with two divisions at 7am, but were easily repulsed by the veterans of 15 Inf Div. LT Mehtin Sadik sweated only slightly more than when the Italians had attacked them a few days earlier, before the attack petered out after three hours.
Back in the Polish sector, 2 Armd Div won their battle against the Italians in Konskie (87 Turkish, 471 Italian casualties) at 10am but did not pursue, staying in Kielce, which was already exposed enough.
An hour later, across on the Adriatic coast, 222 SD had the honour of being first to reoccupy Karlobag, avenging their previous ousting from Lussino when the enemy had first broken through in this southern salient. This was followed up that evening with an exploratory probe by 8 Mil Div towards Pola which, along with Rovigno to its north, seemed to be unoccupied. There were hopes of trapping the German division that had now retreated to Lussino from Karlobag.
Air Damage Report. German tactical bombers (the Arado Ar-234B Blitz, but propeller-driven models – they had not researched jet engines yet) began hitting Eisenstadt that morning, and would continue to do so the next day, in support of a number of probes on 15 Inf Div that would follow.
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29 Aug 43
Supply transportation, which in Turkey had lagged behind the world’s leading standards for some time, was improved on 29 August. Both equipment designers and logisticians were kept on the task of improving it further.
Also that morning, the first primitive Turkish radar installation was deployed in Split, which stood at the front line in the air war (current and future) against Italy. An expansion was ordered straight away.
While that was happening, the half strength but fully organised 2 Pz Div launched a blitz attack on Cieszyn. But MAJGEN Bözer contended he could hold out, even as intense air strikes began that would last at least until the end of the month. To the south, Hodonin was occupied by the enemy as they closed back up to the Slovakian border.
Inönü’s manpower now daily report was provided at 7am and it indicated the reserve was down to 9,000 men with 5,530 needed to top up all units to full strength. And as he was reading it, word came of another probe on 15 Inf Div in Eisenstadt by the same two German divisions as last time, as the air strikes continued for a second day. The probe stopped after just an hour (Turkey 15, Germany 56 killed), but the air raids were doing far more damage.
The probe on Eisenstadt was repeated from 7-10pm that night: it was again fought off (Turkey 13, Germany 52 troops killed), but this time the air strikes also finished. The next enemy probe (and then air strikes) hit Novo Mesto at 11pm, but MAJGEN Diskoerecto’s 3 Mtn Div and the still ‘green’ 19 Inf Div savaged them in an hour-long firefight (Turkey three, Germany 57 casualties).
Air Damage Report. The two days of German raids on Eisenstadt killed 975 troops from 15 Inf Div, but they held firm. In Cieszyn, German and Italian bombers took turns to pummel the Turkish defenders and would do so for at least another two days, hitting them three to four times per day.
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30 Aug 43
It was 5pm in New York on 29 August, where an early dinner was being had in a small Italian restaurant in Brooklyn. The deadly introduction of the ‘Duke of Midnight’ had brought the espionage career of Tom Rosencrantz to a sudden end a few days before.
Now, David Callan was over in the US to investigate what he was sure must be another example of a mole (or moles) in MI6 betraying one of their own. How else could Tom have been discovered and eliminated so quickly in the supposedly safe territory of the US? He was having dinner with a mutual acquaintance of the woman Tom had come to both warn and protect – Persephonee Fotheringay-Phipps, of course.
“General, its good to meet you,” said Callan to B.J. Guildenstern, who sat opposite. They briefly exchanged some careful pleasantries before Callan got down to business. “I’m sure you were distressed at the vicious crime perpetrated on your patch just a few days ago. As would be our dear friend Perse. Is there anything you can let me know regarding who might have been behind it?”
“Nothing firm, though we know of a visit by Soviet Ambassador Andrei Gromyko to the Turkish Embassy for ‘fraternal consultations’ the day before the ‘event’. And the day after your Foreign Minister’s visit to DC had finished up.”
“You tried to find out what might have been discussed?”
“State asked whether they might have a back-brief on the meeting, in the spirit of ‘fraternal Comintern relations’, but Gromyko’s reply was succinct: ‘Nyet’ was his only response to that. But given Rosencrantz’s background, we suspect Turkish – specifically S.I.T.H. – involvement.”
“I see, is there any …” Callan began, but paused when the waiter appeared.
“Would you like to order now, gentlemen? I can recommend today’s special, it’s the …”
“Yes, yes, one of each and a nice bottle of Chianti will be fine,” said Guildenstern as he waved the waiter away, wanting to get on with business.
As they discussed the various theories and possible actions each might take, the food was delivered.
“I say B.J., this really is very good,” said Callan as he tucked into the tasty pasta dish. “There’s a certain something to it …”
Little did he realise who the ‘guest chef’ was at the restaurant that evening. And she had taken extra care with the gnocchi to make it as tasty as possible!
Before long, both Guildenstern and Callan had consumed a good portion of their meal – their last on this earth.
“For Luka Brasi and with the compliments of Şükrü Ögel,” whispered Cennet softly as she walked past the slumped forms of the two men. She checked her watch: it was just after midnight back in Ankara – very fitting.
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Along the Slovakian border and in west Hungary, things had gone quiet, with no air or land action at present. HQ 3rd Corps had arrived to shore up the exhausted 1 Mar Div’s defence of Tata, as the Axis also firmed up their opposing line. The action was now concentrated in southern Poland, where the defenders seemed to be holding their ground in Cieszyn but fading in Jedrzejow.
It was decided later that morning that the defence of Jedrzejow was not worth the mounting cost to 177 SD, whose organisation was starting to fail. They were ordered to retreat, with 2 Armd Div ordered down from Kielce to consolidate the line in the sector: the Soviets were now coming, having broken through to the east. It was perhaps time for Turkey to hunker down for a while.
At 10am Inönü examined the latest manpower report with concern, but not panic: the reserve was down to 8,000 men, with 5,160 reinforcements required. Only the battle in Cieszyn continued, as did the heavy Axis air raids, but 3 and 13 Inf Divs were still holding [-16%].
A little later that morning in New York, a messenger from the FBI brought Perse the fateful news: “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead!” All Perse could do was scream in anguish.
Air Damage Report. The probe on Novo Mesto may have ended, but three Italian air raids that day killed 448 defenders.
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31 Aug 43
At 7am, the Germans took Jedrzejow, before 2 Armd Div could slip into it. And because they were still reorganising after their previous spoiling attack, they did not immediately commence an encounter battle. Instead, 97 SD ‘Shev’ was forced to attack from Miechow. And when it became clear that would not be enough, at 1pm 307 SD, which had recently moved up to Krakow, was ordered to join in the counter-attack.
That evening, 5pm 8 Mil Div took Pola without a fight, cutting off the German 6th Infanterie in Lussino. This was the signal for MAJGEN Seven to lead a two-division Comintern probe on Lussino to test the defences of the Germans, now they had been surrounded. But it was immediately clear the cross-channel assault was futile and it was soon called off.
Alive to their danger, the Germans tried the same on 8 Mil Div in Pola four hours later, but that looked equally bloody and probably pointless, though the battle continued as the month ended. So too did the seemingly successful defence of Cieszyn [-6%] and the attack on Jedrzejow [+63%]. Turkish manpower was down to 6,000 with 3,470 replacements needed.
Intelligence reports assessed Italian national unity at 71.8% with 8.7% surrender progress, Germany at 74.5% NU and 6% surrender progress. In Italy, one third of the Turkish effort remained on counter-espionage (though no Italian agents had been sighted all month) and two-thirds on operations to decrease national unity, which it was believed had fallen 0.6% during the month.
Air Damage Report. Three days of German and Italian raids on Cieszyn had killed a massive 2,226 defenders and showed no sign of ending yet.
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Theatre Summaries
On the Patriotic Front, the last few weeks had witnessed wholesale advances by the Soviets, now all along the Russian-Polish sector as the Steamroller finally seemed to be getting into gear, complementing the recent Turkish advances in southern Poland, which were now largely on hold.
From 23-31 August, Turkey had lost 4,860 men in ground combat and another 5,244 to air attacks (a total of 10,104 – as many in the last nine days as the whole of the month before then), while the Axis lost 6,874 killed in combat along the Turkish Front. For the whole of August, this meant the Axis had lost 15,661 men while Turkey had lost 20,177. A few thousand more than the 18,600 new recruits Turkey was currently generating each month.
The Riga-Leningrad sector was now looking truly dire for the Germans, with Tallinn lost, Narva under threat and Soviet forces approaching Leningrad itself.
From Riga to Brest-Litovsk, the story was the same. The Germans still held Riga, but to its south the Soviets were running riot and had pocketed three German divisions south of Wilno and were on the outskirts of Brest-Litovsk.
In the front between Krakow and Brest-Litovsk, Soviet-Romanian spearheads were quickly closing up to the Turkish salient over the Vistula: Warsaw itself was now coming into calculations as a possible gain before winter set in.
In the Far East, the modest net gains continued, with the only loss of Comintern territory being in areas previously held in July by partisans behind the lines. The Turkish forces (highlighted in green in the south) had halted and would now be sent wherever else it may be needed.
The British had now gathered a powerful force of mechanised units in Libya, with apparently plenty of supply and still facing only Italian HQs. The last port of Tripoli remained open, with a fully-supplied 2nd Armd Div poised right next to it. So, of course the British were attacking unoccupied Zliten instead, with a medium tank and motorised division!
“It looks like shortages are hampering their efforts. Perhaps we can arrange a resupply of backbones for them!” exclaimed a derisive Inönü when he read this report.
The situation in India had changed little during August – at least mighty Bhutan fought on!
Allied battle management (or lack thereof) was also on show in Australia, where the Japanese invasion now extended – unopposed – north to Brisbane. There were now no Australian combat divisions visible anywhere on the whole east coast, from the tip of Queensland in the north to Melbourne in the south. A single HQ seemed to be the only ‘opposition’.
There was also no territorial change in New Zealand, where the Japanese invasion had stalled.
In South East Asia and Papua New Guinea, there were also few changes. Singapore still held out, with the Japanese apparently not interested in taking the valuable outpost – for some unfathomable reason.
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Naval Report
During August, the Germans had lost two U-Boat flotillas, but neither the Italians or Japanese had lost any combatant ships. Nor had the Soviets.
For the Allies, Britain had lost one destroyer flotilla, the US three submarine flotillas in the Pacific. The only major ship loss was suffered by Australia: a very sad loss indeed of their flagship, the HMAS Australia.
The HMAS Australia in 1937: a handsome-looking ship, now tragically at the bottom of the sea, apparently in a forlorn attempt to stem the Japanese invasion of the country for which it had been named. In OTL, she survived the war.
HMAS Australia was a County-class heavy cruiser of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). One of two Kent-subclass ships ordered for the RAN (the other being HMAS Canberra, sunk in ATL by IJNS Kongo (BC) in May 1943). Laid down 26 August 1925; launched 17 March 1927; commissioned 24 April 1928. Displacement 10,000 tons standard; complement up to 815; main armament 8 × 8-inch (203 mm) guns (in 4 twin turrets). Like the HMAS Canberra in May, she was sunk by IJNS Kongo (BC) in August 1943.
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Coming Up: With the Soviet Steamroller approaching, Turkey may be able to concentrate more on its western theatre, from Slovakia to the Adriatic. Thoughts will now turn to advance planning for the next big project: the invasion of Italy, hopefully by land and sea. But first, it was clear more needed to be done to at least achieve air parity, if not superiority, over the Adriatic.
Will Leningrad and Riga, even Konigsberg and Warsaw, fall to the Comintern in September? Will the British finally get off their arses and finish off the Italians in Africa? Can Australia be rescued or is it doomed? And can the British hold India, or may Turkish troops need to start looking at establishing a garrison on the UGNR’s Persian border with western India?
In the US, will The Duke of Midnight and/or Cennet strike again? Can Perse survive? Can anyone stop the Cambridge Ring from destroying MI6 from within while the Comintern begins to dominate on the continent?
It seemed that a new S.I.T.H. operative, based in the United States, had made his mark – in emphatic fashion. The ‘Duke of Midnight’ showed that those who had betrayed the UGNR in general – and Inönü in particular – were not safe from retribution, even when on the soil of a foreign and allied country.
Following the loss at Sopron, the attack on Szombathely was broken off an hour later, even though it had been progressing reasonably well, while the ‘reinforced’ HQ 3rd Corps was brought across to assist the defence of Tata. The other spoiling attack from the south on Körmend was also cancelled (173 Comintern, 542 German casualties).
Not sure about Körmend, but Szombathely was a good one to take, even with some casualties? Or was it the case that without a second front the defenders would've turned the battle?
At 5pm the attack on Ptuj was stopped and at 7pm the decision was taken to evacuate Krsko as well, where four German infantry divisions were now part of the attack and the odds were worsening [up to -77%]. As with the other battles, the ground was no longer considered worth the cost of holding it. The Soviet and American defenders were pulled back to Karlovac while they were still in fairly good order. Zagreb would be reinforced and the associated spoiling attack on Celje was discontinued.
One of the staff accompanying Bevin was a young man of dubious habits but great ambition. Guy Burgess, then 32 years old, was with Bevin at a diplomatic reception being hosted that night by US Secretary of State Alfred E. Smith.
Also that morning, the first primitive Turkish radar installation was deployed in Split, which stood at the front line in the air war (current and future) against Italy. An expansion was ordered straight away.
I loved the detail that the airfield in Pescara is marked red. That's my preferred location for an amphibious attack against Italy when the time comes for one. Has airfield, port, one stone throw away from our coast, one more stone throw away from Rome, surrounded by easily defensible mountains. Once we make it to Trieste
While that was happening, the half strength but fully organised 2 Pz Div launched a blitz attack on Cieszyn. But MAJGEN Bözer contended he could hold out, even as intense air strikes began that would last at least until the end of the month.
At least this means we can hold Karlobag with only a brigade or so, their militia in the islands would be subject to same cross channel penalties. Now onto Trieste!!! Vur Ha!
In the front between Krakow and Brest-Litovsk, Soviet-Romanian spearheads were quickly closing up to the Turkish salient over the Vistula: Warsaw itself was now coming into calculations as a possible gain before winter set in.
Coming Up: With the Soviet Steamroller approaching, Turkey may be able to concentrate more on its western theatre, from Slovakia to the Adriatic. Thoughts will now turn to advance planning for the next big project: the invasion of Italy, hopefully by land and sea. But first, it was clear more needed to be done to at least achieve air parity, if not superiority, over the Adriatic.
Air parity sounds like a long project, do you think it'd work if we start amphibious assaults to 3 4 different provinces from different sea zones so at least 1 or 2 would be undisturbed? From Ancona to Monopoli there are a dozen provinces, nearly all plains, and I'm sure at least some would be undefended. Pescara is the best option there, but if it's garrisoned and the neighboring provinces are not we can make a landfall to a neighboring province to reach Pescara after landfall. A second vector here would be Termoli from the Southern Coast of Dalmatia. Whichever they pass on will make it to the coast stronger and they'll link up at Pescara.
Monopoli in the South is another province that can be reached by 2 separate sea zones, and from Monopoli one can quickly take Bari for a port, and Taranto for both a port, air strip and VP. Brindisi here is also reachable by 2 sea zone and also neighboring Taranto, so as a result with transports on Southern Coast of Dalmatia, South Adriatic Sea and Gulf of Taranto, 6 plains provinces can be reached all neighboring port provinces (or 9 which are only 2 provinces away from a port). I'm sure out of this 6/9 provinces, more than half would be undefended.
How many transports do we have? What is the latest situation of Regia Marina? Important points to know before making any plans. What does the mk1 eyeball of our ultra modern submarine says about which provinces are defended?
