Chapter 216: Red October (26 to 31 October 1943)
Foreword
So far, October has been a bloodbath on the Turkish Front, with 52,030 men lost to ground combat and air strikes combined until the end of the 25th. Will there be any respite in the last week of the month? In the north, the Karelian Pocket is near to final liquidation, the Soviets are advancing in East Prussia and have begun to fill in the eastern portion of the Turkish line in southern Poland. But Germany remains determined to keep pushing hard in the Vienna Sector, after Turkey retook the great city on 23 October.
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26 Oct 43
The German ground and air attack on Vienna continued from 25 October, but for now there was no other combat in progress on the Turkish Front. Given the continued filling-in of the eastern Turkish line in southern Poland, mainly by Romanian-commanded formations, 307 SD was the next division transferred by strategic redeployment to the Vienna Sector.
Three hours later, 156 SD was marching from Eisenstadt to reinforce the increasingly tired defenders of Vienna (15 Inf Div and HQ 3rd Corps).
Inönü’s daily manpower report showed demands for 33,700 reinforcements across the front (against a monthly gain of 19,400). It dictated the emphasis would remain primarily on defence, though with local attacks permitted.
This policy was illustrated that night, when Sopron was attacked again, from three different directions and from the air. It was decided straight away that some assistance would be needed against this strong German attack, so MAJGEN Noyan led a spoiling attack on Körmend that slammed into the flank of 14. Infanterie an hour later, to good effect.
Air Damage Report. Vienna 903 (attack support).
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27 Oct 43
The manpower situation had supposedly recovered a little by the 27th, with 31,800 reinforcements demanded.
With the situation in Sopron still of concern, at 5am Gürman’s 2 Inf Div launched another spoiling attack, this time to the north in Orberwart
[63% initial progress]. By 10am, 76. Infanterie had broken off its own attack on Sopron to concentrate on its defence; at which point, its job done and the odds lengthened
[30%], 2 Inf Div quickly ended its feint. The defence of Sopron now looked far safer
[29%].
The next enemy probe came in Cieszyn at 7am, the Germans making a masterful breakthrough attack with a full-strength division against tired and under-strength Turkish defenders. But the naturally strong position aided by entrenchments and a delaying defence by Bözer meant the Germans had little hope of winning and gave up after five hours. By then, Turkey’s Comintern partners were really starting to fill up southern Poland strongly.
Good news was sent by the highly effective LTGEN Yamut from Vienna that evening. He had ruthlessly counter-attacked the enemy’s reckless assault and at 5pm 156 SD had not only joined but reinforced the combat. By midnight that night, the Germans had had enough and withdrew with heavy casualties.
Air Damage Report. Vienna 922; Szombathely 151 (defensive support for Körmend); Sopron 543 (attack support); daily total of 1,616.
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28 Oct 43
The Germans' intentions remained bloody-minded in the Vienna Sector. A new shock attack on Gänserndorf began at 1am that would still be going as the day ended. But at 8am, a major victory was declared in the latest battle for Sopron. At that point, the Turkish attack on Körmend was still progressing well, so Noyan was ordered to continue. This brought another heavy victory by 6pm that evening.
The reality of the battlefield had caught up with the War Department again: the latest manpower report that morning showed the deficit had risen sharply to 37,900.
But Turkish spirits were buoyed by momentous news from the Soviets. The Karelian Pocket had been eliminated! Analysis from captured German records showed they had started the month with 72,568 men trapped in 22 divisions and HQs. All were prisoners, from the Theatre Commander Generalfeldmarschall Fedor von Bock down. Agent SkitalecS3 was
most animated by the news.
Bock (far right) during a briefing at the headquarters of Army Group North with Hitler, June 1942. It appears he refused to obey Hitler’s command to commit suicide rather than surrender to the Soviets. [Comment: in OTL it was Stalingrad, in the ATL it proved to be Leningrad!]
In East Prussia, Königsberg was now well secured; Soviet forces advanced on Danzig and still threatened Warsaw. To the south, Romanian and Soviet troops were now massed and had relieved Turkey’s extended eastern line there all the way to Krakow.
At 9pm, the recently quiet Adriatic Sector saw a brief flare-up in action. The Italian 133a ‘Littorio’ Armoured Division had attacked Cerknica, which was now heavily defended. The Italian light tanks came up against the IS-2s of MAJGEN Köldecan’s 17 Inf Div, who counter-attacked the rash attempt. The result was not pretty for the Italians, who didn’t break off the attack until 2pm the following day.
OTL Event: Philadelphia Navy Shipyard, US. In the "Philadelphia Experiment", a story widely believed to be a hoax, the destroyer escort USS Eldridge (DE-173) was supposedly rendered invisible to human observers for a brief period, and (in some versions of the story) even teleported from the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard to the U.S. Navy shipyard in Norfolk, Virginia and back, with the result that several of the people on board were seriously injured, went insane, or killed. The story would be popularised by the best-selling 1974 book The Bermuda Triangle, by Charles Berlitz, and the U.S. Navy began receiving regular inquiries. In 1979, Berlitz and William L. Moore would write a more detailed account in The Philadelphia Experiment: Project Invisibility, by which time the Navy would have a standard response: "As for the Philadelphia Experiment, the ONR (Office of Naval Research) has never conducted any investigations on invisibility, either in 1943 or at any other time. In view of present scientific knowledge, our scientists do not believe that such an experiment could be possible except in the realm of science fiction."
The very visible USS Eldridge (DE-173).
Air Damage Report. Vienna 812 (total of 2,664 over three days); Szombathely 137 (total of 288 over one and a bit days); Sopron 394 (total of 937 over two and a bit days); Gänserndorf 687 (attack support); Körmend 256 (one raid only); daily total of 1,616.
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29 Oct 43
Turkish Republic Day 1943 dawned with news that the manpower deficit had risen to its highest level yet: 46,900. The many martyrs to have fallen so far in this war would be honoured at ceremonies throughout Turkey.
The Propaganda Department, not the same since two of its leading expat specialists proved to be first an American rogue and the other a British spy, tried to impress their Minister, Field Marshal Calistar, with a Republic Day dedication to the Turkish-Soviet Alliance.
TURKISH - SOVIET FRIENDSHIP:
- This fire will not get extinguished easily...
- The fires of war engulfing Europe?
- No, the fire of love engulfing our hearts!
[Thanks to @diskoerekto for supplying the cartoon and translation.]
A more tangible cause for celebration was provided at 11am with the latest heavy victory at Gänserndorf. At that time only one other battle (the almost-won defence of Cerknica, which would come that afternoon as mentioned above) remained in progress on the Turkish Front, allowing some cautious commemorations to be conducted.
Air Damage Report. Gänserndorf 965 (total of 1,652 over two days); Cerknica 586 (attack support, completed in one day); daily total of 1,551.
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30 Oct 43
The manpower deficit rose further to a new record of 48,700.
With some fleeting moments of peace in Vienna, Yamut provided an update of the damage to local infrastructure from the many days of combat and bombing. Little was left of the fortifications and the heavy AA batteries were somewhat damaged and a large concentration of German divisions was building up to the west in Krems. And given the likelihood of further German attempts to retake Gänserndorf, when 307 SD disembarked their transport in Trnava at midday they were ordered forward through Bratislava to reinforce it.
One of those divisions in Krems – the almost full-strength 161. Infanterie – soon probed Yamut’s defences. But their reckless assault was once more savagely counter-attacked by the well-set defenders. The probe was soon abandoned, the firefight lasting from 1-3pm (Comintern 14; Germany 110 killed).
Meanwhile, the temporarily Turkish grounded aviators in Budapest received a morale-boosting visit from a Soviet hero of the Revolution and Civil War.
Turkish aviators around Soviet Marshal Budyonny at the Budapest air base, UGNR, 30 October 1943.
Despite his bravery as a cavalry commander in wars a generation ago, the view of his fellow officers was that Semyon Mikhailovich Budyonny (b. 25 April 1883) was demonstrably incompetent at commanding a modern army in a mechanised war. But he remained a favourite of Stalin was still good for symbolic and PR duty, as here when on a goodwill visit to Turkish airmen in Budapest in October 1943.
[In OTL the photo op was in May 1943. Thanks again to @diskoerekto for providing.]
Körmend was occupied by 10 Inf Div at 6pm after their earlier victory there; more formations would follow them in during that day and the next.
Air Damage Report. Vienna 425 (attack support, one raid only).
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31 Oct 43
In a rare setback, Ögel advised one of Turkey’s spies in Italy had been apprehended. But the loss could be easily covered. A snapshot of their reported production schedule was provided, including the interesting news that they were building coast fortifications in Ancona, a couple of destroyer flotillas were well progressed, and the probably forlorn project to construction a new battleship – the RN Roma – was in its very early stages.
The Turkish manpower deficit hovered at 48,400.
But the short period of peace was of course soon shattered by the Germans who launched three separate attacks in the Vienna Sector that morning. First came an attack by 7 Pz Div on Gänserndorf. Namut sought to delay their blitzing attack and had the advantage of the IS-2s of 5 Inf Div to out-gun the German Panthers. Another probe by 161. Infanterie on Vienna followed at 7am, but again their reckless assault was easily brushed away by Yamut. At the same time, a heavier assault was launched on Eisenstadt, where the organised but still under-strength 2 Mot Div’s T-34s provided some protection against the German infantry.
The attacks on both Gänserndorf and Eisenstadt would still be going as the month ended.
Just before midnight on 31 October, with the manpower deficit of 48,400, Inönü was told another 1,629 Turkish troops had been killed in ground combat and 7,602 from the air for a total of 9,231 in the last six days. The grand totals for the month were 17,919 ground and 43,342 air strike casualties: 61,261 for the whole of
Red October. The Germans had lost another 5,152 to ground combat in the last six days, making their losses 30,835 for the month, plus 4,843 prisoners taken earlier.
His statisticians at the War Ministry noted these total Turkish losses had been at an average daily rate of 1,840 for 1-10 October, increasing to 2,242 from 11-25 October, then falling back to 1,539 per day from 26-31 October. The overall daily average for the month was 1,976. Such losses were clearly not sustainable in the long term, but the shortening of the Turkish line in the east and the corresponding progressive strengthening of the lines near Vienna
may assist somewhat. But of course, what was really needed was more robust air cover.
Air Damage Report. Vienna 128 (attack support); Gänserndorf 666 (attack support); daily total of 794.
OTL Event: USSR. The IS-2 tank was accepted for service in the Soviet Army. [Comment: we got it nice and early in this ATL.]
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Comintern Theatre Reports
The
Patriotic Front had seen its largest movements during the month in the closing of the Karelian Pocket and the Soviet offensive into East Prussia and Poland.
In the
North, a large Soviet spearhead was now on the outskirts of Danzig, while Warsaw remained in German hands, but was increasingly threatened.
Southern Poland was now heavily held by the Comintern, with Soviet and Romanian forces advancing north-east of Krakow in what looked like a powerful offensive.
As we have seen,
Vienna had been lost then regained during the month, while Sopron and Körmend to its south had been taken for the Glorious Union. The Germans were treating the border with still-neutral Slovakia as a DMZ for now. This suited Turkey, who had military access but seeming immunity from attack.
And after some heavy back-and-forth fighting earlier in the month in the
Adriatic Sector, Lussino had been retaken and the line ultimately pushed forward towards Trieste in Kostel and Cerknica.
The
Far East had seen the usual slow but steady progress, with the key centre of Irkutsk now back within Soviet sights. The Turkish task force was still on its long rail trip back from western Mongolia.
British Reporting
There was no territorial change in
Italy, Sardinia or Libya.
And the situation in
India seemed to have finally stabilised (a more detailed report including unit dispositions will be sought next month).
The Japanese had advanced in the interior of Dutch
Borneo, but Singapore still held out.
Things had deteriorated somewhat in
Australia, but no more major centres had fallen.
There had been no change in
New Zealand, where the Japanese lodgement at the tip of the North Island remained.
In
New Guinea, the Australians had cleared out the last Japanese held province on the main island, but the enemy still held the port of Rabaul.
Intelligence Report
After a comparatively quiet month in Italy punctuated by the apprehension of one Turkish agent towards its close, it was estimated Italian support for the war
[ie NU] stood at 70.3%, a decrease of 0.8 from 71.1% at the end of September. There were ten spy teams in Italy, who had only one counter-espionage team in place. Six Turkish teams remained in reserve.
Over in the US, Cennet had been stepping up her efforts to locate Perse, who remained in hiding and under US protection. Turkey had made no requests for her extradition, maintaining the fiction of ‘no hard feelings’ to US officials. And so as not to cast additional suspicion on themselves should an ‘unfortunate accident’ happen to her.
“Their supposed lack of concern and disinterest is risible,” said a worried Perse to her FBI case officer. “I know they’re out to get me – I can sense someone is on my trail.”
A worried Perse is justifiably paranoid: “I know they’re out to get me – I can sense someone is on my trail.”
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Naval Report
At sea, the Allies lost just the one major ship: a French heavy cruiser. The British also lost a submarine flotilla, as did the Netherlands (to the Japanese). Australia lost a transport flotilla.
Duquesne was the first of two
Duquesne class heavy cruisers built for the French Navy. Laid down 30 October 1924; launched 17 December 1925; in service 25 January 1929. Displacement 10,160 t (standard); complement 605; main armament 4 × 2 203mm/50 (8 in) Modèle 1924 guns. Sunk in October 1943 by
IJNS Yamashiro (BB).
The Axis also lost a heavy cruiser, from the IJN. The Germans lost one transport and one landing craft flotilla and the Italians five transport flotillas.
Nachi (那智) was the second vessel completed of the four-member
Myōkō class of heavy cruisers of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN). Laid down 26 November 1924; launched 15 June 1927; commissioned 28 November 1928. Displacement 13,500 t; complement 773; main armament 10 × 203 mm (8.0 in) guns (5x2). Sunk by
HMS Nelson (BB) October 1943.
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The Finnish Question
The Turkish War Cabinet would be making an out-of-session consideration of the ‘Finnish Question’, following the recent liquidation of the Karelian Pocket. At stake was whether Finland – at no real risk now of joining the Axis, but its control remaining a strategic Comintern ‘victory’ objective – should be subject to a surprise attack while the bulk of those forces were still near the Finnish border.
With the Soviet campaign going well in East Prussia and Poland and the relief of the easternmost portion of the Turkish Front well under way, some were advocating for a strike now, while the iron was hot. Others thought it more prudent to allow whatever Soviet forces were not retained to guard the Finnish border be allowed to redeploy at STAVKA’s discretion, whether to the Western or Eastern Fronts.
Should Turkey opt for an aggressive line, this would be communicated to Stalin by the Turkish Ambassador in Moscow. The ‘diplomatic fiction’ of a Turkish declaration of war, which the Soviets could again ‘respond to in fraternal solidarity’, as used at the start of the Great Patriotic war in June 1940, could be deployed again if necessary.
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Coming Up: Will the measures taken to shorten and strengthen the Turkish line in Central Europe allow some recovery in Turkish manpower? To achieve that, combat losses would have to be reduced by more than two-thirds in November compared to the bloodbath of October 1943. And any desire for a limited offensive to secure the approaches to Trieste and northern Italy would only add to the butcher’s bill if proceeded with.
The other possible way to decrease the horrendous air onslaught, where the Axis only tended to launch missions in support of ground attacks or as defensive support, would be if the new and coming Yak-7 interceptor wings could make a difference if carefully deployed, perhaps concentrated on defending the approaches to Trieste. Though German fighters had also been active in that region of late.
The Cabinet would also have to decide whether to seek a pre-emptive initiation of war on Finland as part of the Comintern’s agreed ambitions for expansion in Europe. Preparations for the possible 1944 invasion of Italy would also be kept ticking along, which would eventually have to include taking the four marine divisions (one Turkish and three US) off-line and giving them preferential reinforcement priorities over most other units.
The war against the Axis in Europe had definitely taken a big step forward in October and there were hopes of continued success with a Soviet-led Winter Offensive. But it was far from over and could prove very difficult for Turkey, as the carnage of the last month had shown, with Germany and Italy falling back on their own homelands and well-stocked and positioned air bases.
