Chapter 123: Under Pressure (13 to 19 April 1941)
(3:49 min)
OK, couldn’t resist it. Vale Bowie & Mercury. The old music video seemed rather appropriate. Is this Inönü’s last chance? He’s definitely not laughing at the moment … because he knows Deputy Fuhrer Rudolph Hess would laugh under pressure (and we know what that indicates).
It is approaching white-knuckle time in the Balkans. The pressure is building to dangerous levels – will the line bend - or break? Tense times for the not-really-free-but-pretending-to-be world of the Comintern Pact - on all fronts (including in the Secret War). Meanwhile the US giant sleeps on …
---xxx---
13 Apr 41
Just as the Milli Şef has finished reading his reports and is about to turn in for another night of disturbed and fitful sleep, his orderly knocks and enters, bearing a message from the 1st Army HQ duty officer. He hands it to Inönü, salutes and exits.
Some good news, at least, to perhaps let him rest a little easier tonight. That is a morale-boosting and powerful victory. But the
Yeniçeri Line is still not fully re-formed and the divisions out in screening positions will almost certainly have some hard fighting ahead of them. And, even if he can reform the line as before, will even
that be enough to hold an Axis opponent now swelled by reinforcements from other parts of the Patriotic Front? He cannot know the answer to that and – though he maintains his usual stoic and quietly confident outward demeanour – the President is genuinely worried he may have doomed his current position by attempting to rescue his partners. Though doing nothing would probably have doomed him
indirectly. He starts to quietly re-examine those strategic withdrawal plans that were drawn up before the recent bold offensive. Which seems years past already.
Having been given latitude to employ the currently grounded Air Force as he wishes, Chief of Staff and of the Air Force Ali Örlungat has noted British reports of another two bombings in the last week conducted on
Rhodes. The Navy still hasn’t been able to gain any useful information from their observation of the island. He decides to send the whole Air Force back down to Crete, from where they should be able to make a detailed and accurate recon of the enemy island. And maybe find out what the British are up to, as well.
14 Apr 41
As Inönü grabs some sleep, HQ 1st Corps reports it has reached its final defensive position in
Ruma, where it will add to the newly raised 14 Inf Div (which does not yet have a permanent commander). And then, the duty officer receives a more urgent report on the secure land-line, on the stroke of midnight:
“This is Alankup here. We have been attacked by two Hungarian infantry divisions. This time they have coordinated and are attacking from two different directions. Our troops are better, more experienced and well dug-in, but are already badly worn out from the previous battle. And the Hungarians are fresh and outnumber us almost two-to-one. We can hold for now, but once day breaks the enemy will find the going a lot easier. We will hold as long as we can.”
The 1st Army's Chief of Staff decided not to wake the President: there is nothing he needs to do for now and the situation will be clearer in the morning. It was likely to be another long day ahead: the great man could do with the sleep.
Not long after, 5 Inf Div announced they had arrived in
Senta, having previously fought their way back from their exposed position in
Kanjiza. They would add to the screening defence in
Senta, which 10 Inf Div had been preparing for some days: time to get out the entrenching tools and start burrowing. It would not be easy to defend the flat and open terrain if the Axis threw real numbers at them. 1 Cav Div continued on its way south: they had almost reached
Ada and would continue on to
Ruma, to bolster its defence and act as an emergency response force for that whole sector.
As the three Turkish wings fly past
Rhodes on their way to
Irakleio, they report multiple Italian units on the island, but no details of their composition. That will require a ‘recon by fire’ mission, once the wings are re-established. Perhaps a bit of additional air preparation for a naval landing, if the odds look all right. There is also a British naval task force sitting stationary in the area.
I wonder what they are up to? thinks Örlungat to himself.
They will bear some watching – the British liaison reports have mentioned nothing, but then it is only a friendship of convenience, after all.
As the day wears on, the intensity of the Hungarian attack on
Semska Mitrovica increases. By mid-afternoon, the odds have begun to tip in the enemy’s favour and the already tired Turkish troops are beginning to succumb to the assault.
At least, with the
Ruma defence now a little stronger and 1 Cav Div on the way, they should be able to stabilise the line there, allowing 9 Inf Div to be withdrawn from its intermediate screening position before they are completely exhausted and rendered useless as a fighting formation for a long time. The order is issued for a controlled withdrawal to
Ruma: the after-battle report indicates they were able to bleed more enemy troops than they lost themselves and will have caused the enemy to reorganise after the assault. More time bought for the main defence.
Inönü takes the opportunity to issue completely new suggested joint defensive objectives for his Comintern partners in the Yeniçeri-Romania area of the front. All previously suggested depth offensive objectives in Hungary are cancelled. Instead, a continuous string of provinces stretching from
Sabac in the south, through
Timisoara and
Cluj up to the north-east of Romania is suggested. The objectives in Romania are jointly requested for both Soviet and Romanian defence and make best use of any hill or mountain terrain in Romania, though a couple of flatter areas would continue to prove vulnerable if not held in force. There was no great precedent for his partners taking up these suggestions, but Inönü felt he should at least try.
As 9 Inf Div continued to withdraw to
Ruma from the west that night, 1 Cav Div arrived in
Ada and continued south.
Ada itself would be reinforced by 12 Inf Div, which was currently passing through 15 Inf Div's lines in
Srboban after having been forced from their forward defence of
Subotica. They should have recovered some condition by the time they arrive in their final Yeniçeri position.
OTL Event: Yugoslavia. King Peter II of Yugoslavia fled to Athens as the German troops continued to advance. Comment: Hmm, not sure how much good that will do him in that other strange OTL world.
---xxx---
15 Apr 41
“Another Vichy spy apprehended? So much for their ‘neutrality’. Off to the dungeon with him.” Such midnight arrests don’t even trigger Interior Minister Kaya’s apoplexy any more. For now, it is just business as usual.
So long as it isn’t another of those Thai spies stealing plans for the glorified box kites Örlungat keeps for the domestically designed fighter aircraft industry, Kaya thinks mischievously to himself. He worries more about the impudence and embarrassment of such escapades: it is hardly likely to swing the war in favour of the Axis!
At 2am, 12 Inf Div, now having recovered about half its organisation, joins 2 Inf Div in the hills of
Ada. The troops start digging their first level of entrenchments: would they get the full ten days they needed to achieve maximum protection? The most vulnerable approach to
Ada is from
Senta, due north, as the western flank is guarded by a river. Again, buying the time to dig in was very important, to help stop the gathering Axis momentum. At 3am, word is received that the Soviet 17 SD has been forced out of
Kula by a Hungarian attack from two different directions. Another province of the screen will no doubt soon fall to the filthy Fascists. May they choke on it like a spoiled bratwurst!
---xxx---
Many hundreds of kilometres to the west, Ambassador Vito Ceylan is relaxing in his flower garden at the Residence. It is late morning on a cool but pleasant spring day in
Zurich. The spring blooms are now coming out at lower altitudes in Switzerland and Vito’s garden is a riot of colour.
The flower garden at the Turkish Ambassador's Residence in spring – a restful and pleasant place for Vito, away from the violence and stress of the grim world around him.
Vito’s young grandson Artun (the late Sonny’s boy, a three-year-old) is with him. Vito has been treating the flowers for aphids with a spray-can.
“Can I hold it, please, Grandpa?” asks young Artun, taking the spray can from him. Vito shows him how to use it.
"Like this – you gotta spray ‘em until they’re all dead!"
“Yeah - over here - over here. Be careful Artun, you're spilling it - you're spilling it ... come here – like this. There, that's right. We'll put it right there.”
After a while, Vito returns to his seat. “Now, watch this - come here. I'll show you something, come here. Now you stand there ...” He begins cutting a piece of orange.
“I want some! I want some!” pleads young Artun.
The Ambassador turns away and puts the piece of orange over his teeth, then turns toward the young boy, grunting and holding his arms up like a monster! Artun is startled and starts crying.
Jeez, how could a three-year-old find that scary? The young folk of today are getting soft!
Vito rises rises, grabs the boy and laughs. “It’s just a trick, don’t worry, it’s just me.”
“Now, you run in there - run in there ... we’ll play chasings.”
They run around the flower beds, Artun with the spray can, pretending Vito is a big aphid. The boy is soon laughing again.
Gotta get him into ‘pest eradication’ early – a skill he may well need one day.
A bit tired by the running around, Vito stops, takes the orange peel out of his mouth and has a good laugh. But the laugh turns into a cough. He falls to the ground, clutching his chest, coming to rest with a soft thump among the verdant blooms and buzzing insects.
At first Artun assumes this is all part of the game, still laughing, running around and spraying the Ambassador with insecticide as the old man gasps out his last. But Artun then senses something is wrong as he looks at Vito’s lifeless body … he drops the spray-can and runs into the residence. Is this
really the end for the tough old diplomat and spy?
---xxx---
Oblivious of the goings on in
Zurich – colourful spring gardens are figuratively and literally hundreds of kilometres away from Inönü’s thoughts and reality – the President is reading the reply to his query of MAJGEN Bözer, the commander of 13 Inf Div in
Sabac, due south of
Semska Mitrovica. And currently the only division holding the pivotal province. It is open country but guarded from the enemy by a river-line on each direction of approach.
“Any sign of an enemy attack? Are you fully dug in?” the President had enquired.
“No sign of enemy probes. Fully dug in. Soviet formations reportedly heading this way, but we can’t be sure they will actually arrive, or stay if they do.”
It will have to be enough for now. Having 1 Cav Div to its north-east in
Ruma will add a little insurance, but Inönü remains concerned he hasn’t yet been able to constitute a few reserves behind the front lines to respond to serious attacks on the
Yeniçeri Line proper. In the past, such reserves had proven crucial to stopping determined attacks, allowing defenders to cycle through. He hopes to do so eventually, but is most concerned with ensuring the line can hold against the initial shock of a German-led assault – and that he is not outflanked to the north-east of
Timisoara, where his Comintern partners are also under increasing pressure.
---xxx---
“Milli Şef, a flash cable from the British Theatre HQ in Alexandria!”
What now? he wonders to himself as he opens the envelope. He soon finds out.
Well, no need to worry about the Italians in Rhodes anymore! So Churchill has started to take a more aggressive stance somewhere, at least. Better Rhodes than ‘Gallipoli’, as the British referred to it.
Some thought will need to be given to what to do with the two divisions (3 Cav Div and the Soviet expeditionary rifle division) currently sitting with the transports in southern Anatolia. For now, they are left where they are, though no obvious naval landing targets remain. Perhaps they may come in handy as reserve formations in the Balkans? One thing is certain though: not much point keeping the Air Force in Crete any more. They are ordered all the way back to
Beograd, to reorganise and await delivery of their new Soviet-licensed fighters.
OTL Event: Yugoslavia. Sarajevo surrendered to the Germans. Comment: the dastards!
---xxx---
16 Apr 41
During the early hours of the morning, Hungarian forces occupy both
Kanjiza and
Semska Mitrovica, meaning that in the south, they have now closed up to the original
Yeniçeri Line.
Kula will almost certainly be next.
The rest of the day passes relatively quietly, with units moving into position or digging in all along the line. A rather battered but still battle-worthy 9 Inf Div arrived in
Ruma from their gallant defence of
Semska Mitrovica that night. They would both reorganise and dig in with equal energy and need.
Late that night,
Kula fell to the Axis – as did the Soviet outpost in
Korcula, out in front of the
Yeniçeri Line in the far south, on the Adriatic coast. A timely reminder that part of the line could not be taken for granted, even though it had remained quiet for many months.
OTL Event: Yugoslavia. Armistice negotiations began between the Yugoslavians and the Germans. Comment: inevitable after a quick and - for the Yugoslavs - disastrous campaign.
---xxx---
17 Apr 41
Breakfast brought with it indigestion and unease, with disturbing news from the Romanian sector. It looks like Axis forces will again take
Cluj and
Dej, with many Romanian and Soviet units in retreat around that part of the line, though things may be a
little better to the north of that. But this kind of flux and seeming chaos are not good: it means the Comintern defence is not well-set there. Can they hold again, as they have before? Or will the spring bring with it an ill wind from the north?
In the Centre Sector, the Soviets report the Germans have continued their advance to the outskirts of
Wilno in the last few days. The evil
feldgrau tide slowly but steadily flows towards the key city of
Minsk.
Advances since 13 April are marked by icons.
While in the Far East, new intelligence analysis shows recent Japanese advances are mainly directed at key
[ie VP] locations (green on the map below).
The sombre atmosphere is only slightly improved by news the fast-moving 1 Cav Div is now in
Ruma and preparing its defences there. They are fully replenished and reorganised, ready to react to whatever may be thrown at them. Perhaps even some incautious enemy advance elements that approach too closely and in not enough strength.
The sense of relief is short-lived. By 10am, an urgent report is received from MAJGENs Noyan and Namut (two of Turkey’s best) in
Senta:
“Contact, corps strength enemy attack from three directions! Italian light armour, German panzer-grenadiers and Hungarian infantry. They have launched a strong assault. More to follow later. Out.”
This is grim news. Other than the Hungarian 7th Div (attacking over a river from
Subotica) the rest of the enemy attack is hitting the defenders on open ground with easy approaches. And the two Soviet divisions in the area, who could have made a major difference to the defence, are continuing on their way to
Timisoara without lending a hand! Once again, it would be up to the Turks to fight alone. And
Senta had proved hard to hold in the past under similar circumstances. They would be asked to hold for as long as they reasonably could: the defences of
Timisoara and
Kikinda were well enough set. It was the defence of
Ada that still needed time to strengthen. The only bright spot is that it appears the Axis have given command of the attack to the incompetent Italian general Arena, who is in charge of the light armoured division! But, even so, his tactics seem sound for now: perhaps he has been ‘well advised’ by his German counterpart.
Air Raid. To add to their woes, two wings of Italian TAC bombers commenced a raid on
Senta that afternoon: by 3pm, 159 Turkish troops had been killed.
OTL Event: Yugoslavia. Yugoslavia formally surrendered to the Axis. Comment: sad but inevitable, under attack as they were from many directions.
---xxx---
18 Apr 41
In a surprising development, the Belgian government (from its colonial seat) seeks a trade deal. There is a slight metal deficit and plenty of money in the treasury. Why not!
In
Senta, the situation is slowly deteriorating. Air raids continue, with three conducted from 5am onwards, causing a total of another 374 casualties during the day. And news is received that those fanatical old adversaries – the SS-Verf Div – have joined the reserve for the attack. Not good. But the defenders are holding well enough - for now.
In the Med, Cebesoy’s 'Mk1 Eyeball' sub flotilla finally completes its long redeployment from the Persian Gulf. They will base themselves out of
Athens and have been instructed to see if they can find any enemy convoys that the British may have missed. And keep a weather eye on the neighbourhood while they are at it.
By that night, the enemy attack on
Senta is gaining ground. Namut’s veteran 5 Inf Div is bearing the brunt of the fighting and is hard pressed. Noyan has switched to more effective delaying tactics to try to slow down the enemy assault. But with news that the SS troops have managed to reinforce and join the fight, the clock is now ticking on when
Senta will need to be abandoned to preserve the fighting capacity of its defenders.
At 10pm that night, the air raid warning goes off in
Srboban, where the redoubtable 15 Inf Div is defending. Does this signal another enemy attack on the Turkish screening positions? There is certainly a large concentration of Axis units now gathered to the south-west in
Kula … it looks like the same two Italian TAC wings that had been hitting
Senta. Perhaps they thought their job there was already done?
OTL Event: Greece. The German 6th Mountain Division reached Mount Olympus. Athens was placed under martial law after Greek Prime Minister Alexandros Koryzis committed suicide. Comment: In this ATL Greece remains peaceful and under the mantle of Turkish protection from the evils of fascism. Which I am sure they are so very grateful for. Ahem. Still, the lesser of two evils?
---xxx---
19 Apr 41
By 5am, a few factors had come together to cause Inönü to pull Namut’s 5 Inf Div out of
Senta: their organisation was becoming dangerously low, the enemy attack seemed destined to succeed anyway, and developments to the north-east in Romania had opened yet another potential gap in the line, this time in
Dezna. There were plenty of Romanian units in the vicinity, but no guarantee they would react to plug this gap in time. And
Cluj had fallen -
again. Having another unit in
Timisoara, prepared to react to any future emergency from that direction, was desirable, and 5 Inf Div would need time to recover. Namut was therefore ordered to
Timisoara, leaving 10 Inf Div alone in
Senta for a little while longer, squeezing the last little scintilla of delay out of the screening position.
“Three this is Three-Seven, contact, three Hungarian infantry divisions, all attacking on a narrow front from Kula. Heavily outnumbered in open terrain. Holding for now, but coming under heavy pressure. Will provide a longer SITREP when the position is clearer. Out.”
That large enemy concentration had hit
Novi Sad rather than
Srboban. Again, while 7 Inf Div could resist for a while, their position was ultimately untenable against such numbers, without reinforcement. Which was not going to come.
This latest attack and increasing casualties in
Senta (13 Inf Bde in particular was now badly disorganised) prompted HQ 3rd Corps to permit Noyan to bring 10 Inf Div out of that cauldron and back to
Kikinda, where they would either bolster the defence or perhaps be ordered to start forming the theatre reserve Inönü wished to reconstitute. The battle report showed casualties had been heavy – with the defenders suffering more than the attackers. Just as well time had been called on the defence.
By early afternoon, MAJGEN Gürzlin, commanding the 7th, had a clearer picture of the situation in
Novi Sad: and it was not pretty. A fourth enemy division – Italians, this time - was attempting to join the fight. Despite Gürzlin’s imaginative employment of an elastic defence to slow the Hungarian assault, the odds of him holding were already long. But for now, they retained their organisation and strength and would continue to resist for as long as possible.
Just an hour later,
Senta had been occupied by the fast moving advanced guard of German panzer-grenadiers. Only
Srboban and
Novi Sad now remained of the screening positions established after the recent spring offensive, OP KURT SÜRÜSÜ.
And that night,
Srboban also came under attack. While this time the Turks had the Soviet 17 SD with them – and seemingly not running at the first burst of artillery shells – the attackers were both strong German formations: the 7th Pz Division (medium armour) and the 2nd Pz Gren Division. Already, MAJGEN Gataly’s veteran 15 Inf Div was on the back foot, with no natural defences to benefit them and just their trenches to shelter in. Somewhere in the front line, young Corporal Metin Sadik knows he is in the fight of his life. These are not Italian colonial troops or scared Hungarians fleeing before an assault: they are up against seasoned German panzer and motorised troops. Would Mrs Sadik ever see her son again?
Air Raids. The ground attack on
Srboban had, as mentioned above, been preceded by some early morning preparation from Italian aircraft. They raided twice before 7am, causing 245 casualties, but then had not been seen again anywhere in the Turkish sector for the rest of the day. The skies, for now, were clear again. While unpleasant, Axis air activity of late had not been nearly as heavy or destructive as it had been in the early part of the war. Maybe they were being used in Romania.
---xxx---
After another very long and eventful day, Inönü perused a few summary reports just before midnight.
There had been no change in
Libya, though the British assault on
Rhodes had been one bright spot in the Med.
The
Patriotic Front continued to create concern, while not yet appearing on the point of collapse. The first few weeks of April had seen the Axis make slow but significant progress on all sectors, though
Riga and
Wilno still stood, there had been no
rapid breakout in the Ukraine and, despite the loss of
Cluj and the reversal of most of Turkey’s recent gains, the front still largely held together.
[As always, the green line represents positions at the beginning of the month, arrows are gains by either side, dashed arrows those made since the last report as at 2300hr on 13 April.]
The map of the
Yeniçeri-Romanian Sector is a sorry sea of red, with gains made in the last six days marked with icons.
The
Far East summary reveals Japanese gains – the most worrying of which is a second province bordering on Mongolia’s last town of significance and de facto capital.
OTL Event: Greece. The Germans captured Larissa. Comment: well on their way to Athens by this stage of the OTL Greek campaign.
---xxx---
Epilogue – The Turkish Embassy, Zurich
Earlier that day, a funeral reception had been held for Vatan ‘Vito’ Ceylan at the Embassy, before his body would be repatriated to Turkey via a special diplomatically-cleared flight by a neutral Swissair civilian aircraft.
A procession of dark limousine drove into the Embassy grounds. Chauffeurs opened car doors to let mourners out. Mike, Fredo (back briefly from Monaco), Cennet and others are sitting in chairs in front of the Ambassador's flower-covered casket. They watch as a succession of mourners place a single red rose on top.
Polat ‘Fat Pete’ Cumali (Embassy Security Head) leaves a rose.
Turkish ‘Cultural Attaché’ (ie senior S.I.T.H. operative) Salih ‘Sal’ Terzi is standing outside, waiting to place his rose, when Vatican banker (and suspected Mafia puppet-master) Marco Bianchi walks up the stairs and takes him aside for a brief chat as he passes by.
Just an impromptu and off-the-cuff discussion. Nothing contrived or suspicious happening here! Move along, nothing to see.
Bianchi then walks inside, places his rose, looks over to Mike and nods politely.
Marco Bianchi ‘relaxes’ (as much as he ever does) at the memorial reception for Ambassador Vatan Ceylan. He has a very confident – imposing, perhaps even threatening – manner for a supposed ‘simple Vatican banker’.
Sal Terzi walks up to the casket, places his own rose and then wanders over to where Mike is sitting. He stoops down (he is a
very tall man), speaking softly and respectfully into Mike’s ear: “Mike, could I have a minute?”
They head to a quiet corner of the room.
“Bianchi wants to arrange a meeting. He says we can straighten any of our problems out.”
“You talked to him?”
“Yeah. I can arrange security. One of my S.I.T.H. safe houses in Geneva. Alright?”
“Alright,” agrees Mike.
“Good. I'll fix it.”
Sal Terzi can ‘arrange security’ for Mike, or so he says. Sure, no problem. Though why wouldn't he look Mike in the eye as he spoke?
Mike walks back to his seat. Cennet leans over and asks him: “Do you know how they're gonna come at you?”
“They're arranging a meeting in Geneva. One of Terzi’s safe houses, where I'll be ‘safe’”
“Huh. I always thought it would've been Cumali, not Terzi.”
“It's a smart move. Terzi was always smarter. But I'm gonna wait - until after the opening of the new Consulate in Monaco. I've decided to make Fredo the S.I.T.H. station chief there. He will draw attention away from our
real operation and make them think we're not serious about Monaco at all. You and Kelebek will actually set things up. And
then I'll meet with Signor Bianchi - and Philip Tattaglia and
all the key
pezzonovante who have been trying to thwart our plans in Italy.”
Mike appears to have a cold dish in mind for his eventual banquet at the expense of his (and Turkey’s – they are one and the same) many enemies.
---xxx---
Coming Up: Will the rising Axis tide sweep over the sea-wall Turkey and the Comintern are preparing to resist it? Despite all the care taken, can even a reconstituted
Yeniçeri Line withstand a full-on German-backed Axis assault throughout the summer? Is that just the usual frenzy and chaos in Romania at the moment, or are all Inönü’s carefully laid defensive plans going to be undermined by events to the north-east? To be replaced by carefully made – but not yet laid – plans for a strategic withdrawal and defence in depth? And who (with all respect, may he rest in peace) will replace the late lamented Vatan ‘Vito’ Ceylan as Ambassador to Switzerland? Will that position also be in charge of S.I.T.H. operations in Western Europe, or will the two roles be split? What will Cennet’s new mission in Monaco entail (other than “removing a stone from Mike’s shoe”)?
