Chapter 36: ‘A Mountain of Pain’ (4 to 9 December 1937)
Prologue: 4 Dec 37, Ankara
Braanszon Guildenstern has been summoned to Armaments (and Propaganda) Minister Calistar’s private office.
“Guildenstern, I have a top-secret task for you. It is critical to the future of Turkey.” Braanszon merely raises one eyebrow slightly and waits for his boss to continue. The personal image must be maintained.
Calistar, himself somewhat discomfited by the cool presence of his advertiser-and-propaganda-guru, starts to babble a little. “The Cabinet has decided that the national title of the
Greater Turkish Republic, which we only took on earlier this year, may not stand the test of time. After four wars and a walkover, we need to make our title even
greater!”
“I see,” the ever-laconic BJ says quietly. “What’s the brief? When do you need it by?”
“We have two choices,” Calistar says. “Either to celebrate the new year and our expected victory over Yugoslavia. Or later, when we plan to join the Comintern in a few years.”
“Well, I think two new names for the nation in less than a year sounds a bit wannabe and insecure. Let’s go for something to mark the new era,” Guildenstern replies. He thinks to himself that the day his employer formally aligns with the Communists is the day
after he left on an airliner back to New York. He feels almost physically ill contemplating working in that kind of environment. Even an unashamed ethical mercenary with no moral compass has his limits! “I recommend we do this right and unveil the new moniker on the great day Turkey declares for our Communist brothers. I’ll get to work on it.”
As Guildenstern turns to leave, Calistar looks up from his desk and adds, “Oh, and by the way, we need something imaginative and with a bit of flair and originality. Not something from one of those hackneyed Communist national random name generators." He looks at Guildenstern pointedly, seeking to regain the ascendancy: "If we wanted that kind of dross, we’d hire a thousand chimps to type randomly on a thousand typewriters for a thousand days and take the best name they came up with. Rather than paying you in large amounts of cash, whisky and Cuban cigars.”
BJ forces himself not to break stride as he strolls coolly out of the office, “Of course not, would never dream of it. Only the best for you, Minister.”
Damn! He thinks to himself. That’s his first idea out the window, given he’d estimated it would be
at least a thousand days until Turkey was ready to make the leap to the dull World of Socialism.
This could take some doing: an
imaginative and
original name for a communist-aligned state? Well, at least it would be a world first. “Persephonee!” he calls as gets back to his top floor corner office and pours himself a large bourbon. “Get out your easel. We’ve been given the greatest challenge in the history of propaganda-advertising!”
4 Dec 37 (D+36)
0800. The
Battle of Surdulica, which began on 1 December, will clearly be the decisive action in the Serbian Pocket. The hard-charging enemy 7th Division has fought tooth and nail to first escape the pocket, and now to survive for as long as possible, in the hope of a miracle. But by dawn, we have received reports that the Romanian 19th Inf Div has now joined the battle from Medveda, while Romanian TAC bombers are also hitting the enemy positions. Apparently, word was received by Romanian commanders at the front that Luca Brasi was considering a field visit to see whether Romanian support for our gallant Turkish forces was up to standard!
1000. Victory in
Surdulica! This has been one of the hardest fought battles of the campaign, with heavy casualties on both sides. 17 Inf Div have led the way, taken the heaviest casualties, and will justly receive a unit battle honour for their efforts.
Artunkal now orders HQ 2nd Corps to head to
Nis to cut off enemy forces attempting to break out of the Pocket in that direction. The Romanians are also now advancing south to close off enemy escape routes to
Knjazevac [which very appropriately sounds a little like it could be Serbian for ‘casevac’].
1200. In the Central sector, 1 Cav Div, now fully supplied and almost reorganised after its earlier heavy fighting, arrives in
Pljevlja and is ordered on to the mountain province of
Niksic. From there, they hope to keep pushing west, joining up with their Adriatic sector comrades at
Ljublinje.
1700. 1 Cav Div wins a walkover battle against a fleeing enemy HQ in
Niksic. The enemy retreats south, where they will be met by a mix of advancing Romanian and Turkish forces pushing across from the east.
2100. HQ 1st Corps arrives in
Ruma and will now push on west to
Zvornik via
Sabac, seeking the path of least resistance to the west.
During the day, thousands of retreating Yugoslavian troops, earlier surrounded in
Ruse have been surrendering.
4 Dec 37. Disconsolate Yugoslavian troops march off to internment after their earlier defeat in Ruse.
5 Dec 37 (D+37)
0700. The weather is becoming very cold, with storms and rain, especially in the mountains. The
2nd Battle of Nevesinje continues under miserable conditions. Gataly’s 15 Inf Div is determined to avenge the anguish of defeat suffered by their gallant 3 Cav Div comrades (who are still retreating south to
Ljublinje along winding mountain roads) just a short time before. The troops have joked darkly that ‘Nevesinje’ must be Serbian for ‘A Mountain of Pain’. They also subscribe to the old adage that ‘it is better to give than to receive’. In this, they seem to be slowly succeeding.
The mountains in Nevesinje. Picturesque in peacetime perhaps, but a harsh winter battlefield.
1300. And ironically, Turkey’s only specialist mountain division finds itself in the open plains of
Semska Mitrovica, where they have now reorganised sufficiently following their recent battle there to be ordered to resume the march west, where they have been ordered to make a difficult river crossing to attack
Tuzla. It will be some time before they can expect any support, with HQ 1st Corps still days away from arriving in
Zvornik to open up a second flank on
Tuzla. Without doubt, much blood will be spilt before then. To the north, the Romanians continue to quite effectively cover the northern flank of the advance.
By
2100, 1 Mtn Div has commenced the
Battle of Tuzla against the Yugoslavian 15th Div. The odds are again difficult with the river attack, meaning the casualty rate will be proportionally higher. But attacking before the enemy is set means they have not had time to entrench. Another battle to be ground out.
6 Dec 37 (D+38)
1200. 1 Cav Div wins another walkover battle in
Niksic: this time (by the numbers involved – around 8200 enemy troops) it seems to be an infantry division, which also looks to be moving south-east. All the other battles in the Adriatic and Central sectors continue unabated.
7 Dec 37 (D+39)
0100. Surdulica has finally been occupied, with 17 Inf Div brushing away a pathetically manned enemy 1st Corps HQ that must have been trying to slip into the province earlier. The Pocket is nearly eliminated now.
0700. A welcome technical advance – this will assist our surprisingly effective cavalry units, but more importantly is a small step to hoping one day to develop the technology for motorised infantry to match with the licensed armour we hope to build up.
In another optimistic gesture, we commence our first ever air doctrine development, where we will try to bring our fighter pilot training up to 1918 standards! While we will be relying on imported aircraft for our future expanded Air Force, we can at least train our pilots to be more effective. Their difficulties against the Yugoslavian Air Force were there for all to see.
1600. Another day, another walkover victory for 1 Cav Div in
Niksic. An Army HQ this time: this remote mountain province seems to be a popular Yugoslavian escape route!
Meanwhile, in the ‘Mountains of Pain’, the fight in
Nevesinje is now clearly turning in Turkey’s favour.
The town of Nevesinje, now in sight of 15 Inf Div’s lead elements as they press home the attack.
And in
Tuzla, the fight remains hard. While the odds still appear difficult, once again the enemy is losing organisation quicker than Muzir’s Mountaineers.
8 Dec 37 (D+40)
1200. Namut’s 5 Inf Div arrives in
Rudo and now drives on to an as-yet unoccupied
Sarajevo! The pincers are closing on another potential pocket, as anticipated all those days ago in Inönü’s HQ 1st Corps. To the north, 1 and 3 Inf Divs have almost arrived in the unoccupied
Vlasenica. Cakmak’s 1 Inf Div will lead the drive on
Split to the west, while Karabekir’s weakened 3 Inf Div (still not recovered from the
Battle of Visegrad) will pause to secure the flank, regain organisation and wait for reinforcing Turkish and Romanian troops to catch up from the east.
9 Dec 37 (D+41)
0100. The enemy pull out of
Nevesinje in the early hours of the morning – they appear to be retreating west to
Konjic, but
could be heading for
Sarajevo, where they would receive a hot reception from Namut’s 5 Inf Div advance guard. 15 Inf Div has paid a heavy price for the ‘Mountains of Pain’, but this is an important battle that kept the enemy stalled while reinforcements fought their way across from the east. Another battle honour for the
Fighting 15th.
In
Tuzla, the latest update reveals a similar story – a hard fight with difficult odds but likely victory in sight. Romanian divisions are in support and advancing to the north and south.
In his latest periodic report back to Ankara, Inönü summarises the advances made by 1st Corps, 2nd Corps and the supporting Romanians since the beginning of the campaign. He also notes major battles fought since the last comprehensive general campaign report to Cabinet on 29 November
[ie. summarising this chapter and the last].
An important technological advance is made that will speed our offensives:
A surplus of available spies leads us to redistribute our leadership. The chart below shows ‘before and after’ LS distribution, with more for research (to six full techs at once) and officers (now up to
104% - of course we would like it higher). Manpower remains steady at 63 – reinforcements seem to be roughly keeping pace with casualties. Central planning research commences – we would eventually like to achieve
Grand Battle Plan.
Epilogue: Bucharest, 9 Dec 37
It is a proud day for Luca Brasi: he is promoted to Honorary Captain (or 'Capo' as he likes to call it) in the Romanian Army. A special reception is held at the Turkish Embassy. This is a time for the Romanian General Staff to practice their best imitation of sincerity as they smile, wish him well, discreetly hand over envelopes stuffed with
lira and then hastily go on their way.
The Ambassador, Vatan (or 'Vito') Ceylan leans in close to Brasi – a man of notoriously few words – and says softly to him, “These Romanian
pissants, you know you can’t trust them. Just remember Luca, keep your friends close, and your enemies closer.”
“Wise words, boss,” Luca replies, shrugging his shoulders slightly to adjust his shoulder holster. “When they send for you, you go in alive, you come out dead, and it's your best friend that does it.” Luca then smiles (the camera clicks at that moment), “Good thing I don’t have no friends!”
9 Dec 37. Luca Brasi, pictured with the Turkish Ambassador to Romania Vatan 'Vito' Ceylan,
having just been ‘made’ an honorary Captain in the Romanian Army. This is the only known
photo of Luca Brasi smiling. Somehow, seeing this rare facial abnormality didn’t make any of
his Romanian colleagues feel any better.
Coming up: Peace? Persia? Persuasion? Production? Politics? Questions, questions, questions! While it seems like the war in Yugoslavia (and needless alliteration) has been going a long time, it’s not even been a month and a half yet, fighting against a large country with a superior air force in tough terrain, so the High Command is pleased with progress.
Romanian support has been encouraging and they will have earned some experience fighting in their supporting role. Axis appeasement of Turkish expansion continues. The Path to Glory remains open and the destination still within our control. Life is good: live it to the fullest!
Turkey decided to achieve the Little Entente by other means 
