The Ottoman Rebirth

[shenaniganz14]

The Ottoman Rebirth

INTRO…
There, hung on the wall, was a piece of Cartographic genius. A map of enormous proportions showing the Ottoman Empire as of the 15th century and its growth. No less than 10 metres by 6 metres it spanned the whole wall. The room was dim lit by oil lamps and candles; in the centre was a table with 10 seats around it. Each seat contained a politician; all key advisors to our honourable Kemal Ataturk. They where here to discuss a dark matter. They murmured and argued and shouted and agreed; all which fine points of view. Yet at the centre of this all was Kemal who spoke with a passion that equalled the great Greek Rhetors.
“Gentlemen,” he spoke, “ The world is standing on the edge… Hitler has risen to face off Democracy and Bolshevism! Yet his foes stand in the way and look over the world to find help or more foes, they cast their disapproving eye to Turks and they see a sparse nation of a dying glory yet let us show them their blindness. Our mighty forefathers stood on the lands of Romania with Turkish blood around their ankles yet they stood there and called that land their own. They fought for us. They bled for us. They died for us. Yet the West came and tore down their work and burnt our people. I ask every one of you to honour our mighty Ottoman fathers and show their sacrifice was not one of futility! In 100 years our lands shall stretch from the rivers of the Afghan to the fertile lands of the French.” He was shouting now yet not out of anger but out of fervour. We left an hour later and the new Empire was born.

This is my first AAR and I am a very inexperienced HoI player yet I enjoy being secondary nations and will give it a shot. Please bear with me when I make massive amateur mistakes. Thank You!

[shenaniganz14]

Preparing the Dream

Kemal Ataturk, the man to shape the future.

The turkish borders as of January

(My pictures from in game are not working in colour at the moment but i am working on getting Xfire.)

Kemal dreamt of a new era, one in which Turkey would rule the world alongside Germany. He had convened a meeting with his key advisors on the 1/1/1936. They had left this meeting with five key points that were to be put into actions over the next few months. Number one was an invasion of Bulgaria to secure a better position in Europe for future conquests. Secondly to align to the Axis faction, thus allying with the strongest nation on the map. Next would be to open trade with other larger nations to secure the economy and industry of Turkey. Fourthly was to use propaganda and other material to bring the people behind us in our conquests. Finally we would fortify the eastern line so as to prepare for conquests of our Persian rivals in time to come.

The weak eastern fron under the looming Soviet shadow

Troops were ordered across the Bosphorus to the Bulgarian border and there they would camp for weeks or months until the declaration of war was sent to the Bulgarian high command. Meanwhile trade routes were agreed between France and Turkey for the metal that we were lacking and Romania and Turkey for the oil. On hearing the second agreement Kemal pondered on the thought of owning the resource-rich Romanian lands.

The considerably stronger western front.

The divisions -all though many of them- amassed to a small number of troops. To secure a definite victory we would need to mobilize. This is an annoyance as Turkish factories would have to stop making new divisions and even then reinforcement could not be fully covered thus it would be a few more months before war came.

[Elastic Fish]

Interesting start, not many people play as Turkey...

If you're going to get Turkey on the same level as Germany, consider attacking Italy? They're pretty high in IC, and, along with the Balkans, could give you the power you need. You'll get an awful lot of partisans though...

[shenaniganz14]

@elastic fish

I was planning the balkans and small amounts of eastern expansion. I will think about Italy but to get to the same military level as them would take years and by then i expect both os us to be in the axis.

[shenaniganz14]

Deadly Reality

However as the topic of mobilisation was discussed Kemal realised how difficult it would be as it was well beyond industrial capacity to fully reinforce our divisions and supply extra consumer goods. Intelligence reports told of the people’s mentality and all were eager to march forth thus war was brought forward and on the 23 of February we were at a state of war with Bulgaria.

We would wait until March before launching our assault on the Bulgarians. It would be a quick invasion and we expected it over by April.

- You may think that your husbands and sons go to unnecessary deaths, yet this is not the case, you may fear for your loved die without a suitable cause. But know this, we go to honour our forefathers and to bring vengeance upon those who cast our sacrifices away, there is no better cause I tell you. Do not fear that it is their end for I can tell you that the beginning of the beginning has begun. Let your hearts be with them as they bring justice to the west and do not worry, for at their sides are well over 10000 Turks. To war we go and rest not until justice comes!

Kemal speaking on live radio to his people.

[theconfusedone]

Turkey is among my favorite countries in AoD. Along with Greece, Persia, and Afghanistan.

Wait what? Ataturk trying to restore the Empire he had just deposed?

[shenaniganz14]

@theconfusedone

He desposed of the old-fashioned, currupted empire. His new empire would be the future and would be succesful now free from Sultanic constriction.

[Hardradi]

Nice, I look forward to seeing where this will go.

Can you show the composition of your army before the attack?

[tommylotto]

Turkey should be interesting. They seem under powered in game to me. I imagine that they should have tons of low tech infantry and cavalry, but every time I run up against an AI Turkey, they are a push over. Hopefully, you can do better.

[Aguerra]

Turkey had important strategic position but they had been in decline for so long. Does Bosporus give strategic effects to you? Underdog nations need all the help they can muster, which makes them interesting.

[shenaniganz14]

@Hadradi
If by composition you mean a battle plan it will be included in the next update.

@tommylotto
You're right about the infantry and cavalry. I hope i can. They're in a really interesting position in the centre of the map and i can dictate their role in history to an extent due to their position.

@Aguerra
I agree about the position. The Bosphorus provides a brilliant view of the rest of the mediterranean and when Barbarossa comes it will proove a perfect position in cutting of any(of the few) Soviet convoys (I assume)

[shenaniganz14]

Thunder Cloud

Kemal was fuming. His head of Intelligence had made an error that would cost the lives of hundreds and possibly thousands. He had massively underestimated the Bulgarian army and allow still manageable it would mean a much tougher struggle than what was expected. Added to this the commanders on the fronts when given the order to attack they reported their soldiers had refused and would not go further until unit sizes were reinforced. This lengthened the wartime massively and would mean that the Turks would have to cut down on huge amounts of production and upgrades to sufficiently reinforce the troops. The only good bit of news that Kemal received was news of bombing raids in which we split the main bulk of the Bulgarian army. Although small, the Air force was continually bringing back reports of raids and all were good news. It was hoped that when the soldiers would finally march forth the Bulgarians would be scattered across the land.

The reports kept coming and with our ever-increasing forces on the border it seemed the attack would arrive within the month.

The scattered Bulgarians, ever in fear of the skies, were no real defence against our forces.

High command planned that they would keep the entire eastern army together as they marched on Varna with a few brigades breaking off and cutting back down to Sofiya once Varna was secured. The central army was the take out the main defences and push through the middle of Bulgaria cutting off east from west. The Western force was to march to Sofiya and secure the rich industrial sector at Plovdiv on the way.

High command's battle plan would be simple but effective incorporating the 3 main strategic points of Bulgaria.

[shenaniganz14]

The Storm

With soldiers ready we marched forth and engaged immediately. The western and eastern forces were engaged in tight struggles while the central army met no resistance until an attack on Plovdiv, the industrial sector to the east, was made.

Turkish soldiers awaited reports from High Command after the first advances were made.

Battles in the West and east were won and the entire army began to move. Western and Eastern forces were too disorganised after the tough fighting to make any attacks so they simply marched forth until the 31st of March came when they would launch attacks on Varna and Sofiya.

The Western armies marched on Plovdiv while on the coast the Eastern Army was coming to the end of a hard fought struggle

Turkish planes continually bombarding the enemy forces and splitting up large patches of resistance

We were making good ground and Kemal was contented. Bombing of Sofiya restarted and soon the Western and central armies were attacking Sofiya after victories at Plovdiv. The Eastern army was going hard up the coast and when Varna was reached there was little resistance thanks to our planes. Victories continued to be made and we would be in Sofiya in a few days.

Victories came from all armies as we delved ever further into Bulgaria; High command issued a modified plan now that Varna had been taken, with all troops converging on the capital bar a few who remained in Varna

(Yay! Colour is working!!!!!)

[AlbinoPolarBear]

I'll go ahead and guess that Greece is next?
Damn you, Turk, for planning against our sovereignity and independence after all those years!

Oh,well I'll put a curse on you though!
May you inherit the Greek debt along with greek territory, which I should inform you was as massive during the WW2 years as it is today...
Hah! That oughta show your Ottoman hordes once & for all that you just cant manage the Greeks! Leave us alone or see your bank account perish...mwahahaha!

Anyways, humour aside, nicely played...
Am I wrong or is it really your goal that Ottoman borders reach the southern banks of Danube once again? That would place your forces very advantageously on Barbarossa's flank.
I gather you're planning to side with the Axis but you could always just play this to your best interests wherever they may lie!

[shenaniganz14]

@AlbinoPolarBear
Actually Greece is not next... I have a further quarrel with the Persians. Despite Turkish hatred towards them they have huge amounts of oil and enrgy which would go nicely in Turkish hands. But greece will fall you can be sure of that!!!!! I agree about your idea of playing to my best interests which i shall do, although siding with axis would be very beneficial for Germany.

[Hardradi]

The campaign goes well, really well. Did I see a super-stack defending the Sofia

Interesting picture of the Turkish infantry, I dont know if I have ever seen helmets shaped like that before.

[theconfusedone]

Nice move there attacking Bulgaria before it joins Axis.
Get to Albania as fast as you can! Because things get ugly when Mussolini starts attacking.

[shenaniganz14]

@hadradi They did super stack but with divisions of little more than a few hundred soldiers, as the next update will show you there were barely 2000 of them. It was all rather anticlimatic really

@theconfusedone
I will try but i would only have 2 options... take Greece and/or Yugolsavi or a naval assault.

[shenaniganz14]

At the End of the Day

War had come and gone in the blink of an eye. It would be a few days before Sofiya was taken and a few more before Bulgaria handed in their notice of Surrender. The Turks had won their first of European campaigns and they were eager for the next.
When Sofiya was attack it came from the entire West and Central armies amassing to twenty thousand troops. We fought a weak force who had spent the last few weeks retreating under heavy fire.

It was won and the battle for Bulgaria ended!

They handed their notice of surrender in and Turkey took their lands as their own. Their people fed up with war accepted this and allowed complete Turkish occupation. The Turkish portion of Europe had begun its increase!

[CENTER]

[ODaly]

Maybe I missed it, but what year did you attack Bulgaria? Did you use noneutrality?

That said, Turkey is one of my favorites. Best of luck!