The Sound of Four Million Hooves - a Turkish Horde AAR (3.05)

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The Sound of Four Million Hooves
A Turkish Horde AAR (FTM 3.05)



Giving up the mount only brought pain and destruction to our people.
For the last three centuries, we endured the hardships of a fighting retreat.
Turkey became a mere shadow of its former self.

The ultra-nationalist Bozkurt (Greywolves) Party, believing that they alone could reclaim the former glory of the Turkic people,
staged a successful coup in December 1935.

Peoples of Europe, weakened by their settled ways, were completely unaware of their impending doom.

When the sound of four million hooves are heard, there will be no escape.
​

 

Last edited: Feb 23, 2013

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unmerged(471099)

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I've decided to write my first AAR while waiting for the TFH 4.02 patch. The inspiration for this AAR came from a new HoI3 player, who came to me and my buddies for advice for his first game, playing as Poland. Needless to say, we had him building cavalry and researching battleships non-stop. Then he somehow managed to hold on for 5 months against Germany.

This AAR is dedicated to him, and to all the Polacks driven to tears playing this game.

I'm playing a slightly modified FTM 3.05; I've changed Turkey's Head of State and Government to Fascist ones, and lowered the neutrality from 90 to 70, simulating an ultra-nationalist coup. (Otherwise, I could not declare war without joining the Axis.)

I'm also using a historical leaders patch for Turkey. Here's the file for anyone who wants to try Turkey with more than 10 starting leaders:
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/51923258/Leader pack for Turkey v3.rar

My goals are simple.

To build an army of one million horsemen, and to conquer everything within my reach.

 

Last edited: Oct 25, 2012

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PART ONE: Humble beginnings​

Here is what remains of Turkey, pushed back by the Austrians, Russians and Brits to Asia minor and a small foothold in Europe.
With 25 base IC and a population of 13 million, our situation does not look promising. Significant progress needs to be made before taking on the so-called 'Majors'.

After the military coup of 1935, Nihal Atsiz; a gifted novelist, ideologue and fervent supporter of Turkish Nationalism, was proclaimed the 'National Chief' of Turkey. Ali Orlungat was made Chief of Staff, and tasked with the creation of the grand 'ordu'. (The western word 'horde' originates from the Turkic 'ordu', meaning army.)

Always a pro-military nation, Turkey possesses a decent sized army in 1936. It consists of 3 cavalry divisions of 2 brigades each, and a bunch of infantry. Infantry divisions, considered mostly useless, are disbanded.

The Bozkurts also launched their propaganda campaign on the first day of 1936, declaring that Turkey would finish the plunder that Attila had started 1500 years ago.

 

Last edited: Oct 24, 2012

Huffy19

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• #4

I shall be keeping my eye on this!!
Have you modded any other aspects of turkey?? like manpower?

 

Belgiumruler

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• Oct 22, 2012

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• #5

Looks good, i Will following this one

 

TonyJoe

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• Oct 22, 2012

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• #6

This looks fun.

 

unmerged(471099)

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Huffy19 said:

Have you modded any other aspects of turkey?? like manpower?

Click to expand...

No, that would make everything horribly easy, the biggest obstacle I have to overcome in this AAR is manpower. So, I start off with the usual 13 base manpower.

 

Last edited: Oct 24, 2012

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PART TWO: TREATISES ON THE USE OF HORSES

Why did humanity give up on horses after WWI? Did we not use them to inflict shocking defeats on our enemies for the last three millennia? What happened to the companionship between rider and horse? Claiming that horses fell out of favor only because of the horse-on-machinegun charges of WWI, Bozkurt leadership set out to prove that cavalry was still the most powerful element on the battlefield.

"Glorified mass cavalry charges or European style 'heavy knights' are not correct uses of cavalry." argued a Turkish staff study published in early 1936. "As Hannibal skillfully demonstrated at the Battle of Cannae, the main aim of cavalry troops should be to outmaneuver, outflank and encircle. Cavalry should not try to overpower the enemy with wasteful frontal attacks, nor should it ever engage in a battle of attrition. Steppe hordes of ancient times, and later the Ottoman mounted forces were based on these principles; their successful strategies were later presented by the British military historian Liddell Hart as the "Indirect Approach", proposing maneuver warfare as the new idea that would be the solution to the stalemate of WWI. His shaky understanding of the strategy calls for armies to advance along the line of least resistance. His theories, while not entirely disagreeable, are incomplete."

The document then went on to explore the historical usage of cavalry forces, and also the reasons and ways to implement cavalry as the basic unit of a fully mounted army.


Here's an excerpt from the 100+ page 'Advantages of cavalry divisions' section of the staff study:

 

Last edited: Oct 24, 2012

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Hughrocks123

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• Oct 25, 2012

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• #9

Love the chart

 

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unmerged(471099)

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PART THREE: DE-BALKANISATION I​

Ever since the useless bulk of the army was disbanded, training of newer and better divisions has been underway. All of Turkey's 100 starting manpower was spent on 6 cavalry divisions.

Bozkurts had strictly prohibited the establishment of any unmounted units, HQ cars were scrapped and staff officers were forced to ride horses instead. Cavalrymen were issued traditional sabres, most of which still bore the inscription 'Ford Motor Company'.

In late July mobilization began; the 8 cavalry divisions, consisting of 3 brigades each, were organized into two corps. (I know 5 divisions per corps is more advantageous, but 4 is much easier to handle.)

After much threat raising and jingoist propaganda, the first of many declarations of war was delivered to the confused Bulgarian ambassador. Here is the manpower situation: current gain is 2.8 per year, at 'service by requirement' law. To recruit one million horsemen, I will need approximately 1000 manpower. I had ~100 manpower at game start, so I will need about 900 more. Reaching 900 manpower at 2.8 per month would take me about 321 months, or 27 years which is not as fast as I'd like.
(Disregard the 'we need 58 manpower' part, I forgot to take the screenshot earlier, had to load a save and do it again real quick)

The Great Raid began sometime in November 1936. Within hours, Turkish cavalry (moving at 5.70 kph) was attacking the unprepared garrison of Varna. Unbeknownst to them was the fact that Boris III, Bulgarian head of state, was inspecting that very regiment on that fateful day. Turkish General Staff was much surprised to find him among the prisoners after the capitulation of Varna.

The outdated WWI battlecruiser, TCG Yavuz was also present, providing shore bombardment. Turkish Navy consisted of Yavuz, three equally outdated escorts and a single transport flotilla. Its expansion however, was not a priority.

Days later, the Horde reached the outskirts of Sofiya without encountering any real resistance. They were supported by the few old bombers of Turkey; it had taken months to persuade the party leadership to keep the airforce. Sofiya fell within days. An hour before the Bulgarian surrender came into effect, Bozkurts declared war on Albania.

With the annexation of Bulgaria, manpower slightly rose to 4.6. The Horde was quickly repositioned to the Romanian border.

As most of you already know, it's very easy to force a Romanian surrender in HoI3, if you are attacking from the south. It can be done within days, and 8 divisions are more than enough. The only remarkable development of the brief Romanian war was the air raid on the Turkish submarine fleet, which only caused minor damage, but somehow gave the commander enough experience to progress from level 0 to level 1 + 85% exp within days.

Romania was annexed, and there was much rejoicing. Yet, the public began to wonder why Albania was not defeated yet. To reassure the public, TCG Yavuz was sent to the Albanian coast, where (according to state media) it sank Albanian battleships in ferocious naval battles every other week.

The Horde was ordered to redeploy to the Hungarian border, but it was not in any particular hurry. It was already January '37, and snow had covered the Balkans. Offensive warfare could not be conducted in this weather, and Hungarians had the strongest army in southeastern Europe. In the meantime, 8 more divisions were recruited, however 4 of them would remain under-strength until more men could be conscripted. As the cavalry divisions were finished, work started on a squadron of clunky interceptors and two transport flotillas.

On March 6th, Turkish General Staff reported that weather conditions were more favorable, and war was declared on Hungary the next morning.

 

Last edited: Oct 28, 2012

Belgiumruler

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• Oct 26, 2012

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• #11

This is looking good, Now just destroy Greece, Yougoslavia, Italy, ... Just conquer the world

 

TonyJoe

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• Oct 26, 2012

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• #12

This is excellent but how will the Horde fair against tanks?

 

LoftenHenderson

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• Oct 27, 2012

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• #13

this looks really good so far! ill be watching

 

unmerged(471099)

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Belgiumruler said:

This is looking good, Now just destroy Greece, Yougoslavia, Italy, ... Just conquer the world

Click to expand...

I will, but not necessarily in that particular order. :ninja:

TonyJoe said:

This is excellent but how will the Horde fair against tanks?

Click to expand...

I have no idea. We'll find out when I invade someone who has tanks.

LoftenHenderson said:

this looks really good so far! ill be watching

Click to expand...

Oh, it gets better, this is just the regular Balkan Blitz :laugh:



By the way; English is not my native language and I might make mistakes. If you spot any, please let me know so I don't repeat them.

 

Last edited: Oct 27, 2012

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PART FOUR: DE-BALKANISATION II​

Precisely an hour after the declaration of war, the Turkish Horde crossed the Hungarian border. Hungary was not caught unprepared like Bulgaria and Romania; their divisions were at 75% strength. The Magyar divisions on the southern flank were quickly overwhelmed, an operational level breakthrough had been achieved by the Turkish 1st Corps. Three full-strength corps (12 divisions) were ready to exploit the gap. The northern flank of the offensive was protected by the undermanned Turkish 4th Corps, and the Hungarian army launched strong counter-attacks in that sector. These attacks did not trouble the Turkish General Staff greatly, and permission was granted for controlled retreats.

With three Turkish corps pushing their way to Budapest, and several Hungarian divisions counter-attacking hopelessly in the north, the front assumed the shape of a double-salient.

It took the Turkish cavalry 3 weeks to reach the outskirts of Budapest, due to stubborn defenders and horrible attack delay. Operational Level Organization research had been neglected in favor of Education, Agriculture and Supply techs; and would not be finished until November 1937. As a result of this, the assault on Budapest had to wait until 29 March. The other important VP, Pecs, had fallen much earlier.

4th Corps had inevitably buckled under the determined attacks, and re-aligned itself to defend a northwest-southeast line. Magyar armies, pushing forward in a large wheeling movement, started to worry the General Staff. The entire Turkish 1st Army (currently the only Turkish army) was in danger of being cut off from its supply line. The strength mapmode shows the grave situation in which the 1st Army found itself. Budapest would have to be taken as fast as possible.

On March 29th, 4th Corps reported several Hungarian offensives, and asked for reinforcements. There were no divisions left in reserve, however. Turkish General Staff then decided to start the attack on Budapest immediately, and not wait until the dawn of March 30th. The reconquest of Budapest started at 18:00.

Major General Erden, leading the cavalry columns, reported that only 4 battered brigades were defending Budapest, and expressed his confidence in swift victory. The Magyars tried to reinforce their capital, but the divisions they could afford to send were also exhausted. Within hours, Budapest fell. Hungary was conquered by the Turks once again.

The Horde then turned on Austria, their centuries old arch-nemesis. Graz was taken after brushing a single division aside, and 4 cavalry divisions from the 1st and 2nd Corps soon reached the Gates of Vienna.

The Bozkurt leadership had expected a fierce resistance from the Habsburgs, and were very surprised to hear that Vienna surrendered to the forces led by Major General Erden within the same day. Despite his aides' best efforts, Nihal Atsiz refused to believe that Habsburgs no longer ruled "the Austrian Empire". Screenshots were forgotten from shock of sudden victory.

Major General Ali Fuat Erden, who had also led the Turkish offensive across the Sinai desert in WWI, was handsomely decorated for his conquest of Vienna. He also received an invitation from Adolf Hitler, who "wished to congratulate him personally". In reality, he was desperately trying to setup a non-aggression pact between Germany and Turkey.

After the centuries late conquest of Vienna, the Horde was repositioned on the Yugoslav border. The Yugoslavian divisions were numerous, even if they were of dubious quality. The battles were apparently so boring that no screenshots were taken of the brief war (I was sleepy :closedeyes.


As two divisions started marching toward Tirane to finally defeat the Albanians, Bozkurts decided that Turkey, being a Great Power, needed its own colonies in Africa. By 1937, the only free land left in Africa was Liberia*; and Bozkurts, completely unaware of the political status of that small nation, decided that it was to become a Turkish colony.

Albania was annexed shortly afterwards.

 

Last edited: Oct 28, 2012

Huffy19

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• #16

What's your IC, manpower, and Leadership looking like after the conquests??
Also care to fill us in on the long term goals or is it going to be a surprise??

 

Hughrocks123

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• #17

In My Turkey game conquering the Balkans gives you about 10 MP per Mouth.

 

TonyJoe

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• #18

That's one scary Turkey. Also, your English skills are excellent.

 

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• #19

Huffy19 said:

What's your IC, manpower, and Leadership looking like after the conquests??
Also care to fill us in on the long term goals or is it going to be a surprise??

Click to expand...

Hughrocks123 said:

In My Turkey game conquering the Balkans gives you about 10 MP per Mouth.

Click to expand...

I wanted to finish the reconquests before taking those screenshots, they are in the next update.

My long term goals? I'm not even sure. I didn't play any test games, and I don't know the limits of my army. That said, the Turkish Horde could always use more clay..

TonyJoe said:

That's one scary Turkey. Also, your English skills are excellent.

Click to expand...

Thank you; also we haven't even reached the scary parts yet..

 

Last edited: Oct 31, 2012

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PART FIVE: DE-BALKANISATION III​

Czechoslovakia and Greece, the only minors left in the Balkans, are next. Three corps were redeployed to the virtually undefended Czechoslovakian border.

The remaining 4 divisions boarded the newly built transports in Tirane. Cavalry divisions are slightly heavier than infantry at 45 weight, so only two could be transported at a time. The invasions of empty beaches near Athens and Thessaloniki were uneventful. The first naval encounter of the year occurs when a desperate Greek navy tries to oppose the landings with their light cruiser. Both fleets retreat after firing some ineffective salvos. The annexation of Greece was, unfortunately, not documented at the time.

Invasion of Czechoslovakia was equally monotonous, the battles of Bratislava, Prague and Jihlava were all over within hours.

A monument is being built for the brave cavalry officer who, at the Battle of Jihlava, charged down 18 enemies before smashing his horse into a tree.

With Neville Chamberlain's vigorous approval, Czechoslovakia was annexed. De-Balkanisation complete.

Here is the overview. And yes, I am wasting IC. This is because I have nothing to build, except cavalry. Even secondary projects like interceptors and ships eat up precious manpower, so IC is not a limiting factor for the Horde. You'll be seeing a lot of wasted IC in this AAR.

The Horde is still restless. They have yet to fight a worthy foe. Fierce horsemen of the steppes turn their gaze north, towards the vast Polish lands..

 

Last edited: Oct 31, 2012