Chapter XVI - Crescent Crusaders
After the shocking revelation, that the Romanian Ironguard Government managed to raise the isolated, somewhat insignificant European nation upwards to the heavens to become the worlds third-largest economy, the Royal Palace of Oslo had to act quickly. A medium-sized nation with high industrial capacities, no foreign support at all and large oil fields was the perfect stepping stone for the Axis to get up on eye-level with Mitteleuropa!
Therefore a plan was forged to quickly bring down the country that seemed so harmless. A direct approach through the Greco-Romanian border was dismissed just like the idea of a Third Axis-Bulgarian War, since both battles would turn into horrendous meatgrinders for both sides - especially for the already strained Greeks. Therefore it was decided to go through Albania and Serbia first. While the Axis had a peace treaty with the Ottoman Empire, it did not have one with it's puppets as they were officially 'independent nations'. A quickly initialized artificial cruelty-drama of the Greek minority in Albania delivered the neccessary casus belli (Athens wanted to include Korce into their empire for a long time anyway). Only problem would be, that the Ottomans were most likely to fight for their puppets...
The Norwegian Colonies, who have suffered under the Ottomans for centuries before - greeted the new war with huge enthusiasm! The Ottoman minorities woke decided to awaken just at the same time and seize the opportunity to start a rebellion in the lands of Palestine. While successful in it's early stages, these rebel militias were eventually crushed by the Sultan's Army. Arabian and Persian forces engaged the enemy along the wide front and started to soak the sands of the east with blood.
Ottoman Albania was eager to show it's strength and launched a daring attack at the not yet mobilized Greek Army hoping to gain a preemptive strike on the Axis with that move. Further down in the south, Tripolitania took it's chances to declare it's independence from their former masters, who were now preoccupied with more pressing matters and did not share a border with them anymore anyway. It was a success and shortly later, the nation of Libya was added to the list of independent nations of the world.
With the Royal Colonial Troops bogged down against the Sultan's Forces, the arrival of Russian troops brought relief to the strained divisions. The odds were now evened out for both sides and Ankara quickly mobilized every able man and child to fight for their empire. They knew, that this time the sheer existence of the Ottoman Dynasty was at stake.
In late July, Fleischer arrived at the Greco-Albanian border with his Korps and managed to encircle the Albanian capital of Tirana quickly. The Ottoman puppet had to stop it's attack now and dig in - their tactics had failed, the elite of the Axis had arrived now and their end drew close.
In an attempt to divide the two Norwegian Crown Colonies, the Sultan's Army launched a pinpoint attack against Karbala and managed to slowly push back the Axis Forces in that section of the frontline. Petrograd and Oslo communicated concerns towards each other, that this war wouldn't be won easily.
Haakon decided, that the Albanian sub-campaign had to be finished quickly as it would free up a dozen of divisions better thrown against Ankara in order to capture the Ottomans in a full-fledged two-front war. Therefore the Royal Navy launched an amphibious assault on Tirana completing the encirclement started by Fleischer completely. Meanwhile, Greek Forces took Kosovo securing the most important route into Serbia and later Romania for the Axis.
By August, the Ottoman's were in favor of winning the war. Cutting apart the Western Anatolian Greek Forces and the Crown Colonies at the same time brought them a huge advantage that couldn't be made up by small gains in the Balkans against a mere puppet and a joint Greco-Russian-La Platan air superiority.
Petrograd meanwhile took the chance to take over a former part of their Empire in a 6-day-campaign against Armenia. The Armenians, suffering under a bloody Ottoman rule since the Great War, greeted their former Russian masters as liberators.
Trying desparatly to save their last remaining puppet, the Ottoman Navy made use of it's total superiority in the Aegean Sea and attacked Norway transport fleet at the coast of Albania. While they managed to sink the entire transport fleet, the troops had already landed, met up with Fleischer and seized the city of Tirana capturing the whole Albanian cabinet.
With their leaders captured, the Albanian soldiers laid down their arms. In August 1946, the small country was integrated into the Hellenic Empire. A small Ottoman Garrison decided to take it's last stand though and continued the fight only to be crushed after a few days by the joint strength of Greek and Norwegian arms. This heroic martyrdom slowed the Axis troops in that region down, though and served the Sultan well. Time was everything now - those 15 divisions had to reach Anatolia quickly!
The importance of their arrival was fortified by the Greek Army failing to encircle the Ottoman Army in that section of the front, endangering it of completely collapsing now. To the Greeks, this was a holy war against their natural enemy, so they fought them with everything they had, but sometimes that would not be enough...
By the end of the month, the last Ottoman soldier in Albania fell to the ground - either dead or capitulating. With the additional arrival of 80.000 soldiers from La Plata, everything was set for a large-scale counter-attack against Ankara now!
Just as the Ottomans were about to reach Kuwait and cutting apart the Crown Colonies with that move and days before the freed up divisions from Albania arrived in Anatolia, the Greek Garrisons of Anatolia managed to surprise both their own leaders and their enemies by not only capturing Ankara (even if just for a few days), but also by almost linking up with the Persians at Gaziantep effectivly cutting off all Ottoman troops south of the Hatay region.
The tides of war turned even further in favor of the Axis Mundi as a Russo-Arabian offensive took the city of Ma'an, while the Ottoman advance towards Kuwait was halted by the joined forces of the Russian Imperial Army as well as the Colonial Crown Armies of Arabia and Persia. The fact, that Western Anatolia was about to fall seemed more like a desparate action of the Sultan, who tried to calm the heavy moral blow delivered to his people by losing his new capital days ago to a few bled-out Greek soldiers.
Things looked good for Oslo in September, but in October, victory became not a possibility or a goal, but definite future. The Ottoman advance in the east was not only being pushed back, but also totally annihilated now. With the arrival of the divisions from the Albanian campaign and yet another short-lived encirclement of the almost guerilla-style fighting Anatolian Greek troops, the fate of Sultan Osman seemed to be sealed...
As the Norwegian troops started their relentless attacks on the exhausted Ottomans in Anatolia, the Russian-led Axis Forces of the East managed to encircle the enemy in several places and even link up with the Greek Army in Southern Anatolia. Noone could stop them now.
Ankara was about to fall once and for all. Fleischer decided to secure the flanks of the Greeks and the Russians pincering the city and give supportive fire. Back home he was already considered a war hero, but his fame grew with every victory he brought into the history books of the world.
A few last breakthroughs of the Sultan's Army turned out to be short-lived and the capital of the Empire fell once again. This time, the Sultan could not escape in time and was captured by Fleischer's forces (which spared him immediate execution by any Greek, who would've seen him). Peace negotiations were initiated in a small tent with a direct line to Oslo 11km northeast of Ankara...
Haakon's final decision was humiliate Osman by having him abdictate as Sultan. He became a mere regent of the newly established Norwegian Crown Colony of Middle East. Norwegian High Command would take indirect control over the Army by taking the position as Chief of Staff and Chief of the Army under their own direction. A quick rebuild of the lost vessels of the war was issued and with the 25th November of 1946, the Ottman Empire was no more.
After the shocking revelation, that the Romanian Ironguard Government managed to raise the isolated, somewhat insignificant European nation upwards to the heavens to become the worlds third-largest economy, the Royal Palace of Oslo had to act quickly. A medium-sized nation with high industrial capacities, no foreign support at all and large oil fields was the perfect stepping stone for the Axis to get up on eye-level with Mitteleuropa!
Therefore a plan was forged to quickly bring down the country that seemed so harmless. A direct approach through the Greco-Romanian border was dismissed just like the idea of a Third Axis-Bulgarian War, since both battles would turn into horrendous meatgrinders for both sides - especially for the already strained Greeks. Therefore it was decided to go through Albania and Serbia first. While the Axis had a peace treaty with the Ottoman Empire, it did not have one with it's puppets as they were officially 'independent nations'. A quickly initialized artificial cruelty-drama of the Greek minority in Albania delivered the neccessary casus belli (Athens wanted to include Korce into their empire for a long time anyway). Only problem would be, that the Ottomans were most likely to fight for their puppets...
The Norwegian Colonies, who have suffered under the Ottomans for centuries before - greeted the new war with huge enthusiasm! The Ottoman minorities woke decided to awaken just at the same time and seize the opportunity to start a rebellion in the lands of Palestine. While successful in it's early stages, these rebel militias were eventually crushed by the Sultan's Army. Arabian and Persian forces engaged the enemy along the wide front and started to soak the sands of the east with blood.
Ottoman Albania was eager to show it's strength and launched a daring attack at the not yet mobilized Greek Army hoping to gain a preemptive strike on the Axis with that move. Further down in the south, Tripolitania took it's chances to declare it's independence from their former masters, who were now preoccupied with more pressing matters and did not share a border with them anymore anyway. It was a success and shortly later, the nation of Libya was added to the list of independent nations of the world.
With the Royal Colonial Troops bogged down against the Sultan's Forces, the arrival of Russian troops brought relief to the strained divisions. The odds were now evened out for both sides and Ankara quickly mobilized every able man and child to fight for their empire. They knew, that this time the sheer existence of the Ottoman Dynasty was at stake.
In late July, Fleischer arrived at the Greco-Albanian border with his Korps and managed to encircle the Albanian capital of Tirana quickly. The Ottoman puppet had to stop it's attack now and dig in - their tactics had failed, the elite of the Axis had arrived now and their end drew close.
In an attempt to divide the two Norwegian Crown Colonies, the Sultan's Army launched a pinpoint attack against Karbala and managed to slowly push back the Axis Forces in that section of the frontline. Petrograd and Oslo communicated concerns towards each other, that this war wouldn't be won easily.
Haakon decided, that the Albanian sub-campaign had to be finished quickly as it would free up a dozen of divisions better thrown against Ankara in order to capture the Ottomans in a full-fledged two-front war. Therefore the Royal Navy launched an amphibious assault on Tirana completing the encirclement started by Fleischer completely. Meanwhile, Greek Forces took Kosovo securing the most important route into Serbia and later Romania for the Axis.
By August, the Ottoman's were in favor of winning the war. Cutting apart the Western Anatolian Greek Forces and the Crown Colonies at the same time brought them a huge advantage that couldn't be made up by small gains in the Balkans against a mere puppet and a joint Greco-Russian-La Platan air superiority.
Petrograd meanwhile took the chance to take over a former part of their Empire in a 6-day-campaign against Armenia. The Armenians, suffering under a bloody Ottoman rule since the Great War, greeted their former Russian masters as liberators.
Trying desparatly to save their last remaining puppet, the Ottoman Navy made use of it's total superiority in the Aegean Sea and attacked Norway transport fleet at the coast of Albania. While they managed to sink the entire transport fleet, the troops had already landed, met up with Fleischer and seized the city of Tirana capturing the whole Albanian cabinet.
With their leaders captured, the Albanian soldiers laid down their arms. In August 1946, the small country was integrated into the Hellenic Empire. A small Ottoman Garrison decided to take it's last stand though and continued the fight only to be crushed after a few days by the joint strength of Greek and Norwegian arms. This heroic martyrdom slowed the Axis troops in that region down, though and served the Sultan well. Time was everything now - those 15 divisions had to reach Anatolia quickly!
The importance of their arrival was fortified by the Greek Army failing to encircle the Ottoman Army in that section of the front, endangering it of completely collapsing now. To the Greeks, this was a holy war against their natural enemy, so they fought them with everything they had, but sometimes that would not be enough...
By the end of the month, the last Ottoman soldier in Albania fell to the ground - either dead or capitulating. With the additional arrival of 80.000 soldiers from La Plata, everything was set for a large-scale counter-attack against Ankara now!
Just as the Ottomans were about to reach Kuwait and cutting apart the Crown Colonies with that move and days before the freed up divisions from Albania arrived in Anatolia, the Greek Garrisons of Anatolia managed to surprise both their own leaders and their enemies by not only capturing Ankara (even if just for a few days), but also by almost linking up with the Persians at Gaziantep effectivly cutting off all Ottoman troops south of the Hatay region.
The tides of war turned even further in favor of the Axis Mundi as a Russo-Arabian offensive took the city of Ma'an, while the Ottoman advance towards Kuwait was halted by the joined forces of the Russian Imperial Army as well as the Colonial Crown Armies of Arabia and Persia. The fact, that Western Anatolia was about to fall seemed more like a desparate action of the Sultan, who tried to calm the heavy moral blow delivered to his people by losing his new capital days ago to a few bled-out Greek soldiers.
Things looked good for Oslo in September, but in October, victory became not a possibility or a goal, but definite future. The Ottoman advance in the east was not only being pushed back, but also totally annihilated now. With the arrival of the divisions from the Albanian campaign and yet another short-lived encirclement of the almost guerilla-style fighting Anatolian Greek troops, the fate of Sultan Osman seemed to be sealed...
As the Norwegian troops started their relentless attacks on the exhausted Ottomans in Anatolia, the Russian-led Axis Forces of the East managed to encircle the enemy in several places and even link up with the Greek Army in Southern Anatolia. Noone could stop them now.
Ankara was about to fall once and for all. Fleischer decided to secure the flanks of the Greeks and the Russians pincering the city and give supportive fire. Back home he was already considered a war hero, but his fame grew with every victory he brought into the history books of the world.
A few last breakthroughs of the Sultan's Army turned out to be short-lived and the capital of the Empire fell once again. This time, the Sultan could not escape in time and was captured by Fleischer's forces (which spared him immediate execution by any Greek, who would've seen him). Peace negotiations were initiated in a small tent with a direct line to Oslo 11km northeast of Ankara...
Haakon's final decision was humiliate Osman by having him abdictate as Sultan. He became a mere regent of the newly established Norwegian Crown Colony of Middle East. Norwegian High Command would take indirect control over the Army by taking the position as Chief of Staff and Chief of the Army under their own direction. A quick rebuild of the lost vessels of the war was issued and with the 25th November of 1946, the Ottman Empire was no more.
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