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I hear about your 300 to 400 screenshots a month and wish mine were so easy, because I just had to troll through 408. For Germany. For the period from 01 to 16 February 1944... Granted, I didn't have more than 80 from the other five nations combined, but still.
That said, now that I'm caught up with the images, I get to advance the timeline.
I've said it before and I'll say it again, HOI era Turkey is ideal AAR fodder. Just big enough to have a domestic civilian and military industry. Just big enough to have a potentially potent armed forces. Naturally central location to every pressure point in europe, africa and the middle east. Neutral, so can go wherever the author wants. Simple enough to defend but hard to expand.
In other words, a tailor made ensemble darkhorse that given good treatment by a good author, will attract a lot of attention from commenters because of the sheer scale of possibilities.
Especially countries that actually can very much choose which way to "jump" as it were. Which pretty much includes most of SE Europe - Greece, Romania, Yugoslavia, and to a lesser degree (because of size) Bulgaria and (because of proximity to Germany) Hungary. Really looking forward to Greece and Turkey getting their own focus trees in HoI4
Especially countries that actually can very much choose which way to "jump" as it were. Which pretty much includes most of SE Europe - Greece, Romania, Yugoslavia, and to a lesser degree (because of size) Bulgaria and (because of proximity to Germany) Hungary. Really looking forward to Greece and Turkey getting their own focus trees in HoI4
Realistically Turkey is the only one who could genuinely pick whomever they wanted, given that the southern europe nations all have decision trees that make them incredibly vulnerable to all their neighbours (everyone can take a piece out of everyone else). Currently you can avoid that by declaring the 'greater' version of your country and annexing the Balkans but again that kind of railroads you into fighting either the axis or the com intern when they come looking for pickings.
As I found out in my play through though, italy is pretty varied. You can take on the whole axis yourself and win if you want to.
Realistically Turkey is the only one who could genuinely pick whomever they wanted, given that the southern europe nations all have decision trees that make them incredibly vulnerable to all their neighbours (everyone can take a piece out of everyone else). Currently you can avoid that by declaring the 'greater' version of your country and annexing the Balkans but again that kind of railroads you into fighting either the axis or the com intern when they come looking for pickings.
Especially countries that actually can very much choose which way to "jump" as it were. Which pretty much includes most of SE Europe - Greece, Romania, Yugoslavia, and to a lesser degree (because of size) Bulgaria and (because of proximity to Germany) Hungary. Really looking forward to Greece and Turkey getting their own focus trees in HoI4
I can semi-realistically see 4 different paths for Turkey for HoI4 focus trees.
1- The real-life "neutral to a T" path after Atatürk's death
1a/b- Neutrality until the back of Axis is broken and join Allies/Comintern (whichever is seemingly going to become the new world order) for some war effort in exchange for some war spoils. In real life this would be Turkey stalling the Allies less and gearing up for war in second half of 1943; Allies offering more support than they did in Yenice meeting and not less in the Second Cairo Conference; and Turkey joining the war on Allied side in 1944 spring. Potential added cores would be Dodecanese, some Aegean islands, eastern Thrace from Greece, a few Turkish majority provinces like Pazarcık in the south and the Black Sea coast from Bulgaria and Romania, and Vichy Syria. For obvious reasons cannot be with Axis.
2- Ultranationalist takeover: An Enver Pasha type takes over, joins Axis and tries to make Pan Turkist ideals come to life. Cores mostly added from USSR: Azerbaijan, the -stans except Tajikistan, Tatar parts of Russia/Ukraine including Crimea, Kazan etc and majority of Siberia. Also, northern half of Iran (Iranian Azerbaijan), entirety of Sinkiang, parts of Xibei San Ma.
Maybe even be possible with Allies in an Operation Unthinkable scenario. For obvious reasons cannot be with Comintern.
3- Some kind of Ottoman revival: Ex Ottoman provinces could be added as cores, but I can't create a scenario in my head with which faction this would happen. Maybe as a B scenario to the above 2, instead of an ultranationalist takeover a neoreactionary takeover. Maybe as a 4th faction?
Greece can obviously go for the neo Eastern Roman Empire / megali idea path; or think less historic and more religious and try to be the big brother of all orthodox people.
I can semi-realistically see 4 different paths for Turkey for HoI4 focus trees.
1- The real-life "neutral to a T" path after Atatürk's death
1a/b- Neutrality until the back of Axis is broken and join Allies/Comintern (whichever is seemingly going to become the new world order) for some war effort in exchange for some war spoils. In real life this would be Turkey stalling the Allies less and gearing up for war in second half of 1943; Allies offering more support than they did in Yenice meeting and not less in the Second Cairo Conference; and Turkey joining the war on Allied side in 1944 spring. Potential added cores would be Dodecanese, some Aegean islands, eastern Thrace from Greece, a few Turkish majority provinces like Pazarcık in the south and the Black Sea coast from Bulgaria and Romania, and Vichy Syria. For obvious reasons cannot be with Axis.
2- Ultranationalist takeover: An Enver Pasha type takes over, joins Axis and tries to make Pan Turkist ideals come to life. Cores mostly added from USSR: Azerbaijan, the -stans except Tajikistan, Tatar parts of Russia/Ukraine including Crimea, Kazan etc and majority of Siberia. Also, northern half of Iran (Iranian Azerbaijan), entirety of Sinkiang, parts of Xibei San Ma.
Maybe even be possible with Allies in an Operation Unthinkable scenario. For obvious reasons cannot be with Comintern.
3- Some kind of Ottoman revival: Ex Ottoman provinces could be added as cores, but I can't create a scenario in my head with which faction this would happen. Maybe as a B scenario to the above 2, instead of an ultranationalist takeover a neoreactionary takeover. Maybe as a 4th faction?
Greece can obviously go for the neo Eastern Roman Empire / megali idea path; or think less historic and more religious and try to be the big brother of all orthodox people.
Simply on the basis of what I think is the current HoI4 design philosophy, I think you are broadly correct, especialy regarding likely detail. My own thoughts on what is likely are as follows:
1 - Democratic path (or largely so), that either sticks neutral as per history (a), or aligns with allies (b) or soviets (c)
2 - Fascist path (nationalist) that either goes Axis (a) or independent (b)
3 - "Ottoman" path - which may share part of the independent fascist branch in terms of regional ambition. I would see this one creating its own faction, possibly "The Caliphate" or similar.
4 - Communist path.
That covers the four principle political groupsings in the game (democratic/fascist/non-Aligned/Communist), and the three main Factions, plus the chance to create one's own. To what degree any of these are truly "plausible" ... is another matter.
As a side discussion; I was thinking about the tech logic of HoI3 lately from this perspective. Up until 1500 horse powers, a new engine class every 2 years with fixed size benefits and fixed amount of research makes sense. However, as Germans learnt the difficult way, it's not same to increase the power 500 more horse powers regardless you're starting from 1000 or 1500. You can't lengthen the crankshaft because it cannot bear the power, you can't just put 2 engines together because cooling won't work. There were some good designs and working prototypes, but then mass producing that more complicated design or making sure it's serviceable and reliable is another problem so long story short in HoI3 terms with all the aircraft theoretical/practical knowledge in the world and a lot of leadership points, Germany was never able to really develop the 1943 version of the aero engine. Double Wasp was producing over 2000 hp already in 1941.
And none of the countries never really went for a 1947 engine, like ever. There was nothing piston engines could've given more, when research in jet (and similar) engines was giving much more. I think in game terms, aero engine should only have 4 levels (39, 41, 43, 45). I'm even thinking to make 43 and 45 apart from the 39 and 41, making them even more difficult to research, or maybe keep the difficulty the same but putting a 42 and 44 level in between. After that a much more difficult and less bonus giving advanced aero engines should be unlocked for years 1947 and beyond. (and naturally nobody would research those since one can be researching jet engines instead).
And in our game universe, why the hell our comrades aren't researching the 1943 airplane techs?
The Turks getting a caliphate option would be insane. Fun potentially and definitely would upset the map but...might be a step too far. It would require them reconquering everything in the ottoman empire plus the whole of north africa, Iberia and east of the Arabian peninsula.
Much more likely they'll get a return to empire option and have options to restore their Balkans lands and options to get back into Arabia. Not sure which faction they would align with though because that path treads on literally everyones toes. It would have to be their own faction I think.
With the next chapter ready for publishing, I'll catch up on some response feedback I hadn't got to yet. A few of the conversations I've just left as that - no need for me to weih in again now on some of those.
She was already serving as an unintentional honeypot. That was the whole point! It was more effective when she was genuinely just being polite to foreign diplomats and they formed good opinions of turkey as a result.
The Turkish intelligence service doesn't do subtlety it seems.
I have to agree with Kelebek (who doesn't), Perse doesn't seem like the kind of lady who will lower herself to becoming a crude honey pot. Also, if she wants to, she's smart and attractive enough to get a lot of information without going anywhere near horizontality.
Yes, as I said before, when you let the flies in the honey pot, it's no use any more. One has to just plant the honeypot where she attracts the flies, and should catch the flies when they come near. Any horizontality is diametrically opposed to this method of operation.
In this time line, Kaya certainly lives up to his reputation/name: obstinate and often with rocks between his ears. And his Secret Police are largely brutal proto-Stalinist thugs and heavies. Ogel and his foreign intel service have a bit more subtlety and creativity about them - which make SITH (a non-game subset of his 'conventional' espionage organisation) the better fit for his supervision. Kaya doesn't do subtlety. Ever.
Major Kenny Loggins and the Marines taking the danger zone by storm is just what Turkey needs to boost morale even further and launch an offensive across the Sava.
The Germans really do have a big edge in Fighter development over both the Soviet Union and the USA. With this information in mind, the Turkish policy of not buying any more fighter licences until one of them matches the Bf-109E makes a lot of sense. Turkey is really suffering under the Axis Air Strikes, Lussino especially. I do think it's a direct consequence of your success, as Turkish lines are now closer to larger, pre-war, Air Bases of both Italy and Germany.
B-26 bombers are quite a step up from the Yak-4s and Bristol Blenheims. Definitely worth buying a license for those, especially as there are no competitive fighters on the market right now. (If only the US would sell licences for B-26 to 'Odin's Soviet Union...)
Spy losses in Italy were annoying, but it seems SITH was on top of things quite quickly. With Cennet returning to Sicily, and Danny Devito getting to work, Italian spy-hunters find themselves being hunted, and that's definitely a good thing.
It looks that, instead of launching an offensive of it's own, the Turkish Army has managed to blunt a Axis offensive instead. The small gains made in Delnice were soon rolled back as Axis forces were concentrated in the area, but the enemy exhausted it's forces to take back this territory, and the Turkish Army is now back to it's previous lines, where reserves were already digging in. In short, a stalemate, and if it weren't for Axis aerial bombardment, one which favours Turkish ground forces.
Pretty happy with hanging on and not losing in either Lussino or Otocac in that first period. Still another ten days to go till the end of the month though ...
Meanwhile, in Romania, the Axis is being pushed back. It may be somewhat frustrating that the Turkish Army has been forced to hold in place despite the success of previous operations, but every German Division you pin down can't fight the Romanians or our own Red Army. It seems the Axis is taking the Turkish threat very seriously, moving troops and state of the art Aircraft to the Adriatic front, and that's great news, because the line is thinning elsewhere.
This is all according to plan, even if the casualties (especially from the air) were more than I bargained for. We shall see how things ended up elsewhere in the coming monthly reports.
In the East, things are moving quite quickly, with the Manchukuans on the run. Maybe Turkey could pull a Division off the line there, as the Red Army seems to have things in hand, for now.
Yes but we are 'barred from the interior'. No wetwork in Turkey proper. This is presumably to stop politicians worrying about the assassination part of our remit but also because we have egotistical blowhards heading up Turkish home intelligence. I fully expect that SITH will eventually breach this in peacetime and become the secret police for the whole of the republics. No one is breaking away from the motherland with the black wings of SMERSH and SITH hovering overhead.
The turkish offensive still hasn't finished since we're still advancing and the germans are still trying to press back the attack. What we really want is russia to really start a huge offensive to relieve pressure on their flanks. This should be easier now it looks like Finland is sitting out the war (though they could always jump in later for dumb reasons).
With the US moving in to more closely work with the Turks in their push to the Alps, Russia is presumably going to try to counterbalance this with some goodies or war contribution of their own.
Well, the 'offensive part of the operation is over, but you're correct that the consolidation phase has been prolonged by the stiff Axis push-back. We're proud to have stopped them in their tracks this time. As a parallel, this period should be considered analogous with around early 1944 in terms of time elapsed since the start of the GLW (in June 1940).
I've got to say, it's going to take awhile for the Marines to get appropriately "spun up" to the levels of their Turkish comrades, especially when they didn't have the level of ever increasing combat operations of OTL.
Spot on. They've been getting plenty of work since arriving on the line and will no doubt get more in coming weeks and months. They have not been sent to a quiet sector - but to the DZ!
Once again we see the control of the skies is one of the most important things and the thing we lack most (still). Can we check if our allies are at least researching those 1943 fighter techs?
of course I didn't take air assaults into account in my previous analysis. This has been really a thorn in the side with strong Luftwaffe interceptor coverage.
Possibly, but it was poor terrain for them and, though experienced, they have all the oldest gear (T-28s, etc). If they'd failed, it would have left nothing to defend Ogulin against a quick assault. And elnice wasn't that important (it fell into my lap initially, but the spoiling attack by 1 Mtn Div on Rijeka was a misjudgement. They should have not wasted their org and spent that time digging in, instead. Ah well, not every gamble pays off.
I hope we can at least hold the lines along the rivers Svir and Vyg in the North. Thus, if all goes well in the South of Lake Ladoga, we can bag a hell lot of Axis troops including armor in unfavorable terrain.
Excellent news. I'm wondering if the Luftwaffe pounding us came from there relieving that front? In fact, there doesn't seem to be another front on which Axis is focusing on, it's only the Adriatic sector. And tough as it is, we can still take it and not break. If that's all they got, they'd better start preparing for a few thousand miles of withdrawal.
They seem to have focused on the two ends of the front recently: Ladoga and Adriatic. It may have drawn some strength away, but it's mainly been the Italians inflicting the pain, as we're within range of their Italian air bases by now.
This one is a bit difficult There's no specific phrase for the honey pot or honey trap as meant in spycraft context. I'm trying to remember what they say in moves etc, but I guess they just describe it as a mere trap. Now, bal küpü would be the literal translation of a honey pot, and bal tuzağı indeed means a honey trap. Another way would be ballı tuzak which literally means trap with honey. As I said, none are phrases in use and would be an invention but inventing words or phrases is more accepted in Turkish than any other language I know, so I give my approval to bal tuzağı
Thanks! We can go with the literal word translation, as it would be them rendering an expression they've heard in another language, so they would say it with 'inverted commas'.
Dear Bullfilter, excellent war report with very nice graphics (as always), and more or less historical details (of course, your history is counterfactual enough). The whole story is thrilling. I have to recognise, I never thought Turkey was a playable nation, but you proved otherways. And THAT Lend-Lease made a major power out of Turkey! From 93 IC to 196... Incredible.
I've said it before and I'll say it again, HOI era Turkey is ideal AAR fodder. Just big enough to have a domestic civilian and military industry. Just big enough to have a potentially potent armed forces. Naturally central location to every pressure point in europe, africa and the middle east. Neutral, so can go wherever the author wants. Simple enough to defend but hard to expand.
In other words, a tailor made ensemble darkhorse that given good treatment by a good author, will attract a lot of attention from commenters because of the sheer scale of possibilities.
Especially countries that actually can very much choose which way to "jump" as it were. Which pretty much includes most of SE Europe - Greece, Romania, Yugoslavia, and to a lesser degree (because of size) Bulgaria and (because of proximity to Germany) Hungary. Really looking forward to Greece and Turkey getting their own focus trees in HoI4
Realistically Turkey is the only one who could genuinely pick whomever they wanted, given that the southern europe nations all have decision trees that make them incredibly vulnerable to all their neighbours (everyone can take a piece out of everyone else). Currently you can avoid that by declaring the 'greater' version of your country and annexing the Balkans but again that kind of railroads you into fighting either the axis or the com intern when they come looking for pickings.
As I found out in my play through though, italy is pretty varied. You can take on the whole axis yourself and win if you want to.
Thanks for whatever kudos were sent my way in that exchange. I did (as stated up front) pick Turkey for this AAR for those very reasons, of course, and it has worked out even better than I had hoped, giving a pretty good balanced game where things have not all gone our way and the enemy AI has actually done a pretty good job, considering.
---xxx---
To All: OK, next up will be publishing the next ep, which will finish off February 1943. No shortage of action at the front or in the Secret War. Thanks so much for all the comments, discussions and support. Your participation always helps bring things alive and is greatly appreciated.
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Chapter 194: Sword and Shield (19 to 28 February 1943)
Chapter 194: Sword and Shield (19 to 28 February 1943)
AuthAAR’s Note:The second episode for the last session.
Recap. The first two and a half weeks of February had seen Turkey continue to absorb the shocks of Axis attacks and take some serious casualties. Two attacks continued – the Axis on Otocac[47% progress] and a Turkish complementary spoiling attack on Delnice [37%]. But further a-field, there were some ‘green shoots’ showing in Russia, Romania and the Far East for the Comintern. Was it the start of a new day – or just another false dawn?
---xxx---
19 Feb 43
The Axis was not yet done with their probes of the Turkish line, looking for potential weak spots. Early on 19 February, they threw six divisions across the Sava River at Tuzla – a favourite target of theirs – from three different directions. But MAJGEN Seven with 14 Inf Div and two Soviet rifle divisions in support were enough to discourage the attackers after just two hours (Comintern 48 v 142 Axis casualties).
In Otocac, by 10am 2 Armd Div was almost at the end of its tether [3.4 org], but so too was the German 5 Hvy Pz Div, which was the target of the Turkish spoiling attack on Delnice. By that evening, 2 Armd Div was in retreat and 5 Hvy Pz Div had broken off its participation in the attack on Otocac. Their job done, Wehib Pasha’s spoiling attack on Delnice was halted. It was in fact a tactical victory, both achieving its purpose and inflicting more casualties on the ground than it had lost.
Air Damage Report. Axis air strikes on the Turkish spoiling attackers in Ogulin on 19 February had killed 334 men.
It was now down to Toüdemür’s 2 Mot Div and the Italian 3 Mot Div – and the Turks’ T-34s now had the armoured advantage over their opponents with the German Tigers gone. But Axis aircraft continued to hit the defenders, as they had done from the start.
---xxx---
20 Feb 43
Early that morning, two German infantry divisions joined in the reserve for the Otocac attack. Neither were at full strength, but the Axis was clearly determined to prevail, even as 2 Mot Div was gaining the upper hand against the Italian assault. 15 Inf Div was on the way, having reached Bihac at 8pm the night before.
3 Mtn and 6 US Mar Divs in Vrnograc were put on standby for a spoiling attack on Delnice, as 1 Mot and 1 Armd Divs in Ogulin were still conducting their post-attack reorganisation from the spoiling attack just completed. But it was hoped they wouldn’t be needed.
So there was relief when Toüdemür radioed in at 4 pm that afternoon:
“One this is Two-Mike: the Glorious Union has triumphed in Otocac. Vur ha!”
The battle had been a hard one, but 2 Mot had won before the Germans could reinforce their Italian allies.
Air Damage Report. The Turks had suffered another 816 casualties from air strikes on Otocac in the last two days, making it a total of 1,842 for the period of the latest attack (17-21 February).
---xxx---
21 Feb 43
A tired and disorganised 2 Armd Div finished their retreat to Perusic at 2am to begin their slow recovery process, but there were still no major battles in progress on the Turkish front when 15 Inf Div arrived in Perusic that afternoon and kept going to Otocac, where both 2 Mot and 2 Mtn Divs remained very low on organisation after two tough battles and heavy air strikes in recent days.
---xxx---
22 Feb 43
The respite was short-lived: the distinctive rumble of tank engines and the metallic squeak of tracks was heard in the forward rifle pits of Otocac’s defenders at 4am. Soon after, the enemy's artillery was hitting their positions and a new attack had begun.
“One this is Two-Mike, contact! Armour – we believe light tanks and tank destroyers from the Italian 133rd ‘Littorio’ Armoured Division – have engaged our forward positions – out!”
And soon, the drone of approaching enemy aircraft was heard. It was all starting again. And the defenders, including the barely recovered 2 Mtn Div which had been thrown hastily back into the line, were already very weary.
Later that morning, Inönü’s War Ministry adviser reported that Turkish industrial capacity had been hit by a sudden drop off in Soviet lend-lease shipments. At the start of the month it had been almost 36 IC per day. At midnight it had fallen right down to a little over 14 per day. There was no obvious explanation. [It was not a game reload or anything like that.] US and British economic aid remained unaffected. For now, to keep the production queue fully supported, a fall in supply production would be risked and the situation monitored.
At HQ 1st Army, US Marine LO Kenny ‘Wraith’ Loggins was taking his ease with some of Inönü’s staff officers when he was asked about US LO MAJ Tyler Durden, who had not been seen at the HQ since Loggins’ arrival earlier in the month.
“Well, the strange thing is, I hadn’t heard of him before arriving here,” said Loggins over another glass of raki. “Perhaps I wasn’t ‘in the loop’ about his duties here. I’m a Marine and if he’s Army, so, well, it could just be one of those SNAFU’s.”
Still, it made him curious and he sent word back to his Defence Attaché in Ankara, seeking guidance.
MAJ Tyler Durden: apparently off on another tour of Turkish units on the front lines.
---xxx---
23 Feb 43
2 Mtn Div could only last a day in the meat-grinder Otocac had become: they routed at 5am. The Italians were almost worn out too and, in desperation, had launched a reckless assault. But Toüdemür rose to the occasion magnificently, urging his own very tired troops to counter-attack, negating the enemy’s tactics. Four hours later, the Italians had had enough. Another victory for 2 Mot Div standing alone at the end.
Air Damage Report. Two days of air raids had killed 578 Turks on top of those who fell in the ground combat in Otocac.
As Toüdemür was declaring victory in Otocac, thousands of kilometres to the east 16 Inf Div had joined their Turkish task force comrades in Bakanas. They then all set off together to support the Soviet advance on the regional centre of Alma Ata, where Manchurian militiamen continued to withdraw east.
But that morning, the Soviets reduced their lend-lease even further, down to 12.5 IC, bringing total Turkish capacity to only 168 IC.
---xxx---
24 Feb 43
In Ankara Donald Maclean, the British ‘Cultural Attaché’ (MI6 Station Chief), was supposed to be investigating suspected Soviet penetration of the Embassy. He was of course an expert on the subject, as he was the most highly placed Soviet double agent in the country!
His latest report to Stewart Menzies, Head of MI6, provided (unsurprisingly) no information of use for that inquiry. In fact, he argued that the existence of such a penetration was unlikely – perhaps it was German disinformation designed to divert MI6 from them, who were after all the ‘real’ enemy. The line was supported in London by the Director of MI6's Section 5, responsible for the UGNR: none other than Kim Philby, the Sovet's best placed double agent!
In his coded message, Maclean observed that the Turks were more interested in a reputed British agent known only as ‘the Rose’. An agent he himself was unaware of. If there was such a highly placed agent, shouldn’t he know about it, he asked quite reasonably.
The response was dismissive, Menzies merely advising the existence – or not – of such an agent was very much ‘need to know’. And Maclean didn’t need to. It wouldn’t stop him looking, though. His Soviet handlers were very interested in the matter.
Donald Maclean in Ankara, February 1943. He was starting to get a little nosy about the reputed ‘Rose’. Would he get to the bottom of the mystery? Did the Rose even exist? Or would his snooping get him into trouble?
Back on the Adriatic Front, there was widespread relief when Gataly’s 15 Inf Div, perhaps now the best equipped and most effective infantry formation in the Turkish Army, arrived in Otocac to bolster the exhausted 2 Mot Div at 4 pm.
SGT Metin Sadik, now an acting platoon commander, got his troops digging in as soon as they arrived.
“Come on lads, out with the entrenching tools,” he said with grim determination. “The better the trench and more quickly it’s dug, the more likely you are to live when the enemy come. And they will. A shallow trench is just a shallow grave. Get at it!”
---xxx---
25 Feb 43
In Ankara, Maclean’s assertion that the Germans were the real threat was given some credence. The Turks advised they had apprehended an enemy spy at midnight. Not a run-of-the-mill regional agent, either. It was an operative of Reichsführer-SS Himmler’s Sicherheitsdienst (SD) ('Security Service'), from the vicious SS-Oberführer Walter Schellenberg’s Ausland-SD.
The Foreign Security Service (Ausland-SD) was responsible for intelligence activities beyond the boundaries of Germany, known after September 1939 as Department VI of the Reich Main Security Office. Department VI was divided into the following sections:
Section A (Organization and Administration)
Section B (Espionage in the West)
Section C (Espionage in the Soviet Union, the Glorious Union and Japan)
Section D (Espionage in the American sphere)
Section E (Espionage in Eastern Europe)
Section F (Technical Matters)
The odious Walter Friedrich Schellenberg (b. 16 January 1910) is a German SS functionary, one of the highest ranking men in the Sicherheitsdienst (SD). He has been head of Ausland-SD since March 1942.
“Minister Kaya,” a pleased looking Secret Police Captain had said to his boss when the Nazi agent had been captured. “We have set up an interrogation room in the basement. Room Number 6b.” The last said with malicious significance. Room 6b was 'specially equipped' for the most severe interrogation techniques.
“A very good, Mehmet, very good,” replied Kaya. There would be no need for apoplexy pills tonight – he was feeling relaxed and happy. “A special visitor will be conducting the interrogation tonight.”
Rather than saying the name out loud – he knew better than that – Kaya simply drew the letter ‘K’ on a piece of paper (with a red pen, of course) and showed it to the Captain. Who paled a little and nodded tightly. And quickly scanned the darker corners of the room. But had the fortitude not to bend over and look under Kaya’s desk. Though only just.
“He will, ah, let himself in. Just have the prisoner there tonight – at midnight, of course,” continued Kaya. “Oh, and he will have an, er … observer … with him. A GRU man. I suggest you just keep your distance. I will receive our interrogator’s report in the morning. After he has had his sport.”
The SD man's Midnight Express ticket - in the Kelebek Suite. He believes he knows all there is about terror and cruelty. The scales will be removed from his eyes by the Dark Lord Kelebek tonight (perhaps his eyes as well, who knows - or wants to know?). The GRU observer (Agent SkitalecS3 of course) may wish to bring a nosegay along, just in case.
---xxx---
26 Feb 43
A few days after his inquiry about Tyler Durden, ‘Wraith’ Loggins had a visitor from the US Embassy.
“Major Loggins, my name is Edward Norton,” said the man, introducing himself. “But I go by ‘Jack’. I’m the Deputy Cultural Attaché at our Embassy in Ankara.” He showed him some papers confirming this fact.
“Ah, I see,” responded Loggins knowingly. The man is clearly OSS, he thought to himself. “So, ‘Jack’, have you come here to spruik the talents of that new Ballet Theatre company in New York [1]? Or perhaps to talk about Tyler Durden?”
The Ballet Theatre was founded in New York in 1939. The new company's first performance was on 11 January 1940. It would later become the American Ballet Theatre in 1957. Loggins is clearly a keen afficionado of the fine arts!
“Haha, very witty, Major,” said Norton with a perfunctory smile. “Or may I call you ‘Wraith’?”
Receiving a curt nod, Norton continued. “People are always asking me, do I know Tyler Durden...”
He related a backstory – Loggins had no idea whether it was true or not – about how Durden had been a soap salesman before the war, but had shown a keen interest in explosives and violence. After being recruited for ‘a certain agency’, he had been given his current ‘identity’, made US LO to the Turkish Army and entrusted with reconnoitring and developing a secret plan – codenamed Operation Mayhem - to undermine the Axis in the Balkans, in cooperation with the Turkish S.I.T.H. agency.
“Basically, I want you to do your best to ignore Durden and brush off any questions about his activities. What happens in Operation Mayhem stays in Operation Mayhem. And I warn you now, he has become more – unstable – since getting over here. His habits are somewhat self-destructive.”
“Has anyone tried to rein him in?”
“I did, the last time I contacted him and noted he was descending into the heart of darkness, so to speak.”
“And how did that work out for you?”
“It ended up with him putting a pistol in my mouth.”
“That doesn't sound very, ah, sociable.”
“Things could be worse. A spider could lay eggs under the skin in your face and the larvae could tunnel around and baby spiders could burst from your nostrils. We’re just letting him run with it.”
“I … see. Er, thanks for the advice.” I’m not sure how stable this Norton is, either, mused Loggins to himself as the OSS man left. It sounded like the whole shooting match was heading right into the danger zone.
Edward ‘Jack’ Norton: “People are always asking me, do I know Tyler Durden...”
In Istanbul, Calixte ‘Romeo’ Charon was getting increasingly desperate for new leads. He had been hearing more ‘scuttlebutt’ about 'the Rose' lately – and wondering whether it might actually be referring to the reputed British-Soviet double agent, rather than the supposed British plant in the Turkish apparatus who either complemented or had succeeded 'the Thorn'.
Perhaps the Turks, not briefed into the Soviet operation, have conflated the two? Romeo then tried to theorise and integrate this line of thought with other rumours he was picking up.
And then there are these whispers of some left-field Comintern operation to strike against the Axis in the Balkans, in revenge for the many plots and assassination attempts they had unleashed over time.
And now talk of an Ausland-SD operative having recently been captured in Ankara – perhaps sent by Himmler to get to the bottom of such plans. Maybe it was all connected?
Romeo dashed off a quick coded despatch along these lines to Callan, back in Baghdad. He finished by saying he was going to adopt even more ‘stringent’ methods. After the message was transmitted, he got out his pistol and resolved to head out to do just that.
Calixte ‘Romeo’ Charon, preparing to adopt more ‘stringent’ methods in his fact-finding efforts. He was slowly descending himself into a less than healthy state. The horror.
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27 Feb 43
In Otocac, the Germans’ more conventional battlefield torment resumed. The 36th Infanterie attacked from Rijeka very early on 27 February. The shock of their attack counteracted Toüdemür’s efforts to delay it. And of course the Italian Air Force reappeared to rain death from above. But the exhausted 2 Mot Div now had Gataly’s battle-hardened men and formidable IS-2s of 15 Inf Div to assist with the defence – otherwise the situation would have been far more perilous.
After fifteen hours, and despite their shock tactics, the badly out-gunned and out-numbered German infantry had suffered a bloody defeat.
Air Damage Report. But of course, Italian air raids on Otocac had partly balanced the casualty count, with 381 more Turks killed in three raids that day, which finished after the attack was repelled.
---xxx---
28 Feb 43
The last day of the month passed quietly on the Turkish front, with no significant ground combat or air raids recorded as both sides paused to regroup.
OTL Event, Norway. In Operation Gunnerside, the Norsk Hydro plant at Vermok in Norway, being used by the Nazi German nuclear research program, was successfully sabotaged by Norwegian SOE commandos. The team used skis to reach the plant, entered through a service tunnel, and placed timed explosive charges on the tanks of heavy water and the electrolysis chambers needed to produce the deuterium oxide liquid, and escaped. The blasts destroyed the entire inventory of the heavy water that had been produced by the Germans.
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Monthly Summaries
Patriotic Front
As had been hinted at earlier in the month, while Turkey had been absorbing the shock of concerted Axis counter-attacks following their own Frost Wolf winter offensive, especially in the Adriatic Sector, their Soviet and Romanian partners had gone onto the offensive. The full extent of their advances on the Patriotic Front during February became clear in Inönü’s monthly summary reports.
In the Ladoga Sector, the Axis had pushed further forward to the north of Lake Ladoga, but Soviet units recently withdrawn from Romania (and still technically under Romanian command as EFs) had finally moved into position to stem the encirclement of the lake, while the Soviets were also counter-attacking to the south of the lake. But Leningrad remained firmly in the grip of its German oppressors.
Great gains (by the previous standards of this war) had been made in the Centre, with the Belorussian capital of Minsk liberated after a broad advance in the Vitsyebsk-Homel sector, north of the Pripet Marshes.
Good gains had also been made in Ukraine, up to three provinces in depth.
(3:17m) Progress in Russia – British Pathe Newsreel (for this ATL one can substitute Minsk for Kursk in the commentary).
And in further significant news, despite having some units diverted north, Romaniawas also a good news story in February. By the end of the month, the Carpathian mountains north-east of Bucharest and Ploiesti had been entirely retaken and the Axis forces there seemed to be in some disarray.
A summary of ground battles and air raid casualties in the Adriatic-Sava Sector for the whole of February indicated the frequency and size of engagements during the month (the battle for Turnu Severin on the Danube Line from 15-17 February not being included). The size of the icon relates to the number of combined casualties for the battle, or troops killed by the air raid.
Borrowed and adapted slightly from the method I’ve just introduced in my ‘Quick & Dirty 2’ Soviet AAR in my, blue represents a battle won or individual air mission (conducted over several days, usually support a battle) conducted by the Comintern, red for the Axis.
The clear focus on Otocac can be seen, the large initial battle for and air strikes on Lussino, plus the to-and-fro over Delnice, occupied and then lost again by the Turks, then the target of a final spoiling attack to support the defence of Otocac towards the end of the month. Some of the ‘losses’ shown were in fact successful Turkish spoiling attacks that were discontinued.
In battles on the Turkish front during the whole of February, in recorded battle outcomes Turkey had lost 6,219 men to ground combat and 9,546 to air strikes (a total of 15,765 killed), against 9,604 Axis troops killed in ground fighting and none from the air. A grim count, but offset by the holding of all Turkish lines from the beginning of the month under heavy pressure and good news from the rest of the Patriotic Front.
There was a degree of optimism for the coming spring, but a long hard battle still lay ahead.
---xxx---
Eastern Front
The news was largely positive in the Eastas well, with some steady if unspectacular gains made, especially around the air base or Tomsk. One partisan uprising was snuffed out, but three new ones had broken out behind Japanese lines.
---xxx---
Other Theatres
Little had changed in North Africa during February.
And Burmahad proven slow going for the Japanese, with little progress in difficult terrain against even light resistance.
Defying the odds, Singapore held on. The Japanese just didn’t seem interested in taking it, even though it was not heavily garrisoned.
---xxx---
Intelligence and Manpower
The Turkish position in Italy remained dominant, with no Italian teams left in the field and the Slovakian interlopers quiet again. The work to disrupt Italy’s national unity remained in its early days.
The heavy losses and unit construction during February had seen Turkish manpower reserves decrease from 88,000 to only 75,000 men, even with recruiting efforts.
---xxx---
Naval Report
In February 1945, the British lost three major fleet units (detailed below) and four more destroyer flotillas. The Japanese lost one MFU, two destroyer flotillas and one transport squadron. No other naval losses were recorded.
HMS Coventry was part of the Ceres group of the C-class light cruisers of the Royal Navy. Laid down 4 August 1916; launched 6 July 1917; commissioned 21 February 1918. Displacement 4,190t; complement 327; main armament (post 1935 refit as an AA cruiser) 10 x 4in (102mm) guns on high-angle mounts (replacing the original 5 x 6in guns). Sunk by IJNS Ryujo (CV) February 1943.
HMS Coventry (top); HMS Diomede (bottom).
HMS Diomede was a Danae-class cruiser of the Royal Navy. Laid down 3 June 1918; launched 29 April 1919; commissioned October 1922. Displacement 4,850t; complement 450; main armament 6 x 6in (152mm) guns. Also sunk by IJNS Ryujo (CV) February 1943.
HMS Repulse was a Renown-class battlecruiser of the Royal Navy built during the First Great War. Laid down 25 January 1915; launched 8 January 1916; commissioned 18 August 1916, several refits, last from 1933-36. Displacement (after last refit, which increased its belt armour considerably) 35,200 t (standard); complement 1,181; main armament 3 × twin 15 in (381 mm) guns. In OTL, part of the doomed Force Z, along with the HMS Prince of Wales, sunk on 10 Dec 41 by torpedo bombers. It lasted longer but met a similar fate in TTL, sunk by IJNS Chitose (CVL) in February 1943.
HMS Repulse departing Singapore on 8 December 1941, on an earlier mission.
Asama (浅間) was the lead ship of her class of armoured cruisers (CA in game) built for the Imperial Japanese Navy in the late 1890s. [NB: it’s inclusion in-game is a bit dubious, as in OTL she was a training ship that was crippled after running aground in 1935. Asama then became a stationary training ship until she was broken up in 1946–1947. Unless it’s more modern in the game (not going to bother checking), she is not exactly a prize sinking!] Laid down 20 October 1896; launched 21 March 1898; completed 18 March 1899. Displacement 9,560 t; complement 676; main armament 2 × twin 20.3 cm (8 in) guns. Sunk by HMS Renown (BC) in February 1943.
The venerable Asama, in 1904.
---xxx---
Coming Up: Will the positive trend in Russia, Romania and the East be maintained or even accelerated in March? Or, as has happened repeatedly before, will the Fascists rally and strike back? Can Turkey recover the organisation and strength of those divisions sapped by the last few months of heavy fighting and incessant Axis air raids sufficiently, so they can mount the proposed spring offensive in March? Or might more time (and perhaps better ground conditions, if the spring thaw gets muddy) be required – including to let manpower reserves build a little?
Will new fighter models become available any time soon so that (after the imminent arrival of the rest of the P-51 Mustangs) new interceptor wings can be constructed to help regain at least a semblance of air parity after the horrendous losses of the last month?
In the Secret War, is Romeo right about the Rose and the whisperings he has heard about both double-agents and SITH-OSS plans (possibly involving the GRU too, though he has no evidence or even informed gossip for that)? Or are they separate things? Has Italy and its Slovakian stooge been subdued, or will there be another round of tit-for-tat ‘neutralisations’ in Italy? And did Darth Kelebek extract any useful information from the recently-detained SD operative? Finally, what is Maclean up to? Will Callan ever get onto him?
Later that morning, Inönü’s War Ministry adviser reported that Turkish industrial capacity had been hit by a sudden drop off in Soviet lend-lease shipments. At the start of the month it had been almost 36 IC per day. At midnight it had fallen right down to a little over 14 per day. There was no obvious explanation. [It was not a game reload or anything like that.] US and British economic aid remained unaffected. For now, to keep the production queue fully supported, a fall in supply production would be risked and the situation monitored.
At HQ 1st Army, US Marine LO Kenny ‘Wraith’ Loggins was taking his ease with some of Inönü’s staff officers when he was asked about US LO MAJ Tyler Durden, who had not been seen at the HQ since Loggins’ arrival earlier in the month.
“Well, the strange thing is, I hadn’t heard of him before arriving here,” said Loggins over another glass of raki. “Perhaps I wasn’t ‘in the loop’ about his duties here. I’m a Marine and if he’s Army, so, well, it could just be one of those SNAFU’s.”
Still, it made him curious and he sent word back to his Defence Attaché in Ankara, seeking guidance.
“Major Loggins, my name is Edward Norton,” said the man, introducing himself. “But I go by ‘Jack’. I’m the Deputy Cultural Attaché at our Embassy in Ankara.” He showed him some papers confirming this fact.
Great gains (by the previous standards of this war) had been made in the Centre, with the Belorussian capital of Minsk liberated after a broad advance in the Vitsyebsk-Homel sector, north of the Pripet Marshes.
In battles on the Turkish front during the whole of February, in recorded battle outcomes Turkey had lost 6,219 men to ground combat and 9,546 to air strikes (a total of 15,765 killed), against 9,604 Axis troops killed in ground fighting and none from the air. I grim count, but offset by the holding of all Turkish lines from the beginning of the month under heavy pressure and good news from the rest of the Patriotic Front.
Coming Up: Will the positive trend in Russia, Romania and the East be maintained or even accelerated in March? Or, as has happened repeatedly before, will the Fascists rally and strike back? Can Turkey recover the organisation and strength of those divisions sapped by the last few months of heavy fighting and incessant Axis air raids sufficiently, so they can mount the proposed spring offensive in March? Or might more time (and perhaps better ground conditions, if the spring thaw gets muddy) be required – including to let manpower reserves build a little?
This time they'll have a harder time striking back. I think as soon as freeze/mud clears (and maybe Mustangs come online) we can go for something. It seems if we can pull ourselves together under the enemy's focus while our allies still have the momentum, we can join that momentum to break the back of axis.
“He will, ah, let himself in. Just have the prisoner there tonight – at midnight, of course,” continued Kaya. “Oh, and he will have an, er … observer … with him. A GRU man. I suggest you just keep your distance. I will receive our interrogator’s report in the morning. After he has had his sport.”
I feel it would be a discussion between the two agents musing on how after the war a lot of these intelligence higher ups will be purged by the much more competent and ruthless secret police/counter intelligence organisations they are currently empowering.
Kaya is feeding SITH way too much. Now they're running every interrogation inside Turkey as well as in the other unions and abroad. This allows them to build their service up within the homeland, subvert anyone competent within his own service and kill anyone who is too stupid/too loyal to kaya (basically the same thing).
This is how the Soviets found themselves accidentally/on purpose a super powerful and terrifying intelligence wing post war.
All of the fleet units that Paradox (did/did not) include could fill volumes...
Glad to see that MAJ Loggins is focusing himself on actually getting the Marines into contact and not dicking around with OSS crap, D) though I'm sure they'll drag him into it at times.
In Ankara Donald Maclean, the British ‘Cultural Attaché’ (MI6 Station Chief), was supposed to be investigating suspected Soviet penetration of the Embassy. He was of course an expert on the subject, as he was the most highly placed Soviet double agent in the country!
His latest report to Stewart Menzies, Head of MI6, provided (unsurprisingly) no information of use for that inquiry. In fact, he argued that the existence of such a penetration was unlikely – perhaps it was German disinformation designed to divert MI6 from them, who were after all the ‘real’ enemy. The line was supported in London by the Director of MI6's Section 5, responsible for the UGNR: none other than Kim Philby, the Sovet's best placed double agent!
In his coded message, Maclean observed that the Turks were more interested in a reputed British agent known only as ‘the Rose’. An agent he himself was unaware of. If there was such a highly placed agent, shouldn’t he know about it, he asked quite reasonably.
The response was dismissive, Menzies merely advising the existence – or not – of such an agent was very much ‘need to know’. And Maclean didn’t need to. It wouldn’t stop him looking, though. His Soviet handlers were very interested in the matter.
Reading through this really helps one understand why even intelligence agencies on the "same side" are so reluctant to share vital information. From the civilian perspective it's quite easy to say "why didn't Agency A share information with Agency B to prevent Horrible Thing C?", but the "view on the ground" so to speak is one where you can never be certain who to trust...certainly a lot of potential for drama and intrigue here!
Also makes one worry if perhaps Turkish intelligence is getting too close to the GRU lately...certainly the ties between Turkey and the GRU seem ironically closer than the ties between the various Turkish agencies!
“I … see. Er, thanks for the advice.” I’m not sure how stable this Norton is, either, mused Loggins to himself as the OSS man left. It sounded like the whole shooting match was heading right into the danger zone.
As had been hinted at earlier in the month, while Turkey had been absorbing the shock of concerted Axis counter-attacks following their own Frost Wolf winter offensive, especially in the Adriatic Sector, their Soviet and Romanian partners had gone onto the offensive. The full extent of their advances on the Patriotic Front during February became clear in Inönü’s monthly summary reports.
These maps are quite encouraging at a glance, Operation Mars this has not been! Here's hoping for a TTL version of the Baltic Balcony sooner than later!
One ought to substitute Turkey for Kursk here. Our tough and brilliant defensive stand in the Balkans is enabling these broad-front advances everywhere else. Vur ha!
The heavy losses and unit construction during February had seen Turkish manpower reserves decrease from 88,000 to only 75,000 men, even with recruiting efforts.
One begins to think of such crazy ideas as devoting IC to the construction of a much less MP-intensive new naval vessel or two, perhaps licensed from the good ol' US of A? A CV or two would be essential support for any hopeful invasions of Italy or beyond, not to mention solidifying Turkish claim to the Mediterranean in the post-war settling.
Asama (浅間) was the lead ship of her class of armoured cruisers (CA in game) built for the Imperial Japanese Navy in the late 1890s. [NB: it’s inclusion in-game is a bit dubious, as in OTL she was a training ship that was crippled after running aground in 1935. Asama then became a stationary training ship until she was broken up in 1946–1947. Unless it’s more modern in the game (not going to bother checking), she is not exactly a prize sinking!] Laid down 20 October 1896; launched 21 March 1898; completed 18 March 1899. Displacement 9,560 t; complement 676; main armament 2 × twin 20.3 cm (8 in) guns. Sunk by HMS Renown (BC) in February 1943.
The Paradox OOBs are riddled with ancient ships that shouldn't be there. The US I think has an entire BB in their OOB that really shouldn't be there, for another example.
One begins to think of such crazy ideas as devoting IC to the construction of a much less MP-intensive new naval vessel or two, perhaps licensed from the good ol' US of A? A CV or two would be essential support for any hopeful invasions of Italy or beyond, not to mention solidifying Turkish claim to the Mediterranean in the post-war settling.
Alas, you can’t licence build anything larger than a light cruiser If I could, I certainly would. Aircraft and ships, plus some infra-type builds, will again become priorities.
Quick response:
Alas, you can’t licence build anything larger than a light cruiser If I could, I certainly would. Aircraft and ships, plus some infra-type builds, will again become priorities.
Those new maps clearly show now where my in-game-character was the last two months or so: Travelling around with the ex-soviet Romanian troops to eastern Karelia and back home to the FMs staff.
The FM is very pleased about the Turkish successes in the Adriatic region, both the capture of whole enemy divisions as well as the great axis-confusion which helped him to execute the recent Romanian offense.
Alas, I think Markkur is lost to us He was not well and had to leave the forum. I think his standard solution was to tag across, grab the necessary ships and EF them over. I’d sure make better use of them than the US AI is at the moment.!
Turkey's army continues it's heroic stand in the face of increasing Teutonic hordes, and bombs.
I'm not sure why Soviet lend-lease to Turkey has been reduced. Perhaps it has something to do with the perception that Turkey has done better in the war, and that now that Leningrad is lost, we should use our resources to shore up the Red Army, and take back our lands. I realise such a way of thinking is selfish and probably more detrimental to Turkey that it is an improvement for the Red Army. I hope the Central Committee will consider increasing Lend-Lease to Turkey again soon.
The espionage landscape in Turkey proper is becoming quite fascinating. Lot's of rumours, lot's of double agents, and no-one with a clear advantage. Except for the Butterfly, of course, but he doesn't dabble in domestic matters... Maybe an exception is at hand?
I'm honoured to have witnessed the Dark Lord's art in person once again. It was truly a masterclass.
Tyler Durden is a loose cannon, if the stories are to be believed. I'm glad I'm not the one handling him...
Any ship the Royal Navy doesn't loose to the Japanese, we don't have to face later on, in case the Comintern comes head to head with the British Empire aka. the Allies.
As a whole, the Comintern has done well the last month. Let's all keep it up, and I'm sure we will triumph in the end.
The espionage landscape in Turkey proper is becoming quite fascinating. Lot's of rumours, lot's of double agents, and no-one with a clear advantage. Except for the Butterfly, of course, but he doesn't dabble in domestic matters... Maybe an exception is at hand?
I'm honoured to have witnessed the Dark Lord's art in person once again. It was truly a masterclass.
Begining to worry about the build up of all these stupid spies agencies everywhere. We're going to have a huge mess on our hands sorting through it all when the iron curtain falls in europe and everyone starts really shoving all their agents through turkey. Much worse than even OTL.
