Chapter 57: 1 to 10 November 1948
1. Asia
Late on 3 November, the first Soviet division arrived at Narathiwat, on the border with British Malaya. There was no Allied garrison in neighbouring Kota Bahru, though it was home to much of the British fleet that had recently done so much damage to the Soviet Red Banner Fleet. The Soviet marines would need to reorganise for 58 hours following their strategic redeployment before they could advance.
The single ground battle of the period ended early on 6 November, with victory over the British 9th Armd Div at Winkana. The British tanks were poorly suited to the terrain and out of supply, but their casualties were decreased because of their armour advantage.
The long-awaited infrastructure upgrade to Mong Cai (on the border between Vietnam and Soviet-occupied southern China, at Fangchenggang) was completed at midnight on 7 November, removing the infrastructure block for ground and supply movement.
The reinforcement column from Hong Kong arrived in Fangchenggang three hours later, consisting of 3 x HQs, 1 x tank, 1 x mountain and 8 x infantry divisions. They were now instructed to continue their strategic redeployment to central Thailand to reinforce the new Burmese and Malayan fronts as necessary.
At 0900hr on 7 November, the Soviets started crossing the border to Kota Bahru. At that time there were 22 Royal Navy ships in the port. The province was occupied late on the following day, meaning the British ships would soon have to flee the port. VVS naval strikes were lined up to hit them as soon as they appeared in the Southern Gulf of Thailand.
A short running engagement by the VVS NAV wings began at 0400hr on 9 November, an hour later the main British ships had escaped, the rest by 0700hr. Despite attempts to widen the patrol net, the Soviets were unable to make contact again.
As the Soviet ground advance moved into southern Burma, Soviet CAS struck Kyondo, only to be intercepted by the RAF. Next time, three VVS fighter wings provided escort, but the damage had already been done to the bombers and the mission was discontinued.
Meanwhile, a lone British CAG had begun bombing Thanbyuzayat, in support of a British ground attack from Kyondo. The VVS switched its attention to them, possibly destroying the CAG wing by 2200hr.
Only light fighting had occurred during the ten-day period but things looked to be picking up in tempo both in southern Burma and northern Malaya, as Allied and Soviet forces came into contact.
Situation in Asia as at 2300hr on 10 November 1948.
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2. Middle East
The usual series of probes on Bîr Gifgafa persisted at the start and end of the period. While ground casualties were relatively light, sporadic RAF air raids caused considerable ground casualties. The garrison division in Adana began a strategic redeployment to Jerusalem in response to a Palestinian Nationalist revolt in Hebron at midnight on 2 November.
Situation in the Middle East as at 2300hr on 10 November 1948.
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3. Central Asia
An attack on Kala I Mor succeeded on 1 November but Behbehan was lost to British marines on the evening of 2 November, though they then halted in place (Persian surrender progress to 47%). A major Soviet attack on Borun (in Persia) failed on 3 November.
RAF bombers (out of range from the fighters based in Stalinabad) were active in eastern Persia from 1-3 November, supporting an attack against the Persian in Sirjan and then providing air support for their defence of Borun, both of which battles they won. The RAF weren’t so lucky on 4 Novembers when they tried to attack Stalinabad, possibly having one TAC wing destroyed by the swarming VVS fighters.
A large defensive victory was won in Tagtabazar on the 6th as the VVS switched their focus from Sherberghan to Mardian, which the Allies would abandon without a battle on 8 November, but then counter-attack at the end of the period.
Two different RAF TAC wings (these unescorted) tried to attack Stalinabad again on 7 November, but they too were fought off the by the VVS INT wings based there. Darband had been lost earlier in the month but a post-occupation probe against the Allies there was quickly won on 7 November.
The Comintern lost ground once more in Persia during the period, but advanced a little in the north, towards Herat and Kabul.
Situation in Central Asia as at 2300hr on 10 November 1948.
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4. Turkey
Progress was generally a little harder to make during the first ten days of November as it had been during October, as the Allies began to firm up their line in rough terrain and along river lines. A major battle of Nevsehir was lost on the afternoon of 3 November (Soviets 1,912/8,996, Allies 503/15,683 killed) to an attack by French armour.
But the Allies were detained from following up their advance by a holding attack on Kulu from Ankara and Kirrikale, supported heavily by the VVS TAC group based in Sevastopol. The RAF tried to disrupt the mission on 4 November but caused little damage as more VVS fighters were brought in; the raids and attack continued.
An expensive victory was won in Kulu on the 5th, ensuring Nevsehir would not be occupied by the Allies.
However, although Kulu was taken an hour later, powerful Allied counter-attacks saw two different Soviet divisions driven out that night and then early the next morning. Kulu may have been taken, but it could not be held. The Soviets chose instead to dig in on their current lines.
Once more, Allied air forces were more active in Turkey during this period. They managed to make raids on Nallihan (two Hungarian TAC) before being driven off by VVS fighters on the morning of 6 November and then on the evening of the 7th two Hungarian CAS wings were similarly deflected after hitting Düzce, again causing some minor ground casualties.
On 9 November, a long defence of Eskiil by the 6th Guards Div was lost, despite heavy defensive air support on Dokuzalti (which the RAF again tried and failed to stop that night) and a failed spoiling attack on Konya. Once more, this loss was accepted and the Soviets sought to strengthen a shorter line in Karapinar.
A little more luck had been found in the north, with three provinces taken in a grinding offensive against strengthening Allied resistance. After Düzce, Adapazari and Nallihan had been taken from 1-6 November, a major attack on Mudurnu was won by 0200hr on the 10th (Soviets 726/42,719; Allies 3,021/30,902 killed), without any VVS TAC support which was dealing with the Allied counter-attacks in central Anatolia, south of Ankara, throughout the period.
During the ten days, the Allies had conducted more attacks than they had been in October and won almost half the battles fought in the sector, all of those from Kulu south to Manavgat (a number of which were discontinued Soviet spoiling attacks). Only the incessant heavy support of the VVS TAC group shifted the casualty count heavily into the Soviets’ favour.
Situation in Turkey as at 2300hr on 10 November 1948.
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5. The West
Here too, Allied air power managed to but in a few successful sorties and contested more VVS air raids than they had on average in October. There was also a noticeable shift in the weight of attacks: as the Soviets occupied the river lines in eastern Germany they had been pushing towards in recent weeks, they found it harder to get the numbers to force a crossing, while the Allies solidified their lines and actually mounted more attacks over the ten days (22 to 17) than the Soviets did, as the latter shifted more towards defence and consolidation.
First up, early on 1 November German CAS had to be intercepted over Züllichau, around which most of the ground combat would be concentrated in the northern part of the sector during the ten days. The Allied attempt to gain a bridgehead at Züllichau would be fiercely contested in coming days.
A few hours later, VVS and Czech INT clashed over nearby Meseritz while the Soviets also intercepted two Bulgarian TAC wings over Bender, in Romania. That afternoon, it was two German CAS wings being intercepted over nearby Cahul.
The evening of 1 November did see the Soviets defeat a large and persistent attack on Ruzomberok in the Slovakian sector (Soviets 1,522/17,993; Allies 2,985/30,322 killed), where both sides were trying to gain ground, with Vazec being pounded by the VVS for ten straight days.
Early on 2 November, the air war in eastern Germany intensified, with the Luftwaffe unsuccessfully trying to prevent a Soviet raid on Crossen (which would also be struck for ten days straight, inflicting massive Allied casualties) while also hitting Züllichau in support of their river crossing, subject to VVS interception.
A large battle for Humenne in eastern Slovakia was finally won the by the Soviets at 0600hr on 2 November (Soviets 1,612/50,987; Allies 4,820/36,582 killed). Four hours later, the eastern Romanian offensive made more progress with a big victory by Soviet armour attacking Reni from the north (Soviets 427/31,990; Germany 3,148/15,110 killed).
From 0900-1000hr, another Luftwaffe bombing run on Züllichau was repelled, but a river crossing, heavy VVS defensive air support and spoiling attacks on Glogau and Grünberg (which had to be discontinued on 1 November) were not enough to prevent a defeat in Züllichau with very heavy Soviet casualties on early afternoon of the 2nd, with a Greek division quickly occupying it by 1500hr.
Another German raid on Meseritz was contested but still managed to cause some ground casualties early on 3 November, while three German INT wings intercepted an escorted VVS CAS raid on Glogau at the same time: it too managed to push through. The Glogau raid went in again at 0700hr, though by the time it ended (causing only 170 ground casualties this time) the VVS CAS and escorts had started to suffer some appreciable damage, though they kept the mission going over the next few days.
The Allies managed to cause some casualties in five different provinces over the period 1-3 November, though the VVS would manage to prevent them from getting through again until 10 November.
Even though the Allies had managed to eventually get four divisions into Züllichau to try to hold it, the Soviet counter-attack proved too powerful, with victory coming late on 3 November.
The raid on Glogau was again intercepted by German INT early on 5 November and again at 0700hr. This time, despite VVS INT reinforcement of the escort from 0300hr, damage on the CAS group was very heavy (poor supply in Warsaw causing some of the problems). They had to be pulled of the line, causing a dip in the tempo of VVS air support in Germany.
Early on 6 November, after Züllichau had been reoccupied but was now again being attacked by the Allies, the Soviets began a large attack to take their own bridgehead at Crossen, which had remained under fierce VVS bombardment for the last five days. This attack would still be in progress by the end of 10 November, by which time the VVS alone had inflicted almost 25,000 casualties on the various Allied units defending Crossen!
Soon after, Dutch TAC were attacking Reppen, where the Allies were putting in a holding attack. After they were joined by fighter escorts, one of the two VVS INT wings opposing them had to be withdrawn after falling to only 29% strength, though no ground casualties were suffered.
Meanwhile, the Romanian offensive had been making slow but steady progress. Reni and Ismail had been occupied to the west, while the taking of Ermoclia early on had allowed a quick strike down into Kilia, securing the river line down to the Black Sea and cutting off an elite French division in Cetatea Alba by the evening of 6 November.
Attempts by the stranded Allies to break to out of Ermoclia failed at 2100hr on the 6th and again at 0700hr on the 7th.
The long mission on Vazek in Slovakia continued after an attempt by Hungarian fighters to break it on the morning of 7 November.
They would continue through to the end of the 10th, causing over 11,800 ground casualties there over the ten-day period.
Then to the south, after a heavy air preparation, the attack on the surrounded French troops in Cetatea Alba began at midday on 7 November. Victory would eventually come on the evening of the 9th, with up to 7,000 prisoners taken, though the number was probably less given casualties from air raids since the battle began.
Back up in Silesia, the latest Allied attack on Züllichau was beaten back by 1500hr on the 9th by the big Soviet defending force (Soviets 1,946/91,061; Allies 3,173/25,933 killed). Then early on the 10th, the Luftwaffe (1 x M/R, 2 x TAC) hit Reppen hard despite VVS fighters intercepting (2 x INT, 1 x M/R), causing 810 casualties in a single raid, though it wasn’t repeated.
In summary, the Western Front had seen combat largely focused in a few key areas. No net gains were made by either side along the German border, after Züllichau was lost and then regained by the Soviets. Limited advances in Slovakia and more in Romania were the only changes of territory during the period. With overall ground casualties fewer on both sides than in the previous period, by far the biggest impact was made by the VVS bombers, causing almost twice as many Allied casualties that ground combat.
As mentioned before, Soviet consolidation on the main river lines and increased Allied aggression led to more Allied than Soviet attacks in the west during the period, though the Soviets still won the vast majority of the battles fought – perhaps due in significant part to river line defences and heavy air support. After a series of Allied interceptions, VVS bombing efforts had ebbed from 1 to 5 November, picking up a bit until the 8th, but then declining again as the 10th ended.
The Western Front as at 2300hr on 10 November 1948.
Fighting in Eastern Germany was concentrated entirely on a relatively narrow front from Reppen down to Glogau. Neither side was able to force and hold a bridgehead, with attacks on Crossen (Soviet) and Meseritz (Allied) still continuing as the period ended.
In Slovakia, heavy fighting was concentrated from Ruzomberok across to Dobsina as both sides attacked each other. The Soviets had occupied Dobsina but were under a heavy counter-attack as 10 November ended. Victory had been won by the Red Army in Vazek but it was not yet occupied. Further east, Humenne was occupied by the Soviets and withstood two Allied attempts to retake it.
As noted, reasonable gains had been made in eastern Romania and the first river line secured, including the destruction of the French division in the Cetatea Alba pocket. But attempts to push further south into St. Georg had met increasingly strong Allied resistance as new units kept feeding in to defend it. A third attack remained in progress as the period ended.
6. Strategic, Industry, Research and Diplomacy
Another strategic bomber wing, long awaited during the production slow-down, was completed and deployed on 1 November.
With more IC becoming available for new projects (in addition to that freed up from the recent STRAT deployment, due to supply demand falling), all backlogged items were moved up ‘above the line’ in the production queue. A new ‘combined arms’ infantry division was commenced on 3 November.
And two new rocket batteries were started the next day.
Followed by a couple of new brigades on the 6th.
By 7 November, with Kilia taken by the Soviets, the Allied victory condition for Operation Zeppelin was negated, bringing them down to 13, compared to 8 for the Comintern.
By 8 November, the first of the next two tranches of divisions heading to the Western Front from the Far East (seven HQs and ten divisions) were passing by rail roughly north of Kabul. The second (another 30 HQs and divisions, mainly mechanised) were strung out along the Trans-Siberian Railway from Central Mongolia to just over the Soviet border.
With more IC available due to an almost full supply stockpile, a new infrastructure project to improve supply and troop movement to the Central Asian front was begun, with another in southern China to Fanggcheng was also started (not shown on the map below).
No new research projects were completed during the period. As it ended, the supply stockpile was being run down a little while all remaining IC was fed into the production queue.
Overall, total casualty rates were lower for both sides, with Soviet air power having a major effect on Allied numbers, while Allied air forces had managed to start inflicting a few more casualties on Soviet forces. The shift in intent was shown with the Allies launching more attacks during 1-10 November, though the Soviets were still winning a clear majority of battles.
