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Whatever aeroelasticity is (sounds like one of those things amateurs nod at knowingly, guessing at its meaning without really knowing), they clearly need more of it (I think ).
Basically it's a branch of physics that would have really helped stop the bridge collapsing. I'm sure the engineers we have in this AAR can explain it properly but from a physics standpoint it's the dynamic study of the relations between elasticity, areodynamics and inertial forces. It got attention as the 20th c. Rolled on and buildings and bridges got bigger and longer, was well as more flying machine got designed and made.
Whatever aeroelasticity is (sounds like one of those things amateurs nod at knowingly, guessing at its meaning without really knowing), they clearly need more of it (I think ).
Sadly that has never stopped historians, they do keep confusing having studied the history of something with knowing about something. It is why we must always remain vigilant and keep them in their box.
It appears the Axis has been cowed by Turkish greatness and is too fearful to risk an attack, certainly I'm sure that is the line the propagandists will take. It really could go either way, I can see the AI getting confused and just ignoring the Balkans as not part of the script, but equally I can see it going mad, for instance Italy hitting an old and irrelevant AI trigger and so pulling troops out of everywhere as it desperately tries to capture Albania.
That would also be fairly plausible to be honest, if Mussolini thinks France is anywhere near the end and has already done a Franco and sent his undesirable nutters to freeze to death on the Eastern Front, then I can definitely see him trying to carve out a new Balkan Empire, particularly as I'm sure the Regia Marina will tell him they don't have enough fuel (i.e. they are scared of the Royal Navy) to leave port and head to relieve North Africa.
It appears the Axis has been cowed by Turkish greatness and is too fearful to risk an attack, certainly I'm sure that is the line the propagandists will take. It really could go either way, I can see the AI getting confused and just ignoring the Balkans as not part of the script, but equally I can see it going mad, for instance Italy hitting an old and irrelevant AI trigger and so pulling troops out of everywhere as it desperately tries to capture Albania.
That would also be fairly plausible to be honest, if Mussolini thinks France is anywhere near the end and has already done a Franco and sent his undesirable nutters to freeze to death on the Eastern Front, then I can definitely see him trying to carve out a new Balkan Empire, particularly as I'm sure the Regia Marina will tell him they don't have enough fuel (i.e. they are scared of the Royal Navy) to leave port and head to relieve North Africa.
Stay tuned, as the High Command has secured some intelligence about Axis plans to start probing the Turkish lines in Yugoslavia ! No big spoiler, but the next editions in the Path to Glory will cover some key developments, on the battlefield and off. May need to break them up for readability purposes, rather than trying to squeeze the next two weeks into a single update.
The concerns about a possible Italian flanking attack by sea - anywhere along the very extended Turkish coastline, from former Yugoslavia to the border with Syria - are real. Maybe not highly likely given how things are now going for the Italians around the Med and with a growing Eastern Front commitment, but still something that has the Turkish leadership focused on trying to make its ‘soft underbelly’ just a little harder.
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Chapter 85: The Times - A View of the West (16 to 31 July 1940)
Chapter 85: The Times - A View of the West (16 to 31 July 1940)
Editor’s Note: This AAR has always sought to present more than just the narrow view of the war from Turkey’s perspective. Instead, it seeks to tell the story of what has now become the Second Great War on a more global basis, though still with an emphasis on Turkey’s place in alternate history and its broader perspective of the conflict. For this period – both because it can be done logically and to assist with the chapter length and flow – there will be a Western (Allies, the neutral US and rest of the world) and a separate Eastern episode.
Both can be considered reports on events during the last fortnight to the Turkish leadership, with the added benefit of the monthly Allied-Comintern Consultation Committee reports of positions as they stand as at midnight on 31 July. “The Times” newspaper evoked here in the chapter title could be inspired by the New York Times, TheTimes (of London) or the in-game Istanbul Times, which retains its Atatürk-inspired, more Western-leaning world view and interests. Or, more likely, something of all three!
I won’t necessarily take this approach permanently. Readers may have noticed I prefer to vary editorial policy and chapter format based on in-game events, story arcs and the amount of content I have to hand. Also, while some things have (and will) remain constant, I hope a bit of variation in style and approach can help to keep things interesting and stop it getting too formulaic. I hope you enjoy these twin chapters as we follow the Glorious Union – and its cast of often inglorious characters – as it navigates its path to glory through a cruel Global War than remains a long way from its peak. Or is that its nadir?
1. Prelude – the Peregrinations of Luca Brasi
After leaving ‘Vito’ Ceylan in Zurich on 1 July, Luca made his way by rail through Italy to the tip of the ‘Italian boot’, the port of Reggio di Calabria, where he arrives on 8 July. By now, he has changed into cheap clothes and attempts to keep as low a profile as he can. Although it has been many years since his early days in Sicily, he is not exactly an unobtrusive man and was once well known in the region.
The next day, he takes a ferry across to Messina. Once there, he settles into a cheap boarding house and awaits the evening and his planned rendezvous with his secret (and as yet unknown to him) contact. That night find’s him in a seedy bar near the waterfront. Though as heavily armed as ever, he cannot help but feel on edge. Any number of people or organisations could recognise and seek to kill him: Whether the Tattaglia’s, some other Mafia vendetta from the old days or the Italian secret police, the OVGA (Organizzazione per la Vigilanza e la Repressione dell'Antifascismo, Italian for “Organization for Vigilance and Repression of Anti-Fascism”.[It just rolls trippingly of the tongue, no? It doesn’t even sound zippy in Italian, for God’s sake! Who says lyricism is dead in the Fascist Europe of 1940 *sigh*]
Arturo Bocchini, (b. 12 February 1880) is Chief of Police under the Fascist regime of Benito Mussolini. Since 1926, Bocchini has headed both the regular police (Polizia di Stato) and the secret political police (OVRA). [What is it about these Fascist secret police types? He looks like he could walk onto the set of an Indiana Jones movie, to have his face melted at the end by the Ark of the Covenant!]
A middle-aged woman, wearing a worn and patched dress and with hair just beginning to go grey at the temples, casually sits down next to Luca. He is about to tell her to move on, when she says quietly to him in a husky voice: “Hey big guy, is that gun in your pocket loaded?”
Luca shuts his mouth and looks more closely. This woman has just uttered the coded password that identifies her as his contact. The voice is vaguely familiar. And there is something about her accent …
As he does look more closely, he realises the woman is not middle-aged at all, but younger. Then it clicks: the make-up, padding and other elements of the disguise are excellent, but Luca – not always the sharpest pencil in the case, mind you – finally realises it is of course the now very grown-up Cennet. Who – having made her bones in spectacular style in Istanbul last month - is now clearly a S.I.T.H. agent-at-large. [I’m sure many readers of this chronicle had already suspected the identity of his mystery contact, well before poor old Luca did. And he was able to observe her first hand!]
Cennet passes Luca his new instructions. They are to travel next, as father and daughter, to Sardinia.
The two S.I.T.H. agents stay in Messina for a few days and carefully establish their cover – they even manage to see a few of the sights
They find passage on a small tramp steamer headed for the Sardinian port of Cagliari. It is a tense crossing, and the crew is constantly on the lookout for Allied naval forces or aircraft. The sailors say the French Navy has been particularly active recently, having sunk a few Italian cruisers in the area, earlier in the month.
But the trip is made without incident. They alight in Cagliari a day later, on 13 July. There, Luca is told a meeting has been set up with Bruno Tattaglia, Philip’s son and a renowned hard man. He is in Sardinia for some ‘fraternal discussions’ with the head of the Calabrian 'Ndrangheta. Sardinia is considered ‘neutral ground’, with no major indigenous Mafia presence. This would be a good place for the faux ‘parlay’ Brasi is meant to have with the Tattaglias, to try to discover what they may be up to.
The afternoon of 14 July sees Luca in a small bar in downtown Cagliari. It is not yet open, so he is alone. No longer travelling incognito for this meeting, he sits outside the bar in his best suit, smoking one of his ubiquitous cigars.
Luca pauses for a smoke before the meeting with Bruno Tattaglia in Cagliari. It's not like he thinks a few cigars are going to be the death of him!
Soon, two men arrive. One gestures to Luca to follow and they walk into the building together, each sizing the other up. Luca follows down a hallway to the bar.
“Luca, I'm Bruno Tattaglia,” the better dressed of the two says. His goon moves back into the corner of the bar. Luca and Bruno shake hands and then each take a seat at the bar.
Bruno Tattaglia. Not known for a love of flower-arranging.
“I know,” says Luca in his gravelly voice.
“Su bequero Scotch? Pre-war...” offers Tattaglia.
“Io no bib” (I don't drink), replies Luca.
The conversation continues in Italian.
“You want to talk to the Tattaglia family...right? I think you and I can do business. My father needs strong men like you. I heard you are not happy with that Turkish puttana Inönü. Want to join us?”
“What's in it for me?”
“500,000 lire - to start with.”
“Not bad.”
Tattaglia offers his hand to Luca. “Agreed?”
Luca doesn't shake. He takes out a cigar, which Bruno lights for him. “Grazie,” says Luca.
He leans forward and puts his hand on the bar, and clears his throat to make a reply to Bruno’s offer …
---xxx---
Later that night, Cennet waits at their assigned rendezvous, but hangs back some distance in the shadows, to observe. If Luca has been taken and tortured by the Tattaglia’s, the meeting may be compromised. She waits … and waits. After she has waited over an hour after the assigned time, she concludes that something must have gone wrong.
Her orders are clear: she must change to another identity and see if she can – with great care – find out what may have happened to Luca. Then, whether she has learned anything more or not, she must make her way off the island and back to Rome, where the S.I.T.H. maintains a safe house. There, Darth Kelebek will contact her and she will find out what her next orders are.
The next boat on which she can arrange passage out of Cagliari and back to Rome departs on 18 July. Having discovered nothing further about Luca’s fate, she heads off, fearing the worst but hoping for the best and not knowing if they will ever find out what has befallen the legendary enforcer. To Cennet, Luca has always seemed larger-than-life and indestructible. But recent years have shown her no-one is indestructible. Even her brilliant (but now very dead) fiancée Vinnie. She hardens her heart as she looks back over the stern of the small fishing boat she has managed to get a ride on. She hopes it will be less likely to attract hostile attention.
As Cagliari is about to slip over the horizon, she turns to head into the boat’s cabin, but pauses and turns back after she hears a distant booming. It looks like a heavy air raid is hitting the town. And is that the smoke of a large approaching fleet visible way to the south? That seems a little unusual … Cagliari had been untouched by the war so far. What is happening there?
2. General News and Developments
18 Jul 40
News Report: Chicago, US. Franklin D. Roosevelt is elected almost unanimously at the Democratic National Convention to run for an unprecedented third term as President of the United States. Henry A. Wallace of Iowa was selected as Roosevelt's running mate. Roosevelt's most formidable challengers were his former campaign manager James Farley and his Vice President, John Nance Garner. Both had sought the nomination for the presidency and soundly lost to Roosevelt who would be "drafted" at the convention. Henry Wallace was Roosevelt's preferred choice for the Vice-Presidency.
Left: Franklin Delano Roosevelt (b. January 30, 1882), first elected in 1932 and has been US President for two terms, since 1933. Right: Henry Agard Wallace (b. October 7, 1888) has been the US Secretary of Agriculture since 1933.
19 Jul 40
News Report: Berlin, Germany. Hitler makes a speech to the Reichstag reviewing the course of the war and then warns, “Mr Chamberlain [it was Churchill in OTL], or perhaps others, for once believe me when I predict a great empire will be destroyed, an empire that it was never my intention to destroy or even to harm. I do realise that this struggle, if it continues, can end only with the complete annihilation of one or the other of the two adversaries. Mr Chamberlain may believe this will be Germany. I know that it will be Britain.” Hitler then appeals “once more to reason and common sense”, saying, “I can see no reason why this war must go on.” He says if Chamberlain brushes aside this appeal, “I shall have relieved my conscience in regard to the things to come.” These are bold words, given he has not yet been able to defeat France and is now fighting a bloody war on two fronts. But it is of course propaganda for domestic consumption, designed to complement his ‘German Destiny’ declaration.
20 Jul 40
News Report: London, UK.The British government bans the buying and selling of new cars.
28 Jul 40
News Report: Berghof, Germany. President Jozef Tiso, Prime Minister Vojtech Tuka and Hlinka Guard leader Alexander Mach of the Slovak Republic meet with Hitler at the Berghof. Hitler demands that “Slovakia should adhere loyally and unequivocally to the German cause in her domestic politics.” [This news snippet from OTL is dedicated to @El Pip, with the most humble and deferential respect and felicitations. Brought to you by the Bratislava Hip Flask Company.]
31 Jul 40 - Naval Report
The Danish Navy (which did not surrender when its homeland was conquered by the Germans) reports the loss of its heavy cruiser the HDMS Peder Skram, sunk by the fearsome German battleship Tirpitz, along with a military transport ship it was escorting.
The Herluf Trolle class was a class of coastal defence ships of the Royal Danish Navy. The class comprised Herluf Trolle, Olfert Fischer and Peder Skram. The Turkish Admiralty does not possess specific details of the HDMS Peder Skram’s statistics, other than its commissioning date (1908), but the lead ship of the class was built in 1899. It displaced 3,494 tons and had a main armament of two 24 cm (9.4 in) guns and a secondary armament of four 15 cm (5.9 in) guns. The Peder Skram was sunk by the German battleship Tirpitz in July 1940.
Tirpitz is the second of two Bismarck-class battleships built for Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine (navy) during Second Great War. This nightmare-on-water was named after Grand Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz, the architect of the Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial Navy). The ship was laid down at the Kriegsmarinewerft Wilhelmshaven in November 1936 and her hull was launched two and a half years later. [In OTL work was completed in February 1941, but clearly in this ATL the Germans were quicker to see it fully commissioned].
Like her sister ship Bismarck, Tirpitz is armed with a main battery of eight 38-centimetre (15 in) guns in four twin turrets. After a series of modifications, at 42,900 tons (standard load) she is 2,000 tons heavier than Bismarck, making her the heaviest battleship ever built by a European navy. The poor old Peder Skram would have likely lasted their encounter for only seconds.
3. France, the Mediterranean and Africa
The second half of July 1940 has seen some bitter fighting along the Western Front, especially in two sectors. In the first week, all the gains of the previous Allied offensive that retook Dunkerque, Hazebrouck and three provinces in the Low Countries were completely rolled back by the Germans. The lines there are back to where they started at the beginning of the month. We have no detailed reports of the fighting, but can see from the monthly report how dispositions now sit. We can deduce that at least two German medium panzer divisions must have led the counter-attack and now sit on the front line in Dunkerque and Hazebrouck. It appears most of the Allied units involved (a mix of French, Dutch and British units under Dutch command) may have escaped and the Allied line there is well held. There were no further advances after the salient was snuffed out a week or so ago.
In the centre, the news is equally grim. German armoured divisions have pushed up to the Marne River along a four-province front stretching from Soissons in the west to St. Dizier in the east over the last two weeks. It remains to be seen whether the French can now hold what should be a strong river-line defensive position. The Germans look to have achieved this advance – not blitzkrieg by any means, more a grinding broad-front offensive – through a line of single, unsupported panzer divisions! The same can be said of the taking of Charme, a further south-east from St. Dizier. It seems the German’s belief in their national destiny has inspired a renewed will to win in the west. No doubt French Army Chief General Gamelin can only reflect (in some horror) what would have befallen France had the majority of the German Army not been drawn east two months ago by the declaration of the Great Liberation War!
On a brighter (though still marginal) note, French North African forces have launched a surprise raid on the Italian port of Cagliari in Sardinia! [Note: I didn’t see the exact date on which this happened, but for story purposes have assumed it occurred just after Luca Brasi’s fateful meeting there with Bruno Tattaglia.] It was the pre-landing preparations of the French Air Force and approaching invasion fleet that Cennet saw in the distance as she made it off the island in that fishing boat on 18 July. This will muddy the waters even further for Turkish efforts to discover what has happened there to its legendary S.I.T.H. operative. The French have not offered any information on his fate since occupying the city – not that Ögel would expect them to, given the fraught relationship between the French and Turkish intelligence agencies!
Turkey understands that French forces landed a few days later and have now secured the port and its surrounding province. Only one division and a corps HQ has landed and the French have provided no further information on their future intentions there. As at 31 July, they hold in place: no further French reinforcements have landed, nor is there any sign of Italian resistance on the island or of an effort to land troops in the north to counter the move. Which could be subject to air and sea interdiction and would draw forces from their other stretched fronts. We hope they try!
In southern France, no ground has been yielded by either side, though French strength has built along the front. As before, the Turkish Cabinet hopes this will not be to the detriment of the main front to the north. But it is French President Giraud’s business and the French are hardly going to listen to Turkish advice. Despite the relief provided by the Turkish-inspired eastern front and their shared battle against the Axis, the vicious spy wars and recent cession of Hatay by France to Turkey have not contributed to a warm working relationship. Businesslike at the strategic level and competitive at the micro level is the best that can be hoped for.
A closer look at Ethiopia shows how the country must have fallen to a joint Allied operation. What French forces were present would have been based in the French territories of Obock (which has a port) and Djibouti. Most of the Allied forces present are actually British, but must have operated from French territory, thus ceding the conquered territory to France until the puppet regime surrendered. Sporadic fighting continues around the region.
The British monthly ACCC report indicates most of their army remains deployed at home in the UK. With France still in the fight and Germany heavily engaged in the east and not even able (apparently) to invade Norway – which remains untouched – there is surely no imminent threat to the British homeland. But whether his heart is hard or simply absent, Chamberlain seems unwilling to provide the support the French so desperately need on the Western Front. Their next elections are due on 14 November this year. Unless something happens on the floor of the Parliament in the meantime, that will be next opportunity for a possible change of government.
Nor has Chamberlain apparently sent any more British forces to Egypt. Instead, they rely now on an Iraqi infantry corps which has almost made it to the desert battlefront. Despite this seeming British disinterest, they have made further progress and are now near to reclaiming the last Egyptian provinces still in Italian hands. If the hard-pressed Fascists are unable to divert any more forces to this front and the Iraqi troops fully engage, their whole position in North Africa now looks under severe threat. Way to the west, there has again been no movement on the French-Tunisian and Italian-Libyan border. RADM Cebesoy has been ordered to the Gulf of Bomba – but this time more to raid Axis convoys than to specifically keep an eye (or Mk1 Eyeball) on the land battle, which seems to be well in hand now.
4. Air War in the West
Finally, Turkish Air Force Chief Ali Örlungat is given the opportunity to present a report to the Cabinet. Since the early Turkish Wars of Expansion, he has not had much to talk about, except for the brief but very successful air campaign that supported the conquest of the Dodecanese Islands in June. That success and some additional lend-lease industrial capacity at least prompted the placement of an order for a wing of license-built Soviet Polykarpov I-16 interceptors, due for delivery in January 1941. The existing Turkish Air Force (a wing of Curtiss Hawk 3 biplane interceptors and a wing of Blenheim TAC bombers) still undergoes repair and refit in Irakleio, Crete, in preparation for a possible landing on Italian-occupied Rodi/Rhodes. Örlungat has a large map pinned to the Cabinet map-wall, which he uses to explain his report.
“The latest monthly reports from the French and British liaison officers in the ACCC have allowed us to piece together a reasonably accurate snapshot of current air strengths and recent engagements on the Western Front,” Örlungat starts. “The white number in the occupied air bases – identified in national colours on the map – is the total number of wings of all types based there. We don’t have details on the types and proportions present. In and around the Western Front, you can see that the British have a total of 18 wings, the French 10 and the Germans 23.”
"In the last week, there were reports of three bombing runs and three air battles over German-occupied Lille; plus one bombing and one air battle in each of the French provinces of Arras and St. Die. There was another air battle over the German airbase in occupied Metz. We have no more details of the results of the air battles or operational status of any of these units. But we do know the main types of aircraft currently engaged in the skies over France. Apart from those mainstays shown on the map, a wing of Curtiss P-40B Warhawk multi-role fighters in French colours has been spotted, while some German Me Bf-109G multi-role fighters have also been engaged by the allies. No German tactical bombers have been spotted in the West: ground attack all seems to be provided by the dreaded ‘Stuka’ CAS dive-bombers.”
“I will report later on what we have discovered on the Eastern Front.” With that, Örlungat finishes. His Cabinet colleagues are quite impressed: this is by far the most accurate and comprehensive report Örlungat has ever provided them of non-Turkish air power during the entire length of the war since it started in Poland the year before.
5. Giraud Addresses the French People
With the situation in mainland France steadily eroding and French surrender progress creeping up to 29.1%, the French leader Henri-Honoré Giraud feels motivated to make a speech to try to rally the nation. Let us first remind ourselves of his unique position of power in the new French Government, which has now been in office since 4 May 1940.
Henri-Honoré Giraud – wartime leader of France and a man of many parts.
Somewhat implausibly in light of recent French history – but no doubt driven by the desperate challenge France now faces – he has secured the offices of both President (Head of State) and Prime Minister (Head of Government), then adding to his position as Commander in Chief by taking the operational appointment of Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces. He is considered a conservative (ie paternal autocrat), stiff-necked old general, though the French no doubt hope he will be a man for his times. Though the war – and his self-perceived need to step into so many breaches at once – has (not surprisingly) made him weary. The lack of direct support from any substantial British expeditionary forces in France itself will have added to the enormous burden he now bears upon his shoulders. He is by all accounts very disappointed in the lethargic and luke-warm support Chamberlain has offered, though no-one expected any different and it seems there is nothing he can do about it.
Not all is gloomy, but on the all-important Western Front, his concerns mount inexorably, day by day. By holding the three most crucial positions of leadership for the prosecution of the French war effort, Giraud must accept not just the accolades of success and – against the odds when he took over – continued French resistance to the Bosch. The very survival of France is also now almost completely on his head alone. If he fails, so too does the nation and perhaps civilisation itself in the face of both Fascist aggression and - in his eyes – the potentially only slightly less catastrophic victory of Communism. But one enemy at a time, for now!
“To the brave men and women of France! We stand today with our backs to the wall, but our fronts turned towards an evil and depraved enemy. Be assured, we must fight to the last drop of blood and the last centime of treasure. For the only alternative to victory is annihilation and the extinguishment of all French freedom and culture.”
“We can be happy with some small victories – the liberation of Ethiopia from the Italian Fascists with the help of our British allies and the stopping of Mussolini’s perfidious and dastardly knife in the back. He will continue to find us an implacable enemy and regret the day he threw his lot in with the murderous Hitler and his despicable Nazi cohorts. His designs on the Suez Canal have also been thwarted and his previous gains are being rolled back in Egypt. And most recently, the news of the gallant French landings on Sardinia have shown him France can reach into his back yard and steal his chickens, even as the mighty French Rooster crows loudly in his hen-house!”
“But we face the fight of our generation here on our sacred French soil. Le Boche press us hard, though our brave army fights for every centimetre of our soil. Yet we must redouble our efforts! We must bleed our monstrous opponent to death, as we did a generation ago in the First Great War, where the help of allies from around the world ultimately saw tyranny defeated. The fight will again be bitter, but we must win it. As I have said, the alternative is too unbearable to live with. We must be prepared to lay down our lives resisting it.”
“All I can now offer you, my brave French compatriots, is the prospect of blood, toil, sweat and tears. But we will emerge once again from this vale of tears to sunlit fields, free from Nazi tyranny, to a land of peace and plenty. Forward, to victory! Vive la France!”
Thanks to roverS3 aka agent SkitalecS3 for pointing out and allowing me to correct a couple of French language errors. It’s all BJ Guildenstern’s fault !
As an aside, Lord El Pip has reported, after one of his whiskey-soaked cigar-smoking sessions with Churchill in London, that it was Winston who provided Giraud the “blood, toil, sweat and tears” line for his speech. Said Churchill: “I would have used this myself some day, had I been given the opportunity to lead the British nation in these dark times. Perhaps one day I shall. But until then, I would provide what little aid I can to our gallant French allies – as Chamberlain gives them little enough himself. If the Battle of France is lost, the Battle of Britain will surely follow.”
With France’s fate in the balance, Giraud must trust in his troops, hope for material assistance from his allies, look to the continued diversion by his Comintern co-belligerents and put his faith in God. How he will fare in his quest to save France remains uncertain: the enterprise rests on a knife’s edge.
Coming Up: That is the view from the West. It is the classic ‘mixed bag’: things are going best at the less important periphery, but worst where it really matters – in northern France. The future is uncertain. French (and vicariously, Turkish) hopes are kept barely flickering by the fact that Hitler has not allocated enough troops to the French front to finish them off quickly. If he took a more defensive stance in the east and had retained a few more divisions to finish the job in the west, the story may be different. And it could still turn for the worse. The next report will describe events from an eastern and Comintern perspective over the same period. It should be released shortly – as soon as the Turkish Propaganda Department’s staff can churn out the next edition of the Path to Glory. They seem to be having problems getting BJ Guildenstern to get it to the printer. What is happening there ?
Well as a french speaker I feel the need to point out that the french called the Germans "Le Boche", although "The Bosch" is quite funny, as if the German Army were an assortment of high quality Drills, Chainsaws, Circular Saws, Dishwashers, etc. So I'm not entirely sure that wasn't intentional.
Considering France is at war with Italy "Viva la France" is more than a typo it might serve as proof that Giraud has been replaced with an Italian lookalike who, although he speaks French well, makes some silly mistakes. It's supposed to be "Vive la France", "Viva la France" suggest either an Italian or a Spanish native speaker making a mistake while speaking French...
Otherwise a very moving speech.(especially the bit that was nicked from Churchill...)
I like the slightly changed format, you keep things varied and interesting that way.
I sure hope Luca Brasi is ok and nothing fishy has happened to him...
Glad to hear that Cennet got out of Cagliari before for the French got there.
Looking forward to seeing some action on the Turkish-Romanian-Soviet front...
A 3rd term for Roosevelt? Is that even constitutional?
For the Glory of Greater Turkey and the Comintern. Let's hope "Le Boche" gets crushed and Eastern European Totalitarism saves the day...
Well as a french speaker I feel the need to point out that the french called the Germans "Le Boche", although "The Bosch" is quite funny, as if the German Army were an assortment of high quality Drills, Chainsaws, Circular Saws, Dishwashers, etc. So I'm not entirely sure that wasn't intentional.
Considering France is at war with Italy "Viva la France" is more than a typo it might serve as proof that Giraud has been replaced with an Italian lookalike who, although he speaks French well, makes some silly mistakes. It's supposed to be "Vive la France", "Viva la France" suggest either an Italian or a Spanish native speaker making a mistake while speaking French...
Otherwise a very moving speech.(especially the bit that was nicked from Churchill...)
I like the slightly changed format, you keep things varied and interesting that way.
I sure hope Luca Brasi is ok and nothing fishy has happened to him...
Glad to hear that Cennet got out of Cagliari before for the French got there.
Looking forward to seeing some action on the Turkish-Romanian-Soviet front...
A 3rd term for Roosevelt? Is that even constitutional?
For the Glory of Greater Turkey and the Comintern. Let's hope "Le Boche" gets crushed and Eastern European Totalitarism saves the day...
Haha! Thanks - that’s what I get for finishing in haste instead of checking (and also taking notice of the stupid Word autocorrect, which actually changed my initial Boche and I wasn’t sure enough to change it back)! I will correct but acknowledge the erratum. And the Viva is a very ironically amusing mistake! I knew just enough to get myself into trouble and not check . Will correct that too, ‘cos I just don’t like wrong stuff.
Thanks for the comment on the latest format - I will probably use the approach a bit, while the east-west war split sees the two theatres basically functionally independent. Either within a chapter (as I’d been doing for a while) or in separate ones if there’s a longer narrative component that needs to be accommodated.
Luca? No spoilers there, but the next chapter may have more to say as the focus switches back to the east/Turkey . And the action will start for Turkey soon - I have been surprised by how reluctant the Axis has been to attack us so far!
I’d need to check to confirm (not being American so not having it at the front of my memory) but in OTL FDR did of course get his third term. The constitutional or legislative (or whatever it was) amendment I think came in afterwards perhaps even as a result of that third term. Anyway, if the game can make Giraud President and PM at the same time, I guess anything is possible .
Arturo Bocchini, (b. 12 February 1880) is Chief of Police under the Fascist regime of Benito Mussolini. Since 1926, Bocchini has headed both the regular police (Polizia di Stato) and the secret political police (OVRA). [What is it about these Fascist secret police types? He looks like he could walk onto the set of an Indiana Jones movie, to have his face melted at the end by the Ark of the Covenant!]
As Cagliari is about to slip over the horizon, she turns to head into the boat’s cabin, but pauses and turns back after she hears a distant booming. It looks like a heavy air raid is hitting the town. And is that the smoke of a large approaching fleet visible way to the south? That seems a little unusual … Cagliari had been untouched by the war so far. What is happening there?
I'm sure this will get covered later but it wouldnt surprise me if Kelebek had Sen the them in a double or triple blind mission to simply distract the Italians and the Mafia whilst the French and British gear up for an attack on Sicily or something.
President Jozef Tiso, Prime Minister Vojtech Tuka and Hlinka Guard leader Alexander Mach of the Slovak Republic meet with Hitler at the Berghof. Hitler demands that “Slovakia should adhere loyally and unequivocally to the German cause in her domestic politics.” [This news snippet from OTL is dedicated to @El Pip, with the most humble and deferential respect and felicitations. Brought to you by the Bratislava Hip Flask Company.]
Tirpitz is the second of two Bismarck-class battleships built for Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine (navy) during Second Great War. This nightmare-on-water was named after Grand Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz, the architect of the Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial Navy). The ship was laid down at the Kriegsmarinewerft Wilhelmshaven in November 1936 and her hull was launched two and a half years later. [In OTL work was completed in February 1941, but clearly in this ATL the Germans were quicker to see it fully commissioned].
It was a monster, to be sure. Following through on their companions' strategies of throwing away all of their resources on attacks that will only see inevitable defeat, the half sunk German navy decided to finish building their battleships anyway and send them out inot the North Sea.
I'll take bets to see how long they last now. With any luck, the Hood does them in. Or they vanish and aren't mentioned again for the entire war, which OTL would have been their fate incidentally, had it not been for the afore mentioned incident/bastard murdering of the most beautiful-
Whoops...sorry, some Veteran HOI commentators just snuck in there.
The Germans look to have achieved this advance – not blitzkrieg by any means, more a grinding broad-front offensive – through a line of single, unsupported panzer divisions! The same can be said of the taking of Charme, a further south-east from St. Dizier. It seems the German’s belief in their national destiny has inspired a renewed will to win in the west. No doubt French Army Chief General Gamelin can only reflect (in some horror) what would have befallen France had the majority of the German Army not been drawn east two months ago by the declaration of the Great Liberation War!
This is looking like late 1918 again. One side is exhausted but very dug in and the other is stretched razor thin and will break if the other side ever, eventually, invevitably, get the chance to push back. The war might well be over by Christmas if the Allie side break that line ecause there is very clearly nothing behind it until we get to the eastern front.
On a brighter (though still marginal) note, French North African forces have launched a surprise raid on the Italian port of Cagliari in Sardinia! [Note: I didn’t see the exact date on which this happened, but for story purposes have assumed it occurred just after Luca Brasi’s fateful meeting there with Bruno Tattaglia.] It was the pre-landing preparations of the French Air Force and approaching invasion fleet that Cennet saw in the distance as she made it off the island in that fishing boat on 18 July. This will muddy the waters even further for Turkish efforts to discover what has happened there to its legendary S.I.T.H. operative. The French have not offered any information on his fate since occupying the city – not that Ögel would expect them to, given the fraught relationship between the French and Turkish intelligence agencies!
A closer look at Ethiopia shows how the country must have fallen to a joint Allied operation. What French forces were present would have been based in the French territories of Obock (which has a port) and Djibouti. Most of the Allied forces present are actually British, but must have operated from French territory, thus ceding the conquered territory to France until the puppet regime surrendered. Sporadic fighting continues around the region.
That'll probably be made a protectorate of the British, if they actually have someone properly leading them by the end of the war. Can't see France getting it. They're not going to have much country or empire left by the end of this one (not if chamberlain and turkey have anything to say about it).
The British monthly ACCC report indicates most of their army remains deployed at home in the UK. With France still in the fight and Germany heavily engaged in the east and not even able (apparently) to invade Norway – which remains untouched – there is surely no imminent threat to the British homeland. But whether his heart is hard or simply absent, Chamberlain seems unwilling to provide the support the French so desperately need on the Western Front. Their next elections are due on 14 November this year. Unless something happens on the floor of the Parliament in the meantime, that will be next opportunity for a possible change of government.
They going after Ireland? Iceland maybe? Not sure what they're doing, unless the AI forgot how to deploy them overseas. Which wouldn't surprise me but still...
Nor has Chamberlain apparently sent any more British forces to Egypt. Instead, they rely now on an Iraqi infantry corps which has almost made it to the desert battlefront. Despite this seeming British disinterest, they have made further progress and are now near to reclaiming the last Egyptian provinces still in Italian hands. If the hard-pressed Fascists are unable to divert any more forces to this front and the Iraqi troops fully engage, their whole position in North Africa now looks under severe threat. Way to the west, there has again been no movement on the French-Tunisian and Italian-Libyan border. RADM Cebesoy has been ordered to the Gulf of Bomba – but this time more to raid Axis convoys than to specifically keep an eye (or Mk1 Eyeball) on the land battle, which seems to be well in hand now.
Good I guess, but where is the British army? What are they going to do in this war that they are supposed to be leading? Can chamberlain retire or get voted out already? I don't actually want to lose him from the government, just central command. Put him in the treasury again, he was good at that.
I fear for mainland France. German tanks with air support could still do a lot of damage and maybe make it to Paris if given half the chance. It feels like there is still too many German aircraft on the Western Front. I know they are outnumbered by the Allied aircraft but still....
I was always doubtful of SITH's chances when going up against someone even halfway competent and it appears things have not gone well. If Luca somehow makes it through this should serve as a wake up call that they have been getting a tad complacent, though as always I'm conflicted about rooting for this particular version of Turkey so I won't be too upset if it doesn't.
The war in the west goes as expected, the British AI continues to be confused by water and gets lost deploying troops. Had this been HOI2 it would have been fortress Hong Kong, dozens of British divisions standing on each others toes as they manned a super Gin Drinkers Line, all the while the rest of the Empire fell apart around them.
Top Slovakian interlude, now there is a worthy target that SITH can probably manage to take without too many loses.
Eurgh, why would I touch it? Paradox Slovakia that it, not regular Slovakia. No one comes out well under their unique lens for AI decision making.
I always say it is a good story that makes you sympathise with villains on purpose, a greater story if the author, every so often, reminds you exactly what kind of people they are too. Renember turkey is a nasty piece of work in this universe, her intelligence services are being ran by the devil incarnate, they use organised crime and the entire Soviet Union to get what they want and don't care that to get their own empire means sacrificing all of Europe to Stalin.
This is looking like late 1918 again. One side is exhausted but very dug in and the other is stretched razor thin and will break if the other side ever, eventually, invevitably, get the chance to push back. The war might well be over by Christmas if the Allie side break that line ecause there is very clearly nothing behind it until we get to the eastern front.
I fear for mainland France. German tanks with air support could still do a lot of damage and maybe make it to Paris if given half the chance. It feels like there is still too many German aircraft on the Western Front. I know they are outnumbered by the Allied aircraft but still....
I was always doubtful of SITH's chances when going up against someone even halfway competent and it appears things have not gone well. If Luca somehow makes it through this should serve as a wake up call that they have been getting a tad complacent, though as always I'm conflicted about rooting for this particular version of Turkey so I won't be too upset if it doesn't.
The war in the west goes as expected, the British AI continues to be confused by water and gets lost deploying troops. Had this been HOI2 it would have been fortress Hong Kong, dozens of British divisions standing on each others toes as they manned a super Gin Drinkers Line, all the while the rest of the Empire fell apart around them.
Top Slovakian interlude, now there is a worthy target that SITH can probably manage to take without too many loses.
Yes, the S.I.T.H. are but mortal too - except perhaps for Darth Kelebek! . Well, at least it isn't HOI2 then! And now, because of 'Inevitable Defeat', I can never pass a Tiso and Tuka historical reference by without picking it up and putting it in!
Eurgh, why would I touch it? Paradox Slovakia that it, not regular Slovakia. No one comes out well under their unique lens for AI decision making.
I always say it is a good story that makes you sympathise with villains on purpose, a greater story if the author, every so often, reminds you exactly what kind of people they are too. Renember turkey is a nasty piece of work in this universe, her intelligence services are being ran by the devil incarnate, they use organised crime and the entire Soviet Union to get what they want and don't care that to get their own empire means sacrificing all of Europe to Stalin.
No, not nice at all. They are firm believers in the necessary and, because it is necessary, it therefore isn't evil. Just right. Like might. No more Mr Nice Guys here!
Now, onto the next instalment soon. All written, just needs uploading and 'post-production'. Will do it in the morning (my time) - about half a day from now. It is very eventful!
Yeah, common mistake. Not helped by the fact that in some dialects descendant from French, Viva could actually be correct. Saying that, there is no real catchy way of saying it in Spanish or Italian (as you might expect, just because it's catchy in French doesn't mean it translates well).
Larga vida a Francia in Spanish.
Lungs vita alla Francia in Italian.
...and I think puissant poulet français, that is...powerful French chicken.
Wordy word fun fun!
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Chapter 86: Pravda - The Eastern Perspective (16 to 31 July 1940)
Chapter 86: Pravda - The Eastern Perspective (16 to 31 July 1940)
[Pravda: in Russian, Правда - 'Truth']
Pravda, 16 July 1940.
1. Prologue
The latest issue of the pre-eminent fortnightly Turkish state propaganda magazine, the Path to Glory, is due out shortly. But its editor-in-chief, New York advertising guru and expatriate propagandist Braanzson ‘BJ’ Guildenstern, is nowhere to be seen in the Ankara production office. His approval is needed for the final proofs. His loyal assistant, British beauty Persephonee Fotheringay-Phipps, is afraid he has once again over-indulged in whiskey (and God-knows-what-else) and is this very minute collapsed and comatose in his office. She opens the door, to see …
… no-one in the room. On BJ’s desks is a single envelope.
It is addressed to her. She opens it and begins to read.
Perse,
Yesterday, the Department Head came into my office and asked me to take over a new project they have cooked up. They reckon the Istanbul Times, while it has its place, is no longer in tune with the new zeitgeist of the Glorious Union, especially now Turkey is part of the Comintern.
They want something that can be a new, Turkish-language populist vehicle for wartime Turkish and pro-Soviet propaganda. It will be called “Türk Doğrusu” or ‘The Turkish Truth’. No doubt, based closely on the Soviet version. He asked me to become its new editor straight away.
It is a new and prestigious position, extolling the many virtues of Kemalism-Inönüism and Comintern membership with Turkish characteristics. It is for now a top-secret task, so you are the only one I am letting in on it.
He gave me a one-way ticket to Istanbul and told me to be on the next flight. Faced with such an offer – especially in these dark days - I could do no different. By the time you read this, I will already have left. (P.T.O.)
Perse turns the letter over, to find out what instructions BJ may have left for the next issue of the ‘P2G’.
My flight to Istanbul will connect straight away to a TWA flight to Bombay, then I think eventually back to good old New York. The prospect of running that low-grade, imitation Communist propaganda sheet was the last straw. I’m outta here. It’s been great working with you Perse – I love you and your work – but that’s it sweetheart. I’ve taken all my ill-gotten gains from this caper in cash lira.
Up to you, but you can either stay, help explain my sudden absence and work for the next guys they give the job to, or do the same as I have. Whatever you decide to do, good luck!
Missing you already,
Braanzson
---xxx---
The new TWA Boeing 307 Stratoliner, introduced into service on 9 May 1940. One of the first routes it was used to service [in this ATL] was the Istanbul-Bombay-Manila-Hawaii-Los Angeles run, established to bypass the dangerous conflict zones over Europe and the Mediterranean, where being a neutral passenger aircraft was little guarantee of safety. BJ was a grateful passenger on the 16 July service, his only luggage a large bag stuffed with cash, valuables and a bottle of premium whiskey for the trip. Well, for the first leg, anyway!
BJ Guildenstern at Istanbul Airport: “I’m outta here!” Up, up and away, back Stateside.
This turn of events has certainly given Perse something to think about: is this a threat or an opportunity? She heads back to her own office and starts scribbling on her easel, freshly equipped with butcher’s paper for strategizing.
2. General News and Events
20 Jul 40
Bern, Switzerland. Ambassador Vatan ‘Vito’ Ceylan is in his study at the Turkish Embassy, looking at reports from all over his network in Western Europe. Things are grim: the spy enclave in Paris is down to three agents and remains in hiding: while the Turkish spies are able to evade the hopeless Inspector Clouseau, their numbers have been thinned in recent times by the far more efficient South Africans. Turkey does not have the numbers to start up any new networks yet: two agents have been trained at S.I.T.H. in Ankara, but more than that is required to start up a new network with any prospect of success. With leadership chronically low (as always) and in demand across all disciplines, only 0.20 LS can be allocated to spy training. Ceylan would like to establish a new network in Italy, but that is some way off.
For now, their special ‘wet ops’ agents are all that can be spared there, and now they may be one short of those too. He has just received a report from Kelebek, currently in Rome debriefing Cennet on the disrupted mission in Sardinia. No news has been heard of Luca Brasi since. He may be dead, or may have gone into hiding and been unable to make contact, especially after the surprise French invasion of Cagliari. The Italian OVGA may have him, or Clouseau, the Tattaglias or even the South Africans.
Downstairs, a number of Ceylan’s operatives are gathered in the kitchen of the Residence. As they sit around talking cheap and rough, the guard at the front gate reports a package has been delivered, marked for the Ambassador. It has been gift wrapped. One of the men at the kitchen table is Ceylan’s son, Sanalp (Turkish ‘famous and brave’) ‘Sonny’ Ceylan He is not a S.I.T.H. member, but is part of Turkey's clandestine 'diplomatic service' - meaning he is of course Second Secretary for Artistic and Cultural Affairs in Bern. No-one will suspect him of being a spy with such an appointment (ahem ) .
“Let’s check it before we take it to the Old Man,” says Sonny. “Can’t be too careful these days.”
One of his off-siders does so, unwraps it and brings it into the room.
(0.18 min) Home delivery, Sicilian style.
"Hey, Pa, look what we just got,” says Sonny, as he hurriedly opens the door of Vito’s study to show him the ‘special delivery’ they have just received.
“It had a card attached: it says ‘Bruno Tattaglia sends his regards'!”
Vito says nothing. He just closes his eyes for a few seconds, then gently waves his son away. He knows exactly what this means, as he instantly recognises Luca’s ubiquitous bullet-proof vest.
Vito laments Luca’s loss. He turns to his gramophone and puts on Albinoni’s Adagio, in remembrance of the ex-Mafia tough guy turned Turkish patriot and enforcer. As he sits back, closes his eyes and listens to the mournful chords, his imagination takes him on a short, strange journey of sad and regretful recollection …
(2:57 min) Albinoni’s Adagio in G Minor – a fanciful remembrance. And is that an image of Kelebek intruding in the man behind the mask, messing with Cennet!?
Ceylan then returns to business. There is a Secret War to be fought that will always be bigger than one man, no matter his strength or legend. He has not the slightest pang of conscience at having sent Brasi to his demise. That is war. Those wishing for a long and peaceful life did not join the Turkish S.I.T.H.!
21 Jul 40
The Armament (War) Ministry has assessed that Turkey finally has enough spare production (currently sitting at 111 IC in total, including 32 lend lease from the Soviets, with manpower of 151) to spend a couple on a new garrison brigade. The hope is to gradually build enough to hold key ports in rear areas, releasing more manouevre units for the front, where Turkey has enough (they hope) to hold the line, but not to generate a major offensive.
News Report: Moscow, USSR.The Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republics are established, following the unanimous vote of the entire population of each former country in the recent completely free and fair ballot. They would now be established as republics within the Soviet Union – in the Turkish style.
26 Jul 40
Yet another spy from neighbouring Afghanistan is captured. No-one even bothers interrogating them anymore. They are simply despatched and buried in unmarked graves. Another few lire is taken off the retail value of humanity in this miserable Second Great War.
27 Jul 40
There is another slight rise in IC to 112 and slightly decreased upgrade costs – so another garrison brigade is queued.
29 Jul 40
An Iraqi spy is captured trying to infiltrate the War Ministry – he joins his Afghan colleague in the next world.
31 Jul 40
Naval Report. In the Far East, the Japanese have sunk three Soviet submarine flotillas in the last two weeks.
Diplomatic Update. Aras makes a special report to the Cabinet on Finland. They are being influenced by the Germans and are now almost completely aligned diplomatically with the Axis. They have not yet joined, but could at any time. While they were humbled by the Soviets early in the year, that border is now far less heavily held and their entry to the war on Germany's side would open up a new front and could prove a nuisance to our Soviet allies. Let’s hope that doesn’t occur.
3. Far East
The Soviets continue to their long retreat from Vladivostok: 23 July sees a few stragglers having been captured, but the bulk of the units are still just ahead of their Japanese pursuers.
Japanese troops continue the pursuit along the coast, but can’t quite seem to catch the bulk of their Soviet opponents, with only infantry units to conduct the advance.
By 31 July, it is clear the very rapid Japanese gains of June have slowed. To the north-west of the remaining units of the retreating Soviet 25th Army, the Japanese have been unable to close the neck of a prospective pocket. They have renewed the attack in the south, but have only advanced a few provinces in the last two weeks, as the Soviets withdraw ever further north, towards relative safety (so long as they keep moving). The Soviets are, however, a long way from being able to stabilise a line of defence.
And back to the west, the Romanian relief column still makes its slow way by rail to the Far East: they are now passing to the north of the Caspian Sea. A comparatively small number of Soviet units (not all shown on this map) is spread out, heading in the same direction.
4. Eastern Front - Soviet Sector
The fierce fighting for the fortified East Prussian border province of Gumbinnen has barely let up since the war in the east began. Far from the hoped-for Soviet breakout from there which had seemed possible just a few days before, by the morning of 19 July a German counter-attack has once again retaken it.
German infantry taking part in the successful counter-attack on Gumbinnen, 18 July 1940. No major German panzer divisions have yet been sighted on the Eastern Front: they all appear to still be in France. The Germans seemed to have abandoned the concept of combined arms at the operational level!
The desperate fighting for Gumbinnen takes another turn, with the Soviets once again storming the province, seizing it back from the tired German occupiers in the early morning of 21 July, before the Fascists could reorganise and dig in!
Soviet troops assaulting German positions in Gumbinnen on 20 July. Stalin seems determined to take this province. And Hitler to hold it!
31 July sees Gumbinnen yet again back in German hands, with the Soviet troops expelled, having retreated to the two provinces to its east. In the north, the Lithuanian SSR province of Rietavas has once more fallen under the German jackboot, but their hold looks tenuous as units to its south appear to be retreating, with Soviet forces on the advance to Memel. And to the south of Gumbinnen, the Germans have again taken Augustow, though it is only occupied by one infantry division. To the immediate north-west of Brest-Litovsk, the ‘swing province’ of Bielsk Podlaski has been retaken by two Soviet divisions. But to the north of that, Soviet divisions are in retreat, though others come to counter-attack.
On the southern or ‘Polish’ segment of the Soviet sector, the Germans have dislodged the Soviets from their advanced positions in Bilgoraj. While the Soviets expanded their bridgehead over the Bug River into Wlodawa, by 31 July the three divisions there look to have themselves been dislodged by yet another German counter-attack. Otherwise, despite continued fighting, no further net gains of territory were made by either side on this part of the front in the preceding two weeks.
All this news of the war is, of course, available to soldiers and people alike in that magnificent publication, the very aptly named Pravda!
A Soviet soldier in Moscow reads the latest issue of Pravda. Which everyone knows contains the pravda, the whole pravda and nothing but the pravda!
5. Romanian Sector
In the north, it is Gumbinnen. Here in the south, the tug-of-war continues in the much fought-over Hungarian border city (and VP location) of Debrecen.
Debrecen railway station, 17 July 1940. The heavy fighting for the city shows no sign of relenting. Axis forces are reported on the outskirts, with the Soviet defenders in the process of pulling out again.
Very early on 18 July, Debrecen passes back under Hungarian control. It will remain in their hands this time until the end of the month, though the provinces around it will be the scene of more heavy fighting. As at 31 July, Soviet forces – now very active in this sector – have taken Nyíregyhá to the north of Debrecen and Karcag, Békés and Békéscsaba to its south. The Red Army advanced as far as Szolnok, but it was retaken by Axis forces towards the end of the month. To the south of this Soviet breakthrough, the Axis retook Hódmezövasarárhaly and Kanjiza, but Soviet forces liberated Senta. In this sector, the honours have gone to the Comintern over the last two weeks.
6. Turkish Sector
The Turkish Yeniçeri Line has finally seen some action. At 1300 on 20 July, Inönü received word from MAJGEN Gürler, commanding 6 Inf Div (3 INF + 1 ARTY) in Ada, that he was under attack by the elite Italian 4th Alpini Div, advancing from Srboban. Two further German infantry divisions are in reserve, attacking from two different provinces. The attack is substantial, but 6 Inf Div and 10 Inf Div (Lt) (2 x INF + 1 AT, commanded by MAGJEN Noyan) should be able to hold the Italians, but the story may change if one or both of the German reserve divisions are able to reinforce. The Soviet tank division shown was already passing through and will not be available for the battle. This will be a test for two of Turkey's more inexperienced junior generals.
Italian troops from the 4th Alpini Division in Srboban prepare for the first attack of the war by Axis forces on Turkish troops, 20 July 1940.
In the early hours of 21 July, two wings of Italian tactical bombers start attacking the Turkish position in Ada. Hungarian planes can also be seen approaching from the north, ready to take their turn next.
By 0900 that morning, despite Hungarian TAC now hitting Ada, the Italian attacker’s organisation can be seen to be failing and the Germans have not been able to reinforce yet. At midday, reports of the Hungarian air raid indicate another 137 Turkish troops were killed, but the Italian Alpini continue to fade fast.
Afternoon of 21 July 1940: despite air attack and the threat of German reinforcement, Turkish infantry continue to defend Ada stoutly.
A second Hungarian air raid for the day again kills 137 Turkish soldiers, but that evening the Italians retreat, never having been backed up by their German compatriots. The probing attack lasted a little more than a day. While it was comfortably defeated in the end, Axis air power had a major effect (killing 370, while land combat only killed 47 Turkish troops). Italian casualties were high, with 660 killed. The Turkish Army has passed its first test of the war – but more serious challenges are bound to be faced.
With impeccably bad timing and an even worse selection of location, just after midnight on 25 July Yugoslav partisans stage an uprising in Sjenica! Right next door to Inönü’s 1st Army HQ (itself now armed with a militia brigade for rear-area security) in Kraljevo. Worse, Kraljevo also contains the army’s strategic reserve, the hard-driving MAJGEN Wehib Pasha’s now fully mechanised 1 Cav Div! This should be brief and not very pretty.
1 Cav Div makes contact with the rebels just one hour after receiving their orders to attack! But the partisans are better prepared and organised than expected: they put up a fight and only yield after 21 hours of resistance, melting back into the countryside after sustaining 196 killed, taking five Turkish cavalry troopers with them.
With no other attacks – on land or by air – for the rest of the month, the only change in province ownership is (as previously mentioned) on the boundary with the Romanian sector, where the Soviet 19th Tank Div has pushed the Germans out of Senta, to the north of Ada, the latter of which proved to be the only battle for Turkish forces in the Balkans for the first two months of the war.
7. Air Operations Report – Eastern Theatre
On 31 July, Turkish Air Chief Örlungat rises again at the Cabinet table to report on the broad air situation on the Eastern front and on the Turkish Air Force’s recovery progress in Crete. He puts up another map on the wall, this time far more general in scope: the front is large and there has been so much activity, only an outline view will be provided. Many ground attacks and air battles have been fought, mainly on the Soviet and Romanian sectors. Many of these attacks by the Germans indicate between 12-16 air raids per province in many cases, during just the last week. Most Soviet activity in response was in Eastern Prussia and some on the southern part of the old Polish border.
“On the German side, visible air units as at 31 July total 18 German and seven Hungarian wings. Another four German wings were observed in Vienna (Wien), but they seem to be out of operational range. The Italian aircraft observed bombing Ada earlier in the month could not be located. No German interceptors appear to be active on the Eastern Front. A few Me Bf-109G multirole aircraft were sighted, but most of the wings seem to be made up of Stukas and Heinkel He-111 tactical bombers (none of which were sighted on the Western Front in the corresponding period). The Hungarian Air Force is made up of a mix of aircraft, seeming to consist mainly of tactical bombers (the Junkers Ju-86) and interceptors (Fiat CR.32 Freccia biplanes), with a few close air support aircraft (the Breda Ba.65) thrown in.”
“Soviet air strength on or near the Eastern Front totals 16 wings. They have tactical bombers (the Yak-4) deployed forward, operating out of Minsk, Nowogrodec and Stanislawow. Five fighter wings (Polykarpov I-16s) are located in Kholm, but they are being held well back from the front and would appear to be out of range. More wings are located just off the map to the north, in Saareema (one CAS) and Tallinn (two more INT) which would be in range of the fighting on the north of the border with East Prussia. The Romanians have their TAC and INT wings back in Bucharest and taking no apparent part in the action – if they tried, they would be badly outnumbered by the Hungarian Air Force, so this is probably wise.”
“That concludes my report on the air situation on the Eastern Front. Here are some identification shots of the major aircraft operating on the Eastern Front not already covered by reports from the West.”
With that, Örlungat pauses and allows his Cabinet colleagues to absorb this wide-ranging report. The air war is certainly hot in the east on all but (thankfully) the Turkish sector!
Top: the German Heinkel He-111 tactical bomber. Centre: A Junkers Ju-86 tactical bomber, in Hungarian colours. Bottom: the Hungarian-operated Fiat CR.32 Freccia interceptor.
Soviet aircraft currently operating on the Eastern Front. Top: the Polykarpov I-16 interceptor. Centre: the Sukhoi Su-2 Ivanov close air support aircraft. Bottom: a Yakovlev Yak-4 tactical bomber, which has so far been the workhorse of the Soviet Air Force. They are fortunate that the lack of significant German fighter strength in the east has enabled them to keep up a fair rate of effort so far, without being blasted out of the sky.
Örlungat finishes off his briefing with a quick report on the refitting of the Turkish Air Force in Irakleio after the successful but continuous and demanding air campaign to help retake the Dodecanese in mid-June. By 31 July, both wings (the bombers personally commanded by Örlungat himself when in battle) are now fully reorganised and ready again for battle. Scouts report the Italians now have two wings (composition unknown) installed on Rhodes/Rodi. The Romanian have taken some initiative and have now stationed their wing of naval bombers in Crete as well, operating out of the airfield in Chania.
A decision will now have to be made about whether an operation to take Rhodes should be launched. The first order of business will be a reconnaissance mission by Hitay’s fighter wing to see what the Italians have there, in the air, on the ground and in the port. Even one wing of relatively modern Italian fighters could be too much for the meagre and backward Turkish Air Force to handle.
8. Epilogue
The same two Turkish staffers from the Foreign Affairs Ministry in Ankara we met a few chapters ago are once again taking a lunch break. Over coffee and baklava, they recall the reports and records of conversation they have just been drafting on the immediate lead-up to the declaration of the Great Liberation War on the Axis. At the end of May, the German Ambassador to Ankara had insisted on a personal demarche, to President Inönü himself. Here is one of the records they are discussing:
Foreign Minister Aras turned to the President, asking: “Shall we call in the Ambassador, my President?”
“Not yet, Aras,” Inönü had replied. “Before we hear him, there are some weighty matters that must be resolved, concerning us and the Axis.”
Inönü turned then to Interior Minister Kaya. “My learned Minister, please proceed to enumerate our just legal claims and grievances against the Axis powers. Should international law and our continued membership of the League of Nations bar us in our proposed course? And will Stalin be bound to help us in our cause, should we declare war on Germany and call upon our Comintern brothers? And do be careful Kaya, for God knows how many now live that will shed their blood to fulfil our claims and end the Fascist menace, should we make that call.”
“So, Aras, Kaya, Örlungat: take heed you three how you advise me and how you wake our sleeping sword of war, in God’s name! For never two such factions did contend without the loss of countless lives, whose guiltless souls will every one be a misery and a condemnation, a sore complaint against us if we wrongly go to war without the support of the Soviets. Speak, Kaya, for I will hear, note and believe in my heart what you advise and, if we are in the right and our Comintern pact honoured, will go to war with a clear conscience.”
“Milli Çef, our claims against the Germans are strong.” Aras nods in support and Kaya continues. “Our fellow League of Nations members have been outrageously attacked by the vile usurper Hitler. As clear as the summer sun, we may exercise our right to support the Allies. And by the tenets of the Comintern, the Soviets would be absolved of their non-aggression pact with the Nazi’s and be free to honour our agreements, should the Axis reciprocate our declaration. Stalin has assured us he would march with us to war to uphold this Comintern agreement. Each conclusion follows the next, by law and moral principle.”
“So I may with right and conscience make this declaration of war?” asks Inönü, seeking absolute confirmation.
“Yes, my Milli Çef,” chimes in Aras. “Stand for your own. Unwind the national battle-flag. Look back to your mighty predecessor. Go to Atatürk’s tomb, invoke his warlike spirit!”
“Yes, my General and President,” says Chief of Staff Örlungat. “We will together defeat the full power of Germany. They will behold the sons of Turkey and the Glorious Union as we bleed the Fascist leadership dry. Our noble Soviet allies will take on the full force of the Axis as we stand by laughing in our defences, all out of work and cold for action!”
After more such enthusiastic – bordering on obsequious – encouragement, Inönü is set upon his course for war.
“We must not only arm to confront the Germans, but be prepared to defend against the Italians and Hungarians, who will make inroad on us with all the opportunistic advantages they can bring to bear," notes the President, with a degree of caution.
“My General and President, our planned Yeniçeri Line will be a wall sufficient to defend our heartland from those pilfering neighbours,” assures Örlungat.
Kaya concludes the discussion: “Therefore to the former Yugoslavia, Glorious Milli Çef, send the bulk of our forces and the rest leave to defend our own ports from the Italian dogs. If we show fear now our nation will lose its reputation for hardiness and strong policy in the face of the Fascist threat.”
“Very well, call in the German Ambassador!”
Inönü awaits that worthy, fully ready to hear his brazen demarche and to reply in kind.
The two diplomats finish their reminiscing for now, as their lunch hour draws to a close. They agree to meet again and discuss once more the great events to which they have borne witness, the better to learn and preserve the lessons for posterity.
---xxx---
Coming Up: What will Ceylan, Kelebek and Cennet do now that Luca Brasi is lost to them, with no grave at which to mourn their fallen comrade? Will we ever hear from BJ Guildenstern again, or will he take his winnings and disappear back into the plush corner office of some advertising agency in New York? Or perhaps some more sun-drenched paradise? Will Perse stay or go? And who might the Turks decide to hire to replace Guildenstern? Despite his sudden departure, he had proved a great success for them – but they now needed someone who could sing the tune of the new Glorious Comintern ‘People’s Empire’ of Turkey! Will Mrs Sadik’s only son Metin and his 15 Inf Div comrades once again find themselves storming the beaches of another Mediterranean island just off Turkey’s coast? Can they afford another naval landing, this time on Rhodes, or is the risk now too great?
And in the broader GW2, can France rally to the brave words of President Giraud and cling on in the West, hoping for either an ally to come to their aid or the Germans to be exhausted in the East, before France succumbs? Will Chamberlain's Britain do more than allow others to largely fight their wars on the continent and in Egypt? Will the Turks and their Comintern allies now begin to come under more sustained pressure, with the German belief in their ‘Destiny’ beginning to tell? The Far East may prove the Comintern’s Achilles’ Heel – when will the long retreat finally end? And finally, how will the US ‘Sleeping Giant’ view the world events now unfolding?
---xxx---
Editors Note: Many questions: some may actually be answered, while new ones are bound to be raised in the chapters that follow. As always, many thanks for reading. All comments, large or small, strategic, tactical or narrative are very much welcome. They are a writAAR’s life blood.
PS: Have dear readers now deduced what the new dramatic inspiration is, as revealed in the Epilogue, through the continued recollections of our two diplomatic acquaintances? NB: the continuing potpourri of Godfather story lines doesn’t count! That’s just a given .
Excellent choice from Guildenstern, one can only hope Perse follows him out. Things will go wrong for Turkey at some point, no nation ever goes to war and has everything go well, and at that point the leadership will look for scapegoats. They will not have the honesty to admit their own mistakes, so it's the non-Turks that will be blamed. Get out now, while the going is good.
Perse must remember that self-love is not so vile a sin as self-neglecting.
"Hey, Pa, look what we just got,” says Sonny, as he hurriedly opens the door of Vito’s study to show him the ‘special delivery’ they have just received.
Can't say I wasn't expecting this... something fishy indeed...
Our Red Army seems to be moving quite slowly, especially in the northern part of the front.
If the Turkish Army can get a few more regulars near the Yeniceri line, you could use a few Divisions to assist the Invasion of Hungary. Pulling away more Axis units from the Yeniceri line and the Soviet front. It's risky of course, as it would mean at least slightly thinning your defences on the line... From a Soviet point of view, we would love to see more active involvement of the Turkish Army now that the Yeniceri line is clearly stable, and you have the industrial capacity to build up reserves...
At least not too many units were lost to the Japanese, I'm hopeful that they will soon be able to stabilise a front against the Japanese, and stop running... The Romanians are on their way, so even if they keep running those guys will surely stop the Japs!
I like the Air overviews. (OOC: How do you figure out which planes your enemies currently have in their units? Do you execute a very short targeted tagging session? (no peeking at anything else... see my signature) Or do you just guess?)
It was sad to see the Turkish army being bombed, and the Air force powerless to do anything about it... That has to be bad for morale...then again, they were slaughtering the Italians on the ground, so they mustn't have minded the bombs that much...
I hope Rhodi will be easily conquered, but I'm not exceedingly hopeful either... Good luck on securing the North-Eastern Mediterranean.
Guildestern is a traitor! Who wouldn't want to work for "The Truth", if we ever get an opportunity, we will take him out for his insubordination and his lack of faith in the Comintern's truth, the only place for traitors like him is the Gulag...
The most secretive circles of the GRU Turkish department mourn the passing of a great man.
As with the rest of the AAR, Luca’s fate was not predetermined. It wasn’t really until Bruno Tattaglia looked him in the eye that it turned out the way it did. His luck finally ran out. But one door closes for him and may open for another ...
Yes, the Turkish command, as you know, has been wanting the troop strength to be able to generate some tactical superiority. Some is being built but will take time to come on line. We were also hoping for a few EFs too, but haven’t got any yet.
I just want to make sure I have enough on hand to be able to resist a real Axis attack: that initial probe could have been a lot worse and more may come. But, unlike with France, the Soviets are giving as good as they get for now, so I’ll be patient while preparing something for a counter-attacking hammer blow. And Hungary would be a good candidate: I’d love to knock them out of the war (and have dreamed of doing it for a long time).
The air overview was a micro-tag with one eye shut just to check which plane types were in operation. I thought it was fair enough to be aware of the types of aircraft (plenty being engaged and shot down by wartime allies in the west and the east). And also if types of certain aircraft you know them to have are not seen at all on one front or another. I could have looked for sightings on screen shots and looked at the license screens etc, but it may not have been accurate and time is limited.
In this case, I have erred on the side of the narrative and will update the situation every once in a while. Otherwise there’s an important part of the war we should know about that just doesn’t get reported. Glad you liked the reports: won’t be every chapter in such detail though.
The numbers of wings (total, not by types) are freely visible on the air screens. And as there’s nothing I can do about the German or Hungarian Air Forces at the moment ... the place I didn’t even look at other than the Turkish air screen was Rhodes, so as not to spoil my own surprise .
BJ may be gone and Perse pondering her next move, but the Turks definitely want someone with just the right skills and enthusiasms needed to run the new ‘Turkish Truth’. No spoiler here, but they may already have someone in mind
BJ certainly knew when he left he needed to do it pronto, lest he wind up in his own personal performance of Midnight Express in Istanbul. He’s just a mercenary though, and he gave an indication way back when the shift to the Comintern was first mooted that he would find it hard to take. He’s a rampant capitalist at heart and couldn’t muster the old enthusiasm any more.
I don’t think he will pursued by the Turks the same way Trotsky has been targeted by the Soviets. He’s just not important enough and the Turks don’t have the same resources. Mind you, if he were to decide to write a hostile kiss and tell expose of his time with the regime, he could find Kelebek emerging from some dark shadow one night ...
Excellent choice from Guildenstern, one can only hope Perse follows him out. Things will go wrong for Turkey at some point, no nation ever goes to war and has everything go well, and at that point the leadership will look for scapegoats. They will not have the honesty to admit their own mistakes, so it's the non-Turks that will be blamed. Get out now, while the going is good.
Perse must remember that self-love is not so vile a sin as self-neglecting.
Ah, his driving instincts were indeed greed (which he believes is good), self-preservation and boredom. Which you have implied in your comments. Altruists are few and far between in this world.
Perse has a big decision to make and some deep reasons for what she will decide. It will all become clear in the end
).
