Episode XIII: Operation Powder Keg
29th of April 1943 – 17th of August 1944
The Danube Pact, or Donaupakt, had had some trouble in the beginning of the war in the Balkan. But by the end of 1942, they had made some advances, but not far. The Yugoslavian and Romanian forces fought brave and defended their territory well. They were able to do this because of the supplies Russia sent in their aid. But with the fall of Odessa and the Crimea peninsula, those supply lines were cut off and Austria had the upper hand. The Austrian military high command now prepared for their biggest campaign yet: Operation Powder Keg. By using the simple technique of divide and conquer, the Donaupakt forces would advance through Yugoslavia and Romania. On the 29th of April 1943, the operation began. The strategy behind the idea of divide and conquer was similar to the NATO strategy in Africa: make promises of more autonomy for minorities if they join your side and then simply wait on large numbers of Croatian, Bosnian, Albanian and Hungarian volunteers to turn up. After a few months, it became clear that the Yugoslavian army only existed of Serbian troops and were not able to hold any territory that was not a majority Serb area. As a result, Yugoslavia crumbled under the marching Austrian troops. Zagreb was the first major city to fall on the 20th of May, Sarajevo, the city where Franz Ferdinand was shot almost 30 years ago, followed on the 15th of June. With his Kingdom falling apart all around him, Prince Paul had no other option but to capitulate when the Austrian finally reached the core of his realm, Serbia. With Belgrade escaping complete destruction just barely, Yugoslavia capitulated on the 3rd of July 1943. After holding the front for nearly a year, the Yugoslavian war machine just collapsed with the effectiveness of the Austrian divide and conquer technique.
Yugoslavian soldiers, May 1943.
Romania was a harder nut to crack. Far less minorities were living in the country than Austria had expected. Later it was suspected that the Romanian government was somehow responsible for this. An extra difficulty were the Carpathian mountains, a natural boundary for the Romanian army. Romania also had a closer position to Russia, so that some of the supplies still found their way to the Romanian front. Nonetheless, Hungarian and Austrian forces tried to break through the Romanian lines. They were finally able to do so by going around the Carpathian mountains, through German controlled Ukraine. Although the infrastructure could barely support an advance through there, the Austrians managed to take the Romanians by surprise. Because of the fact that they had entrenched themselves in the mountains, they were not prepared for an encirclement. With the Austrians now coming from behind, a massive retreat was ordered. The Romanian army staff hoped to reach Bucharest before the Austrians would. The plan was to set up a new defensive perimeter around the capital, while using the Movileni river in the north as a defensive line against the advancing Austrians and Hungarians. On the 20th of June, this defensive position was complete, but it did not take into account a possible capitulation of the Yugoslavians and thus left their west flank open for an attack. When the Yugoslavians capitulated, the Austrians saw the weakness in the Romanian plan and invaded from the west. Highly disorganized and surprised, the Romanians were easily overrun and defeated. Bucharest fell on the 18th of July and so did Romania.
Romanian soldiers entrenched near Bucharest, July 1943.
The war in the Balkans was over, Yugoslavia’s puppet Albania quickly signed a ceasefire two days after the Yugoslavian surrender, as puppet of Romania, Bulgaria did the same on the 20th of July. However, the area would soon see another separate war, as Greece took advantage of the turmoil of the Second Great War and declared war on Turkey. Neither side joined one of the great factions involved in the Second Great War. The Turkish out of fear of being overrun by the Russians and the Greek out of fear of the Austrians who had just conquered the whole Balkan area. Turkey was a country in ruins after the Ottoman Empire was dismantled by the Axis forces. Rashidi Arabia, Persia and Egypt had joined forces in the Axis and attacked the Ottomans. As a result, they lost all their possessions in the Middle East and were driven back to Anatolia and Istanbul. On the 5th of February 1944, three days after the massive German defeat in Volgograd, Greece invaded European Turkey. Their objective was to conquer Istanbul and the west coast of Turkey. Ever since the Greek independence in the 19th century, the Megali Idea was very popular. The Megali Idea basically wanted to unite everyone of Greek culture inside the Greek nation. But in recent years, as Greece lost the First Weltkrieg, those ideas became more radical and instead of just making Greece great again, many wanted a restoration of the former Byzantine glory.
Reach of the Megali Idea in Greek Politics.
The Balkan War of 1937, in which the Belgrade Pact composed of Serbia, Greece and Romania invaded Bulgaria, was the first step in getting closer to the ancient Byzantine capital of Constantinople. Soon, the Hagia Sofia would be an Orthodox monument again, and as the Ottoman vandalism would be removed, the beautiful image of Christ would once again be revealed. Thousands of young Greek men were rallied to liberate the city, but they didn’t know how hard it would be. Turkey had undergone much change since the fall of the Ottoman Empire. A man named Mustafa Kemal Pasha had reformed the country into a modern state. This included long due army reforms. When Kemal Pasha died in 1938, his successor continued his work. These army reforms would prove vital in the coming war. The first objective for the Greeks was taking the islands in the Aegean sea and advancing as much as possible towards Istanbul. The islands would be a staging ground for the naval invasion of the Turkish west coast. Taking the islands was a matter of time, as the Greek population was becoming unruly and made an effort of harassing Turkish garrisons and destroying their coastal fortifications. By the end of April 1944, the Aegean Sea was rid of Turkish control. The Turkish mainland was now in sight, but so were the thousands of bunkers and forts protecting it.
Mustafa Kemal Pasha, leader of Turkey from 1937 to 1938. In this short period of time he transformed the failing Ottoman Empire in a modern Turkey.
At the same time, the push towards Istanbul had already made it to Edirne, the first major Turkish city on the European side of the country. On the 8th of March, Edirne fell to the Greek, it had taken a month of bombardments and raids, and much of the city lay in ruins. Nonetheless, the Greek flag was now waving over the city as it was renamed Adrianopolis, its original Greek name. Renaming Turkish cities proved to be a huge boost to morale for the Greek and soon after Adrianopolis was taken, the first Greek settlers arrived to rebuild the city into a more Greek image. On the 20th of May, the next major Turkish city fell: Tekirdag. The city was promptly renamed to Bisanthe, the name it had in ancient times and was the origin of the name of a great empire: Byzantium. The road to Istanbul was open, but not before a Turkish counterattack in June, which delayed the Greek advance. It was originally planned that Istanbul would be attacked in late June and that at the same time, the naval invasions in the west coast would begin, but with the delay, those plans had to be shelfed. A new plan was drawn to make it even harder for the Turkish to distribute their defences evenly. The Greeks would invade Cyprus and from there on they would try and land in Southern Anatolia.
Greek soldiers raising the flag in Adrianopolis, 8th of March 1944.
On the 4th of July, the Greeks invaded Cyprus. Aided by local resistance members, they easily were able to take the southern part of the island. After two weeks of fighting, the whole island was under Greek control. The war looked as if it was in favour of the Greek, but the first signs of a standstill were showing. Naval invasions into mainland Turkey failed time and time again. Even with volunteers from Egypt, they were not able to break the coastal defences of Turkey. On the 16th of July, Greek soldiers set sight on Istanbul for the first time in centuries. They did not recognize the strange Ottoman features of the city, but were eager to name as many Orthodox churches as they could as a way of challenging each other. The combat in the ancient capital was hard, as small winding alleys intersected with big open squares. Many Greek and Turkish lives were lost, but on the 9th of August the city finally fell in Greek hands. With the conquest of Istanbul came also the complete absence of Turkish troops in Europe. The Greeks had their first major success in the war and Turkish morale was broken. When things settled down in the city, King Georgios II of Greece came to visit Istanbul to officially rename it Constantinople again. On the 17th of August, an official ceremony was held in the city. The King renamed the city and many of its streets. Byzantine flags waved next to Greek ones and the Greek national anthem was heard all over the city. From then on, the 17th of August became a national holiday in Greece, known as Byzantine Day. King Georgios II was even so bold to declare himself Basileus Georgios I of Byzantium, placing himself in the long line of Byzantine Emperors.
Georgios II in Constantinople on the 17th of August 1944.
Greek morale was at an all time high, but nonetheless no further advances were made. Crossing the Bosporus strait proved nearly impossible, as Turkish battleships were guarding it, only occasionally letting a Russian fleet through it to avoid hostilities. Invasions from Cyprus failed time and time again and invasions from the Aegean islands stumbled on heavy local Turkish resistance. It would take foreign intervention to end the conflict and that only arrived at the end of the Second Great War. And so the Greeks and the Turkish found themselves in a Mexican stand-off with neither party willing to sacrifice what it had gained or had left.
The situation in the Balkans at the end of August 1944.
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So here's it, everyone's favourite empire, Byzantium, is back in business. Although they don't control all of Anatolia, at least Constantinopel is back from the dead. It would be interesting to see what Byzantium would look like throughout the 20th century. Next update will bring us to the other side of the world, where Japan is invading South East Asia.