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Acknowledging receipt of the first Cabinet submissions (@nuclearslurpee, @stnylan, @TheButterflyComposer, @diskoerekto), the War and Foreign Ministries have provided some additional information which may assist the considerations of all. The Department of the Air Force has also submitted a research proposal for consideration under Item 2.
Item 1 - Foreign Ministry Submission
Finland is still subject to a three-way diplomatic tug-of-war between the three world faction leaders. In net terms, they are drifting slightly towards the Allies, but remain firmly in the Axis corner. Rather quaintly, they consider us rather than the Soviets as their highest threat!
Nationalist Spain, run by that fascist fellow-traveller Franco, also - very wisely in their case - consider us to be their highest threat. Unlike Finland, none of the factions are trying to woo them, nor are they aligning to any of the Three Blocs. Like Finland, they are also drifting very slightly to the Allies and are in the Axis corner, but not as far as the Finns. It is a great pity we can't persuade the Soviets to begin influencing them: given time, it might even have been possible to bring them to the Comintern by diplomatic means. [Unlikely though that would be in RL - a little more unlikely even than Turkey joining it! ]
Nationalist China, discussed in relation to Comintern war objectives in the Far East, has diplomatically been closer and about evenly balanced between the Comintern and the Allies. They are currently more distant from the Axis, but are now aligning towards them at a rapid rate.
And a reminder is provided regarding the war goals for Italy: to conquer and bring them into the UGNR, in a series of sub-states. These were decided some years ago, when the war started. [And which due to the quaint game mechanics can't be changed once set. ]
Item 2 - War Ministry Report on Production and Manpower
Military supply continues to take up the efforts of a large part of the economy and the stockpile has gradually reduced from a base line of around 20,000 units to 16,000 in recent months. Despite incremental research improvements in its various aspects, the increasing size of the military, offensive operations and increasing distances of front lines from the Motherland [specifically Ankara] are likely to absorb these increases, plus the few trade deals for supplies we have been able to make and maintain.
Manpower is once again a concern, having decreased by a few thousand (in net terms) in recent weeks to 71,000, with another 4,770 required to replace recent losses. To that end, with the likelihood of steady casualties in the coming months as operations roll forward, the War Ministry has a research proposal for Cabinet consideration: the resumption of agricultural reform to free up more able-bodied men for the armed forces.
The War Ministry recommends resuming agriculture research once the latest round of supply organisation improvements are completed in two weeks' time.
Item 2 - Air Force Proposal
The Air Force has proposed, given submission so far and concerns expressed about ageing air frames and increasingly redundant operational fighter wings, for research to be commenced into an indigenous Turkish aircraft industry. This would not be intended to be used for the production of new Turkish fighter wings which, if approved, would still be bought from the USSR and US by licence. Their proposal would be intended to, over time, allow the upgrade of existing obsolete fighter wings as progress is made, with locally produced upgrades and even, in time a new Turkish fighter model. The old (and currently virtually unused) Hawk IIIs of 1 AF would be the first to benefit from this program.
Air Force researchers have calculated that a first improvement - for example, perhaps in new aero engines - would only take about three and a half months to complete if effort was assigned. This way, if continued, old wings could be gradually improved and retained, rather than being either completely outclassed in combat or disbanded, losing valuable experience and training of the air crews.
OOC Note: There is still a good amount of time for submissions and debate (this meeting will largely be conducted through our correspondence here, with the AAR part likely to be more of a shorter summary of my final decisions and reasons). I will be doing a Rome and Quick and Dirty update before turning to the next Talking Turkey chapter, which will include the Cabinet Meeting.
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Chapter 198: Strategic War Cabinet Meeting (1 May 1943)
Chapter 198: Strategic War Cabinet Meeting (1 May 1943)
AuthAAR’s Notes: I’m handling the discussion as inter-departmental coordination comments incorporating the various submissions, some quoted (occasionally abridged but not changed, for space), some noted. If I tried to do it all as an in-character Cabinet discussion, it would just be too huge! The Cabinet’s decisions are at the end.
This is a large and detailed chapter, as there was much to cover and includes quite a bit of quoted comments, arranged by topic. For those who hanker after all the gory detail (and for the bulk of the selective comment feedback), spoilers are used. If you just want the key discussions and decisions, you can leave them unopened. But then you’ll never know what the various departments thought of the arguments …
Timisoara/May Day commemorations will follow in the next chapter, after the Cabinet Meeting breaks up. And there will be some special guests and entertainment.
---xxx---
Introduction
Dolmabahçe Palace, viewed from the Bosphorus, venue for the War Cabinet Meeting of 1 May 1943.
The Blue Room, Dolmabahçe Palace. It was reconfigured on 1 May 1943 to accommodate a full Cabinet Meeting, with a large oval table in the middle for the Cabuinet members and officials, advisors and secretariat staff seated in chairs on the sides.
Before the Cabinet entered their special Istanbul meeting room at the Dolmabahçe Palace, they paused for a rendition by a special choir of the patriotic 10.Yıl Marşı (10th Year March), commissioned in 1933 to commemorate the 10th Anniversary of the Republic and sung again here, during its 20th year in 1943.
(2:39) Many thanks to @diskoerekto for finding and providing this link. To get you into the mood!
As the Cabinet filed into the Blue Room, a picture on the wall noted a fond memory of the Father Turk during his time at the palace in 1934.
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, shooting at the Dolmabahçe Palace in 1934.
The Turkish War Cabinet on 1 May 1943. Field Marshal Calistar also attended as Supreme Commander and Deputy War Minister.
Cabinet Agenda for 1 May 1943.
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Item 1 - The Strategic Aims of the War
1A. Overall Strategic Goals.
Europe and North Africa on 1 May 1943.
Patriotic Front dispositions, as at 2300 hr 30 April 1943.
“Gentlemen,” began Celal Bayar, running the meeting as Prime Minister, sitting at President Inönü’s right hand. “The first key question to be resolved regards Turkey’s grand strategic aims for victory in the current war. From this flows everything else. I remind you that these are not necessarily the same as for the Comintern as a whole or those the USSR may adopt in addition to our specific national aims, though they will feed into and complement the wider Comintern objectives.”
Foreign Minister Aras nodded and Bayar continued. “I refer you all to the consideration comment notes derived from the submissions of all your departments and from interested contributors who have offered their insights. These synthesise the main points of discussion and the consensus position the Government has reached on them.”
The primary issue is essentially this: is the aim a New Comintern World Order [the 12 victory objectives, which I've deliberately tied myself to in the AAR 'house rules'] or Domination/Total Victory [the full 15]? As noted in the background Cabinet material, the former could (but does not have to be) achieved by gaining all objectives currently on offer in Europe, plus Spain and Finland.
It is the President’s firm view that the often-stated policy of Turkey and the Glorious Union is limited to the New Order, which will very likely be most quickly and easily achieved by a victory in Europe, including the absorption of Spain and Finland into the Comintern, by whatever means necessary (diplomacy, subversion or war). The latter, whether it means drawing Britain into the war or not (though it will be avoided if possible.
The firm advocacy of some contributors (@diskoerekto, @roverS3) to expand these aims to Asia and specifically the defeat of Axis Japan are noted and respected, but are not agreed in this context. The USSR may wish to pursue this line separately, but it is seen to be beyond both Turkey’s direct national interests and the previously agreed basis of the alliance with the Soviet Union, as supported by other contributors (@nuclearslurpee).
There are OOC factors here: any war in Japan would be reliant primarily on the USSR AI. It would take a long time. It would be beyond the scope of the game and AAR as stated right up front. In this game, the Soviets are even further back in the East than in my Quick and Dirty game, where Germany is already defeated and I am directly guiding the Soviet forces, albeit via the AI at Army level.
So in my view it would take forever, even if I switched to the Soviets. And I’m already doing that kind of campaign in Q&D and really don’t want to do it again, plus that would be departing too far from the basis of this AAR. And I want it to finish some time, as I have lots of other HOI3 projects I’d like to get going. What I might consider when the time comes is going ‘off line’ to play the game through and then do a ‘post-war’ broad summary of what happened and epilogue.
Aras continued: "There is general agreement in the Central Agencies that the defeat of Germany (for operational and victory condition purposes) is the primary Comintern aim for the war, but one which Turkey would seek to support more indirectly through its actions in the Balkans and the Mediterranean. Specifically, the long-time Turkish objective to fight and conquer Italy, bringing its constituent parts into the UGNR remains a prime strategic driver for the UGNR. That therefore makes any capabilities required to support that integral to research, procurement and production policies." (@nuclearslurpee, @TheButterflyComposer)
"As mentioned in background material, bringing France into the Comintern is desirable (on general terms and as a gateway to Spain) but not necessary. It is therefore not a driver of Turkish acquisition policy."
"Quite, Aras," agreed Bayar. "The same applies to Britain: trying to match them in naval power in this war is considered not viable and will not be a force determinant. In fact, it is hoped war with them can be avoided altogether." (eg @TheButterflyComposer)
Though we are assuming the in-game absolute commitment of the US to the Comintern cause via game mechanics as having altered what would be OTL concerns in that regard, and post-game hypotheticals will not affect force determination for this war. If war with Britain becomes necessary as a last resort, British naval dominance in the Mediterranean would have to be accepted as a short-term given until victory was attained (and/or Gibraltar and the Suez Canal could be put under Comintern control). Also, given the US would be part of the Comintern in such a contingency, British naval power should be distracted and mitigated more generally, especially if Japan remains in the war at that point, making it a three-cornered global conflict.
“I therefore propose,” resumed Bayar after a brief discussion, “that we re-affirm the existing Turkish Strategic War Aim of attaining a Comintern World Order victory, primarily to be achieved in Europe.” This went through on the nod with no dissension around the table.
---xxx---
1B. Spain and Finland
“That brings us to Spain and Finland,” said Bayar, moving down his annotated agenda. “Aras, please summarise the position.”
“With pleasure, Prime Minister. As foreshadowed and confirmed above, Spain and Finland must be brought into the Comintern to achieve Turkey’s primary war aims. This question was not without dissenting opinions, mainly directed at those urging a more global Turkish contribution to the entire war aims of the Comintern and advocating for the complete defeat of the Axis in Asia. That separate issue will be dealt with in more detail a little later.”
Well Finland is fairly easily done. Probably wouldn't even require force really (ingame of course) if done after the collapse of the Axis. Taking Spain would require either or more likely both France to be controlled by a friendly communist government backed by the soviets and turkey to control the Italian peninsula.
Strategically, we do need to think broadly about the stance we are in, and using that stance to get us to a different edge to set up for operations in Iberia and Finland. Those nations are not by any stretch friendly, and are sympathizers to the Axis cause. Their destruction must be obtained; but Finland can wait until our Soviet brethren have reduced the pocket in the Baltics and Leningrad significantly but before they move those forces out of the area. Iberia must therefore be our football, and advancing it should be how we organize and train our forces. The longer we wait, however, the more of a chance those nations will not turn to the Axis, but will join the Allies and draw in the collapsing Commonwealth. A balancing act to be sure.
While it would be ideal to wait on Spain and Finland until Japan is taken down, there is frankly no guarantee that Japan can be defeated anytime soon - the naval logistics required to mount an invasion of the home islands seem well beyond the physical and...creative capabilities of our allies, sadly. Meanwhile, time is of the essence, as with European Axis influence destroyed there would be little stopping Spain or Finland from seeking alliance with the United Kingdom due to shared anti-Comintern sentiment. We must strike while the iron is hot, and the troops are in-theater.
“It is our position,” continued Aras, “that if it becomes necessary or desirable to go to war with either of these countries before the war against the Axis in Europe is concluded, Turkey will urge [ie compel in-game] the Comintern to do so. This may be for diplomatic (aligning too closely to the Allies) or operational reasons (to strike before the Soviets divert too many forces to the East).”
“I propose that this contingency should be incorporated into Turkish force determination priorities, for capabilities and the timing of their introduction. Finland, as contributors noted, will be left to the Soviets. But the ability of Turkey to lead operations against Spain, with or without land access via France, must be considered (with naval, marine and air power implications).”
This recommendation was agreed.
Other impacts on this matter regarding Spain and Finland (and Vichy France) included:
If Japan already finished the British Raj and facing us off there, redeploy and start fighting that war that would take us all the way until Southeast Asia. If the Japs are still on their way, bide our time in Europe by declaring war on and beating any number of European non-Axis member fascists.
Comment: It is considered unlikely that the complete fall of India would occur before victory in Europe is achieved. But, if it does occur, it would require the diversion of enough land forces to secure the shortest and strongest viable defensive line possible in Afghanistan and Iran, hopefully with some Soviet assistance. But this eventuality will not be a force determinant for planning purposes. Trying to fight through India to South East Asia will not be contemplated.
On reservations about attacking either Spain or Finland:
I think attacking Finland might be a mistake. Better if we can do it diplomatically, because the west will object to it (how strongly will probably be down to the RNG) whereas with Spain i don't think they will. That being said, if we launch an invasion of Spain after the end of the war in Europe, we can hardly expect Stalin to not launch a similar attack on Finland at the same time. It's just doing so will make us look worse than going purely after facist regimes. Or rather, doing so might be the break that ends with the Americans leaving the Comintern, at least I think would in universe, which is not something we want them to do until after Japan is defeated.
Comment: As previously stated[per game mechanics, which drive the story, not OTL or ‘realistic’ considerations, however logical], US affiliation is considered rock solid. And unless either Finland or Spain has actually joined the Allies at that point, any British reaction to an attack on either will be disregarded as either irrelevant, or a necessary risk to achieve the principal war aims, and perhaps before the defeat of the Axis in Europe has been achieved. As @diskoerekto states, “even though they're not in Axis, both Spain and Finland (and Vichy France and Portugal and maybe some Chinese warlords) are also Fascist”.
---xxx---
1C. Other Considerations - Asia
The Far Eastern Front, as at 2300 hr 30 April 1943.
South East Asia and New Guinea, as at 2300 hr 30 April 1943.
Some argued strongly for a Total Victory approach (@diskoerekto, @roverS3), including the complete defeat of the Axis in Asia – principally Japan. For example:
The only acceptable issue to the war here is for the vast majority of current Axis real estate to end up under the influence of Comintern members. Most importantly, the current Comintern must be in control of Japan, Germany, and Italy. The quickest way to get there is probably by having the USSR focus on Berlin, the UGNR on Rome, and the USA on Japan…. Within the aforementioned framework and considering the current state of the war, the UGNR and the USSR must be the ones to liberate all, or the vast majority, of Axis-occupied Europe, as well as all Soviet Territory currently under Japanese control.
Comment: The overall point is accepted re Germany and Spain but per earlier arguments, while the US will be left to look after Japan, its defeat will not be a core Turkish war aim. And hence, the eventuality that Spain and/or Finland might even be attacked before the war in Europe is over. If Japanese forces reach the UGNR's Eastern Border in Pakistan, they will be stopped, but no easily reachable victory objective could be achieved by a major Turkish offensive in India or Asia. In fact, if attempted before [12 objective] victory in Europe, it would only delay the successful conclusion of the war.
---xxx---
1D. Operational Force Determinants
Supreme Commander Field Marshal Calistar was next to speak.
“As agreed, operational implementation will not be discussed in detail at this Cabinet meeting, but some broad capability requirements need to be drawn from how the agreed strategic objectives would be achieved (@nuclearslurpee). This is agreed. Some guidance on this aspect has been provided.”
"Immediate offensives will need to be achieved with the force-in-being and already queued production. The short- to mid-term term posture will be (as currently) to conduct as many as the overall operational situation allows – there is no fixed number or size of such operations planned. That is, a careful but aggressive approach, primarily with ground units and demanding both defensive and offensive air support.”
"A secondary capability, already under development, for a limited amphibious capability will complement this. Whatever the detail of their deployment (an argument for another day as to whether it is Sicily, the Italian Peninsula, then later Sardinia or Spain) transports, landing craft, a compact naval escort, air cover, a marine spearhead and follow-up forces to security and exploitation would be required. Most of these capabilities already exist or are under development: their continuation will be a contributing force determinant, for an operation any time from mid-1943 onwards, if possible, as indicated in past strategic discussions.” (NB: @roverS3, @diskoerekto, @GangsterSynod)
---xxx---
Item 2 – Procurement Priorities
“As wise men say, gentlemen, there is no strategy without money or resources,” resumed Bayar. “It now comes time to decide how we will implement our aims. The ways and means to the ends. Üngen, please start this discussion by guiding the naval component of this discussion and submit your bids.”
2A. Navy
“From the strategic guidance provided,” began the Chief of Navy, “naval requirements revolve around deploying and protecting small amphibious landings against Italy (in general) and Spain against whatever naval or air capacity either country may be able to deploy. If Britain was hostile at that stage, such operations would most likely not be seriously considered, so will not be planned for, as it would not be feasible for Turkey to do so. A land route for both would need to be used instead.”
we can anticipate that our land forces will be more or less fully-matured by this stage both as described above by myself and in terms of using spare IC to fill out some of the smaller divisions with fifth brigades or battalions. Thus, our principal concern beyond the near future is maritime in nature.
the procurement of two modern Light Cruisers, via license building, from the USA which will lead our present group of modern Destroyers to form an "escort fleet" which is able to escort transport flotillas on littoral missions, i.e. amphibious invasions of Italy and eventually Spain. This escort fleet will act as the core of our modern fleet, while the WWI-vintage vessels we still possess can augment the escort fleet with firepower e.g. for shore bombardment or minor combat operations, or else serve as secondary commerce patrols.
Here I will reiterate the need for a modern Light Cruisers. In the short term development, let alone construction, of capital ships should still take a backseat. These CL's aren't just investments for the long term, they could function in tandem with the modern Destroyers to protect convoys and scout potential naval invasion locations.
I would recommend that at least some naval effort is made…. two new CLs, three new destroyer squadrons and perhaps a trio of submarine squadrons should make our forces at least pertinent in the Mediterranean.
Comment: The Navy has agreed these proposals are reasonable. They would prefer at least one, if possible two US-designed CLs to be license-built. Another destroyer flotilla would be appreciated, but not if it came at the expense of the first CL. However, with the US and British navies active in the Mediterranean, Italian naval power virtually destroyed and no naval operations against Japan envisaged, they would not advocate pursuing submarine purchases above other mid-term acquisition priorities.
In addition to these, I recommend expanding our transport fleet from three flotillas to six, which will be capable of transporting a full corps of infantry in a single amphibious operation. This represents five naval construction orders in total, in addition to completing the current DD order, which is quite substantial. However, these ships would be the clear lowest priority in my proposal, only ahead of "filler" projects such as fifth-brigade and infrastructure orders.
Comment: A large enough transport/landing craft lift capacity to sustain a corps-sized lodgement capacity is considered highly desirable by the Navy to sustain the kind of operations demanded by the strategic aims. These will be added to Navy’s procurement bid.
When we see the end of the great war against Axis plus other Axis leaning nations, we can start building local zero-tech CVs along with license building most recent LCs and CAGs.
In case Turkey has to fight the Japs on it's own Eastern front, naval convoys into Persia will be vital to supply a large force. An increase in the size of the Turkish Merchant Navy should also be on the table as the UGNR expands, and once the European victory is a done deal, attention should go to the development of Turkish capital ships, whether you go with CA's or CV's.
Comment: Any capital ship research (required first) and then procurement for possible post-war contingencies or war against Japan is considered beyond the scope of this current Cabinet process. Had it been possible to purchase licenses, the capability might have been considered as a lower, longer term priority.
“The Navy has made the following bid for this round of procurement priorities,” finished Üngen.
* 1-2 CL (US License).
* 1 more DD (US License).
* Up to 3 TPT or LC.
* The manpower requirement is up to 6,000 men. [6 MP ‘by the HOI3 book’].
---xxx---
2B. Air Force
“Thank you, Üngen,” said Bayar. “We will decide overall priorities at the end of this meeting. Air Force is next. As you all know, expansion of the Air Force has been a key procurement priority for some time now, driven by battlefield experience and anticipated future operational requirements. This will continue for the foreseeable future. Over to you, Örlungat.”
“Many thanks,” said a pleased Chief of Staff and Air Force. “It is therefore a matter of proposing force structure objectives by unit type, with the obsolescence of existing airframes a supplementary consideration. The current and in-production assets have been summarised by Professor Slorepee, if you turn to the coordination comments.”
With current production we will have 7 INT, 4 MR, 2 CAS, and 4 TAC which have been proven adequate to contest Axis air power quite admirably given the secondary nature of the Balkan theater in Axis war planning. Our goal should be to expand this force to accomplish local air superiority in support of a ground offensive.
Comment: The operational requirement for this is agreed. It should include the ability to provide viable fighter escort for short-distance naval landings in Italy/Sicily, if such are required. The question remains the number, type and currency of airframes required to achieve this. Prof Slorepee again:
To this end I expect an expansion of the fighter wings to reach 12 INT and 6 MR, arrayed in six groups of three wings apiece. This allows interceptor cover over two battlefields, or operationally two supported axes of attack, with reserve groups to allow cycling of air wings to maintain continual air presence and control. Additionally the MR wings can be deployed for long-range air superiority i.e. control of the skies over enemy air bases to suppress counter-interceptions. To support the ground forces, a total of 8 TAC will be ideal to permit a similar pattern of two active air groups supporting offensives and two reserve groups to allow cycling.
Comment: This proposal would require considerable construction effort. Timing to reach the ultimate target (of whatever is agreed) can be determined as part of the wider procurement timetable, as will relative priorities between the services and equipment types. But this proposal would require up to five more INT, two MR and four TAC wings. Variations for quantities include:
I'd agree with Dr. Slurpee in at least four state-of-the-art interceptor groups being necessary to blunt the enemy air forces, and a pair of tactical bomber groups.
“The Air Force has therefore submitted the following bid for consideration," said Örlungat with some confidence, "all numbers are in addition to current and queued wings:”
* 5 new INT wings, or 4 new plus complementary domestic modernisation research (see below for separate research proposals) [4-5 MP].
* A minimum of 2, preferably 4 new TAC wings [3.2 to 6.4 MP].
* Manpower requirement: 7,200 to 11,400 men [5.2 to 11.4 MP ‘by the book’], depending on final numbers and possible Hawk III disbandment offset.
* Desirable (below-the-line): one more CAS wing. They would also like a NAV capability, but acknowledge it to be beyond currently feasible procurement policies.
“I note also that on our Air Force research proposal, the opinions of contributors were mixed.”
I can't say I'm hugely in favor of air force research at this time. Anything we produce domestically will be vastly inferior to what we can purchase licenses for, and this will be the case at least through the end of the war. Even if we need to replace our oldest aircraft with newer models, license building remains a superior alternative in the context of the present war. For the long term, of course we would like to develop domestic capabilities, but one war at a time here!
The proposal to start improving old Turkish Airframes is another way to improve the Air Force that would be beneficial. Maybe allocate one research slot to Aeroplane research and see where that gets you, starting, of course, with Aero engines. I would push for a narrow focus on single Engine Aeroplanes, though, at least until Turkish homegrown fighters become somewhat competitive. This is also an insurance policy, just in case licenses become too expensive or simply unavailable. Turkey could then consider building home-grown CAS to complement it's INT, and it's stock of Tac, with little additional research needed.
“In light of these views, the Air Force wishes to keep its research proposal in play, subject to a more detailed review of how much more research would be required to update Turkey’s oldest equipment (Hawk III, I-16 and LaGG-3). Doctrine research is a separate matter. A value-for-money assessment could then be made regarding the research budget. If not approved, they would advocate demobilising the current Hawk III wing, adding one new interceptor wing to the procurement list as detailed in their acquisition bid.”
Bayar put this motion to the vote, which was carried with no objections (though there were a few dubious looks from the Army and Navy Chiefs).
---xxx---
2C. Army & Manpower
“Army priorities and manpower considerations are inextricably intertwined,” said Bayar, introducing the next discussion topic. “The Army remains the largest and most critical component of the Turkish Armed Forces. The issue is whether more or upgraded units in addition to those deployed or queued are now actually required to prosecute the rest of the war. If they are, the next consideration would be whether there is sufficient manpower (and supply infrastructure) to sustain a larger force until the end of the War in Europe. Yamut, you have the floor.”
“Thank you, Prime Minister,” started the Chief of Army. “On a possible increase in size for the Army, there were a number of proposals.”
Views were varied, depending in part on how the manpower situation was interpreted.
my proposal is to train a wave of lighter INF divisions which can be deployed in 3-4 months to replace existing, heavier or more-experienced line divisions or to function as reserves to free up mobile formations currently functioning as "fire brigades" behind the current defensive lines. To accomplish this I recommend training 4-6 light INF divisions in parallel with the aim of executing a moderate-scale redeployment of forces in mid-August to prepare for a Fall offensive. These could be INF/INF (plus ART and/or AT) or 3xINF (with no support brigades), depending on which division design best suits the present need (this would require anywhere from 28,000 to 54,000 manpower, which I will address below). Note that either structure can be expanded to a full 5-brigade division (INF/INF/INF/ART/AT) later on as needed. These should cost not more than 10 IC/day per division and I expect completion in ~3 months. My nominal recommendation here is to train a full corps (5x) of INF/INF/AT divisions (total 35 MP), to provide bodies on the line and extra AT capability as German armor is the primary threat to any reduced are of the front line.
Secondly, we must expand our ground offensive capabilities which means of course the mechanized forces. Here I will assume, in lieu of exact numbers having been provided, that an ARM division will cost about 35 IC/day over 6 months (210 IC-months) and a MOT division about 22 IC/day over 5 months (110 IC-months). I will also assume that these divisions will not be commenced until the INF divisions described in phase (1) are completed and deployed to the front. My recommendation here is that once the INF divisions are completed we should be able to, fairly sustainably if not with 100% uptime, train one of each division type in parallel at any time for the following 12-15 months, ultimately resulting in deployment of 2 ARM and 3 MOT divisions which will form an offensive corps, hopefully by Sept 1944. As with the air force this could be accelerated if additional IC is available, but otherwise this represents a continual demand of ~57 IC/day on Turkish industry in addition to the ~40 IC/day required by the highest priority which is air force construction. While this need not be fully met at all times, I believe we are capable of maintaining a ~100 IC/day production pace fairly reliably even with recent reductions in lend-lease aid.
Other than interceptors and some MR fighters (hopefully soon jet versions of them), we can spare some IC into high value license built mobile units such as armor, SPArt etc or upgrading militia/garrison/infantry units into mountaineer/marine/motorized/mechanized (we're one tech away from building homegrown mechanized units). The numbers of our air wings is also misleading because we're not able to upgrade them. So when making calculations we have to take into account they're from different years with no way to upgrade.
we should definitely look into ensuring a continued stream of production of medium and heavy armor…. and should look into turning a higher percentage of the ground pounders into a motorized force. Once the walls of the Axis armies collapse, we are going to need to cover significant amounts of territory rapidly.
On the subject of adding new Divisions to the Army, I don't share other adviser's enthusiasm for pushing all our manpower reserves into new formations, for several reasons:
1. Manpower. Turkey is currently loosing more men than it can replace. These losses are concentrated in the Divisions that are actually fighting these bold offensives. That means that, if there are no manpower reserves, these losses cannot be fully replaced without disbanding other formations. Alternatively, Turkey can also slow down it's operations to minimise losses, or enact longer pauses between offensives, thereby lengthening the war. Neither of these outcomes is desirable. Turkey's ability to be very agressive and get results is directly linked to it's ability to replace losses quickly.
2. Leadership. Turkey already has a shortage of General's, adding more Divisions will only make this problem worse, especially when you add the need for more HQ's to control these Divisions. Diluting available officers amongst too many Divisions also goes against the current style of Turkish warfare.
This doesn't mean you can't add new Divisions, only that strengthening and/or upgrading current Divisions should take precedence. I would advocate for a conservative estimate to be made on how much Turkish manpower will be needed to win this war in Europe. Paired with an optimistic timeline, you can then calculate how much manpower Turkey can really spare. To close the gap between the losses and the replacements, both Agriculture research and a more potent Air Force will have a significant impact. The Divisions we do add must provide as much firepower & mobility as possible, for their allocated manpower. Or they should have specific capabilities. (eg. Marines, Paratroopers, Mountaineers). I would suggest trying to keep at least 40 MP on hand by the end of the year to allow enough flexibility to engage in high risk high reward strategies that inevitably end in high casualties, but have the potential to take a lot of ground and take many prisoners.
Comment: On manpower, a detailed discussion continued (not reproduced here, for space considerations). The consensus of the War Ministry and Army is that the coming months will, with a sustained offensive effort where possible, see similar levels of manpower usage as experienced recently (that is, a small net monthly loss after new recruits are incorporated). However, after that either casualties should decrease due to weakening enemy resistance across the entire front, improved fighter coverage and an increase to the recruiting base through agricultural reform. If this is not the case, operational tempo would be reduced for the period required to rebalance reserves and ensure attrition is sustainable.
A minimum working manpower reserve of no less than 20,000 men, to allow for higher than expected casualties or emergency builds, is considered necessary. This would allow for the approval of new units (of all services) with a manpower requirement of up to a maximum of around 50,000 men for the remainder of 1943 and forward. This limit, in additional to industrial capacity, will be used to determine at what point the ‘cut-off’ is applied to the approved acquisition priority list.
In other words, more projects are likely to be approved in-principle than there is capacity or manpower to construct. Each will be roughly ranked by capacity and urgency, with fine adjustments made for best use of capacity at any one time, or changes in priority. Regarding divisional leadership shortages, this is accepted as a constant for the Turkish Army. Key formations and HQs will be prioritised as they have been to date. It will not be considered as any limitation to building whatever divisions are considered necessary. (@nuclearslurpee, @roverS3)
On specific requirements, the Army has already been producing ‘light divisions’ designed to hold quiet areas of the line, or to supplement regular divisions to release them for active operations. Three are in production and the current design concept has not yet been tested on the ground. More broadly, as the wider front advances and Hungary is defeated, it is anticipated that the entire Patriotic Front will shorten as the ‘bulge’ centred on Hungary is eliminated and filled largely by Soviet and Romanian forces. This should mean a decreasing requirement for such light or second-line units. It may be there are already enough such or soon will be.
In addition, with the destruction of Italy’s already limited naval landing capacity, as mentioned by some correspondents and already recognised by the Chief of Army in his continuing militia upgrade program, more garrison units currently being held in Mediterranean ports should be released for redeployment or conversion, thus saving on manpower for new regular or specialised units (if so, these upgrades would be considered ‘manpower neutral’ against the overall 50,000 man planning limit).
Yamut resumed his presentation: “Army considers that, with the three USMC expeditionary divisions and the 1st Turkish Marine Division, we already have sufficient specialist formations to spearhead up to two simultaneous or consecutive amphibious assaults, with follow-up forces being conventional units selected according to the requirement of the target areas. No more marine units are therefore sought in the short term.”
“With three full specialist mountain divisions, the Army considers that to satisfy the minimum requirement but, given terrain north of the Balkans, in Italy and in Spain, one more full mountain division would be desirable. The one marine brigade still in production may be attached to a ‘regular’ division to assist with river-crossing tasks.”
“In terms of armour, if possible a gradual increase in the allocation of heavy brigades as infantry support tanks is considered a high priority: these may be expensive, but have proved winners on the battlefield.”
“The Army would like one more ‘medium’ and one more ‘light’ armoured or mechanised divisions to complement existing formations. The detailed make-up of these formations would be determined subsequently but would be based on one tank (LARM or ARM as required), one-two INF (MOT or MECH) SPArt and one or two more support brigades. All new divisions would be five-brigade outfits, to maximise command coverage.”
“Army’s provisional bid, reserving the right for adjustments due to developing operational conditions, is as follows.”
*1-2 HARM bdes [4.66 MP].
*1 x Light Armd Div (1 x LARM, 1-2 x MOT/MECH, 1 x SP RArt, 1-2 support bdes – AC, MotAA, TD) [12 MP].
*1 x Medium Armd Div (1 x ARM, 2 x MOT/MECH, 1 x SP Arty, 1 x ENGR, AC or TD) [12 MP].
*1 Mtn Div (5 x MTN) [20 MP].
*Total estimated manpower requirement: approximately 40,000 men [but 48.66 MP per ‘the book’]. Could be offset if upgrades can be used for infantry-based units.
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2D. Priority allocation
“I will now hand over to our President, as War Minister, to address the issue of priorities for the various bids, and ultimately which projects will be practically feasible," said Bayar with understated deference.
“Thank you, Bayar,” began Inönü. “You will all have considered the thoughts of contributors on the relative priorities.”
I do not believe any serious or significant naval expenditure can be justified at this time. Whilst it is true a naval force would be very useful for longer-term strategic initiatives against Spain, I essentially come from the following position …. Aircraft will be of use in current endeavours, and will retain the same utility in future endeavours. There isn't much manpower to expand the army, but where possible this should still be done…. Therefore I would argue production must necessarily focus towards the Glorious Airforce. And to that end, what army expansion is possible should be more towards non-vehicular units to allow as great a focus on the aeronautical.
In short. In my opinion the production priorities right now should be:
Interceptors first. Upgrades and reinforcement of existing units second. Tac's third. Naval transports fourth. Light Cruisers fifth. New Divisions sixth.
Item 2: Our first priority should be creating an air force on par with our enemies'. The majority of our IC should go into that for the foreseeable future. By the time some of our troops are in Lisbon and some in Hong Kong (and our nation contiguous), we can start building ships.
I recommend that we dedicate all of this [available] manpower to the construction of new formations, albeit not all at once (and realistically, a small reserve of 3-5 MP should be maintained for forming field HQs when necessary). My reasoning is: (1) it does us the most benefit at this stage to deploy all available force to the front rather than holding a MP reserve for unseen future needs, since as it is clear that the Axis can no longer win this war on any front thus we no longer need to account for the most desperate circumstance as we did in 1941; (2) historical analysis indicates that we can comfortably reinforce all units, including attritional losses, in "peaceful" period when no major offensives are launched by us; (3) In the case of a major offensive exhausting our MP beyond what we can regularly generate, it is acceptable to prioritize reinforcing the offensive divisions and permit line divisions in secondary sectors with low activity to be temporarily under-strength, as combat power is not appreciably reduced for these divisions relative to their defensive mission at that time. Deploying all available manpower to the field now maximizes our offensive capability and also the pressure placed on the beleaguered Axis armies. In the worst case that we require additional manpower to be made available to train units (notably the mechanized forces of Phase 2), militia or garrison brigades of tertiary importance can be disbanded and their constituent manpower retrained and repurposed.
My proposal is summarized into three phases, as follows:
Short-term (1 May to 30 Nov 1943): consolidate, hold the line, and launch a Fall offensive. Strategically, the goal here is to enter into Hungary and accelerate if not outright force their collapse. Production targets: 5x INF/INF/AT divisions to replace existing veteran line divisions and indirectly augment our offensive capabilities by Sept 1943.
Near future (1 Dec 1943 to 30 Sep 1944): launch 2-4 successive offensives against dwindling Axis presence and capabilities. Strategically, the goal here is to collapse Hungary, recover our pre-war UGNR borders, and push into Austria and Italy in concert with Soviet pushes through Poland and Slovakia. Production targets: 3x INT, 1x MR, 2x TAC wings as high priorities; 2x ARM divisions and 3x MOT divisions as secondary priorities.
Mid future (1 Oct 1944 to 31 Dec 1945): launch ground offensives into Italy and Germany (simultaneously) and amphibious operations against Italy and Spain (successively). Strategically, the goal here is primarily to collapse the European Axis and otherwise to reach all European victory conditions and declare the new world order in the West. Production targets: 2x CL and 3x Transport Flotillas to enable amphibious operations and other maritime strategic aims.
These goals I believe are the best path forward for our Glorious Union and will surely grant us victory along with the superb efforts of our brilliant commanders and brave soldiers in all branches and theaters. Vur ha!!
Comment: while the operational implementation will be decided subsequently, the linking of procurement choices to operational requirements in general is acknowledged as most important.
"We will therefore move straight onto final decisions on provisional production priorities."
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Item 3 - Cabinet Decisions
After some further discussion, but based on inter-departmental coordination already largely done prior to the formal Cabinet meeting, the decisions already taken on Item 1 were clarified and formalised.
Item 1
1. The Europe-first limited Turkish war aim [12 objectives] is re-affirmed.
2. Spain and Finland will be required to join the Comintern – voluntarily or (most likely) by force – to achieve this aim.
3. Italy will be the primary Turkish operational objective for the next phase of the war.
4. The secondary objective will remain assisting the Comintern as a whole to defeat Hungary and Germany, directly or indirectly though Turkey’s contribution to the war effort.
5. The possible conquest of Spain (by land through France and/or via sea) is accepted as a force determinant.
Item 2
“Our discussions have led us to the following consensus decisions regarding Item 2,” said Bayar, who then proceeded to put each decision to the formal vote.
6. All service bids as offered will be accepted for initial prioritisation (meaning all will be listed, but not all lower priority projects may be produced).
7. The bids will be broadly grouped into three priority categories. All will then be subsequently prioritised internally within each category in the production queue.
* Category A: Mandatory. These items will be produced. Three INT wings, two TAC wings, one CL, one HArm, one TP or LC, one light armd div.
* Category B: Preferred. Very likely to be produced, below the above priorities for MP and timing: two INT (one new, one new or upgraded), two TAC, one DD, one TP or LC, one medium armd div.
* Category C. Desired. Likely to be produced, but dependent of MP and IC requirements: one CL, one TP or LC, one HArm bde, one MTN div.
* Any other items (ad hoc, infrastructure, radars, base improvements, etc) will be fitted in as possible or convenient.
8. The Air Force research proposal will be sent for review, as discussed.
9. The detailed acquisition priority list will be presented to the President for subsequent final review and approval [ie I will fiddle with them, then queue them myself in-game as IC is freed, tinkering along the way.]
All these motions were agreed and recommended by the Cabinet and accepted by the President.
“Thank you, gentlemen,” concluded Inönü. “This had been a busy period of consideration and a long but valuable meeting. Please pass on my heartiest thanks to all departmental and external contributors to this process. It is now time for us to attend the various commemorations and special meetings planned for the rest of the day. Then back to the war! Aras, I believe you have some announcements to make?”
“Yes, My President, I do. Now, if you will all refer to the note that has just been placed in front of you …”
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Coming Up: Arrangements for Timisoara/May Day will be unveiled in the next chapter! And after that, the war will grind on: can those two German divisions be pocketed on the Sava? How much further and longer will the offensive be continued? And in what direction? Will the Soviets manage to destroy Army Group North and liberate Leningrad – or might the Germans extract themselves and strike back once again, as they have in the past? Can Hungary be knocked out of the war at last? The skies will again be contested, as will the back-rooms and dank dungeons of the Secret War.
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Chapter 199: Remembering Timisoara (1 to 8 May 1943)
Chapter 199: Remembering Timisoara (1 to 8 May 1943)
AuthAAR’s Notes: The War Cabinet meeting held in Istanbul on the morning of 1 May 1943 has already been reported upon in Chapter 198. This chapter describes a few events in its immediate lead-up, the dual commemoration of Timisoara/May Day and the first eight days of operations in May 1943.
What with May/Timisoara Day, extensive combat operations and end-of-month reports, there ended up being enough material for four decent sized chapters to cover May: I thought that better than trying to cut out too much detail or try to squeeze it into three over-long ones. It does mean the images have been largely curated for the next three chapters as well, so while this delayed the issue of this one, the subsequent ones will be significantly quicker to produce. So here goes …
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Prologue: Washington DC, 28 Apr 43
“Mr President, Secretary Smith is here to see you,” announced President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s private secretary, Grace Tully [1], as she ushered the Secretary of State into the Oval Office.
FDR with his Private Secretary Grace Tully, April 1943.
Grace Tully (August 9, 1900 – June 15, 1984) was private secretary to U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt. She succeeded the formidable Marguerite ‘Missy’ LeHand after the latter suffered a stroke in June 1941. Tully was not an intimate or romantic companion for Roosevelt in the same way as LeHand had been. She was working for the President at his "Little White House" in Warm Springs in April 1945, and was present at his death. Then she served as the Executive Secretary for the FDR Foundation.
Secretary of State Alfred E. Smith [2] took a chair next to the President. Theirs was a businesslike relationship - not a warm one.
“Ah, Secretary Smith, welcome. I wanted to talk to you ahead of your impending trip to Istanbul,” Roosevelt began. “Of course, it will not simply be a ceremonial occasion, so I wanted to ensure we are on the same wavelength when it comes to discussion with your Turkish and Soviet counterparts.”
“Of course, Mr President,” Smith replied. “I believe I am thoroughly briefed. Was there anything in particular you wished to discuss?”
“A broad discussion about our strategic interests – national and as part of the Comintern Pact we find ourselves in – at the moment.” The two then discussed issues such as explaining the United States’ limited involvement in the Pacific Theatre so far (to be explained as a capacity and capability issue), a desire to keep Turkey happy as the United States' ‘friend in the West’, the performance of the US Marine expeditionary force in the current Balkan campaign, lend-lease and equipment purchases, and so on.
As they finished, Roosevelt motioned for the note-takers to leave the room. “There is also the issue of our relationship with the Soviets and our lingering affinity with and support for the United Kingdom, despite our formal membership of the Comintern Pact. And letting you know about a specific intelligence matter that will occur during your visit.”
Smith merely raised an inquisitive eyebrow and allowed the president to continue.
“Major General [he had been recently promoted] Guildenstern, as you know, will be attending as our senior ‘Turkish specialist’ in his public role as chief of public affairs. He also has a task in his, ah, clandestine role. Rest assured, any risk to us is minimal and nothing will be done to needlessly risk your position or cause embarrassment. It is to be considered a favour for the ‘Former Naval Gentleman’.”
“Yes, Mr President,” said a rather diffident Smith, citing an old aphorism to keep things nuanced – neither disagreeing nor agreeing with the idea, simply acknowledging he would do whatever he must. “Of course, I serve the national interest at the President’s pleasure.”
He was then briefed into the task.
“It is a somewhat thorny issue, Alfred, but here it is in a nutshell …”
Roosevelt and Alfred E. Smith: “It is a somewhat thorny issue, Alfred.”
A short bio on Smith has been provided previously in this AAR: in brief, he was the Democrats' Presidential candidate in 1928 and in OTL he had a prickly relationship with FDR, though apparently they somewhat mended fences towards the end of their lives. Clearly, they are closer in this ATL!
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Istanbul, 1 May 43
Following the Cabinet Meeting that morning in the Dolmabahçe Palace in Istanbul, Inönü met a very special guest – his fellow Head of State from the Soviet Union, Mikhail Kalinin [3]. Of course, Kalinin held no power and to all intents and purposes was a mere ceremonial figurehead for Stalin, but he had been the equivalent of President of the USSR since 1919 and had been sent by Stalin on a very rare foreign trip to preside with Inönü over a Turkish-Soviet May Day Parade in the old Turkish capital of Istanbul (Inönü did not wish to be too far from the front, so had sent Celal Bayar back to Ankara to officiate there as Prime Minister).
As the two Presidents stood at the reviewing platform, the two national anthems were played.
“Before the parade starts, Mr Chairman,” said a beaming Inönü, “I have a special surprise for you. The best singers from your Red Army expeditionary troops serving with us have been gathered. You may recognise this song.”
Inönü and Kalinin (right) in Istanbul, May Day 1943. “You may recognise this song.” [Photo thanks to @diskoerekto]
(2.44m)
Красная Армия всех сильней (Krasnaya Armiya vsekh siljney - The Red Army is Strongest)
Mikhail Ivanovich Kalinin (Russian: Михаи́л Ива́нович Кали́нин; b 19 November [O.S. 7 November] 1875), known familiarly by Soviet citizens as "Kalinych", was a Bolshevik revolutionary and a Soviet politician. He served as head of state of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and later of the Soviet Union from 1919 to 1946. From 1926, he was a member of the Politburo of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. From 1938, his title was Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. He had been in that or its previous equivalent position since 1919.
He held little power or influence beyond receiving diplomatic letters from abroad. Recalling him, future Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev said, "I don't know what practical work Kalinin carried out under Lenin. But under Stalin he was the nominal signatory of all decrees, while in reality he rarely took part in government business. Sometimes he was made a member of a commission, but people didn't take his opinion into account very much. It was embarrassing for us to see this; one simply felt sorry for Mikhail Ivanovich."
The parade was necessarily limited in size and duration due to the heavy operations at the front. Once the two men finished their review, they went off for a separate, smaller Timisoara Day commemoration, where the Romanian Ambassador attended and Inönü’s battlefield address from two years before was reread.
Around the country, May/Timisoara Day was being commemorated in towns and villages (there were few ‘celebrations’ to be had at that stage of the war). Below, at a primary school.
“The Turkish Revolution is Unique”. [Photo and translation thanks to @diskoerekto]
As Kalinin returned to the Soviet Consulate in Istanbul and Inönü to his 1st Army HQ at the front, two other guests were being welcomed by Foreign Minister Aras at the Dolmabahçe Palace. Both men had been at the short parade with the official party, but had then adjourned for the real business of the day: a foreign ministers’ meeting of the Comintern’s ‘Big Three’ powers. Litvinov and Smith joined Aras for classified discussions, including an abridged debrief of the key outcomes of the Cabinet Meeting that the Pact partners ‘needed to know’.
Soviet Foreign Minister Litvinov, right, behind Inönü before the 1943 May Day Parade.
US Secretary of State Smith arriving in Istanbul, 30 April 1943.
As the Ministers met, Major General B.J. Guildenstern was among a range of guests mingling at a morning tea in the gardens of the Palace. Among the others there was his old colleague and approximate counterpart, Persephonee Fotheringay-Phipps (or 'Fungifips' as she was styled in Turkey these days).
“Ah, Perse, delighted to see you, still in one piece,” he said with a broad grin which did not quite reach his eyes. Perse could see it was a hint of worry and concern underlying an outwardly relaxed display of joviality: she knew him too well from ‘the old days’.
“Quite, B.J., still tootling along as best I can,” she replied, matching his demeanour. “I hope your new job is treating you well.”
“Oh, it is, my dear,” then, dropping his voice but keeping up the relaxed façade, “I had a message from an old friend. Rosencrantz, if you please. Something Shakespearean, now what was it again? ‘A rose by any other name would smell as sweet’. And something about ‘Romeos being the death of Juliets’, even though it is never intended’. Nonsense, of course. He always was a romantic fool, I thought.”
B.J. Guildenstern: “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet”.
“Oh, the silly boy! He was always a thorn in my side. And no longer welcome in these parts,” she added wryly.
Both of them laughed lightly and parted ways. Inside, however, Perse’s mind was churning. Especially given her middle name happened to be Juliet!
Perse: “Oh, the silly boy!”
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At The Front – Midnight, 1 May 43
At midnight, a report was received that one of four continuing battles – an Axis attack on Tuzla, which had started on 28 April – had just ended in Turkish victory. Fighting in Backa Palanka continued in the Comintern’s favour, while Turkish forces were still trying to reclaim Valpovo after a victory there to cut off two German divisions racing to escape being cut off in Bosanski Brod. To the north, Axis attacks on Vrnograc and Virovitica appeared to be failing, but fighting had not yet ended.
A summary of the key action and dispositions in Turkish sector west of Beograd as at the end of April 1943.
At midnight, a short report was received from the Eastern Front: 4 Cav Div had reached Chindagatuy to claim it for the Comintern, but had been immediately attacked by Japanese infantry and Manchurian militia, before their Comintern comrades could arrive to reinforce them.
An hour later, 7 Inf Div was the first to reinforce Osijek. Spotting an opportunity in Sombor, which the enemy had left temporarily unoccupied in the confusion of their retreat from the Sava River. The 7th was ordered to attempt a bridgehead across the mighty Danube, as a heavy Turkish column kept driving to secure the Drava in Valpovo. At last, it seemed a war of manoeuvre had begun as Turkey now threatened Hungary’s southern borders [Pécs being a Hungarian 2 VP location].
The good news kept coming, with MAJGEN Diskoerekto reporting a heavy repulse of the latest Axis assault on Vrnograc.
Three hours later, the same outcome came in Virovitica (Turkish 98 v 794 Axis casualties). For now, anyway, that part of the line was secure with no enemy attacks between the Drava River and the Adriatic.
In Beograd, which had been quiet for some time now though still showed the scars of previous heavy fighting, the local Soviet troops staged their own May Day Parade later that morning, with hope in their hearts … and guns in their hands.
There was good reason to celebrate, as by midday the quick-moving 3 Cav Div managed to secure Valpovo just before the first of the fleeing German divisions to the south was able to reach it. Completely cut off, the veteran but worn out 1st Infanterie surrendered soon after in Valpovo, followed by the otherwise fresh 3 Gebirgjäger the next day. In all, almost 10,000 German POWs would be rounded up. It was shaping into a great May Day!
By 7pm, the Cavalry Reserve had retaken Plovdiv from rebel occupation and headed to Sofiyah, where they would remain on counter-insurgency duty for now. At the same time, a new Axis attack by Italian mountain troops in Zagreb struck 1 Inf and 1 Mar Divs in Sisak. Orbay negated their assault with a counter-attack: there was little chance of Axis victory there; unless they threw more into the fight.
2 Armd Div bolstered the occupation of Valpovo at 11pm: it should now be secure against any counter-attack from enemy divisions beginning to muster along the north bank of the Drava River to its north.
Air Damage Report. The main air activity was in Brcko, where three Italian air raids killed 284 of the troops attacking Backa Palanka.
OTL Event: Tunisia. The Battle of Hill 609 ended as the U.S. Army's II Corps drove Germany's Afrika Korps from a strategic position. An author would note that the battle, the first clear cut victory of U.S. forces in the North African Campaign, was "the American Army's coming-of-age."[Comment: in this ATL, that has been achieved on the Sava and Drava Rivers during the Turkish Spring Offensive of 1943.]
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2 May 43
The enemy attack on Sisak was indeed ramped up at 1am that morning, with a division each from Cakovec (German motorised) and Zagreb (Hungarian infantry) joining, making it notionally a 50/50 proposition, as enemy air raids commenced in support. This would not be allowed to go unchallenged: a Comintern spoiling attack was ordered immediately from Virovitica, which hit the Germans’ flank in Cakovec hard at 2am.
By 5am, the Germans in Cakovec had pulled out of their participation in the attack on Sisak, improving the odds there to a reasonably comfortable level. For now, the spoiling attack on Cakovec continued, though the Germans were now able to defend without distraction.
With more Soviet troops arriving in Valpovo, 2 Armd Div (commanded by MAJGEN Naci Tinaz – it is Turkey’s fastest formation) was now free to push into the developing breakout area, heading south-east to Osijek, where 7 Inf Div was attempting to cross the Danube to Sombor.
7 Inf Div completed an unopposed crossing of the Danube at 10am. They could not yet determined what enemy forces – if any – were around them on the far bank, other than those already known in Beli Manastir (to the north-west) and Backa Palanka (being attacked to the south-east).
However, they were met by US ‘Liaison Officer’ MAJ Tyler Durden, who had arranged a rendezvous there with his OSS handler, Edward Norton.
“We have caused mayhem behind their lines,” reported the somewhat crazed but exhilarated Durden. “They have some forces to the south in Kula, but not much else in front of you now. If you push forward now, it will be on an open door.”
Edward Norton and Tyler Durden in Sombor, 2 May 1943: “We have caused mayhem behind their lines.”
Alas, to Durden’s frustration, 7 Inf Div had been instructed to hold the precious bridgehead at Sombor while the faster breakthrough forces came through to exploit – and they were not yet in Osijek.
“Damn it, Norton! I’ve had enough of this. It's FUBAR. I’m going back out to look for a real fight!”
“Where will you be?”
“Not saying: remember, what happens in fight club stays in fight club!”
By 3pm, even though they remained under air attack, Orbay reported the Italian attack on Sisak had been heavily defeated (Turkish 86 v 710 Italian casualties). An hour later, victory was declared in Backa Palanka, which was occupied by three Comintern divisions soon after.
Air Damage Report. Four Italian air raids on Sisak killed 583 of Turkish defenders before they finished that night. They also began raiding Virovitica, which would continue until 4 May (where they were trying to break up the Turkish attack that continued on the Germans in Cakovec).
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3 May 43
Although it was progressing reasonably, with the continuing air attacks, with Sisak safe it was decided the attack on Cakovec was a distraction and could not be exploited effectively even if it succeeded: the focus was elsewhere and Turkish troop reserves were already being reduced quickly enough (down to 69,000 by this point from 71,000 at the start of the month). It was broken off at 1 am (Turkish 253 v 402 German casualties). The enemy air raids on Sisak continued into the next day.
Nearby, a new opportunity would be exploited: The enemy had still not made it into Szigetvár, on the northern bank of the Drava River, west of Pécs. 15 Inf Div would attack from Virovitica and 4th US Mar Div from Slatina. Acting Lieutenant Metin Sadik readied his platoon in 15 Inf Div, while MAJ Kenny ‘Wraith’ Loggins attached himself to the relatively small (3 x MAR bde) 4th US Marines for what could become a bloody river crossing fight if the enemy got there first to deny the Drava bridgehead. The ultimate objective was to start nothing less than a drive on the Hungarian capital, which sat four provinces to the north of the border, which Turkey was now poised to cross.
2 Armd Div (8.5 kph movement rate) reached Osijek at 8am and was tasked with pushing over the Danube, through 7 Inf Div in Sombor and then continuing north-east to Subotica, which Turkish patrols had confirmed was not yet occupied by the enemy. If they could secure Subotica, that would take them to the banks of the Tisa River. Beyond which lay Timisoara! Which, assuredly, no-one in the Turkish Army had forgotten.
Way over on the Eastern Front, by 8am 4 Cav Div was still fighting hard but losing organisation in Chindagatuy. 47 SD had joined the battle, though it remained in reserve. But it did mean MAJGEN Marcinkevich was able to take command of the defence.
With the sector quiet and new garrison units gaining organisation, Toüdemür’s fast and powerful 2 Mot Div was sent across to the breakthrough area in Osijek from Vrnograc. They would be back-filled by Wehib Pasha’s veteran 1 Armd Div, shuffling up from nearby Ogulin.
The day finished with a short skirmish in Szigetvár: the Hungarian 4th Inf Div had reached it first, but a blitzing attack from 15 Inf and 4 US Mar Divs, who attacked at 11pm, the unprepared Hungarians retreating an hour later (Turkish 3 v 12 Hungarian casualties). But it would still take some time to complete the crossing over the Drava River and secure the Hungarian province.
Air Damage Report.The Italian air raids on Virovitica continued into 4 May.
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4 May 43
An encounter battle began in Subotica at 2am, with 2 Armd Div launching a reckless assault on the recently arrived, under-strength and still somewhat disorganised 7 Pz Div, whose superior armour to that of the Turkish light tanks was employed in an attempted ambush. But the early odds [66%] were in the Turks’ favour. They wanted to brush the Germans aside before the line was consolidated.
This battle was closer to the major Turkish airfields in Beograd and, with an enemy armoured formation in open terrain, the long-withheld 1 Tank Avci Grubu (TAG) was warned to be prepared to try their hand in a ground attack. The two Sturmovik CAS wings were being escorted by the old Hawk III INT wing of 1 AF. Many of whose pilots were of the first draft of female Turkish fighter pilots, led by Atatürk’s adopted daughter [4]!
Sabiha Gökçen (second from left, with white scarf), Sahavet Karapars (centre, with goggles on her forehead) and other female fighter pilots in Beograd, on the morning of 4 May 1943, shortly before their first combat mission on the Balkan Front. Sabiha’s Hawk III can be seen in the background. [Photo thanks to @diskoerekto]
Per Wikipedia: Sabiha Gökçen (b. 22 March 1913) is a Turkish aviator and was the world's first female fighter pilot, aged 23. Others such as Marie Marvingt and Evgeniya Shakhovskaya preceded her as military pilots in other roles, but not as fighter pilots and without military academy enrolment.
She was an orphan, and one of the thirteen adopted children of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. After the introduction of the Surname Law, Atatürk gave her the family name Gökçen on 19 December 1934. 'Gök' means sky in Turkish and Gökçen means 'belonging or relating to the sky'. However, she was not an aviator at that time, and it was only six months later that Sabiha developed a passion for flying.
Sure enough, at 1pm 1 TAG was ordered to commence ground attacks on 7 Pz Div in Subotica. If they encountered enemy interceptors, more Turkish fighters would have to be sent from Beograd to assist. But to start with, 1 AF – which had a mix of male and female pilots – would have to give the IL-2 CAS wings what protection they could. Two raids were carried out that day, but no enemy interceptors appeared. However, escorted Italian TAC wings began bombing nearby Sombor that afternoon.
IL-2s of 1 TAG strike 7 Pz Div in Subotica on the evening of 4 May 1943.
To the north, the US Marines (4 US Mar Div, with ‘Wraith’ Loggins) were the first across the Drava into Szigetvár, securing it at 5pm. They had their bridgehead – and were now on Hungarian territory, well and truly in the Danger Zone! At 8pm the partly-formed 3 Mot Div (2 x MECH, 1 x TD) were ordered to join them from Slatina, while 15 Inf Div was still making its way across the river from Virovitica.
At 11pm, 1 TAK (with 2 x FTR and 2 x TAC wings at that stage) was added to the ground attacks on Subotica as Naci Tinaz sought to push 7 Pz Div (now confirmed as having a four brigade orbat of ARM/MOT/AC/TD) aside and deepen the Danube bridgehead towards Timisoara.
Air Damage Report.The Italian air raids on Virovitica from 2-4 May killed a total of 1,689 Turkish soldiers, while their attacks begun that day on Sombor would last a couple more days. The Turkish raids on Subotica would continue until early on 7 May: but the Turks were back in the ground attack business after a long delay, much to the appreciation of the ground forces.
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5 May 43
1 Mot Div was considered recovered enough (to around 80% average organisation) from its previous fighting by 10am to reinforce the Sombor bridgehead after arriving in Backa Palanka from Osijek. They began moving north, while a strong column advanced on Kula, hoping to widen the Danube bridgehead.
At 3pm, it was decided to split the ground attack missions into a day (1 TAK) and night (1 TAG) routine, to try to avoid overcrowding and improve ‘productivity’.
Over in the fierce and drawn-out battle for Chindagatuy, 4 Cav Div had been forced to retreat, but not before 47 SD had joined the front line to continue the defence of the recently gained province. The two attacking enemy divisions were now losing strength [-14% progress]: it looked like the defence might hold after all after the valiant delaying action of the cavalry.
Meanwhile, the fighting in Subotica showed no signs of ending too soon. The superior tactics of the Turks were being balanced by the armoured advantage of the German panzers. But at least this time, both sides had to contend with air attacks. At 7pm, 6 Inf Div arrived in Osijek and was also ordered into the bridgehead battle.
A few hours later, 3 Mot Div (-) arrived in Szigetvár, with yet more troops being ordered up from Virovitica. 15 Inf Div were still making their way across the Drava.
Curious about developments in the Baltic breakthrough, Inönü had requested an update, which GRU Agent SkitalecS3 provided that night. It seemed the Germans had managed to re-open communications along a thin corridor after counter-attacking the point of the Soviet advance, with heavy fighting continuing.
In line with the recent discussions in Istanbul between respective foreign ministers, Inönü sent a cable to Moscow reiterating that Turkey would continue to push hard in the Balkan Spring Offensive, to ensure the Axis were kept occupied everywhere at once. The Soviet and Romanian forces north of Brasov would attempt the same.
Both sides kept up their damaging air attacks on Subotica and Sombor throughout the day and into the next.
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6 May 43
By 10am, the Turks had seen enough and sent the largely recovered 4 AG (two FTR wings, La-5s and P-51s) from Split to intercept the enemy bombing Sombor. They were soon in action, taking some damage but, while they couldn’t deflect the raid in progress, they inflicted heavy damage on one of the Italian TAC wings. And ended the Italian air raids on Sombor – for the time being, anyway. All in all, the mission was deemed a great success.
But even as the dogfight was going on above Sombor, a large spoiling attack from three different direction hit Turkish positions Sombor. Fortunately, 7 Inf Div were partly dug in by then and one of the enemy divisions was attacking across the Danube, but 2 Armd Div was placed at a considerable disadvantage in its attack on Subotica.
In Szigetvár, 15 Inf Div were across the Drava by 2pm and, joined by 3 Mot Div (-) began pushing north to Kaposvár, where a gap remained in the Hungarian line. By then, 4 US Mar Div was holding the bridgehead while 11 Inf and 2 Mot Divs pressed into it.
With the situation in Sombor deteriorating under the heavy Axis attack, at 3pm a two-division Comintern spoiling attack struck Kula across the Danube from Backa Palanka. The Axis quickly responded with a two-division assault on Backa Palanka from Semska Mitrovica – across open terrain. MAJGEN Seven skilfully commanded both battles at once, managing a well-timed counter-attack on the assault on Backa Palanka. The now complicated battle expanded further when 97 SD ‘Shev’ launched a separate spoiling attack at 4pm on Beli Manastir from Osijek. It was now ‘on for young and old’ with fighting on multiple fronts!
To complicate the multiple-front battle even further, a major spoiling attack was then launched by the Turks from three different directions on the Axis troops attacking from Semska Mitrovica, led personally by Commander 3rd Corps, LTGEN Yamut.
And that evening, 1 TAK began bombing Semska Mitrovica (of their own volition, on the way to Subotica, where they were still tasked!), while 1 TAG continued its mission on Subotica. The spoiling attack on Semska Mitrovica soon worked, the Axis calling off their own spoiler on Backa Palanka (Comintern 31 v 112 Axis casualties) to concentrate on their own suddenly perilous defence.
But 2 Armd Div’s attack on Subotica was failing as casualties and disorganisation mounted. It was halted at 11pm (Turkish 825 v 433 German casualties). The Axis had managed to scramble a defence and seal a dangerous two-province gap in their line.
Air Damage Report.The Italian air raids on Sombor from 4-6 May killed a total of 1,006 Turkish soldiers before the Turkish interception mission stopped them that morning. Turkish air attacks on both Semska Mitrovica and Subotica continued into 7 May.
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7 May 43
At midnight 156 SD was added to the spoiling attack on Beli Manastir after arriving in Valpovo. And at 1am 1 TAK’s efforts were switched to Bajmok, as the enemy attack on Sombor pressed hard.
The raid on Bajmok brought out the enemy interceptors – it must have crept inside their (shorter) range. 1 TAK managed to press their raids home three times, but by that night the heavy damage and disorganisation suffered by the Yak-4s in particular meant their mission was called off, with repairs, replacements and fresh aircrews called for.
In the East, word arrived at 7am that the Japanese-Manchurian attack had finally been beaten back from Chindagatuy after over six days of bitter fighting (Comintern 714 v 954 Axis casualties). The sacrifice of 4 Cav Div had not been in vain.
The push to break out north towards Budapest gathered momentum when 2 Mot Div got across the Drava at 2pm and joined the advance on Kaposvár, which remained unoccupied by the enemy, ensuring the Axis had to worry about two major Turkish axes of advance.
As fighting still raged in and around the Sombor bridgehead, at 9pm 1 TAG was finally switched from attacking Subotica to day and night raids on Kula, where the Turkish spoiling attack was bogged down. It was hoped that it would still be out of Axis interceptor range. But shortly afterwards, a review showed Seven’s 14 Inf Div was running short or organisation and supplies. The Kula attack was called off at 11pm (Comintern 594 v 260 Axis casualties).
A similar situation had developed in the spoiling attack on at Beli Manastir, which was halted at the same time (Soviet 301 v 185 German casualties) after 156 SD had been unable to reinforce their comrades from 97 SD in the front line. Both these decisions were made a little easier by the fact that Sombor had been reinforced by this time, putting the battle now in Turkey’s favour [-40% progress].
Air Damage Report.The Turkish raids on Subotica from 4-7 May killed a total of 760 German soldiers. A couple of isolated raids by 1 TAK on Semska Mitrovica on 6 and 7 May killed 221 and the three raids on Bajmok caused another 377 enemy troops. Meanwhile the Italians had launched a few raids on Osijek (139 casualties) and Valpovo (230) during the day, helping to break up the attack on Beli Manastir.
OTL Event: Tunisia. Tunis and Bizerte were liberated by Allied troops, with Bizerte falling to the Americans at 4:15 pm local time, and the Tunisian capital being conquered five minutes later by the British First Army.[Comment: in ATL, Vichy France remains neutral, with Operation Torch never having been conducted and Syria still in their hands.]
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8 May 43
The Italians resumed its air attacks on Sombor on the morning of 8 May in support of their flagging attack on the Turkish bridgehead, but the long range fighters of 4 AG from Split intercepted again – and found the enemy bombers were without fighter escorts. Tally ho and vur ha! The first raid slipped through, but the second only had one wing, which was badly damaged and caused no ground casualties. The Italians did not reappear that evening – another successful interception.
The fast-moving 3 Mot Div (-) continued its ‘recon in force’ by occupying Kaposvár at 1pm. They were ordered to push on immediately as the rest of the breakthrough force followed up.
The great effort to save the Sombor bridgehead finally succeeded that night. By air and on the ground, the Turks had prevailed, with heavy casualties on both sides. With a large amount of Axis troops now heading to Subotica, two relatively fresh divisions now in Sombor – 1 Mot and 6 Inf – launched a quick attack on Bajmok. The aim here was to attempt to outflank the Germans in Beli Manastir through a (hopefully) relatively weak point in the line.
Air Damage Report.Two raids by 1 TAG on Kula that day killed a total of around 100 enemy soldiers and would continue into the next day. The single Italian raid on Sombor killed 165 defenders before being driven off by Turkish fighter cover. In the event they had been seriously discouraged: enemy bombers would not reappear on the Turkish front again until 16 May. But the Turkish Air Force would remain active throughout, starting to even up the score of casualties from air action a little over time [full casualty comparisons will be made in the end of month reports].
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By that night, reports from the neighbouring Romanian front allowed a comparison of progress since the beginning of the month, eight days before. And the progress was quite heartening. In Romania, Cluj (a Romanian VP city) was coming under pressure. Turkey had won important bridgeheads over the Danube and Drava Rivers. And Inönü’s ambitions were bold: he wished to threaten both BudapestandTimisoara simultaneously. But much would need to be done before either of those objectives could prove even feasible.
The large attack on Semska Mitrovica (begun on 6 May) and the new one on Bajmok continued as 8 May ended. A summary of key actions in the Turkish sector for the first eight days of May is provided below, with the new front marked by the dashed blue line. The Turkish manpower reserve had shrunk to 68,000 men by the end of the month as casualties continued to outweigh new recruitment.
Campaign summary, Turkish Sector, 1-8 May 1943.
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Coming Up: Guildenstern’s veiled warning to Perse on May Day caused her genuine concern, but not panic; what did it mean and what, if anything, would she do about it? And who exactly was she being warned about? Will the Italians continue to lay low and let Cennet, Vito Corleone, the Resistance and all their active operations run riot for the rest of the month, as they have done so far? What is ‘Calixte Charon’ (aka Giuseppe ‘Romeo’ Montague) up to – is he homing in on the presumed Soviet mole in Turkey? What collateral damage might he inadvertently do in his increasingly unhinged voyage into the heart of darkness? Will Callan’s patience finally run out?
At the front, Turkey and Romania have made some good initial gains in the first eight days of the month, but can they be continued? Does Turkey have the men and resources to maintain two major axes of advance? Or will Inönü’s ambitions again be brought short by reality, as they have been in the past?
Can the Soviets hold their ground in the north, let alone re-establish their pocketing of Axis forces in Army Group North, centred on occupied Leningrad? Or did the Soviet advance overextend itself, going too far, too fast? And what else is happening in the Far East, India and North Africa?
AuthAAR’s Note: Here we have a combat-focused episode, as the Turks and their Comintern partners attempt to capitalise on their recent hard-fought breakthrough in the Spring Offensive. Note, the whole month was played through, so these chapters will progressively bring us back up to the in-game ‘present’ at the end of May 1943.
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Recap: The Front Line - 8 May 43
As a reminder of where things are up to, the map below shows action in the breakthrough area during the first eight days of May 1943, as Inönü decided to chance his arm by trying to exploit both north towards Budapest and east to Timisoara – the latter meeting particularly heavy resistance and frequent Axis counter-attacks. Battles continued at Bajmok and Semska Mitrovica.
The blue dotted line shows the front as at 2300 hr on 8 May 1943.
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9 May 43
A skirmish in Bajmok was won at 1am as two advancing Turkish divisions brushed away a light defence. If it could be occupied, it started to threaten encirclement of Pécs and Beli Manastir to its west, while also offering another avenue to hook east towards Timisoara, keeping the Axis from firming up a new defensive line.
At 2am, Soviet troops from 12 SD in Backa Palanka joined four other Comintern divisions attacking two Axis divisions in Semska Mitrovica, though were yet to reinforce. Importantly, unlike the other four, if they could reinforce they were not approaching over the Sava River.
Then in the north, later that morning the fast and powerful 2 Mot Div joined 3 Mot Div (-) (which had arrived there the afternoon before) to reinforce the breakthrough into Kaposvár, where they too took the calculated risk of pushing on to Szekszárd before the follow-on units had secured Kaposvár and the supply line running through it. But if they waited, the current opportunity may disappear.
15 Inf Div were not far behind, arriving in Kaposvár at 1pm: but instead of staying to secure it, the still partly disorganised formation also pushed on to Szekszárd, as Axis divisions in Pécs must have spotted the developing trap and now started marching north to escape to Szekszárd themselves. An hour later, 4 US Mar Div was in turn ordered to march north up to Kaposvár from the original bridgehead at Szigetvár, with two divisions on their way from the south of the Drava River to relieve them in turn.
That night, the advance guard of 3 Mot Div (which had no permanent commander) arrived in Szekszárd at 7pm, encountering the unprepared 4th Hungarian Division, which retreated on contact. Having been ordered all the way through, they kept going to Dunaújváros, where they struck the 16th Hungarian Division at 8pm. Their attempted shock attack was however negated by an ambush, though the Hungarians had not had time to dig in [43% progress].
Air Damage Report.Turkish air raids in support of the attack on Semska Mitrovica, which had begun on 6 May, continued throughout the day. Turkish raids on Kula, begun on 8 May, killed 146 Axis troops by the time they finished on the morning of 9 May. There would be no renewal of Axis air attacks until 16 May.
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10 May 43
1 Mot Div reported they had arrived at Bajmok at 5am, with 17 Inf Div following up from Sombor. At 6am, the lead elements of the Axis troops trying to escape from Beli Manastir pulled back after a very brief skirmish.
At 10am, 3 Cav Div (a light motorised formation these days) hit Beli Manastir from Valpovo, intending to keep them pinned in place. But they were attacking over a river and immediately started taking disproportionate casualties, so broke off the attack before more men were killed.
Just an hour later, word came over the radio command net of a major victory in Semska Mitrovica: 2 Inf Div had occupied it just an hour later. But as they waited for the rest of their comrades to join them, they were counter-attacked by German and Hungarian troops at 3pm.
As that attack began, to the north 2 Mot Div arrived in Szekszárd and advanced to reinforce the attack on Dunaújváros[now up to 81%].
Then at 8pm, the Axis counter offensive in the south intensified, when two Hungarian divisions struck Sombor from Subotica. The superior generalship of LTGEN Cakmak was more than equal to the task however, ordering a counter-attack on the enemy assault, adding to the defenders’ advantages in terrain, entrenchment and armour.
That night, 1 TAG (the IL2s and with Hawk III escorts) were switched to Subotica to try to disrupt the Hungarians attacking Sombor.
Air Damage Report.Ten supporting air raids by the Turks (Yak-4s from 1 TAK) on Semska Mitrovica from the evening of 6 May until the morning of 10 May killed 608 Axis troops.
News Report: Berlin, Germany. On the day that the Enabling Act of 1933 was set to expire by its terms, Adolf Hitler signs an order extending his dictatorship indefinitely. Published in the Reich Law Gazette, the decree stated "The Reich government will continue to exercise the powers bestowed on it by virtue of the law of March 24, 1933. I reserve for myself the obtaining of a confirmation of these powers of the Reich government by the Greater German Reichstag". In Ankara, Prime Minister Celal Bayar was asked for comment, saying: “The criminal Nazi regime in Berlin will be lucky to last another ten months. Herr Hitler and his evil cronies will spend most of that time huddled in bunkers, contemplating the consequences of their inhuman folly, before ending up in front of firing squads. After being found guilty at full and fair trials, of course.”
OTL Event: Battle of Kursk. Hitler approved Operation Citadel, the attack on the Kursk salient, for June 1943.
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11 May 43
By 3am, the Hungarians attacking Sombor had had enough: they stopped their assault, having lost 221 men to the Comintern defenders’ 40 casualties. They would continue to suffer more casualties from both Turkish bomber groups for the rest of that day and the next three afterwards.
6 Inf Div were the next to reinforce the breakthrough in Bajmok at 9am, but they were subject to post-attack reorganisation and were therefore unable to push on, where the seizure of Baja would cut off at least three Axis divisions in a possible Pécs-Beli Manastir pocket: the Axis units in Pécs had halted in place.
The enemy attack on Semska Mitrovica failed at 3pm (Comintern 241 v 317 Axis casualties), by which time 2 Inf Div had been joined by two more divisions. At the same time, 15 Inf Div had arrived in Szekszárd, where they were sent north to exploit to Székesfehérvár, in the hope of flanking the continuing battle in Dunaújváros – slipping into Budapest by the ‘back door’.
Not that things had been quiet to that point, but between 10pm and midnight, all hell broke loose across the northern part of the front.
1. First, the Hungarian 4th Division in Pécs attacked the bridgehead in Szigetvár at 10pm, in an apparent attempt to break out, sever the supply lines of the advance on Budapest and delay the move of 4 US Mar Div in Kaposvár, which had very nearly made it there. Dangerously, German medium panzers in Nagyatád had been spotted advancing from the west, but had not yet joined the battle.
2. Simultaneously, the German 68th Infanterie launched a diversionary attack on Vrnograc, though it appeared MAJGEN Diskoerekto, with the assistance of old Wehib Pasha’s 1 Armd Div, had that situation well in hand.
3. In response, 3 Cav Div in Valpovo was immediately ordered to make a self-sacrificing spoiling attack on Pécs, to see if they could discourage the first attack. It hit home at 11pm, but unfortunately the remaining Hungarian division in Pécs not taking part in that attack was able to concentrate on their defence.
4. At that point, 176 SD was ordered to make a spoiling attack on 8 Pz Div in Nagyatád: again, the odds were bad with another river assault, but it was hoped this would further hamper the attack on Szigetvár.
5. The existing attack by 2 and 3 Mot Divs on Dunaújváros was maintained at full force and 15 Inf Div kept pushing north, even while the battle for their tenuous supply lines went on behind them.
To the south, the Turkish Air Force continued to strike Subotica throughout the day, now with the purpose of softening it up for the next attack.
OTL Event: Operation Mincemeat. U.S. Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox inadvertently gave a clue that Allied forces intended to use Sicily for an invasion of Europe, potentially undermining the British disinformation campaign of Operation Mincemeat to convince German intelligence that the attack would be made from Greece and Sardinia. Ironically, Knox's comment that "Possession of Sicily by the Allies would obviously be a tremendous asset" was interpreted as an obviously clumsy attempt at deception, which Nazi Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels would describe as "baseless rumors and attempts at a smoke screen".[Comment: mistakenly tell the truth often enough and it will be interpreted as a lie!]
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12 May 43
Kanatli’s 1 Mot Div rolled into Bajmok at 2am and – unhindered by any reorganisation delays – were able to keep going straight towards Baja. Not only might the ‘Pécs Pocket’ be closed off, but it would open up an alternate supply route to the dangerously exposed forces advancing on Budapest.
As a desperate measure, with 4 US Mar Div still held up by the attack on Szigetvár, the completely unprepared new 5 Mil Div was [by an allowable game quirk] deployed straight into Kaposvár. It would take some time for them to gain any worthwhile organisation, but it was hoped they might briefly delay any attack there long enough for either the marines to arrive or an alternate supply route opened up through Baja. And even though there were two divisions defending Szigetvár and spoiling attacks on both the enemy divisions involved, those panzers had swung the battle in favour of the Axis.
With the completion of this new militia division, enough capacity was freed up to allow a new project: yet another new wing of the latest Soviet interceptors.
With the spoiling attack on Pécs floundering [just 2% progress], it was called off at 5am before too many lives were wasted (Turkish 36 v 18 Hungarian casualties).
Then at 10am, the barely prepared militiamen in Kaposvár proved their value against an even less innocuous unit: the Hungarian 2nd Army Group HQ trying to escape out of Pécs! Fortunately, the sight of the raw Turkish troops was enough to send the enemy running back without any actual fighting.
17 Inf Div reinforced Bajmok at 2pm, holding it securely along with 6 Inf Div while 1 Mot Div raced north to Baja. An hour later, 1 Mar Div made it to Szigetvár and went into reserve, balancing the ‘morale’ effect of 8 Pz Div which had still not been able to reinforce – very fortunately for the defenders, who seemed to be holding strongly enough.
The Turks continued to strike Subotica from the air, around the clock.
OTL Event: Washington D.C., US. TRIDENT, the first wartime conference between U.S. President Roosevelt and UK Prime Minister Churchill, began in Washington, D.C., and continued for 16 days. Churchill and his entourage had arrived in Washington from New York the night before after being secretly transported across the North Atlantic Ocean on the RMS Queen Mary.[Comment: things aren't quite so cosy in this ATL, so TRIDENT has not happened.]
OTL Event: Tunisia. Colonel General Hans-Jürgen von Arnim and General Giovanni Messe, commanders, respectively, of the German Army and the Italian Army in North Africa, both surrendered themselves to the Allies, although Arnim refused to sign terms of unconditional surrender of German forces. Arnim and many of his troops had been cornered at the Cape Bon peninsula in Tunisia, near the town of Ste. Marie du Zit, by the 4th Indian Division of the British forces.
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13 May 43
Midnight brought another bloody defeat for the Germans in Vrnograc, their attack repelled by an understrength division – 777 of their 4,445 men killed. The Turks lost 303 of the 25,990 defenders engaged.
1 Mot Div occupied Baja without a fight at 3am: the trap was sprung and the Pécs Pocket sealed. An hour later, while the Hungarians still fought to escape from Pécs, the German 46th Infanterie made what looked to be a forlorn attempt to break out of Beli Manastir by attacking Bajmok – but the IS-2 heavy tanks attached to 17 Inf Div and the accompanying infantry of two divisions, some entrenched behind the Danube, would surely be too much for them, especially with no help from outside the pocket.
The news was not so good in Kaposvár: the Italian 4th Mountain Division attacked the unprepared militiamen, who fled without firing a shot. It was a good thing the new supply line through Baja had just been opened, with the Italian mountaineers now expected to march on the abandoned positions.
Then the situation changed again at midday: the Hungarian breakout attack on Szigetvár from Pécs failed, with 4 US Mar Div resuming its interrupted march on Kaposvár and 1 Mar Div being ordered to follow them. The USMC division had only three brigade, so may need some assistance later, while more troops were needed to ensure the pocket remained firmly shut. 11 Inf Div would remain to hold Szigetvár.
The Hungarian 2nd Division attacked Sombor at 7pm, from Subotica[-22%], where Turkish air strikes continued. 2 Armd and 7 Inf Divs were both still quite badly disorganised from previous combat, but LTGEN Cakmak’s reinforced HQ 1st Corps remained fresh and actually led the defence.
By 9pm that night, 2 Mot Div had finally reinforced in Dunaújváros, which came just in time, with the three-brigade 3 Mot Div beginning to tire – as were the Hungarian defenders. 3 Mot was pulled out of the line to recover as Toüdemür’s 2 Mot took up the baton.
The now isolated ‘Pécs Pocket’ is highlighted in orange in the map above. At this stage, Turkish intelligence had identified a headquarters and two Hungarian infantry divisions trapped in Pécs and one German division trapped in Beli Manastir, which was still trying to break out to Bajmok.
The news remained fairly good over in Romania, where Comintern forces remained on the outskirts of Cluj, even though there were local Axis counter-attacks.
The dotted green line reflects the front line at the end of April 1943.
At 10pm, the US Marines arrived to secure Kaposvár, but were subject to a determined Italian attack before they had a chance to dig even a shell scrape, let alone proper entrenchments.
Turkish air preparation of Subotica (now also helping to disrupt the Hungarian attack on Sombor emanating from there) went on throughout the day, at a constant rate of four raids per day.
OTL Event: Tunisia. The North African Campaign came to an end after nearly three years, as the 164th Infantry Division of Germany's Afrika Korps laid down its weapons and its commander, Major General Kurt Freiherr von Liebenstein became the last of the Axis officers to surrender in Africa. The commanding British Field Marshal, Sir Harold Alexander, sent word to Prime Minister Churchill, saying that "It is my duty to report that the Tunis campaign is over. All enemy resistance has ceased." During the week, 150,000 Germans and Italians became prisoners of war of the Allies.
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14 May 43
The next of the new ‘reinforced militia divisions’ (2 x MIL, 1 x AT, 1 x ART), the 6th, deployed at midnight. Unlike their brethren who had been desperately pitched into Kaposvár, these troops would work up in Vrnograc, under MAJGEN Diskoerekto’s overall supervision. The plan was to wait for them to organise, until 1 Armd Div could be released for offensive operations in the breakthrough. The three mountain divisions would be left in this sector to hold the line for now, but later mountainous terrain beckoned to their north-west, where their specialist skills should eventually come into their own.
No new project was commenced, as supply production had been necessarily stepped up to over 71 IC (out of a total economy of 169 IC) because of the sustained offensive, meaning work on the new INT wing in production had fallen to 50%. The manpower reserve hovered at around 63,000 men, down from 71,000 at the start of the month.
After a tough fight which had begun on 9 May with 3 Mot Div attacking and cost 637 Turkish and 687 Hungarian lives, 2 Mot Div won the battle for Dunaújváros at 7am. They secured in an hour later: while they had orders to then move onto Budapest as soon as they could, it was not clear what (if any) garrison the Axis had in place, and Toüdemür’s men would need to reorganise before they could push on.
Victory also came in the defence of Sombor, which had proven very costly for the attackers, with 711 Hungarian troops killed (not including any losses from air raids they may have suffered) for the loss of only 73 Turkish defenders.
Next came the defeat of the German breakout attempt from Beli Manastir on Bajmok, with victory declared at midday, with German casualties this time well over 10-1 (1,186 German and 94 Turkish troops killed). The bratwurst-munching Nazis should now be thoroughly weakened, exhausted and hopefully running out of supplies.
Also at midday, 15 Inf Div finally pulled into forests of Székesfehérvár. As Acting Lieutenant Metin Sadik looked through his binoculars over the Danube, the buildings and spires of Budapest greeted his eyes. As did a demolished bridge.
The Danube River flowed under the Szechenyi Chain Bridge in Budapest … until it was intentionally destroyed by German paratroopers in May 1943 to slow the advance of the Turkish Army.
15 Inf Div was ordered straight into the attack, but they came up against a German garrison of the 1st Falschirmjäger Division, entrenched, with fixed fortifications (Level 1), sitting behind the Danube in urban terrain. Gataly ordered his highly experienced troops into determined assault and did have the superior armour of his IS-2s on his side, but the initial odds [1%] did not look promising. 2 Mot Div was still some way off being able to join the attack, as they were still reorganising.
The Hungarians in Pécs were not yet done with their desperate attempts to break out. While the Italians tried to rescue them by reopening Kaposvár [attack at -56%], one of their (still fully organised and supplied) divisions launched an assault on 1 Mot Div in Baja. But this had to be executed over the Danube, against a strong division with medium tanks and partially dug in. Then Kanatli counter-attacked the assault, to negate any advantage the Hungarians might have gained [progress -14%]. The Turkish commander remained confident of holding, unless attacked from the east as well: there was no sign of that yet, with Axis forces still withdrawing to the north-east of them.
The next major action to start was a concerted Comintern attack (two divisions each of Turkish and Soviet infantry) at 6pm on Ruma, the last remaining Axis positions on the Sava River near Beograd. Even though half the attackers were crossing the river, the Hungarians were defending hills and were entrenched, they were badly outnumbered (by more than 6-1) and the attack got off to a good start.
At the same time, the spoiling attack on Nagyatád, which had started back early on the 12th and had been preventing the German 8 Pz Div from attacking the Drava bridgehead at Szigetvár, was called off after disproportionately heavy casualties had been suffered by 176 SD (810 Soviet v 114 German).
The attack on Budapest was also clearly going nowhere and was called of at the same time after only light losses had yet been sustained (33 Turkish v 13 German). The idea here was for 15 Inf Div to begin reorganising for a more concerted attack when more forces could be brought up to hit Budapest from at least one more direction – and preferably with forces on the other side of the river. Perhaps some marines eventually as well, for the river crossings.
The efforts of 1 TAG were switched from Subotica to support the attack on Ruma at 8pm.
Over to the east of the Turkish sector, at 9pm 117 SD was ordered forward to plug a gap between the Turkish right and Romanian left that had opened up at Baja de Arama. East of Beograd, Axis forces looked to have begun thinning out along the Danube, though it was still being defended. Plans began to be drawn up to take advantage of Comintern success in this sector as well.
Air Damage Report.Four days of Turkish air raids by the Turks on Subotica from 11-14 May killed a total of 765 Axis troops by the time the mission was completed that night.
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15 May 43
Turkish supply organisation received a welcome improvement that day, with better throughput being particularly important as the offensive phase of the war continued and some mechanised units pushed well forward. The research – still not up to contemporary modern standards - was continued.
A new marine brigade also deployed [left over from when I must have been contemplating a five-marine-brigade division] and was assigned to the newly deployed 19 Inf Div, part of 1st Marine Corps. It was hoped this would at least give them some advantage when conducting future river assaults, and at least brought them up to a full five brigade establishment. If a second marine division was ever raised, they could be transferred to it. The excess IC was used to bring Yak-7 production up to 100% capacity, with the rest put into supplies (73.3 IC, 43.1% of total output). This would keep the supply stockpile hovering at around 16,000.
Victory was won in Ruma at 2am, with only light casualties. 1 TAG was switched up to Beli Manastir to see if they could discourage the breakout there and soften the Germans up a bit. It was also a test to see how far south Axis fighters cover extended.
The initial bombing run showed the Germans were below strength and completely disorganised, so an attack was ordered straight away, going in at 8am – when it was confirmed the enemy were also having supply problems, as had been hoped.
But as that went in, it was discovered that Italian interceptor cover did indeed extend that far south. The old Hawk IIIs tried to protect the IL-2s and were joined by more fighters from Beograd (2 & 3 AFs). One of the CAS wings was reduced to two-thirds strength and no organisation, so the mission was cancelled, though they managed to kill a few German soldiers on the ground first.
The Germans retreated from Beli Manastir up to Pécs at midday after a short fight, and the air mission, having done its job as a ‘recon in force’, was called off.
Air Damage Report.The one Turkish raid on Ruma had caused only nine casualties, then 1 TAG caused the 32 in Beli Manastir before operations were called off.
OTL Event: Carlsbad, New Mexico. At an airbase at Carlsbad, New Mexico, Dr. Louis Fieser, the chemist who had developed napalm, conducted the first test of the experimental "bat bomb", with a timed 0.6 ounce explosive attached to a Mexican free-tailed bat. After a demonstration with dummy bombs showed that the bats would, as planned, seek shelter in buildings, Dr. Fieser attached live explosives to six dormant bats for a demonstration in front of cameras. The bats woke up before detonation, then flew towards the wooden control tower, barracks, and other buildings and set a fire that destroyed much of the base.[Comment: one can’t help but conclude that justice was done in this case. Another case of bats emerging victorious over humans.]
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16 May 43
At midnight, Agent SkitalecS3 presented Inönü with the classified SITREP on the northern front. The Germans still maintained a precarious land supply line to their beleaguered Army Group North and had made some ground up south of Leningrad, but the Soviets remained confident as they pushed troops into the salient.
With Axis defences on the far side of the Danube north of Beograd now in some disarray, two divisions were tasked to push across to the currently unoccupied Kula early that morning.
The Turkish 1 Mar Div had just arrived to aid their American comrades in Kaposvár, notionally improving the odds [to -20%], but having no combat effect unless they could reinforce [only 0.4 % chance/round].
And Italian air attacks resumed that morning, with Kaposvár being struck. 4 AG in Split (with longer range multi-role La-5s and P-51Ds) was ordered to intercept these attackers at 6am.
But the Turkish fighters were themselves intercepted over Pécs before they could engage the bombers in Kaposvár, with the La-5s of 5 AF coming off second best, though the Italian fighters also sustained damage.
Next, 2 AG was ordered to cover Kaposvár, which they did that night and then into the next morning three times – finding the Italian bombers without escorts of their own each time! The last two raids recorded no friendly ground casualties, and saw the Italians take some heavy damage before calling off their mission.
Ruma was liberated at 6pm on 16 May, meaning all land between the Sava and the Danube had been cleared of the enemy.
Just as it looked like Kaposvár should be able to hold out, at 11pm 8 Pz Div joined the attack from the south, in support of the Italians. With both the front line divisions tiring quickly (the 4th US Marines a little more quickly than the attacking Italians), the battle was already turning. If the panzers reinforced, it would likely be over, with the Turkish marines forced to retreat without having reinforced their American colleagues.
It wouldn’t go in until 6am the following morning, but planning began for a spoiling attack on Nagyatád from Szigetvár by 11 Inf and 3 Cav Divs to try to disrupt 8 Pz Div’s intervention. But when it did go in, in got off to a bad start.
Air Damage Report.The two Italian air raids on Kaposvár had killed 294 Turkish and American marines before they were beaten of by Turkish fighters. One other raid on Baja killed 163 Turks.
OTL Event: The Dam Busters. Operation Chastise was carried out by nineteen bombers of the Royal Air Force on German dams in the Ruhr valley industrial region, causing massive flooding and loss of life. The Moehne River dam and the Eder dam contained two-thirds of the water stored for the Ruhr basin. German radio reported that at least 711 people were confirmed dead, and claimed that 341 of them had been Allied prisoners of war. "That night", German Armaments Minister Albert Speer would write later, "employing just a few bombers, the British came close to a success which would have been greater than anything they had achieved hitherto with a commitment of thousands of bombers. But they made a single mistake which puzzles me to this day: They divided their forces and that same night destroyed the Eder Valley dam, although it had nothing whatsoever to do with the supply of water to the Ruhr." [1]
The original Dambusters ‘G for George’ bomber is displayed in Australia’s War Memorial in Canberra. It had a mainly Australian (RAAF) air crew for this mission, including the pilot and co-pilot.
From Wikipedia: G for George is an Avro Lancaster Mk. I bomber, squadron code AR-G and serial number W4783, operated by No. 460 Squadron RAAF during World War II. G-George flew 90 operational sorties over occupied Europe with 460 Squadron, and is the second most prolific surviving Lancaster, behind R5868 S for Sugar of No. 83 Squadron RAF/No. 463 Squadron RAAF/No. 467 Squadron RAAF (137 sorties). Most operational Lancasters were shot down before they had reached 20 sorties: of the 107,085 sorties by Lancasters despatched in bombing raids on Germany 2687 aircraft went missing G-George has the added distinction of bringing home, alive, every crewman who flew aboard it.
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17 May 43
The desperate Hungarian attack on Baja failed at 3am: their casualties were horrendous, with 1,034 of their almost 9,000 troops killed, for only 46 Turkish casualties in the defending 1 Mot Div. The survivors of the assault stumbled back to Pécs.
Kula was taken by 12 SD with no opposition at 8am, with 14 Inf Div hot on their heels. 12 SD would probe forward to see if any Axis troops were guarding Srboban.
8 Pz Div duly pulled out of the attack on Kaposvár at 8am, and the spoiler on Nagyatád was stopped as well (46 Turkish v 19 German casualties). But the attack on Kaposvár had almost succeeded, with 4 US Mar Div almost out of organisation and 1 Mar Div yet to reinforce.
156 SD had arrived in Beli Manastir by 10am and now followed up the retreating German 46th Infanterie with an attack on Pécs, hoping to close it out before they could be rescued through the Italians reaching Kaposvár. Just two hours later, the defence did indeed fail at 10am with heavy losses, the Turkish marines never having been able to reinforce.
To the east of the Danube front, near the Romanian border, it was now time for a secondary Turkish offensive. 177 SD had secured Baja de Arama at 1pm and brushed off a short probe on arrival. Orsova had been left vacant by the retreating Hungarians, so 5 and 16 Inf Divs were ordered in at 2pm.
At 4pm, 97 SD ‘Shev’ also arrived in Beli Manastir and followed to support 56 SD’s attack on Pécs. Meanwhile, for reasons never understood, the Italian mountaineers (perhaps too heavily damaged during their attack) did not follow up by advancing on Kaposvár, while 3 Cav Div was now advancing north from Szigetvár to keep the pocket closed shut at Kaposvár.
Air Damage Report.With enemy air strikes starting up on Kula, 2 AG (based in Beograd) was scrambled to provide air cover at 10pm. But there was no air engagement that night, while two Italian raids killed 319 Comintern soldiers in Kula that evening and night. As it happened, the bombings raids on Kula ceased that night, so no interception occurred.
OTL Events: European Air War. The ten surviving RAF bombers out of 19 from the "Dam Busters" returned, though only six would survive to the end of the war. And the Memphis Belle's crew became the first aircrew in the 8th Air Force to complete its 25-mission tour of duty. The aircraft and crew, first to survive their tour, returned to the United States to assist in publicity for the sale of War Bonds.
OTL Event: US Research. The United States Army contracted with the University of Pennsylvania's Moore School to develop the computer ENIAC.
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18 May 43
Things went that way until 11am on the 18th, when 97 SD Shev managed to quickly reinforce the attack on Pécs, against the two weakening (but still not out of supply) Hungarian infantry divisions. The Soviet attack on the surrounded Axis troops started to really gain momentum, but the enemy resisted throughout the day.
Further south, 12 SD secured Srboban without a fight that evening.
There was no further air action that day, or the next.
Summary of combat operations, Turkish Front, 9-18 May 1943.
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As all that action took place at the front, things remained quiet for Cennet and Vito Corleone in Italy. But in Turkey, things on the espionage front were in a ferment. After the warning (whatever its motivations) B.J. Guildenstern had given Perse in Istanbul on May Day, she was getting increasingly concerned about lurking dangers.
Her worries were exacerbated by rumours of dangerous goings-on in Ankara. There was reputedly a mad French entrepreneur (in fact, undeclared MI6 plant ‘Romeo’, aka Calixte Charon) running somewhat amok on the ‘back streets’, apparently directed his attentions – and considerable political clout, gained through largesse splashed around police and judicial sources – against a certain British cultural attaché (in fact, the MI6 station chief, Donald MacLean – the Soviet double agent).
A pensive Perse worries about where increasingly chaotic events in Ankara may lead.
With the Americans, British and Turks being unaware of MacLean’s true loyalties (and the Soviets carefully saying nothing of them either) this pot seemed to be coming to a dangerous boil. And Perse was worried she may become scalded in the process. And was worried about what she may need to do to protect herself.
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Coming Up: The espionage pot boils over in Turkey as ‘Romeo’ continues his personal voyage into the very dark heart of a complicated conspiracy. And some old (and some of them feared) names will be uttered and operators summoned, while others answered calls of affection or duty.
The fighting across the Patriotic Front would continue to rage, as Turkey essentially disregarded manpower erosion to keep pushing their spring offensive as hard as they could, especially aiming to destroy the Pécs Pocket. That would hopefully free up more units to feed into their ongoing offensives towards Budapest, over the Danube towards Timisoara, and the beginnings of a secondary Turkish advance along the Romanian border.
AuthAAR’s Note: The third instalment of the played through month follows below. Here, intel events really started to gear up, therefore so too does the narrative that explains the implications for the key players – especially in Turkey itself. But there is no let-up at the battlefront, either!
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Recap: The Front Line - 18 May 43
By the end of 18 May, the Turkish Spring Offensive of 1943 remained in full swing. Risks had been taken to push The salient forward as hard as possible, but Budapest had proven too hard to take from the western bank of the Danube alone. Further south, the Pécs Pocket had been isolated and was being slammed shut with three Axis divisions trapped within it. Meanwhile, Srboban (north of Beograd) had been taken in a separate push towards Timisoara from the south-west. And forces were assembling for a secondary offensive across the Danube east of Beograd, along the Romanian border. It would have the tough task of pushing through the hills and mountains to approach Timisoara from the south-east.
The blue dotted line shows the front as at 2300 hr on 8 May 1943, red the line as things finished at 2300hr on 18 May 1943.
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19 May 43
At 2am, word came that resistance in Pécs had ended. All the Hungarian units there surrendered: of the 12,200 Hungarian troops at the start of the battle, 385 had been killed and the other 11,815 surrendered. 393 Soviet troops had been killed. The 4,526 remaining troops of the retreating German 46th Infanterie also went in the bag.
With the pocket successfully eliminated, 1 Mot Div was free to advance north-east on Kiskunhalas. Units in the south began swinging around from Ruma and Semska Mitrovica to Kula, to gather for another offensive towards Timisoara, which was now coming within reach.
With enough IC available for a new project, the Navy’s long-sought new light cruiser was begun, one of the most modern warships in the world to be built under US license.
Then at 5am, 18 Inf Div secured Orsova, widening the Turkish bridgehead over the Danube. It was the planned starting point for the south-eastern pincer aimed at Timisoara, but more forces were required before a major assault could be launched over such rugged terrain. They were on the way.
With Ruma secured and Axis troop concentrations thinned in front of Beograd, MAJGEN Bözer’s 13 Inf Div was ordered around to Kula, to be prepared to reinforce the other units already heading there for the advance on Timisoara. An hour later, 3 Cav Div won the race to secure the much-contested Kaposvár. But they immediately came under heavy attack from a full-strength German division, and 1 Mar Div (which had been forced to withdraw from Kaposvár previously when they had been unable to reinforce), were ordered back down from Szekszárd to see if they could help this time round.
Then two hours later, with 17 Inf Div moving up to relieve them in Kiskunhalas, 1 Mot Div thrust north to Monor, where they found only the fleeing Hungarian Budapest Theatre HQ to oppose them. Taking Monor was designed to help outflank the Budapest defence.
There was no air action on the front that day.
OTL Event: US. Following years of experimentation to test the safety of the first antibiotic drug, the United States Army Medical Corps cleared the release of penicillin for use in all military hospitals. Two days later, the first patient to receive the drug would be an unidentified U.S. Army soldier. Although the bacteria-killing properties of the mould Penicillium chrysogenum had been discovered by Alexander Fleming 15 years earlier, production was limited until 1942, when a potent strain of the mould was discovered on a cantaloupe that had been discarded from a market in Peoria, Illinois, where research was being performed on synthesising the drug. The "Peoria strain" was found by microbiologist Dorothy I. Fennell to yield 50 times as much penicillin as previously tested strains, making mass production possible.
OTL Event: Washington D.C., US. Winston Churchill addressed a joint session of the United States Congress (as well as a national radio audience), reviewing the course of the war and reassuring his audience of Britain's dedication to its alliance with the United States. Churchill noted that "We will wage war at your side against Japan while there is breath in our bodies and while blood flows in our veins."
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20 May 43
Unfortunately, Kanatli reported he had encountered more serious opposition in Monor when the German 20th Infanterie (Motorised) took up hasty defensive positions at 7am. They were fully organised but at half strength. Each formation out-gunned the armoured protection of the other and both were experienced combined arms outfits.
The German commander sought to delay the Turkish breakthrough and called in Italian air support to help his defence. At 9am, 2 AG (I-16s, LaGG-3s) in Beograd was ordered to intercept the enemy bombers over Kiskunhalas.
A report to Inönü at 1st Army HQ that morning from his War Ministry adviser noted that with recent expansions, officer strength had fallen below 100% (it had once sat at around 110%). Leadership effort was diverted from espionage and diplomacy to boost officer training. Reserve manpower had fallen to 60,000.
The new cruiser under construction – TCG Residiye – was at that point at 73% production rate. 75 IC was devoted to supplies, 81.44 IC to production out of total industrial output of 168 IC.
At that time, 2 Mot Div in Dunaújváros was free to join the attack on Monor from across the Danube, which it did [but its reinforcement chance was only 0.4%].
156 SD arrived in Pécs at 3pm, formally closing the pocket and releasing more units to reinforce the offensive, while securing its rear lines, creating one large northern salient stretching to Budapest. Heavy fighting continued in Monor and Kaposvár.
2 AG had been unable to intercept the bomber over Kiskunhalas that day. At 5pm they were switched to protect Kaposvár, which had now also come under aerial attack. But they were jumped by Italian fighters over Pécs on their way to Kaposvár at 7pm. They took some damage but remained airworthy and at 10pm (on their way back from the dogfight) they were switched to a regional intercept task focused on Kiskunhalas, while the Split-based 3 AG (Wildcats) would try to protect Kaposvár and the associated region.
Air Damage Report.Italian bombers had struck Kiskunhalas and Kaposvár twice each that day: both missions would continue into the next day.
Secret Reporting: Moscow, USSR. Joseph E. Davies, the former American ambassador to the Soviet Union, met secretly with Soviet Premier Stalin to deliver a letter from U.S. President Roosevelt, proposing "an informal and completely simple visit for a few days between you and me" during the summer, "either on your side or my side of the Bering Straits". The invitation was kept secret even from British Prime Minister Churchill.[Note: an actual OTL happening: I'll run with it to its end.]
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21 May 43
Interior Minister Şükrü Kaya was working late, reading reports from his domestic secret police operations, when his personal aide knocked on his office door. He looked at the clock on the wall: midnight! There had been little action reported for quite some time, but this interruption would almost certainly announce a resumption of the recently quiet Midnight Express, he was certain.
And he was right. But not quite in the way he was expecting.
“Minister, we have an urgent report,” said the aide, with a little trepidation. “The British Cultural Attaché, a Mr Donald Maclean, has been murdered in a frenzied knife attack, not far from the British Embassy, just a few minutes ago.”
“Mr Donald Maclean has been murdered in a frenzied knife attack.”
“What!? Do we know who committed this outrage?” Kaya’s face had initially gone white when he heard the news. But the colour was now returning – very rapidly. A slightly unsteady hand reached for his small tin of apoplexy tablets, always kept within easy reach.
“Ah, from the description provided by a witness – a local, um, ‘exotic belly dancer’ who had been, er, standing on a nearby street corner taking the night air, saw an apparently crazed man running from the scene, bloody knife in hand.” The aide, rather embarrassed, paused for a moment.
“Yes, go on,” said Kaya, struggling mightily to maintain his calm. The British ‘cultural attaché’ in Ankara was clearly their resident MI6 Chief. There would surely be hell to pay and this was a considerable security embarrassment. They must quickly get to the bottom of it.
“The man ran, repeatedly shouting ‘the horror, the horror’ as he fled the scene, Minister," the aide continued. "The dancer apparently recognised this man from the local party scene. Our suspect is a Mr Calixte Charon, a French mining entrepreneur who has been circulating in Istanbul and Ankara for some time. We are looking into his background now – he is apparently well-connected with our local business, political and security establishment.”
“Oh, really? Well we must begin to interrogate these reported contacts. Nothing too, ah, stringent yet. Anything more from our witness?”
"Yes, Minister. She believes she heard Charon scream the following, in English, as he began his frenzied attack: “Die, treasonous scum! Die! A plague on both your houses!”
“Die, treasonous scum! Die! A plague on both your houses!”
“Do we have any idea about the meaning of that?”
“None yet, Minister.”
Just then, the phone rang. It was the Soviet Ambassador.
“Yes, Comrade Ambassador, how may I help you?” said a surprised Kaya.
“We have just been told a British diplomat, a Mr Donald Maclean, was murdered in Ankara a short time ago.”
“Ah, yes, I have only just been advised myself.” How the hell had the Soviets found out so quickly? he wondered to himself.
“I see. We need to talk, Minister Kaya. And not over an open line. With your leave, I will head over this very minute.”
“Ah, of course Your Excellency, I look forward to it.” The line went dead straight away. Kaya had told a small lie: he was definitely not looking forward to this meeting. Nothing good ever happens between midnight and dawn, he thought to himself.
The Soviet diplomat was soon being ushered into Kaya’s office. He explained how Maclean had been a prized Soviet double-agent operating deep under cover, against the British.
“I’m sorry we were unable to say anything about him to you before now, but it was a very closely held secret. Not even our GRU people knew of him – just his NKVD handler. Together, we must get to the bottom of this outrage!”
After absorbing all this, and dismissing his irritation at being kept in the dark until now, Kaya agreed.
“That explains his cryptic last words,” he noted, relating the witness’s statement to his Soviet colleague. “It seems someone had managed to penetrate his cover. I have just the man in mind to head up the investigation and to track down this ‘Calixte Charon’”
Calling his aide back into the office, he said simply “Call the Olive Grove. Tell Luca that I have a stone in my shoe and would appreciate him reporting here as soon as he can.”
“Tell Luca that I have a stone in my shoe.”
--xxx---
Back at the front, 1 Mar Div’s attempted relief of Kaposvár had run into a problem: fuel supplies had been completely drained just as they had been getting close and none were coming in yet. Their pace of advance had been reduced to that of a snail.
And the Axis did not appear willing to let the Turks simply march on Timisoara unimpeded: at 4am the German 25th Infanterie attacked 12 SD in the Srboban salient, who were currently the only formation holding it, with reinforcement still some way off.
Between 6 and 8 am, a shifting dogfight took place between Italian and Turkish fighters over Szekszárd. Planes on both sides were soon taking significant damage, the Turkish cause aided when 3 AG briefly joined the fight in passing through at 7am. When the battle ended, 2 AG were pulled out for rest and repairs.
The attack on Srboban intensified at 9am when two more enemy divisions joined it (though they had not yet reinforced) from Novi Sad and Subotica. With the Soviet defenders suddenly in trouble, this prompted a strong Comintern spoiling attack to be launched immediately on Novi Sad from Kula and Semska Mitrovica, going in at 10am.
Recent losses and enemy fighter strength led to a reorganisation of Turkey’s fighters into two group of three wings each, both a mix of aircraft types. 2 AG (LaGG-3s, La-5s and P-51Ds) was based out of Beograd and 3 AG (Wildcats and P-51Ds) from Split, each with a regional interception mission assigned in the northern salient. The remaining INT, CAS and TAC wings remained under varying degrees of repair.
At 1pm 6 Inf Div arrived in Baja and was ordered to advance on Szeged straight away to keep the Axis distracted from reinforcing the battle south of Budapest. They encountered two damaged enemy divisions which had been heading north and now mounted a hasty defence.
The enemy had kept up their air raids on Kiskunhalas and Kaposvár and it was above the former that 3 AG next clashed with three German fighter wings at 2pm and then again that night. The Turks did some damage but came of the exchanges second best, and at midnight their mission was called off, without having been able to engage the enemy bombers.
Further south, the spoiling attack on Novi Sad had proved strong enough to force the Germans into retreat (63 Comintern v 153 German casualties). But the Axis attack on Srboban continued.
That afternoon, a supply report was provided for the Budapest salient, where 1 Mar Div still had no fuel in Szekszárd, while fuel was also low in Baja. Supplies and fuel distribution were ample to the north at the ‘tip of the spear’, however.
At 8pm, the still somewhat disorganised [around 66%] 7 Inf Div made it into Bajmok and began a hasty spoiling attack on Subotica to its east, in another attempt to relieve pressure on 12 SD in Srboban.
Air Damage Report.Two days of Italian air raids on Kaposvár finished with 373 Turkish troops killed, while the attacks Kiskunhalas went on. A single enemy raid on Dunaújváros killed just 69 friendly troops, while a new enemy mission on Baja also commenced.
OTL Event: Tokyo, Japan. Tokyo Radio announced the April 18 death of the commander of Japan's Navy, Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, who had been killed when his plane was shot down over the Solomon Islands by an American fighter plane. The announcer, whose voice broke, said that Yamamoto "engaged in combat with the enemy and met a gallant death on a warplane", giving the first reports of the military leader's death, which had not been announced in the United States. President Roosevelt, who had ordered Operation Vengeance, was asked by reporters for a comment, and his sarcastic official statement was "Gosh!".
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22 May 43
At 5am 2 AG intercepted Italian fighters and bombers over Kaposvár, but were then engaged by the still-damaged German fighter group that had fought 3 AG the day before. Despite this, the Turks managed to get at the enemy bombers, causing some damage and forcing them to abort their attack, with no ground casualties reported and raids on Kaposvár ending after that, a second dogfight only encountering German fighters. Who were reinforced by three more German fighter wings! This was a bit to much for the Turks, who were forced to end their interception mission that afternoon.
An hour later, 6 Inf Div’s attack on Szeged found success as they moved to expand the salient to the east (105 Turkish v 286 Axis casualties), while at 7am 17 Inf Div started a new attack on Kecskemét, hoping to gain more leverage on the approaches to Budapest.
Despite recent damage, the Turkish Air Force remained keen to help where it could in the offensive. 1 TAG was reformed with the most serviceable wings available from those under repair: one wing of IL-2s, one of Yak-4s and the full-strength old Hawk IIIs of 1 AF as ‘emergency escorts’. They were sent to strike Senta, hoping it was out of enemy INT range, to assist with the defence of Srboban. These raids would ultimately continue through to 24 May.
The spoiling attack by 7 Inf Div on Subotica turned into a useful victory (136 Turkish v 305 Axis casualties) at 5pm, though the enemy attacking Srboban from Senta (where the hated SS-Verf had joined but not reinforced yet) and now Ada persisted and had called in Italian air support by then, while the Turks struck Senta.
At 8pm, 4 Inf Div was the last of the four divisions massing in Orsova for the start of the secondary drive to Timisoara. But with the Hungarians already heading out of Mehadia to the south-east (into the jaws of the planned trap and vacating the first objective of the advance), it was decided to let them go before starting an attack.
Air Damage Report.Italian air raids on Kiskunhalas, started on 20 May, finished on the morning of 22 May, having caused 371 Turkish casualties. Two raids on Baja that morning and the night before killed another 209 Turks, with attacks begun on the beset Soviets in Srboban. A single Italian raid on Bajmok killed 95. Meanwhile, the Turkish 1 TAG had started hitting the Axis in Senta that afternoon and continued into the next day with small but frequent strikes.
OTL Event: Moscow, USSR. The Comintern was dissolved in Moscow. The Communist International, which had been founded with the goal of "formenting of world revolution", had been voted out of existence by its executive committee on May 15 and an announcement was made in Pravda. In that the Soviet Union had joined the Allies after the invasion of the USSR by Germany in 1941, the declaration was believed by Western observers to be a signal by Joseph Stalin that the Soviet Union intended to stop its policy of trying to foment revolution in the other nations until after World War II. [Comment: it seems to be going too well in this ATL to dissolve it! Events have reversed themselves.]
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23 May 43
Perse was in her well-appointed Ankara apartment when, on the stroke of midnight, there was a sharp, urgent knock on her door. Holding a small automatic pistol in one hand and looking through the peep-hole, she saw a familiar face on the other side.
It was B.J. Guildenstern – in ‘civvies’ and trying to look inconspicuous. Perse wasn’t sure he had quite achieved a bland enough disguise, but relaxed – just a little – as she let him in, and hid the pistol from view in her dressing gown pocket.
“Oh, B.J., you unsettled me, coming at this hour,” she’d heard rumours of the Midnight Express and had good cause to be tense. “Do come in. You look like some kind of pantomime spy.”
“Oh, B.J., you unsettled me, coming at this hour.”
“Good to see you too, Perse,” he said, stepping in but not settling down. “I can’t stay long and must get back to the Embassy. Our Comintern Intelligence Exchange Talks resume first thing in the morning. I got your message when I finished this evening. Do I take it you heeded my warning from May Day?”
“I did, B.J., and I think it’s time for some judicious pruning.”
“Ah, I understand. I’m pretty sure I got here without being tailed and didn’t see anyone outside watching your home, so things must not have ‘gone south’ yet.”
“Good. Can I assume that your talks turned to the matter of one Donald Maclean and his recent demise?”
“They did. The Soviets and Turks were cagey, but I gather they were unusually upset about his death, and are furiously hunting a suspect. They mentioned Luca Brasi had been brought out of retirement again to lead their ‘investigation’. You know more?”
“Luca Brasi.” said Perse with a small shudder. “Maclean? Oh, very much so, B.J. I recognised someone at a recent party and approached him. He was going under an assumed name and persona, but I knew who it was. He was calling himself ‘Calixte Charon’, but I know him as an unofficial associate of one David Callan, the regional chief of MI6 in the Middle East.”
“Calixte Charon!? That was the name of the suspect they were hunting for the Maclean murder. But why would an MI6 agent be working off the books here, and killing one of their own? And how do you come to know about Callan?”
“I know Callan from the old days, back in England.”
“Hmm, I see.”
“Yes, I used a certain emergency phrase with him – he knew what was up straight away. After a quick discussion, I found we had a mutual adversary: Maclean. B.J., the man was to my almost certain knowledge a Soviet double-agent within MI6. Charon had the same suspicion – I was able to provide the confirmation.”
“That is very sensitive and dangerous knowledge you have, Perse,” said B.J., giving her an appraising glance. “They didn’t even tell us, their Comintern 'partners', about that.”
“It’s simple, B.J. – you may have joined the Comintern, but they don’t trust you that much. I’m not sure whether they’ve even told the Turks yet, but they remain suspicious of America’s links to the British. Anyway, this termite Maclean was, I’m sure, about to cause me a great deal of trouble. I believe he had become convinced that I was the legendary ‘Rose’, who he had been specifically sent to Ankara to find. Betraying a few MI6 agents along the way, so Charon told me.”
She paused briefly, clearly angry, and then continued. “Such an accusation, whether true or not, would likely be a death sentence to me, whatever the strength of my position here in my adopted homeland.”
“And is it? True, that is?”
“A woman must have her little mysteries, B.J., even between good friends. Let us simply say I now need to make a quick and surreptitious escape. Can you help me?”
“Yes, you must dress in rough clothes. I have a man outside, Rogers, who will take you west to Izmir. He will try to arrange your boarding of a US warship that will be in port there by the end of the month. You have 15 minutes to get ready.”
“I only need ten – everything is already packed and a cover story left at work that might last a day or two, about visiting Istanbul for work. I knew this would be necessary as soon as I had my conversation with ‘Charon’. I’m not sure if Maclean had passed on any suspicions about me to his Soviet handler or not, but I just couldn’t take the chance.”
Ten minutes later, B.J. had left and ‘Rogers’ had Perse in an old truck, heading out of town.
MI6’s longest running, highest placed and most productive agent in Turkey, after many years of careful work, was taking no risks. Her position may have been neutralised, but she hoped she might make an escape with this ‘Rogers’. As they paused for a quick roadside break later that day, the relief of finally being able to stop living a lie made her happy, even with the peril that may now be on her heels.
A Rose by any other name, indeed!
On the industrial front, the latest airbase expansion was finished and the next level commenced straight away. Production was brought to fully fund all projects, supply production reduced a little, with the supply reserve stabilised at around 16,000 units.
The attack on Monor was failing by 3am, with 2 Mot Div unable to reinforce and 1 Mot losing organisation more quickly than their opponents, even though the enemy were down to around one third of their established strength. In Srboban, 12 SD was holding strongly, but the Axis now had three divisions waiting to reinforce the attack from Senta and Ada. Yet another spoiling attack was put in, this time on Ada from Ruma across the Danube. A tough assignment, but necessary to allow time for other reinforcements to make their way to the relief of Srboban.
A strong victory was won by 17 Inf Div in Kecskemét at 8am (50 Turkish v 569 Axis casualties), but the attack on Monor was still failing and 3 Cav Div in Kaposvár approached breaking point.
By 2pm, 97 SD had arrived to reoccupy Novi Sad, but were still conducting post-attack reorganisation and were unable to join the spoiling attack on Ada. At 6pm, 7 Inf Div had retaken Subotica, but they too must wait (for five days!) before they could intervene against Senta.
That night, a review was made of the strategic on the wider Patriotic Front. The Germans seemed to be pushing the Soviets back now in the Baltics, but were conceding ground east of Lake Ladoga. The Comintern in Romania remained in a good position, however, still holding on the outskirts of Cluj and keeping the pressure up on the brittle-looking Hungarian line.
At 10pm, 3 Cav Div broke in Kaposvár and started fleeing south-east [no casualty report available, but they must have been heavy] to Pécs, from where 156 SD had been marching for some hours now. 1 Mar Div was still stalled by fuel shortages just short of Kaposvár, approaching from the north-east. An hour later, 1 Mot Div’s attack on Monor failed, with 2 Mot never having been able to reinforce: and they now had to wait for more than three more days before they could attack again.
Air Damage Report.Italian air raids continued on Srboban and Turkish strikes on Senta throughout the day, as the battle for Srboban raged on.
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24 May 43
Before 6 Inf Div could secure Szeged, another German division slipped in at 1am and a new encounter battle ensued, though they looked under-strength and a bit worn and Gürler’s troops remained fresh. And another garrison brigade, this one in Dubrovnik, began its upgrade to motorised infantry.
Then at 2am, three Turkish divisions – the 3rd, 10th and 14th – began advancing together to the relief of Srboban, which was in some trouble again [-63% progress] from Kula.
Two divisions in Novi Sad finished their post-attack reorganisation at 10am and went straight into reinforce the spoiling attack on Ada. Inönü looked forward to the planned issue of the next operational level organisational doctrine on 1 June [to level 3, which would reduce post-attack delay by another 24 hours].
With the extra divisions on their way to Srboban, the exhausted 12 SD was withdrawn at 11am, to prevent the relief column being caught in reserve in a failing defence. The SS-Verf occupied Srboban soon after, but were immediately attacked by the three approaching divisions and withdrew after a short and one-sided fight. Losing the province briefly was a small price to pay for being able to secure it strongly and enabling a renewed push on Timisoara.
The latest short, sharp fight in Szeged, that had begun at 1am that morning, was won by 6 Inf Div midday (98 Turkish v 168 Axis casualties). And with Srboban soon to be secured, at that time 1 TAG was switched to make ground attacks on Ada, where the spoiling attack was now going to be pursued in its own right. Further east, Mehadia was now unoccupied, so 4 and 18 Inf Divs, both with ‘rookie’ commanders who had not seen any real combat in the recently quite Danube sector, were ordered forward, beginning the ‘Right Hook’ advance on Timisoara. 177 SD was ordered forward from Baja de Arama to cover their right flank.
The extra pressure on Ada was not enough: the expensive attack was called off at 3pm (265 Comintern v 72 Axis casualties). With the battle for Ada over, 1 TAG was now reinforced with additional fighter (9 AF) and bomber (2 TAK) support and sent to attack Kanjiza, to soften it up for a possible advance from Subotica.
Kecskemét was liberated by at 6pm 17 Inf Div, which had just another 27 hours of reorganising to do before they could advance again. A probe by two Axis divisions was quickly brushed off an hour later. These same two divisions now stopped in Szeged, from which they had been withdrawing and were attacked by 6 Inf Div again, who once more had them retreating by 9pm (19 Turkish v 15 Axis casualties). By 11pm, 6 Inf Div had secured Szeged – and only had another three hours of reorganisation to complete before they could launch a new attack.
Air Damage Report.Three days of intermittent Italian raids on Srboban had killed just 224 Soviet defenders, while Turkish strikes on Senta during the same period killed 472 enemy. The one attack put in on Ada before that battle was won killed another 48 Axis troops.
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25 May 43
Perse finished her careful cross-country drive with ‘Rogers’ to Izmir early that morning, the truck pulling into a safe house in the port area at 1am. She would have to lay low until the ship arrived and the US Navy found a way to smuggle her on board without detection. By then, Srboban had been reoccupied, but four divisions either there or in the vicinity (Subotica and Novi Sad) were still conducting post-attack reorganisation (18-66 hours between them), so the next phase of the Turkish advance was somewhat delayed.
In better news, 1 Mar Div had finally been refuelled at 2am and was now making good time to Kaposvár and had made it there by 9am, winning the race for it against the German 5th Infanterie, who attacked them an hour after they pulled in, with Italian air strikes soon resuming.
As the day drew to a close, a number of second-line Comintern divisions from the south (some still recovering from previous fighting) were making their way north to hold the Budapest Salient while the mechanised divisions and the ‘heavy’ infantry divisions with IS-1 and -2 brigades prepared to renew the advance. By day’s end, only the defensive battle for Kaposvár continued in the Turkish sector, the forces advancing on Mehadia to the east without having run into any opposition yet.
Air Damage Report.Turkish ground attacks on Kanjiza were conducted throughout the day and continued, as did Italian air strikes on Kaposvár.
The red dotted line shows the front as at 2300hr on 18 May 1943, the blue line as things finished at 2300hr on 25 May 1943.
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Post-script: Istanbul, evening of 25 May 1943
President Inönü was in Istanbul for a special intelligence briefing from Interior Minister Kaya. Prime Minister Celal Bayar sat next to him. The news was disturbing.
“Milli Şef, I have some strange and somewhat disturbing news to bring you,” Kaya began. He had already taken a pre-emptive dose of his ever-present medication. “A few days ago, the British MI6 station chief was killed in Ankara.”
The President nodded, frowning slightly, and gestured for Kaya to proceed.
“We strongly suspect his assailant to have been a French mining entrepreneur with Government connections. He has so far escaped detection, but we have a special agent leading the hunt for him.”
“And who is that, Kaya?” Bayar asked.
“Luca Brasi.”
“Ah, enough said, go on.”
“All this would be disturbing enough, but the Soviets subsequently revealed this man Donald Maclean to have been a star double agent they had been using to help uncover British spies here. And he had been hot on the heels of the legendary ‘Rose’, whether that person exists or not.”
“Are we sure of this Frenchman’s identity?” asked Inönü “Is this a disagreement between the two Allies? Or had the British in fact discovered this double agent and used this Charon character to kill him with plausible deniability?”
“We don’t yet know the answers to any of these questions, Milli Şef. We are hoping Brasi is able to uncover something from this Calixte Charon, when he catches him. The Soviets are using their resources to check his background, which extends back to the Free French Government in the Congo. But there is another matter I need to make you aware of.”
And now, Kaya was looking very uncomfortable: “I am afraid our key propaganda department officer and Air Force poster girl, Miss Persephonee Fungifips, has now, ah, gone missing. She reported she was travelling to Istanbul to do some editorial work, but has not been seen since. Some of her work colleagues and two foreign ministry officials have also gone, er, missing as well.”
“Missing? Since when?”
"Two days after Maclean was murdered.”
“Indeed! I trust you are throwing everything at this deepening mystery, Kaya.”
“Yes, yes, of course Milli Şef. All airports, ports and border crossing points are on alert. Miss Fungifips will have many questions to answer if we can find her.”
“We certainly will. Such as, is she the Rose?”
“Neither we nor the Soviets are sure, Milli Şef. Maclean had apparently just left the British Embassy for a meeting with his NKVD handler to reveal his latest findings when he was killed.”
“Then I’m afraid we shall have to consider Miss Perse guilty unless proven innocent in this matter. And we can certainly never trust her again, at the least. A very great pity – I was very fond of her. Oh, and Kaya...”
“Yes, Milli Şef?”
“You must hush this up, to avoid national embarrassment. Say nothing to the British other than that we are hunting the perpetrator of this heinous act of brutality, in breach of our laws and the sanctity of diplomatic personnel. And, at this stage, say nothing to the Americans, either.”
“Naturally, Milli Şef, given her past association with B.J. Guildenstern, who was in Ankara at the same time but has since returned to the US. And her association with Tom Rosencrantz, who proved to be the Thorn and escaped our clutches that time.”
“Highly suspicious, Kaya.”
“Yes. And the Soviet Embassy currently resembles a kicked ants’ nest. I think they are more upset than we are. It will be a race to see who can get to them all first.”
“See that we do, Kaya.”
“Yes, Milli Şef.”
Celal Bayar (left) and Inönü at the special intelligence briefing in Istanbul, 25 May 1943.
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Coming Up: After a week of hard fought but fruitful progress in the Turkish sector, how will the rest of the war have gone by the end of May 1943? Can the approaches to Budapest be secured? Will either or both of the pincers be able to threaten Timisoara? And will manpower concerns start to slow down the pace of the Turkish offensive, as well as limiting the raising of new army units in particular?
In the Secret war, how will the turmoil in Turkey be resolved? Can Perse escape, now that the dragnet is falling around her? Is she really ‘the Rose’, or is this yet another British distraction? Will there be a death-match between the by now apparently quite deranged Calixte ‘Romeo’ Charon and Luca Brasi? And what will Callan make of all these goings-on?
Are the Americans intent on simply rescuing Perse – or is it more of a ‘polite abduction’ engineered by Guildenstern for America’s own purposes? What does all this signify for the complicated four-way relationship between the Big Three Comintern powers and the UK? How might Stalin react when advised of all this?
The next episode will close out the month on the Turkish Front, summarise wider developments and provide the usual month-end reports. Meanwhile, the Propaganda Department, in a flap after the disappearance of Perse, resorted to plagiarising Soviet propaganda in an attempt to gloss over the disruption her loss had caused. Not to mention the heartbreak of Field Marshal Calistar and many other admirers. All of whom now sought to distance themselves as Kaya’s bloodhounds began to snoop around.
AuthAAR’s Note: The fourth and final instalment of the previously played-through Mad Month of May follows. After that, the chapters will have again caught up with the game, so any strategic or operational advice, comments or criticisms will be both welcome and apposite! Once more, it's busy, so let's get straight into it.
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Recap
As 25 May ended, the Turkish salient to the south of Budapest had been widened to the east, even though the attack on Monor had finally been defeated. A secondary thrust from the Danube towards Timisoara had begun, but was in its early days yet. The concerted enemy effort to retake Srboban, to the south-west of Timisoara, had been repulsed as Comintern units started to position themselves for another pincer attack (the 'Left Hook') towards the now famous city.
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26 May 43
The ‘Right Hook’ advance from the Danube towards Timisoara gathered pace early on 26 May when 4 and 18 Inf Divs seized the undefended Mehadia. With 5 Inf Div on the way from Orsova, both divisions immediately moved to advance on the mountainous Resita – and at this early stage they could not yet see whether it was occupied or not.
At the same time, way over in Vrnograc, the recently deployed 19 Inf Div was deemed sufficiently organised for Wehib Pasha’s 1 Armd Div to be released, leaving the defence there under the leadership of MAJGEN Diskorekto, commanding 3 Mtn Div. Wehib was ordered all the way across to Subotica, to be prepared for a later assault towards Timisoara.
At 9am, MAJGEN Naci Tinaz ordered 2 Armd Div to make a blitzing attack on Kanjiza, supported by Turkish ground strikes, which went in at 10am. But the defending Germans, while being a bit the worse for wear, were dug in, behind a river, and their commander negated the bold attack with a skilful elastic defence. To the immediate north, the advancing 6 Inf Div met no resistance as it moved forward on Hódmezövásrhely, where the Axis only had fleeing HQ troops.
Meanwhile, the German attack on Kaposvár, now being defended by the Turkish 1 Mar Div, which had begun the day before, saw 156 SD join from Pécs in reserve [2.20% reinforcement chance/round]. Despite continuing Italian air strikes, the marines were holding firm [30% progress].
By mid-afternoon 2 Armd Div’s attack on Kanjiza was not making the hoped-for progress and it was called off at 3pm (Turkish 55 v 42 German casualties).
Air Damage Report. The two days of Turkish air raids on Kanjiza finished that night, accounting for 615 German defenders killed. And two days of Italian raids on Kaposvár also ended, having killed 428 Turkish marines.
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27 May 43
At 1am on 27 May, German infantry assaulted the ‘heavy’ (ie IS-2 equipped) 17 Inf Div in Kecskemét, south-east of Monor. The Turks’ heavy armour was easily proof against the Germans' AT guns. While the Germans tried to deal with their nasty surprise there, four hours later a three-division Turkish attack went in on Senta from Srboban, across a river. But the enemy had only just retreated, were already badly mauled and had not yet been able to dig in at all.
Note: The picture on the right relates to the panel on the left.
With the attack on Kanjiza called off the day before, at 4am 1 TAG (currently 2 x TAC and 1 x CAS with Hawk III and P51-D fighter escort) was switched to support the attack on Senta. Then at 7am, MAJGEN Gürler, advancing with 6 Inf Div on Hódmezövásrhely, reported than the Italian 12th Division had slipped in to conduct a hasty defence and he would have to attack them. Initial reports came in that the enemy were short of supplies and the quick attack was progressing well [+70%].
At midday, the enemy attack on 17 Inf Div in Kecskemét, begun early that morning, ended in German defeat (Turkish 46 v 216 German casualties). Victory was also reported in the Turkish attack on Senta, but no casualty report for the skirmish was available.
Air Damage Report. A single Turkish raid on Senta conducted before the battle was won killed 88 enemy. Two Italian air strikes in support of the now ended German attack on Kecskemét killed 181 men of 17 Inf Div.
In Izmir, Perse stayed holed up in a small apartment, waiting tensely for word of an escape plan to be formulated. It seemed it would be too diplomatically dangerous to try to smuggle her directly on board the next visiting US ship, due on 28 May for a two-day visit, while docked. Apparently, Turkish police were being particularly vigilant at all ports at the moment. And Perse, Turkish Air Force Poster Girl, was not exactly an unknown face. Instead, the plan was to ferry her out on small launch to rendezvous with the warship - the heavy cruiser USS Pensacola - just as it had left Turkish waters. Her American OSS 'handler' was trying to make these arrangements with some local smugglers, who were as yet unaware of the true cargo or its destination.
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28 May 43
The battle for Hódmezövásrhely had started brightly enough for 6 Inf Div, but just as they had been getting the better of Italians’ hasty defence, at 1am the half-strength but fully organised German 20. Infanterie had joined and reinforced, while enemy supply seemed to have been restored. This turned the odds significantly against Gürler’s men [down to 14% progress]. An hour later, 1 TAG was ordered to try to retrieve the situation by commencing ground attacks on the defenders.
The next Axis fight-back came at 4am with a new and large coordinated attack on 17 Inf Div in Kecskemét from the north-west and east. This was also giving the enemy time to reinforce their line in and to the west of Budapest, including an unidentified SS unit now defending the Hungarian capital.
1 TAG discovered that enemy fighter cover did extend to Hódmezövásrhely when they were attacked by a German fighter group at 10am. The ground attack was still pressed home, but the Yak-4s of 3 TAK suffered significant disorganisation, though not heavy loss of airframes.
After the group returned to base in Beograd, 3 TAK was detached to recuperate and it was decided Hódmezövásrhely remained a little too hot at the moment for Turkey’s limited serviceable air assets. Gataly’s group was redirected to Kanjiza, to prepare it for another attack in a day or two.
Good news came at 2pm from the marines defending Kaposvár, with victory in the expensive three-day defensive battle (Turkey 756 v 634 German casualties). And by 4pm, the Senta bridgehead had been occupied by the three attacking Turkish divisions, but they had to wait almost another two days before they could attack again.
To their north though, both the battles were currently running against the Turks. Inönü was not happy to let this continue to drift without responding. 97 SD ‘Shev’ arrived in Kiskunhalas at 11pm and was ordered to join Toüdemür’s powerful 2 Mot Div in a renewed attack on Monor, this time to spoil the Axis attack on Kecskemét. It went in on the stroke of midnight. For now, 6 Inf Div persisted in its attack on Hódmezövásrhely to keep them occupied, but it was a losing equation.
Air Damage Report. The single Turkish ground attack on Hódmezövásrhely had killed 132 Axis troops, while the new mission against Kanjiza had just commenced and would continue for the next couple of days. The Italians had stopped bombing Kecskemét, switching to Kaposvár (133 killed before the attack there was called off) and then a single raid on Szeged, killing 121 defenders.
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29 May 43
At midnight, the still-recovering, three-brigade 4 US Mar Div arrived in Székesfehérvár to join 15 Inf Div on the west bank of the Danube opposite Budapest. The idea was to be able to hold it while 15 Inf Div was freed for further attacking duties.
Next to kick off was a renewed cross-river attack on Kanjiza, with 7 Inf Div now supporting 2 Armd Div and with air support, but it was still a difficult attack against entrenched German troops, who then counter-attacked. The three other battles to the north continued; this sector now really heating up.
The spoiling attack on Monor soon succeeded in drawing the enemy off their assault on 17 Inf Div, who now very much had the upper hand against the remaining Italian infantry division [suddenly down to 6% progress] attacking them from the east. The corollary was that the attack on Monor was now far more difficult [reduced to 32% progress].
At midday, an assessment of the Timisoara offensive showed progress within a complex and dynamic situation. To the north, the series of battles continued. The Turkish divisions in Kula were still reorganising, while German formations retreated – including the despised SS-Verf, which it seemed might actually be trapped once its withdrawal from Srboban struck this large Turkish roadblock in Kula. North of Beograd, it seemed the Axis units in the forming ‘Zrenjanin Pocket’ were now alert to their danger and many were starting to withdraw north – even as some troops headed into the pocket from Timisoara.
This alert may have been triggered by the occupation of Resita at midday, with a light enemy probe by the Hungarian 10th Div brushed off at 1pm (Turkish 0 v 40 Hungarian casualties). 18 Inf Div stayed to hold Resita, while MAJGEN Tunaboylu’s 4 Inf Div kept pushing towards Lugoj in a desperate attempt to close the pocket off from the east. 177 SD was ordered forward to protect their right flank.
The bloodletting in Hódmezövásrhely had gone on long enough: at 7pm the attack was called off, with 6 Inf Div suffering 650 killed and the enemy 347. But to the north, the battles for Monor[97% progress] and Kecskemét[0% enemy progress] had dramatically turned for the better. Later that night and early the next morning, both these battles ended in convincing Comintern victories. The attack odds in Kanjiza had improved a little, but it was still tough going.
Air Damage Report.Turkish strikes on Kanjiza continued throughout the day and went on into the next, four being delivered that day alone. The Italians continued to raid Kecskemét with another two ground attacks that day, also continuing into the 30th.
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30 May 43
Despite the odds [still only 46% progress] and superior German tactics (another elastic defence vs blitz negation), by 7am the German 24. Infanterie Div was running out of organisation in Kanjiza and remained under incessant Turkish air attack.
At 10am, the Axis’ desire to strike back even under such pressure led to a determined attack by two divisions on Senta from Ada – halting any move by them to leave the forming Zrenjanin Pocket. It was possible they were motivated by a desire to try to save the retreating SS-Verf, which was still making for Kula from Srboban, which had itself now been secured behind them by 2 Inf Div, effectively cutting them off. By 5pm, a hard-fought victory was declared in Kanjiza, widening the bridgehead and the thrust towards Timisoara. Heavy air attacks over recent days had assisted greatly in driving home the win there.
The current UGNR flag on the left, with the Turkish Air Force Crest on the right. [Alt-historical Note: not sure if it was quite a thing by this time in OTL, but the Turkish Air Force was significant by then. In ATL, with war and the expansion of the Air Arm, its separate identity and symbols are assumed to have been confirmed already.]
More good news came in the north, where the fast-moving 2 Mot Div had occupied Monor at 4pm – but still had four days of post-attack reorganisation to complete before they could resume the offensive! This brought more pressure on Budapest and from the far bank of the Danube, but it was now well-defended.
Its work done in Kanjiza, late that night 1 TAG’s efforts were switched to the Axis troops in Ada, who were still attacking Senta. The new mission would kick off early the next day.
Air Damage Report. Nine Turkish raids in just over two days ended up killing 804 defenders in Kanjiza – almost double the casualties inflicted on them in the ground battle. The Axis were getting some of their own medicine! Vur ha! In two days of resumed ground attacks on Kecskemét the Italians killed another 299 Turkish defenders. This ended Axis air strikes for the month. But the Turks were not finished yet.
Sporting News: US.The four team All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL), the first and only professional baseball league with women players, made its debut, with the South Bend Blue Sox (Indiana) beating the Rockford Peaches (Illinois), 1–0. In the game with the two Wisconsin teams Kenosha Shamrocks beat the Racine Belles, 8–6.
(2.29m)
Trailer for “A League of Their Own”, 1992 – the movie is old enough now to have become history itself. Although in this ATL, there seem to be so few US troops fighting overseas (except for the Marines on loan to Turkey) that Major League Baseball is probably still viable!
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31 May 43
Midnight. Luca Brasi sat at a bar in Ankara. He had received a tip-off about the murderous Calixte Charon and the barman insisted he knew where the fugitive was.
“Where is he?” demanded Brasi gruffly. He was in no mood for messing about. He wore his trademark bullet-proof vest and was, as always, heavily armed.
“What’s in it for me?” asked the nervous but grasping informer, with what (a little strangely) seemed to be a cockney-accented Turkish. “What reward do you offer?”
“One you don’t refuse!” responded the slightly annoyed enforcer. “I will let you live. Perhaps a few hundred lire for you as well. Now, give me the info!”
“It’s in this envelope,” said the apprehensive barman, pushing it across the bar. “He’s very close by ...”
Brasi reached for the envelope with a grudging grunt of satisfaction.
At which point, the little barman brought his other hand from under the bar … bearing a large knife, which he quickly plunged into Brasi’s hand as it reached the envelope, pinning it to the bar.
Brasi’s yell of pain and alarm masked the sound of a soft approach behind him. But that was shattered by the sharp pain of a garotte slicing into his throat.
Charon’s crazed voice sounded in his ear: “Very close indeed, you old dinosaur! David Callan sends his regards!”
Brasi thrashed, unable to get his left hand to one of his many weapons, his struggles gradually weakening. As he slumped, however, the door to the bar slammed open – an NKVD ‘wet worker’ bursting in, a Makarov 9mm in each hand.
The barman went for a shotgun but soon had a small hole between his eyes as a single shot drilled his forehead.
An alarmed Charon dropped the garotte and went for his own revolver, but was shot in the heart before he could draw. There would be no interrogations tonight – another British agent and his accomplice, the third team for the month – had been neutralised. Even if, at that point anyway, his true identity and handlers were not known by the Comintern agencies.
The NKVD man had been tailing Brasi, to see if he could pick up a lead of his own for his parent agency. He checked the legendary ex-Mafioso and SITH operative for a pulse. But there was none. Luca Brasi was really dead this time, even if he didn’t sleep with the fishes.
The barman had actually been ‘Lonely’, Callan’s ‘dogsbody’, in Ankara to get a report from ‘Romeo’ and - having heard what had transpired - try to spirit him out. Now both were gone. But the ledger was fairly even, if Callan did not yet know it. Romeo had discovered and eliminated at least one of the Soviet moles infiltrating MI6, facilitated the escape of Perse (if largely by accident) and with Lonely’s help taken down the infamous Luca Brasi.
In the hours after this dramatic denouement in distant Ankara, the action at the battlefront was just as intense on 31 May. At 4am (map note 1 below) German troops in Faget attacked 4 and 18 Inf Divs in Resita – unlikely to succeed, but distracting. Just an hour later 2 Armd Div secured Kanjiza after their victory the day before.
Then at 9am, the Axis attack on Senta from Ada was beaten off with heavy casualties. The enemy resumed their withdrawal to the north-east, trying to escape the forming pocket. This freed up the Turkish forces in Senta, now finished their previous post-attack reorganisation, to launch their much anticipated attack on Timisoara – which quickly swept away the sole Hungarian corps HQ currently there at 2pm.
But at 1pm, 12. Pz Div had pulled into Resita before the Turks could take it, sparking an encounter battle (map note 2 above). Alas, even the improved Turkish AT guns 4 Inf Div carried were not quite enough to over-match the German medium armour, which would reduce enemy casualties. Both these battles would continue throughout the day.
While this dynamic situation developed in the Zrenjanin Pocket, the Turks pressed further with an attack across the Danube and from the recently arrived 5 Inf Div in Mehadia on Vrsac, which the Hungarians were now withdrawing from. The enemy did not stay to defend (as had been half-hoped) and quickly retreated (Turkish 7 v 41 Hungarian casualties). 9 Inf Div now pushed forward to reinforce the advance, and 177 SD was recalled from its flank guard role in Lupeni, as the Romanians and Soviets (EFs) had advanced in force in that sector.
With the battle for Senta won and the enemy retreating from Ada, 1 TAG was switched that night to hit the German armour in Lugoj, given they had both CAS and TAC wings attached. Strikes would start the next morning.
That night, the elusive Major Tyler Durden paid a call into the HQ of MAJGEN Seven’s 14 Inf Div, which was advancing on Timisoara.
“We have a small request for you, Major Durden,” said Seven’s divisional intelligence officer. “Could you do a recon of the city for us, advise what state it is in and whether any Axis troops are there or approaching it? If you do find any, you can have a little fun with them.”
“Oh yes, Colonel, I certainly will,” said Durden, his mad eyes agleam and a charming but at the same time disturbing smile spreading on his face. As he was turning to leave, there was a commotion in the CP.
“What is it?” asked the Intel-O sharply.
“It’s the SS-Verf Division sir. They are in the bag! They have just surrendered as they crossed into Senta!” cries of ‘Vur ha!’ and other saltier exclamations rang out around the CP.
“Excellent, excellent. Prepare a report for 1st Army HQ immediately – the Milli Şef himself will want to know about this.”
“Yessir! Initial reports are three SS brigades and around 5,600 fanatics have given up. We will provide more details once we have them.”
[Note: this too will be summarised in an intel section in the planned supplement, which will also cover broadly what other allied (Comintern and British) intel organisations are doing – some of that will be ‘in-ATL narrative’, a little will be more OOC info likely to be of general interest to my dear readers, but that could be reasonably provided given the in-world relationships. ]
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As the ‘Month of Mad May-hem’ drew to a close, not long before midnight Perse was walking carefully along the water’s edge in Izmir, along the picturesque Kordon Esplanade. She was making for the Pasaport Quay, where she was to hop aboard a smuggler’s motor launch.
The plan had changed yet again: the risk of security compromise from notoriously unreliable smugglers and the diplomatic embarrassment that might flow from word of a direct rendezvous with a US warship leaking out was deemed too great. Instead, Perse was to be smuggled out of Izmir along the coast, with a few crates of (actual) contraband as the cover story, bound for the US-occupied base of Rodi (Rhodes), which they had taken from Italy earlier in the war.
The crates were already aboard, now Perse – thinly disguised in coveralls and with her hair hidden under a floppy sailor’s cap – just had to get herself aboard. They were departing just after midnight, which it would be in about 20 minutes. She hung to the shadows and was nearing her destination when a voice called out from in front of a photography shop.
“You there, young fellow, halt!” said a voice in Turkish. It belonged to a police officer, who had been lurking in the shadows but now stepped into the bright light of a street lamp.
Perse halted, her heart racing.
The policeman got out a small leaflet, which had a description of 'most wanted' fugitives on it. He looked up from it at Perse. “Face me and take that hat off!”
Perse contemplated running, but kept her calm. She removed the hat, her long blond hair flowing down. The policeman’s eyes widened a little. “It is, you! Hands up! You’re under arrest!”
Top left: the Kordon in Izmir, c. 1940. Bottom left: a Turkish policeman; Perse is discovered. Right: the planned escape route to US-occupied Rhodes, where Admiral Chester Nimitz’s 15th Navy lay at anchor in port. Note his flagship, the heavy cruiser USS Pensacola, is a Kirov-class vessel! As are the other two heavy cruisers in the task force.
I will be doing a special little technical digest on in-service and latest models of Turkey’s two main Comintern allies in between now and the next chapter. This little surprise got me looking into things a little bit more: I had thought naval licenses must be limited to CL, but the US has Kirovs (why is another matter). Does this mean the limit is affected by what basic types of vessel one can build? More on this in the subsequent digest post.
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Intel Report – Italy
During May, the Secret War in Italy had remained fairly quiet. The Italians had no counter-espionage teams left at the end of April and seemed not to have added any during the month. Nor had there been any more evidence of Slovakian or other Axis stooges operating against Turkish interests there. All through the month, one third of the Turkish effort had however remained on counter-espionage just in case, the other two thirds on disrupting their national unity through propaganda and sponsorship of dissident groups.
Cennet reported that by S.I.T.H. calculations, Italian surrender progress was 6.2% and national unity was 74.8% at the beginning of the month. The estimate by the end of the month was surrender progress of 8.5% and NU of 73.9%. It seemed the Turkish efforts were making some inroads, though other unknown factors could also have applied, including any espionage efforts by partners or the loss of Italian convoys. [Some of those aspects, with agreed sharing decided at the recent intel gathering that B.J. Guildenstern had attended in Turkey, will be covered in the supplement.]
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Monthly Theatre Summaries
The Patriotic Front was largely a story of Comintern success over May, especially in the Balkans, where the largest and most consistent gains had been made. The story in Russia was also mainly positive, but the Germans had nibbled back a little ground in the former Baltic States.
A more detailed look at the Northern Sector showed the Germans had kept a tenuous land supply line open to Army Group North, but that was now also threatened near Narva, where a Soviet tank division had made a recent inroad. The Axis lodgement above Lake Ladoga was now being pushed back, but the line south of there was steady.
Combat in the Central Sector had been largely positive for the Soviets, with some shallow but consistent advances made over the month, including the liberation of Wilno from Nazi clutches.
In the South, the Soviets had also inched forward, with Lwow under threat from two directions now, but still in Axis hands.
Romania continued to be a success story, with a broad and deep advance by Comintern forces making Turkey’s right flank look very secure. The advance had made it up to the outskirts of the key (VP) Romanian city of Cluj.
The Turkish Spring Offensive – Operation Mayhem – had made the most startling gains, after a month of relentless pressure and heavy fighting on the ground and in the air. While the combat reports have given details of all the operations, the map below summarise the extent of advances since the beginning of the month (though of course the offensive began before that, further back) plus specific battles and provinces that had taken in the last six days of fighting in May 1943.
The green dashed line is the 1 May start point, yellow the front line at the end of 25 May and blue the front at the end of the month. The thicker dashed red lines are the pre-war borders, so it can be seen that Turkey has now advanced deep into Hungary. The ‘Zrenjanin Pocket’ zone is shaded in orange: while most Axis units there have been thinned out in recent weeks, some are still in the DANGER ZONE.
Turkish manpower reserves had sunk to 55,000 men, even with a monthly gain of 13,900. Not counting unfinished battles, missing reports or (for the Axis) prisoners taken during the month (in Pécs and more recently in Senta), estimated casualties were:
Turkey (including EFs) ground combat losses of 15,672 and another 7,388 from enemy air attacks, for a total of 23,060 combat losses.
Axis forces lost in ground combat 28,657, with another 5,059 killed by Turkish air raids, for a total of 33,716.
Hungary was now estimated to be significantly demoralised with over a third of its citizens wanting a general surrender, despite fair high national unity. Budapest, Debrecen and Kosice were the remaining strategic objectives. It was hoped Turkey’s allies might be able to help with their seizure, to knock the Hungarians out of the war.
The situation in the Far East had improved modestly, with one partisan uprising snuffed out but a new one started behind the lines. There was a long way to go, but at least the line was now gradually heading east again.
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Allied reporting showed some less dramatic progress had been made that month in North Africa with British armour now approaching Tripoli, while Bengasi had finally been seized (no doubt accounting for the small rise in Italian surrender progress).
The main changes in South East Asia were in eastern India and a Japanese advance in Papua. Singaporestill remained in British hands, after all this time.
The situation in Indiacontinued to deteriorate for the British. Dhaka had fallen and Calcutta was the next major centre now coming under threat.
In Papua, Wewak had been taken by a Japanese offensive which had moved past it, but enemy dispositions there were not visible. The Australians only had a weak garrison brigade holding the port of Lae at this stage.
Not much had changed in western Borneo, but British Marines and a Gurkha division seemed to be holding their own, the marines even advancing towards Pontianak.
But more alarming was news that New Zealand had been invaded, with Auckland being seized and Japanese marines advancing south from there.
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Naval Report
May 1943 saw a heavy toll taken on the Allied navies in the Far East by the IJN. A total of 1 x BB, 1 x BC, 4 x CA, 2 x CL and 2 x (RAN) DD were lost by the Allies (MFUs sunk are listed below). The Italians lost 1 x DD and 1 x TP, the Japanese just 1 x DD. Of course, damage sustained is unknown.
HMS Malaya (BB) was a Royal Navy Queen Elizabeth-class battleship. She fought in the Battle of Jutland as part of the Grand Fleet in Great War One. Displacement 33,110 t; complement 1,217; main armament 4 × twin 15-inch (381 mm) guns. Sunk by IJNS Chitose (CVL) in May 1943.
HMS Renown.
HMS Renown (BC) was the lead ship of her class of battlecruisers of the Royal Navy. Laid down 25 January 1915; launched 4 March 1916; commissioned 20 September 1916. Displacement 27,600 t; complement 1223; main armament 3 × twin 15 in (381 mm) guns. Sunk by IJNS Akagi (CV) in May 1943.
HMS Carlisle (CL), HMS Capetown (CL) and HMS Ceres (CL) were C-class light cruisers of the Royal Navy, all sunk in May 1943. Displacement 4,290 t; complement around 330; main armament 5 × 6-inch (152 mm) guns.
Ceres was laid down 26 April 1916; launched 24 March 1917; commissioned 1 June 1917 and sunk by IJNS Nachi (CA).
Capetown was laid down 23 February 1917; launched 28 June 1918, commissioned February 1922 and sunk by IJNS Akagi (CV).
Carlisle was laid down 2 October 1917; launched 9 July 1918; commissioned 11 November 1918 (Armistice Day!) and sunk by IJNS Chokai (CA).
Colbert and Tourville.
Colbert (CA) was a French heavy cruiser of the Suffren class. Laid down, 12 June 1927, launched 20 April 1928, commissioned 4 March 1931. Displacement 10,000 t (standard); complement 773; main armament 8 × 203 mm (8.0 in)/50 Modèle 1924 guns (4 × 2). Sunk by IJNS Amagi (CV) in May 1943.
Tourville (CA) was a French Duquesne-class heavy cruiser. Laid down 14 April 1925; launched 24 August 1926; commissioned 1 December 1928. Displacement 10,000 t (standard); complement 605; main armament 8 × 203 mm (8.0 in)/50 Modèle 1924 guns (4 × 2). Sunk by IJNS Kaga (CV) in May 1943.
HMAS Canberra: above, in happier times; below, sinking before being abandoned and scuttled after being struck by gunfire from the Japanese battlecruiser Kongo, May 1943.
HMAS Canberra (CA), named after the Australian capital city of Canberra, was a Royal Australian Navy (RAN) heavy cruiser of the Kent sub-class of County-class cruisers. Laid down 9 September 1925; launched 31 May 1927; commissioned 9 July 1928. Displacement 10,000 t; complement 819 (varied); main armament 4 × 2 – 8-inch (203 mm) guns (4 twin turrets). Sunk by IJNS Kongo (BC) in May 1943.
On 9 August 1942, Canberra was struck by the opening Japanese shots of the Battle of Savo Island, and was quickly damaged. Unable to propel herself, the cruiser was evacuated and sunk in Ironbottom Sound by two American destroyers. Three US cruisers were also destroyed during the battle, and a US destroyer was damaged.
Per Wikipedia: the United States Navy Baltimore-class cruiser USS Canberra was named in honour of the Australian ship, and is the only American warship named for a foreign capital city. In recognition of the valour displayed by the Australian ship and her company, United States President Franklin Delano Roosevelt wished to commemorate the loss of HMAS Canberra by naming a US ship in her honour. The under-construction Baltimore-class cruiser Pittsburgh was selected to be renamed USS Canberra. The ship was launched on 19 April 1943.
This in-game sinking is sad, as Canberra is my home town.
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Coming Up: After another frenetic and bloody month for Turkey, on the front and in the Secret War, what will June hold for them and the rest of the Comintern? Will this be the month the Axis finally cracks in Europe? Can Hungary be taken out of the war? 1 June will mark the third anniversary of the start of the Great Liberation War of the Comintern against the Fascists, sparked by Turkey’s bold declaration of war on the Germans on 1 June 1940, when France was still in the war. Three years on, Axis troops still infest parts of the UGNR and significant parts of the Soviet Union, but far less than they did a year ago.
[NB: In OTL, three years after Barbarossa was mid-1944. In this ATL, the Japanese remain deep in in the Soviet's east, have invaded India, though have not yet cleared up South East Asia. The US remains the ATL Arsenal of the Anti-Fascist League, but is barely engaged in combat operations, especially against the Japanese. And there is no second European (western) front, while the Italians are yet to be kicked out of North Africa.]
What will happen to Perse – will midnight strike on 1 June to reveal yet another British spy neutralised in Turkey? Will things remain quiet in Italy, or will the focus now swing back to Cennet’s activities?
Look out for the supplementary info digest that will cover US and Soviet major equipment platforms, supplementary intel information, Tyler Durden’s recon report of Timisoara and an analysis of the captured SS-Verf Division.
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Chapter 202A: Supplementary Reporting (31 May 1943)
Chapter 202A: Supplementary Reporting (31 May 1943)
AuthAAR’s Note: This is the promised supplementary information arising from the last chapter, including some ‘behind the scenes’ (ie tagged, but just for narrative purposes and in line with the game universe) details from the US, USSR, UK and the SS-Verf just before they surrendered.
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Intelligence Update
The previously mentioned Coalition Intelex (Intelligence Exchange) held in Ankara in May 1943 led to some sharing of more detailed information among the Comintern partners.
In Italy, the month passed fairly quietly for both sides. According to the Turkish network (the strongest of the Anti-Fascist Coalition intel organisations operating in the country at the end of May 1943), Italian counter-espionage had been completely suppressed. Turkish efforts were one-third on keeping the enemy’s agents out of the picture, the rest devoted to undermining Italian national unity. The Italians were building a mix of units and still seemed to have plenty of manpower available.
The USadvised that their intel effort was spread pretty thinly [only 0.19 LS devoted to espionage], with Canada the top priority – and where their sole surviving foreign-based agent was located.
The Sovietshad higher collection priorities (leading with Germany and Italy, then other European Axis countries and the UK) but was devoting even less [0.13 LS] to spy training than the Americans. They had three spy teams operating abroad, all of them in Italy. Interestingly, as a result their reporting seemed far less accurate and comprehensive than Turkey’s. They believed the Italians had three domestic spy teams in operation, among other things. Their ‘friendly’ effort in Turkey was designed to assist with counter-espionage and supporting leftist parties, but the low relative priority and general spy training meant no full active teams were present – just liaison [ie narrative purposes only].
In the wake of the MacLean Affair, the Soviets had shared a little more information on British intelligence operations. Their main effort was also directed against Germany and Italy, but as with the Soviets and Americans, the Gestapo was too strong for any of them to maintain a presence there. And Turkey’s recent efforts had quickly eliminated their network there, with three neutralisations in the last month. With five agents in place, their picture of Italy was a bit more accurate than the Soviets’, but again differed from Turkey’s assessment of Italian counter-espionage strength. Their efforts in second tier missions in Japan, Slovakia and the USSR had no agents allocated. It was unknown how much spy training they were doing [I figured this would be more opaque, with US and USSR having shared their info voluntarily].
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US and Soviet Naval Digest
With the recent curiosity over US ship models with Soviet-sounding titles, two examples of in-service ships operating in the Med are provided below. Some US heavy cruiser designs have already advanced to the ‘level 3’ New Orleans class. Curiously, even though the Soviets have not yet developed any carrier technology, in service US level 4 escort carries go by the class name of ‘Projekt 72’. It must have been done as a gesture of solidarity!
But the most up to date US ship designs have moved beyond that level: a table of their current class names and specifications are provided below.
As expected, Soviet ship designs are far less advanced and, as mentioned above, they have no carrier design capability as yet.
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US and Soviet Aircraft Digest
The two Comintern partners are closer in aircraft design, of course. US fighter designs have still not advanced past the F4F Wildcat (INT) and P-51D Mustang (M/R). Turkey has some B-26 marauder TAC on order. The impressive B-29 Superfortress is their current STRAT aircraft design.
Of main interest for Turkey, the Sovietsnow field the Yak-7 INT and La-7 M/R fighters, Pe-2 TAC and IL-10 CAS models.
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SS-Verfügungstruppe – Post-capture Report
Three SS brigades were captured when the SS-Verf Division finished its retreat to Senta, only to find it already occupied by the Turks. Papers siezed showed their strength just before they were apprehended and interned. Best of all was the capture of the Leibstandarte SS ‘Adolf Hitler’ brigade. A photo of some of the SS prisoners was sent to Berlin via the Swiss Embassy with an ‘Ismet Inönü sends his regards’ message!
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Timisoara - Recon Report
Shadowy US ‘liaison officer’ (!?) Tyler Durden provided a short report on Timisoara at midnight. The provincial road infrastructure was all intact and in good condition in the occupied Romanian city. But a photo of the centre of Timisoara in 1937 (left) and now (right) showed the damage toll all the recent fighting had taken. With only enemy HQs seeming to be in the vicinity or heading there, it was hoped the advancing Comintern forces would simply be able to march in unopposed and the ring closed to its south-east, as well, to create another pocket.
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Patriotic Front Progress Summary: February to May 1943
In the last four months, the Comintern had made broad gains across most of the front, except to the north of Lake Ladoga.
Since forcing the Sava-Danube River Line (blue), Operation Mayhem and a complimentary offensive in Romania had made significant inroads, with Comintern forces now deep within Hungarian territory and on the outskirts of Budapest, Timisoara and Cluj.
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Chapter 203: An Anniversary Gift (1 to 7 June 1943)
Chapter 203: An Anniversary Gift (1 to 7 June 1943)
AuthAAR’s Note: As mentioned earlier, one game week/one episode this time, in order to maintain immediacy (and your AuthAAR’s precarious sanity)! I have largely split the daily combat descriptions into two parts each day – north and south – to aid with continuity. They are quite separate sectors operationally, so this seems to work quite well, I think.
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Recap
Great strides had been made in Operation Mayhem and, more widely along the Patriotic Front during the last few months. Now, the Turks attempt to close off their largest encirclement yet by retaking Timisoara and trapping a considerable Axis force in the Zrenjanin Pocket, between there and Beograd. Budapest maintains its stubborn resistance as the Turks and their partners try to manoeuvre around it. After the bloody events in Ankara in recent days, Perse has been bailed up by a Turkish policeman as she tries to make her escape from Izmir …
But first, a late report from the British had arrived late on 31 May of an uprising by Japanese-funded Italian rebels in East Africa.
Comment: I missed this at the end of last month. At first glance I was wondering how the Italians had managed an amphibious landing, but all became clear when I focused in on this rebellion.
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1 Jun 43 - Izmir
In Izmir, rather than helping prepare papers and posters commemorating the third anniversary of the commencement of the Great Liberation War (Turkey’s attack on Germany and the Soviet’s consequent entry into the war on 1 June 1940), Perse Fotheringay-Phipps had her hands in the air: a Turkish police officer apprehended her as she made her way to a smugglers’ ship, which was supposed to take her to American-occupied Rhodes.
“You’re nicked, me little lovely!” the policeman cried, very pleased with himself. He got his handcuffs ready – it had been a chance encounter while he was on a routine foot patrol. The bigwigs in Ankara would be well pleased with his diligence.
Thud. All went black for the Turk, whose good luck had turned to bad. Alas for him, his was a solo beat. Perse’s OSS escort had been lurking a little way behind, then emerged quietly from the shadows to cosh the now unfortunate policeman on the back of the head. Constable Plod was bound, gagged and hussled off into a nearby alleyway.
Those with eagle eyes and good memories may have noticed that Perse was ‘neutralised’ as a British spy back on 23 May, but was not captured, going on the run instead. In this latest incident, although it was near midnight, there was no associated additional neutralisation alert shown, nor any Midnight Express ticket issued. The tradecraft of Perse and her OSS partner was more than a match for some poor beat cop in Izmir.
“Thank you, Alan!” said a grateful Perse, having lured the cop out into the open to allow ‘Mr Ladd’, her OSS escort, to deal with him quickly, but not fatally. They were all still ‘allies’, after all.
“We need to get moving, now you have been spotted and the alert will be out when he’s found, some time later this morning. We still need to make the run down the coast to Rhodes.”
They quickly hustled along and soon boarded the little trawler that would take them south.
Once aboard, 'Ladd' warned that they may be intercepted, whether by a routine patrol or some vessels sent specifically to find her.
“They won’t be taking me easily!" exclaimed a defiant Perse. "I’ll fight if I have to.”
“Well, you’ll need something heavy calibre for that. Try this out.” Perse was soon wielding a veritable elephant gun.
“Now, you’d better get out of sight. Let’s both change into slightly less suspicious clothing.”
The trip would take a few days, but they made it to Rhodes safely. By the end of the week, Ladd would have Perse on a US transport plane, heading south for Alexandria.
Top left: “Thank you, Alan!”. Top right: “You’ll need something heavy calibre.” Bottom: on the way to Alexandria with ‘Mr Ladd’ and crew.
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1 Jun 43 – Back at the Front
At midnight a long-awaited advance in Turkish doctrine was celebrated. Post-attack reorganisation would be reduced by another 24 hours. The team was kept on the task – which was predicted to take until May 1944!
Northern Sector
The fourth year of the Great Liberation War began with a major Axis attack at midnight. This time, it was the enemy trying to retake Hungarian territory. The veteran, IS-2 armed 15 Inf Div had been reinforced in Székesfehérvár by the 4th US Marines in anticipation of just such an attack. But in the face of an attack from four directions, even that precaution now seemed insufficient.
The Comintern men hunkered down for a savage fight. Acting Lieutenant Metin Sadik and his platoon were in for one of the toughest fights the division had seen yet in six years of off-and-on combat, from the Bulgarian Campaign onwards. The battle would last for more than five days. Gataly responded with a brilliant counter-attack and used his heavy armour to try to minimise casualties, but the marines had a harder time of it.
A spoiling attack on Budapest was investigated at that time, but the two main candidates were reorganising from past combat damage or attacks.
But with the situation gradually worsening in Székesfehérvár as the day wore on, the under-strength 3 Mot Div was sent into attack Budapest at midday in a somewhat desperate gesture. And they found the Hungarian capital being garrisoned in part by the SS Verf Division! But a more detailed report [I just had to quickly tag for that to see what was going on, having just captured the bastards last month] showed it was a newly re-raised formation, with only one half-strength SS brigade and no commander.
Southern Sector
Down south, two battles remained in progress as 1 June began: a spoiling attack on Resita[-11%], which was interfering with the Turkish thrust on Lugoj, the battle for which also continued with heavy and difficult fighting [7%] by MAJGEN Tunaboylu’s 4 Inf Div against the medium armour of 12 Pz Div. Lugoj was the crucial corridor keeping the Zrenjanin Pocket open for the Axis.
As Turkish forces continued to advance on Timisoara, at 6am a German infantry division of unknown strength was seen approaching it from the north-west. The race was on to gain possession!
Air Damage Report. The Italians supported their attack on Székesfehérvár with air raids that continued into the next day, while the Turks continued round-the-clock ground attacks on Lugoj. A single Italian raid on Resita killed 161 Turkish defenders.
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2 Jun 43
Southern Sector
In the south, as Lugoj hung on and the Turks advanced on Timisoara, to its immediate north the fresh 13 Inf Div arrived in Kanjiza early on the morning or 2 June, pushing on to attack Sânnicolau Mare while their comrades reorganised. Bözer’s men won the ensuing skirmish quickly, though the German division they encountered was more intent on getting to Timisoara than standing and fighting. Inönü’s intent was to extend the pincer north of Timisoara, either flanking it if necessary or extending the envelopment further.
Good news came a few hours later with the enemy spoiling attack on Resita finally shrugged off – at great expense to the Italian (EF) division that had conducted it. In Mehadia, 9 Inf Div was now also making its way forward to reinforce the drive to close off the pocket at Lugoj.
Midday brought the advancing Turks into contact with the German 6th Infanterie, which had won the race to Timisoara and would now have to be blasted out by force, as troops from 4 Inf Div and Turkish planes still hammered away at Lugoj.
An hour later, 5 Inf Div liberated Vrsac and pushed straight on to Jasa Tomic, hoping to prevent more Axis troops from escaping the pocket. They would brush away initial enemy resistance there in a light skirmish (10 v 8 enemy killed) between 2 and 5pm.
But the difficult attack on 12 Pz Div in Lugoj had taken its toll: with troops freed from the defence of Resita and more on the way, 4 Inf Div’s attack was halted at 1pm. They had lost 550 men in the attempt since 31 May, 12 Pz Div (now reduced to about 3,000 men in strength but still well-organised) had lost just 121.
18 Inf Div in Resita, under MAJGEN Öktem and still in good order after defeating the Italian spoiling attack, was the next to try their hand against Lugoj, advancing to contact at 8pm for a night attack. Turkish air raids had never stopped. Their assault got off to a good start [37%], though 12 Pz Div remained almost completely organised, despite having only about a third of their establishment strength.
Northern Sector
That morning, a new front was opened up when weakness was detected in the enemy line between the Adriatic and Zagreb. It looked like the Axis forces now attacking Székesfehérvár may have been stripped in part from there. Although the Turkish line had been thinned a bit too for Operation Mayhem, it was now assessed as stronger than the enemy’s locally. Zagreb itself had been vacated, so the 1st US Mar Div was ordered to seize it if they could. Meanwhile, at 10am Delnice erupted in a hail of artillery and small arms fire as all three Turkish mountain divisions launched a coordinated attack on the Germans defending it. Despite a skilful counter-attack by the enemy commander von Thoma, he was greatly outnumbered and the attack began making rapid progress.
To the east, 1 Mot Div arrived in Monor unencumbered by post-attack reorganisation and moved to join the spoiling attack on Budapest that had carried alone by 3 Mot Div (-) until that point. Kanatli took charge of the reckless assault, but his troops would take time to reinforce the battle. Conditions remained tough in Székesfehérvár[-66% progress]; the defence was now in the ‘Danger Zone, as MAJ ‘Wraith’ Loggins, attached to the 4th US Marines, reported.
After a sharp fight which saw the enemy take very heavy losses, the mountaineers won in Delnice that night. 2 and 3 Mtn Divs were held in place, while 1 Mtn continued the advance, with the raw 19 Inf Div (the one with the ‘spare’ marine brigade attached) ordered to join their advance to secure it.
Air Damage Report. The Italian raids on Székesfehérvár finished that afternoon after killing 419 defenders since they started the day before. Two strikes on Dunaújváros killed 144 of the Turks attacking Budapest, while Otocac (1 Mtn and 19 Inf Divs) was hit twice for 306 casualties during the attack on Delnice.
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3 Jun 43
Southern Sector
Victory in Timisoara was celebrated at midnight, with the Germans driven off after a twelve hour fight (Turkish 96 v 209 German casualties). On paper, this was two divisions against one, but in terms of troop numbers, 22,000 Turks had taken on 4,800 Germans.
Next was a concerted cross-river attack on Ada, led by Yamut’s reinforced HQ 3rd Corps. Despite a German ambush, the enemy were put to flight after a short battle – heading deeper into the pocket to the mountains of Zrenjanin!
Then, in the form of a present in honour of the anniversary for the Great Liberation War’s start three years before, Timisoara was liberated for the Romanians at midday by Noyan’s 10 Inf Div. The press cameras were invited for a photo opportunity at 1st Army HQ that day, but the city itself was still too dangerous for them when Inönü made a brief visit later that evening. And the grim fight for Lugoj continued.
Meanwhile, heavy enemy air raids continued in both sectors, but Turkish fighter strength in both Split and Beograd was still too low from their ferocious encounters the month before to risk any interception.
To the north-west of Sânnicolau Mare, the Hungarian province of Hódmezövásrhely had now been vacated. The still-recovering 11 Inf Div (around 50% organisation), reinforced by LTGEN Cakmak’s ‘hardened’ HQ 1st Corps, began a river crossing to take it at 3pm. 13 Inf Div arrived in Sânnicolau Mare three hours later, pushing on straight away north-east towards Arad. It also allowed the reorganising divisions in Kanjiza to begin moving up into what was now friendly territory, as 1st Corps and 11 Inf Div attempted to secure their left flank.
As 13 Inf Div made contact with the enemy in Arad at 8pm, they found only four HQs there, who offered no resistance and kept retreating north.
Northern Sector
As fighting in Székesfehérvár intensified during the day, it was enough to ‘cook’ the 4th US Marines, who routed south at 5pm. 15 Inf Div held out, using their heavy armour, entrenchments, terrain and (though on the Budapest flank only) a river obstacle to try to counter the enemy envelopment and inflict heavy casualties on the attackers. Time was needed to prepare a fall-back defence in Szekszárd should they not be able to hold the building pressure.
In better news for the US Marines, the 1st ‘Old Breed’ US Marine Division retook the long-occupied Croatian GNR capital of Zagreb unopposed at 7pm. It was lucky for any potential collaborators there it was Americans and not Turkish troops who liberated the city, and without fighting.
The respite did not last long, with an enemy attack hitting Zagreb at 9pm – German light armour and Hungarian infantry launching a serious blitzing attack [-60% progress]. This prompted an immediate and reckless spoiling attack on Cakovec by Orbay’s veteran 1 Inf Div (with IS-1s as their infantry support tanks) and the 6th US Mar Div. The Axis soon stopped their attack on Zagreb (US 18 v nine Axis dead) to concentrate on defending Cakovec, where the Comintern forces persisted with their attack.
Air Damage Report. Turkey’s aerial pounding of Lugoj went on, while three Italian raids on Senta killed 505 defenders and raids on Monor (to hinder the spoiling attack on Budapest) started that would last until 6 June.
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4 Jun 43
The Turkish morning papers naturally led with the momentous news of Timisoara’s liberation.
Northern Sector
By 1am, with the Axis concentrating on the defence, the progress of the attack on Cakovec slowed somewhat [52%], but it was pressed on with, to help secure Zagreb’s right flank.
1 Mtn Div – ‘Muzir’s Mountaineers’ – marched into Delnice at 10am and soon repelled an Italian probe from the south-west (one Turkish v 11 Italian casualties). They dug in and waited for 19 Inf Div to join them. And the persistence in Cakovec paid off too, with victory declared at 3pm (Comintern 202 v 453 Axis killed).
19 Inf Div arrived in Delnice at 10pm, but being fresh, rather than staying they pushed north against Novo Mestro to see if they could create a real break in the Axis line. The fighting in Székesfehérvár and Budapest went on unabated all day.
Southern Sector
The day began with HQ 1st Corps and 6 Inf Div encountering the recently arrived German 17th Infanterie in Hódmezövásrhely at midnight. The Germans were near full strength and fully organised, while the Turks were attacking across a river, with 6 Inf Div only at around half organisation. This would be no easy fight [29% progress at the start], but Cakmak insisted on maintaining the attack.
At the same time, 14 Inf Div joined the 10th in Timisoara – but unlike them, were now fully reorganised for offensive operations, which they started by advancing on Lugoj from the north-west. This greatly increased the notional progress of the attack, but would be of little practical use unless they could reinforce. Further south, an SS division was spotted heading towards Ada from Zrenjanin to contest the Comintern advance.
Further north in Arad, 13 Inf Div brushed away another enemy division that had apparently been retreating from Timisoara after another quick skirmish between 2 and 3am (Turkish 13 v 26 Italian casualties), barely delaying their advance.
Then at 9am, the redoutable Wehib Pasha and his 1 Armd Div finished their relocation from the Adriatic sector, arriving in Kanjiza and striking the stubbornly resisting 17 Inf Div in Hódmezövásrhely from the south; importantly it was from the Germans’ side of the river, in open country.
Down in the pocket, the IS-2 equipped 5 Inf Div ran into an Italian motorised division (the 3rd) in Jasa Tomic at midday, putting in a quick attack. But the Italians did not immediately buckle and would resist for the rest of the day.
13 Inf Div next ran into the badly damaged German 25th Infanterie in Arad at 6pm, who would resist until until 1am the next morning before continuing their retreat to the north: 41 Turkish troops were lost, as were 78 Germans.
The SS Division heading to Ada got there just before the Turks could secure it: it turned out to be the fresh SS Totenkopf Division. Even though Yamut’s well-executed shock attack negated MAJGEN Hammer’s attempt to delay, the rest of the factors were stacked against the attackers. With Panavo now unoccupied, Turkish troops began crossing the Danube to take it. And short time later (at midnight), 5 Inf Div had won their latest battle for Jasa Tomic (42 Turkish v 106 Italian casualties).
British Reporting
A surprise report came through that morning of a British raid (it was hardly large enough to be termed an invasion) in northern Germany! One of the raiding divisions had struck inland after taking Bremen and was heading towards an undefended Hamburg. How long this raid could feasibly last before ending in tears was uncertain, but it made for an entertaining distraction.
The British also reported that Singapore still held, while the situation in eastern India had at least not got any worse in the last three days.
Air Damage Report.Lugoj remained under continual Turkish attack and would until the end of the week. The Italian raids on Monor continued,while single strikes were made on the US Marines in Zagreb (44 dead), 15 Inf Div in Székesfehérvár (41 dead) and Dunaújváros (86 dead).
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5 Jun 43
Southern Sector
Another enemy attack on Timisoara by the under-strength German 6th Infanterie from the north-east (Lipova) was fought off between 1am and 7am, with 30 Turkish troops lost for 195 German attackers. As that attack was beaten, 5 Inf Div pulled into Jasa Tomic: they faced another 90 hours of post-attack reorganisation before they could advance again. But the pocket was being squeezed into a smaller and smaller space and its neck was narrowing.
At 9am, 9 Inf Div arrived in Resita and they too added their efforts to the attack on Lugoj: maybe one of the two fresh divisions could reinforce before the 4th wore out against the resolutely stubborn German 12 Pz Div? But the reinforcement chances remained low [0.3% for 14 Inf Div and 0.5% for 9 Inf Div]. 18 Inf Div was now running low on organisation, while 12 Pz Div had plenty of organisation but very little strength.
North of the pocket, 2 Armd Div had made it into Sânnicolau Mare that afternoon and – better yet – the quick-moving division had finished its post-attack reorg and so pushed straight on towards Arad, following 13 Inf Div which had still not arrived there yet.
There was another skirmish in Arad at 9pm, this time 2 Armd joining 13 Inf Div to send the 6th Infanterie (pulling back from Lipova after its failed attack on Timisoara) on its way (3 Turkish v 20 German dead).
Then the Italian Comando Superiore infantry division was the next to try its luck on Timisoara, attacking from Lipova at 10pm – the fighting would continue well into the following morning.
Northern Sector
5 June saw the action hot up again in the north, with a flurry of activity. At 1am, 1 Mot Div finally reinforced the spoiling attack on Budapest, but the German SS and Fallschirmjäger troops there, commanded by Alfred Jodl (just a divisional commander here) showed no sign of weakening [2% progress].
By then, 2 Mot Div was in Monor and ready to attack, but they did not waste their efforts on a frontal assault on the Hungarian capital. Instead, they struck north to attack Hatvan, in the hope of eventually outflanking it from that direction. But even as that (somewhat risky) plan went ahead, it was decided 15 Inf Div had done enough to delay and degrade the attack on Székesfehérvár. At 5am, they were withdrawn after a relentless five day battle. Casualties were heavy on both sides, but the Axis had lost almost 1,000 more troops than the Comintern defenders as 15 Gataly’s men pulled back to Szekszárd in a controlled withdrawal. The spoiling attack on Budapest was also discontinued.
The evening brought the end of 4 US Mar Div’s retreat to Szekszárd at 4pm, where they remained in poor shape, trying to reorganise as they dug in. But they were joined three hours later by 156 SD, who would anchor the defence against a possible second wave assault by the Axis after Székesfehérvár was occupied. 3 Cav Div was sent up to Monor in case they were needed for exploitation or to guard against enemy counter-attack while 2 Mot Div pushed on against Hatvan.
As night fell, 6 US Mar Div arrived at 8pm to occupy Cakovec, using their engineer brigade to help digging in as they waited for 1 Inf Div to join them. But there was no time to prepare, with German panzers launching a breakthrough attack from Nagyatád straight after they arrived. The Turks responded by sending in a spoiling attack on Nagyatád, while despatching 1 Mar Div from Kaposvar to see if they could cut 8 Pz Div off by slipping into the now unoccupied Nagykanizsa.
Air Damage Report. The Italians kept up the raids on Monor (begun on 3 June) and started a new mission on Ruma, which was hit with three heavy raids that day and more the following morning. Lugoj remained under constant Turkish attack as well.
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6 Jun 43
Northern Sector
8 Pz Div soon broke off its attack on Cakovec (at midnight, with nine American and three German casualties), with the spoiling attack on Nagyatád simultaneously halted (seven Comintern, 15 German casualties).
Székesfehérvár was reoccupied by the Hungarians at 10am, while at the same time 2 Mot Div won their battle for Hatvan (due east of Budapest) in convincing fashion (78 Turkish v 706 Hungarian casualties) and kept advancing to see if they could secure this exposed salient. 3 Cav Div made it to Monor at 4pm and was sent up to Hatvan as well, doubling down on the stiletto thrust.
The ‘leaderless’ rookies of 19 Inf Div ran into the seasoned but under-strength and partly disorganised 93rd Infanterie in Novo Mesto at 3pm, their initial assaulted negated by von Thoma’s expert counter-attack. Still, they outnumbered the Germans (who had only 2,450 effective troops) by around five-to-one [84% progress] so kept the attack going. The battle would still be going as the first week of June ended.
Then at 7pm, the German 45th Infanterie (now in Budapest) tried an unwise probe south on Dunaújváros, which was fought off easily by 3 Mot Div (-) and the recently arrived 12 SD (three Comintern v 34 German casualties).
Southern Sector
This day, the focus of action swung back to the south and the Zrenjanin Pocket, with fast-moving developments following one after another. First, the three pronged attack on Ada was halted at 8am, with the heavy air strikes on Ruma and the difficult river crossing taking their toll. 411 Comintern troops and only 238 of the SS Totenkopf fanatics were lost in the ground fighting alone.
An hour later, the Italian attack on Timisoara also failed, with 52 defenders killed, while the Italians left 355 KIA in the city’s outskirts as they withdrew. But neither of the fresh Turkish divisions had yet been able to reinforce the attack on Lugoj, which was now failing. 18 Inf Div’s organisation almost completely gone by 10am.
But the biggest developments of the afternoon came to the north of the pocket. At 2pm, 13 Inf Div finally grabbed Arad, with less than a day of reorg required before they could attack again and 2 Armd div on the way. An hour later the intervention of 1 Armd Div brought the tough battle for Hódmezövásrhely to a successful conclusion.
But maybe the biggest news was that the Romanians had just taken Caransebes, north-east of Resita, further narrowing the neck of the Zrenjanin Pocket, with further advances on Deva (unoccupied) and perhaps even Faget a possibility.
Not so good was the news from Lugoj: the pocket remained unclosed after 18 Inf Div broke off their attack in complete disorganisation and after suffering heavy casualties. Their comrades had never been able to reinforce: 10 Inf Div in Timisoara and 4 Inf Div in Resita were the next available for an attack, but that would have to wait some hours yet. Instead, 3 Inf Div in Senta launched a mosy likely forlorn distracting attack on Kikinda, trying to delay the escape of units from the pocket through its still open neck in Lugoj.
The Kikinda probe ran into three German divisions that were at near full strength and organisation plus a couple of HQs: 11,000 Turkish troops were up against 23,200 enemy [only 7% progress].
2 Armd joined 13 Inf Div in Arad at 9pm, but they had another 47 hours of reorganisation ahead of them after the earlier encounter battle. At least this was a day less than it would have been in May, thanks to the new doctrine.
Then came the most stunning news of the day: the Soviets had suddenly seized Faget! The pocket was closed off – by Turkey’s trusty allies. Even though Lugoj had never been taken, the Axis troops were still trapped. This triggered a desperate attack by 12 Pz Div on Timisoara, but Noyan sought to delay their attempted breakout. And reports stated that the Germans seemed to be down to only around 1,300 men, even though the organisation of this highly resilient kampfgruppe remained as strong as ever.
The SS Totenkopf also attacked Senta from Ada. With this spoiling attack and the pocket sealed, 3 Inf Div soon halted their forlorn attack on Kikinda (151 Turkish v 44 German casualties). Two hours later, the SS stopped their attack, after killing 21 Turks for SS losses of 12 men.
With this flurry of activity, the Turkish command now hoped to wait until Axis supply failed in the Zrenjanin Pocket, while they extended their new thrust to the north of Timisoara via Arad.It was estimated around 63,000 Axis troops (mainly German, with some Hungarian and Italian formations) were now trapped, with three HQs, plus five infantry, two motorised, one medium panzer and one SS division (the Totenkopf) cut off. None were out of supply yet, but Inönü hoped that would change in coming days.
Air Damage Report. The Italian raids on Monor finally finished, with 1,324 Comintern troops killed there over four days. Two days of Italian strikes on Ruma also ended, with another 897 men lost there. Szeged (from where the main Turkish attack on Hódmezövásrhely had been launched) had seen 189 men killed in two raids. Turkish strikes on Lugoj continued without pause, now trying to hinder 12 Pz Div’s attack on Timisoara and ensure other Axis units there were kept weak, to deter them from breaking out.
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7 Jun 43
Southern Sector
Turkish and Soviet troops greet each other on the boundary between Timisoara and Faget on the morning of 7 June 1943, after the Soviets had secured the latter with 308 SD the night before.
Ever more desperate to break out of the pocket, the (almost full strength) 75th Infanterie in Kikinda joined the attack on Timisoara at midnight, but the strong defence of the city looked like it should be able to hold – for now, anyway [-15% progress]. Otherwise, the Turks were happy enough to see the ring of steel around the trapped enemy divisions kept secure and for the enemy to become starved of supplies before the operation to eliminate them began.
But the pressure intensified at midday when the 2nd Motorised Infanterie joined in the breakout attempt. A careful eye would be kept on developments and this battle went on for the rest of the day. One option, if required, would be to have the powerful 5 Inf Div attack Kikinda from Jasa Tomic. But they were still in the post-attack reorganisation phase, as was 3 Inf Div in Senta.
As a further precaution, at 1pm the recovering and reorganising 4 Inf Div was sent from Resita up to Faget to ensure it was well defended – especially as 308 SD was under direct Soviet command and might be separately tasked at some point. Though the Romanian capture of Deva further isolated the trapped Axis troops.
Northern Sector
As fight for the Zrenjanin Pocket fell into something of a routine, the Zagreb-Budapest sector remained active throughout 7 June. MAJGEN W.H. Walker’s 6 US Mar Div easily brushed off an Italian probe on Cakovec between 1 and 3 pm (nine US v 12 Italian casualties). This coincided with a more serious attack by 2 Pz Div on Zagreb, while fighting continued in Novo Mesto.
8 Pz Div in Nagyatád, apparently now aware they were at risk of being cut off, had begun retreating north, while 1 Inf Div still made for Cakovec.
At 4am, 2 Mot Div secured Hatvan, quickly repulsing a probe by the German Leichte Division (two Turk v 18 German casualties). It was at this point that it was fully appreciated that [Paradoxically ] no matter which side of the river Budapest was attacked from – even if from all at once – the troops defending it would have the advantage of a river defence! This realisation caused some consternation at HQ 1st Army when the recon report was received: it was going to make Budapest an even harder nut to crack!
15 Inf Div joined the other defenders of Szekszárd at 11am, having lost 10% of its strength in the recent fighting [and with org down to 12.5]: battered, but still able to fight if needed - for a while.
1 Inf Div arrived in Cakovec at 2pm, to see the German attack on nearby Zagreb beginning to gain momentum [-40% progress]. But they still had another 31 hours of reorganisation to go through before they could attack again.
The final movement for the day was 3 Cav Div joining 2 Mot in Hatvan at 4pm. But the small salient was exposed and the Turks were not yet ready for another attack on Budapest. Next moves would have to be carefully chosen.
As the first week of June ended, 6 US Mar Div was beginning to fade in Zagreb[-52% progress]and looked like it would need rescuing; 19 Inf Div still pounded away at Novo Mesto[64%]. In the south Timisoara still held [-22%] and the pocket was contained.
Air Damage Report. A full week of four Turkish air raids per day on Lugoj had killed a total of 1,745 enemy, mainly from the now brigade-sized 12 Pz Div. The only Italian raid that day was a one off ground attack on Delnice late in the day, killing 183 defenders.
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Weekly SITREPS
The wider Patriotic Front was mainly a story of Comintern progress, with the Soviets inching forward to try for their own grand encirclement in the north.
Operation Mayhem had continued to see high operational tempo, concentrated around Zagreb in the west, Budapest in the north and around Timisoara in the south, including the closing of the Zrenjanin Pocket on 6 June. The Comintern had lost 9,950 men in first week of June: 5,651 to ground combat and another 4,299 to air attacks. The Axis lost a total of 9,848 killed: 8,103 in the ground battles, plus the 1,745 troops killed in Lugoj by the composite 1 TAG (where its IL-2s had been important against the German panzer division).
In the Far East, the Soviets continued to inch forward, with sporadic partisan uprisings breaking out in the Japanese rear.
The British had lost no ground in India, nor made any in North Africa. But their raid in Germany was still going on, Hamburg having been taken but Bremen lost. However, unless they received reinforcements soon, their position seemed doomed.
Of note on the research front, the next much-awaited doctrinal advance – grand battle planning – was due to wide issue in just ten days. This would radically improve combat reinforcement chances – a major deficiency of Turkish procedures for years now. Another long-overdue advance – the adoption of combined arms warfare – would follow in September.
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Alexandria
After eventually discovering the fate of ‘Romeo’ and ‘Lonely’ in Ankara and the revelation of Perse Fotheringay-Phipps as the legendary ‘Rose’ – MI6’s best placed agent in Turkey – David Callan was most interested to meet her in person. He had travelled across from his station in Baghdad to greet her on arrival.
David Callan – very interested to meet Perse.
The RAF Base at Aboukir, a short distance outside Alexandria, viewed from the air. Picture taken from Perse’s US transport plane as it approached on the afternoon of 7 June 1943.
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Coming Up: The Zrenjanin Pocket is closed – but can the Comintern coordinate effectively to keep it closed, from breakouts and/or Axis relief missions? How difficult will it be to reduce it? Can another pocket be formed in combination with Comintern forces in Romania, further north? What of the Zagreb-Budapest sector? Can the former be held and the latter taken? Is it feasible for Turkey to maintain two continuing offensives while also containing and destroying the Pocket to the south?
In the Secret War, what will Perse do – and where will she be sent – once she arrives in Alexandria? What is the exact nature of Callan’s interest in her? Will there be any Turkish or Soviet response to these recent events? Particularly as while MacLean may be dead, he was not the only ‘mole’ the Soviets had in MI6. And what of S.I.T.H., Ögel and Kaya?
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Chapter 204: A Tightening Grip (8 to 15 June 1943)
Chapter 204: A Tightening Grip (8 to 15 June 1943)
AuthAAR’s Note: This chapter focuses on combat action over another period of very intense fighting as the Turkish Spring Offensive continues while German-led Axis forces try to fight back and rescue their (mainly German) forces trapped in the Zrenjanin Pocket. For ease of continuity, the combat reporting will be broken into northern (the Adriatic to Budapest) and southern (from north of Timisoara to the Zrenjanin Pocket) areas of operation.
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Recap
Turkish and Soviet intelligence had lost track of Perse after her dramatic escape from Izmir. An unconfirmed sighting in Alexandria had yet to be verified. It was possible she remained in Egypt or had been spirited to Baghdad, London or even the US. No one in Turkey was sure …
… while at the front, the intense fighting of the last week showed no signs of letting up, while the Soviets attempted their own grand encirclement of Army Group North, defending the former Baltic States and Leningrad.
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1. Northern Sector: 8-15 Jun 43
8 Jun 43
The morning started with MAJGEN Selisek’s 1 Mar Div outflanking move running into the recently arrived 8 Pz Div in Nagykanizsa. The Turkish marines’ reckless quick assault was deftly counter-attacked and was called off after the first contact. But with Nagytád now vacated to the south, Comintern forces began an unopposed march to consolidate the line. 6 Militia (Mil) Div was ordered up to reinforce 1 US Mar Div in Zagreb, which was still under heavy attack from the north, while the Turkish attack on Novo Mesto continued further to the west.
As the fighting in both locations continued during the day, the situation slowly deteriorated for the US Marines in Zagreb, where the Italians began air strikes, but progressed well for the Turks in Novo Mesto, where victory came at 11pm despite enemy Italian air attacks on 19 Inf Div in Delnice.
With growing concern about the situation in Zagreb, a spoiling attack was launched on Ormoz from Cakovec at 11pm, with immediate results: the enemy attack on Zagreb was called off straight away, but the Turks and the US Marines persisted with their attack on Ormoz, looking to better secure their hold on the Croatian GNR capital.
Air Damage Report. Four Italian raids on Delnice killed 793 Turkish soldiers, while a single raid on Zagreb caused just 67 US casualties.
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9-10 Jun 43
The fighting in Ormoz continued throughout 9 June, finishing at midnight with a Turkish victory which saw 250 Comintern and 556 Axis troops killed. 1 Inf Div continued on, while 6 US Mar Div held in place to keep Cakovec secure.
176 SD was the first into Nagyatád at 6am on 10 June, with the rest following up during the day. To the west, 19 Inf Div occupied Novo Mesto at 11am and soon came under a serious enemy attack [-85% progress]by the Italian 6a Mtn Div in Ribnica. In response, 1 Mtn Div launched a flanking attack on Ribnica, which drew off the Italians from Novo Mesto by 2pm (nine Turk v 24 Italian casualties). Their job done, Muzir’s Mountaineers ceased their attack at the same time (15 Turk v 28 Italian casualties).
The same scenario was replayed in Novo Mesto and Ribnica between 7 and 9pm that night, this time with 3a Inf Div attacking from Ribnica[-48%], 1 Mtn Div hitting them again by 8pm (not having been disorganised by the previous quick attack). The Italians broke off the assault on Novo Mesto by 9pm (13 Turk v 27 Italian casualties) and 1 Mtn Div also halted its spoiling attack on Ribnica (18 Turk v 28 Italian casualties). The exposed and leaderless 19 Inf Div would continue to try to dig in and secure its precarious foothold, even as it remained under Italian air attack.
Air Damage Report. Air raids on Cakovec throughout 9 and 10 June killed 1,074 Comintern troops, but could not prevent the attack on Ormoz from succeeding. The Italian raids on Novo Mesto would continue into 11 June.
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11 Jun 43
In the event, 19 Inf Div was given little time to strengthen its defences. Yet another attack went in on Novo Mesto at 2am – a quickly reorganised Italian 6a Mtn Div [-64% progress]. 1 Mtn Div in Delnice still had four hours before it too would complete its reorganisation after its last spoiling attack.
But soon there was another Axis attack to worry about, this time south of Budapest. And it would prove difficult to deal with, despite the Soviet commander MAJGEN Panov executing an effective ambush on the attacking German paratroopers and Hungarian infantry.
The pattern of Axis attacks continued, with a Hungarian probe on Cakovec, also at 7am. This cross-river assault from Lenti was heavily defeated after three hours, MAJGEN Orbay’s elastic defence killing 186 attackers for only four Comintern casualties. The fight for Dunaújváros would not prove so easy, however.
That evening, 1 Mtn Div was ordered once more to attack Ribnica when the enemy attack on Novo Mesto began making more serious progress. The latest spoiling attack got off to a good start and once again the Italian attack on Novo Mesto was called off. But this time, with Zagreb also now secure, 1 Mtn Div continued their attack even though outnumbered, hoping to ensure 19 Inf Div got some breathing space.
That evening, 1 Inf Div arrived in Ormoz at 7pm and brushed off an enemy probe by the German 82nd Infanterie an hour later (two Turk v 20 German casualties). The fighting in Ribnica continued.
Air Damage Report. The air attacks on Novo Mesto that had begun the day before finished on the night of 11 June after killing 848 men of 19 Inf Div. Meanwhile, the Italians began hitting Dunaújváros hard late that night, and would do so until midday on 13 June.
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12-13 Jun 43
As the battle for Ribnica went on, the situation in Dunaújváros worsened, prompting a difficult spoiling attack on Budapest from two of Turkey’s most powerful armoured divisions, led by the dashing MAJGEN Toüdemür. The hope was it might provide enough distraction to halt the main attack on Dunaújváros, but the Hungarian capital was heavily garrisoned by other units. Meanwhile, the Comintern units south of Székesfehérvár were either weaker or still recovering from previous combat damage and not in a good position to launch a spoiling attack on the Hungarian division attacking Dunaújváros.
The worsening situation led to 1 Armd Div being ordered at 1am on 13 June from its position guarding the line north-west of Timisoara up to Kiskunhalas, directly south of Dunaújváros, in anticipation of having to plug a potential gap and being called on to counter-attack if it fell.
There was better news to the west, with 1 Mtn Div victorious in Ribnica at 6am after a tough fight. 3 Mtn Div was ordered to move up to Karlovac, which had been abandoned by the Germans, while two divisions began shuffling east to help strengthen the line around Dunaújváros.
This was required because the forlorn spoiling attack on Budapest was failing to make any appreciable impact, being called off at 7am before the divisions involved became any more disorganised and lost more men than they had already (307 Turk v 66 Axis casualties).
By 7pm, 12 SD had broken and was routing south to Baja. Under incessant air attack and now more heavily outnumbered, 3 Mot Div was ordered to make a controlled withdrawal to Kiskunhalas, to preserve its fighting strength and establish a reserve line south of the river. Casualties had been heavy on both sides, but the battle for Dunaújváros was lost and the gap in the line would have to be closed up before the Axis high command could exploit it.
Air Damage Report. Three days of air attacks on Dunaújváros added another 860 Comintern casualties to those inflicted in the ground fighting and had made it that much harder to hold on. 583 troops from 1 Mtn Div were killed in a day of Italian raids on Delnice, as they advanced north to occupy Ribnica.
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14 Jun 43
With the retreat from Dunaújváros, the Hatvan salient had become even more precarious, with no prospect of an encirclement of Budapest looking likely until more forces could be freed up from the fighting in the south, which still raged around the Zrenjanin Pocket at that stage. Just as an enemy probe hit Monor at 1pm (brushed off with heavy enemy casualties), 2 Mot and 3 Cav Divs were ordered to pull out to safety in Monor.
And as that was happening, Novo Mesto was struck yet again, this time by 3a Inf Div again, which had by then relocated to Ljubljana – out of range of any immediate Turkish spoiling attack, as 1 Mtn Div advanced on Ribnica.
The enemy reoccupied Dunaújváros at 5pm, but that left Székesfehérvár undefended. 156 SD made an opportunistic march to see if it could be taken before the enemy garrisoned it again. 176 SD occupied Nagykanizsa at 7pm, shortening the line and covering other units were being shuffled east. And then 1 Armd Div pulled into Kiskunhalas at midnight to provide a strong defence of the river line there.
Air Damage Report. A single raid on Monor killed just 38 Turkish defenders before the attack was called off. Fighting continued in Novo Mesto, where 19 Inf Div had also come under heavy air attack again that morning.
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15 Jun 43
At 3am, 1 Mtn Div secured Ribnica at the same time 3 Mtn Div marched into Karlovac. With 1 Mtn Div still over two days away from being able to attack again and Zagreb’s flanks now secured, MAJGEN Diskoerekto was ordered to lead an attack with 1 US Mar Div on Krsko, from which the Germans were already moving north. They chose not to fight after the initial engagement, with victory coming an hour later, as Novo Mesto continued to take a hammering.
With things getting worse, 3 Mtn Div was ordered to head to Novo Mesto at 9am, and 19 Inf Div was pulled out two hours later to avoid further damage in a losing fight. 1 US Mar Div would keep pushing on to take Krsko. A battlefield rendezvous between MAJGEN Diskoerekto and US Marine LO MAJ Kenny 'Wraith' Loggins would have to wait for another opportunity.
By 7pm that afternoon, 3 Cav Div had already made it to Monor, but 2 Mot Div was still in Hatvan when it was struck by four enemy divisions from two different directions. Toüdemür wasted no time in disengaging and continuing the withdrawal south (28 Turk v 25 Axis casualties).
As the day drew to a close, 156 SD encountered the newly arrived 4. Leichte Div in Székesfehérvár, frustrating their hopes of an unopposed ‘end-run’. But the intrepid MAJGEN Shvydkoi put in a shock attack, hoping to sweep away the fully organised but under-strength motorised division anyway. He would be given some time to see if the ploy worked.
Air Damage Report. Two days of raids on Novo Mesto killed another 796 soldiers from 19 Inf Div, while a couple on 3 Mtn Div in Karlovac caused 168 casualties.
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2. Southern Sector: 8-15 Jun 43
8-9 Jun 43
Torrid and back-and-forth as the fighting was in the northern sector, the ‘main game’ remained in the south. In the early morning of 8 June, fighting continued in Timisoara, where Axis units from Kikinda and Lugoj had been attempting to break for the last two days. The very active SS-Totenkopf Division probed Senta at 4am. The composite 1 TAG bombing group, then raiding Lugoj, was ordered to finish there and strike the SS in Ada instead, though the SS gave up after just two hours. In Zrenjanin, Turkish and Soviet divisions plus the reinforced HQ 4th Corps made a concerted assault against the German 23rd Infanterie.
The heavily outnumbered enemy fled Zrenjanin at 8am (19 Comintern v 57 German casualties).
The fighting in Timisoara remained intense on 9 June, where by 4am the organisation of both the defending Turkish divisions (10 and 14 Inf Divs) was down to about 50%. By then, only the German divisions (2nd and 75th Infanterie) in Kikinda maintained the assault, but both were still fresh, close to full strength and not showing any signs of supply shortages, despite having been cut off for some time now. Given this, 1 TAG was switched to Kikinda as its next target – where it would concentrate its efforts around the clock for next five days.
At 7am, the Hungarian 8th Div ‘bounced’ into Zrenjanin but was soon defeated by the advancing Comintern forces after a two hour encounter battle (16 Comintern v 136 Hungarian casualties). By that afternoon, the HQ of the ‘Fighting Fourth Corps’ was the first to occupy Zrenjanin, beating all the accompanying infantry units into the mountain stronghold – and narrowing the pocket further. Another short probe on Senta was called off by the SS that afternoon as 1 TAG struck Ada in the morning then Kikinda in the afternoon. Further east, 177 SD arrived in Resita at midday and was sent straight into an attack on Lugoj.
HQ 4th Corps had only been in Zrenjanin for an hour when they were attacked by the 28th Infanterie from Kikinda [-45%]. The reinforced HQ would have to hold out until the rest of the advancing Comintern forces arrived.
Air Damage Report. The last Turkish raid on Lugoj on 8 June killed 80 Axis defenders, before switching attention to Ada, where ground attacks continued into 9 June, killing a total of 343 SS fanatics. Raids then began on Kikinda on the afternoon of 9 June. The Italian Air Force also put in a brief appearance in the south, raiding Timisoara twice to cause 336 casualties.
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10-11 Jun 43
North of Timisoara, 13 Inf Div liberated Beius early on 10 June and were then directed south-east towards Cimpeni, where the Romanians had ejected an Italian division and were also advancing on the province from the south-east. 2 Armd Div would secure Beius behind 13 Inf Div. Both allies wanted to ensure this smaller pocket was closed to the north of the main Zrenjanin Pocket, where heavy fighting continued in three different battles.
But the Romanians had it all in hand, taking Cimpeni three hours later and sealing off a second pocket with at least two more Italian divisions trapped – who then struck the Soviets and Romanians in Faget: but that key province had been reinforced, so should have no trouble holding, even as 4 Inf Div still made its slow way north, just to make sure of it. Timisoara still hung on grimly, with stories of MAJ Tyler Durden’s ‘urban terrorists’ raiding Axis positions at night to cut throats as they huddled down to try get a minute or two of sleep in the ruined streets.
North of this, German forces probed Arad between 8 and 11 am, but withdrew after losing 104 attackers to the well-set Turkish defence, which lost 39 men. At the same time, another German probe had hit MAJGEN Bözer’s 13 Inf Div which had begun to dig in at Beius: this would prove a more persistent assault [-38 progress at the start].
All these battles continued into 11 June without respite, as 1 TAG kept plugging away at the large Axis troop concentration in Kikinda. Things were getting quite tense in Timisoara, where troops on both sides were beginning to tire in fighting that had started back on 6 June, with an Italian division now trying to join in. 10 Inf Div in particular was nearing the end of its willpower. This triggered a two-pronged spoiling attack to be launched from Senta and Jasa Tomic, closing on the enemy front line at 6am.
Later that morning, the aptly named MAJGEN Hammer launched yet another attack at 10am on Senta with his SS-Totenkopf Division. A third level of spoiling was initiated in response to that, with the three Comintern divisions and the reinforced HQ 2nd Corps positioned from Srboban down to Ruma now recovered from previous post-attack reorganisation. Hammer called off his own attack at midday to concentrate on the defence of Ada, allowing 3 Inf Div to continue its own spoiling attack on Senta. At the same time, 177 SD triumphed in Lugoj after a sharp fight which had begun two days before. The attack on Ada was persisted with, as the screw was tightened another turn on the enemy trapped in the pocket - who still seemed to suffer any supply shortages yet.
Air Damage Report. Two Italian ground attacks on Arad had killed 245 defenders on 10 June in support of the brief attack there. Continuous Turkish strikes on Kikinda went on.
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12 Jun 43
The Axis had not given up trying to find a way through the screen to the north of Timisoara while their comrades tried desperately to break out. A longer attack on Arad, again by the German 25th Infanterie and with air support, lasted from 2 to 8 am, but was repelled (117 Turk v 124 German casualties), while the attack on nearby Beius still dragged on, now also with Italian air support.
But the Axis suffered twin blows early that afternoon: at 1pm, the long enemy attack on Zrenjanin was finally defeated, with heavy losses. This freed up the five formations there (including HQ 4th Corps) to reinforce the attacks on both Arad and Kikinda. Now attacked from the same side of the river, the SS retreated towards Kikinda just an hour later, while the assault on Kikinda itself strengthened and the enemy's on Timisoara weakened.
By 4pm, two of the enemy divisions defending Kikinda were retreating to Lugoj (which had still not been reoccupied) and two of the three left were significantly disorganised. But they still would not give up their desperate attack on Timisoara.
At 8pm that night, 10 Inf Div routed from Timisoara towards Sannicolau Mare, but one of the Axis divisions had also pulled out. 75th Infanterie was almost out of organisation, and MAJGEN Seven’s 14 Inf Div was not far behind, but looking stronger at this point. The same time, a new battle broke out in Lugoj as one of the German divisions that had retreated from Kikinda arrived: they had regained just enough organisation to not flee on first contact. 177 SD – fresh and at full strength - renewed its assault.
In the smaller ‘Lipova Pocket’, north-east of Timisoara, the Soviets and Romanians had forced two enemy divisions to surrender, while a third was still retreating to Lipova from the north-east. Comintern cooperation and coordination was reaching new heights.
Fighting continued in Beius and Timisoara (Axis attacks) and Lugoj and Kikinda (Comintern attacks) into the next day.
Air Damage Report. One Italian ground attack on Arad killed 165 defenders, while Beius was under Italian air attack and Kikinda remained under Turkish aerial assault.
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13 Jun 43
The latest skirmish for Lugoj was won at 2am. But the more momentous news was that the week-long battle for Timisoara was finally over: more than 4,000 troops from both sides had perished, but the Turkish flag still flew over the battered city. It was rumoured that Durden and his rag-tag band of raiders went searching for loot and trophies among the enemy dead and wounded left behind. No one wanted to ask too many questions.
Not long after this, a major defensive victory was won in Beius, again resulting in especially heavy casualties for the Axis.
Another heavy loss for the enemy came in Kikinda at 1pm, while retreating enemy division was defeated by 177 SD in Lugoj in a brief skirmish two hours after that. At that point, all the Axis units in the pocket were in retreat, while the Turks tried to secure the provinces and thus stop the to-and-fro of these ‘bouncing’ Axis units.
With these successes and after suffering a fair degree of organisational fatigue (though only around an average of 5% losses) over recent days, 1 TAG was finally told to rest and reorganise at 5pm. The German 31st Infanterie slipped into Lipova at 6pm that evening: their destruction would be left to Turkey’s partners. Ada was occupied by Comintern forces at 11pm, squeezing the scurrying enemy units into an even smaller space.
Air Damage Report. Italian attacks on Beius on 12 and 13 June killed 337 Turkish defenders, while the five days of Turkish raids on Kikinda killed a total of 1,330 Axis troops.
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14-15 Jun 43
The day was taken up with advances into the last two provinces of the pocket and encounter battles with Axis divisions retreating from one to the other from previous defeats. The first was a quick encounter battle with five Comintern divisions attacking the Hungarian 8th Div – which still retained quite high organisation - in Kikinda from 1 to 6 am. But their hasty defence was overwhelmed (11 Turk v 406 Hungarian casualties).
At 7am, yet another probe with air support on Arad to the north began by German mountain troops on Gürzlin’s 7 Inf Div – and it got off to a powerful start [-53% progress]. The Axis was still trying a rescue, no matter the lengthening odds. Odds which worsened when the Romanians liquidated the last Axis remnants in Lipova a few hours later. Comintern formations were closing in on the last two provinces in the pocket as all Axis troops remained in retreat.
But midday brought more frustrations, as the relatively intact – and very determined – SS-Totenkopf lodged in Kikinda before it could be occupied and started a new scratch defence there.
Secret Reporting: Washington, DC, US. An American scientist, given the code name "Quantum" by the Soviet KGB, met with officials at the Soviet Embassy in Washington, DC, on 14 June and turned over classified scientific information about separating the isotope Uranium-235 from uranium, part of the American atomic bomb project. The American FBI and NSA intercepted news of the meeting from a cable sent on June 21 from the KGB's New York office, but were never able to learn the identity of "Quantum".
This is an OTL event. More than sixty years later, "Quantum" was discovered from declassified files from the former Soviet Union to have most likely been Boris Podolsky, (29 June 1896 – 28 November 1966) was a Russian-American physicist noted for his work with Albert Einstein and Nathan Rosen on entangled wave functions and the ‘EPR paradox’.
Kikinda became the last Axis centre of resistance in the pocket when Lugoj was taken at 6am on 15 June. The SS were still resisting by 9am, providing shelter for exhausted comrades who had retreated tried to retreat to Lugoj previously, but were now ‘bounced back’ to Kikinda after a brief skirmish at 7am, even as more of their compatriots retreated from Lugoj after previous defeats.
The latest German attempt on Arad failed at 1pm (186 Turk v 425 German casualties) as the last death throes of Axis resistance in the pocket were eked out. That night, even though the SS still clung on, when 11 Inf Div arrived in Ada at 9pm, they did not join in the attack on Kikinda, but were put on trucks and sent north to help plug the enemy advance south of Budapest. But as night fell, the SS – by now almost completely disorganised – showed their prodigious fanaticism by still providing shelter to their Axis comrades in Kikinda [89% progress].
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3. Espionage
10 Jun 43
As night fell in London on 10 June 1943, two men in cheap suits lurked outside an expensive Mayfair hotel. On a soundless nod from the man in charge, they both moved forward, glancing suspiciously as they made their way to a side entrance. One stayed at the door, keeping it open and clearly acting as a sentry, trying to appear nonchalant but with one hand straying nervously every so often to the revolver he had in a shoulder holster. The other man took out a silenced automatic pistol, checked it was loaded and the safety was off, and started climbing the stairs.
David Callan cursed under his breath and prepared for action. He was back in London to confer with the recently returned ‘Rose’, Persephonee Fotheringay-Phipps, and had arranged to meet her in her room on the fourth floor of the hotel. MI6 HQ had not been aware of his movements or plans, but had known of Perse’s whereabouts. How this information had come into the hands of these thugs was all too obvious: it showed MacLean was surely not the only Soviet ‘mole’ in the agency.
Callan, incognito, getting ready to attempt the disruption of what could only be a mission to kidnap or assassinate ‘the Rose’.
Seeing the door guard was a left-hander, Callan used one of the oldest tricks in the book: he threw a glass bottle down the laneway to the man’s left, meaning he would be momentarily distracted as he reached for the gun on his right side. Callan walked calmly forward, took aim and shot the man with a double-tap, two bullets drilling him through the heart. All the would-be assassin was able to manage was one misdirected shot before he collapsed, dead before he hit the ground.
Callan bounded past him and up the stairs as quickly as he could, but was almost certain he would be too late to intervene, given the head-start the other ‘wet worker’ had. His fears were reinforced when he saw a room service waiter slumped against a wall on the first floor, a neat hole between his eyes. And then confirmed when he heard a door slamming and gunfire as he bounded up the last flight of stairs to the fourth floor. Too late, he cursed again.
The assassin had indeed taken a master key from the dead waiter. He had quietly inserted it into the lock, opening the door with a sudden flourish to storm in and surprise this helpless woman he had been sent to ‘terminate, with extreme prejudice’. And there she was!
Perse, on the alert for her planned meeting with Callan, had heard the shots out in the laneway, recognising the muffled sounds for what they must be. As the key turned in the lock, she was ready. The last thing the assassin saw and heard was a bright muzzle flash and the sharp report of a gunshot.
Seconds later, Callan warily approached the door, but stopped short and introduced himself, giving their agreed password and waiting, out of sight.
“Do come in, David, but would you be so kind as to keep your hands in the air? And not filled with iron?”
“Naturally, Perse. Glad to hear your voice again, after all these years.”
As he rounded the door, he saw Perse standing perfectly still and quite unharmed, a cloud of cordite floating in the air around her.
Perse, a picture of tranquillity, the cordite still drifting around her in the hotel room, a dead would-be assassin a few feet in front of her.
“But this place will be crawling with Agency types soon. We’d best be out of here: you’re not safe, even in London. And especially from our ‘own’ people. Come with me – quickly, please.”
“Of course, David,” she replied, summing up the situation rapidly. “Where there is one, there may be many. Do you recognise this goon?”
“No, nor his former colleague downstairs. Could be either Turkish or Russian – but they certainly don’t look German to me. I think our ‘allies’ have taken a very particular interest in you, my dear.”
“Quite so, dear boy, quite so. I’ll just grab my coat and we’ll be off.”
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15 Jun 43
By mid-June, Cennet was in Zurich to make a report to Ambassador ‘Mike’ Ceylan.
“Things have been quiet of late. Anything new from Vito Corleone? Or the Resistance?”
“All running smoothly, nothing unusual to report. The Resistance is, ah, going at it hard, Ambassador.”
Despite Cennet’s attempt to disguise it, Ceylan couldn’t help but detect a slight almost-smile.
He remained deadpan, but slightly raised one eyebrow. “So I hear, Cennet, so I hear.”
That was enough to elicit a slight blush, but no admission. What happened in the field stayed in the field – but he also wanted her to know nothing was really secret from him. They’re both so young, he thought to himself, and unlikely to survive this war anyway. Let them have their brief interludes – so long as it doesn’t compromise the mission.
Cennet handed over her report – no ‘neutralisations’ on either side, and the disruption mission continued without any real interference.
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4. Mid-month Theatre SITREPs
At the end of May, Turkish manpower reserves had stood at 55,000 men. By the end of 7 June they were at 49,000 and fallen further to 41,000 by the end of 15 June, only partly offset by recruiting gains (currently at 14,200 per month).
In the whole of May, Turkish (including EFs) ground combat losses had been 15,672 with another 7,388 lost from enemy air attacks, for a total of 23,060 combat losses. Axis losses in the previous month had been 28,657 in ground combat and another 5,059 killed by Turkish air raids, for a total of 33,716.
So far, in the first half of Junealone, during the intensifying fighting (and not counting any prisoners taken by the Romanians in Lipova) Turkey had suffered 12,756 ground and 10,975 air combat casualties, for a total of 23,731. The Axis had lost 20,028 to ground fighting but only 3,498 to air raids, giving an almost identical total of 23,526, slightly less than the cumulative Turkish losses.
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In theFar East, 4 Cav Div had caught up with their comrades in Chindagatuy early on 10 June and together they resumed the slow advance against the Japanese invaders.
Overall, by 15 June there had again been minor but uniform advances from the 1 June starting point.
Dotted arrows are advances made in 1-7 June 1943, the rest of the changes happening since.
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In good news from Russia, the ‘Destruction of Army Group North’ operation had made small but significant inroads since the beginning of the month, with the Baltic Sea again reached in the last day or so, with another drive approaching Leningrad and Axis forces being pushed back north of Lake Ladoga.
The Patriotic Front more generally had shown the biggest Comintern gains were in the Balkans (all advances since 1 June shown by the arrows below).
---xxx---
British reporting indicated that there had been little or no progress by either side since 1 June. This was good news in eastern India, Singaporeand the top of the North Island in New Zealand. But it was disappointing news in Libya, where no British advances had been made, even tough intelligence reported only Italian HQs remained between them and Tripoli.
While in northern Germany, the British raid appeared not to have been reinforced and only 7 Armd Div remained, holed up in Bremen and without a port to sustain it.
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Coming Up: How quickly can the Turks close out the last resistance in the pocket around Kikinda, and how many prisoners will they put in the bag? Can the line be kept stable in the northern sector and how will the forces released from the elimination of the pocket be used? Can Turkey maintain this level of operational tempo with the heavy drain on scarce manpower reserves? And when will the Air Force be able to start contesting the Italian air raids that have been striking Turkish forces with impunity for some weeks now, to such severe effect?
Will the Soviets be able to maintain their hold on Army Group North and slowly grind the massive pocket into dust? Or will the Germans mount a successful rescue mission? Will the British ever get off their bone-idle lazy butts in Libya and finish the Italians off there? Should a lightning Turkish naval landing raid on Tripoli be considered, after all?
What will become of Perse and Callan as they try to combat Soviet double-agents in MI6? And whose assassins were they really?
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Chapter 205: Death from Above (16 to 30 June 1943)
Chapter 205: Death from Above (16 to 30 June 1943)
Recap
Perse, with the aid of David Callan, had foiled another assassination attempt, which revealed both that there must be more ‘moles’ within MI6 … and that whoever had been sent to attack her were not the ‘A-Team’!
At the front, the Axis was coming under increasing pressure across the whole Patriotic Front. The Zrenjanin Pocket had been closed for some days now and was on the cusp of being squeezed shut completely. The Russians and Romanians pressed forward elsewhere on the Patriotic Front, albeit all against stern Axis resistance.
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16 Jun 43
As at midnight, two battles continued in the Turkish sector of the front. West of Budapest, a Turkish probe on Székesfehérvár[42%] continued, where the motorised German 4th Leichte Division had slipped in to defend the province before 156 SD could occupy it. 2 Mot Div was still retreating from Hatvan, the attempt to surround and assault Budapest having been abandoned for now.
The most significant ongoing battle was in Kikinda, where the last bastion of Axis resistance in the Zrenjanin Pocket mounted by the SS Totenkopf Division was just barely holding now, under attack by Turkish forces since 14 June [89% progress]. Tens of thousands of Axis troops – mainly German – were isolated in the pocket.
This last ditch defence in Kikinda soon crumbled, with the latest victory declared at 3am. This brought the immediate surrender of all Axis forces then in Kikinda. Others were still retreating there from Lugoj, but would be rounded up over the next few days. The newspaper report would not be released for operational security reasons until the weekend edition of The Istanbul Times, once the last prisoners had been taken.
At 9am, another minor Japanese-inspired revolt in the Dodecanese was snuffed out, eight Turkish garrison troops killed for 100 rebels, the other 2,900 melting back into the countryside. Again.
The attack on Székesfehérvár was called off at 2pm, with no satisfactory progress being made. The Soviet EF had lost 133 men, while the Germans suffered 83 killed.
Kikinda was secured at 6pm by 5 Inf Div, meaning there would be no further chance for the enemy retreating from Lugoj to stage another desperate stand. It was now just a matter of taking the prisoners as they arrived.
Air Damage Report. Italian attacks on Skekszard on 156 SD killed 493 of the Soviets who had been attacking Székesfehérvár defenders. This was just a foretaste of the blizzard of enemy air raids that would follow over the next two weeks.
OTL News Event: Tokyo, Japan. Subhas Chandra Bose met in Tokyo with Japanese Premier Hideki Tojo, and obtained a promise that Japan would help India gain its independence from the United Kingdom. [Comment: one can imagine something similar happening in this ATL, with the Japanese still romping through eastern India.]
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17 Jun 43
A welcome and long-awaited advance in Turkish land doctrine came on 17 June: combat reinforcement, the bane of many a battle in the past years, would be substantively improved.
Then early that morning, in the Adriatic Sector, the US Marines took Krsko, soon beating off a quick enemy probe. But while that was happening the Italians occupied Novo Mesto, which the Turks had earlier been forced to retreat from. MAJGEN Diskoerekto’s 3 Mtn Div was already on its way from Karlovac and soon engaged the enemy in what would prove to be a long and savage battle.
The Hungarians reoccupied Hatvan at 8am, while 2 Mot Div were still retreating from it south to Monor. Then at 1pm, most of the remaining Axis divisions (two German and one Hungarian) from Lugoj were captured as they retreated to Kikinda, only to find it in Turkish hands. Only the Italian 3a Divisione (motorised) remained to be put into the bag.
With the pocket effectively now liquidated, the Romanians had retaken Cluj and continued to advance strongly in their sector. New objectives were suggested to the Soviets and Romanians: the key Hungarian cities of Debrecen and Kosice (both of which had been occupied by the Comintern early in the war, while France still fought on).
Note: at their current national unity, these two VP cities plus Pécs (already occupied), would still not be quite enough to force a Hungarian surrender – Budapest would still probably need to be taken.
Up in the Baltic Sector, the Germans had once again retaken Sigulda, the coastal province that maintained land communications with the almost-encircled Army Group North: but yet another Soviet counter-attack was already in progress.
Air Damage Report. The Italians began heavy aerial attacks on Karlovac on 3 Mtn Div in Karlovac, which would continue into the next day. They also struck Krsko, which would continue without let up for another five harrowing days.
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18 Jun 43
The reason for the continuation of intense air strikes on Krsko was presumably because at 3am 1 US Mar Div joined the attack on Novo Mesto in support of 3 Mtn Div [2.6% reinforcement chance].
Further east, 2 Mot Div (still in very good condition) had finished its retreat from Hatvan to Monor at 8am and was sent straight on to the south-east, to join the forces gathering north of Timisoara for a renewed offensive following the elimination of the Zrenjanin Pocket. This fast and powerful outfit should be useful if they got loose on the Hungarian plain. The first formations redeployed from the pocket were already arriving on the front line by then.
217 SD in Delnice was added to the attack on Novo Mesto at 9am and reinforced almost immediately, improving the odds further [82% progress]. Then late that night, 1 Mtn Div in Ribnica added its weight to the attack on Novo Mesto, where 3 Mtn Div was finding the attack tough.
Air Damage Report. Enemy air raids finished on Karlovac that night, having caused 1,392 casualties since the day before, while the effort stayed on Krsko and now also hit both Ribnica and Delnice simultaneously from late on 18 June in a massive effort to try to disrupt the attack on Novo Mesto. All these raids would persist non-stop through 21 June.
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19 Jun 43
The last Italian division surrendered at 8am as it limped into Kikinda. The whole pocket was now completely shut down.
6 US Mar Div began advancing on the empty Lenti at midday, while an hour later Italian mountain troops struck Nagykanizsa in a strong attack, but it was hampered by a very effective counter-attack by the 5th Corps commander, LTGEN Edelhun. Still the battle for Novo Mesto ground on to the west of Zagreb, under heavy enemy air attack.
For the first time since June 1940, Beograd was so removed from any direct threat that its last garrison troops (a division of the reinforced militia) was put on trains at 3pm and sent to reinforce the line west of Zagreb.
1 Mtn Div reinforced the attack on Novo Mesto at 10pm [95%], but still the Italians refused to give up. Both they and 3 Mtn Div were becoming fairly worn down by this stage.
Air Damage Report. Another day of enemy raids Krsko, Ribnica and Delnice took their toll on the forces attacking Novo Mesto.
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20 Jun 43
While Turkey now had three divisions in the front line and one in reserve attacking Novo Mesto, the German 93rd Infanterie (low on strength but high on organisation) joined and then reinforced the Italians between 6am and 8am. Just as the latter were weakening (they would retreat at 4pm that same afternoon): the fight would now drag on further, into the following day.
At this point, Inönü began to start tracking reserve manpower more closely: the ground combat but particularly the incessant air raids were wearing it down more quickly now. At the start of 16 June it had stood at 41,000: by 10am on 20 June it had dropped to 36,000 with 3,210 reinforcements needed to reinforce.
Air Damage Report. The enemy air raids Krsko, Ribnica and Delnice continued.
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Interlude: London – ‘The Hour Before Dawn’
Following here escape a few days before, Perse had been laying low in a nondescript ‘off the books’ apartment provided David Callan.
“I’m sure MI6 in London itself has been infiltrated by the Comintern,” Callan had insisted. “It was not just MacLean. Probably the Soviets, or possibly the S.I.T.H., have someone working there. Those thugs sent to do the dirty work the other night were Romanian, so it has been deduced.”
“Acting on behalf of …?” asked Perse, thinking it may be her old employers back in Turkey.
“Hard to tell. In a way, it doesn’t really matter. London and I suspect England is just too hot for you at the moment, Perse. I have a RAF contact who can smuggle you out on a flight to Washington, if you’re game. Once there, you can make contact with your American friends – but not before. If it gets out here in advance that you’re heading over, well …”
“Enough said, I’ll take my chances with BJ’s crowd. They may be in the Comintern formally, but their affection is more superficial and it was they who saved me, after all.”
“Right then, Perse. I’ll send my man over later this evening. A Group Captain Nigel Featherstonehaugh [pronounced 'Fanshaw']. Here’s a picture of him and he'll have a password I'll give you now. Be careful, but I’m sure he can be trusted.”
Later that night, Callan was gone when Hawthorn knocked on the door. Perse allowed him in after he provided the password Callan had provided, but she was still wary.
“Are you absolutely sure you weren’t followed, dear boy?”
“Quite, my dear. No flies on me!”
“Are you absolutely sure you weren’t followed, dear boy?”
“Very well, come on in. Here’s a little bite to eat while we discuss plans.”
“Charming. Now, there is a ‘milk run’ flight leaving an hour before dawn tomorrow. Despatches and such. Heading to Washington via Reykjavik. I’m commanding it. I will cover your passage as a diplomatic mission – David has provided me with some papers. You may be recognised after the fact, but by then you will be in the States. The crew themselves can be trusted during the flight and won’t know you’re coming beforehand. Dress plainly and warmly. I’ll have a staff car pick you up at 3am. Any questions?”
“Now, there is a ‘milk run’ flight leaving an hour before dawn tomorrow. Heading to Washington via Reykjavik.”
There were none. Soon, Hawthorn had left and Perse was making her preparations.
---xxx---
21 Jun 43
At midnight, 1 US Mar Div became the fourth Comintern division to reinforce at Novo Mesto [96% progress]; the Germans fought on, though they were now becoming disorganised. The enemy attack on Nagykanizsa also continued.
Three hours later, with USMC LO MAJ Kenny ‘Wraith’ Loggins passing on mounting concerns about a possible enemy counter-attack on Krsko with 1 US mar Div committed in Novo Mesto, 6 Mil Div was ordered to march up from Zagreb to reinforce the position in Krsko. In line with these concerns and with the battle nearly won in Novo Mesto, 1 US Mar Div was peeled off the attack at 4am even though they had only recently reinforced. They were still under heavy air attack and needed time to recover some organisation and to dig in. Furthermore, the Turkish command didn’t want them being drawn into Novo Mesto when the battle was won, leaving Krsko open.
Meanwhile, Perse managed to slip aboard her flight to hoped-for safety while the airfield outside London was still dark. The crew, while a little surprised to see her, were happy to have such an attractive passenger on board. A few thought they recognised her from previous press reporting. The rest of the flight would prove uneventful.
At 8am the battle for Novo Mesto was finally won and 3 Mtn Div occupied it just an hour later. The Italians had suffered heavy casualties in the ground combat, but the real toll for the Comintern forces had come from the skies. The raids would only stop that night, but the cost was great.
Air Damage Report. The enemy air raids on Krsko (17-21 June) killed 2,595 US marines, in Ribnica (19-21 June) it was 1,469 troops from 1 Mtn Div and in Delnice (19-21 June) another 894. In other words, almost 5,000 men, on top of the 1,400 in the earlier raids on Karlovac and over 600 killed in the ground combat. This had been a very bloody affair.
6 US Mar Div fought and won a brief skirmish in Lenti against some Italian troops passing through (12 v 18 casualties) at 2pm and kept advancing. Then at 6pm, reports came that Dunaújváros had been vacated by the enemy, so three of the divisions that had been assembled to defend the possible breakthrough instead advanced to reoccupy it, while others (the armoured formations) were sent to prepare for the next offensive into central Hungary.
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22 Jun 43
With the cessation of the enemy raids connected with the battle for Novo Mesto, at 2am their attention was drawn to Nagykanizsa, where the Italians were still attacking [-29%]. With that battle continuing throughout the day, Lenti was occupied by 6 US Mar Div at 6pm. The air raids also extended into the following day.
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23 Jun 43
Early that morning, Agent SkitalecS3 delivered the latest update from the northern front. The Soviets were once again holding Sigulda, though the foothold remained precarious. They had also made a push up towards Leningrad, led by the 1st Guards Division, but it seemed this brave foray had recently been turned back. And, as a curiosity, it seemed some Ethiopian units were fighting in that sector! They wouldn’t enjoy the winter very much if they were still there by year’s end!
4 US Mar Div (which didn’t have to cross a river) was the first back into Dunaújváros early that morning, but were soon being attacked from Budapest. At least the ‘mobius strip’ river that 'encircles' the city while running through it means any attack from it is also a river crossing. The marines will certainly need the help that is still on its way from the south. And of course, the drone of enemy bombers soon heralded another aerial pummelling for the defenders and the Turkish Air Force was still not sufficiently recovered to believe it could make a meaningful intervention at this point and none of the tactical situations were so dire that a desperate play seemed necessary.
Then the previous suspicions of an attack on Krsko were turned into reality early that afternoon, with 2 Pz Div launching an attack from Ptuj, just before 6 Mil Div was able to arrive. The partly-recovered 19 Inf Div was also ordered up from Karlovac as Krsko once again came under air attack. Two hours later, a Hungarian division joined the attack, though was yet to reinforce.
But a little to the east, the Italian attack on Nagykanizsa came to an end that evening with a hard-fought Comintern victory. This prompted orders for 5 Mil Div to start pushing forward to reinforce 6 US Mar Div in Lenti.
6 Mil Div duly arrived in Krsko at 11pm, but would now need to reinforce [2% chance, odds back down to -53%].
Air Damage Report. The enemy air raids on Nagykanizsa ended, with 1,180 Comintern troops killed over the two days. Raids supporting the enemy attacks on Dunaújváros and Krsko (which started that night) would carry over into 24 June.
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24 Jun 43
4 SD arrived in Dunaújváros at 6am and, even though they did reinforce straight away, it seems their arrival [sending enemy progress to -15%] was enough to cause an end to the attack at 8am. The Axis lost 204 men, while the defending US Marines had lost 228. With the province now secure, another of the ‘second line’ formations (the recovering 12 SD just to the south in Baja) was also sent west to reinforce the Adriatic Sector at 10am.
This was in part prompted by the fact 1 US Mar Div was failing in Krsko by 6pm and would not be able to hold on for much longer alone, with 6 Mil Div in place but still waiting to reinforce. To try to rescue the situation, Orbay’s IS-1 veteran equipped 1 Inf Div launched a spoiling attack on Ptuj from Ormoz, hitting the attackers in the flank at 7pm.
Five hours later, the ploy succeeded – and not a moment too soon. Krsko was saved for now, with 19 Inf Div also soon to arrive to beef up the defences. The short but successful spoiler on Ptuj was called off at the same time.
“Just in time – we were red-lining in the Danger Zone there!” said a relieved ‘Wraith’ Loggins reported back with news of the defensive victory. But it left 1 US Mar Div in a tenuous position: they needed more time to recover and dig in – but would they get it?
Air Damage Report. The raids on Dunaújváros ended up killing 929 defenders, while the renewed raids supporting the attack on Krsko killed another 680 Comintern troops.
OTL News Event: Berlin, Germany. Baldur von Schirach, the 36-year-old leader of the Hitler Youth, lost the influence he had had on the Nazi German government, after arguing with the Führer, Adolf Hitler, about the need to end the war with the Allies. Schirach would continue to be the Reichsjugendführer, but Hitler would never talk to him again.[Comment: in the ATL, Schirach may not bother. Surely he knows what fate will befall Germany when the Comintern wins the war and cobbling together some lame peace with Britain will not swing it for them.]
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25 Jun 43
As dawn was breaking, word came that Oradea had been retaken by the Romanians – meaning Debrecen was now within direct striking distance. The order was given for the latest offensive to begin, with eleven divisions taking part at the start and more on the way and waiting to the north-west.
The main thrust would pass through now-friendly Oradea to hit Debrecen from the south. A secondary push was aimed at Békés via Békéscsaba, where the enemy had already been routed by a Soviet tank division which had swung across some days before from Romania. The hope was that resistance here might be relatively light, given the heavy casualties being suffered across in the Adriatic Sector.
There were no enemy air raids that day.
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26 Jun 43
2 Mot and 1 Armd Divs arrived in Békéscsaba early that morning, finding it already secured by the Soviets (operating as a Romanian-commanded EF). They kept rolling on towards Békés.
The wider situation in northern Romania that morning was looking promising for the Comintern. The enemy were back-pedalling across the entire sector.
For the Turks, the main concern was the dwindling manpower reserve. By 11am, it had declined to 33,000 men, with just over 4,000 still needed to reinforce. Axis air power was the major culprit.
Perhaps sensing this, the Hungarians launched a new attack on Krsko at 1pm: this time it was from the north, in Murska Sobota. A crafty move, as it was secure from any potential Turkish spoiling attack. And it was of course supported by renewed air raids. Straight away, the assessment was made that 1 US Mar Div was in no fit state to maintain the defence: they were evacuated to Karlovac to begin reviving and establishing a fall-back line in case Krsko was lost. Unfortunately, once MAJGEN Reybold was gone, there would be no qualified Comintern general to command the remaining defenders.
As the latest grim fight for Krsko continued, that evening the Turkish armoured column on the western axis of the advance to Debrecen encountered the under-strength but well-organised Hungarian 16th Division, which had just arrived in Békés to establish a hasty defence. The command net crackled into life, that doughty old war horse Wehib Pasha himself speaking:
“One this is One Alpha. Contact! Fresh meat for our tanks to grind into mince. We will make them pay the blood price for their insolence and perfidy. Vur ha! Out.”
Air Damage Report. The renewed raids supporting the attack on Krsko would continue for four gruelling days, while the enemy also started striking Békéscsaba that night, which would last for another two days.
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27 Jun 43
Soon after midnight, the powerful and quick 2 Armd Div had already reached Oradea and launched straight into an attack on the weakened and disorganised German 20th Infanterie in Debrecen. MAJGEN Naci Tinaz hoped to break any resistance quickly and seize the key centre before a strong defence could be mustered. To the west, the attack on Békés was progressing well. Manpower remained a concern, but the reserve was holding at 33,000 with 2,340 required for reinforcements. While heavy losses in the defensive battles in the west were unavoidable, it was hoped these offensive attacks would be less sanguinary.
Unfortunately, the nearly full-strength and fully organised 36th Infanterie had arrived and reinforced in Debrecen by 1pm: just before the 20th broke at 5pm [progress back down to -44%]. The battle would be more of a slog now and may require follow-up forces to win. The ground fighting and air strikes in Krsko went on without respite all day.
Air Damage Report. The raids on Krsko and Békéscsaba continued throughout the day.
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28 Jun 43
Early that morning, the situation in the Debrecen sector had developed: with the Germans looking to abandon Szolnok (apparently under a Soviet EF attack), at 2am 8 and 17 Inf Divs advanced on it to widen the breakthrough. An hour later, the Turkish 4 and 13 Inf Divs had caught up and now joined the attack on Debrecen in reserve, while the battle for Békés had been won. The Hungarian defenders had received a tremendous pizzling [an Australian slang term, normally used in sport; similar to a shafting or a rogering, for American and English readers ], being caught in the open by two strong armoured formations.
By 7am, 2 Mot Div had liberated Békés but would have to wait another 87 hours before it could attack again. By that time, reserve manpower was down to 32,000 though only 1,750 reinforcements were required (according to the War Ministry statistics, anyway). They would be joined by 1 Armd Div at midday, incurring a similar reorganisation delay.
Just to the west, Soviet armour had occupied Szolnok by 11am, easing the way for the Turkish units advancing on it from the south-west and meaning they would not have to perform any post-attack reorganisation.
By 4pm, 2 Mot Div was still awaiting reinforcement in the attack on Debrecen[4 and 13 Inf Divs both had a 2.8% chance per turn – better than in the past]. And the Soviets reported they had once again lost Sigulda to the Germans and the salient towards Leningrad had been rolled back.
Back over in the Adriatic Sector, 19 Inf Div was the next to be withdrawn from Krsko before it broke: it would join 1 US Mar Div in Karlovac, while forces from further east were earmarked to secure Zagreb. 6 Mil Div was now alone in its defence and remained under heavy air attack.
Air Damage Report. The raids Békéscsaba (26-28 June) finished that night, having killed 1,002 of the Turkish troops attacking Békés, partly offsetting the heavy Hungarian ground casualties there.
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29 Jun 43
By 3am, the attack on Debrecen was picking up. The enemy 36th Infanterie was still holding quite strongly, but 4 and 9 Inf Divs had reinforced the front line by then, while 7 and 13 Inf Divs and the Soviet (EF) 307 SD were now in reserve [81% progress]. 307 SD then reinforced three hours later, increasing the pressure.
Things were not going so well over in Krsko, however. Under heavy air attack (though partly protected by their AA guns) and with the second-line militia troops fading fast, 6 Mil Div was ordered to retreat in good order to Zagreb. With the attack now in the ascendant and manpower under such pressure (32,000 in reserve, 2,030 reinforcements needed), further bloodshed trying to hold Krsko was deemed a waste. The enemy had been delayed enough for approaching reinforcements to solidify the line.
But in the Debrecen Sector, things were going more smoothly; 8 and 17 Inf Divs (the latter IS-2 equipped) had made it to Szolnok by 6pm and attacked Karcag (directly south-east of Debrecen) immediately, brushing away light resistance (no Turkish casualties, 56 German and Hungarian troops killed). By then, the attack on Debrecen was well progressed [97%].
Indeed, at 8pm victory was declared in Debrecen. The fight had been tough and by then Axis aircraft had started hitting Oradea, but a large Turkish column was making for the city, led by the now rather worn but successful 2 Mot Div.
Air Damage Report. By the time the battle for Krsko was over, the latest Italian air raids had killed 1,772 Comintern defenders from 26 to 29 June. The two heavy air raids that struck Oradea that day killed 623 men, but spread out over a large amount of units.
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30 Jun 43
The next widening of the breakthrough came with an attack on Cegléd, where the weakened 79 Infanterie was fighting in the open, having abandoned its trenches to withdraw earlier. Kanatli’s 1 Mot Div led the attack. And, of course, ‘spoiling’ Italian air raids on the attackers were soon being performed on the attackers.
And in very welcome news, Debrecen fell to 2 Mot Div at 2pm, further denting Hungarian morale.
Which was balanced at 6pm with news that the Hungarians had retaken Krsko, where so much blood had been spilled in recent days. But soon after, an over-ambitious probe on 1 Inf Div in Ormuz by 2 Pz Div in Ptuj was quickly defeated at 8pm, the German light panzers no match for Orbay’s IS-1s (two Turkish v 23 German casualties).
The month’s fighting finished with the occupation of Karcag at 10pm, where 8 and 17 Inf Divs would soon be ready to renew the advance, followed by a decisive victory in Cegléd at 11pm.
Air Damage Report. The disrupting air attacks on Monor killed 531 men and 231 in Kecskemet, but they could not prevent the Comintern victory in Cegléd.
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Monthly Summaries
Overall, the Patriotic Front showed major and heartening advances during the month of June 1943. The Germans had managed to keep their Army Group North (barely) connected to the Reich and not lose too much key ground within the salient around Leningrad. But to the south of that, the Soviets had made wide and steady inroads above and below the Pripet Marshes, including some minor inroads into German-occupied Poland and eastern Hungary.
The most sweeping advances had come in Romania, where almost all of the country had now been liberated and a swathe of Hungarian territory along the border around Debrecen taken.
And while Turkey may not have occupied quite such a large amount of territory in the Balkans, the significance of the closing out of the Zrenjanin Pocket in mid-June was of course also a major victory. The map below summarises advances made (almost all by Turkey) made since 1 June. Battles and air actions from 16-30 June are also illustrated, making it clear where the most intense fighting had occurred: in the central Adriatic Sector. Late in the month, the Debrecen Offensive had made rapid gains and saw a few significant battles, but enemy resistance was weaker and air power less destructive.
The two weeks from 16 to 30 June saw just 3,883 Turkish-commanded troops die in ground combat, while the Axis had lost 10,547 men in the same battles. But the (literal) killer had been the intense Italian air effort, which in this two week period the Turkish Air Force had been unable (and/or unwilling) to contest. An unprecedented 13,791 friendly troops had perished in air attacks over the same time, with no raids on the Axis. That meant a total of 17,674 Turkish casualties against the 10,547 Axis losses from 16-30 June.
For June as a whole, Turkey had suffered 41,405 battle casualties (16,639 on the ground, 24,766 from the air) and the Axis 34,073 (30,575 on the ground, 3,498 from the air). These loss rates – and the ability of the Turkish Air Force to provide air cover and contest the skies once again – would be key considerations for the next phase of the campaign, as such heavy losses could not be sustained indefinitely.
The Far East – the ‘Forgotten Front’ – provided modestly pleasing news, with more advances made in the second half of the month (solid lines) and two new guerrilla uprisings in the enemy’s rear breaking out.
British reporting from Indiaindicated that some more forces were now on the scene, though some seemed to be guarding the border with Turkish-controlled Persia while others were still quite distant from the front with Japan.
In East India, Calcutta was still undefended, with Japanese marines just to the north. But Japanese numbers did not seem large and the British forces spotted heading east might be enough to eventually stabilise the line, while the Japanese would probably need a larger force if they wanted to eventually subdue and hold the whole of India.
There had been virtually no changes in South East Asia, New Guinea or the Pacific and no evidence of any major US activity. Nor had the Japanese advanced any further south of Auckland in their invasion – or raid – of New Zealand’s North Island. In Libya, the lines remained as they had on 1 June, with thin British forces making no move on nearby Tripoli, despite apparently facing little much more than enemy HQs.
In Washington DC, Perse had arrived safely some days before and made contact with BJ Guildenstern and was now being held ‘for her own safety’ at an undisclosed location. Her flight to the US had eventually been discovered by MI6 – which also meant the NKVD and GRU were aware, as was S.I.T.H. How this would be taken from here was now a matter for the Comintern partners to decide between themselves.
A pensive Perse posing in front of the Stars and Stripes as a guest of BJ Guildenstern and the OSS. But what was to happen to her now? How would this tricky intra-Comintern situation resolve itself – if it ever did?
Otherwise, the latest two-week period had seen no reported action in the Secret War, either in Italy or foreign agents in Turkey. It was all quiet – too quiet?
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Naval Report
No major fleet units from any of the belligerents had been lost to naval action during the whole of June. The British had lost one destroyer flotilla and a landing craft flotilla. France had lost two and the US one submarine flotillas each. For once, Italy had lost no naval units, while the Japanese had lost one submarine flotilla.
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AuthAAR’s Endnote: A reduced battle tempo, few overseas developments of note and a relatively quiet month on the seas allowed a full two week period plus monthly reporting to be completed in a single chapter. The re-linking of the fronts after the quick elimination of the Zrenjanin Pocket and the somewhat less complex operational events also let me return to the familiar battle diary format for this episode.
Views on next steps from the gallery of advisors, LOs and strategic commentators on how to proceed in July are, as always, welcome – even though Inönü has a few ideas of his own. He basically wants to consolidate in the Adriatic Sector and calm that down; get the Air Force back in the skies and protecting the troops; and concentrating on the Hungarian Offensive aiming for speed but lower-cost operations in cooperation with the Romanians (and their Soviet EFs).
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Coming Up: How much will personnel losses and manpower shortages curtail Turkey’s offensive options from this point forward? Will unit disbandment or other forms of consolidation or conversions be required, rather than new land unit constructions, to save manpower? Should a quick ‘end run’ raid be considered for Tripoli, to see if the Italians can be thrown out of Libya and a central Mediterranean base be taken for possible future operations against either Sicily or Vichy Tunis, for example?
Will July see the full encirclement of Army Group North by the Soviets as they advance to its south? Or will the Germans prove more resilient than that? Can Hungary be knocked out of the war in July, with the help of the Romanians and Soviets? While little is expected of the UK or US these days, might one or both be able to do enough to further distract Japan and save the British position in India?
And what will happen with Perse – who now represents a delicate quandary for the three principal Comintern powers? Can Callan do any more to uncover Soviet moles in MI6? Finally, will the relative calm in the Secret War in Italy and Turkey be broken in July, with Mike Ceylan and Cennet coming back into the forefront of operations with the assistance of their ‘associates’ in Sicily and Naples, led by Vito Corleone?
After a break in our story for an eventful holiday season, it is back to the Balkan Front. It is now the summer campaigning season: “sun’s out, guns out” is the order of the day. The mud and trenches of the last three years of grim warfare of the Great Liberation War in the East have given way to more manoeuvre. But the toll in human life has intensified for both sides and the operational tempo is more hectic than ever.
Manpower shortages may curtail Turkey’s offensive options but it seems Germany and Hungary, at least, are now suffering even more in that regard. The Soviets have been trying to encircle Army Group North for weeks, coming close but not succeeding. Meanwhile, Turkey now aims to knock Hungary out of the war, a plan originally tried then abandoned in mid-1940, when France was still in the fight.
Perse ‘the Rose’ Fotheringay-Phipps seeks protection in America, having found England too riddled with Soviet double-agents and Balkan hit-teams to be safe, despite her great service to her own country. The Secret War in Italy has become dormant of late: it may continue that way or heat up [I will be guided by game espionage events in that regard].
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1 Jul 43
At midnight, the current general situation on the Patriotic Front was summarised on a large wall map in Inönü’s HQ 1st Army command post. Romania has now been entirely liberated, while Turkish-led Comintern forces have taken around half of Hungary’s pre-war territory. Only the northern part of the former Yugoslavia remains in Axis hands. The first Soviet incursion back into Polish territory has been made in the south, but German forces still occupy Leningrad and large amounts of Soviet territory, even if their position is tenuous in the north. Finland has remained neutral throughout, ever since the Winter War.
Of the forces still in depth positions near Beograd after the collapse of the Zrenjanin Pocket in June, two Turkish infantry divisions (the 10th and 14th) are put on trains to Zagreb, from where they will be used to help firm up the thinly held Adriatic Sector. No combat was currently in progress across the Turkish front.
“There is plenty left to tackle the Goulash Eaters,” remarked an outwardly confident Milli Şef – even while hoping this comment won’t later prove to be hubris.
Örlungat reported the Air Force was basically fully recovered and back to full strength. The Groups were all reconstituted to roughly their original forms:
1. Tank Avci Grubu: 1 x INT (Hawk III), 2 x CAS (IL-2). Ordered to re-base forward from Beograd to Debrecen (range too short to use the reserve mission) to get closer to the front.
1. Avci Grubu: 2 x INT (I-16 & LaGG-3), sent by reserve mission from Beograd to Debrecen.
1. Taktik Bombardiman Grubu: 2 x M/R (La-5 & P-51) and 2 x TAC (Yak-4), remained in Beograd.
3. Avci Grubu: 2 x INT (F4F); and 4. Avci Grubu: 2 x M/R (La-5 & P-51) remained in Split.
But Axis air power in the immediate region remains overpowering for now, with at least 12-14 wings of different types identified in visible front line enemy air bases in the Turkish sector alone. The Air Force will not be deployed again except in extremis.
My first run-through of the opening week or two of the campaign I had to discard due to program glitches saw me try a couple of forays and virtually every attempted intercept of bombing mission was met by swarms of enemy fighters – Italian, Hungarian and German -usually at least five. It quickly became pointless, so after what happened in June I determined I wouldn’t try again unless I really needed to. Not just a single battle turning: something that threatened an entire operation would be needed to trigger a response by the Turkish Air Force.
The temporary quiet was soon shattered by an enemy attack on 1 Mtn Div in Ribnica.
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Back in Washington DC, B.J. Guildenstern had arranged for an FBI counter-intelligence operative to take Perse to a safe-house. It was an hour before dawn when the man briefed her.
“Your life remains in peril, Miss Phipps,” said the G-Man. “The Soviets, Turks and Romanians are all gunning for you. And they are all America’s ‘strange bedfellows’ in this war, so there are quite a few of them about here in DC.”
“I take your warning seriously, my dear man,” replied a grim Perse. “And I can’t even trust my own MI6 colleagues these days – Uncle Joe’s lads have them riddled, I’m afraid.”
“Yes, even here you are in danger.”
“Grave danger?”
“Is there any other kind, Miss Phipps? We have a few good men we can trust to keep you safe. For now. Brigadier General Guildenstern will be in touch in due course.”
“When might that be?”
“Can’t tell yet. Keep your head down and don’t leave this apartment for any reason. Don’t call us, we’ll call you.”
“Yes, even here you are in danger.” “Grave danger?” “Is there any other kind, Miss Phipps?”
Perse would not be leaving the apartment any time soon.
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Later that day, Inönü cabled a plan to STAVKA for a proposed link-up in Kosice, hoping the Soviets would drive from Lwow to create a pocket of Axis troops in eastern Hungary. But there was no indication the Soviets would take any notice: Turkey would likely have to make the running largely by itself.
In Ribnica, the battle odds improved when the Italian armoured division pulled out at 3pm.
Manpower Report. By that afternoon, Turkish reserve manpower stood at just 31,000 with 1,340 needed to reinforce (monthly gain of 14,500). National leadership [9.85 total available] priority for officer training was increased [to 1.71 LS] at the expense of diplomacy and espionage, as officer strength was down to only 99%. Eight projects remained under research.
At 6pm, 3 Mtn Div won a short skirmish in Novo Mesto (east of Ribnica) after being attacked by the Italian 132a ‘Ariete’ armoured division (11 Turkish v eight Italian casualties). The skies remained quiet that day and the fighting continued in Ribnica that night.
OTL Event, Rome. Romanian Foreign Minister Mihai Antonescu met with the Italian dictator Benito Mussolini in Rome and pleaded with him to lead a bid by the countries aligned with Germany to leave the Axis. Mussolini refused to commit to the plan. [Comment: Mussolini would be well advised to try the same in this ATL – he remains on the wrong side of history.]
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2 Jul 43
Apart from the battle in Ribnica, the rest of the front was relatively quiet. By the evening, it was clear most of the enemy forces in the plains south of Kosice were withdrawing to the north. Given Turkish manpower shortages, it was decided they would largely be allowed to do so unhindered. Turkey would follow up rather than pushing on an open door.
Manpower Report. By 9pm, the reserve was 30,000 with 4,630 reinforcements required. As a result, at 11pm the ‘bottom’ research project (TAC ground crew training 1) was replaced with agriculture [Level 7, 1942 currency], to try to boost the reserve for the longer term.
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3 Jul 43
By 6am the enemy had vacated Jászberény, allowing a strong Turkish column – almost corps strength and including two quicker armoured divisions – to push forward unopposed. But the enemy mounted a strong assault on nearby Cegléd three hours later with three fresh and relatively up-to-strength divisions. They were not out of fight yet.
Also at 9am, Muzir reported 1 Mtn Div had won a tough battle in Ribnica (342 Turkish v 1,078 Axis casualties).
Air Damage Report. The resumption of Italian air raids coincided with the ground assault on Cegléd – which would continue until 6 July. There were also two raids on Ribnica which killed 419 men from 1 Mtn Div.
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4 Jul 43
With the tough fight in Cegléd continuing, 1 Armd and 2 Mot Divs began attacking Gyöngyös straight after they occupied Jászberény at midday, while more divisions followed on behind them. It was hoped this would help spoil the enemy’s assault on Cegléd.
While there were four enemy divisions there, they were variously either under-strength or disorganised, with the overall numbers being slightly in the Turks’ favour. The Axis (a mix of Hungarian and German formations) was beginning to look very brittle in this sector. It persuaded Inönü to maintain and even increase pressure on them, despite Turkey’s own manpower issues. He had the feeling that if they were hit hard an often enough in the coming days, they would split asunder like a piece of overripe fruit.
In any case, the ploy worked here, with the enemy giving up their attack on Cegléd at 3pm (872 Comintern v 1,383 Axis troops killed). With that done, a quick attack was launched on Hatvan at 6pm and which drove off the Hungarian defenders in just an hour, after a short skirmish. This signified the beginning of the second attempt to encircle Budapest.
“General, which side of the city will we launch our main attack from – Buda, or Pest?” asked Inönü’s operations chief at HQ 1st Army.
“Both!” exclaimed the great man with vigour. “The defenders will choke on gristly goulash and spoiled bratwurst before they surrender in ignominy to Turkish arms!”
Shouts of “Vur ha”, “huzzah” and “ourah” reverberated around the CP, among the Turkish officers and allied LOs present.
Air Damage Report. The raids on Cegléd continued without a pause after the enemy’s attack there finished.
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5 Jul 43
But the enemy were not done trying to strike back, especially in the Adriatic Sector. An almost full-strength German 5. Inf Div hit the US 6th Mar and 5 Mil Divs in Lenti at 4am. Even though the Germans were outnumbered almost three-to-one, the attack was a strong one and both the defending divisions were effectively second or third tier formations compared to front line, five-brigade Turkish divisions.
And by 6pm, a division of elite Italian Alpini had joined the attack in reserve: MAJGEN Walker was doing his best to delay the assault, but things were now starting to look a little dicey. The recently arrived 10 Inf Div was ordered up to a reserve position in Cakovec, “just in case”.
Further east, the fast-moving 1 Mot Div had taken Hatvan by 9pm and quickly brushed off a probe by two under-strength Axis divisions, with fewer than ten casualties on either side. Heavy fighting continued in Gyöngyös and Lenti for the rest of the day.
Air Damage Report. The Italian raids on Cegléd continued.
OTL Event: Russia. The Battle of Kursk, the largest tank battle in history, began when Germany launched an attack on the Soviet city of Kursk with 20 infantry divisions and 3,000 tanks. Two days later, the Soviet Union launched a counter-offensive against the Germans. By the time the battle ended on August 5, the Germans had lost 70,000 men and 2,900 of the 3,000 tanks.
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6 Jul 43
A welcome development in combat medicine was welcomed, with the released effort put into resuming TAC ground crew training, which was still at Great War standards in the Turkish Air Force.
A report that morning came from the force deployed way over in the East: Japanese resistance seemed to be eroding, with gains being made along the Sinkiang border and the sector to its north, with the Turks playing their small part.
Things gradually improved in the attack on Gyöngyös but deteriorated in the defence of Lenti during the day, where heavy air strikes began in the morning. But in Miskolc, 177 and 307 SDs brushed away a hasty German defence (probably retreating from Debrecen) at 3pm and continued their advance.
Manpower Report. By 3pm, the reserve was 29,000 with 6,130 reinforcements required. The increased pressure being applied was taking its toll, but the Turks believed the position of the Germans and Hungarians in particular was worse. They kept pressing.
This paid off shortly afterwards with a very heavy victory in Gyöngyös, into which the two armoured formations poured just an hour later. They would need to reorganise for a few days, but other formations were following up and a forward Hungarian air base had been seized.
By 11pm, 1 Mot and 2 Inf Divs were ready to continue the advance to encircle Budapest from Hatvan, pushing on towards Salgótarján. There was blood in the water and the Turkish sharks were circling.
Air Damage Report. Four days of Italian air raids on Cegléd finished that afternoon, killing a total of 1,207 Turkish troops – but not stopping their advance. The heavy air raids on Lenti would last until the morning of 9 July – as would the ground battle there.
News Report, Boise City, US. The town of Boise City, Oklahoma is mistakenly bombed by a U.S. Army Air Force plane that had taken off from the nearby Dalhart Army Air Base in Texas. The pilot, sent on a training mission to drop explosives on a practice range near Conlen, Texas, got off course, mistook Boise City for the range, and dropped five bombs on the town. Although there was slight damage to buildings, nobody was injured, and the air raid was stopped after the town was blacked out by an alert power plant worker. [Oops - SNAFU.]
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7-8 Jul 43
No notable events transpired on 7 July: the fighting and air raids in Lenti ground on. Perse kept to herself in Washington, wondering what her fate would be. Turkish units advanced north of Budapest and towards the approaches of Kosice, waiting to encounter the next line of Axis resistance. The Midnight Express had no customers and the Secret War in Italy remained on a very slow boil.
Early on the morning of 8 July, 1 Mot Div secured Salgótarján and then brushed off a light probe soon afterwards with few casualties on either side. The encirclement of Budapest was agonisingly close to completion.
By midday, MAJGEN Köldecan was able to lead a two division assault on a large clump of enemy units in Encs – which proved to be a badly mauled Hungarian infantry division and a swarm of HQs! The IS-2s of 17 Inf Div proved a very nasty shock for them. Vur ha! Resistance on the approaches to Kosice seemed to be melting away.
Manpower Report. At midday, the reserve was 28,000 with 4,220 reinforcements required. It was enough, for now. In the words of the French Revolutionary firebrand George Danton: "il nous faut de l'audace, et encore de l'audace, et toujours de l'audace" – “We need daring, and yet more daring, and always daring!”
There was plenty of l'audace – the signal for the next phase of the Budapest encirclement was given at 4pm: an attack by the now rested and recovered formations south-west of Budapest on Székesfehérvár.
The short battle for Encs was won soon afterwards.
Air Damage Report. The heavy fighting and air raids on Lenti went on without pause. Three Italian air strikes on Hatvan, killing 390 defenders, failed to delay Turkish progress in that sector.
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9 Jul 43
Miskolc was secured by 307 SD early that morning, with four more fresh divisions ordered up from Debrecen straight away. Tokaj, just south of Kosice, would be the ‘exploitation objective’ for this advance.
Just an hour later, victory was declared in the battle for Székesfehérvár (66 Comintern v 356 German casualties). And just an hour after that, at 4am the almost full strength and fully organised German 94. Inf Div attacked the two Soviet divisions that had just occupied Miskolc: despite having half their numbers, the Germans took an early advantage [-61% progress]. It seemed the enemy’s response to the recent advances had commenced.
And in Lenti, four days of desperate defence came to an end under a hail of bombs: a quick defence would have to be scrambled in Cakovec, to which 10 Inf Div was still advancing as the US Marines and Turkish militia retreated. Major Kenny ‘Wraith’ Loggins was reported to be taking advantage of the recent advances in Turkish combat medicine after being wounded in the battle. The USMC LO would be awarded the Purple Heart and would in due course ‘trickle back’ to the front.
But while that was happening – a bloody side-show as far as the high command was concerned – in the critical sector around Budapest, the Germans slipped the full-strength and fully organised 78. Inf Div into Székesfehérvár: damn, and double damn! A new quick attack commenced. Along with the enemy attack on the Soviet EFs in Miskolc, it would continue for the rest of the day.
Air Damage Report. The four days of air raids on Lenti had killed a total of 1,713 marines and militiamen and no doubt contributed heavily to the defeat there. But as a secondary and peripheral action, it hadn’t merited any desperate intervention by the Turkish Air Force. To the consternation and anger of the gallant and badly bloodied defenders. Italian air strikes had begun that morning on Szekszard to try to inhibit the attack on Székesfehérvár and would continue for another day.
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10 Jul 43
But despite the air strikes, the hasty German defence of Székesfehérvár was overpowered in the early morning of 10 July. The potato-eaters were forced into retreat after taking heavy casualties (197 Comintern v 1,498 German casualties). Simultaneously, the German counter-attack on Miskolc ended in victory for the gallant Soviet defenders (313 Soviet v 439 German casualties). Agent SkitalecS3 was able to send a suitably patriotic report back to STAVKA on this effective solo Soviet action.
The arrival of 6 Inf Div in Salgótarján at 7am allowed 1 Mot and 2 Inf Divs, plus 171 SD, to begin an advance on Tatabánya – the next phase of the Budapest encirclement. There was no initial opposition to this move.
Air Damage Report. Two days of air raids on Szekszard ended that night, killing 961 defenders. Meanwhile, a day of Italian raids in support of the unsuccessful German attack on Miskolc caused 351 Soviet casualties.
OTL Event: Sicily Invasion. The Allied invasion of Sicily began as U.S., British and Canadian forces landed on the large Italian island at 0245 GMT (4:45 am local time), with the U.S. Third Infantry Division, codenamed the "Dime Force", coming ashore at the beaches of the port city of Licata. The Seventh United States Army and the British Eighth Army arrived with 180,000 men on 2,590 ships in "the largest sea-borne assault" of World War II. Defending Sicily were 230,000 Italian and 40,000 German troops.[Comment: In the ATL North Africa is not quite wrapped up by the British and Vichy France remains neutral, while Turkey has so far hesitated to commit to naval landings in Sicily or Italy proper.]
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11 Jul 43
Székesfehérvár was taken at 5am – now only one narrow corridor led out of Budapest, north-west through Tatabánya. The previously uncommitted HQ 2 Corps (Mech) and 156 SD (both still fresh and ready to fight) were ordered up from Szekszard.
The enemy re-occupied Lenti at 1pm, but did not seem intent on pushing further south from there. Yet, anyway. At the same time, 177 SD launched a quick probe on Tokaj from Miskolc to gauge enemy strength and preparedness. They encountered the dug-in, almost full strength and fully organised German 94. Inf Div [26% progress]. The rest of the defenders were either retreating or were HQs and took no part in the fight. But 177 SD would not be able to handle this attack alone. Another three divisions were ordered in from Miskolc and Debrecen.
Encs, just to the west of Tokaj, was occupied an hour later, but 3 and 17 Inf Divs would need to complete post-attack reorganisation before they could offer any assistance – if required.
Manpower Report. At 2pm, the reserve was down to 26,000 with 3,890 reinforcements required.
All the joining divisions reinforced the attack on Tokaj almost immediately – great news! This combined Soviet-Turkish attack was a model of allied battlefield cooperation: more good news for Skitalec’s daily report home. Still, the Germans resisted strongly. In Budapest, German SS and parachute troops stood firm – but it looked like the Hungarians were either fleeing to Tatabánya or trying to block the Turkish advance into it.
In any case, they were too late: 1 Mot Div was first there just before midnight. They saw off a light probe straight away – but before their colleagues could arrive to support them, they were detained in Salgótarján by a strong breakout attack very early the following morning: from the north and from within Budapest. In retrospect, this would prove significant for the now isolated 1 Mot Div: but Budapesthad been encircled – just. And the Axis defenders had now broken their entrenchments, meaning their very strong defensive advantage would be somewhat diminished when the time came. Not too mention their strength being drained as they desperately tried to break free. Just so long as the ring around the Hungarian capital held.
Air Damage Report.Gyöngyös was the only Italian target for the day, the defenders losing 497 men in three raids.
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12 Jul 43
The next part of the Axis breakout operation began at 4pm with two organised by under-strength infantry divisions – one Hungarian (6th Infantry from Budapest) and one German (88. Inf Div from Komarno, to the north-west) attacking the isolated 1 Mot Div in Tatabánya[initial enemy progress only -11%], while the holding attack on Salgótarján prevented Turkish reinforcements from getting through from that direction.
As that was happening, another strong attack began on Muzir’s Mountaineers in Ribnica.
Air Damage Report. New air raid series began that day to support the Axis attacks in Tatabánya (continuing until the 16th) and Ribnica (up to the 15th). The latter were particularly heavy, with both German and Italian bombers hitting the province in alternating runs, making 1 Mtn Div’s lot a miserable one.
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13 Jul 43
But while the Axis chipped away on the Adriatic Sector, for Turkey the main game was in Hungary. Victory came in Tokaj at 7am and by 9am, any remaining divisions that had not already engaged there were moving forward, the fresh formations hopefully ready to push on when they arrived – for Kosice[2 VP].
At 10am, 3 Inf Div in Encs was diverted from the advance on Tokaj to join an attack with the now-reorganised 17 Inf Div (IS-2 equipped) on Roznava, which sat to the immediate east of Kosice. They met only light resistance and MAJGEN Köldecan reported victory by 1pm (19 Turk v 168 Hungarian casualties).
Way over in the Far East, 4 Cav Div pulled into Ulungur Hu at the same time and waited for the slower infantry divisions in their column to join them before resuming the advance, with Soviet forces to the north making a general advance of their own.
Air Damage Report. Axis air attacks continued to punish Tatabánya and Ribnica.
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14 Jul 43
2 Armd Div – Turkey’s fastest and perhaps most powerful formation – was first into Tokaj at 6am. Many other divisions were on their way. Kosice appeared to be barely defended at this stage. The battle for Roznava had almost been won, while Axis attacks on Ribnica, Tatabánya and Salgótarján went on. A substantive cross-strait attack on 222 SD in Lussino was added to this list at 7am. 14 Inf Div, then south of Zagreb, was kept marching further west to the Adriatic coast in case it was needed later.
At 3pm, one division in Székesfehérvár was sent north-west to unoccupied Zirc, the other due north to attempt to reinforce 1 Mot Div, still struggling away in Tatabánya and now under attack by five (albeit under-strength) Axis divisions. The enemy attack on Salgótarján was weakened when a spoiling Turkish attack was launched on Lucenec at 5pm: the German-Hungarian force there was large, but many of the units were exhausted by that stage.
Air Damage Report. Heavy Axis air attacks on Tatabánya and Ribnica continued, with two isolated Italian raids on Salgótarján killing 203 defenders.
Entertainment News. The war drama film For Whom the Bell Tolls, based on the Ernest Hemingway novel of the same name and starring Gary Cooper and Ingrid Bergman, was released.[Comment: Admiral Miklós Horthy, send not to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee!]
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15 Jul 43
Roznava was taken at 5am, just as two more divisions pulled into Tokaj. This was deemed enough for an attack on Kosice that went in at 6am, finding one partially dug-in German division providing the main resistance, up against three of Turkey’s most powerful formations.
Muzir reported yet another victory in Ribnica at 8am after a prolonged ground fight and Italian-German tag-team bombing. But it had been a close thing and his division was now almost completely disorganised. The final straw came just two hours later, with a fresh Italian attack.
“You and your men have done their duty and more – get out of there now, while you still can,” was the order from HQ 1st Army. This would leave MAGJEN Diskoerekto’s 3 Mtn Div somewhat exposed in Novo Mesto, but they were well dug in and would be expected to do their duty while the main offensives played out further west around Budapest and Kosice.
And those offensives were proceeding well, with a massive and very hard fought victory coming at Salgótarján just as Muzir was retreating from Ribnic. But in Tatabánya, the weight of the enemy attack – on the ground and from the air - was beginning to tell on 1 Mot Div.
Victory came in Lucenec at 1pm (488 Turk v 333 Axis casualties), just as 1 Mot Div was starting to tip in the enemy’s favour at Salgótarján [-52% progress]. It was time for the last piece of the puzzle to be placed: an attack from four directions was launched on both BudaandPest at 2pm. As before, the river, fixed fortifications and urban terrain were in the enemy’s favour. But they were now surrounded, attacked from many directions, flanked as they conducted their breakout attempts and had abandoned their entrenchments for those attacks, which had now weakened them badly.
The reconstituted SS-Verf ‘half division’ was basically out of the fight already and 1. Fallschirmjäger were on their last legs from the previous fighting. The main effort would fall to the badly under-strength Hungarian 6th Division. No mercy would be shown as the attacking Turks and US 4 Mar Div sought to end it before an escape through Tatabánya could be conjured by the Axis commanders.
Victory was won in Kosice at 3pm; and it had been close to a slaughter, with only 92 Comintern troops lost in killing 1,513 German defenders. In the Far East, the now fully gathered Turkish column in Ulungur Hu resumed the advance, to attack the Japanese holding Youvi Feng. This time, stiffer resistance was expected: the enemy fought, but a blitzing attack by the Soviet force commander MAJGEN Marcinkevich soon had the enemy under heavy pressure.
The exhausted German paratroopers in Budapest surrendered at 9pm, while the Hungarians fought on street to street for their capital but were losing organisation.
Manpower Report. At 9pm, the reserve stood at 25,000 with 2,000 reinforcements required.
Air Damage Report. Axis air attacks on Tatabánya continued, while in Ribnica four days of Italian and German air attacks had killed 1,978 troops in 1 Mtn Div, helping to finally break their resistance. Four air raids also struck Lussino that day, with 574 Soviet troops killed there.
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16 Jul 43
As resistance in Budapest became more desperate, at 4am 2 Inf Div finally joined the beleaguered 1 Mot Div in Tatabánya, and although they had not yet reinforced [1.5% chance/turn], it shifted the battle odds back in Turkey’s favour, with 1 Mot’s organisation down to about 33%. Then at 8am, the dam finally broke for Hungary, with the last resistance ending in Budapest after the Hungarian 6th and SS-Verf (-) divisions surrendered. The city was occupied by 11am. Meanwhile Kosice had fallen just an hour before to 2 Armd Div. The Hungarian Government sent negotiators to acknowledge the inevitable.
At 10pm, 4 SD occupied Zirc, broadening the Comintern shield around Budapest. And at midnight, Hungary surrendered unconditionally to Turkish occupation. Vur ha, indeed! The flag of the UGNR was hoisted in the ruins of the former Hungarian capital.
As most of the Axis forces in that part of the line had been Hungarian, this left a massive gap in their front stretching from Budapest to Kosice. By that time, perhaps in anticipation of this victory, most of the Romanian Army (including Soviet EFs) was already performing a strategic relocation to the central and northern sectors of the Patriotic Front: they seemed to have left the Balkan Sector largely for the Turks to look after.
Air Damage Report. Five days of Italian air attacks on Tatabánya killed 1,511 troops, while three raids that day on Székesfehérvár killed 585.
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Theatre Summaries
The Patriotic Front more widely had seen some other Comintern gains in the centre and south, but little progress had been made in the north, with Army Group North still not cut off. Maybe the reinforcements the STAVKA would now be receiving in coming days might allow more to be done there.
It would be up to Turkey as to next steps: a drive to Italy? Or exploit the yawning gap in the line to race north through Slovakia before the enemy could scramble a defensive line in the favourable terrain there and in Austria?
From 1-16 July 1943, Turkish-commanded forces in the Balkan Sector had lost 6,686 men in ground combat and 10,389 to air attacks - a total of 17,075 killed in action. The Axis (not counting prisoners taken which would be assessed later) had 15,830 killed in ground combat, with no Turkish air missions conducted so far in July.
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In North Africa, the British had made an early advance towards the Italians’ last Libyan port of Tripoli, but had then stopped, despite still only facing HQs and with no garrison in Tripoli itself. More British forces were now deploying west, but they were still back around Tobruch. They had clearly never heard of l’audace!
The Japanese had made only limited advances in India in the last few weeks, with some semblance of a British defensive force perhaps now beginning to form.
In New Guinea a new Japanese landing had been made in Australian-controlled Rabaul.
There had been no change in the Japanese occupation of Auckland on the North Island of New Zealand. And of course, the US had done nothing observable to carry the war forward in the Pacific.
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Coming Up: What will the Turkish High Command decide to do next after the stunning collapse of Hungary? More l’audace or some consolidation and conservation of manpower? Will they look to strike north in the hope of finishing the Germans, smashing them against the oncoming Soviet Steamroller? Or switch focus to Italy and the Med? Will something interesting enough happen in the Secret War to divert Darth Kelebek away from its summer holiday (rumoured to be in Mt Vesuvius this year)?
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Chapter 207: The Race to Bratislava (17 to 25 July 1943)
Chapter 207: The Race to Bratislava (17 to 25 July 1943)
Foreword
An audacious strategy saw Hungary knocked out of the war and put under Turkish military occupation in the first half of July 1943. The UGNR's Milli Şef, General Ismet Inönü, must decide whether to consolidate as Turkish manpower reserves fall to critical levels or to push forward and – if so – how hard. The Secret War seems to have gone into a period of stasis, with Perse holed up in America and no ‘wet’ espionage action so far this month in either Turkey nor Italy.
Editorial Note:You will see a difference in the resolution of the images from 19 July until the summary shots at the end, as the PC HOI3 was playing up badly on this TT game (crashing and not taking screenshots – was a lot better on the Q&D2 game) and I had to switch to my old laptop, whose maximum screen resolution is considerably lower. But the show must go on! I could have squeezed the rest of the month’s combat and reports into one huge chapter, but have once more decided to break it up into two smaller chunks so as not to be quite so indigestible. The second instalment from the last session will therefore be out sooner than it would have otherwise.
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17 Jul 43
After Hungary’s surrender, Inönü decided that some more audas was in order, as huge gaps opened up in Axis lines. But the advances so far contemplated were generally into empty areas, with one push north-west from Budapest towards Bratislava, and another generally northwards, in the direction of Poland, where Krakow was the main intermediate objective.
It was to be carried out by all battleworthy divisions not already conducting post-attack reorganisation. Inönü calculated that the price in lives for this ground would be far lower now than if the Comintern Pact waited and allowed the Germans to scramble a defence in good terrain – something they had proved adept at doing again and again during the war so far. Manpower Report. At 1am, as this latest advance was ordered, the reserve stood at 24,000 with 5,850 reinforcements required. The monthly recruiting input was now up to 16,200. In essence, it was Turkey’s plan to continue the advance while avoiding large or difficult pitched attacking battles, with the ‘red line’ for an even more conservative approach being the required reinforcements being equal to or more than the reserve. And even if all attacks were stopped, casualties from enemy ground and air attacks would still be a problem.
The additional leadership resources acquired from the conquest of Hungary [0.55 LS for now] was all invested in officer training, where levels still hovered around the ‘break even’ point of 100%.
1 Armd Div pushed forward into Lucenec (a vacated former Hungarian province technically already under Turkish control) at 2am: they had another 16 hours of reorganisation before they could advance again.
The air base in Budapest was now under Turkish control (Level 6 facilities, temporarily down to L5 with damage). At 5am 1 AG (I-16 and LaGG-3 INT wings) and 1 TAK (2 x M/R, 2 x Yak 4 TAC wings) were relocated there (via reserve mission, so losing no organisation) from Beograd, which was now well behind the lines.
And the spare air base was finally deployed, placed in Zagreb and an expansion to Level 2 ordered (and placed at the top of the queue) even as its first level began to work up to full capacity. 1 TAG (Hawk IIIs and 2 x IL-2 CAS wings) was rebased there onto to the bare dirt runway and would take some time to recover organisation, but at least they were closer to the Adriatic front line, given their limited range.
1 Mtn Div, ejected earlier from Ribnica, arrived in Delnice in bad shape at 7am: it was hoped they would be protected by the other two divisions already there and allowed to regain strength and organisation in place. At the same time, to their north-east, 97 SD ‘Shar’ was ordered from Zagreb to reoccupy Krsko, where the Italians were withdrawing, to help guard 3 Mtn Div’s right flank in Novo Mesto, given the coming occupation of Ribnica. They hit the Italians in Krsko an hour later, but after a quick fire-fight (10 Soviet v 25 Italian casualties) the Italians kept running. The 1st US Mar Div was ordered up from Karlovac to reinforce the Soviets, given how hard it could be to hold freshly acquired territory.
Over in the east, the powerful 17 Inf Div (with an IS-2 tank brigade) arrived attacked a German infantry division in Humenne at 3pm and had defeated them by midnight, losing 48 men to the Germans’ 210. This would be the only actual battle that occurred on the north-easterly drive towards Soviet-held Lwow for the rest of the month.
At 11pm, Kanatli’s 1 Mot Div arrived in vacant Komarno to sieze the forts there before a German motorised division advancing from the north could do so. But this was a mistake, as 1 Mot had suffered heavy casualties and had virtually no organisation left after its recent desperate fight to hold Tatabanya during the Battle for Budapest. They were attacked by the Germans at midnight and were withdrawn immediately, once the error was discovered (3 Turkish v 8 German casualties).
Air Damage Report. Italian bombers kept striking Lussino until 21 July.
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18 Jul 43
The feared attack on Delnice came quickly enough and it was more dangerous than anticipated – in part because the other two divisions with 1 Mtn Div, although well dug in were second (217 SD) or third (8 Mil Bde) line formations.
This resulted in the march of 14 Inf Div to bolster hard-pressed Lussino being halted without them leaving Otocac, as the risk to Delnice was deemed more immediate. This exposed the thinness of the Comintern line across the Adriatic Sector.
Manpower Report. At 5am, the reserve remained at 24,000 but now with 5,850 reinforcements required.
14 Inf Div set off for its spoiling attack on Rijeka at midday and made first contact at 1pm. Two of the three enemy formations were still engaged in Delnice and remained so in the hours after the spoiling attack struck. 2 Mtn Div did not take part and remained entrenched in Otocac, as a precaution. It was hope MAJGEN Seven’s attack would be enough – though a tactical counter-attack by the enemy dulled his attack.
By 6pm, 2 Mot had joined 1 Armd Div in Lucenec, north of Budapest. Both were now ready to advance and did just that, heading west towards Bratislava while 8 Inf Div moved to cover their northern flank. To their south-west, 6 Inf Div and 171 SD secured Levice at 9pm – on the old Slovak-Hungarian border – to help secure the southern flank of the armoured thrust on Bratislava.
At 11pm, this was followed up when MAJGEN Selisek’s 1 (Turkish) Mar Div secured the fortification of Komarno, after 1 Mot Div had successfully returned to Tatabanya to recover. Not a moment too soon, as the marines were attacked at midnight from Nitra by the same German motorised division (the 20th) that had bumped Kanatli’s men the day before.
OTL Event: Sicily, Italy. General Harold Alexander of the British Army became the first Allied Military Governor of Sicily, as conquest of the Italian island was nearly completed. His first act was to proclaim the dissolution of all Fascist organisations.
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19 Jul 43
In the west, MAJGEN Naci Tinaz’s 2 Armd Div was making rapid and only lightly opposed (by HQs) progress as it pressed on towards the Soviets in Lwow. They had secured Spisska Nová Ves the day before and by midnight were in Presov. They would finish a short reorg in seven hours and be able to move out again, as other (slower) divisions followed them up.
Manpower Report. At that time, the manpower situation was fairly static in net terms, with the reserve down to 23,000 but only 4,970 reinforcements needed. The offensives would continue.
In the Far East, the major fight for Youvi Feng had started back on 15 July: now it was over, with a Turkish victory recorded at 4am (396 Comintern v 968 Japanese/puppet casualties).
An hour later, 13 Inf Div reached Dobsina as the ‘foot speed’ drive north towards Krakow started to gather momentum. To the east, 2 Armd Div was still halted in Presov as the Turkish main body still pressed forward from the south – some of them delayed by supply problems.
2 Mot Div began advancing towards Lwow again at 4pm, having waited for 9 Inf Div to reach Spisska Nová Ves behind it: a solid line had to be maintained if they wanted to maintain supply and close off a small pocket to their east.
Back in the Adriatic Sector, earlier in the day 97 SD ‘Shar’ had occupied Krsko at 8am, with 1 US Mar Div hot close behind. Even as the defence of Delnice continued to slip despite the Turkish spoiling attack on Rijeka, at least 3 Mtn Div’s right flank was now secure. The Italian 132 Armd Div had joined the attack on Delnice from the north in Ribnica, while 1 Mtn Div was almost at breaking point.
Worryingly, the situation in Lussino continued to deteriorate into the evening, with constant air raids supporting the Axis cross-strait assault and wearing down the hard-pressed 222 SD. And no aid was now possible from 14 Inf Div after it was diverted to attack Rijeka, which ran out of steam at 5pm and was broken off with fairly heavy casualties.
The 14th was now resting and MAJGEN Türkes’ 2 Mtn Div launching a reckless assault just a few hours later to try to save Delnice, where their brothers in 1 Mtn Div had just been forced to retreat once more. But the renewed spoiling attack could still not peel away the Axis troops attacking Delnice.
In the centre, 3 Inf Div took forts of Brezno in Slovakia at 9pm without a fight and pushed immediately on to Ruzemberok, which had at first appeared unoccupied. But the Turks had been a little hasty – a short wait would have revealed a full-strength Italian division had set up a defence there, which the 3rd’s lead elements bumped into at 10pm. The two sides were relatively evenly matched, but with general orders to avoid potentially bloody fights unless absolutely necessary, the quick attack was called off by 3am the next morning (19 Turk v 20 Italian casualties).
Air Damage Report. Italian bombers attacked Komarno for this day and the next, in addition to the continuing strikes on Lussino.
News Report: Moscow, USSR. Yekaterina Budanova, 26, the Soviet Air Force flying ace who shot down twenty German aircraft was killed in action. She and fellow-Soviet Lydia Litvyak were the only two women to be recognized as "aces" for having shot down more than five aircraft.
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20 Jul 43
With enemy air strikes still hitting Lussino and Delnice, at 10am the two fighter groups in Split were assigned intercept duties. 3 AG (F4Fs) were allocated to Lussino and the mixed M/R wings of 4 AG (La-5 & P-51) to Delnice, to see what they could do. Both were in action by midday. Hitay’s 3 AG made initial progress over Lussino arriving just as a raid had finished, but the Italians scrambled to more INT wings and the Turkish aviators came off the worse for it.
4 AG was ambushed by three Italian fighter wings over Delnice and was quite badly cut up, the La-5s of 5 AF in particular, without ever engaging the enemy bombers. Their mission was cancelled on return to base.
3 AG went up again that evening over Lussino, but were also badly damaged, 7 AF suffering cumulative damage of almost 50% during the day and being completely disorganised as they limped back into Split at 10pm (6 AF was at 85% strength). Their mission was also cancelled – the Italian raids continued.
In the drive on Bratislava, 4 SD secured Komaróm (directly south-east of 1 Mar Div in Komarno) at 7pm, broadening the width of the thrust to three provinces. Then at 10pm, 2 Mot arrived in Banska Stiavnica and began a spoiling flank attack on the Germans in Nitra, who soon broke off their own attack on Komarno. By 2am the next morning, 3 Mot Div and 171 SD had joined the now three-way attack on Nitra, improving the odds despite the fact the Germans were concentrating on their defence alone.
Air Damage Report. The Italian raids on Komarno killed 695 defenders over two days in support of the German attack., while a day of raids on Delnice killed 448 and the Lussino raids went on.
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21 Jul 43
With 1 Mtn Div already retreating to Vrnograc from Delnice and the odds worsening further there, at 1am 6 Mil Div was ordered down from Zagreb to reinforce the defence there in anticipation of Delnice’s likely fall. At 6am, the dominoes fell: first, 222 SD broke in Lussino (no casualty report received, but losses were likely heavy on both sides). 2 Mtn Div were then instructed to break off their spoiling attack on Rijeka, with the partly-recovered 14 Inf Div now ordered south to plug what would soon be a gap in Karlobag. That led in turn to the defence of Delnice being abandoned, so the remaining units there could be directed to a fall-back defensive line with some organisation left rather than rout in disorganised and undirected chaos later.
Manpower Report. The fighting over the last few days had seen the manpower reserve fall to 22,000 by 4am with 6,680 reinforcements needed, though the monthly gain had risen a little to 16,400.
Three Axis divisions, including German infantry and Italian light armour and Alpini, hit the ‘Mighty First’ 1 Inf Div in Ormoz at 7am. But with IS-1s in support and being well dug in, the probe was easily repulsed after two hours (13 Turk v 95 Axis casualties).
In east, 17 Inf Div secured Humenne by 11am and then headed north to Gorlice, where they would be switched from the Lwow to the Krakow axis of advance. This was followed at midday by victory in Nitra (81 Comintern v 124 German casualties) in the Bratislava offensive. At that stage, the Northern Sector was showing progress on all three lines of advance. 2 Armd Div would secure Gorlice that afternoon and 13 Inf Div would push into Kezmarek that night.
But things were getting worse over in the Adriatic Sector, where Italian and German forces remained aggressive and the previous thinning of the Turkish lines there was bringing consequences now. Lussino was lost at 5pm, and by midnight, 18 Inf Div had been put on rail cars and began redeploying west to Vrnograc, from just north of Budapest, to help stem the enemy advance.
Air Damage Report. The raids on Lussino finally finished as the battle was lost, 1,667 Soviet troops killed in the last four days. 2 Mot Div lost 297 men in Banska Stiavnica to air raids that day during their attack on Nitra.
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22-23 Jul 43
Manpower Report. Early on 22 July, the manpower reserve was down to 21,000 with 7,090 reinforcements needed by 1am, but Turkey persisted with its current operations in the north and hoped to reduced op tempo by holding in the Adriatic.
In the east, 2 Armd Div reached Sanok – just two provinces away from the Soviets in Lwow – at 3pm, but had to reorganise again, while Gorlice was still open behind them.
In the Bratislava offensive, a well-supplied 1 Armd Div took Handlova at 1pm and kept pushing on straight away to Trencin, which was open at that point.
As 23 July began, 3 Mot Div (no general assigned) was the first to occupy Nitra, but had 63 hours of post-attack reorg ahead before they could continue the advance. A pity, as the plains to the west appeared wide open all the way to Bratislava, now just two provinces distant. 2 Mot Div and 171 SD would both arrive at 10pm that night, also having to reorganise.
To the south, the veteran and heavily armed 15 Inf Div reached Komarom at 8am and kept going through 4 SD west to the forested Györ, also still vacant.
And in the centre, 8 Inf Div (also no leader) took up position in Turciansky at 11am, where they could see German panzer and infantry divisions arranged in a three-province-wide defensive line in the hills and forests immediately north of them. They halted and began to dig in.
1 Armd Div encountered a hasty defence by an under-manned German kampfgruppe in Trencin at 2pm. Even though the enemy appeared to be out of supply, they countered Wehib Pasha’s blitz attempt with an effective elastic defence, meaning the fight would not be a quick one.
Meanwhile, over in the Adriatic Sector, 3 Mtn Div found themselves probed three times in one day [how indecent ] by the same enemy units at 1am (3 Turk v 8 Axis killed), 9am (14 Turk v 21 Axis killed) and finally at 3pm (18 Turk v 33 Axis killed), fending them off each time. The associated air strikes were far worse than the ground fighting. As the last probe was fought off, 8 Mil Div began to prepare the fall-back position in Ogulin.
Air Damage Report. A day of raids on Novo Mesto killed 609 of MAJGEN Diskoerekto’s troopers in support of those three otherwise minor ground probes.
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24 Jul 43
13 Inf Div continued the push north, securing Nowy Targ in occupied Poland at 4am, just two provinces south of Krakow. There was little to show of an enemy defence in front of them, but they halted as they had outrun their supports and risked being isolated, with enemy troops still to their south. One of those enemy locations was in Vazec, where an initial probe by 12 Inf Div was called off at 10am (0 Turk v 7 Italian killed) when they encountered a two-brigade elite Italian Alpini division, which it was hoped might eventually be cut off and pocketed.
Delnice had been reoccupied by the enemy at 4am and just two hours later, the Germans in Rijeka began a holding attack on Otocac, where 2 Mtn Div were lightly dug in. This had the unwelcome effect of delaying the southward move of 14 Inf Div to Karlobag.
Manpower Report. Enemy air strikes and the continued fighting in the Adriatic Sector especially had reduced the manpower reserve to 19,000 men and increased the reinforcements needed to nearly 9,000 by 10am. Warning bells were beginning to sound at HQ 1st Army, but the northern offensives were persisted with: the prizes on offer were almost within reach.
The defence in the Adriatic Sector was improved slightly by the arrival of 6 Mil Div in Vrnograc at 1pm, where 1 Mtn Div was digging in but only in the first stages of recovery from their two recent harrowing defeats in Ribnica and Delnice, with the enemy already next door in the latter.
West of Budapest, 11 Inf Div and HQ 2 (Mech) Corps had held off beginning to advance on Veszprém until 1pm, allowing the enemy to fully vacate it first due to manpower considerations. While in the centre, three Comintern divisions attacked the Italian 22nd Divisione in Ruzemberok from the south and south-west at 6pm: they had won the fight by 7am the following morning (50 Comintern, 279 Italian casualties).
Air Damage Report. Three Italian raids on Handlova killed 336 of 1 Armd Div’s troopers attacking Trencin.
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25 Jul 43
17 Inf Div made it to Gorlice at 4am, but continued their switch north-west towards Krakow rather than following 2 Armd Div to Lwow, advancing instead on unoccupied Grybow. There was little prospect of trapping any more Axis units in the east and the enemy seemed firmly entrenched in front of Lwow: any attack could prove expensive and manpower worries were now taking increasing prominence for the Turks.
Turkey’s multi-front war was on display as 4 Cav Div liberated Youvi Feng in the Far East at 7am and waited for its comrades to catch up before resuming the advance. The Japanese and their puppet allies seemed to be in full retreat throughout that sector of the front.
Next was a welcome victory in Otocac at 9am, the German holding attack being bloodily repulsed in the end (269 Turk v 732 German casualties). 14 Inf Div was able to resume its interrupted march south to secure Karlobag, as 222 SD would be in no state to defend it when they finished their retreat there.
Meanwhile, the fighting in Trencin was dragging on and 1 Armd Div still showing little progress by 10am and three divisions were still reorganising in Nitra. But Ruzomberok would soon be cleared, while Comintern forces advanced west unopposed towards Györ and Veszprém. Therefore at 11am, even though not yet fully recovered, Gürman’s 2 Inf Div was ordered to advance into unoccupied Trnava, on the open plains securing the eastern approaches to Bratislava.
And an American transport plane was seen heading north past Budapest: it was later discovered that it contained MAJ Tyler Durden and his team of saboteurs, assassins, released criminals and misfits (think ‘the Dirty Dozen’ here), who would be parachuted into Bratislava for some behind-the-lines mayhem (inattentive Nazi or Slovak guards patrolling castle walls and getting knifed or garrotted, etc).
But at 2pm, despite a more favourable change battlefield in tactics (attack v delay), Wehib Pasha called off 1 Armd Div’s attack on Trencin before any more unnecessary casualties were suffered (339 Turkish v 267 German casualties). But in more promising news, the reorganisations were finished in Nitra by 5pm, with Toüdemür’s formidable 2 Mot Div heading west to join the advance on Trnava while 3 Cav Div would screen their northern flank by advancing on Piestany. 171 SD would hold Nitra, as the enemy remained to their north.
That night, Sanok was removed and Warsaw added as a requested attacking objective to STAVKA, who were not yet advancing at the same rate as the Turks in the south.
Air Damage Report. Four Italian raids supported the attack on Otocac, killing 620 Turkish defenders but failing to help dislodge them.
The Race to Bratislava continues – but how many horses are in it? And what colours will the jockeys be riding in? But in the Adriatic Sector, ground has been lost to support the bold offensives against Hungary and now Slovakia.
This chapter is dedicated to our good friend @TheButterflyComposer (aka the Dark Lord Kelebek) in the hope of his full and speedy recovery from COVID (again).
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26 Jul 43
The main worries for Inönü remained the Adriatic Sector and manpower. At 1am, the bedraggled 222 SD arrived in Karlobag but were almost immediately attacked by the pursuing and full-strength German 6. Infanterie Division. Even though the Soviet commander Devyatov tried a skilful counter-attack, the situation was hopeless and they were unable to properly man a defensive line: they were ordered out immediately.
And as 14 Inf Div was still only partly recovered from their earlier attack on Rijeka and could not expect to hold or retake Karlobag themselves, they were diverted to Perusic instead, in the hope of establishing a defence on better ground there. And the garrison in Split was called forward, in case they too may be required to help defend Ubdina. 18 Inf Div, called over from the east a few days prior, was by then in Virovitica and now headed for Perusic.
Manpower Report. At 4am, the Turkish manpower report showed the reserve was down to 17,000 men, with 8,110 reinforcements needed.
In the Krakow area, 5 Inf Div was in Nowy Sacz by 5am and was also pushed forward to Grybow, to join 17 Inf Div on the advance to the key Polish city (both formations were armed with heavy tank brigades).
Gataly’s veteran 15 Inf Div Div (also equipped with IS-2s) made it to Györ at 9am but was soon attacked by a German infantry division from Sopron, to their south-west. The attack was broken off by the enemy they took disproportionate losses (9 Turks v 55 Germans killed). LT Metin Sadik’s platoon was relieved to see them go: “A quick fight is a good fight, in my book,” said the by-now grizzled veteran of many battles.
The Turks were now making rapid progress across the approaches to Bratislava. By midday, 3 Cav Div had taken Piestany and was moving on to Kuty. They reported a large column of German formations withdrawing north-west. That night, 2 Mot Div was first into Trnava: with 2 Inf Div following up, Toüdemür did not wait but sped straight for Bratislava, which was now undefended. Soon after, 15 Inf Div would look to advance on Tata, to try to pocket two German divisions currently occupying forts south-east of Bratislava.
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27 Jul 43
The advance on Tata was soon delayed by a holding attack on Györ by the Germans in Sopron, which began at 1am with heavy air support. It stood no real chance of success, but would slow things down and the air raids would hit hard.
An interesting aside was that at 11am it was noticed that two Soviet air wings (one M/R, one transport) had turned up in the vacant air base in Székesfehérvár, but there was no indication about their mission. Was Durden going to be getting some ‘friendly competition’ in the dirty deeds department? At the same time 11 Inf Div secured Veszprém to its immediate west.
By midday 3 Cav Div secured Kuty, directly north of Bratislava, and halted there to secure that approach while 2 Mot Div pushed on to the Slovakian capital [and only VP city].
At 1pm the German holding attack on Györ was heavily defeated (61 Turk v 357 German casualties), and 15 Inf Div’s advance on Tata could resume, while 2 Inf Div secured Trnava behind 2 Mot Div. The pace of the offensive was picking up as the main prize came into view.
Air Damage Report. Four days of heavy Italian raids began on Györ.
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28 Jul 43
In the Bratislava offensive, at midnight an Italian motorised division pulled into Tata to establish a hasty defence, with Gataly trying to blitz them while the Italians sought delay. The Turkish commander got the tactical edge from that trade-off and pressed on with the attack.
At the same time, the building 3 Mot Div (not to be confused with 3 Cav Div operating near Bratislava) received the first SP rocket artillery brigade to be produced (under license) in Turkey. It may not stay with them ultimately, but was a good enough fit for now. Its place in the production queue was taken by another garrison brigade upgrade in Dubrovnik, where another such conversion was already in progress. It took 1,000 men from the pool, which was then down to 15,000 with 5,230 reinforcements required.
At 4am, 171 SD filled in the gap left in Piestany by 3 Cav Div’s advance on Kuty – and just in time, as a column of German troops was then approaching from the north. Then, the race to Bratislava finished suddenly at 6am, as 2 Mot Div seized the city, Toüdemür at the head of the column in his T-34 command tank! But they didn’t have long to gloat as a German attack (made on Slovakian orders) from the forming pocket at Dunajska Streda came an hour later as the Turks hastily occupied the city’s damaged fortifications. In the meantime, Slovakian representatives were summoned, escorted in by a menacing Durden and his henchmen, who had found them cowering in a 'command hut', muttering something about poets, carpet bombing, hip flasks and inevitable defeat.
In the Krakow sector, 5 and 17 Inf Divs took Grybow at 5am, with the 5th securing it while the 17th pushed on to Tarnów. Two hours later, Ruzemberok was taken by 3 and 7 Inf Divs, cutting off the Italian 5th Alpini Division in Vazek. The latter had suddenly adopted Slovakian colours during the night and attacked Ruzemberok under their command in a breakout attempt at 10am, reinforced by the German 23rd Infanterie attacking from Terchova to the north at 5pm.
In the Far East, that evening the Turkish force had consolidated again in Youvi Feng, where it was decided the main body would advance on Hrebet Iolgo while 4 Cav Div would attempt a daring cavalry raid to its south into Mongolia along the (neutral) Sinkiang border (with whom the Turks also had a military access agreement).
And on the Adriatic coast, 18 Inf Div finished its long redeployment in Ubdina at 8pm, ahead of the exhausted and fleeing 222 SD, with the Germans still advancing on Karlobag from Lussino.
News Report: London, UK. At the Old Bailey in London, Communist Party member Douglas Springhall was sentenced to seven years in prison for obtaining information about munitions "calculated to be useful to the enemy." Justice Oliver told Springhall, "I do not think, on your record, it is likely that your purpose was to communicate these things to Germany, but to communicate them to someone I have no doubt whatever."[Comment: contemporary OTL evidence of Soviet espionage activities in Old Blighty! Tactfully put by the judge. ]
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29 Jul 43
The Slovak government capitulated, as the iron laws of war decreed, at midnight. This time, as had been decided years ago, Slovakia became a Communist puppet state of Turkey and thus a Comintern member.
A second Axis country had been overcome in the space of two weeks – by Turkey. But the chaos of this situation had some time to play out. The suddenly Comintern Slovak command reported that within the surrounding region, one Italian and six German divisions remained under Slovak colours as expeditionary forces as the armistice came into effect. Including the three Axis divisions currently pocketed, one in Vazek (the 5th Alpini) and two German divisions in DunajskaStreda. This meant the breakout attacks on Ruzemberok and Bratislava were suddenly over [ie no reports].
The Italians in Tata remained under their own national control, but had been very badly mauled by 15 Inf Div and retreated north-west at 2am. By then, the situation became even more chaotic when 201 Sicherungs Divisie in DunajskaStreda reverted to German command, but the 61st Infanterie still snuck out towards Bratislava in Slovakian colours, escaping the carefully laid trap by a perfidious subterfuge. This was maddening for the Turks, but once again the iron laws of war prevented them doing anything about it.
Just as MAJ Durden was getting ready to arrange some ‘summary battlefield justice’ for the outgoing government … it appeared they became the incoming government of Communist Slovakia. Even if every one of them was a disgusting preserved meat-eating Fascist!
I thought there might have been a change of personnel but, no. Not yet it seems: Hlinka and Tiso remain in charge. Sigh. Maybe later? Or never?
15 Inf Div completed the encirclement of DunajskaStreda at 4am and within two hours, 201 Sich Div was trying to break out, making a desperate attack on the US Marines holding Györ to their south. MAJGEN Fort had no concerns about holding. MAJ Kenny 'Wraith' Loggins, patched up and released from the field hospital but not yet fully fit for front-line danger zone service, observed keenly from the divisional CP, munching on a Cuban cigar.
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30 Jul 43
The day began with 17 Inf Div securing Tarnów at midnight and beginning a hasty river-crossing operation to approach Krakow via Miechow, while 177 SD was ordered to secure Bochnia. Of concern was the the 5th Alpini escaping the pocket in Vazek towards Ruzemberok under a false Slovak flag, while two German divisions approached 5 Inf Div in Grybow from the north-east under a similar deception. In the post-surrender chaos, no-one knew quite what would happen.
A new attack on 15 Inf Div in Tata by the German 16th Infanterie in Sopron began at 2am. Gataly’s men had it well in hand, but it showed the enemy were trying to break the encirclement of their soldiers trapped in Dunajska Streda – by hook or by crook. Speaking of the latter, 61 Infanterie was still sneaking into Bratislava under Slovak colours.
Manpower Report. By that stage, the manpower reserve had shrunk to 14,000 but only 4,360 reinforcements were needed, meaning the net balance had remained fairly steady over the last four days, with only the small offensive towards Krakow now active, the rest of the Northern and Adriatic Sectors now largely on the defensive.
The 5th Alpini slipped into Ruzemberok, still cowering under Slovak protection, at 5am. The swine seemed to have escaped their trap by the lowest and most craven of means.
Soviet Agent SkitalecS3 had better news a few hours later though: the Soviets had established a two-province-wide cut-off of Army Group North on the Baltic, just north of Riga. It remained to be seen if it could be held this time.
No great pockets of Axis troops had been cut off with recent the Hungarian and Slovakian collapses. The Soviets had so far been slow to follow up in the sector between Lwow and Krakow, while there was still reporting of German troops in Slovakian colours advancing towards Turkish positions. 5 Inf Div was braced for another ‘piratical’ attack on – or even in - Grybow.
An hour later, there was confirmation the German 6th Infanterie, now under Italian command, had seized the beachhead of Karlobag, with 14 Inf Div still marching to block off the gap to its north-east in Perusic. But the Germans were still isolated, so may not be willing to advance for some time. 18 Inf Div had sealed up Ubdina and were digging in with the battered 222 SD.
Then at 1pm, the secure land line from Ruzemberok rang at the HQ 1st Army CP:
“This is Gürzlin here – the Alpini curs have revolted and are attacking us from within the town here in Ruzemberok! Alert all other units to this fifth column danger. We will hunt the bastards down and cut their treacherous throats!”
The battle lasted for six hours, when the Italians fled with heavy casualties – but it seemed the remaining dregs would escape to Terchova. No pursuit was ordered – enough good Turkish and Soviet lives had been expended already on these cowardly dogs.
Just an hour after the Italians revolted in Ruzemberok, Toüdemür heard reports from Tyler Durden that the German 61st Infanterie had slipped into Bratislava, still hiding behind their Slovak flag-of-convenience: he braced for trouble, but none emerged – at first.
Wanting to tidy things up around Bratislava and estimating the Germans in Dunajska Streda were now ripe for the picking, an attack went in there by 1 Mar Div and 4 SD, hitting their exposed flank at 3pm. By 6pm the Germans finally abandoned their desperate attack on Györ to concentrate on their defence, which looked doomed. 156 SD was ordered forward to augment 4 US Mar Div in case Györ yet again. The battle in Tata continued.
In the Far East, the two infantry divisions attacking Hrebet Iolgo won an expensive victory against the three weakened Japanese divisions trying to hold it – losing more troops than the Turkish High Command were comfortable with this time. Further frontal attacks there may need to be reconsidered. 4 Cav Div simultaneously continued their southern flanking march.
Air Damage Report. The four days of continuous air raids on Györ killed 2,313 Comintern troops from various formations but never shook their resolve in the attack or defence over that time. A new enemy raid mission began on Tata that night.
OTL Technology Reports. The world's first jet-powered bomber aircraft, the German Arado Ar 234 'Blitz', made its first flight. And Igor Kurchatov, the Soviet physicist assigned to developing the first nuclear bomb for the U.S.S.R., reported to Deputy Premier Vyacheslav Molotov that the program had advanced significantly from secrets gathered in espionage on the United States.
An Arado Ar 234 'Blitz'.
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31 Jul 43
There was no problem in pushing on the open door in the central sector between Bratislava and Ruzemberok, with five divisions ordered into the gap early that morning to see if they could gain the ground before the Germans recovered their poise.
Victory was declared in Tata at 7am, the Germans abandoning their attack after taking heavy casualties against 15 Inf Div.
Manpower Report. After that battle, the manpower reserve was holding at 14,000 with 3,740 reinforcements needed. Op tempo was now decreasing in all Turkish theatres.
At 9am, 17 Inf Div struck the full-strength, four-brigade German 45th Infanterie in Miechow, who had just arrived to block the river crossing east of Krakow. The Turkish attack had little chance of success [just 6% progress] so was called off straight away (9 Turk v 3 German casualties). Just three hours later, the Germans were seen moving west to Krakow itself, which was likely now out of easy reach: a line would be established on the river to its south, stretching west to Katowice.
At midday, the feared uprising of German turncoats erupted in Bratislava, as the Germans discarded their Slovak flags and replaced them with the hated Nazi battle standard. As the fully-manned and organised troopers of 2 Mot Div braced for the battle in their midst, a furious Toüdemür called Durden into his CP.
“Major Durden, I want you to find this dastardly German pirate and kill him, while we do the same to his running-dog crew.”
“I can try, sir, but it seems to be impossible to ever kill or capture generals in this war. They always mysteriously escape, even when completely surrounded.”
“What do they think they are – ‘Untouchable’?” frothed the angry cavalryman.
Yes, I know I’ve used this trope before, but it summarises the vibe perfectly on this occasion. Even while meeting with the same success as it does in the movie!
The battle would still be going as the month ended, as would that in Dunajska Streda. Elsewhere, the various fronts were relatively quiet for now.
Air Damage Report. The air strikes on Tata begun the night before killed 753 men from 15 Inf Div before the enemy attack on it failed.
OTL News: Free France. General Henri Giraud was designated as commander-in-chief of the French Resistance forces, as the new National Committee of Liberation held its first meeting, establishing a government in French Algeria. General Charles de Gaulle was named as President of the Committee.
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Theatre Reports
On the broader Patriotic Front, the Soviets still maintained a very narrow cut-off near Riga, but the Germans had been counter-attacking. Modest gains had been made in the Southern Russian sector and of course enormous swathes of Hungarian (up to the yellow line on 16 July) and then Slovakian territory had been occupied since the start of the month, with some ground lost in the Adriatic Sector.
Between 17-31 July, Turkey had lost 4,673 men in ground fighting and another 7,738 on all fronts (including the Far East), making a total of 12,411. They had inflicted 8,548 ground casualties on all Axis enemies over the same period.
More detailed reporting showed how difficult it had been for the Soviets to gain and hold ground in their attempt to isolate Army Group North, with little progress made during the whole month, but it looked like they were counter-attacking the province they had just lost
As noted, the last two weeks in the Turkish Northern Sector had seen more great gains, with most fighting concentrated around Bratislava and to its south and in Ruzemberok on the approach to Krakow. Otherwise, pitched battles had been avoided where possible.
The story had been grimmer in the Adriatic Sector, with several Comintern reverses in the air and on the ground. In part, it showed the loss of the Hungarian Air Force to the Axis had not really made the Turkish Air Force any more competitive against its Axis – mainly Italian – counterparts. More of the new fighters on order would be needed to change that.
The Far East had witnessed more positive developments during July, with steady Soviet progress in the key southern part of the front and the Japanese apparently now in a general though deliberate retreat there.
Overall, in both the Balkans and the Far East, reported Turkish casualties for the two weeks from 18 July were 4,673 in ground combat plus another 7,738 from Axis (mainly Italian) air strikes, for a total of 12,411. Axis battle casualties against Turkish forces on both fronts were 8,548 on the ground and none from the air.
There were no ground casualty reports from the long battle for Lussino (14-21 July), or the two battles in Bratislava (28-29 July) and Ruzemberok (also 28-29 July) that ended when Slovakia surrendered. And of course, during the month many thousands of Hungarian troops had simply surrendered and headed home when the country was conquered. The latest battles against German forces in Dunajska Streda and Bratislava would continue in August.
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British reporting indicated the Dutch partisan network was causing some problems behind the German lines. There was also evidence of British strategic air raids occurring on German industry.
While in Libya, abject British incompetence saw the month’s early advance to the outskirts of an undefended Tripoli apparently abandoned.
The Japanese had made only limited gains in India and Calcutta had not yet fallen, though it looked like Bhutan could soon be forced to surrender.
While the situation in South East Asia was once again little changed, with Singapore still holding and a small British gain in Borneo.
But there was bad news in Australasia. Rabaul and its environs had been occupied by the Japanese and there had been little significant change in New Zealand.
But (as at least one media pundit had recently predicted) the Japanese had recently invaded Australia, landing in an undefended Sydney[of course ]. The only Australian fighting troops on the whole eastern seaboard were way up north of Brisbane.
As usual, here was no evidence of any activity in the Pacific more generally.
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Naval Report
There had been little apparent naval combat activity in the last month and just one major ships had been lost on any side. For the Allies, the British and French had lost one destroyer flotilla each and the French two submarine flotillas plus the light cruiser Lamotte-Picquet. In the Axis, Germany and Japan had also lost one destroyer flotilla each.
Lamotte-Picquet was a French Duguay-Trouin-class light cruiser. Laid down 17 January 1923; launched 21 March 1924; commissioned 5 March 1927. Standard displacement 7,249 tons; complement 27 officers, 551 sailors; main armament 8 × 155 mm (6.1 in) (4 × 2). Sunk by Japanese naval bombers in July 1941.
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Intelligence Report
It had been a totally quiet month operationally, with no enemy spies apprehended in Turkey or Italy and none lost. There was reporting of some enemy spy presence in Turkey, but all domestic efforts were currently directed at raising national unity [currently at 76%][may need to revisit that]. The Italians had not introduced any new spy teams at home and had none in the field. Two-thirds of the Turkish effort was directed at lowering enemy morale [NU down to 72.6%], one-third at counter-intelligence.
By the end of July, the FBI had gained intelligence that Perse’s presence in the US had been discovered by MI6 as a result of debriefings following her RAF escape flight. And it was also almost certain the Soviets and through them the other Comintern intelligence agencies would be aware.
Rather than only hiding in a safe house, Perse decided she would do her bit for her new hosts – and be seen to be supporting the war effort of what was, after all, an active member of the Comintern Pact. Which may lead either to a softening of the animus felt towards her by America’s pact partners. Or if that was a pipe dream, her visible appearances supporting the war effort may make it politically more problematic for those partners to attempt an assassination on US soil.
B.J. Guildenstern also had it communicated to his Comintern partners that perhaps they might save face if, publicly at least, Perse’s sudden and hitherto unexplained absence from the Turkish propaganda effort was in fact part of an official visit to their alliance partners in the US to help bolster the war effort more generally and foster support of Turkey there.
It remained to be seen whether this would be enough for all the Soviet, Turkish and Romanian attack dogs to be called off. So, in between any public engagements, Perse’s specific whereabouts were kept secret, with safe houses regularly changed as she travelled from city to city.
Perse helping to sell US War Bonds in Jacksonville, Florida, 27 July 1943. It was said at the time within the FBI that she was playing a game of “peek-a-boo” with the other Comintern Pact intelligence agencies.
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Coming up: with Slovakia now in the Comintern and Turkish manpower reserves hovering at a low level, Turkey’s immediate operational and mid-term strategic aspirations in Central Europe and Italy would again have to be reviewed. The spy operation in Italy proceeded quietly but usefully, while Perse had partly re-emerged into public life in the US, hoping to be able to return to England one day when things were safer. Will Tyler Durden be able to track down and eliminate the dastardly Tröger in Bratislava – or will the iron laws of war once more prevent his apprehension?
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Chapter 209: Pushing on an Open Door (1 to 8 August 1943)
Chapter 209: Pushing on an Open Door (1 to 8 August 1943)
Foreword
Turkey seeks to exploit the recent collapses of Hungary and Slovakia, even while manpower reserves continue to trend down towards zero. At least they know the Germans are even worse off. The aim now is to gain real estate as cheaply as possible while it is at bargain prices and provide a big enough distraction to the Germans that the Soviets can make more progress on the rest of the Patriotic Front.
In AAR terms, I’m going to consciously make the chapters a little shorter (less dense) and hopefully easier to follow/keep up with and a bit more frequent (across the other AARs too). It means Ive been able to flesh it out with a little bit more of the 'decorative' stuff, thoughb the espionage scene has remained fairly quiet for now. The whole of August is played through – and the pace varies quite noticeably during the month. This eight-day period fairly neatly encapsulates the first phase of that tempo and has a logical break point.
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1 Aug 43
As August began, two battles remained in progress: both were nearing their end and looking like Turkish victories. In Bratislava, Toüdemür’s ‘turncoat battle’ against the despicable Tröger was nearly over, though the enemy commander seemed to have evaded [as they always do] Tyler Durden’s best efforts to visit mayhem upon him personally. And near Bratislava, the small Dunajska Streda pocket was almost closed out.
Meanwhile, near Krakow Turkish forces continued to push forward into vacant provinces where it seemed prudent to do so, though with a wary eye kept on more returning German divisions still under Slovakian command, approaching Grybow from the north-east. The month began with 14,000 men in the manpower reserve and 3,400 reinforcements needed, with a predicted monthly gain of 16,100.
Yet another probe on 3 Mtn Div in Novo Mesto was quickly fought off at 2am (eight Turkish and two Axis casualties), but otherwise the Adriatic Sector remained fairly quiet for now after the Axis advances of the previous month.
Then at 10am, great news was received from Dunajska Streda: the battle was over, with 181 Comintern casualties and 684 Germans killed, with the remaining 5,904 enemy soldiers marched off into captivity after surrendering.
In the Krakow Sector, the German 72nd Infanterie pulled into Grybow at midday, still professing to be under Slovakian command: the enemy within! Just three hours later, another German division in Slovakian colours was seen approaching Zilina (between Krakow and Bratislava). The Turks had begun to suspect a plot from the puppet Slovakian government of those Fascists Hlinka and Tiso to deliberately infiltrate German troops for nefarious counter-revolutionary purposes!
Despite this, the careful advance continued, with 13 Inf Div taking Bielsko Biala at 10pm. It bordered both Katowice (to its north-west) and Krakow (north-east) on the southern bank of the Vistula River.
OTL Event: Ploieşti, Romania. Operation Tidal Wave began as a group of 177 American B-24 Liberator bombers, with 1,726 total crew, departed from Libya to make the first bombing of the oil refineries at Ploieşti, Romania, the major supplier of fuel to Germany. The mission temporarily halted oil production, but 532 airmen and 54 of the planes were lost. After a 40% loss of production, the refineries would be repaired more quickly than projected.
August 1, 1943: American B-24s carry out first bombing of German oil production.
News Report: Moscow, USSR. Lydia Litvyak, 21, a Soviet fighter ace who shot down at least 11 German planes was killed in action. She was one of two women who were at the time, the other being Yekaterina Budanova, whose death we reported on July 19. Note: Litvyak's remains would be found in 1979, and she would be posthumously awarded the medal of Hero of the Soviet Union in 1990.
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2 Aug 43
The temporary quiet on the Adriatic was broken violently at midday when two nearly full-strength German divisions attacked Otocac from Karlobag and Rijeka. It was a strong and potentially dangerous attack, so a spoiling attack was launched on Karlobag straight away.
At the same time, the forests of Zilina, on the Slovakian border with the Reich, were occupied by 8 Inf Div. By mid-afternoon, 177 SD pushed into Bochnia and, advised by patrols from 13 Inf Div that Krakow was now undefended, began a crossing of the Vistula to hopefully take it. There were also reports of a Polish uprising to the north, where they had set up a temporary ‘capital’ just two provinces north of Krakow.
OTL Event: The Pacific Theatre. At 2:00 am local time, the U.S. Navy patrol torpedo boat PT-109, with a crew of 13 commanded by Lieutenant (j.g.) John F. Kennedy, was travelling through the Blackett Strait in the Solomon Islands, when it was rammed and sunk by the Japanese destroyer Amagiri. Though two of the crew were killed, Kennedy and the other ten men swam three miles to a small island and then to Olasana Island, both of which were uninhabited. Kennedy and Ensign George H. R. Ross would make their way to Naru Island where they were found by natives Biuku Gasa and Eroni Kumana who delivered a message that Kennedy had carved on a coconut to the PT base at Rendova Island. The PT-109 survivors were rescued on August 8, and Kennedy received the Navy and Marine Corps Medal for his heroism.
Lieutenant John F. Kennedy, USNR, (standing at right) with other crewmen on board PT-109, 1943. The USN is not so active in this ATL!
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3 Aug 43
The fighting in Otocac had continued throughout the previous day and had intensified with heavy air raids there and on 18 Inf Div in Ubdina. Now the German 9th Infanterie had joined in from Delnice.
19 Inf Div was sent in to spoil this effort: it was becoming another of those complex battles with troops from five provinces now involved. An unwelcome drain on scarce manpower, but Otocac was a key position that Inönü did not want to surrender without a hard fight.
As that battle continued, victory came in the ‘turncoat battle’ of Bratislava. The enemy’s commander may have escaped, but Toüdemür’s and Durden had certainly killed a great many of the German scum, the survivors alas able to flee to the west. Even while more likely turncoats approached Zilina, to the north-east.
By 10am, the Turkish spoiling attacks in support of Otocac had succeeded in forcing the enemy divisions attacking from both Delnice and Karlobag to pull out and focus on their own defence. The attack on Delnice was called off (49 Turkish v 47 German troops killed), while the attack on Karlobag continued for now. The remaining Germans were only attacking Otocac from Rijeka and were almost spent [down to -10% progress], though the air strikes continued.
From 1 to 5pm, an Italian motorised division tried a shock attack on the dug-in 15 Inf Div in Tata, just south of Bratislava. It failed miserably against the veteran troops and their IS-1 heavy support tanks, with only 19 Turkish troops lost compared to 139 Italian attackers. LT Metin Sadik didn't break a sweat as the Italians first advanced and then quickly retreated.
Then sure enough, at 1pm the German 25th Infanterie hoisted the hated Nazi battle flag once in Zilina. But they were out of supply and outnumbered three-to-one. Without even mouldy bratwurst or even a few potatoes to munch on, the renegades should soon be defeated, it was hoped.
Way over on the distant (Far) Eastern Front, 4 Cav Div secured Ulan Usu in western Mongolia, while their brethren still advanced on Hrebet Iolgo. The Japanese and their allies seemed to be in a general retreat in this sector. 4 Cav pushed forward to Tasgan Nur, where a retreating Army Group HQ was soon expelled.
The hard fight for Otocac ended in victory at 2pm, even if the air raids continued for the rest of the day. The attack on Karlobag kept going for now: it would make the line much stronger if it could be liberated once more. And 14 Inf Div resumed its interrupted march to Perusic, where 222 SD still recovered from its earlier ordeal in Lussino.
South of Bratislava, 156 SD arrived in Györ mid-afternoon and took the opportunity to push on south-west to grab the unoccupied Szombathely. More would come of this later, but for now German resistance in the general vicinity of western Hungary remained patchy and disorganised (four divisions covering six provinces). The same situation prevailed in the Slovakian border area north-east of Bratislava, where 6 Inf Div secured Trencín unopposed, while to its direct north-east the chaotic fight within Zilina continued. The beginning of a German line was forming in front of them, but their coverage remained uneven.
And chaos still prevailed around Krakow, with three 'Slovak-German' divisions approaching (or already lurking within) Turkish lines that evening. Inönü did his best to account for these while still pushing forward where there was no apparent resistance. 307 SD was being pushed to secure Bochnia against potential infiltrators behind the cutting edge of the advance, while 2 Armd Div had arrived in Tarnów and immediately started bridging the Vistula, for another attempt to take Miechow and widen the bridgehead to the east of Krakow.
Around Bratislava, the securing of Dunajska Streda at 8pm released more units to reinforce the front line. A plan was forming for the seizure of Vienna. The liberation of the Fuhrer’s former home city – one of the great cities of Europe – would be an excellent propaganda coup and eventually a boost to Turkish research and production if it could be integrated into the Glorious Union. 1 Mot Div could now play a part in that, having mainly recovered from its earlier battle damage incurred during the Bratislava Offensive in July.
The ‘turncoat’ battle in Zilina had finished by the end of 3 August, but no battle report for it was available.
Air Damage Report. Axis air strikes resumed with a day of Italian raids on Otocac, which killed 787 Turkish defenders in support of the Axis attack there. Raids also started that afternoon in Ubdina, where 18 Inf Div was conducting the spoiling attack on Karlobag. Those raids would continue until the end of the following day.
OTL Event: Nicosia, Cyprus. General George S. Patton was visiting the 15th Evacuation Hospital in Nicosia, Cyprus, when he encountered Private Charles H. Kuhl, who was in the hospital for malaria and dysentery as well as for shell shock. Patton asked Private Kuhl what he was in for, and Kuhl replied, "I guess I just can't take it." Patton lost his temper and struck Kuhl with his gloves. On August 10, Patton would strike another soldier, and the incidents became public knowledge.
Patton in Sicily, 1943.
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4 Aug 43
Near Krakow, there were still great gaps in the enemy lines along the Vistula. 7 Inf Div leap-frogged through Bielsko Biala to take advantage and at 2am they started to bridge the Vistula at Katowice.
And given the recent dominance of Axis air power in the Balkans, there was welcome news when the first of the newest Soviet fighters 9 AF, equipped with Yak-7s, was introduced into service. Although they would take some time to work up to operational readiness. The next most modern Turkish fighters, the F4F Wildcats, were weaker in air attack and equal in air speed, but superior in some other aspects, such as morale (ie ground crew training), radar and night fighting capability.
With one bomber and two more Yak-7 wings well into production, another B-26 license was sought from the US. But there was a surprise when the request was rejected. Not wishing to delay production and knowing fighter strength was a key defensive requirement – especially if contemplating an attack on Italy – another wing of the latest Yak-7 model was ordered.
Some thought had been given to the slightly improved F4Fs now on offer (at 620kph faster than the current Turkish model and with a 20% night attack bonus, among other advantages), but the Yak-7s had better range and air attack and were available now (would have had to wait for a ‘return of diplomats’ for the F4Fs), so they were selected. If the Americans could just introduce a new fighter model, it should definitely be a superior option. But for the present, numbers were sought and the Yak-7s would do well enough for that.
Even though it had been progressing reasonably well, the one-division attack on Karlobag was called off at 5pm, given the continuing drain on manpower. With a little luck, the invaders’ hash would be settled later, when more forces were available to do it, with less Turkish bloodshed. 6 Mil Bde was despatched to reinforce Otocac after 14 Inf Div arrived in Perusic.
That night, a routine report was received from the garrison commander in the Dodecanese: over the last day or two, another Japanese-inspired rebellion had been efficiently suppressed, without any Turkish lives lost and 88 rebels killed.
More importantly, 8pm saw 177 SD liberate Krakow from its four-year Nazi occupation. Meanwhile, the Soviets were only slowly advancing north-west from Lwow against thin German opposition. Comintern forces were crossing the Vistula up- and down-stream of Krakow (2 Armd Div secured Miechow an hour later). German infiltrators still skulked around the sector under Slovakian flags-of-convenience.
Krakow was subsequently removed as a Soviet offensive objective – Turkey had once more done the heavy lifting there, though at least Soviet EFs had been a key part of the offensive. And perhaps this effort had also sapped German resistance on the rest of the front: Agent SkitalecS3 reported that the Soviets had once more expanded the ‘neck’ or the Baltic Pocket closing around Army Group North and were continuing to advance north and south of Riga!
Air Damage Report. The Italian raids on Ubdina finished that day, having killed a total of 1,041 Turkish troops over their two day duration.
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5 Aug 43
On a promising note, it seemed recent conquests had continued to boost Turkish leadership stocks for research and training [total leadership now 10.98]: the surplus [around 0.32 LS as at 1am on 5 August], was put into officer training. Eight research projects remained on the books, a little espionage [0.05] and diplomat [0.10] training continued, with the officer schools [2.84] now seeking to increase officer holdings beyond the 100% mark it had stayed at for some time now.
Hrebet Iolgo was taken at 11am, creating a pocket in Tashanta on the Eastern Front. Many Japanese/puppet units were escaping, though many seemed to be HQs.
Manpower Report. But with the recent fighting, the manpower situation was deteriorating again, down to 11,000 in reserve with 4,880 replacements required. Monthly gain had risen a little (by 300) to 16,400.
Late that night, President Hlinka reported that Slovakia was mobilising again and would “soon be able to field a strong army”. This communique was met with snorts of derision at HQ 1st Army. The only thing that seemed to be growing was the number of disloyal German units behind Turkish lines!
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6 Aug 43
Slovakian shenanigans notwithstanding, the promised offensive to capture Vienna began at 9am on the morning of 6 August 1943, when 1 Mot Div reached Bratislava. They would hold for now while 2 Mot set off for Gänserdorf. As had been done on the advance to Bratislava, 3 Cav Div would secure the northern flank of the advance by seizing Breclav. 156 SD then occupied Szombathely mid-afternoon.
But at 10pm that night, the first signs of a German response to these easy gains came with a savage shock attack on 156 SD from Körmend. 11 Inf Div was ordered to assist from Veszprém, but it would take some time to arrive and then reinforce the battle.
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7 Aug 43
At 3am, 7 Inf Div encountered stragglers from the retreating German 24th Infanterie in Katowice. They lost three men to none for the Germans, but fortunately the latter retreated immediately and the river-crossing continued.
A couple of hours later, the fast-moving 2 Mot Div arrived in Gänserdorf and its lead elements could now see the spires of Vienna. Scouts reported that the air base there contained eight German wings, with a maximum capacity of ten. With 4 SD approaching Bratislava, 1 Mot Div was ordered to backfill in Gänserdorf while 2 Mot drove on boldly for Vienna itself.
Things hotted up that afternoon, with the first development being 3 Mot Div securing Breclav. Next, 1 Mar Div (Turkish) arrived in Tata, freeing up 15 Inf Div to begin an assault on Eisenstadt, to secure the southern approaches to Vienna, meeting resistance from determined but somewhat disorganised German and Italian troops. 4 SD was ordered to reinforce that attack as soon as it arrived in Bratislava at 5pm.
By then, three Comintern Pact (Slovakian and Soviet) air wings were based in the Slovak capital: perhaps they could do something useful – though the transports would be of dubious value, it was thought. And the situation in Szombathely was deteriorating badly, with more German units joining in and air strikes sapping 156 SD’s defence.
Back in the Krakow Sector, 7 Inf Div captured Katowice at 4pm. They easily beat off a probe by the German 23rd Infanterie in a two-hour firefight that saw 14 Germans killed for no Turkish casualties.
In the Far East, 4 Cav Div took Tsagan Nur at 6pm, but because of both manpower concerns and the risk of isolation, they were ordered to halt in place and allow the main Soviet front to catch up to the north.
At that time, three German divisions were engaged in Szombathely and 156 SD was down to about 50% organisation. In the hope of buying time for 11 Inf Div to reinforce, the Turkish Air Force was once again activated to see if they could make a difference – without being destroyed! 1 TAK (2 x M/R, 2 x TAC wings) was sent to strike the Germans attacking from Körmend, while 1 AG (I-16s and LaGG-3s) was ordered to provide interception cover over Szombathely (where an Italian group of 1 x MR and 2 x TAC wings was currently bombing), in the hope of splitting the enemy air response.
Dogfights broke out in both locations simultaneously that evening. The old planes of 1 AG came out of their fight in surprisingly good order, though they couldn’t abort the enemy’s raid completely. But 1 TAK was jumped by five Italian fighter wings, with one wing of Yak-4s taking heavy damage. Still, they managed to get their raid in on the ground troops and returned for another go at midnight.
Air Damage Report. The Axis began striking Szombathely and would continue until the following morning. The one Turkish raid that struck home on Körmend killed just 72 German defenders there.
OTL Event: Pacific Theatre.On the first anniversary of the beginning of the U.S. battle in the south Pacific Ocean against Japanese forces, and almost two years to the day before the bombing of Hiroshima, U.S. Navy Admiral William F. Halsey, Jr. told a press conference that "We will destroy the enemy. We shall push forward until the Battle of the South Pacific becomes the Battle of Japan."Comment: we need ‘the Bull’ to put a grenade under the US Joint Chiefs in this ATL's war.
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8 Aug 43
A welcome advance in supply production (which currently took up a considerable proportion of the Turkish industrial effort) came on 8 August. With manpower still a concern (though holding for now with slightly lessened op tempo in the last few days) and no new units likely to be built for some time, plus heavy damage in aerial combat the norm, it was decided civil defence should be improved to get damage repaired more quickly.
The next attempt by 1 AG to intercept enemy raids on Szombathely was rudely interrupted by a group of two Italian fighter wings jumping them over Budapest. Two dogfights were fought that morning, with the welcome assistance of a wing of Romanian fighters.
Örlungat declared ‘victory’ on both occasions, but the claims seemed a little exaggerated given damage taken on both sides and the persistent return of the Italian fighters. With Szombathely failing and the Turkish fighters unable to intervene in the raids (where the enemy bombed them again at 2am while the fighters were diverted over Budapest), the interception mission was cancelled at 8am.
Meanwhile, the second Turkish raid on Körmend was interrupted by the Italian fighters again at 2am. Serious damage was being taken and the results on the ground did not justify the losses: this mission was also cancelled and 1 TAK once more underwent repairs at their base in Budapest.
None of this stopped the intrepid Toüdemür’s drive on Vienna, which fell to his 2 Mot Div at 6am on 8 August. This symbolic victory should now bring the war home to Germany and begin to sap their will to resist. A hasty shock attack mounted by tired German troops from the south in Eisenstadt (itself still under Turkish attack) was soon defeated with disproportionate casualties.
But in Szombathely, 11 Inf Div was still distant, casualties were mounting and the attempts by the Air Force to relieve the situation had been abandoned. The province was simply not worth the cost at the moment. 156 SD was ordered out while it still had some organisation left; 11 Inf Div halted again in Veszprém. This part of the line would revert to the defensive while the operations to secure Vienna were completed.
At 10am, 1 Mot Div arrived in Gänserdorf and began digging in to secure the corridor to Vienna. On the Vistula, the bridgehead was now four provinces wide, from Katowice to Miechow, with Chrzanow occupied by 4 Inf Div at the same time. The German infiltrators behind the lines were still a concern and further exploitation would probably have to await the resolution of that potential fifth column problem.
Manpower Report. At 10am, the manpower reserve still held at 11,000 with only 2,240 replacements needed. The forecast monthly gain had risen substantially, to 17,800.
Air Damage Report. The Axis raids on Szombathely finished that morning, having killed 467 Soviet troops since they started the day before.
For the rest of the day, the only ground combat continued in Eisenstadt, where Axis resistance was beginning to crumble [up to 72% progress]. Elsewhere, entrenchment and repair was the order of the day.
In reporting of known battle casualties on the Turkish Front during the first eight days of August, Turkey had lost 1,709 men in ground fighting and 2,295 to Axis air raids, a total of 4,004. The Axis had lost 3,710 on the ground and 72 from the air, a total of 3,782. But the additional 5,904 German prisoners taken at Dunajska Streda on 1 August helped make this a more positive period for Turkish arms.
The ‘Glorious Truth’ was given the scoop on the capture of Vienna as it occurred on a Sunday. Their more sensationalist take on the news is reflected in their jingoistic coverage of events. That, and an attempt at face-saving to explain the sudden disappearance from view in Turkey of Perse ‘Fungifips’.
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Coming Up: The extent of any German stabilisation of the line against the Turkish Summer Offensive, which was now essentially coming to an end with the capture of Vienna and the Vistula bridgehead, would soon be known. Comintern eyes now turned to the north and the great Soviet attempt to secure the Baltic Pocket and complete the destruction of Army Group North, while hopefully also advancing in the centre of the front to support the Turkish breakout with Stalin’s ‘big battalions’.
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Chapter 210: A Foot in the Door (9 to 22 August 1943)
Chapter 210: A Foot in the Door (9 to 22 August 1943)
Foreword
Turkey had just seized Wien from a surprised and reeling Germany in a great symbolic blow against the filthy Nazi bratwurst-munchers. Rumours have emerged of a vitriolic Hitlerian rant of monumental proportions when the news was broken to him. Across the Balkan Front, the Turks seek to advance where possible while trying to avoid large-scale pitched battles, given the increasingly difficult manpower situation.
Hitler’s disposition would not have been improved by news from Army Group North, where the Soviets finally seem to have maintained a narrow cut-off on the Baltic coast, just north of Riga. Leningrad may remain in German hands, but like a Babushka doll the trapped Axis troops are now enclosed and pressure is also being slowly exerted on the old Polish border to its south.
Will the Germans crack? Or, as they have done many times in the Great Liberation War, will they manage a counterstroke to halt Comintern progress in the Balkans and free their trapped forces in Russia?
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9 Aug 43
The only battle on the whole Turkish front still in progress on the morning of 9 August was in Eisenstadt and that Turkish attack ended in victory at 3am. 15 Inf Div would continue the advance, while 4 SD was diverted to reinforce Gänserdorf on the eastern approaches to Wien.
On the Adriatic coast, 6 Mil Div arrived to reinforce 2 Mtn Div in Otocac at 9am, given the Axis history of attacks there.
Over to the east in the Vistula Sector, 12 Inf Div secured Terchova that afternoon, again unopposed. Axis resistance was still light in this sector, with large gaps in the line and evidence of their continued retreat.
The Turkish supply network seemed to be coping well enough with the recent advances and supply was good in most places.
The Germans reclaimed Szombathely in western Hungary, south of Bratislava, at 10pm: it had been briefly held by Turkey earlier in the month, but the Turks had been unable to hold it against a German counter-attack.
The last combat event of the day was a German probe against the mighty 1 Inf Div in Ormoz at 11pm, but it had been easily defeated by 1am the next morning (one Turkish, 23 German casualties).
Air Damage Report. Three Italian air raids on Tata in support of the defence of Eisenstadt killed 360 troops from 15 Inf Div, but could not prevent a Turkish victory.
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10 Aug 43
With a lull in combat continuing into the afternoon of 10 August, Turkish forces kept pushing forward into gaps in the line.
The same applied as the Vistula bridgehead was further expanded east of Krakow, as Soviet forces gradually pushed forward from Lwow.
Air Damage Report. Even though the Axis probe on Ormoz was defeated early that morning, Italian air raids called in to support it lasted the rest of the day, killing 511 Turkish defenders.
OTL News Event: Sicily. For the second time in a week, General George S. Patton, Jr., struck a U.S. Army soldier after losing his temper. This time, his encounter was with Private Paul G. Bennet at the 93rd Evacuation Hospital in San Stefano, in Sicily. Patton asked Bennet what he was ill with, and Bennet, suffering from shell shock, replied, "It's my nerves... I can't stand the shelling any more." According to a medical officer who witnessed the attack, General Patton replied, "Your nerves, hell. You're just a God-damned coward, you yellow son of a bitch!" and then slapped him. The second incident was witnessed by a nurse, who told her boyfriend, a U.S. Army Captain in the public affairs detachment for the U.S. Seventh Army, and would make news worldwide when it became public three months later. Although demands would be made by members of Congress for General Patton to be relieved of duty, Patton would instead be reprimanded and would be made to apologise to both soldiers.
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11 Aug 43
As the day began, the Turkish manpower reserve was at 10,000 and 3,060 replacements needed, even after the lower op tempo of recent days. No new battles started or air raids conducted, as Turkish units pushed forward, sticking their collective foot in the still-open door. And hoping it wouldn't be crushed if the door was slammed shut!
OTL Event: Eastern Front. Pulling back from the Soviet Union, Adolf Hitler ordered the creation of the "Eastern Wall", a line of defence on the eastern side of the Reichskommissariat Ostland, the German-occupied territory in Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia. [Comment: the Germans are in a bit more trouble already in this timeline.]
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12 Aug 43
The early hours of 12 August saw Eisenstadt taken after the earlier victory, while Novy Jicin was occupied without a fight. Other divisions were still advancing into open space towards Hodonin and Prerov.
More generally, a regional map compiled that morning for Inönü at HQ 1st Army showed how much progress had been made in the summer offensive, given the previous front line had extended along the Danube from Beograd to not far north of Bucharest. A decent portion of southern Poland had now been liberated by Turkey.
An hour later, 17 Inf Div liberated Rzeszow, on the southern bank of the Vistula, anchoring the eastern end of the bridgehead as the Turks waited for the Soviets to join up from the east.
The only new attack that day was another ‘back-stab’ ambush in Terchova by the German 72nd Infanterie at 1pm – the treacherous swine! The Germans were fresh, but had only 1,660 soldiers left when the battle began, as they tried to break through to their own lines. The fight would drag on for another five days.
OTL Event: Sicily. German troops evacuated Sicily.
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13 Aug 43
While the fighting in Terchova went on all day and was now heavily in the Turks’ favour, Hodonin was taken at midnight and Prerov by 9pm that night. The Axis line remained very patchy from Wien to Katowice.
Asked for an explanation of the lack of Slovakian involvement on the side of the Comintern, not to mention their apparent harbouring and facilitation of German fifth columnists, Foreign Minister Aras reported that they were still formally in a truce with the Axis and indeed Allied and Comintern powers, despite the recent change of sides.
No option for a Call to Arms appears, even greyed out.
“Can we not call this recalcitrant President Hlinka to arms?” fumed an angry Milli Şef.
“Ah, er, I’m afraid not,” replied the Foreign Ministry staffer on the HQ.
“What, even though they are an ally and a puppet government of the UGNR!?” Inönü, who rarely lost his temper, looked in need of one of Interior Minister Kaya’s apoplexy tablets.
“I’m sorry, Milli Şef, I really don’t know what else to say. It’s the paradoxical Iron Law of diplomatic relations,” said the worthy as he begged his leave from the office.
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14-15 Aug 43
With an advance in industrial production techniques on 14 August, attention was switched to further improving infantry warfare doctrine. And recent conquests had increased the leadership resources available to Turkey: these were all now invested in officer training.
The manpower reserve had increased a little to 11,000 with only 1,580 replacements required – an appreciable improvement in recent days, with few battles and no air raids.
Alas, this relative peace was broken at 1pm when the Germans attacked Otocac, where the arrival of 6 Mil Div a few days previously allowed a strong defence, leading to victory late on the 15th. Italian air raids in support of the attack began late that night, but casualties would not be reported until the following the day.
And just before midnight on 14 August, 5 Inf Div pushed into Staszów, extending the Vistula bridgehead to five provinces wide. Though at the same time more German divisions now seemed to be massing in the vicinity of Katowice, which was quite exposed.
The air base in Split received its level six facilities on 15 August and work continued to build it up to level seven straight away. It was likely to become the key Turkish air hub for future operations in Italy.
Air Damage Report. The first casualties from enemy air action since 10 August were taken after the Italians raided Otocac three times on 15 August in support of the ultimately unsuccessful German attack, killing 489 defenders. There would be no further enemy air strikes until 21 August.
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As 15 August drew to a close, Inönü received a strategic update. First, changes along the entire Patriotic Front since the beginning of the month were reviewed.
Note: The dark green dotted line marks Turkish advances in the Balkans since 1 August as the colours are hard to distinguish.
Agent SkitalecS3 reported that slow but steady progress was being made to squeeze the Baltic Pocket more firmly shut.
In the Far East, modest progress had been made on balance, with some give and take.
The British reported no changes in India since 1 August. In Australia, the Japanese had advanced a little north and south, but had not yet taken Canberra.
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16-17 Aug 43
Fighting continued in Terchova and yet another ‘turncoat attack’ began in Zilina, when the German 22nd Infanterie showed its true colours at 1pm on 16 August. However, this attack only lasted for three hours, ending in the Germans running after having 25 men killed, the Turks losing 32.
The fight in Terchova had been a savage one, but it finally ended in the early afternoon of 17 August, leaving the enemy with fewer than 600 troops alive by the time it was over.
But the plague of turncoat attacks was not over: even as fighting ended in Terchova, it broke out again in Zilina. This time, the German 6th Infanterie had discarded their Slovakian camouflage (including dastardly overcoats with cravats) to attack 3 Mot Div, who were becoming regrettably used to this kind of perfidy.
Beware insidious, cravat-wearing German turncoats with hip-flasks and bad Slovakian accents!
That night, with several gaps still open in the Adriatic Sector from Delnice to just Sopron, just south of Wien, more Turkish advances were begun.
OTL Event: Sicily. The US 7th Army, commanded by General George S. Patton, met the British 8th Army led by General Bernard Montgomery in Messina, completing the Allied invasion of Sicily. Allied artillery in Messina began shelling the Italian mainland.
OTL Event: Germany. The U.S. Army Air Force carried out the Schweinfurt–Regensburg mission, its first strategic air raid on German war production, attacking the ball-bearing factory at Schweinfurt, and the Messerschmitt aircraft manufacturing facility at Regensburg. General Ira C. Eaker, who commanded the Eighth U.S. Army Bomber force, made what Nazi official Albert Speer would later call "a crucial mistake", dividing the 376 American B-17 bombers into two groups, rather than concentrating on destroying the Schweinfurt factory, where production was cut by one-third, but continued. Sixty of the bombers were shot down, and 550 flyers were killed or captured.
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18-19 Aug 43
With fighting only continuing in Zilina at this stage, at 4pm 13 Inf Div was sent forward to secure Cieszyn, guarding the southern approach to Katowice.
OTL Event: Germany. In Operation Hydra, on 18 August three waves of Royal Air Force bombers struck Peenemünde. Eight RAF bombers were sent toward Berlin to divert German air defences. Colonel-General Hans Jeschonnek, 44, Chief of Staff of the Luftwaffe, shot himself the next day after learning about the damage.
Early on 19 August, 1 Mar Div took Sopron without a fight. There were substantial German forces now in the general area, but they seemed to be stretch out in a long, thin salient. There were some hopes a pocketing a few of them as 10 Inf Div still advanced into Lenti from the south.
OTL Event: Quebec City, Canada. The Quadrant Conference between the Chiefs of Staff of the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada, continued in Quebec City with the signing of the Quebec Agreement by U.S. President Roosevelt, U.K. Prime Minister Churchill, and Canadian Prime Minister King. The terms of the pact, officially titled Articles of Agreement Governing Collaboration between the Authorities of the USA and the UK in the Matter of Tube Alloys, would remain secret until 1954. "Tube alloys" was a codename for atomic weapons. The nations agreed to combine their atomic physicists and researchers to develop the atomic bomb, and not use the weapon against any other nation without joint consent.[Comment: Yes, for those ‘tube alloys’ fans among you, here is its first honourable mention here.]
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20 Aug 43
12 SD retook Delnice without opposition at midnight as 1 Mtn Div still advanced towards it, while 8 Mil Div and 217 SD were ordered up to bolster the front line, including MAJGEN Diskoerekto’s 3 Mtn Div in Novo Mesto. 1 Mtn Div would returned to Delnice by 8pm that night, joining 12 SD to strengthen the defence.
As the treacherous fight in Zilinin still ground on, at 7am the Germans launched a major attack on 1 Armd Div in Novy Jicin. The 1 Armd Div defenders were entrenched and had the best of the terrain and their initial defence remained strong, despite the shock and surprise of the attack.
Then just two hours later, to the east of Krakow, an attack began on 5 Inf Div in the recently occupied Staszów. This became far more serious at 2pm, when two more formations, including a not-before-seen SS Panzer Grenadier Division (the 11th), joined in. Strangely, a Polish Army HQ passing through took command of the battle for the Comintern! Even so, he seemed to be doing a good job and the superior armour of 5 Inf Div’s heavy tanks restricted the damage they were taking.
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21 Aug 43
The two additional enemy divisions had reinforced the front line in their attack on Staszów by 4am on 21 August, increasing the pressure on 5 Inf Div. Not wanting to let the situation drift and with the line thin in that area, spoiling attacks were organised east and west of Staszów, both of which went in an hour later at 5am.
The attack on Kielce was conducted by the powerful 2 Armd Div and was soon making inroads, but 17 Inf Div was attacking the 11th SS Pz Gren Div over the Vistula and, despite their superior armour, were soon up against it in Sandomierz.
The suddenly increased battle tempo was eased slightly when victory came in Zilina at 6am, with 185 Turks and 584 Germans killed in the turncoat battle.
But at the same time, things were becoming difficult in Novy Jicin, where four Axis divisions were now attacking 1 Armd Div [-70% attack progress]and Luftwaffe air strikes had begun. Again, Inönü was keen to stabilise the new front lines where he could, so twin spoiling attacks were launched on two of the provinces Novy Jicin was being attacked from.
The attack on Olomouc saw reasonable progress, but that on Cesky Tesin was up against an entrenched enemy, in fortifications and on favourable terrain. It would be a tough slog. At 8am, 13 Inf Div made it to Cieszyn, so they were added in to hit the flank of the defences in Cesky Tesin, where they joined the battle in reserve at 10am. At that time, the manpower reserve had grown back to 13,000 with 580 needed for reinforcement, but with the sudden renewed intensity of fighting this would soon start to erode again.
The German bombers were taking a toll in Novy Jicin as the morning wore on, so at 11am the old fighters of 1 AG (back to 100% strength and readiness by then) were scrambled from Budapest to try to intercept them.
An excerpt of the key characteristics of the current German interceptor. A deal better than even our latest La-7s.
Unfortunately, they were themselves intercepted at midday by three Luftwaffe fighter wings without coming to grips with the bombers and were (unsurprisingly) badly cut up. The ill-fated experiment was called off when they returned to base.
At 3pm, 10 Inf Div occupied Lenti in the Adriatic Sector, increasing hopes of another pocketing effort there. And at 4pm, 2 Armd Div won their fight for Kielce – and continued advancing to take it (51 Turkish and 359 German casualties).
With more damage to repair in Budapest and the new La-7s of 9 AF still working up, they were re-based [Reserve mission to preserve org] to nearby Gyöngyös to continue their preparations after 1 AG limped back to Budapest.
Victory came in the defence of Staszów at 9pm (319 Turkish and 751 German casualties), allowing the spoiling attack on to Sandomierz be called off (74 Turk, 82 German casualties).
Air Damage Report. German bombers struck Novy Jicin in support of their attack in two raids that would continue into the next day. And the Italians began bombing Prerov that evening, as defensive missions to counter the Turkish spoiling attack on Olomouc.
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22 Aug 43
By 1am, the situation in Novy Jicin was getting worse and neither of the spoiling attacks had provided relief: 1 Armd Div’s organisation was down to around 30%. But they still tried to hold out, hoping the tide could be turned.
In Delnice, the three divisions (1 Mtn Div plus 12 and 217 SD) there would now stay in place: at 3am, 19 Inf Div (now recovered from earlier battle damage) would push up to Novo Mesto from Karlovac instead. And in western Hungary, Turkish infantry and US Marines attacked the Szombathely salient at exactly the same time the Germans there were launching an attack on 1 Mar Div in Sopron. Other Turkish formations were also ordered to take up advanced positions in the vicinity. Another general engagement threatened.
With those battles beginning and the situation in Novy Jicin becoming an expensive and failing effort, 1 Armd Div was ordered out to Prerov at 8am and both the associated spoiling attacks were discontinued, all with moderate to heavy losses.
Just an hour later, the Germans launched their own attack on Prerov. Inönü knew it was critical that 8 Inf Div, without a qualified commander, hold on long enough to allow 1 Armd Div to retreat through them. Despite the manpower issues, the Turks were adamant: the Fascists would be resisted with all available force. The cost would be counted later as MAJGEN Gürler of 6 Inf Div led Turkish and Soviet troops in a flanking attack on Uhersje Hradiste.
The ploy worked, with the Prerov attack called off by 1pm. But rather than cease the attacking on Uhersje Hradiste, Inönü doubled down by reinforcing it from Hodonin, making the odds more favourable, even as the Axis bombers switched their attention to the new line of attack from Hodonin. He was keen to remove this small German salient in the Turkish defensive line. But Prerov became more isolated when 2 Pz Div occupied Novy Jicin at 9pm that night.
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That afternoon in Zurich, Cennet was talking to Ambassador ‘Mike’ Ceylan in his private office.
“My dear Cennet, I’ve just received a cable from the Foreign Ministry in Ankara,” said Mike languidly. “The Soviets have appointed a young new Ambassador to the US. Here is the brief report on him.”
News Report: Washington DC, US.Andrei Gromyko has been named as the new Soviet ambassador to the United States.[Note: In OTL, this was part of a surprise announcement that long time ambassador Maxim Litvinov (still Foreign Minister in the ATL) was being removed from the post. Litvinov had departed Washington in May after Joseph Stalin summoned him back to Moscow.]
Andrei Andreyevich Gromyko (Russian: Андре́й Андре́евич Громы́ко) b. 18 July 1909 is a Soviet Belarusian politician and diplomat. Gromyko's political career started in 1939 with his employment at the People's Commissariat for Foreign Affairs. He is only 34 as he starts his new job as the Soviet ambassador to the United States.
“Yes, Uncle Mükkerim, very interesting, I suppose,” replied Cennet as she hand the short bio and picture back to her boss – who of course doubled as the S.I.T.H. chief for Western Europe.
“When we finish here, I want you to report to our passport section. They will have a brand new diplomatic passport waiting for you. In the morning, you will finalise travel arrangements for your new posting.”
“Oh, you mean I’ll be leaving my Italian Job?”
“Yes, for now anyway. Nothing much is happening there and our station chief in Rome plus the assistance of our ‘business consultant’ Vito Corleone can keep things covered. Your talents are wasted there now. I will get a new liaison officer to work with young Sforzini and the CLN resistance cells.”
Cennet was a little disappointed, but simply shrugged and nodded. He had been a bit of ‘fun on the side’, but was as nothing compared to the interests of the nation.
“You soon commence as our new Cultural Attaché in Washington DC,” Mike continued. “It should be an enjoyable official role. And there are, of course, a few items of business Ankara will want you to conduct. This is a promotion – and well deserved. That will be under different supervision, as you will be leaving my area of responsibility. It has been a pleasure working with you. Good luck in your new role – though I know luck will have little to do with it.”
“Thank you, Uncle Mükerrim. You have taught me much. I hope our paths cross again.”
“As do I,” he said as he gave her an avuncular embrace in farewell. “I do hope we both live to see each other again. One can never bank on that in this game.”
“I do hope we both live to see each other again. One can never bank on that in this game.”
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Undaunted and discounting manpower considerations (for now, at least), Inönü remained determined to keep the pressure up on the enemy both for local reasons on the Balkan Front, but also for strategic considerations the Soviets (with Romanian support) battles to destroy Army Group North and advance into Poland went on. Turkey would do its part to maintain a ‘full court press’, even if it hurt.
He therefore launched a new offensive in the Vistula Sector after 2 Armd Div took Kielce at 10pm. Two Soviet divisions began a night attack on the German 22nd Infanterie defending Jedrzejow, hitting them at 11pm. When it appeared resistance could be difficult to overcome, MAJGEN Tunaboylu’s 4 Inf Div was ordered to advance to strike the enemy’s flank: they would not join the attack until the following morning, when the effect would be judged.
Also at 10pm, the Germans attacked Wien, but what turned out to be a probe was easily repulsed just an hour later (no Turkish and 36 German casualties). Simultaneously, they also attacked the Soviet and US divisions holding Krsko. The battles for both Sopron and Szombathely were also both well advanced.
Inönü’s response was to strike back with maximum force. 10 Inf Div’s flanking attack on Körmend went in at 11pm to try to save Sopron, while a new attack was launched on Rijeka with three divisions from Delnice and Otocac, in the hope of providing more distraction but on favourable tactical terms.
The quiet period that had gone before was clearly over. While manpower still held at 13,000 in reserve, this was bound to fall again. The consolation was that the Germans, against whom the vast bulk of the fighting was directed, were assessed to be in a far worse manpower position and had the Soviet onslaught to contend with as well. Officer strength had now crept up to 102% with recent additional training efforts.
As 22 August ended, there were still six battles in progress across the entire Balkan Front, all of them closely contested. In the two weeks from 9-22 August (and not counting the continuing battles), Turkey had lost 2,916 men to ground combat and 3,153 to air strikes for a total of 6,069 killed. They had inflicted 5,005 ground combat losses on Axis (mainly German) forces over the same period. This brought total casualties for the whole month to date up to 10,073 for Turkey and 8,787 for the Axis.
Air Damage Report. German bombers killed 776 defenders in Novy Jicin in four raids from 21-22 August, contributing to the Turkish loss there. The Italians only hit Prerov twice from 21-22 August, killing 418 in defending the earlier Turkish spoiling attack on Olomouc. The Germans hit Cieszyn three times that day for 483 killed, part of their defence against the flank attack on Cesky Tesin. And Italian raids began that evening on Hodonin in defence of Uhersje Hradiste, the first one killing 116 men that night. This uptick in enemy air activity would no doubt soon be reflected in replacement demands from the front.
News Report: Washington DC, US.The identity of "Gertie from Berlin", who broadcasts Nazi propaganda to English-speaking radio listeners, has been revealed by the FBI to be Gertrude Hahn, an American citizen and native of Pittsburgh. Miss Hahn, who had moved to Berlin in 1938 when her father decided to return the family to Germany, grew up in Mount Oliver, Pennsylvania.[Comment: perhaps S.I.T.H. should pay this ‘Gertie’ a visit in Berlin.]
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Coming Up: How determined will the current apparent German counter-offensive prove to be? And what effect might that have on their ability to relieve the surrounded Army Group North or resist Soviet advances into eastern Poland? Is Inönü willing to risk running down his manpower reserves to zero in the short term, to lock in longer terms gains, now he has Turkey’s ‘foot in the door’ that opens into Germany’s soft/medium/hard (your choice) underbelly?
More widely, can the UK hold India and is Australia doomed or can it recover from the Japanese invasion? Will the British ever finish off those stranded Italian HQs in Libya and end the North African campaign, let alone invade mainland Europe, or even just Sicily?
And what might happen in the largely dormant ‘Secret War’ for the rest of August – more ennui as Italian national unity is slowly eroded, now without Cennet’s direct personal assistance? Or will there be some more serious Midnight Escapades, at home or abroad? Is Perse’s sabbatical in the US selling many war bonds?
August 1943 had begun with Turkey pushing on the open door of the crumbling Axis defence of central Europe, from Hungary and Slovakia (now a Comintern member and puppet of Turkey) to southern Poland. The chaos of German fifth columnists in Slovakian uniforms had given way to a dash forward into open or poorly defended territory beyond the Slovakian border, including to the iconic former Austrian capital of Vienna.
As the month wore on, the door began to be closed by the Germans, but not before Turkey managed get a foot in it to keep it ajar. German attempts to retake recently lost territory were met by some furious Turkish spoiling counter-attacks: some worked, others did not. Low Turkish manpower reserves were becoming an issue, though the Germans were estimated to be hundreds of thousands of men short by this time, many divisions effectively reduced to being brigade-sized kampfgruppen.
But in the north of the Russian sector, the combination of Soviet attacks and the diversion of Turkish attacks in the Balkans and central Europe seemed to have left the German Army Group North cut off and now unlikely to be relieved.
As had been the case throughout the Great Liberation War since June 1940, both fronts were linked strategically: the Axis had never had quite enough forces to triumph in both simultaneously – or to hold their ground in both if enough pressure was exerted by the Comintern across the front. The rest of the month would see where the Germans chose to place their priorities.
NB: This chapter is a little longer again, but that’s because it contains quite a bit of narrative action plus all the usual monthly reports, plus nine days of intense fighting on the Balkan Front. Vur ha and apologies to Professor @nuclearslurpee
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23 Aug 43
As 23 August began, fierce fighting continued across the Balkan Front, with serious Axis attacks on Sopron [-54% progress] and Krsko [-53%]. Turkish attacks or spoiling actions continued in Szombathely [67%], Rijeka [81%], Uhersje Hradiste [62%], Körmend [81%], and Jedrzejow [71%].
Turkey’s Split-based fighters (two groups, including four wings of mixed aircraft types) were called into action at 1am to contest an Italian bombing raid on Delnice, from where Turkish troops were attacking Rijeka. The multi-role 4 Avci Grubu was the first to be sent in. But before the Turkish fighters could do much damage to the initially unescorted Italian Cant Z.1018 Leone tactical bombers, three wings of Re.2000 Falco fighters joined the dogfight.
The Turkish response was to up the ante: the Wildcats of 3 Avci Grubu were ordered to join the fight as the older La-5s of 5 AF began to take damage.
Battle was joined again at 6 am, but this time the Turkish flyers were jumped by another two Italian fighter wings, making it an escort of five enemy wings in total.
This time it was the Wildcats that bore the brunt of the aerial combat, with only minor damage inflicted on one of the Italian bomber wings. 3 AG was pulled out of the fight, but 4 AG was left on intercept duty.
As that dogfight ended, in southern Poland 307 SD won its battle for Jedrzejow (directly north of Krakow) and advanced to deepen the Vistula bridgehead (78 Comintern, 146 German troops killed).
When 4 AG tried to respond to the latest raid on Delnice at midday, they were themselves intercepted by the Italian fighters over Split, who were apparently trying to gain air superiority.
Already damaged and coming off this exchange the worse for wear and unable to stop the raid on Delnice anyway, 4 AG's mission was cancelled when the third dogfight of the day ended that afternoon.
At 2pm, 1 Armd Div completed its desperate retreat to Prerov from its earlier defeat in Novy Jicin and kept moving back to the hoped-for safety of Zelinin. Just an hour later, the Turkish attack on Uhersje Hradiste ended in a bloody Comintern victory.
Over the Adriatic coast, soon after the Turks triumphed in their attack on Rijecka (117 Turkish, 443 German casualties), despite the persistent Italian air raids.
The rest of the day was quieter, with 19 Inf Div joining MAJGEN Diskoerekto’s 3 Mtn Div in Novo Mesto at 6pm, to help firm the line up further in the Adriatic sector.
Air Damage Report. Italian bombers killed 523 Turkish troops in Otocac and 435 in Delnice in an attempt to slow down the attack on Rijeka.
OTL Event: Eastern Front. Premier Joseph Stalin of the Soviet Union announced that the recapture of Kharkov from German occupiers had ended the Battle of Kursk with a serious strategic defeat for the German forces. Kharkov, the fourth largest city in the U.S.S.R., was the last major enemy base on the southern frontier.
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24 Aug 43
In the Slovakian sector, at 4am 8 Inf Div and the already retreating 1 Armd Div were attacked in the now-exposed former Czech province of Prerov. With 1 Armd Div on its way to safety in Zelinin, 8 Inf Div withdrew to Trencin after a brief firefight (11 Turkish, 16 German troops killed), rather than waste men trying to defend it (reserve manpower was at that point 12,000 with 6,850 reinforcements required).
The pressure and casualties were mounting in Sopron, despite determined Turkish spoiling attacks on Körmend and Szombathely. 1st Mar Div retreated at 7am, before it broke and while it could still choose its destination – lest a nasty gap be left in the line at Tata.
Following the loss at Sopron, the attack on Szombathely was broken off an hour later, even though it had been progressing reasonably well, while the ‘reinforced’ HQ 3rd Corps was brought across to assist the defence of Tata. The other spoiling attack from the south on Körmend was also cancelled (173 Comintern, 542 German casualties).
Soon after these developments, pressure further south on Krsko was mounting, as more German formations joined the attack. Spoiling actions were launched on Celje at 9am and Ptuj at midday, but neither met with success: Celje in particular was becoming a bloodbath.
At 5pm the attack on Ptuj was stopped and at 7pm the decision was taken to evacuate Krsko as well, where four German infantry divisions were now part of the attack and the odds were worsening [up to -77%]. As with the other battles, the ground was no longer considered worth the cost of holding it. The Soviet and American defenders were pulled back to Karlovac while they were still in fairly good order. Zagreb would be reinforced and the associated spoiling attack on Celje was discontinued.
In the Slovakian sector, Uhersje Hradiste was taken at 1pm, though that left a gap to its west in Hodonin, even while Prerov was already being evacuated.
Zalaegerszeg in western Hungary, just south-east of Szombathely, was occupied without a fight by the division-strength HQ 2nd Corps at 11pm., with 177 SD following behind them. This would form part of the consolidating defensive line in the sector after the loss of Sopron.
Air Damage Report. A single Italian air raid that morning on Sopron that killed 133 Turkish marines was the only air action of the day.
OTL Event: The Grumman F6F Hellcat Debuts.The Grumman F6F Hellcat fighter was first used in combat, as groups of Hellcats took off from the aircraft carriers Yorktown, Independence, and Essex. One historian would later opine that "The introduction of the Hellcat may have been the most important event of the Pacific war", while another would give the statistics supporting the opinion. "Of the 6,477 Japanese aircraft U.S. Navy carrier pilots claimed to have destroyed in the air, the Hellcat was responsible for 4,947 – an incredible feat considering the Hellcat did not enter combat service until August 31, 1943."[Comment: can we have some on license, please!]
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25 Aug 43
As 25 August began there were no ground battles continuing anywhere along the Turkish front. Manpower stood at 11,000 with 4,270 reinforcements needed. Consolidation was now the main priority – but not quite everywhere.
The Germans reoccupied Sopron at 3am, with 1 Mar Div still retreating to Tata (they would reach it early that afternoon, very disorganised) and HQ 3rd Corps still two provinces distant to the east of Tata. On the positive side, 177 SD marched into Jedrzejow at 6am and began digging in. At 8am, the Germans retook Prerov, just across the Slovakian border.
Rijeka was taken by 8 Mil Div at 6pm – 1 Mtn Div would follow them in at midnight. This was the cue for a concerted attack on the Italian-commanded German division holding Karlobag: revenge would be had for the earlier loss of Lussino, with a numerical advantage of over six-to-one for the attacking Comintern forces.
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Over in Washington D.C., British Foreign Minister Ernest Bevin was visiting for consultations: relations between the two democracies were still close, despite the US having formally joined the Comintern Pact when attacked by Japan.
One of the staff accompanying Bevin was a young man of dubious habits but great ambition. Guy Burgess, then 32 years old, was with Bevin at a diplomatic reception being hosted that night by US Secretary of State Alfred E. Smith. At the reception was a certain newly-appointed Turkish Cultural Attaché – Cennet Kavgaci.
“Oh, pleased to meet you, Cennet,” said Burgess after being introduced and then moving off into a quiet corner. “I have a gift for you from my former colleague, Kim Philby. He said it was ‘for old time’s sake’.”
“Why thank you, Guy,” Cennet replied nonchalantly, looking briefly at the inscription on the expensive-looking cigarette case. “Please tell Kim his kindness is most graciously appreciated. I do hope you enjoy your visit here. Perhaps one day you might make it here for a longer posting.”
They both went their separate ways after this brief and apparently innocuous meeting.
Top Left: Ernest Bevin. Top Right: Guy Burgess. Bottom: Cennet offers a toast to British-Turkish friendship at the diplomatic reception in Washington, 25 August 1943.
Guy Francis de Moncy Burgess (b. 16 April 1911). Born into a wealthy middle-class family, Burgess was educated at Eton College, the Royal Naval College, Dartmouth, and Trinity College, Cambridge. An assiduous networker, he embraced left-wing politics at Cambridge and joined the British Communist Party. He was recruited by Soviet intelligence in 1935, on the recommendation of the future double-agent Harold "Kim" Philby. After leaving Cambridge, Burgess worked for the BBC as a producer, briefly interrupted by a short period as a full-time MI6 intelligence officer.
Pursuing their main objective, the penetration of the British intelligence agencies, Burgess's controllers asked him to cultivate a friendship with the author David Footman, who they knew was an MI6 officer. Footman introduced Burgess to his superior, Valentine Vivian; as a result, over the following eighteen months Burgess carried out several small assignments for MI6 on an unpaid freelance basis. He was trusted sufficiently to be used as a back channel of communication between the British Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain, and his French counterpart Edouard Daladier, during the period leading to the 1938 Munich summit.
In November 1938 he resigned from the BBC. MI6 was by now convinced of his future utility, and he accepted a job with its new propaganda division, known as Section D. In common with the other members of the Cambridge Five, his entry to British intelligence was achieved without vetting; his social position and personal recommendation were considered sufficient.
Section D was established by MI6 in March 1938, as a secret organisation charged with investigating how enemies might be attacked other than through military operations. In 1940, Section D was absorbed into the new Special Operations Executive (SOE). In June 1943 [it was 1944 in OTL – this is where I’ve changed or compressed his OTL bio to suit the purposes of his role in this time line] Burgess accepted an offer of a job in the News Department of the Foreign Office. He then became an aide to Foreign Minister Ernest Bevin.
This brings him to the US for this in-story liaison visit, being used by Kim Philby to pass a message on to Cennet as Turkey's 'Cultural Attaché', via the ornate cigarette case. Burgess is not aware of the details contained in a coded message contained in microfilm therein, but has diplomatic immunity for the trip and is trusted enough by Philby to be used as a courier.
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26 Aug 43
176 SD joined HQ 2 Corps in Zalaegerszeg at 2am to reinforce the new defensive line in western Hungary. Four hours later, 6 Mil Div began marching up to Rijeka and 2 Mtn Div to Delnice, both from Otocac, to do the same there; even as the attack on Karlobag progressed well. The manpower reserve stood at 10,000, with 4,850 reinforcements required.
The Germans retook Krsko at 11am, but it was considered exposed and ripe for a Comintern counter-attack at some point in the future, when the time was right. The Germans launched a probe from the north (Ptuj and Körmend) on nearby Ormoz two hours later, but it was quickly defeated by the IS-1 equipped 1 Inf Div (22 Turkish, 90 German casualties).
That afternoon Agent SkitalecS3 brought a welcome update on recent Soviet progress: great gains had been made in the north and some progress was now also being made towards the former border with the Greater Reich in Poland. Army Group North appeared to have been irretrievably cut off. Ourah!
This progress, as well as increasing German pressure on forward Turkish positions and the manpower issues, was a large factor that led to Turkey beginning to hunker down and establish a new defensive line in their sector. As one door closed, another slid open.
Air Damage Report. A day of Italian airstrikes on Otocac caused 504 casualties.
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27 Aug 43
Very late on 26 August, a heavy German attack had begun on recently occupied Uhersje Hradiste. Three hours later, German infantry and panzers were also attacking Breclav. Both these forward positions were considered too vulnerable to hold, so orders to withdraw for were issued at 2am.
In New York, an English visitor was enjoying a late night stroll. He had made the arduous wartime trip over to meet with an old friend. Tonight he was on his way to talk to a contact who would be able to put him in contact with that friend, who was currently under American protection in a safe house, somewhere on the Eastern seaboard.
But the man had been followed from his hotel room. His hotel location had been tipped off to inimical (to him) agents – in the contents of a certain cigarette case! As the clock struck midnight, he heard a scuffing noise behind him and began turning to see what had made it …
… an action he never completed. The sound of the gunshot barely registered to him in the split second before the bullet thudded into the back of his head. His body was found a little later, with a strange card left on his forehead, above his two now unseeing eyes that were widened in slight surprise.
It seemed that a new S.I.T.H. operative, based in the United States, had made his mark – in emphatic fashion. The ‘Duke of Midnight’ showed that those who had betrayed the UGNR in general – and Inönü in particular – were not safe from retribution, even when on the soil of a foreign and allied country.
Of course, this operative’s true identity and nationality were not known by others for sure. But Soviet and Turkish intelligence sharing was clearly operating well. And an overt calling card had been left, as an example and a threat to others. [Hope you don’t mind your new in-game avatar, @Midnite Duke. Otherwise, you can plausibly deny him as a false flagger! ]
Back in southern Poland, 177 SD had not had much time to dig in at Jedrzejow before the Germans launched a shock attack on them from Radomsko at midday. An Italian divisision joined the attack at 1pm, driving down from Konskie, making the odds even worse.
In response, Naci Tinaz’s 2 Armd Div launched a quick and devastating spoiling attack on the Italians in Konskie at 2pm, hoping to peel them off before they could reinforce in Jedrzejow.
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28 Aug 43
By 2am, the Italians had pulled out of their flanking advance on Jedrzejow, narrowing the odds a little as they concentrated on their defence of Konskie. But nothing could be done to interfere with the understrength but still fierce German attack from Radomsko[back to -60% progress], which persisted.
The Germans retook Breclav (at 4am) and Uhersje Hradiste (at 5am) on the Slovakian front. They then probed Eisenstadt (south of Vienna) with two divisions at 7am, but were easily repulsed by the veterans of 15 Inf Div. LT Mehtin Sadik sweated only slightly more than when the Italians had attacked them a few days earlier, before the attack petered out after three hours.
Back in the Polish sector, 2 Armd Div won their battle against the Italians in Konskie (87 Turkish, 471 Italian casualties) at 10am but did not pursue, staying in Kielce, which was already exposed enough.
An hour later, across on the Adriatic coast, 222 SD had the honour of being first to reoccupy Karlobag, avenging their previous ousting from Lussino when the enemy had first broken through in this southern salient. This was followed up that evening with an exploratory probe by 8 Mil Div towards Pola which, along with Rovigno to its north, seemed to be unoccupied. There were hopes of trapping the German division that had now retreated to Lussino from Karlobag.
Air Damage Report. German tactical bombers (the Arado Ar-234B Blitz, but propeller-driven models – they had not researched jet engines yet) began hitting Eisenstadt that morning, and would continue to do so the next day, in support of a number of probes on 15 Inf Div that would follow.
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29 Aug 43
Supply transportation, which in Turkey had lagged behind the world’s leading standards for some time, was improved on 29 August. Both equipment designers and logisticians were kept on the task of improving it further.
Also that morning, the first primitive Turkish radar installation was deployed in Split, which stood at the front line in the air war (current and future) against Italy. An expansion was ordered straight away.
While that was happening, the half strength but fully organised 2 Pz Div launched a blitz attack on Cieszyn. But MAJGEN Bözer contended he could hold out, even as intense air strikes began that would last at least until the end of the month. To the south, Hodonin was occupied by the enemy as they closed back up to the Slovakian border.
Inönü’s manpower now daily report was provided at 7am and it indicated the reserve was down to 9,000 men with 5,530 needed to top up all units to full strength. And as he was reading it, word came of another probe on 15 Inf Div in Eisenstadt by the same two German divisions as last time, as the air strikes continued for a second day. The probe stopped after just an hour (Turkey 15, Germany 56 killed), but the air raids were doing far more damage.
The probe on Eisenstadt was repeated from 7-10pm that night: it was again fought off (Turkey 13, Germany 52 troops killed), but this time the air strikes also finished. The next enemy probe (and then air strikes) hit Novo Mesto at 11pm, but MAJGEN Diskoerecto’s 3 Mtn Div and the still ‘green’ 19 Inf Div savaged them in an hour-long firefight (Turkey three, Germany 57 casualties).
Air Damage Report. The two days of German raids on Eisenstadt killed 975 troops from 15 Inf Div, but they held firm. In Cieszyn, German and Italian bombers took turns to pummel the Turkish defenders and would do so for at least another two days, hitting them three to four times per day.
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30 Aug 43
It was 5pm in New York on 29 August, where an early dinner was being had in a small Italian restaurant in Brooklyn. The deadly introduction of the ‘Duke of Midnight’ had brought the espionage career of Tom Rosencrantz to a sudden end a few days before.
Now, David Callan was over in the US to investigate what he was sure must be another example of a mole (or moles) in MI6 betraying one of their own. How else could Tom have been discovered and eliminated so quickly in the supposedly safe territory of the US? He was having dinner with a mutual acquaintance of the woman Tom had come to both warn and protect – Persephonee Fotheringay-Phipps, of course.
“General, its good to meet you,” said Callan to B.J. Guildenstern, who sat opposite. They briefly exchanged some careful pleasantries before Callan got down to business. “I’m sure you were distressed at the vicious crime perpetrated on your patch just a few days ago. As would be our dear friend Perse. Is there anything you can let me know regarding who might have been behind it?”
“Nothing firm, though we know of a visit by Soviet Ambassador Andrei Gromyko to the Turkish Embassy for ‘fraternal consultations’ the day before the ‘event’. And the day after your Foreign Minister’s visit to DC had finished up.”
“You tried to find out what might have been discussed?”
“State asked whether they might have a back-brief on the meeting, in the spirit of ‘fraternal Comintern relations’, but Gromyko’s reply was succinct: ‘Nyet’ was his only response to that. But given Rosencrantz’s background, we suspect Turkish – specifically S.I.T.H. – involvement.”
“I see, is there any …” Callan began, but paused when the waiter appeared.
“Would you like to order now, gentlemen? I can recommend today’s special, it’s the …”
“Yes, yes, one of each and a nice bottle of Chianti will be fine,” said Guildenstern as he waved the waiter away, wanting to get on with business.
As they discussed the various theories and possible actions each might take, the food was delivered.
“I say B.J., this really is very good,” said Callan as he tucked into the tasty pasta dish. “There’s a certain something to it …”
Little did he realise who the ‘guest chef’ was at the restaurant that evening. And she had taken extra care with the gnocchi to make it as tasty as possible!
Before long, both Guildenstern and Callan had consumed a good portion of their meal – their last on this earth.
“For Luka Brasi and with the compliments of Şükrü Ögel,” whispered Cennet softly as she walked past the slumped forms of the two men. She checked her watch: it was just after midnight back in Ankara – very fitting.
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Along the Slovakian border and in west Hungary, things had gone quiet, with no air or land action at present. HQ 3rd Corps had arrived to shore up the exhausted 1 Mar Div’s defence of Tata, as the Axis also firmed up their opposing line. The action was now concentrated in southern Poland, where the defenders seemed to be holding their ground in Cieszyn but fading in Jedrzejow.
It was decided later that morning that the defence of Jedrzejow was not worth the mounting cost to 177 SD, whose organisation was starting to fail. They were ordered to retreat, with 2 Armd Div ordered down from Kielce to consolidate the line in the sector: the Soviets were now coming, having broken through to the east. It was perhaps time for Turkey to hunker down for a while.
At 10am Inönü examined the latest manpower report with concern, but not panic: the reserve was down to 8,000 men, with 5,160 reinforcements required. Only the battle in Cieszyn continued, as did the heavy Axis air raids, but 3 and 13 Inf Divs were still holding [-16%].
A little later that morning in New York, a messenger from the FBI brought Perse the fateful news: “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead!” All Perse could do was scream in anguish.
Air Damage Report. The probe on Novo Mesto may have ended, but three Italian air raids that day killed 448 defenders.
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31 Aug 43
At 7am, the Germans took Jedrzejow, before 2 Armd Div could slip into it. And because they were still reorganising after their previous spoiling attack, they did not immediately commence an encounter battle. Instead, 97 SD ‘Shev’ was forced to attack from Miechow. And when it became clear that would not be enough, at 1pm 307 SD, which had recently moved up to Krakow, was ordered to join in the counter-attack.
That evening, 5pm 8 Mil Div took Pola without a fight, cutting off the German 6th Infanterie in Lussino. This was the signal for MAJGEN Seven to lead a two-division Comintern probe on Lussino to test the defences of the Germans, now they had been surrounded. But it was immediately clear the cross-channel assault was futile and it was soon called off.
Alive to their danger, the Germans tried the same on 8 Mil Div in Pola four hours later, but that looked equally bloody and probably pointless, though the battle continued as the month ended. So too did the seemingly successful defence of Cieszyn [-6%] and the attack on Jedrzejow [+63%]. Turkish manpower was down to 6,000 with 3,470 replacements needed.
Intelligence reports assessed Italian national unity at 71.8% with 8.7% surrender progress, Germany at 74.5% NU and 6% surrender progress. In Italy, one third of the Turkish effort remained on counter-espionage (though no Italian agents had been sighted all month) and two-thirds on operations to decrease national unity, which it was believed had fallen 0.6% during the month.
Air Damage Report. Three days of German and Italian raids on Cieszyn had killed a massive 2,226 defenders and showed no sign of ending yet.
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Theatre Summaries
On the Patriotic Front, the last few weeks had witnessed wholesale advances by the Soviets, now all along the Russian-Polish sector as the Steamroller finally seemed to be getting into gear, complementing the recent Turkish advances in southern Poland, which were now largely on hold.
From 23-31 August, Turkey had lost 4,860 men in ground combat and another 5,244 to air attacks (a total of 10,104 – as many in the last nine days as the whole of the month before then), while the Axis lost 6,874 killed in combat along the Turkish Front. For the whole of August, this meant the Axis had lost 15,661 men while Turkey had lost 20,177. A few thousand more than the 18,600 new recruits Turkey was currently generating each month.
The Riga-Leningrad sector was now looking truly dire for the Germans, with Tallinn lost, Narva under threat and Soviet forces approaching Leningrad itself.
From Riga to Brest-Litovsk, the story was the same. The Germans still held Riga, but to its south the Soviets were running riot and had pocketed three German divisions south of Wilno and were on the outskirts of Brest-Litovsk.
In the front between Krakow and Brest-Litovsk, Soviet-Romanian spearheads were quickly closing up to the Turkish salient over the Vistula: Warsaw itself was now coming into calculations as a possible gain before winter set in.
In the Far East, the modest net gains continued, with the only loss of Comintern territory being in areas previously held in July by partisans behind the lines. The Turkish forces (highlighted in green in the south) had halted and would now be sent wherever else it may be needed.
The British had now gathered a powerful force of mechanised units in Libya, with apparently plenty of supply and still facing only Italian HQs. The last port of Tripoli remained open, with a fully-supplied 2nd Armd Div poised right next to it. So, of course the British were attacking unoccupied Zliten instead, with a medium tank and motorised division!
“It looks like shortages are hampering their efforts. Perhaps we can arrange a resupply of backbones for them!” exclaimed a derisive Inönü when he read this report.
The situation in India had changed little during August – at least mighty Bhutan fought on!
Allied battle management (or lack thereof) was also on show in Australia, where the Japanese invasion now extended – unopposed – north to Brisbane. There were now no Australian combat divisions visible anywhere on the whole east coast, from the tip of Queensland in the north to Melbourne in the south. A single HQ seemed to be the only ‘opposition’.
There was also no territorial change in New Zealand, where the Japanese invasion had stalled.
In South East Asia and Papua New Guinea, there were also few changes. Singapore still held out, with the Japanese apparently not interested in taking the valuable outpost – for some unfathomable reason.
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Naval Report
During August, the Germans had lost two U-Boat flotillas, but neither the Italians or Japanese had lost any combatant ships. Nor had the Soviets.
For the Allies, Britain had lost one destroyer flotilla, the US three submarine flotillas in the Pacific. The only major ship loss was suffered by Australia: a very sad loss indeed of their flagship, the HMAS Australia.
The HMAS Australia in 1937: a handsome-looking ship, now tragically at the bottom of the sea, apparently in a forlorn attempt to stem the Japanese invasion of the country for which it had been named. In OTL, she survived the war.
HMAS Australia was a County-class heavy cruiser of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). One of two Kent-subclass ships ordered for the RAN (the other being HMAS Canberra, sunk in ATL by IJNS Kongo (BC) in May 1943). Laid down 26 August 1925; launched 17 March 1927; commissioned 24 April 1928. Displacement 10,000 tons standard; complement up to 815; main armament 8 × 8-inch (203 mm) guns (in 4 twin turrets). Like the HMAS Canberra in May, she was sunk by IJNS Kongo (BC) in August 1943.
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Coming Up: With the Soviet Steamroller approaching, Turkey may be able to concentrate more on its western theatre, from Slovakia to the Adriatic. Thoughts will now turn to advance planning for the next big project: the invasion of Italy, hopefully by land and sea. But first, it was clear more needed to be done to at least achieve air parity, if not superiority, over the Adriatic.
Will Leningrad and Riga, even Konigsberg and Warsaw, fall to the Comintern in September? Will the British finally get off their arses and finish off the Italians in Africa? Can Australia be rescued or is it doomed? And can the British hold India, or may Turkish troops need to start looking at establishing a garrison on the UGNR’s Persian border with western India?
In the US, will The Duke of Midnight and/or Cennet strike again? Can Perse survive? Can anyone stop the Cambridge Ring from destroying MI6 from within while the Comintern begins to dominate on the continent?
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Chapter 212: An Adriatic Autumn (1 to 11 September 1943)
Chapter 212: An Adriatic Autumn (1 to 11 September 1943)
Foreword
Once more, the whole month has been played through, so here follows the report for the first part of the session. A few digressions along the way, one definitely from left field, but then you’ve come to expect those – have you not, my dear readAARs?
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Midnight Brief and Orders - 31 Aug 43
As August 1943 ended, Inönü received some additional reports he or his staff [ie including gentle readAARs] had sought and some orders were issued to start the new month. First off, general thinking was beginning to return to the previously mooted invasion of Italy. Some background information would assist in setting intermediate objectives and marshalling and positioning the required joint capabilities.
The main fleet remained based in Izmir and had a lift capacity of 180. The generally smaller US Marine divisions coming in at about 30 to 40 'weight', more for larger Turkish infantry or marine divisions that might take part in a first wave. Basically, it was about one full corps in a single lift.
A map showing the ranges of the shorter (INT) and longer (MR) Turkish fighter wings from Split was also provided, with Italian air bases in range also marked.
The three-division task force over in the Far East had been cooling it heels for some days. The men of the 4th Cavalry Division in particular had been enjoying life at the outpost in western Mongolia without a dedicated general to lead them. The Cowboy Men (as they were known) would soon have to adjust to the rigours of the Balkan Front as all three formations were ordered back to Ankara by rail, for further deployment once they finished their long train ride. But until then, they would live it up – and hard as they could!
(3.00 min)
Apologies, but despite being absolutely nothing to do with the time period of the game this video is a real hoot and unlikely seen by anyone outside Australia. There is no hidden agenda: I thought of the cavalrymen killing time in an outpost in the wild west (of Mongolia) and this spang to mind - like a toadstool in a field of mushrooms.
The notes for this clip state that this is the original 1980 Casablanca/PolyGram Australia music video for The Skatt Brothers Life At The Outpost. This official video was done by the Australian record company, without the actual Skatt Brothers, when repeated requests to the bands management company to produce a video for Life At The Outpost went unanswered. I remember it well from the time – tragically! But with a band name and song like that, they should have expected no better treatment than it got!
The men of the 4th Cavalry were sure workin’ it right! Their divisional motto: “Hop shoo bop, hop ride!”
On the Balkan Front, three battles involving Turkish troops remained in progress: in southern Poland there was an attack on Jedrzedow [63% progress] and the defence of Cieszyn [-5% progress]. On the Adriatic, the Germans cut off in Lussino were still trying to break out to Pola [just -1% progress, but with heavy Italian air support against a third-line militia division].
After all the moves and switches in recent months, a general reorganisation of divisions to the nearest corps HQs was conducted, trying to maximise command communications along the front. Following this, orders were issued for 1 Mtn Div to make an opportunistic advance into the vacant province of Kostel, while they would eventually be ‘backfilled’ in Rijeka by 14 Inf Div, now finished with the attack that retook Karlobag.
With the difficult air situation foremost in the President's thoughts, the War Ministry provided an update of the current aircraft wings in production under license.
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1 Sep 43
The fourth anniversary of the start of the Second Great War was noted at HQ 1st Army, where Inönü remarked that the brave Poles may soon be liberated, with Turkey having secured a swathe of southern Poland around Krakow and the Soviets now poised on its eastern border (well, the one established after the Nazi-Soviet Pact in 1939, at least). What the Poles may think of such a ‘liberation’ was, of course, brushed aside.
Closer to home, nationalist rebels rose in Knin, just north of Split, soon after midnight. It turned out to be a substantial and well-organised force of Yugoslav nationalist militia, which actually outnumbered the garrison division sent to deal with them. The fighting started out evenly: the counter-insurgency operation would take some days, it seemed.
The defenders of Cieszyn were holding well, but were subject to large raids by German and Italian bombers, including the Nazis’ very up-to-date Hs-132 CAS aircraft.
NB: the in-game pic for the Hs-132 (ie Stukas) is more relevant than the aircraft model provided – especially as ATL Germany has not yet developed the jet engine! Another small Paradox research fail, it seems.
Despite these huge air raids, midday saw victory in Cieszyn – with heavy German casualties on the ground, at least.
That afternoon, Perse attended a memorial service at an undisclosed (to the British, and therefore hopefully safe) location in Washington DC. She still could not believe that her old mentor and late benefactor was gone, let alone poor Tom Rosencrantz. What evil and terrifying S.I.T.H. hitman was out there now, in the supposedly safe US? This 'Duke of Midnight' might well be after her too – she looked nervously over her shoulder, and checked the small derringer she kept in her handbag.
Perse – in mourning, 1 September 1943.
That night, at 9pm 2 Mtn Div arrived in Delnice, which allowed 12 Inf Div to shift west to Rijeka, where it was hoped it could help sustain the campaign to secure the approaches to Trieste, a key objective for the mooted invasion of Italy.
Air Damage Report. A full day of German and Italian air strikes on Cieszyn killed 839 defenders, but failed to shake their resolve. The Italian raids on Pola would continue for six days, causing casualties at an average rate of around 500 per day.
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2 Sep 43
Midnight brought more good news from the Krakow sector: the counter-attack to retake Jedrzedow, carried out by two expeditionary Soviet divisions, had succeeded.
And later that morning, Muzir’s Mountaineers marched into Kostel, liberating it without a shot being fired. But they were somewhat exposed and would need more support before they could push forward further.
Air Damage Report. The Pola raids continued.
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3 Sep 43
The news was a little late arriving, but on 3 September the Allies acknowledged the earlier loss of Sydney. Sad days indeed.
By 11am, the damage to the organisation of the militia brigades in 8 Mil Div, holding Pola, was beginning to show, despite the enemy ground attack being at great odds [-2%]: but the air bombardment had been horrific. The fight against the rebels in Knin was going better [83%].
The wider Turkish front was still stretched quite thinly against a growing German presence, so stripping units from it to bolster the Adriatic sector was difficult and had to be done carefully. Even though the Soviet advance in southern Poland remained a little slow, the heavily armed 17 Inf Div was redeployed that afternoon from the eastern extremity of the Turkish line bordering the Soviets at Rzeszow to the Adriatic sector.
An hour later, Jedrzedow was reoccupied, once more providing a buffer for Krakow. 97 SD would join 307 SD there five hours later.
Air Damage Report. The Pola raids continued.
OTL Event: Italy. The Italian mainland was invaded by the Allies for the first time during World War II, as the British commanding General, Sir Bernard Montgomery, sent the first British and Canadian troops across the Messina Strait, from Sicily to the southern tip of Italy. The British Eighth Army, 5th Division, and the Canadian 1st Division began Operation Baytown early that morning and encountered little resistance after going ashore at Reggio di Calabria.
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4 Sep 43
In Washington, MI6 had despatched an agent to investigate the recent deaths of two of their operatives – Rosencrantz, who had been assigned on official business, and then David Callan, who had been off on some side-visit of his own. As a precaution, the presence of this agent was kept from the Americans and was very close-hold within MI6. But perhaps someone had ‘kissed and told’, as these precautions did the man no good at all.
Midnight came (in more ways than one) and its self-styled ‘Duke’ left his calling card on the cooling body of yet another British agent. Who had in fact been betrayed through the Soviet penetration of MI6 itself back in London. As some more people there were beginning to suspect.
On the Adriatic, 18 Inf Div’s arrival in Rijeka and the earlier securing of Kostel prompted 6 Mil Div to make a play for Rovignon, while Öktem’s men continued on to Pola, hoping to reinforce the increasingly shaky defence that suffered under incessant aerial bombardment.
That continuing enemy air assault led to a quick reorganisation of the Turkish air groups at 8am. 3 AG (Hitay) took the two most ready fighter wings in Split (6 AF’s Wildcats and the La-5s of 5 AF), with the other two wings being rested and repaired in 4 AG. In Budapest, the TAC wings of 1 TAK Group were detached from the longer-range (MR) 4 and 9 AFs (La-5s and Mustangs), which with 3 AG were ordered to run an intercept mission over Pola.
They were engaged by 9am, and though they had expected a heavy enemy fighter presence, they were not prepared for what came.
Six wings of Me BF 109Ks met them over Pola initially, joined by four Italian TAC wings with an MR fighter escort at 11am, which proceeded to raid the militiamen! But the Turks never got to grips with the bombers: they fought hard and did some damage to the swarming Luftwaffe fighters, but this rate of effort could not be maintained without taking severe damage. Regrettably, the mission had to be called off, as the latest air raid on Pola was finishing.
In somewhat better news, another fifth column attack by the Germans in the Slovakian sector – the 15th Infanterie in Zilina this time – ended quickly in Turkish victory for 3 Mot and 1 Armd Divs (18/18,732 Turkish, 66/5,007 German casualties).
With a German division having appeared in Capodistria and making for Rovigno, 12 Inf Div was added to the push on that province of the third-line militiamen of 6 Mil Div. The fighting in Pola showed no let-up.
While the Turkish operational focus was almost entirely on the Adriatic at this time, Agent SkitalecS3 reported more good news from the Baltic Sector: Riga had now been surrounded, trapping a German panzer grenadier division there as the Soviets continued to liberate the coastline of the Baltic SSRs.
Air Damage Report. The Pola raids continued.
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5 Sep 43
The morning or 5 September saw 8 Mil Div in a deteriorating position in Pola, as the air raids and ground attack from Lussino continued. 222 SD was ordered to conduct a spoiling attack on the German 6th Infanterie, despite the need to cross the straits from Karlobag: at least the Germans were distracted by their own attack on Pola. It was hoped this extra pressure might finally stop the enemy, who showed no sign of running out of supplies yet, despite having no port access.
Of course, this led to Italian bombers (just one TAC wing) beginning to hit Karlobag as well, by 5am. Two were raiding Pola simultaneously, so perhaps this might have lightened the pressure on Pola slightly. The fighting went on all day, as did the air raids.
14 Inf Div (MAJGEN Seven) was the next to arrive in Rijeka at 11pm, up from Karlobag. They were sent on to reinforce 1 Mtn Div in Kostel, where Italian and German divisions were now beginning to cluster, filling in the earlier gaps.
Air Damage Report. The Pola raids continued and the new strikes that began on Karlobag would last for four days, killing an average of around 375 per day.
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6 Sep 43
By early that day, Turkish manpower levels were down to 7,000 in reserve, with 5,050 vacancies in line units.
At 5am, 18 Inf Div joined 8 Mil Div in Pola. But they proved to be too late, with the militiamen closer to breaking point than had been fully appreciated. They broke and ran three hours later, dragging Öktem’s division with them, before they had a chance to reinforce the line.
Had I realised how close the militia were to breaking, I'd have ordered them out just before 18 Inf Div arrived, but hadn't wanted to risk the Germans slipping in.
But the Lussino attack was maintained, with it now becoming a holding action, designed to keep the Germans in place. 14 Inf Div was diverted from their advance to Kostel to head to Pola instead. The hope was to get them in place before the Germans could escape from their entrapment in Lussino.
That evening, Pola remained unoccupied, but not so Rovigno: a German kampfgruppe based on the 68th Infanterie had managed to slip in first, with MAJGEN Panov of 12 SD leading an assault on their hasty defensive position in what looked to be an even fight.
Meanwhile, 2 Mtn Div liberated Ribnica, discovering Ljubljana to still be unoccupied. 217 SD would join them fairly soon, at which point an attack on the last enemy occupied city in the former-Yugoslavia might be contemplated.
Air Damage Report. The Karlobag raids continued while those on Pola finished after the German attack succeeded, having killed a total of 2,944 Turkish soldiers over six days, most of them the poor militiamen on 8 Mil Div.
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7 Sep 43
217 SD arrived in Ribnica at 1am: 2 Mtn Div held the ground while the Soviets made a bold dash for the Ljubljana. As that began, the Italians began air strikes on Rijeka, trying to hamper the finely-balanced Turkish attack on Rovigno.
Air Damage Report. The Karlobag raids continued and new Italian raids on Rijeka began, trying to suppress the attack on Rovigno – they would continue into the following day, killing over 500 men per day.
News Report: Russian Front. As the German Army retreats from the last German-held territory in the Soviet Union, news emerged of Heinrich Himmler’s "scorched earth" (verbrannte Erde) order, with the goal to be "not one person remains, no cattle, no wheat, no railroad track ... neither a house nor a mine which would not be destroyed for years ... no well which would not be poisoned.”
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8 Sep 43
One of the old garrison brigade finished its conversion to motorised infantry at midnight and was sent north to fill out 3 Mot Div, stationed on the Slovakian border.
Their place in the production queue was taken up by yet another wing of license-built Yak-7s (costing 1,000 men of the precious manpower reserve).
SkitalecS3 was once again the bearer of glad tidings, with an early morning despatch from Moscow advising that a good number of German divisions had been cut off in Narva from the rest of Army Group North, itself surrounded. Another large group of German units had been pocketed west of Leningrad, which was now bordered on three sides by Soviet units. Huzzah!
Another STAVKA communiqué arrived four hours later, with news of a Soviet drive on Warsaw, though there was no activity yet on the boundary line with Turkish forces. This meant further Turkish divisions could not readily be redeployed to the west at that point. It was also noted that some areas liberated by Romanian units in Poland were being designated as under Turkish occupation.
At the same time, yet another division of potential turncoats turned up in Vienna in Slovakian colours, heading east: how long would this go on? Toüdemür ground his teeth as he was forced to let them march through unhindered. By this time, the mysterious MAJ Tyler Durden had once again disappeared to places unknown, perhaps to rest and recuperate for his next mission of mayhem. And making sure he avoided the official US LO, MAJ ‘Wraith’ Loggins, then touring US Marine divisions deployed in the Adriatic sector.
Late that morning, a manoeuvre Loggins dubbed the ‘Pola-Rovigno two-step’ was executed. At 11am, the partly-recovered 18 Inf Div was ordered up to Kostel, while 1 Mtn Div conducted a flank attack on Rovigno. As that hit home at midday, the Germans buckled and began retreating after now being outnumbered almost ten-to-one. Meanwhile, 14 Inf Div force-marched in Pola at 11am, before the Germans could escape from Lussino. This meant the expensive holding attack by 222 SD could finally be called off.
The Germans in Lussino then renewed their attack on Pola at midday, but now they were up against a far stronger, fresher and well-led regular formation. As 12 Inf and 6 Mil Divs continued their advance on Rovigno, 1 Mtn Div halted in Kostel and began digging in again. 217 SD was on its way to a still-unoccupied Ljubljana. The situation in this sector had hopefully been stabilised – for the next period, anyway.
Two major public announcements were made by foreign governments that day, both linked to the same event: the fall of Tripoli to the British.
Churchill made a broadcast with another of his memorable catch-phrases: he considered this marked the ‘end of the beginning’ of winning the war (as a number of informed members of the Turkish commentariat, such as Professor Nukeluru Slorepee, had already asserted).
A few hours later, Mussolini broadcast in his usual bombastic way that Italy would fight on with renewed effort, conjuring up thoughts of the ‘eight million bayonets’ he had once (apparently) boasted of. Both of these declarations were prompted by the fall of Tripoli as the final element in a range of strategic criteria.
On the down-side for the Allies, by 8 September the great city of Calcutta (Kolkata) had fallen to the Japanese in India, while Australia’s capital had been shifted to Melbourne after the fall of Canberra to the same enemy.
AuthAAR gnashes his teeth as home town is yet again occupied in an HOI3 game!
That evening on the Adriatic front, things remained busy. At 5pm, 12 SD occupied Rovigno, while at 7pm a division of elite Italian Alpinieri pulled into Ljubljana to set up a hasty defence. MAJGEN Diskoerekto’s 3 Mtn Div quickly sprung into action, turning the over-matched 217 SD’s attack into a more formidable effort merely by joining in at 8pm. By 9pm, perhaps aware of their opposite number’s fearsome reputation, the Italians did what they do best just an hour later. 3 Mtn Div halted in place, however, to ensure the key province of Novo Mesto remained secure, while 217 SD continued to Ljubljana.
Of interest, this short foray would only require Diskoerekto’s well-drilled men to do seven hours of post-attack reorganisation, in case they were needed again soon.
Air Damage Report. The four days of raids on Karlobag finished, killing 1,492 soldiers of 222 SD. Two days of Italian strikes on Rijeka also finished, having killed 1,078 Turkish troops. Meanwhile, aerial attacks on Pola resumed that night as the Turkish defence was renewed; these would last until the morning of 10 September.
OTL Event: Italy.Italy surrendered to the Allied forces after more than three years as a member of the alliance of the Axis Powers, 45 days after the overthrow of Benito Mussolini. At 7:30 in the evening local time, radio listeners in Italy were stunned to hear their Prime Minister, Marshal Pietro Badoglio, read the statement that "The Italian Government, recognising the impossibility of continuing the unequal struggle against the overwhelming power of the enemy, and with the object of avoiding further and more grievous harm to the nation, has requested an armistice from General Eisenhower ... This request has been granted. The Italian forces will, therefore, cease all acts of hostility against the Anglo-American forces wherever they may be met ..." U.S. Army General Dwight D. Eisenhower released the news of the unconditional surrender, "effective this instant", at the same time in a broadcast from Allied Headquarters in North Africa.[Comment: excellent coincidental timing in the ATL of the two announcements as Tripoli fell. Not the same outcomes, but the sentiment is there. Spooky. ]
Half of the 70,000 Allied prisoners of war in Italy were able to escape in a single day, walking out of the camps when their prison guards deserted. Allied forces began the Dodecanese Campaign, an attempt to capture the Italian-held Dodecanese islands.[Comment: The persistent Japanese provocateurs in this time line are irritating in their own right, even though we successfully invaded the Dodecanese long ago!]
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9 Sep 43
The early morning of 9 September saw 14 Inf Div defending strongly in Pola [-0% progress], though the Germans in Lussino still remained in supply. The long battle against the rebels in Knin was also came to an end, with a Turkish victory at 5am (81/5,997 Turkish, 287/9,000 Yugoslav nationalist casualties).
Air Damage Report. The Pola raids continued, with four that day.
OTL Event: Italy.The second phase of the Allied invasion of Italy, Operation Avalanche, commenced at 3:30 am, as the U.S. Army VI Corps and the British Army X Corps stormed the beaches at the Gulf of Salerno, and encountered heavy resistance from German forces. Lt. Gen. Mark W. Clark, who commanded the U.S. Fifth Army, decided not to precede the amphibious landings with an aerial bombardment of the German defenders, preserving an element of surprise at the expense of high casualties. British forces carried out Operation Slapstick, a landing at the crucial Italian port of Taranto.
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10 Sep 43
Midnight in Istanbul brought an ominous but familiar figure slipping out of an alleyway, silently stalking his latest prey: an unfortunate British agent who had been sent into Turkey to see if he could figure out why so many of their agents were suddenly being ‘neutralised’ in or by Turkey. The only warning was a faint whiff of sulphur and a hot-but-cold breath of foul air. He was soon in the clutches of the infamous Darth Kelebek, who had returned to Turkey after a long rest for a ‘refreshing bit of sport’, as he put it.
He turned up to the Interior Ministry’s Istanbul office later that morning with a small envelope.
“This is for Minister Kaya, for immediate transport on the Midnight Express to Ankara.”
“Yes, thank you Lord Kelebek,” murmured the nervous official. Given Kelebek was already there, mentioning his name wasn’t going to summon him again and it was just being polite. Or that was his theory, anyway. “The report on your latest interrogation of the British agent?”
“No, it is the remains of the British agent - for the records. He had nothing to say of any value, so I … reduced him.”
Kaya’s official just gulped, accepting the proffered envelope with trepidation and no further pleasantries. He put the letter in the official message satchel, but when he looked up, Kelebek had disappeared. As was his wont.
Victory in Pola also came at midnight, the Germans paying a very high price in blood for their failed breakout. By then, the Axis had managed to establish a hasty line of defence in front of Trieste.
At 5am, 217 SD liberated Ljubljana, bringing with it a small boost to the UGNR's manpower, leadership and industrial capacity. They began digging in as Axis units gathered around them.
Air Damage Report. The air attacks on Pola ended that morning, with 949 Turkish defenders killed since the evening of 8 September.
OTL Event: Rome, Italy. Two days after the government of Italy agreed to surrender, German troops invaded Rome, Naples and the rest of northern Italy. Prime Minister Pietro Badoglio and King Victor Emanuel III were able to flee through German lines and escape to Allied-controlled territory, and relocated the Kingdom's government to the city of Brindisi.
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11 Sep 43
With no battles in progress across the Turkish front for over a day, 18 Inf Div advanced on Capodistria when it became undefended on the afternoon of 14 September. A rapid thrust might secure the south-eastern approach to Trieste and trap a German infantry division in Umago – even though back-up formations were not yet available to help secure the recent gains.
The day ended with no more actions started or provinces changing hands. However, a report at 9pm indicated that the German 57th Infanterie division – a fifth column formation – had appeared in Bratislava, heading north-east towards Gänserdorf on the border with the Reich.
Air Damage Report. No enemy air activity was recorded as the situation on the ground remained quiet.
Casualty Summary. After the first eleven days of September, total Turkish losses to ground combat were only 1,985, but another 7,302 had been killed by air raids, giving a total of 9,287 battle casualties – still running at above the monthly recruitment rate of 18,700. And also not counting the men required to populate the new air wings. Axis forces facing the Turks lost 4,016 men to ground combat. There were no continuing battles as 11 September ended.
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Coming Up: The Turkish focus remains on the Adriatic sector, as thoughts turn more to setting up for a possible future invasion of Italy. With the Turkish front now stretched thin enough to make any large concentration for a major offensive difficult and risky, it will now be the turn of the Soviets to make the running, especially in Poland and East Prussia.
While the impending eradication of the German Army Group North will bag even more troops, the defensive front for Germany will be considerably narrowed in the east, which may cause problems for Turkey until the Soviets can push further west and start freeing up Turkish formations: the line remains quite thin in places, especially around Vienna.
The Allies have at least managed to eliminate the Italian presence in Africa, but their hold on India and Australia remains precarious. What they might do next after the ‘end of the beginning’ remains a mystery – wrapped within an enigma. Their losses to Turkey on the spy front must also be hurting – will they persist, or give it up as a bad investment? In Italy, the local secret police seem to be thoroughly cowed by now: which could be useful as the time for invasion approaches.
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Chapter 213: An Autumn Chill (12 to 30 September 1943)
Chapter 213: An Autumn Chill (12 to 30 September 1943)
Foreword
The first eleven days of September had seen both sides fiercely contesting the Adriatic Sector on the Balkan Front, while the Soviets looked to choke off the ‘Leningrad Pocket’ and liberate the rest of the Baltic SSRs. The Italians had finally been ejected from Libya, but the Australian heartland was rapidly falling under Japanese occupation. The 'End of the Beginning' may be at hand, but the Axis is far from beaten yet, while Turkish manpower has fallen to a bare break-even point for replacing losses and introducing a few new air units.
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12 Sep 43
The temporary calm on the Balkan Front was broken at 6am by the beginning of a ‘police operation’ by the reinforced HQ 2nd Corps (Mech) (8,000 men) against German fifth columnists in Bratislava. The 57th Infanterie was poorly organised, out of supply and had only 1,368 men left, but was using the urban terrain and city fortifications to prolong the action, which would last until 14 September.
An hour later, the Axis launched a strong attack on Ljubljana, heavily outnumbering the exposed 217 SD, who at least had terrain, entrenchment and the weather on their side, though the Italian 132a ‘Ariete’ armoured division outmatched the Soviet AT capability. Italian bombers were supporting the attack.
Straight away, a spoiling attack was launched on Cerknica, which struck at 8am and would at least distract the Italian 1st Mtn Div, while their 2nd Alpina was out of supply. Italian bombers also began to hit the Turkish attackers in Ribnica. The diversionary attack forced a Comintern win in Ljubljana within an hour, while the attack on the Italians in Cerknica had succeeded by midday.
By 5pm, the latest manpower report showed 5,000 were left in reserve, but 6,030 replacements were needed, with a monthly gain of 18,800. It was the first small net deficit noted so far. At the same time, west of Katowice, Rybnik was left unoccupied by the Axis, so 177 SD was ordered to take it via Katowice, while 9 Inf Div was shuffled forward from reserve Krakow to reinforce the forward lines. Otherwise, the Vistula bridgehead remained quiet.
But the enemy attack on Ljubljana was renewed at 11pm, this time just from Celje and Kranj. The shock tactics used made it a bit more difficult for MAJGEN Semenyuk of 217 SD, but he was hopeful of holding [-23% initial attack progress].
Air Damage Report. Italian raids on Ljubljana would continue until the end of 14 September, but the two raids on this day alone killed over 400 defenders. Two Italian strikes on Ribnica also killed 360 more.
OTL Event: Italy.In the Gran Sasso raid, German SS Sturmbannfuhrer Otto Skorzeny led a rescue of Benito Mussolini, the recently deposed Italian dictator, who had been imprisoned at the Campo Imperiale Hotel, located in the Abruzzi Mountains. Shortly after 2:00 pm, eight gliders landed silently at the resort, bringing a team of German commandos. They were followed by 70 paratroopers, who secured the grounds while Skorzeny's team overpowered the Italian Army prison guards, who surrendered without a fight. Twenty minutes after the attack began, a German Fiesler Storch plane departed Gran Sasso with Mussolini and Skorzeny on board.[Comment: In this ATL, Mussolini’s regime remains secure, to this point anyway.]
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13 Sep 43
17 Inf Div (IS-2 equipped) finished its redeployment from the east of the Balkan line to Delnice at 7am. They had another 94 hours of reorganisation ahead of them, but were initially ordered to move forward to Kostel via Ribnica to get into position for future operations. At the same time, 1 US Marine Div (only 3 x MAR bdes) was ordered to move via Novo Mesto to reinforce the Soviets in Ljubljana.
By 7pm, 217 SD in Ljubljana was showing signs of disorganisation and the enemy attack odds had improved [-30%] as the air raids continued.
Air Damage Report. The air strikes in Ljubljana continued.
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14 Sep 43
Capodistria was taken at 5am, putting MAJGEN Öktem’s 18 Inf Div on the outskirts of Trieste. That stopped the enemy who had been retreating from Cerknica, who went into a quick attack at 6am (with Italian air support). And that in turn led 2 Mtn Div to make a new 'automatic' quick attack on Cerknica, where they had been advancing to after their victory there on 12 September. The enemy attack on Ljubljana continued to slowly gain ground.
An hour later, as more Axis units began to join the attack on Capodistria, 12 SD launched a spoiling attack on the Germans cut off in Umago, who were trying to break out to Capodistria. The whole sector was now in flames, from Ljubljana to the coast. It was perhaps a necessary sacrifice, but would not be doing the Turkish manpower situation any good.
Ten hours later, the situation in Capodistria had worsened, with air raids continuing. Three Axis units were in reserve and trying to join the attack, though the Comintern spoiling attacks on Umago and Cerknica were going quite well.
An hour later, 1st US Mar Div reached Novo Mesto, but were held back, as the odds got worse for 217 SD in Ljubljana [-48%]. This was to avoid another ‘reinforcing defeat’ situation. If Ljubljana was lost, then the US Marines would be expected to help retake it. MAJ Kenny ‘Wraith’ Loggins was itching to join the fight, but acknowledged the tactical factors at play reluctantly, as his Soviet comrades died amid the city’s ruins.
At 11pm, word came from Bratislava that victory had been won by HQ 2nd Corps, (Turkey 214/7998, Germans 342/1366 killed). 57th Infanterie fled east – still behind the lines, but now posing little threat. HQ 2nd Corps stayed put to secure the Slovakian capital.
Air Damage Report. Italian raids on Ljubljana from 12-14 September killed a total of 1,835 of the Soviet defenders. Raids on Capodistria started that day and would last until the morning of 16 September.
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15 Sep 43
With the defence of Capodistria failing by the afternoon of 15 August, 1 Mtn Div added its weight to the spoiling attack on Cerknica, trying to ‘shake something loose’, as MAJGEN Muzir put it. Fighting all along the Adriatic Sector remained fierce.
Air Damage Report. The air strikes in Capodistria continued, while Italian air raids on Rovigno commenced.
OTL Event: United States. The United States Army revealed the existence of its formerly top secret weapon, the bazooka (officially the AT M-1 rocket launcher), the first rocket-propelled grenade weapon. A demonstration was given to assembled reporters at the Army Infantry School at Fort Benning, Georgia.
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16 Sep 43
The logisticians advanced Turkish supply organisation to another level and were ordered to continue this vital work that had previously been neglected earlier in the war - when supply lines were shorter and the demand lower.
The stubborn defence of Capodistria ended in defeat at 1am, 18 Inf Div having ended up outnumbered three-to-one and attacked from multiple directions. The casualties were heavy – at a time when these really hurt the wider manpower situation. The odds immediately worsened in Umago and the Germans there would soon be freed, so that attack by 12 SD was also abandoned an hour later. But the two mountain divisions persisted in their assault on Cerknica – for the present. The position in Ljubljana continued to deteriorate.
Near Katowice, Rybnik was occupied unopposed at 11am and 177 SD began to entrench in their exposed position. In northern Russia, the Baltic Coast was now liberated from the west of Riga to the outskirts of Leningrad, except for one doomed German pocket west of Narva.
Lead Soviet elements had advanced over the border into East Prussia and were now nearing Konigsberg, though the Germans still controlled a string of Baltic ports north of there.
Recent gains in eastern Poland were more modest at this stage, however.
Back down in the Adriatic Sector, manpower concerns and the need to consolidate with the likely imminent fall of Ljubljana led Inönü to call off the attack on Cerknica, even though it had been progressing well enough. He also figured the great gains being made by the Soviets in the north would permit him to take a more defensive posture for now. And Kostel could soon come under attack – Muzir’s Mountaineers needed to dig in again, just in case.
Capodistria was lost at 1pm, as the Germans had extracted themselves from Umago. An hour later, the Battle for Ljubljana was lost; it would re-occupied by the enemy just before midnight.
The autumn chill had definitely set in on the Adriatic Sector. Though it would be nothing compared to that being suffered by Army Group North! The Comintern was overall still well pleased with progress on the wider Patriotic Front.
Air Damage Report. The air strikes in Capodistria from 14-16 September killed 507 troops, while two days of small raids on Rovigno killed 237 defenders.
---xxx---
17 Sep 43
At the midnight ‘witching hour’ it was not a spy apprehension but news of a revolt by Persian nationalist guerrillas that had Kaya excited - though hardly apoplectic. The regular security brigade based in Tehran was despatched to deal with them. No new combat on the Turkish front lines occurred that day.
---xxx---
18-19 Sep 43
From 4-6pm on 18 September the Axis probed Katowice with two divisions, but MAJGEN Gürzlin’s 7 Inf Div repelled (27 Turk, 32 German casualties). The rest of the front remained quiet.
The decrease in tempo showed up in the manpower equation early on 19 September. The reserve stood at 5,000 with 5,060 replacements required by 3pm on 19 September. That night, 17 Inf Div arrived in Ribnica and, having completed their post-redeployment reorganisation, they combined with the US 1st Marines in Novo Mesto to attack Ljubljana. 132a ‘Ariete’ put up only token resistance and the Comintern forces advanced to retake the city.
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20 Sep 43
The short period of low tempo was ended early on the morning of 20 September when another Italian light armoured division, the 133a 'Littorio', launched a serious attack on Rovigno. 18 Inf Div had been retreating through there to Rijeka and they were sent on their way again immediately, leaving 12 SD and 6 Mil Div – neither really front-line formations – to try to hold on.
A new radar station which became available that morning was held in reserve for now.
OTL Event: United Kingdom. The British de Havilland Vampire jet fighter aircraft made its first flight, taking off from and landing at an airfield at Hatfield, Hertfordshire, with designer Geoffrey de Havilland piloting.
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21 Sep 43
At 1am, the fifth columnists of 57th Infanterie passed through Piestany without a fight and kept heading north to German-held territory over the Slovak border: they now only had 1,010 men left.
The attack on Rovigno continued and was trending against the Comintern defenders. At 7am, the Italians expanded their counter-offensive with a major attack on Kostel, being held by a mix of veteran mountain troops and inexperienced militia.
This time it was 1 Mtn Div being assisted by their comrades of 2 Mtn Div, as MAJGEN Türkes led a spoiling attack on Cerknica. It soon took some pressure off Kostel, but both battles continued.
With this sustained pressure in the Adriatic sector – mainly led by the Italians – at 4pm another formation was peeled away from the quiet Slovak sector: 177 SD was put on trucks and sent down from Piestany to Karlovac, just south-west of Zagreb, to help bolster the line.
Some good news was received when Ljubljana was re-occupied at 9pm, the US Marines being the first in. ‘Wraith’ Loggins, munching a cigar and toting a Thompson gun, was with the lead patrol as they picked their way through the ruined streets.
Air Damage Report. Enemy air raids resumed, with three on Rovigno killing 427..
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22 Sep 43
Yet another partisan revolt broke out in the Dodecanese at midnight. By now, this was a familiar event for the local militia commander. The fighting continued all day in the three battles on the Adriatic Sector.
Air Damage Report. Italian attention switched to Kostel, with raids continuing there in support of their attack until the 24th.
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23 Sep 43
17 Inf Div made it into Ljubljana at midnight (nb, they are an infantry division with heavy tanks, so only move at foot pace). They were instructed to pivot left and open a new flank on 2 Mtn Div’s attack on Cerknica. The Italian bombers were hitting Ljubljana by then, as they were Kostel too. The militiamen of 8 Mil Bde in Kostel had broken by 6am, taking their AA battery with them and leaving 1 Mtn Div alone and now under heavy pressure, though Muzir was mounting a very effective elastic defence.
At 4am, 19 Inf Div was ordered to reinforce Ljubljana as well from Novo Mesto, leaving 3 Mtn Div to hold the hills there by themselves.
Another probe on Katowice, this time by an SS Division, was called off as soon as it began at 1pm. Both 7 and 9 Inf Divs were defending it by then, the SS finding themselves outnumbered four-to-one, fighting against entrenched defenders in fortifications and urban terrain (Turkey 18/21,992, Germany 63/5,063 killed).
Six hours later, the Japanese-funded partisans in the Dodecanese were defeated once more, with 90 bandits killed for the loss of two Turkish militiamen.
The day finished with the Adriatic battles still raging, and the converted 12th Gar (Mot) Bde completing 3 Mot Div in Zilina. Just an hour later, 177 SD came under attack in Rybnik from Ratibor by Italian mountain troops.
Air Damage Report. The Italian air strikes on Kostel continued and they resumed on Ljubljana. A one-off Luftwaffe raid on Katowice killed 180 men.
OTL Event: Italy. The Italian Social Republic, with its capital at Venice, was founded in northern Italy as a puppet state of Nazi Germany, with former Italian premier Benito Mussolini as the Head of State. The office of Mussolini, and most of the government ministries, was located in the resort town of Salò.
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24 Sep 43
Midnight saw yet another British spy captured in Ankara. He was lucky, in relative terms, as by now Kelebek was getting a little bored and even Kaya was becoming uninterested. He was delivered in person by the Dark Lord of the S.I.T.H. to Sir Stewart Menzies, Head of MI6 – in his London office!
“Şükrü Kaya sends his regards,” hissed Kelebek as he dropped off the gibbering agent. “He is released on parole. You may use him against the Germans or some other Axis power. But if he is ever discovered in a Comintern country, he will be more severely ... punished.”
Then, after a short pause, Kelebek added “As will you.”
After which, he walked into a corner and just seemed to fade away, leaving only a cold breeze and a faint odour of sulphur.
“Şükrü Kaya sends his regards.”
No matter how often or meticulously Menzies got his men to ‘sweep’ the room, he could discover no more. When Kim Philby heard about the story, he laughed heartily – on the inside.
Over in America, Perse laid low, in fear of the so-called ‘Duke of Midnight'. She was almost becoming a recluse these days. Even Cennet was unable to get a line on her. Yet.
Back at the front, the air base in Zagreb received its upgrade and another was commenced. Not only would it be of use in the current campaign, but it could be used later for longer range aircraft operating over the Italian peninsular.
The latest new interceptor wing – 10 AF, armed with Yak-7s – was deployed for work-up in Gyöngyos, where 9 AF’s Yaks had now completed theirs. Next to be license-built were some upgraded F4F Wildcats, which had superior night-fighting characteristics to the Soviet equivalents (and the current Wildcats in Turkish service). Alas, the next American fighter model was still not available. The precious manpower (1,000 men) to raise the wing was expended.
9 AF was redeployed to Split via Zagreb in two ‘reserve mission’ flights, to preserve their organisation, arriving at their new base at 2am. The wings there were reorganised again, the Yak-7s joining the existing (and now repaired) F4Fs, grouped back under Hitay’s 3 AG.
At this time, the three Adriatic battles still raged. Rovigno was now just holding as the attacking Italian armour weakened. Kostel was looking bad, as 1 Mtn Div faded, while 17 Inf Div was yet to reinforce the spoiling attack on Cerknica, where 2 Mtn Div was almost out of organisation. All while the Italian air assault continued on Kostel and Ljubljana.
Over in Rybnik, west of Katowice, the battle had turned against the defending Soviet EF (177 SD) by 7am, when a German infantry division reinforced the attack of the Italian mountain troops [-72% progress].
The next piece of infrastructure preparation for the mooted invasion of Italy was the starting of an expansion of the air base at Dubrovnik to second level facilities.
Great news was brought by an excited GRU Agent SkitalecS3 at the same time: Leningrad had been liberated! Ourah and vur ha! The remains of Army Group North had lost their last port in what was now the Karelian Pocket. It was a significant day for the Anti-Fascist Coalition.
As the day wore on, the three battles on the Adriatic sector came to a head. Kostel was lost at 11am, with heavy ground combat casualties once more, in addition to the losses from the air. The Cerknica spoiling attack was immediately called off – which had also racked up a heavy casualty list. 19 Inf Div was switched from reinforcing Ljubljana to the ‘rallying point’ at Rijeka, as more Comintern formations were forced into retreat.
But there was some relief at 3pm: even though 12 SD had been forced to retreat from Rovigno, the militiamen of 6 Mil Div had held out against the odds. The Comintern had once more suffered heavy casualties, but had inflicted even more on the attacking Italian armour.
Air Damage Report. The Italian air strikes on Kostel finished, having killed 1,231 defenders. Those on Ljubljana also ended, killing 808 there. A day of Luftwaffe raids on Rybnik killed 625 men.
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25 Sep 43
After the climactic events of 24 September, the Turkish front was less frenetic the next day. At midnight, the manpower report showed 5,000 still in reserve with 3,610 replacements needed, though after recent heavy casualties this seemed a little optimistic. Perhaps there was a lag in reporting from the front.
Given the fragility of the replacement pipeline and worsening odds [-81%], 177 SD was ordered to withdraw from Rybnik at that time (399/7,992 Soviet, 277/14,873 Axis troops killed), even though they still had plenty of fight left in them. With events in the Soviet Union, Turkey could afford a period of consolidation along the whole line.
OTL Event: Soviet Union-Eastern Front. The Soviet Red Army recaptured the Ukrainian SSR city of Smolensk from German occupiers leading to the total abandonment of the U.S.S.R. by German forces in what was described as "the greatest mass retreat in history".
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26 Sep 43
Early that morning, the true manpower situation had become clear: the reserve of 5,000 men was now balanced by an estimated requirement for 7,640 replacements. On the Adriatic, the enemy retook Kostel at 7am – though the Italians didn’t seem that keen to hold it. 171 SD finished their strategic redeployment to Karlovac that evening and were ordered on to Rijeka.
The short lull in fighting ended at 10pm with a German attack on Cieszyn. Their shock tactics were balanced out by a deficit in numbers, plus the defenders’ entrenchment in good terrain. This key province would not be surrendered easily, as MAJGEN Bözer vowed to hold it come what may.
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27 Sep 43
A much awaited doctrine advance came at midnight with the implementation of combined arms warfare in the Turkish Army. Assault concentration would be pursued next to help the ‘supporting arms’ of Turkey’s many artillery, AT and (fewer) AA brigades.
At midnight, 18 Inf Div, which had partly [about 25% org] recovered in Rijeka after its flight from Capodistria, was sent back to Rovigno to bolster the militia holding it – and allow MAJGEN Öktem to command any renewed defence that may be called upon. The exhausted 12 Inf Div finished its forced retreat from Rovigno to Rijeka two hours later.
Rybnik fell to the Germans at 2pm, but Cieszyn still held strongly to its south.
Air Damage Report. The Luftwaffe started raiding Cieszyn, which would end the following night.
---xxx---
28 Sep 43
At 8am the enemy attack on Cieszyn was over: they had suffered an expensive defeat (213/21,995 Turkish, 839/4,819 German casualties).
In Persia, 1.13 Inf Bde attacked rebellious Emamrud at 6pm – only for the rebels to disappear without a fight. And as a side-note, the Polish HQs that had retreated from their latest uprising were by then just past Ankara, apparently on their way to the Allied-held territory of Iraq!
Air Damage Report. The German raids on Cieszyn in support of their attack killed a total of 1,172 Turks, but the defenders held.
---xxx---
29 Sep 43
A brief fire-fight in Katowice disturbed the recent quiet along the front at 1pm, with the Germans fielding medium panzers and an SS division, supported by Italian elite Alpinieri against the well-prepared 7 and 9 Inf Divs, commanded by MAJGEN Gürzlin. But the skirmish only lasted two hours before the enemy withdrew (53 Turkish, 76 Axis troops killed).
But the period of peace around Vienna was more conclusively shattered at 10pm, with a heavy German attack on Gänserdorf, including medium panzers and Luftwaffe air support. MAJGEN Kanatli’s 1 Mot Div’s older equipment was outmatched by that of 7 Pz Div, so an attempt to decrease the pressure was made with a spoiling attack on the panzer division in Breclav. This soon helped 1 Mot, but they were still under considerable pressure.
As this attack was beginning, the elite, full-strength and rested ‘binary’ Italian 2a Alpina Div renewed the assault on Rovigno against the still recovering 6 Mil Div: the early signs were not good [-80% progress].
Air Damage Report. A one-off Luftwaffe raid on Katowice killed 149 men.
OTL Event: Italy. On the Royal Navy battleship HMS Nelson, anchored in the harbour of Valletta at Malta, Marshal Badoglio of Italy, accompanied by four of his generals and an admiral, met with U.S. General Dwight D. Eisenhower and his entourage, to sign Italy's articles of surrender.
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30 Sep 43
The spoiling attack on Breclav had peeled 7 Pz Div away from the attack on Gänserdorf by 5am, so it was called off (40 Turk, 43 German casualties) to avoid more losses now the Germans could concentrate on their defence. However, the assault on Gänserdorf was still a threat [-52% progress]. Fortunately, the change in odds was not to the liking of the Italians left with it and they broke off the attack just an hour later (148 Turkish, 95 Axis troops killed).
The same mix of Axis units as the day before probed Katowice from 7-8am, but once more broke off quickly (25 Turk, 35 Axis casualties).
In Rovigno, the gallant militia had once again held firm and by 5pm 18 Inf Div [up to about 50% org by then] had joined and then reinforced (better Turkish doctrine no doubt helping), putting Öktem in charge and turning the battle around [-32% progress]. The battle would still be going as the month ended [progress -26.4%, 9 Turkish vs 2 Italian brigades].
More free IC was invested in the build-up of air bases along the Adriatic, with Tirane having work begun on building it up to level three facilities.
Air Damage Report. Three German raids on Gänserdorf in support of the Axis attack there killed 836 defenders. In Rovigno, the Italian Air Force reappeared after a break of some days, three raids there killing 450 men.
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Monthly Summaries
General progress on the Patriotic Front over the whole of September was very pleasing. Most Comintern advances were in the north, from Leningrad along Baltic coast (now secured down to East Prussia) and inroads into German-held Poland. However, little had been done in the south of Poland to close up with the Turkish salient on the north bank of the Vistula. In the to-and-fro of the fighting in the Adriatic Sector, Turkey had made some minor net gains during the month.
Turkey had taken another 15,410 battle casualties in the period 12-30 September, bringing it to almost 24,700 for the month (not including any attrition or men supplied to new air units) – more than the recruitment rate of around 18,800.
The Karelian Pocket remained firmly sealed off, with a large amount of German units presumably now starting to run out of supplies as autumn lengthened into winter.
Diplomatically, Finland appeared to be at no risk of joining the Axis: they were being influenced by both the UK and Germany, but were drifting more towards the Allies [24.29] than the Axis [21.86].
Finland was about a quarter or more along the ‘diplomatic triangle’ from Axis to Allied alignment – out of the join the Axis ‘danger zone’.
In the Far East, the Soviets had made modest gains. The Turkish task force was in trains heading west, then passing north of Lake Balkash.
As reported in the last chapter, Libya had been fully secured earlier in the month. But the Japanese invasion of Australia had pushed somewhat deeper into the hinterland, while Canberra had been taken earlier in the month. There were still no fighting Allied troops of any sort deployed on the entire eastern seaboard to oppose the Japanese.
This is because all the Australian regular and garrison divisions appeared to be deployed in New Guinea and the South West Pacific Area (SWPA), where Lae had been retaken. Cold comfort back home, no doubt.
The Japanese had made no progress in New Zealand, the Pacific or South East Asia, where the British still controlled Singapore.
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Naval Report
During the month, the Allies lost a number of minor ship flotillas, while the RN had three major fleet units sunk. The British lost a CVL, CA, CL, two DD and one TP flotillas. The US lost two SS flotillas.
For the Axis, the Japanese lost a CA, one DD and two TP flotillas, while the Germans also lost two TP flotillas.
Major fleet units sunk during September 1943.
IJNS Chōkai (鳥海) was a Takao-class heavy cruiser, designed with the Imperial Japanese Navy strategy of the great "Decisive Battle" in mind. Laid down 26 March 1928; launched 5 April 1931; commissioned 30 June 1932. Displacement 15,781 tons; complement 773; main armament 10 × 20 cm (8 in) guns (5 x 2). Sunk by HMS Rodney (BB) in September 1943.
HMS Eagle was an early aircraft carrier of the Royal Navy. Ordered by Chile during the South American dreadnought race as the Almirante Latorre-class battleship Almirante Cochrane, she was laid down before World War I. In early 1918 she was purchased by Britain for conversion to an aircraft carrier; this work was finished in 1924. Laid down 20 February 1913; launched 8 June 1918; commissioned 20 February 1924. Standard displacement 22,200 t; complement 791; main armament 9 × 6 in (152 mm) guns; aircraft carried 25–30. Sunk by IJNS Soryu (CV) in September 1943.
HMS Cumberland was a County-class heavy cruiser of the Royal Navy. Laid down 18 October 1924; launched 16 March 1926; commissioned 23 February 1928. Standard displacement 9,924 t; complement 679; main armament 8 × 8 in (203 mm) guns (4 x 2). Sunk by IJNS Zuiho (CVL) in September 1943.
HMS Enterprise was one of two Emerald-class light cruisers built for the Royal Navy. In the early 1930s, Enterprise was fitted with a prototype twin 6" turret in place of her two forward single mounts; and with the trials proving successful it was retained for the rest of her service career. Laid down 28 June 1918; launched 23 December 1919; commissioned 7 April 1926. Standard displacement 7,700 t; complement 572; main armament 7 × 6-inch (152 mm) guns (1 x 2, 5 x 1). Sunk by IJNS Ryujo (CV) in September 1943.
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Coming Up:Can Turkey hold the line without going further into manpower ‘debt’, as they wait for the Soviets to wrap up the Karelian Pocket and close up to the Turkish Vistula Salient in Poland? When will the growing Turkish Air Force be able to offer some genuine relief from the destructive Italian and German air raids that continue to plague the Turks?
Early thoughts for the coming invasion of Italy are now being entertained by the Turkish War Cabinet. Professor Nukeluru Slorepee, MAJGEN Diskoerekto, Darth Kelebek, MAJ ‘Wraith’ Loggins and other strategic advocates for prosecuting the war against Italy may wish to provide any thoughts they may have on preparations, requirements and capabilities they believe would be required for a successful amphibious invasion. The first question is whether Sicily should be invaded first, or ignored, with a direct assault on the peninsula, with either option perhaps accompanied by a major land offensive in the Adriatic Sector, aimed at northern Italy to split Italian attentions.
Will Australia relocate any credible forces from New Guinea to defend their own homeland before Japan forces them to surrender? What (if anything) might the British do next after having tossed the Italians out of Libya? Once more, will the US Sleeping Giant ever wake up, other than the busy marines in the Balkans and some modest submarine warfare in the Pacific?
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Chapter 213A: War Cabinet Sub-Committee Meeting (30 September 1943)
Chapter 213A: War Cabinet Sub-Committee Meeting (30 September 1943)
Beograd: 11pm, 30 September 1943 - Opening Discussion
A condensed Cabinet sub-committee meeting was held to brief President Inönü on early thoughts about planning and preparing for the invasion of Italy. Present were:
President Inönü (Milli Şef of the UGNR, President of Turkey, War Minister and Commander 1st Army)
Field Marshal Örlungat (Chief of Staff and Chief of the Air Force)
Field Marshal Calistar (Supreme Theatre Commander, Deputy War Minister and Propaganda Minister)
Foreign Intelligence Chief Şükrü Ögel
Örlungat presented a ‘supplementary operational update’ brief:
“The last main report provided a throrough overview of the situation on the wider front as at the end of this month, so I will not repeat that information, other than referring you to the current strategic map for the Patriotic Front.”
“On that, I have marked in yellow the proportion of the line we are principally holding, stretching from east of Krakow all the way to the Adriatic Coast,” Örlungat continued, gesturing at the wall map. “I contend that it is now simply too much ground for us to hold comfortably with the forces we have, especially given the increased pressure the Axis has been exerting of late.”
“I agree, Ali,” opined Calistar, who as Supreme (Theatre) Commander was primarily responsible for joint operational planning, such as for naval landings requiring air support. “We are well stretched simply holding the line now, let alone having to take out the four marine divisions and follow-up forces for a properly supported naval landing and exploitation.”
“This is very true,” added Inönü, who in his role as 1st Army Commander would have primary operational responsibility for the land-based push towards northern Italy that was envisaged to complement any naval landings further south. “I must not only halt these recent Italian counter-attacks in the Adriatic Sector, but have enough troops on hand to push towards Venice in strength to complement any landing, wherever that might be.”
Örlungat nodded and rounded off the initial discussion. “Our first precondition for a major invasion of Italy – whether on the peninsula or Sicily – must therefore be to shorten our main line considerably, because with current manpower shortages we will not be producing any new land units in the foreseeable future.” All nodded their assent.
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War Ministry Report
Calistar took that as his cue to present the latest figures from the War Ministry on recruiting.
“We have just the one battle still in progress as we speak, the defence of Rovigno,” he said gesturing at another map pinned next to the strategic overview. “It is going reasonably well, but remains a serious contest – and of course drains more men every hour it continues. With the terrible toll from enemy bombers on top of that.”
“And here are the latest manpower figures. As you will see, if the same rate of casualties we sustained last month – 24,697 – is repeated in October, it will outstrip projected recruiting – 18,700 per month – by around 6,000 men. We have 2,000 left on the books but around 4,700 replacements needed. That means at those rates, the net deficit will increase and we will soon have no buffer: men will be sent into units as soon as they become available and it will still not be enough.”
“Your recommendations?” asked Inönü.
“Short of our Air Force being able to clear the skies of Axis bombers …” Örlungat shook his head sadly at that “… it is another compelling reason for shortening the line as much as we can. Minimise the number of battles we must fight, increase the strength of what we must defend. Give ourselves the ability to deter attacks and repel those that are made more quickly. Then hope we can maintain such a solid line that we start to gain rather than lose men in net terms.”
“No new major offensives before at least the end of the year, I’d say” added Örlungat. “Just maintain the defence. Conduct counter and spoiling attacks if we must, or to shorten the line, by all means. And take any targets of opportunity. But no major contested advances, including towards northern Italy, until we know we can maintain them. Really, we need the Soviets to advance through Poland while we pull our line west, out of Poland entirely in due course.”
“I think you may be right,” agreed Inönü. “I will need to talk to the Soviets and Romanians about it. Things will improve when they can close off the Karelian Pocket, freeing up all those forces for the main front."
“In terms of material preparation for an amphibious operation, this is a list of selected projects currently under production that are specifically designed to offer support for an invasion,” said Calistar, moving onto his next presentation item. "We have added Tirane to the list of air bases to be used to support possible invasion operations. The idea is to provide flexibility in where support can be provided from and ensure we have the capacity to repair aircraft we expect to be damaged in covering the invasion fleet and beachheads. Spreading out our bases but concentrating the aircraft where we need them should help achieve that more quickly than improving only one or two bases. It may also provide us with a wider range of landing locations that will be in range.”
“The new modern cruiser won’t be ready until late next year, but all the new fighter wings will be delivered and likely worked up to operational effectiveness by early next spring, while the new destroyer flotilla will be in service by around mid-March,” added Örlungat.
“So regarding these new additions to the armoury, you’re saying we won’t likely be ready before early spring 1944 at the earliest? Even if the ground forces are assembled?” asked Inönü.
“That’s right, Milli Şef,” replied Calistar. Örlungat concurred.
“And for your information, here are the current research projects and other leadership training priorities at present," Calistar added. “We continue to concentrate on selected training and doctrine research, plus some base logistic improvements, including a soon to be finished upgrade to our agricultural processes. That will release more men for military training to help address the manpower shortage.”
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Invasion Options
“That brings us onto landing options,” noted Inönü. “What have our experts been suggesting?”
“One idea was for an initial operation first that might be done while we get ready for the main invasion – Sardinia and Corsica [@37th Armoured div],” said Ögel, who would handle this part of the briefing. “As this map indicates, Britain lodged on Sardinia at Olbia many months ago, but has never expanded from there. So Cagliari would be an option as an alternative port base, which also has an airfield. Corsica is still own by Vichy France, so invading that would bring war with them, which I understand we are not ready for at present.”
This assertion met with nods from around the table.
“Let’s leave Cagliari as a possible subsidiary or preparatory option that might be played out as a kind of dress rehearsal before any more substantial invasion,” directed Inönü. “Do some recon and outline planning for it, Calistar.” The Supreme Commander nodded and took notes.
“The same correspondent was an advocate of Sicily as the main invasion target, with multiple landings behind enemy lines,” noted Ögel. “There will be more discussion of that option subsequently.
“Major General Diskoerekto made a submission,” said Ögel as he circulated a folder to each of the other attendees. “His initial thoughts covered a range of possible plans, but after subsequent discussions with the planning staff at Supreme HQ, he noted that our air support was unlikely to be able to support landings from multiple sea zones, which his plans examined. Yeşil Plan envisaged a landing on the east of the Italian peninsula.”
“As with all possible options, whether suggested by MAJGEN Diskoerekto or others, they are broad approaches and dependent on available forces and known enemy dispositions closer to the day of invasion,” observed Calistar. “In this case, it was our advice that we would unlikely have the air assets to support it, as Ögel noted. If that was to change, we might be able to support two zones, but Üngen may also be worried about splitting our small fleet.”
“Diskoerekto’s Kırmızı Plan called for multiple landings further south, around Taranto and the ‘heel’ of Italy,” continued Ögel. “This also suggested up to three sea zone landing approaches. He is not an advocate of landing in Sicily.”
“Professor Nukeluru Slorepee also broadly supported the Kırmızı Plan, subject to further discussions and noting we were at this time in no position to conduct any major landings in the short term. His view was that ‘Sicily is too out of the way to accomplish anything, but as long as we can reconnoitre in advance to ensure that Italy is not manning Sicily or the boot. An attack on Taranto will be valuable and easily supported from the air to boot’. I'm sure no pun was intended []. And the Director of the Eurasian Section at the Ataturk Institute of Strategic Studies also suggested that landings targeting Rome directly were a good option.”
“Diskoerekto’s subsequent suggestion was to look to conduct three to four landings – preferably against unoccupied provinces – from a single sea zone. Our US Marine LO, Major ‘Wraith’ Loggins, seemed to favour up to two different landing sites wherever they are made, but not too wide a frontage for each site – so distinct landing operations,” finished Ögel. This received nods from around the table – a good idea, but such details would be evaluated for the selected area closer to D-Day, based on intel and recon reports.
“Speaking of Major Loggins,” interjected Calistar, glancing at a note from the US officer. “He tells me he remains in favour of a Sicily landing. He says that ‘Sicily gives us a good lodgement against the Italians. My argument arises from exactly what others have pointed out: it's defensible from the strait side, and will sucker whatever the Italians have left down the toe of the boot. At which point, another SMELT (amphibious) operation could be conducted behind their lines, cut them off and then win the war. I sincerely believe that only landing on home territory will cause the Italians to forego the front lines for their own nation. The more time we allow for that to process a bit, the more chances the Glorious Union and the Soviets have to force the issue into Germany and bring things to a conclusion.’”
As the others took this all in, Ögel resumed his commentary: “The, ah, Red Butterfly, mentioned that ‘If we landed and took Sicily, the Italians would probably melt and send the whole of what's left of their army back to defend the homelands, making the fight in the north easier for Russia. At the same time, it would make taking Italy proper harder for us ... unless we both smash through the Alps at the same time as invading Sicily, or wait long enough for Italy to send everything south of Rome and then proceed. But we don't want to wait too long, because Italy and France are the two targets the Allies might actually try to land in themselves.’”
Apart from a few glances at shadowy corners, the men at the table held their nerve at the mention of the euphemism for Darth Kelebek. Ögel continued.
“The Butterfly had a lira each way, really, as he then suggested he’d ‘probably plan a naval invasion of Italy somewhere, preferably somewhere that would split the country in two, separating the south (hopefully entirely empty of troops) from any northern reinforcements. Basically, if the theory that Italy has jack in Italy is true, we should invade as far north as possible. If we think they do have an army there, it's probably better to March from Sicily all the way up, and keep pressure on the Alps too.’”
“Still, that’s fair enough, as the location will really have to be decided once we know what the strategic situation is generally and Italian deployments are specifically, possibly up to six months away,” noted Örlungat. And not just to placate Kelebek, assuming he was listening in somewhere, somehow. “Six days can be a long time in this war, as we’ve seen, let alone months. My advice is we keep generally prepared to adopt any of these plans, or variations of them, and then refine our choices as the time gets closer. That’s not fence-sitting: all the preparations are compatible and we should keep building up our capacity for a strong main landing by next spring.”
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Summary
“I think we are agreed then, gentlemen,” summarised Inönü.
“One, it is too early to try anything soon, and next spring is probably the time to try, unless circumstances change significantly before then – in our favour."
"Two, we keep preparations going on the assumptions of a major landing anywhere from central Italy to Sicily, and decide on a specific area and landing sites closer to the proposed D-Day."
"Three, we assume protecting a single invasion force from one sea zone, but possible multiple landing sites, though unlikely more than two."
"Four, we try to shorten the line and conserve manpower as much as we can, but remain largely at the mercy of Soviet progress to our north and the intensity of the Axis operations against us, which are showing no sign of letting up soon.”
All were in broad agreement as the meeting broke up. Now, it was up to fate and the will of men to see how events would unfold and whether such plans would eventuate in the form anticipated.
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Endnote
I thought I’d ‘clear the decks’ before launching into the chapter(s) that will cover October, which has now been played through. So this is both a wrap-up of current thinking and preparations for a future invasion of Italy and a set-up for the next part of the story. My working title for the chapters that will cover October is ‘A month that shook the world’. As busy, trying and significant a month as we’ve had for many a long time!
Chapter 214: A Rising Tide (1 to 10 October 1943)
Foreword
Following the War Cabinet sub-committee meeting of 30 September 1943 in Beograd, the Turkish high command went back to their various places of duty. Inönü waited at his 1st Army HQ for the events of the month to be reported. His hopes were to limit the amount of battle casualties Turkey suffered, to repair manpower reserves and keep building support infrastructure to assist with a future invasion of Italy.
He also needed the Soviets to start relieving Turkey of some of the long front it now held against increasing Axis pressure. A secondary objective was to see how close Turkey could get to the approaches to Venice for the offensive in northern Italy, intended to complement any naval landings further south.
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1 Oct 43
The enemy’s attack on Rovigno that had begun on 29 September ended in Turkish victory first thing on 1 October (Turkey 135/18,858, Axis 295/5995 killed). But there would be no time for complete peace along the front quite yet, as at midnight the enemy launched a probe on Eisenstadt – the first of many attacks there during October – which ended up being repulsed by 3am (Turkey 13/12,988, Axis 29/21,655 killed).
It was still quiet at 7am as MAJGEN Muzir, with his recovering 1 Mtn Div in Rijeka, gazed out at a large gap in the enemy line at Kostel, a few provinces south-east of Trieste. Alas, only one (19 Inf Div) of the four divisions in Rijeka was in decent fighting shape by then, while the divisions in Rovigno were worn out after the recent battle. And an Italian armoured division was on its way, so they were all ordered to hold tight.
Sure enough, after this short respite combat was renewed at 9am with a German attack (19. Infanterie) on Györ, which was escalated when 78. Infanterie joined in an hour later and the air raids started. The US and Soviet defenders were seriously challenged, despite being dug in on forested terrain.
The fighting briefly spread to Eisenstadt again, with another German probe being defeated between 10am and midday (Turkey 12/12,739, Germany 91/7,920 killed). Also at midday, 78. Infanterie reinforced the front line at Györ, further increasing the pressure on the Comintern defenders.
At this point, it was decided that ‘a stitch in time saves nine lives’: at 1pm three Comintern divisions launched a heavy spoiling attack on Szombathely. As this did not stop the attack on Györ as the day went on, the Turkish 1 Mar Div (MAJGEN Selisek) struck Sopron at 10pm to further break up the enemy attack. The marines were soon making good progress as the Germans were forced to fight on two flanks, as they were in Szombathely too.
As the marines began their attack on Sopron, the enemy were launching two new attacks of their own, on Vienna and Gänserndorf, one of the two provinces that linked the Austrian capital to the rest of the Turkish front. In Vienna, the tank guns of 2 Mot Div were just enough to match the armour of the German medium panzers (11 Pz Div) and the defenders had their partly-completed trenches, some light fortifications (level one) and the urban terrain to help them. But in Gänserndorf, the older tanks of 1 Mot Div were overmatched by 7 Pz Div, which would halve the Germans’ casualties: the position looked grim for Kanatli’s men.
Air Damage Report. A mix of Axis planes hit Eisenstadt all day, killing 682 Turkish defenders. A single Italian raid on Györ killed 146.
News Report: Moscow, USSR. W. Averell Harriman, a wealthy American capitalist, Democratic politician and previously a senior envoy to Europe, is named as the new U.S. Ambassador to the Soviet Union.
OTL Event: Naples, Italy. The U.S. Fifth Army captured Naples. Before retreating, the German Army laid waste to the city, damaging or destroying the cultural landmarks, including the University of Naples and the Teatro di San Carlo. More than 200,000 books, many of them priceless, were soaked in gasoline and burned.
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2 Oct 43
As 2 October started, the manpower reserve was down to just 1,000 with 4,610 replacements needed and an accrual rate of 18,800 per month. Five battles were in progress: not the rest and recuperation time Inönü had hoped for. It would get worse as the month wore on.
Good news came at 1am with victory in Györ (Comintern 223/17,989, Germany 274/13,066 killed). At 2am, yet another probe on Eisenstadt was made and then beaten off by 3am (Turkey 3/12,493, Germany 34/7,828 killed), at the same time the attack on Vienna was abandoned (Turkey 13/10,984, Germany 52/12,763 killed).
That was the signal for the two spoiling attacks on Sopron (Turkey 16/12,997, Germany 30/5,681 killed) and Szombathely (Turkey 332/29,990, Germany 522/17,147 killed) to be called off.
Also at 3am, 3 Cav Div (in Kuty, no leader) finished its reorganisation and immediately attacked the eastern flank of 7 Pz Div in Breclav, hoping to disrupt their attack on Gänserndorf, where the situation remained worrying [-72% progress]. They struck at 4am and the effect was immediate [Gänserndorf to -40%], even though the German panzers’ armour outmatched the AT guns of 3 Cav Div.
The next step was to shift the newly completed 3 Mot Div (no leader, 3 x MOT, 1 x TD, 1 x SP-RART) down from Trencin to Bratislava at 5am, further thinning the line on the Slovakian border.
The defenders of Gänserndorf suffered repeated air raids that were hampering their defence [back up to -76% after enemy reinforcement], so the Turkish Air Force once more attempted to provide some relief. At 11am, two interceptor (1 AG) and two M/R fighter wings (from 1 TAK Gp, bombers detached) were ordered to fly interception missions over Gänserndorf.
A series of complex dogfights followed that afternoon – and in both cases the would-be Turkish interceptors were themselves intercepted first, over Breclav and Gänserndorf, before they could hunt any enemy bombers. 1 AG was soon under attack by six Luftwaffe fighter wings and their mission was cancelled. On the way back to base, they joined the fighters of 1 TAK, who had been jumped over Gänserndorf by three Italian wings. Three of the four Turkish fighter wings were mauled by these engagements and all were ordered back to base to recover.
While they were duelling in the air, another probe on Eisenstadt (1-3pm) was defeated (Turkey 16/12,259, Germany 89/7,794 killed). And 8 Inf Div (no leader, Trencin) was ordered to join the redeployment of border divisions to the Vienna sector as the fighting there dragged on.
Before the Turkish fighters over Gänserndorf could get back to base, at 5pm they became engaged with two more Axis bomber groups and their escorts, creating the largest dogfight seen yet on the Turkish Front, with 13 enemy wings involved. The Turks suffered more damage, though 3 AF remained virtually unscathed. 4 AF was badly mauled, 2 and 9 AFs less so. This time, they all made it back to base that night and were taken off line for much-needed repairs. Sadly, the troops on the ground along the front would need to fend for themselves against the incessant enemy air attacks.
To make matters worse, at 9pm Italian armour attacked the two partly-recovered divisions defending Rovigno. It looked like they may have trouble holding, so 19 Inf Div (no leader) was ordered into Kostel from Rijeka, to see if they could eventually attempt a spoiling attack against Capodistria to help their comrades in Rovigno. The rest of the troops in Rijeka continued to recover organisation (noting replacements were now slowed to a trickle).
Air Damage Report. The Axis began new air missions in support of their attacks on Gänserndorf, Vienna and Eisenstadt that would continue into the next day. Three Italian raids on Tata (trying to disrupt the spoiling attack on Sopron) killed 180 Turkish marines.
OTL Event: Free France. After General Henri Giraud stepped aside as a co-director, General Charles de Gaulle became the sole leader of France's Committee for National Liberation, which would form the basis of the nation's post-war government.
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3 Oct 43
There was relief at 1am when 4 SD finished its reorganisation and was able to join the spoiling attack on Breclav. By 3am, this had caused the Germans to halt their attack on Gänserndorf and the spoiler on Breclav was called off before any more troops were lost. A little time had been bought, but the corridor to Vienna was still not strongly held.
At 3am, 1,000 recruits remained in reserve, but 5,760 replacements were needed: the deficit was creeping up day by day. Rovigno was the one battle still continuing at that time – and the Turkish defenders were slowly losing ground [-72%]. Italian air strikes had also commenced.
Another probe on Eisenstadt (7-8am) was beaten (Turkey 7/12,059, Germany 62/7,704 killed), the IS-2s of 15 Inf Div helping to minimise casualties as the German 16. Infanterie launched attack after attack, seeking an opening. At 7am, HQ 2nd Corps (2 x INF, 1 x ENGR) was ordered from Bratislava into Gänserndorf, but its pace was slowed to a crawl (0.30 kph) by a lack of fuel.
At 1pm, the enemy renewed their attack on the tired defenders of Gänserndorf, this time with the fresh (though under-strength) 22. Infanterie. The shock of their attack caught Kanatli off guard and they were soon under pressure again, though an armour advantage would help decrease casualties this time. The Comintern troops in Kuty were still reorganising after their last spoiling attack and would be unavailable for a while – though 4 SD had only been engaged briefly and would be ready again in seven hours). Probes on Vienna at 1pm (Turkey 32/10,237, Axis 135/12,751 killed) and Eisenstadt at 4pm (Turkey 8/11,894, Germany 89/7,641 killed) followed but were both defeated by 6pm.
At 2pm, 3 Cav Div was ordered to march to Gänserndorf instead when ready, while HQ 2nd Corps (given its snail-like progress) was redirected north to fill in at Kuty instead. Meanwhile, 4 SD was ready again by 9pm and began advancing for another spoiling attack on Breclav. They went in at 10pm with great elan in a reckless assault to help their comrades in 1 Mot Div, who were failing quickly [-91%]after the German 45. Infanterie had joined the Gänserndorf attack from Hollabrunn early the next morning. Taking the risk of sacrificing their partly-completed entrenchments, Toüdemür then launched a typically bold sortie to hit the German flank in Hollabrunn from Vienna.
Another complex and desperate defensive battle had begun – and the Turkish manpower deficit continued to grow even faster.
Air Damage Report. The raids on Gänserndorf continued, while those on Vienna (921 casualties) and Eisenstadt (767 casualties) concluded. The new mission on Rovigno would last into the next day.
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4 Oct 43
By 4am, the manpower reserve had been completely exhausted, with 5,910 replacements reported as needed – a figure which would soon be growing. This prompted a deliberate withdrawal from the losing battle of Rovigno [now -88%], 18 Inf Div to Pola, 6 Mil Div to Rijeka, before the troops routed (Turkey 310/18,519, Italy 176/7,996 killed). This left just the three battles in the Vienna sector still going.
And a fourth engagement started there at 7am, with 11 Pz Div hitting the flank of 2 Mot Div’s spoiling attack on Hollabrunn ‘spoiling the spoilers’, as the tactic had become known. Again, neither side had an armour advantage in this combat.
With Turkey unable to directly affect any more of the attacking German formations around Vienna, the three remaining divisions assigned to the Slovakian border were ordered to simultaneously advance into the now open provinces in front of them at 9am. It was hoped this might at least distract the Axis and prevent them reinforcing their Vienna counter-offensive any further, as none of the Turkish defensive or spoiling battles were going well by then.
On the Adriatic, that afternoon 19 Inf Div reached Kostel by 1pm and was ordered to start a holding attack on the three Axis divisions in Capodistria, with the aim of keeping Rovigno unoccupied so reserve forces could slip in to defend it. Kostel could also be a handy stepping stone to Trieste – if it could be held. But the leaderless 19 Inf Div’s attack got off to a poor start.
Eisenstadt was probed yet again by the Germans at 3pm, but it was over almost as soon as it began (Turkey 6/11,896, Germany 26/13,195 killed). However, this was no help in the other three battles. Even though casualties in Gänserndorf had been minimised, 1 Mot Div’s organisation was almost spent. They were ordered to evacuate to Bratislava and the two spoiling attacks were called off. Vienna now needed to be defended – and scarce manpower preserved, as much as it could be.
This did at least allow Toüdemür to concentrate on his defence of Vienna, which the Germans stopped attacking at 6pm (Turkey 49/10,224, Germany 99/4,747 killed).
But this consolidation did not stop the Germans from maintaining their relentless pressure. They attacked Györ again at 10pm in a reckless assault, with 19. Infanterie (in Szombathely) joined early the next morning by 78. Infanterie (Sopron) for another fairly dangerous attack [-46%].
Air Damage Report. The combined Axis raids on Gänserndorf concluded once the battle was lost (1,470 killed). The Italian raids on Rovigno also finished that morning (566 Turks killed).
OTL Event: Corsica. The island of Corsica, seized by Italy and Germany from France in the 1940 conquest, was liberated by the Allies after a battle of 25 days.[Comment: in this ATL, Corsica remains part of Vichy. But there you go @37th Armoured div – Corsica gets a mention ]
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5 Oct 43
At 1am, the second line formations of 12 SD and 8 Mil Div were deemed sufficiently recovered to begin advancing on Rovigno from Rijeka to see if they could hold it from the Italian push, while 19 Inf Div fought its difficult holding attack on Capodistria [18%]. 1 Mtn Div remained behind in Rijeka (still only about 50% organisation) to recover more and provide a stable base in case things did not work out.
With no Soviet progress so far this month in southern Poland and no formations coming west to bolster the Turkish lines, a new objective was set at 2am for German-occupied Sandomierz, where a number of Soviet divisions were massing to its east: hint, hint, Uncle Joe!
As fighting in Györ and Capodistria continued through the morning, 1 Mot Div finished its retreat from Gänserndorf to Bratislava at 10am. It was badly disorganised and its strength was at 8,133 men compared to its establishment of 11,000, with its SP ART brigade taking the worst of the air strikes, down to 520/1,000 men, the INF bdes at around 2,300/3,000.
At 1pm, the 19 Inf Div holding attack on Capodistria was halted as casualties mounted and the odds worsened (Turkey 750/12,998, Axis 193/26,275 killed). Within two hours, they had themselves been attacked in Kostel from Capodistria by an Italian mountain division.
Air Damage Report. A day of Italian attacks on Kostel provided support for their defence of Capodistria then later in the day for their attack, killing 419 troops. Italian raids began that morning to support the attack on Györ.
OTL Event: Ankara, Turkey. Theodore Morde of Reader's Digest met with Franz von Papen, the German ambassador to Turkey, in what would be described later as "a crazy attempt at personal diplomacy". At the request of OSS chief Bill Donovan, without the knowledge of President Roosevelt, Morde attempted to persuade Papen to lead a coup to overthrow Adolf Hitler, with Papen to be the new leader of Germany. Papen declined the offer.[Comment: Wow! Not possible in this ATL of course, as Papen was expelled back in June 1940.]
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6 Oct 43
The comparative decline in op tempo was soon dispelled by a blitzing attack at midnight by German armour and infantry on Wehib Pasha’s 1 Armd Div, which had pushed forward to secure Novy Jicin at 10pm the night on the 5th. With the odds looking difficult and the enemy distracted, Bözer commanded a three-division advance against the forts of Cesky Tesin soon afterwards in a spoiling attack from Cieszyn and Terchova. But that effort was savagely counter-attacked even as the Germans kept up their own attack on Novy Jicin. 6 Inf Div advanced unopposed into Prerov further south.
Seeing the way open and trying to draw off enemy forces, 6 Inf Div (Gürler) pushed on towards Olomouc from Prerov at 5am. Similarly, 2 Inf Div (Gürman) arrived in Uhersje Hradiste at 6am and advanced ‘blindly’ towards Blansko straight away. They encountered 14 Pz Div passing through Blansko, heading east towards Olomouc, an hour later. A short skirmish was fought, but the Germans broke off after an hour (Turkey 15/11,000, Germany 10/2,887 killed) and kept heading east.
The Italian 134a Armoured Div arrived in Rovigno at midday, before the Comintern relief column (171 SD had since joined 12 SD and 8 Mil Div) could get there. But in the encounter battle than occurred the enemy did not try to hold, racing back north at first contact (Turkey 19/23,265, Italy 23/7,934).
Supply had been restored to Bratislava, so that night HQ 2nd Corps was once again redirected to advance on Gänserndorf after 3 Mot Div had finished its redeployment from the north to support them.
Air Damage Report. The Italian raids on Györ finished that evening, with 1,009 defenders killed over the two days. Heavy strikes by a mix of German and Italian aircraft began on 1 Armd Div in Novy Jicin in support of the German attack and would last until the morning of 8 October.
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7 Oct 43
Once more, the Axis allowed no respite, with a new attack started on Vienna at 1am, this time by German and Italian infantry. 2 Mot Div once more knuckled down to the defence. An hour later, MAJGEN Shvydkoi (commanding the defence of Györ, with 156 SD and US 4 Mar Div) radioed in that their position was getting difficult [-66%]: what MAJ Wraith Loggins, then with the marines after recovering from recent wounds, described as “the danger zone” - as was his wont.
In a familiar pattern, two new spoiling attacks were then launched on Sopron and Szombathely to break up the Axis attack – and this time it worked quickly. A big victory was won at Györ by 3am and the diversionary attack on Sopron was called off an hour later, its job done.
But this time, the heavy attack Szombathely from three different directions continued: MAJGEN Baransel vowed to throw out the three German divisions there “bag and baggage”.
The next development came shortly afterwards: LTGEN Artunkal, commander 2nd Corps, reported initial contact with recently arrived elements of 7 Pz Div in Gänserndorf at 5am. The Germans had slipped in first and Artunkal (one of Turkey’s most skilful commanders) led a quick assault to try to eject them, with Vienna (still under attack itself) now only connected via the corridor through Eisenstadt.
The recent fighting had seen the manpower situation deteriorate further, with the replacement deficit now 7,510 by 6am. And Comintern Pact progress in southern Poland remained slow: two more defensive requests were issue to both STAVKA and the Romanian High Command at 7am, as no attack had yet been made on Sandomierz, or indeed anywhere in that sector.
With little progress being made against Gänserndorf [37%], the risk was taken to throw 15 Inf Div in Eisenstadt north into a cross-river attack on 7 Pz Div’s southern flank. The IS-2s of their tank brigade would at least be a match against the German medium panzers.
Down on the Adriatic, with its marine brigade the ‘last men standing’ (and only just), that afternoon 19 Inf Div was ordered to withdraw from Kostel after having put up a good fight to cover the retaking of Rovigno to its west.
The spoiling attack by 15 Inf Div on Gänserndorf was interrupted at 4pm by a German assault from Oberwart. After two hours, with 3 Cav Div having joined Artunkal’s assault from Kuty, 15 Inf Div pulled out to concentrate on their defence. The attack on Eisenstadt was defeated an hour later.
On the Slovakian sector, by that night 1 Armd Div’s defence of Novy Jicin was failing, but 8 Inf Div had seized Hodonin and 2 and 6 Inf Divs were advancing to the north-west, trying to draw German attention away from their comrades on the left and right flanks of the front.
Air Damage Report. The German and Italian raids on Novy Jicin continued, taking a very heavy toll on 1 Armd Div. Equally heavy Axis raids also commenced on Cieszyn, defensive support against the Turkish spoiling attack on Cesky Tecin. Two Italian raids on Kostel killed 291 defenders before 19 Inf Div retreated. One light Italian raid (just 28 killed) had hit Vienna, but the Germans would add their weight to those in coming days.
Entertainment News: US. The children's film Lassie Come Home, the first in a series of seven MGM movies starring the fictional Rough Collie dog Lassie, was released. A young Roddy McDowall played Lassie's companion.[Comment: Awww!]
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8 Oct 43
The day began with evidence that Darth Kelebek’s recent warning, many ‘neutralisations’ and by now clear Soviet penetration of MI6 had failed to dampen British enthusiasm for spying on Turkey. Midnight brought another knock on the door – this time in an up-market Istanbul hotel – and another ticket on the Midnight Express for some MI6 ‘toff’ posing as a monocle salesman.
“What ho?” exclaimed the grinning ‘gentleman’ as Kaya’s agents burst in. He would soon have that gormless smile wiped off his pasty face.
“Bloody English amateurs,” muttered the Interior Minister as he received this latest report.
“What ho?”
In another small piece of good news, 11 AF (another new Yak-7 INT wing) was deployed to Beograd to begin work-up training. And at 1am, 12 SD reported they had retaken Rovigno and had begun to dig in.
The salient extending from the Slovakian border deepened at 2am with the arrival of 6 Inf Div in Olomouc. They had intercepted and halted 14 Pz Div after winning a quick fire-fight (Turkey 5, Germany 2 casualties). But this meant 14 Pz Div now stopped in Blansko and was attacked again by 2 Inf Div: the battle did not start well this time, with Gürman surprised by a brisk counter-attack. Then just an hour after that, with heavy air raids continuing, ground casualties mounting and the odds worsening, 1 Armd Div was ordered to withdraw from Novy Jicin before they routed.
The loss of the battle for Novy Jicin meant the German defenders of Cesky Tecin were no longer distracted by fighting on two flanks, dramatically worsening the odds on what had started as a spoiling attack for Novy Jicin. This would also start to increase the casualty rate without a realistic chance of success, so that attack was also halted.
Novy Jicin was re-occupied by the Germans at 11am, thus exposing the flank of 6 Inf Div in Olomouc and by midday Gürler’s men were under attack from the north-west and east, with a dangerous gap opened from Prerov to Zilinin, due to the earlier thinning of the line. With the strength of the resistance in Blansko and the increasing exposure of the divisions in the salient, 6 Inf Div was ordered to pull back to Prerov and 2 Inf Div to halt its attack on Blansko.
In the Vienna sector, fighting continued in Szombathely, Vienna and the much-disputed Gänserndorf.
The Germans probed Eisenstadt again with two divisions at 4pm but called the assault off after two hours (Turkey 18/12,515, Germany 99/12,999 killed). At 10pm, 10 AF (also Yak-7s, about 50% org) joined 11 AF in Beograd to form 3 AG and continue their own work-up training.
Air Damage Report. By the time the two and a bit days of raids on Novy Jicin finished that morning, 2,022 men of 1 Armd Div had been killed, probably the major cause of their defeat. The raids on Cieszyn also finished (1,066 casualties), there was a single raid on Uhersje Hradiste (defensive support for Blansko, 140 casualties), while another light Italian raid (only 15 killed) hit Vienna.
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9 Oct 43
Rovigno may have been secured, but Kostel was lost at 1am, leaving Rovigno’s position somewhat exposed. Of more importance was a major attack on Katowice, where the large concentration of enemy units near it finally went into action. MAJGEN Özdulek commanded the defence and it was a strong position; the two commanders traded expert tactics. The quality of the enemy attackers was concerning, with all at or near full strength and organisation: a medium panzer, SS and Italian elite Alpinieri division. And of course an Axis aerial bombardment that soon started up.
With no manpower reserve to construct new units, excess industrial capacity was being sunk into infrastructure projects, with a large upgrade of the UGNR’s railway network commenced. It would cover 31 provinces in Turkey proper; the route to Tehran; and the Adriatic coast around Albania, to ensure good logistics connections to the growing invasion airbases.
To help better secure the Rovigno-Pola salient, Lussino was probed at midday – and it was found the lack of supplies had finally hit the defending Germans: they put up no fight, with almost 5,000 prisoners taken. A few hours later, 14 Inf Div would halt and then move to Rijeka, while 222 SD advanced from the south to reoccupy the positions they had surrendered so bloodily when the Germans had first attacked. Revenge – oorah and vur ha!
Midday proved a busy time for reporting, as Olomouc was lost to the Germans before 6 Inf Div had completed their retreat from there to Prerov. But better news came from Szombathely, with a hard-fought and very bloody victory won in the attack designed to shorten the Turkish line a little.
The push into the Slovakian Salient had certainly drawn the attention of the German panzers, with strong attacks by 12 Pz Div (at 4pm) and 14 Pz Div (7pm) launched on Uhersje Hradiste and Hodonin respectively. Caught in the open by under-strength but well organised panzer divisions in open country, Inönü didn’t like the odds and by 7pm both Turkish divisions were retreating back to their start points in Slovakia, before any more lives were lost.
With the situation from Vienna to Katowice deteriorating, it was decided that the thinning of the line in the east could not be delayed any longer. 5 Inf Div was put on trains in Staszów for Trnava, just east of Bratislava. It would be seen whether (and if so, how quickly) the Soviets and Romanians might occupy what would now be a two-province wide gap on the front boundary. By then, the Turkish manpower deficit had increased to 8,260 men.
Air Damage Report. The Germans took up the bombing of Vienna, which remained under ground attack, and casualties began to increase greatly (around 800 defenders killed that day alone). The Italians began striking Katowice in support of the German attack there.
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10 Oct 43
With the manpower situation getting worse, a welcome advance in agricultural processes was made, meaning more men could be diverted to the military recruiters. The agricultural research continued, given the circumstances.
Two full-strength Italian armoured divisions assaulted Rovigno at 2am and had the initial advantage, despite attacking in poor weather. There were three defending divisions (two Soviet and a Turkish militia outfit) partially dug in. At least their AT guns were enough to match the Italian light tank armour.
When 6 Inf Div reached Prerov, they were attacked immediately by another German panzer division (2 Pz Div – light tanks). The Turks retreated immediately (Turkey 8/10,941, Germany 3/8,163 killed) and kept fleeing south-east, to Trencin, where they planned to re-establish their defence.
The attack on Vienna, which had begun on 7 October, was finally over at 10am. The ground battle had proved a very expensive defeat for the Germans.
Meanwhile, the retreat back to the Slovakian border was in full swing – it had at least diverted the efforts of three German panzer divisions for a while.
The sigh of relief in Vienna was very short lived. At 1pm, the strongest attack yet on Vienna was launched on 2 Mot Div, by a mixture of German infantry and tanks [-89%]. While this complex battle was developing, the speedy German panzers rolled into Prerov at 4pm, again before 6 Inf Div had completed their withdrawal.
Faced with possible defeat in Vienna, Gataly’s 15 Inf Div made a spoiling attack on Wiener Neustadt at 7pm, which at least forced one of the Axis divisions to withdraw and distracted 57. Infanterie’s attack on Vienna, which weakened somewhat [to -63%]. But the Germans did not leave it at that, in turn assaulting 15 Inf Div in Eisenstadt at 10pm. LT Mehtin Sadik and his platoon found themselves under crossfire from the defenders in the west and the new spoiling attack from the south. He was genuinely concerned this was one situation he may not survive.
In a ‘third level’ spoiling attack, the Turkish marines of 1 Mar Div assaulted Sopron at 11pm, hoping to aid the defence of Eisenstadt and allow 15 Inf Div to keep up their own spoiling attack in support of Vienna. The demonic-looking MAJGEN Hell responded with a very effective counter-attack. 176 SD occupied Szombathely at 11pm, but they had over two days of post-attack reorganisation to complete before they could join the attack on Sopron.
This complicated ‘dance of death’ in and around Vienna was sardonically nicknamed ‘The Viennese Quadrille’ by some of the more culturally aware (and sarcastic) participants. No-one was smiling, though, with the sound of artillery, machine-gun fire and falling bombs the musical accompaniment to the grim choreography.
(56 sec) ‘The Viennese Quadrille’ of October 1943 resembled a complicated and deadly dance, where many dancers would not survive. Indeed, many would end up dancing the ‘Spandau Ballet’!
A report from the STAVKA advised the Karelian Pocket was being squeezed, but still resisted. In northern Poland and East Prussia, a mechanised thrust had reached the north-eastern outskirts of Warsaw and the Red Army was at the gates of Konigsberg.
As the day ended, Inönü contemplated the seven fierce battles currently in progress, three of them attacks and four defences, from Katowice in southern Poland to Rovigno on the Adriatic. It was hardly the period of rest and recovery he had been hoping for. Little did he know that things would become even more frenetic – and the situation more dangerous – as the month wore on.
Air Damage Report. Air attacks on Vienna since 7 October had killed a total of 1,396 Turkish troops by the end of the day, most of them in the last two days. Two days of air strikes on Katowice had already caused 475 Turkish casualties.
General Casualties. In completed ground battles from 1-10 October 1943, the Turks recorded 6,852 casualties, with another 11,550 from air attacks. An unsustainable total of 18,402 men in ten days: approaching their entire monthly recruitment quota. The Axis had lost 9,653 men to ground combat, plus the 4,843 prisoners taken in Lussino, for a total loss of 14,496.
OTL Event: China. Chiang Kai-shek formally took the oath of office as Chairman of the National Government in China, a position equivalent to President. He would hold it until 1949 in mainland China and, after fleeing to Taiwan, until his death on April 5, 1975.
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Coming Up: Can Vienna hold and Gänserndorf be retaken? Will the German panzers stop at the Slovakian border or keep rolling south, bringing the reluctant Comintern converts into the war and striking a depleted and disorganised defensive line? Will the hard-pressed defence hold on the Adriatic sector?
Will Turkey’s Comintern partners start making progress in southern Poland, or at least take up the responsibility for the provinces Turkey has begun evacuating on the east of their line? Can the UGNR sustain the increasing manpower deficit without their lines crumbling and how large might the deficit get?
More widely, what further progress might the Soviets be making in destroying the remnants of Army Group North in the Karelian Pocket? And in their offensive along the Baltic coast towards Konigsberg and Danzig, given the resources the Germans seem to have directed against the Turks in Central Europe?
In the US, Perse laid low, in fear of the Duke of Midnight – and unaware of the dangerous presence of Cennet, pulling the strings for S.I.T.H. in the capital of their Comintern partner. The UK seemed largely dormant now Libya had been taken, but Australia remained in danger of being conquered. And the US slept on, other than it’s subs in the Pacific and the Marines serving with the Turks in Europe
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