Evacuation and Invasion
In a conference between Oberkommando des Heeres, Oberkommando der Marine, and the Finnish Defense Command it was decided that Finland must be evacuated. The hopeless situation was exacerbated by the urgings of peace by the Finnish civilian government. They did not want their city turned to rubble as had happened to so many cities and towns in this brutal war, a fair request, but rather awkward militarily. After repelling the first Soviet foray into the capital, the men of the LI. Jagerkorps fell back in good order to the harbor throughout the day and night. As the Finns warded off any Soviet incursions our pioneers set up roadblocks throughout the city to buy as much time as possible. The heavy guns of the Kriegsmarine battle fleet kept up their fire in a bombardment that the bravest man wouldn't dare to move through. This effective screen allowed our four divisions and the Finnish 3rd and 8th Divisions to be ferried across the Gulf of Finland to Tallinn and Leningrad.
28th of June, a full day after the evacuation was completed, the Soviets finally occupied the entire capital and forced the Finns to capitulate. Of course the entire Finnish Army and most of the High Command escaped to Leningrad to continue the fight. In truth the Soviets only made it easier on the Heer, as Heeres Gruppe Nord can now concentrate more troops around Leningrad to repel any attackers. While the Soviets free up a number of divisions for use elsewhere, they now have to contend with the occupation of a nation that hates them substantially and will most likely lash out with violence. However, the party that by far benefits the most are the Jagers and Gebirgsjagers, who suffered through a month of hell and loss. They saw two entire divisions of their kameraden destroyed, with the fresh memory of the Gebirgskorps being surrounded and annihilated in March, and the SS-Division Nord before that. In the past year seven divisions have been completely wiped out in Finland by the Red Army, seven good divisions too many.
As the 51st Jagerorps was getting out of dodge, the 14. Gebirgsarmee was opening a new front. The long awaited Operation Crusader began on June 25th, with the XL. Panzerkorps crossing the Bulgarian-Turkish border and racing to Istanbul and the Bosphorus straight. Following that the Italian Alpine Corpo quick marched with the Romanian Alpine Corpo behind them. On their right flank 130 thousand Bulgarians of the 1st and 2nd Armees swarmed across the border into Northern Turkey with the goal of reaching the Dardanelles Straight.
On June 27th the 40th Panzerkorps under Rommel reached the coast and captured the Western half of Istanbul almost without a fight. Within eight hours General Student's 1st Fallschirmkorps captured the Eastern side of the Bosphorus and opened a path for the XL. Panzerkorps to advance on the Turkish capital Ankara. In fact, there was barely a delay when it came to crossing the straights, a number of barges were commandeered and immediately set to moving men and equipment across. This operation was personally directed by General Rommel himself, and it's reported that he stood on the Eastern bank and greeted his men as they landed to their astonishment. As far as the big picture for this operation, everything points to this being a quick, bloodless campaign. The Turkish army, especially the officers, are largely pro-axis. The General Staff especially is extremely pro-German, being made up of veterans of the Great War in which they were of course our allies. The divisions we've engaged so far have merely skirmished and then retreated into the hills. If progress keeps up our panzers will be in Baghdad by the end of July.
General der Panzertruppe Erwin Rommel inspecting the 16th Motorised Division just before Operation Crusade
In response to Admiral Saawachter's request for reinforcements in Norway for his counter-offensive, OKW has decided to release General Wodrig's XIIth Korps from France and ship it North by train. On July 1st, the 4 veteran divisions of this korps loaded onto transports and set sail for Oslo. Their presence should greatly help the efforts to push the Tommies out of Scandinavia. Once they are arrived the 12. Armee will be one of the largest in the Heer, 3 full korps of regular truppen, as well a 4th made up of sicherungs "security" truppen.
Meanwhile around Oslo itself a maelstrom is forming, with a 360 degree breakout being executed by the 50th and 54th Armeekorps, supported by the 44th Reserve Korps. The British seemed to be shocked, and are hightailing back North like rabbits from a fox. Especially surprised by the appearance of the 12th Korps, they seem worried that an easy campaign could turn into a bloody nightmare. Admiral Marschall is now endeavoring to turn it into just that, a slow bleeding battle of attrition to keep the British from committing troops elsewhere. If he succeeds in this, that means France can be further stripped of troops to be sent east, leaving only the bare minimum for fighting off raids and the French underground.
