In the Turkish cabinet, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the navy, and some other relevant personnel have been arguing for a long time over the question of whether or not to allow the "Greek" fleet.

The objective of this fleet was obvious, it was afraid that it would not come out again after passing through the Straits of the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles, and that it would continue to fight against the Red Army, and what did it make if the fleet flew the Greek or French or German flags, which were all German naval officers anyway - except that they wore the Greek naval uniforms. The focus of the debate is not the essence of the fleet, but whether to let this fleet go over and what impact it will have on Turkey.

Turkey is located at the key point of the Eurasian continent, itself is the focus of international conflicts, of course, there are also pro-Anglo-American and pro-German politicians, the attitudes of the two sides are very different and irreconcilable, the debate in the end failed to come up with a best of both worlds, the two factions finally set their eyes on the supreme leader in the middle of the room, President Inonu, he did not directly state, only said: "The strength of the Russian fleet in the Black Sea is still not small......

Although this sentence was a bit clueless, everyone understood his thoughts.

"But ......"

"Nothing...... President Inonu summed up in one sentence lightly, "whether or not to allow the passage is to be handled according to the treaty, and it is up to the governor of the defense zone to decide for himself." ”

If it is done in accordance with the spirit of the treaty, the way to deal with it is, of course, to let it go, the Greek fleet......

"Sir, do you say the Turks will let us go?" Adjutant Randolph, Lieutenant Randolph, had been with him since Cranc had been in command of the armoured ship "Admiral Scheer", and had followed him after receiving the Toulon fleet.

"Of course......" Major General Cranke smiled. The Turks and the Russians are not in the same place, and as long as they have smart people, they know who we are going to deal with? No far-sighted Turkish politician will relenting in his anti-Russian position. ”

"But if that's the case, why don't the Turks just join us?"

"They're just waiting for the right moment. Just like in the last war, we may need to push it if necessary. "In World War I, Germany, Austria, Turkey, and Bulgaria united to form the Allied Front, and Turkey was a close ally at that time.

The decision was delegated to Hakan Tiraf, but one big man after another called him one after another, and these big people, who were usually so high up that he didn't even dare to look up, came today. Threaten, persuade, or induce, using various means to put pressure on him and tell him how to "deal with" this kind of problem. He was so anxious that he was at a loss and at a loss. Procrastination is definitely not okay, it will offend everyone, and it is unrealistic to please everyone, and you can only choose one faction to rely on in this position. After comprehensive consideration and left and right trade-offs. In the end, he made up his mind to do what the president wanted - to fulfill his treaty obligations. Release!

"Sir." Adjutant Randolph shouted happily, "The other side let go, and waved the flag: Good morning, Greek fleet, welcome to the Bosphorus." ”

"Re: Good morning, respected Turkish Navy!"

The Bosphorus passed smoothly, and the Dardanelles, naturally, were no problem, with the example of Hakan-Tiraf. The commander of the defense zone in the back immediately drew a gourd and let him go. By the time the Soviet and British and American ambassadors arrived at the scene, the last supply ships of the fleet had already left.

"Your country must pay the price for this decision today." The Soviet ambassador loudly protested.

"Really?" The Turkish Foreign Minister sneered. "I want to see what lessons your country is going to teach us, do you want to start the 12th Russo-Turkish war?"

"Your country should not give permission to the Germans." The British and American ambassadors spoke in a slightly softer tone, but still maintained the same tone.

"But the passage of the Greek fleet through the straits is in full accordance with the Convention."

"First of all, this is not the Greek fleet, this is the French fleet that the Germans have taken by skill; Secondly, the Greeks did not have these warships either. ”

"First of all, the French ambassador admitted that this is not the French fleet, and that the warships have been removed from the French Navy; Secondly, the fleet has official Greek documents and certificates, flies the Greek flag, and wears Greek military uniforms, so why is it not the Greek Navy? ”

"There are no Greeks on it."

"I'm sorry, I don't know the Greeks, as long as any warship flies the Greek flag, wears a Greek military uniform, and obtains official Greek documents, we can also recognize it as the Greek Navy." This is what the Turks used to raise the bar, not to mention that Britain and the United States could not get the official documents of Greece, and even if they did, with their arrogant character, they could wear Greek military uniforms and hang Greek military flags?

"In the critical period of the war, any kind of behavior should be prudent, Turkey's neutral status is not easy to come by, relevant decisions should be made carefully, at least the opinions of the major powers should be sought."

"Well, Germany is also a great power......," said the Foreign Minister slyly, "do you need me to consult the Germans?" Or will the countries agree with us to amend the treaty to establish that the two straits are Turkey's own straits, which cannot be navigated by warships of any country unless Turkey agrees? ”

The British and American ambassadors were speechless, Turkey demanded that they could not agree at all, not to mention that they could not agree, all the countries bordering the Black Sea could not agree.

"I don't think Britain and the United States want Turkey to tear up the Straits Convention, right?" The Turkish ambassador said, "If we refuse to allow the Greek fleet to pass normally today, and some great powers will go to war on the pretext that Turkey has violated the convention, can you send a fleet to help us defend against it in advance?" What's more, whether or not to allow Turkey to do so is Turkey's internal affair, and we are not targeting specific third countries, and gross interference in Turkey's internal affairs will inevitably lead to an outcome that no one wants to see. ”

The British and American ambassadors actually had other considerations in mind, and they received a secret order from home: since the landing in North Africa was about to begin, in order to prevent the French fleet seized by the Germans from causing trouble to the landing, if they were willing to enter the Black Sea to make trouble for the Russians, Turkey would allow them to protest on the surface, but in fact not to exert too much pressure. Moreover, Turkey's attitude is now ambiguous, and once they are forced to join the Axis, the Soviets will not be able to eat and walk around.

So, in the end, only the Soviet ambassador who did not know the truth was left with nonsense, and the Turkish Foreign Minister did not bother to pay much attention.

"Führer, the operation has been successful, the fleet has successfully passed through the two Turkish straits, and is ready to go to Romania today to replenish supplies, and tomorrow it will be able to enter the war." Raeder was excited on the phone, and his hearty laughter could be heard from afar.

"Good." Hoffmann said with satisfaction, "Can Richthofen's naval aviation be dispatched?" ”

"It's completely possible, they carried out a full-scale exercise yesterday and successfully hit the target, especially the lightning strike operation went smoothly."

"Activate the Black Sea Operational Order, and completely unplug the Red Army's Black Sea Fleet for me......"

Frightened and angry, the Soviet ambassador quickly sent the information back home, and the news alarmed Comrade Stalin in the Kremlin.

"The Germans are coming for our Black Sea Fleet?" Stalin wondered, "How did such a large naval fleet quickly pass through the Turkish straits?" ”

"It's very clear that the Turks are playing a very bad role in it." People's Commissar of the Navy Nikolai Gerasimovich Kuznetsov lashed out angrily.

"The Turkish problem will be put aside for a moment, now that the battle on the southern flank is so tense, I warn my comrades not to go to their trouble first, and this account will be calculated later."

Comrade Stalin, of course, was not so easy to speak, but the 26 divisions deployed by the Turks near the Caucasus were not so eloquent, and the objective situation told him that he could not be cautious about the Turkish question, because at such a tense moment of fighting on the southern flank, no more unstable factors could be added.

"How many warships did the Germans come?"

Kuznetsov gave a general overview of the situation with the German fleet.

"It doesn't sound like a particularly powerful warship, our navy should have the strength to fight?"

"If the fleet fights as soon as possible, the Germans are not yet familiar with the situation of the French warships, and once it is a long time, they will be troubled if they master all the technical essentials, and at the same time it will cause a great deterrent to our Caucasian Front. In the event that the German fleet enters the zone of Azov, it will cause a huge disturbance to the current operation on Uranus. ”

Vasilevsky, who was on the sidelines, originally had an indifferent attitude, but when he thought of the threat of this fleet breaking through into the Sea of Azov, he could not remain indifferent, and he proposed: "Do you want to ask the comrades of the Black Sea Fleet to see if you can fight the Germans as soon as possible, saying that they will defeat him if they have not gained a firm foothold?" ”

Stalin nodded in agreement: "Inform the Black Sea Fleet of the situation of the enemy fleet, ask the front-line commanders for their opinions, and they say that if they can't fight, they will avoid it, and if they can fight, then resolutely defeat the enemy's arrogance." ”

"The news came back, and the comrades of the fleet said that at present, the fleet still has strong combat strength, and is not afraid of any enemy surface troops, and can completely fight with them, but hopes that there will be more planes to cooperate with the operation, and now there are only more than 30 planes left in the base air force."

"Let the Caucasian Front send another 60 planes, so that the fleet can be supported by 100 aircraft." After receiving the lessons of the defeat of the Voronezh Front, Comrade Stalin was deeply distressed by the loss of air supremacy, and the Caucasian Front, which was the least under pressure, had already withdrawn more than 100 planes to reinforce along the Don River, and now there were not many planes left on the southern flank, and Vasilevsky was reluctant to do so.

"Please wait for the good news from the fleet." Kuznetsov replied with great ambition. (To be continued.) )