readx;

Chapter 1788: The Root of the Chaos

On 29 January, Germany was supposed to officially declare war on Turkey, but at the request of the Turkish military junta, which had just been formed after the coup, the planned battle plan was suspended, and the Turkish military government quickly reciprocated by quickly assembling a large delegation to Berlin to negotiate Turkey's accession to the Axis powers. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

Although Churchill, Roosevelt, and other British and American dignitaries were furious, they were unable to make a targeted response to this dramatic change in Turkey, let alone adjust their deployment in time to deal with the attack of the Turkish army, which might move south with the German army at any time.

At present, part of the Allied forces in the Middle East are pinned down in North Africa by the German-Italian forces, and the other part is exhausted by the Japanese army, and the strength is already stretched.

Forced by two tank divisions, one armored infantry division, and five heavy tank regiments of the Anjia Army to the north, the Japanese withdrew from Iraqi territory and stabilized their southern defensive line in the area of Mount Mayr and the Tal Hari Plains. At the same time, the Japanese army advancing westward fought fiercely with the British on the line of Mount Shubait and Mount Siman east of Aleppo.

Encouraged by the coup d'état in Turkey, the Japanese army intensified its offensive, and although the Allies complained bitterly, they could only grit their teeth and insist, if they retreated at this time, it would mean that the power of the Central Powers would completely fade out of the Middle East, and it would be extremely difficult to restore their influence on these regions.

Let's take a look at Nanhua's layout in the Middle East.

In addition to stationing troops on the northern border of Iraq to consolidate the defensive line in a timely manner, the troops of the two major corps in southern Iraq and the Persian Khuzestan region are also advancing rapidly, and they are invincible everywhere they go.

On the 22nd, Yan Zilin led four divisions of the 16th Group Army to occupy the port of Mahshahr, and the next day he entered the port of Imam. Imam Port, later known as Khomeini Port, is a large commercial port in western Iran, located in the southwest of a small island in Musabar Bay in the northwest of the Persian Gulf, with a railway crossing the strait to Tehran and other inland areas in the north, only 80 kilometers away from Abadan in the west, and about 60 kilometers away from the Mashur oil port in the northeast.

On 24 July, the 3rd Tank Division and the 2nd Armored Infantry Division of the 1st Tank Army joined forces with the 9th Tank Division of the 3rd Tank Army at Basra. Basra is the second largest city in Iraq and the largest port in Iraq, located on the west bank of the Shatt al-Arab River at the confluence of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers at the southeast end of Iraq, 120 kilometers south of the Persian Gulf, and is the only hub connecting the Persian Gulf and inland river systems.

Known as the "Venice of the East", the picturesque city of Basra, crisscrossed by waterways and canals, is a famous tourist destination in Iraq and is also known for its rich history. Historically, Basra was the center of Arab culture, science, commerce and finance, and in Anyi's plan, Basra in the future will take on a greater role after the army returns the city of Baghdad to Iraq's "democratically elected government."

On the 25th, the 7th Tank Division and the 5th Armored Infantry Division of the 3rd Tank Army joined forces with the Guards Army directly under Yang Jiuxiao's Corps at Abadan. Abadan is located in the southwest end of Khuzestan on the island of the Shatt al-Arab, about 50 kilometers away from the Persian Gulf, is the distribution center of Iran's oil exports, since 1909 the Anglo-Polish oil company set up a pipeline terminal refinery here, the rapid development, the population of more than 100,000, is currently one of the world's famous oil refining centers, its recovery, for the improvement of South China's energy layout has a decisive role.

On the 26th, Lieutenant General Cheng Junhua led the 18th Army to occupy Fao. Faw is the second largest port in Iraq, it is located at the head of the Persian Gulf, near the mouth of the Shatt al-Arab River, it was the largest oil port in Iraq in later generations, but because the oil fields of Rumaila and Zubayr in southern Iraq have not been discovered, it can only exist as a commercial port city.

On 28 July, the officers and men of the Marine Corps of the Indian Ocean Fleet Task Force of the South Chinese Navy, after occupying the Qatar Peninsula and the island of Bahrain, entered Kuwait, which had become a ruin, at 3 p.m. on that day. At present, most of these coastal areas of the Persian Gulf are still barren villages, and after the destruction of the land scraped by *** people, they are deserted within 100 miles, and they urgently need to be filled by immigrants in the future.

In the territorial plan of the South China government, the west coast of the Persian Gulf will be merged with the southern region of Iraq into a single province, and Bahrain, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Oman and other countries will choose the land for reconstruction, and the Persian Gulf will become the inland sea of South China.

In order to ensure the implementation of this goal, the South Chinese government will resettle 5 million people to the region in the next two to three years, and this area will be dominated by the development of plantations and fisheries for a long time, and the endless black gold under the Persian Gulf will sleep for a long time until South China has absolute control over the area.

......

Xinjing, West Lake, sunny and full of greenery.

On the south bank, beside the long pavilion made of red pillars and green tiles, there is a row of long tables, the tables are full of melons and fruits, and the bamboo chairs are surrounded by a circle. An Yi leaned on one of the bamboo chairs, his eyes slightly closed, enjoying the winter sun while listening to the reports of intelligence officials such as Liu Qing, Du Yi, and Xu Yifan.

After Lieutenant General Liu Qing, director of the Intelligence Department of the General Staff Department, gave a briefing on the war situation in the Middle East, General Du Yi then explained the situation in Turkey as learned by the Ministry of State Security.

"The situation in Turkey is complex, and in fact before Germany invaded the Balkans, it was not Germany that posed the greatest threat to its territorial security, but Italy in the Mediterranean. Italy has its strategic outposts in the Dodecanese Islands and has long had ambitions to annex the Antalya region of southern Turkish Anatolia.

"The Turkish Government has always deliberately maintained its neutral position, but the tendency is very evident - in October of the previous year, the Turkish Government rejected the Soviet Union's request for the closure of the straits and its insistence that the Soviet Union would never be involved in hostilities against Germany under any circumstances, and concluded a mutual assistance pact with Britain and France. In November of the previous year, the Soviet Union invaded Finland, and Turkish public opinion was overwhelmingly sympathetic to Finland, which was refuted by Soviet newspapers......"

Speaking of this, Du Yi leaned over to untie his briefcase.

Seeing that the sound stopped, An Yi opened his eyes and found that Du Yi took out a somewhat old Russian newspaper, couldn't help but raise his chin, and asked curiously, "What is that?" ”

Du Yi sent the newspaper to An Yi and said:

"This is the Comintern, a journal published by the Third International, all in Russian, but our intelligence officers have translated it, and I read it now...... No matter how much the Turkish ruling circles try to disguise their contracts with Britain and France with beautiful rhetoric, they cannot change the fact that Turkey has concluded a pact of mutual assistance with the imperialist belligerents, that Turkey has departed from its neutrality and assumed military responsibility to Britain and France, the gravity of which will inevitably soon reveal itself in the whole of Turkey's policy......

"The Turkish people could not understand why their government preferred to sign a treaty with Turkey's old enemies of independence rather than strengthen its friendship with the Soviet Union and Germany. It is no secret that during the negotiation of the treaty of mutual assistance between Moscow and Russia, the Turkish representatives tried to sell the Franco-British diplomatic proposal, which was a desperate gamble on the traditional Soviet-Turkish friendship, and tried to drive a wedge between the Soviet Union and Germany, in order to draw the Soviet Union into a bloc mainly directed against Germany, and that Britain and France wanted to extend the war to the Balkans, where they would open a front against Germany, and they wanted to turn Turkey into a strategic base for acting according to their plan......

"It is well known that the current regime in Turkey is by no means truly democratic, and that Turkey's independence is ...... as a result of the rapprochement between the Turkish ruling class and the Anglo-French imperialists Now under serious threat ......"

The director of the General Political Department, Lieutenant General Zhan, was eating oranges, and laughed when he heard this:

"The Soviet media has always been sharp and likes to raise the issue to a certain level, but this can also reflect the tendencies of the Turkish government from one side."

Du Yi nodded: "After the outbreak of the Polish-German War, the Turkish government was pro-British and French, because in terms of the comparison of strength at that time, only France had the strength not to lose to Germany, and with the help of Britain, the largest colonial empire, the Turkish government decided that their choice was correct. In February last year, at the request of Britain and France, the Turkish government joined the Balkan Entente Conference specifically for Germany...... However, this was also strongly criticized by the Soviet Union, which portrayed Turkey as a country that was fully integrated into the British orbit, acting exactly as the British wanted, with the aim of turning the Balkan Entente into a driving force for the military blocs of the Balkan states, dancing to the tunes of London and Paris...... The newspapers of the two countries frequently engaged in verbal wars, and bilateral relations plummeted......

"Turkish-Soviet relations fell to a freezing point in March and April last year, when a large number of warplanes flew over Turkish airspace during the French Air Force's military operation to attack the Baku oil fields, and the Soviet Union believed that Turkey had betrayed the provisions of the neutrality and non-aggression pact signed in 1925 and renewed for ten years in 1935, withdrawing its ambassador to Turkey and deploying heavy troops in the border area.

The turning point came in May and June, when Germany disarmed France with lightning speed, which greatly deterred Turkey and the Soviet Union. Turkey's Dawn newspaper justified the previous tensions in bilateral relations: France had withdrawn from the war, Britain was focused on its own defense, the Soviet Union had no need to suspect that Turkey would be willing to open the straits to the British fleet, the Black Sea would no longer be threatened by the straits, but it was increasingly threatened by the dominance of the Axis powers in central and southeastern Europe, so that Russia and Turkey had exactly the same interests in the straits as in the Balkans......

Turkish Prime Minister Sarajolu declared that Soviet Russia was a guarantee to Turkey that, at least in the current situation, Soviet Russia would not engage in imperialist adventures at the expense of Turkey. In any respect, Turkey also wants Russia to be happy, stable and strong, and that Turkey is not only a friendly neighbor of Russia, but in some cases may become a loyal ally......"

"Hey—"

Deputy Chief of General Staff General Yang Jie sighed faintly and said with some emotion: "Look, the relationship between Turkey and the Soviet Union perfectly interprets what it means to 'there is no eternal enemy between countries'......

"There was a honeymoon period between Turkey and the Soviet Union, and in order to guard against German expansion, the two governments also issued a joint communiqué confirming that if either Turkey or Russia were forced to go to war to defend their respective territories, the non-aggression pact would remain in force. Unfortunately, when Germany occupied Yugoslavia and Greece successively, and the situation in the Balkans changed, Turkey felt great pressure, and after seeking neutrality to no avail, it sent people to Germany to seek accession to the Axis powers, and began to restrict the activities of the Soviets in Turkey in order to show its pro-German determination.

However, due to the brazen launch of the Pacific War, the United States declared war on the United States, the Axis forces suffered a major blow, the Turkish government under the mediation of British and American diplomats, the attitude changed again, the Turkish government was driven by Britain and the United States, sent diplomats to Moscow, hoping to establish a military alliance treaty against Germany, if one side is attacked, the other side must send troops to help. The German government obtained this top-secret information from secret sources, and Hitler finally settled down and completely conquered Turkey by military action......"

General Deng Bin, secretary general of the Central Military Commission and president of the National Defense University, shook his head: "This is the sorrow of a country that has no national defense, struggling to survive in the cracks of a big country, and having to sway from side to side for the sake of the future of the country and the nation. Even so, people are still not satisfied, and they are forcing each other step by step, until now there is no way to retreat, so they simply have a 'mutiny' affair! ”

General Zhao Dongquan, director of the General Office of the Central Military Commission, laughed when he heard this:

"The Turks are indeed cunning, this mutiny, the pro-British and American Turkish government officials did not fall behind, all of them fled, leaving a coup d'état of the military junta to contact Germany, regardless of whether Turkey joins the Axis in the future, and who wins the final victory after joining the Axis and the Allies...... The junta chose to cooperate with Germany, and if the Axis powers won in the future, Turkey would be a well-deserved victor, and if the Axis powers lost in the future, the legitimate government would naturally return to Turkey, and this government would truly represent the will of the people of Turkey, and it would not be able to put the hat of the defeated country on their heads. In this way, regardless of victory or defeat, Turkey is invincible, and the Turks are so calculating! ”

Du Yi smiled slightly: "This is exactly the result of the speculation of our intelligence department. You must know that the main officials of the Turkish military junta are almost all cronies of President Inonu, and it is easy to understand that there is a traitor, if all of them are traitors, then Inonu, who was chosen by Kemal as the *** person, is too incompetent! The Soviets also felt that the situation was irreparable, so they turned to the east to attack the Far Eastern Republics in order to expand their strategic depth! ”

An Yi was stunned for a moment and asked, "The Soviets have long known that there will be a military coup in Turkey?" ”

"There was a foreshadowing of things!"

"Our intelligence officers in Turkey collected newspapers and major events from that period. In the first week after the German army began to assemble on the Turkish border, the Turkish government went against the norm and fiercely attacked the Soviet Union, especially the Soviet invasion of Persia as an important means of attack, saying that the Soviet Union had a thirst for territory in Turkey, but everyone knew that the greatest threat to Turkish territory was Germany, which had occupied the Balkans and sharpened its knives.

"Earlier this month, the German ambassador to Turkey, von Murray. While walking on Ankara Street, the Baben couple were attacked by a suicide attack by a man with a bomb wrapped around his waist, but were protected by von Bon Bun. The Pabuns' guards were shot and killed. In the evening of the same day, the Turkish authorities claimed that the deceased's name was Tokat and that he was a Macedonian member, and that several of his accomplices had been laid out, and that some foreigners in Ankara and Istanbul were trying to sow discord between Turkey and Germany.

"Subsequently, the Turkish police forcibly searched the office of a non-diplomatic Soviet mission in Ankara and demanded that the Soviet Consul General in Istanbul hand over a suspect hiding in the consulate. As a result, the suspect was handed over less than three hours after the time limit.

"On the 18th of this month, the four defendants appeared in court for trial, and they admitted that the task given by their superiors was to assassinate a German dignitary in order to provoke the German-Turkish war, and the Soviet Embassy, after receiving the results of the interrogation, immediately said that it did not know the four criminals, insisting that the whole incident was a conspiracy by Trotskyites or the Far Eastern Republics, and that the Soviet Government regarded the Turkish trial as an insult and unfriendly action against the Soviet Union. Subsequently, Turkey and the Soviet Union withdrew their respective ambassadors, and relations became tense again. ”

An Yi sighed: "I understand." Hitler must have used the outcome of this trial as a threat to demand an explanation from the Soviet side. The Soviets, knowing that they were at a loss, simply launched an attack on the Far Eastern Republic as a way to show their intentions and avoid confrontation with Germany, which was in high spirits. Hitler received Stalin's assurances that the invasion of Turkey was inevitable, and the Turkish government, in order to avoid the destruction of the country by war, came to a golden cicada to escape its shell and shirk responsibility in the form of a military coup! ”

Yang Fei smiled bitterly: "This is called pulling a hair and moving the whole body, originally we predicted that the war between Germany and Turkey would last for at least half a year, and it was not necessarily that Turkey would have a long-term stalemate with the German army with the support of Britain, the United States, the Soviet Union and other countries, but now everything is in vain!" After Turkey completely fell to Germany, the German *** team pushed the front to the Middle East without a single soldier, and 500,000 Turkish elite troops will become a major help to the Axis powers, and the situation in the Middle East and Africa will completely change! ”

"That's what I'm worried about!"

Chang Baofang, Minister of Logistics, had a worried face: "Fighting a war is fighting logistics, and now the Afghan railway has not been completed, and the Persian railway will need another month to connect with the Central Asian railway, and it is difficult to mobilize and turnover combat materials for the troops. Once Germany attacks us, if our war materials cannot keep up, the war situation will quickly erode and may even affect Central Asia and India. ”

Due to Hitler's bad reputation for backsliding, even the resourceful Yang Jie did not dare to ensure that after getting Turkey's huge war machine, the German *** team would not regard Nanhua as the next target, and there was silence at the banquet.

An Yi was a little upset, stood up and walked into the long pavilion with his hands behind his back, overlooking the sparkling water surface of the West Lake, and after a long time, he turned around and said with a resolute face:

"No matter how bad the situation is, it can't get any worse...... Now the fighting in Iraq and Persia has basically ceased, and because of the voluntary retreat of the Japanese army, we actually do not consume much ammunition, and as for oil, with the oil fields and large oil refineries of Khuzestan, we are not short of oil at all. Ye Cheng's mechanized troops are very suitable for fighting in the flat Mesopotamian plains, and in addition, our five newly formed flying regiments have been transferred to Persia and southern Iraq, and such forces are fully capable of ensuring the security of our western front, and no matter how bad they are, they can delay the German army for two to three months, so as to facilitate our mobilization and accumulation of troops.

"Brothers, we have to trust our judgment, no matter how crazy the Germans are, they will not dare to declare war on us before completely solving the British Isles, after all, fighting on two fronts is a taboo for soldiers, and the combat effectiveness of our army is honed through continuous battles, far from being comparable to the weak British and French *** teams, Hitler's generation of heroes will not be so unwise and waste troops on us!

"Now, they are in Germany, negotiating with the Hitler government, we have to trust them, they will not let us down!"