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Soviet-German alliance!

The Black Sea Fleet sneaks up on Port Ereli! Turkey declared war on the Soviet-Germans! Ankara announced its entry into the Allied Army! British troops enter Turkey! U.S. troops enter Turkey!

Roosevelt declared war on the Soviet Union!

The term "pan-European socialism" had just spread all over the world, and the news of Asia Minor shocked the whole world! The invincible German tank, with the help of the Soviets, officially crossed the Eurasian dividing line!

In the early morning of March 7, 1942, a terrible siren sounded over Turkey. Stalin and the Soviets, who sacrificed huge political interests in exchange for an alliance, unexpectedly opened the war with a naval and air raid that they were not good at, and the battleship "Paris Commune" and five light and heavy cruisers of the Soviet Black Sea Fleet sank a large number of ships including the "Stern" battlecruiser of the Turkish Navy in a very short time. Subsequently, 220 patented imitation JU52 transport planes and 300 TB-3 and PE-8 bombers (all of which could be used as transports) departed from Sevastopol and other places quickly airdropped 9,200 paratroopers to Port Ereli and Erzurum, opening the Turkish army's defense line in one fell swoop.

The Soviet Union lacked transport aircraft, but the Soviet Army was one of the first countries in the world to form an airborne force, and it also experienced China's airborne tactics many times in Central Asia. Although some of their subsequent small-scale airborne operations were unsuccessful, all that was lacking was the ability to cover, organize, and follow-up delivery. Now these abilities are well compensated by the Germans! At the same time that the Soviet paratroopers were parachuting, 1,300 German planes set off from Greece, Romania and other places, using a large number of new aviation weapons such as SD2 "devil's eggs" and SD10 cluster bombs, to violently bomb the first-line airfields and military facilities of the Turkish army.

It was later learned that it was Rundstedt, who was idle in Berlin, and Zhukov, who was almost a sentry in Poland, who made the plan for the raid. Together, the two opened the door to Turkey for the Axis powers.

Because of the unfamiliarity with the Soviet army. The Turkish and Allied intelligence services suffered a big loss. The 600,000 German Army Group Southeast, which had long been ready to attack, also crossed the border at 8 a.m. and launched a fierce attack on the Turkish army's European defense.

Upon hearing of the attack, the Anglo-American allies stationed in Iraq, Cyprus and Syria immediately organized more than 800 fighters to intercept the German bomber group. But due to range issues. Neither the P40 "Prisoner of War" nor the "Hurricane" fighters of the main force were capable of long-distance air combat, and only a small number of P38 "Thunderbirds" (the lightning nickname was preemptively registered by a certain country. Haha), the P43 Tanuki and F4U Corsair intercepted the German fleet with a long range.

The first day of air fighting was not intense, and both sides hastily withdrew their troops after losing a dozen planes each. But the next morning, before the German bombers could return, the Allies finally showed their strong air power. 1,100 British H-6, Halifax, and U.S. B17, B24, and B25 bombers took off from Cyprus and other places, carried out fierce air strikes on Soviet and German troops entering Turkey, and also damaged three warships of the Soviet Black Sea Fleet. Forced to evacuate the coastline. 12 "Halifax" bombers and 110 B17 bombers also carried out destructive bombing of railways and bridges in western Turkey, especially the British "Halifax" squadron, which used giant "goblet" bombs to blow up the Eurasian bridge across the Bosphorus in one fell swoop, cutting off the dream of the German Southeastern Army Group to advance rapidly eastward.

After the Allies imposed an air blockade on the Soviet, German, and Italian forces. Using hundreds of transport planes and the railway network in southwest Turkey, it was quickly stationed in Ankara and other important cities, and Turkish President Inonu also issued a national mobilization order in the afternoon of the same day, and took the initiative to hand over the command to the commander of the Allied Middle East Theater, and the United States Army Lieutenant General McEnany. After getting the coveted command. McEnany then ordered the most elite Turkish 3rd Panzer Division to move towards Port Ereli in an attempt to flank the Soviet paratroopers and regain control of the harbor. But he was too late for this order, and in the evening of the same day, Zhukov led 3 armored brigades with a total of 212 armored vehicles such as T34/76, T34/85 and SU122, 5 air defense regiments and 2 infantry divisions under the protection of the returning fleet. Disembark on a cargo ship from Port Ereli.

At ten o'clock in the evening, the port of Ereli fell, and the gates of the Black Sea on the peninsula of Asia Minor were opened. Upon hearing the news, Army Group B led by Guderian immediately set off from Romania. Although the heavy losses in the Battle of Crete made Hitler nervous about airborne operations, the port of Ereli had a well-established airfield, so the Germans still dispatched nearly 400 Ju52s to transport troops between the two sides of the Black Sea. By the morning of the third day, the first two armored divisions and three infantry divisions had landed on Turkish territory by plane and ship.

At noon on March 10, the Turkish 3rd Panzer Division encountered Zhukov's vanguard, and 117 Type 31 tanks and Soviet armored brigades engaged in a fierce battle, and finally destroyed 37 T34/76s in one fell swoop. When he saw that he could win a victory, the Turkish division commander had a problem of inexperience, and when he thought that he could completely annihilate this Soviet tank brigade with the performance of his tanks, he was ambushed by a large number of IL-2 attack planes from Ereli. The roaring "Black Death" was beaten in Central Asia, but in the face of the Turkish army, which had lost air supremacy, it showed its super ground attack capability, imitating the Chinese Air Force's aviation armor-piercing bullets and other weapons, which caused heavy losses to the inexperienced Turkish Third Panzer Division, and finally only 57 tanks successfully escaped and retreated to Ankara.

McEnany knew that the army was inferior to the Axis, so he did not adopt the tactics of Spanish and North African attacks, but used the superior air power to bombard the enemy indiscriminately while increasing his troops, hoping to slow down the enemy's advance. The German and Italian air forces and the Soviet air force also showed no weakness, and successively took to the air to fight in retaliation. In the first five days alone, the two sides engaged in 12,000 sorties, dropped 150,000 tons of bombs, and shot down more than 600 warplanes. What makes people fall off is that the most prominent thing in this air battle turned out to be not the FW190 "Butcher's Bird", nor the "Tanuki" and "Pirate", but the Soviet Il-2 attack aircraft. This simple but extremely sturdy attack plane, which was not at all afraid of the 12.7-millimeter aviation machine guns commonly used by Britain and the United States, went so far as to shoot down 41 British and American planes in one go, and also destroyed 400 Allied fortifications, hundreds of antiaircraft artillery positions, and a large military vehicle including 300 tanks, thus giving Britain and the United States their first taste of the hardships and difficulties of the Central Asian war.

But no matter how powerful the "Black Death" is. On March 12 alone, 180 B24 bombers and 112 P43 Tanuki flew to Cyprus on a long journey. China sold a total of 800 Y-8 long-range transport aircraft and 600 C47 transport aircraft to Britain and the United States in five days and five nights. Thirty-five thousand soldiers were sent to Beirut in a relay manner.

The U.S. Navy has also reached the fastest pace and will include 1,200 fighters. 4,500 tanks and armored vehicles, including supplies, were packed into the fleet.

Due to the absence of the Pacific Theater and the reduction of large warships and landing ships in the Navy, the United States' shipbuilding capacity was completely unleashed, and 737 liberty ships and 25 escort aircraft carriers were built in 41 years alone. Therefore, when the Turkish campaign began, the US Navy sent six batches of 377 merchant ships to the Red Sea in just a few days, transporting 2.1 million tons of supplies, including 1,600 fighter planes and 15,000 tanks and armored vehicles, to the Middle East theater of operations!

Fighter planes roared on the peninsula of Asia Minor. The Eastern Mediterranean is also full of murderous opportunities.

At seven o'clock in the morning of March 12, the Italian fleet encountered a formation of British Navy cruisers off the coast of Crete, and Admiral Aquino, who had been tempting the enemy, immediately attacked, and the 18 318-mm guns of the two "Veneto" class battleships were in half an hour. Just send 2 British cruisers and 3 destroyers to the bottom of the sea with lightning speed!

But this was also the last glory of the Italian Navy, and then Cunningham launched a fierce attack on the Italian fleet with hundreds of attack aircraft, although the Luftwaffe stationed in Crete took off dozens of fighters to intercept and shoot down dozens of British attack planes, but the "Veneto" and "Litorio" still ate several bombs and torpedoes respectively. The poor protection of the Italian warships allowed both ships to flood in large quantities. Just as the British attack aircraft group was leaving and Aquino breathed a sigh of relief, at 11 a.m., the sudden appearance of the US Navy attack aircraft group buried all the efforts of the Italian sailors.

At 11:15, the battleship "Litorio" was under siege by 16 SBDs. It exploded after being pierced through the weak horizontal armor by three thousand-pound bombs, and finally sank west of Crete at 1 p.m. The battleship "Veneto" also suffered two bombs and a torpedo, but thanks to the efforts of Italian sailors, it was able to regain its balance at two o'clock in the afternoon and return safely to the Adriatic Sea under the protection of German fighters, but this injury allowed the "Veneto" to rest for more than a year.

In order to completely annihilate the remaining ten Italian warships, the unforgiving Cunningham ordered to continue the attack, but at this time there was bad news! While Mitchell was bombing the Italian fleet, the German 10th Bombardment Regiment, which had set out from Crete to attack Cunningham, ran in the wrong direction and unexpectedly flew over Mitchell's two Borg-class escort aircraft carriers, the "Nassau" and "Cole." Unfortunately, Mitchell had just released all the attack planes, and there were only 24 escort F4F fighters left overhead. Although the American pilots stubbornly shot down dozens of German bombers, and the escort ships formed a ring of defense to protect the aircraft carrier with dense anti-aircraft fire, two D0-217 bombers carrying Fritz-X radio-guided bombs were missed.

At 12:20 p.m., the two Borg-class escort aircraft carriers of the US Navy's Sixth Task Force became victims of the German guidance era, with huge and wide deck targets, and the 1,400-kilogram Fritz-X guided bombs that roared down could not even block the horizontal armor of the battleship, let alone the escort aircraft carrier. The "Nassau" was the first to be shot, and the bomb instantly penetrated the five decks and exploded after penetrating the ammunition depot. The Nassau, which was more than 10,000 tons, was immediately cut in two, and 730 officers and men died! Two minutes later, the "Cole" also hit the bow, and the explosion completely cut the bow section of the 2,000-ton ship! "Cole" gave up an hour later and was sunk by its own torpedo.

After learning that Mitchell's two aircraft carriers were finished, Cunningham decided to use his radar superiority to pursue the Italian fleet. But the problem is that he did not know that there were actually German submarines in the Mediterranean.

In the early morning of March 13, 15 Type VII submarines led by Captain Wolfgang Ruth, the ace of the German Navy, lurking in the waters of Rhode Island, quietly sailed into the waters of the island of Cyprus. The submarines were built in various parts of Germany by the old Hakan using the sectional construction method, and then transported by rail to the German-controlled Yugoslav Trieste shipyard for assembly.

Originally, Ruth did not have a good chance, because there were dozens of British and American destroyers and four aircraft carriers in the sea area to protect, but the appearance of oxygen torpedoes changed the criteria that German submarines needed to risk diving within two kilometers of the escort ship to launch an attack. "It's time to carry out the lightning strike! Set the maximum speed at 5 meters and concentrate on all. Aim ahead and shoot them all! Inside the submarine, after seeing more than a dozen ships five kilometers away through the periscope, the Japanese Navy's Kazuki Ichizo turned his head and spoke half-unfamiliar German. Ruth gestured to open fire en masse.

Kazuichi Konashi was recognized as an excellent captain in the Japanese Navy, but he missed the Battle of Kerama, which decided the fate of China and Japan, by sending Hakan back to Japan. Originally, he wanted to drive a submarine back home. However, due to the Anglo-American blockade, he finally temporarily joined the German Navy with the consent of the base camp. When Ruth learned of this, he immediately sent him, who was proficient in oxygen torpedo tactics, to his boat as a torpedo chief.

"Then we'll try." Russ did not refuse the suggestion and raised two fingers to the telegrapher: "Signal, two minutes." ”

After the telegraph operator sent the telegram, the American fleet in the distance immediately changed its formation, and it was clear that it was an evasive action taken after detecting the unknown radio signal source. Right now. The two Avenger-class escort aircraft carriers also showed their figures, and Ruth hurriedly aimed all six torpedoes in the direction of the aircraft carrier. "Launch! Dive 70 meters! Calculate the time. ”

As soon as the last torpedo left the launch tube, Ruth, who had already effectively sunk up to 150,000 tons, immediately dived. The Oak Leaf Knight's Medal and his men are like a precision clock, quickly and accurately operating complex and dangerous submarines. Less than a minute. The sound waves of the continuous explosion reached everyone's ears, and Ruth and Konashi both clenched their fists.

A few hours later, the results were confirmed by another U-boat lurking nearby, and the siege of six submarines poured salt on Mitchell's wounds. Not only sank an Avenger-class escort aircraft carrier, but also two troop transports sank. As a result, more than 3,000 soldiers were killed or wounded. You know, the nearest troop carrier at that time was also eight kilometers from the submarine!

Three aircraft carriers were sunk in one day and one night, and Mitchell and the U.S. Sixth Task Force suddenly became the unluckiest people of the day. And Rommel became the happiest, Mitchell lost 3 aircraft carriers, and Cunningham went to pursue the Italian fleet. The pressure in the air and sea in Tubrug plummeted. Rommel seized the gap and launched another onslaught on the fortress. Knowing that it would be difficult to defend without a fleet, Auchinleck decided to abandon the fortress and retreat towards the Nile. Eventually, with the help of the navy, 35,000 of the 55,000 Allied troops stationed in Tubrug managed to withdraw to Alexandria, and the rest surrendered.

However, Ruth and Rommel were not happy for long, and a week later, the USS Vespa, which was ordered to be transferred to the eastern Mediterranean, was stationed on the island of Cyprus to join Task Force 6, along with five Borg-class escort carriers, two cruisers, and 27 destroyers.

In the early morning of March 15, the Germans finally advanced to the fortress of Tubrug, which had been surrounded for months. Although the fortress was captured, Rommel paid the price of a full 88,000 dead and wounded, which made the victory much unsuccessful.

But in any case, for the first time, the Nile opened its doors to the North African Corps!

On March 16, 150,000 German-Italian troops, protected by more than 1,000 tanks, advanced mightily towards the Nile. ”

On March 20, the German-Italian army captured Turkey's European region, and 400,000 Turkish troops surrendered!

On March 21, Zhukov captured Izmit and Istanbul fell!

On March 23, Soviet troops occupied Erzurum!

On March 25, Guderian's 15 divisions approached Ankara, and Turkish President Inonu and the Turkish government took refuge in Adana. The longest battle of Ankara in Asia Minor broke out, and in the following six months, Germany and Italy paid 470,000 casualties before they completely captured Ankara in early October, because they could not cut off the supply route from Cyprus to Ankara and could not solve the strong air superiority of the Allied forces.

On 28 March, the Germans launched the Iberian Peninsula Spring Offensive, and Hitler brought in a large number of heavy weapons, including K5 and Karl self-propelled mortars, in a vain attempt to take Gibraltar in one fell swoop. However, by this time, the total number of Allied forces on the peninsula had exceeded 3.7 million, and with the support of a huge sea and air force of 16 aircraft carriers and 2,500 warplanes, the German army had only broken through less than 30 kilometers in the five-month offensive, but paid a heavy price of 730,000 casualties.

Upon hearing the news of the occupation of Istanbul, Hitler happily declared in Berlin: "This is a testimony to the friendship of the two great socialist countries, a victory for the German people!" ”

Stalin also spoke in Moscow on the same day: "We have received a strong and resilient ally to rely on, long live the Soviets!" Long live Germany! Long live socialism! ”

The fall of Istanbul also meant that the Third Reich reached its peak of power, spanning from the Iberian Peninsula and Asia Minor, to most of North Africa west of the Nile to Tunisia!

The Great Mediterranean plan to enclose Gibraltar and the Suez Canal looks like there is only one final step left.

The power of the axis is unmatched!