"Turkey and D-Day" Topic

"Turkey and the eastern Mediterranean may seem a long way from the beaches of Normandy. Still, Allied operations involving Turkey were vital in keeping German troops away from northern France on D-Day.

By the end of 1943, the Germans, particularly Ribbentrop, were convinced that Turkey was not a genuine neutral. When Churchill flew to visit the Turkish President, the Adana conference strongly indicated this shift to Ribbentrop and subsequent spy reports of British troops on training and construction duties in Turkey. Britain built 38 airfields, including 15 all-weather fields near the Straits, using engineers and construction workers sent from the UK. Operation Hardihood was the British code name for support to Turkey in the form of British formations, military equipment and broader economic assistance. The equipment included 180 (50 more to follow) Valentine tanks, 222 Stuart light tanks, 25 Sherman medium tanks, 150 Dingo scout cars, 59 Bren carriers and 48 Bishop self-propelled guns. This allowed the Turkish Army to reorganise their armoured forces into three armoured brigades equipped with Allied armour facing the Balkans…"

Balkan Wargamer

link

Armand

Very interesting. I Was not aware of this gambit, be it serious or a feint.

Me either.

Glad you enjoyed it…

Armand

German plans for an invasion of Turkey and then a drive into the Middle east are one of the fascinating counterfactuals of WWII. I have to wonder if the terrain and lack of good roads and long supply lines and the galvanized resistance of the Turks would have made a mash of German blitzkrieg hopes?