() Turkey spans the Eurasian continent and guards the strategically important Turkish Strait. It has been a battleground for military strategists since ancient times. In history, Turkey was once wealthy, and its territory once covered the entire Middle East, extending to the Caspian Sea, North Africa and the Balkans in the east.
The entire region is also under control, and the entire Mediterranean is Turkey’s swimming pool.
However, no matter how powerful an empire is, it will decline one day. During World War I, Ottoman Turkey reluctantly participated in the war. After the war, this huge empire finally disintegrated, its territory seriously shrank, and it could only retreat to the Anatolian Plateau.
After the start of World War II, Turkey saw France destroyed, Britain crumbling, and Nazi troops entering the Balkan Peninsula. In order to protect itself, Turkey had no choice but to declare neutrality. However, under the guise of neutrality, Turkey still exported a large amount of supplies to Germany, including
The most important thing is chromium ore. Chromium is an essential raw material for the production of alloy steel, and Turkey happens to be the only source of chromium imported by Germany.
Germany's Production Minister Speer pointed out that if the chromium ore was cut off, Germany's arms production would stop operating for ten months. Germany would exchange industrial products for Turkey for valuable chromium ore. Turkey did not put all its treasure on Nazi Germany.
It also exported chromium ore to Britain and the United States in exchange for weapons...
The Turkish army is an anomaly that is equipped with weapons from both camps. It can be said that this country has been walking on a tightrope, carefully maintaining a balance to avoid falling to one side and annoying the other.
It can be said that Turkey's strategy was very successful in the early days. No one from the two camps attacked Turkey, and a large amount of arms were sold, which allowed Turkey's military strength to increase rapidly. But the good news ended here. China opened up routes to Africa.
After that, it mobilized more and more forces to the Middle East and pointed the finger directly at Turkey.
After winning the Battle of Stalingrad, the Soviet Union also moved its troops towards the Caucasus. The Chinese and Soviet armies formed a pincer attack on Turkey. Immediately, Stalin and Qiao Yu issued a joint ultimatum, demanding that Turkey immediately abandon its fight with the Nazis.
Germany's trade, while joining the Allied side, provided the Allied forces with a landing site for their counterattack in Europe and other conditions.
This ultimatum weighed heavily on Turkish President Inonu. He was once the main assistant to Kemal, the founder of Turkey. After Kemal's death, he became the president of Turkey. The tightrope strategy was exactly what he advocated.
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But now China and the Soviet Union have joined forces to launch an attack. It has become very difficult for Turkey to continue walking the tightrope. Inonu convened cabinet members to urgently discuss the situation at hand. The Turkish government was also at a loss at this time. They were facing such aggressive attitudes towards their allies.
There is great dissatisfaction, and these people do not want to place a bet prematurely. In their view, the war has not reached the final moment. Germany may still have hope of winning, and they are worried that once Turkey joins the Allies, it will be attacked by Germany.
Attack violently.
The other group believes that the allies are powerful and cannot be resisted by Turkey. The best way is to compromise quickly, otherwise once the Sino-Soviet armies launch an attack, Turkey cannot resist them.
President Inonu was hesitant. He sent a message to the United Kingdom, hoping that the United Kingdom could come forward to help Turkey and the Soviet Union. However, Lao Qiu suffered a serious blow at the Tehran Conference. He knew that his weight was not enough to defeat the Sino-Soviet Union.
He gave up the idea of attacking Turkey, so he could only advise Inonu to join the Allies as soon as possible.
While Turkey was hesitating, the deadline set by China and the Soviet Union had arrived, and the attack on Turkey finally started. China launched an attack from the southeast of Turkey, and the Soviet Union dispatched Vasilevsky to command the Transcaucasian Front from the northeast of Turkey.
Launch an attack.
The equipment of the Turkish army is not bad. They are all advanced weapons purchased from Britain and Germany. The only problem is that the equipment level cannot compete with the Chinese and Soviet armies that have been fighting for more than two years. At the first moment of the war, the Turkish Air Force
Suffering a devastating blow, 350 fighter planes were lost in the first three days, and the air force instantly became an air force.
As the commander of this military operation, Liu Wenhui thought there would be a strong confrontation. After all, on paper, Turkey has more than 800,000 troops with very good equipment and is definitely not a weakling. But when it comes to fighting,
That's not the case at all.
The Air Force is completely unable to compare with China. Turkish pilots do not seem to understand what war is. Chinese pilots can easily shoot them down. The weapons exchanged for precious resources do not allow Turkey to obtain the combat effectiveness it deserves.
Immediately afterwards, the army was also quickly defeated by China's steel torrent. More than 50,000 Turkish troops were captured. Together with the killed and dispersed troops, the Turks lost more than 100,000 troops. The Chinese army quickly moved deep into Turkey.
Advance.
The Soviet Union was also not slow in its actions. Vasilevsky also mobilized the Black Sea Fleet, launched an amphibious landing operation from the side, successfully broke through Turkey's rear, and then surrounded the Turkish troops on the front line, becoming a turtle in the urn.
In the first week of the war, Turkey lost more than 100,000 troops. The skillful attack methods and rapid advancement capabilities of the Chinese and Soviet troops made Turkey feel desperate. The two sides were not at all on the same order of magnitude. Their painful experience once again
It proves that military modernization cannot be bought by buying.
The Turkish army seems to be very well equipped, but its supporting logistical support capabilities are limited. Broken aircraft and tanks cannot be repaired at all. Aviation fuel also depends on foreign imports. The United States and Britain cut off the supply. The Turkish Air Force soon became a real air force.
In addition, the ammunition reserve was seriously insufficient. After the war started, it was quickly exhausted. The expensive weapons became decorations. The war situation fully exposed the country's weakness.
The disastrous defeat severely dampened Inonu's spirit. He once thought that even if Turkey's army could not compare with the first-class powers, at least it would not be too different. However, the current situation clearly told him that this was completely delusional.
Far.
The Central and Soviet Union attacked Turkey, and it was time for Western Europe to decide its fate. Nazi Germany's latest aircraft carriers Deutschland and Nazism had been tested and officially incorporated into the navy. In addition, the Tirpitz had been repaired early, and Hitler
The mail ship was used to transfer four escort aircraft carriers.
Seven aircraft carriers, three large and four small, formed the core of the Nazi navy. The construction of German surface ships was not smooth. Except for the two aircraft carriers Bismarck and Tirpitz built in the early days of the war, there were not many achievements. Mainly
The reason was the strategic bombing launched by Britain.
The docks required to build large ships are relatively large, which is very obvious and can easily attract attacks. Moreover, the British also regard German aircraft carriers as the biggest threat, so they do not hesitate to send a large number of bombers to frequently visit German shipyards, seriously delaying Germany's speed.
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As the war situation became more and more unfavorable, Hitler's situation became more and more difficult. He had to place his last hope on the aircraft carrier and allocated part of the already very tight supplies to speed up the construction of the aircraft carrier.
Finally, the Nazi aircraft carrier was launched, and Britain's situation suddenly became critical. Churchill mobilized all the existing large aircraft carriers in Britain. In addition, Shen Honglie led the Pingyuan and Anyuan a few months ago. A new aircraft carrier arrived in the UK.
During this period of time, they have conducted joint training with the British Royal Navy to familiarize themselves with each other and ensure that they can effectively cooperate in naval battles. After a period of tempering, the Chinese Navy has become familiar with the British combat methods, and the two militaries have carried out fruitful cooperation.
The British intelligence agency is the busiest. Their only mission is to detect the movements of German aircraft carriers. The hard work paid off. News of the dispatch of German aircraft carriers was finally discovered, and the British Royal Navy was also well prepared.
The North Sea is far less vast than the Pacific Ocean, and both sides have a large number of submarines, reconnaissance aircraft, and camouflaged merchant ships patrolling back and forth, making it very difficult to keep things secret.
Germany no longer has enough troops to land in the UK, so the combat plan formulated by Germany is to have the aircraft carrier formation attack the English Channel, lure the British fleet to sail, and then use the aircraft carrier and shore-based aircraft to cooperate with each other to destroy the British fleet.
The so-called attack must save the country. The English Channel is a forbidden area for Britain and must not be touched. It is precisely because of this mentality that the German fleet bypassed the Ridland Peninsula and headed for the English Channel.
The British adopted a tit-for-tat attitude and formed two teams, the north and the south. The north line was composed of two Chinese aircraft carriers led by Shen Honglie, and the south line was the main force of the British Royal Navy.
In this maritime battle that was destined to go down in history, the British were not very lucky. Just as the Royal Navy left the Scapa Flow anchorage, it was attacked by a German submarine and the escorting battleship HMS Prince of Wales was attacked. attack.
The development focus of the navies of various countries is on aircraft carriers. The overlord battleships of the past were just a decoration. The Prince of Wales was also the last type of battleship designed and built by the British. Its main mission was to make up for the shortcomings of aircraft combat and provide protection for the aircraft carrier. , covering operations such as seizing the island and landing on it.
However, the attack failed, and the Prince of Wales became the first sunken warship in this most important decisive battle. Although the British sent anti-submarine ships and aircraft to destroy the vicious German submarine, the huge warship quickly plunged underwater. The afterimage of the sinking cast a dark cloud over the hearts of all the British navy.
The war is still going on, and the British cannot help but feel sad. They must quickly find the German aircraft carriers and sink them. The Germans have the same idea. Nazi scientists indeed represent the top scientific research power in this era. , they developed a new type of carrier-based aircraft with a range of 2,700 kilometers.
Already surpassing the British carrier-based aircraft, the Germans took the lead in discovering the British with the advantage of the carrier-based aircraft. The fleets of both sides collided together, and the North Sea boiled instantly. The carrier-based aircraft roared in the sky, and planes continued to be shot down. It's like making dumplings.
The Germans, who had seized the opportunity, took the lead in breaking through the British blocking network and sent an escort aircraft carrier into the seabed. (To be continued.)