Part 84
Thessaly, September 18th, 1941
The allied offensive in Thessaly came to a halt. Four weeks of fighting had failed to make any notable gains and had cost the Greeks, Poles, French, Serbs and New Zealanders over 8,000 casualties. What they had accomplished was to pine down the Italians and Bulgarians keeping them from transferring troops either to Epirus or Anatolia. And the Italian and Bulgarian casualties had been actually heavier, not least thanks to heavy artillery provisioned under Lend Lease. The US army had been loath to part with modern guns beyond an initial delivery of 60 155mm guns and 75 mountain guns. It it had been rather more willing to part with over 900 75, 155 and 203mm pieces dating back to the previous world war and a steady flow of them was reaching the allied forces in the Near East with every new convoy. The old guns might be less advanced that the newer US designs or the trickle of modern Czech and French designed 105mm pieces coming out of the factories in Athens but perfectly serviceable and no different than the guns the Allied forces, British excepted, were already using. After all many of them had start life as French military aid the the US a generation before...
Smyrna, September 19th, 1941
One more bombing raid by 200 German and Turkish aircraft hit the city. Many of the bombs hit the harbour which was apparently the target. Even more bombs hit the housing districts near the harbour. Ships bringing munitions and supplies continued offloading as the bombs fell and Greek fighters from airstrips in Chios and within the fortified zone battled the raiders. But but even as he city was being bombed, relative quiet reigned over the siege lines. After 5 weeks of fighting the second assault on Smyrna had come to a halt...
Kiev, September 19th, 1941
The city fell to the German army, even though operations to mop up the last Soviet units caught in the gigantic pocket created by the German armies would continue for one more week. It had been a massive failure for Soviet arms, with the Soviets losing over 535,000 men. Semyon Budyonny in overall command of Soviet forces in the south, had already been replaced a week earlier by Semyon Timoshenko and would never again command Soviet forces in combat following the debacle. Mikhail Kirponos the head of the South Western front would barely escape capture, as he led a breakout of part of his troops from the German encirclement.
Spain September 20th, 1941
Toledo fell to the troops of general Yague. Nearly 3 months since the Falangist coup, Spain was roughly evenly split, with the north including the passes to German occupied France under control of the rebels and the south as well as the Spanish colonies under the control of the Loyalists. Neither the Germans not the British had been able to provide much beyond some tacit support but even that had been enough to secure the areas near the French border to the rebels and the handful of Spanish overseas territories to the Loyalists.
Baghdad, September 22nd, 1941
Emir Abdullah entered the royal palace accompanied by his nephew prince Abd al-Ilah and the former prime minister Nuri al-Said, both men had fled to his court after Gazi's coup had installed the pro-Axis government back in April. Over the previous week Arab Legion and British troops had systematically cleared out the last points of resistance within Baghdad and the emir had staged a triumphant entry to the "liberated" city afterwards, the legion was making certain things were kept in order and conveniently the British were out of the city pushing the Turks and Germans north towards Samara and Tikrit leaving only his men visible in the city. Now it was time to make his next moves. The British had made many promises. It was not necessary that they would remember them unless they were forced to follow through with them...
Odessa, September 26th, 1941
The Romanian army entered the city, or what remained of it between Romanian and German bombardments and Soviet demolitions. The previous night the Soviet navy had evacuated the last defenders with the Romanian and Turkish fleets in the Black sea failing to interfere. It was a victory for Romania but a costly one, seven weeks of siege and three major assaults had cost the Romanians over 67,000 thousand men. for slightly over half as many Soviet casualties.
Serres, Greece, September 27th, 1941
The uprising had been mostly spontaneous, brought by the harsh conditions of the Bulgarian occupation. It had pread though like wildfire across the Serres and Drama districts, with fighters of the nascent People's Liberation Army and the National Liberation Organization joining the fight and the attacks on the Bulgarian occupiers. But enthusiasm alone did not suffice to make the uprising succeed, free Greece was in no position to help much beyond airdropping some arms, the partisan organizations still in their infancy had not managed to mobilize more that a couple thousand men and the Bulgarians had quickly responded by bringing in several thousand men with artillery and air support and indiscriminately attacking rebels and civilians alike, in the villages of Doxato and Choristi alone nearly 500 men would be executed by Bulgarian troops, the second time since 1913 that Doxato was subject to a Bulgarian massacre. By the end of the month the uprising was over.
Rayack, Lebanon, October 3rd, 1941
Two dozen Mustang fighters were delivered to Groupe de chasse I/7, the first of the new American fighters to reach the Near East. The RAF would have very much preferred the aircraft to have gone to its own units in Britain where the first Mustang deliveries had start taking place instead of the French. But the order for 700 Mustang I was in part being financed by French gold, the Americans pretending they did not notice the source of it given official US non-recognition of Fighting France, and the French were not paying for the planes to go to Britain, while they got British cast-offs...
The allied offensive in Thessaly came to a halt. Four weeks of fighting had failed to make any notable gains and had cost the Greeks, Poles, French, Serbs and New Zealanders over 8,000 casualties. What they had accomplished was to pine down the Italians and Bulgarians keeping them from transferring troops either to Epirus or Anatolia. And the Italian and Bulgarian casualties had been actually heavier, not least thanks to heavy artillery provisioned under Lend Lease. The US army had been loath to part with modern guns beyond an initial delivery of 60 155mm guns and 75 mountain guns. It it had been rather more willing to part with over 900 75, 155 and 203mm pieces dating back to the previous world war and a steady flow of them was reaching the allied forces in the Near East with every new convoy. The old guns might be less advanced that the newer US designs or the trickle of modern Czech and French designed 105mm pieces coming out of the factories in Athens but perfectly serviceable and no different than the guns the Allied forces, British excepted, were already using. After all many of them had start life as French military aid the the US a generation before...
Smyrna, September 19th, 1941
One more bombing raid by 200 German and Turkish aircraft hit the city. Many of the bombs hit the harbour which was apparently the target. Even more bombs hit the housing districts near the harbour. Ships bringing munitions and supplies continued offloading as the bombs fell and Greek fighters from airstrips in Chios and within the fortified zone battled the raiders. But but even as he city was being bombed, relative quiet reigned over the siege lines. After 5 weeks of fighting the second assault on Smyrna had come to a halt...
Kiev, September 19th, 1941
The city fell to the German army, even though operations to mop up the last Soviet units caught in the gigantic pocket created by the German armies would continue for one more week. It had been a massive failure for Soviet arms, with the Soviets losing over 535,000 men. Semyon Budyonny in overall command of Soviet forces in the south, had already been replaced a week earlier by Semyon Timoshenko and would never again command Soviet forces in combat following the debacle. Mikhail Kirponos the head of the South Western front would barely escape capture, as he led a breakout of part of his troops from the German encirclement.
Spain September 20th, 1941
Toledo fell to the troops of general Yague. Nearly 3 months since the Falangist coup, Spain was roughly evenly split, with the north including the passes to German occupied France under control of the rebels and the south as well as the Spanish colonies under the control of the Loyalists. Neither the Germans not the British had been able to provide much beyond some tacit support but even that had been enough to secure the areas near the French border to the rebels and the handful of Spanish overseas territories to the Loyalists.
Baghdad, September 22nd, 1941
Emir Abdullah entered the royal palace accompanied by his nephew prince Abd al-Ilah and the former prime minister Nuri al-Said, both men had fled to his court after Gazi's coup had installed the pro-Axis government back in April. Over the previous week Arab Legion and British troops had systematically cleared out the last points of resistance within Baghdad and the emir had staged a triumphant entry to the "liberated" city afterwards, the legion was making certain things were kept in order and conveniently the British were out of the city pushing the Turks and Germans north towards Samara and Tikrit leaving only his men visible in the city. Now it was time to make his next moves. The British had made many promises. It was not necessary that they would remember them unless they were forced to follow through with them...
Odessa, September 26th, 1941
The Romanian army entered the city, or what remained of it between Romanian and German bombardments and Soviet demolitions. The previous night the Soviet navy had evacuated the last defenders with the Romanian and Turkish fleets in the Black sea failing to interfere. It was a victory for Romania but a costly one, seven weeks of siege and three major assaults had cost the Romanians over 67,000 thousand men. for slightly over half as many Soviet casualties.
Serres, Greece, September 27th, 1941
The uprising had been mostly spontaneous, brought by the harsh conditions of the Bulgarian occupation. It had pread though like wildfire across the Serres and Drama districts, with fighters of the nascent People's Liberation Army and the National Liberation Organization joining the fight and the attacks on the Bulgarian occupiers. But enthusiasm alone did not suffice to make the uprising succeed, free Greece was in no position to help much beyond airdropping some arms, the partisan organizations still in their infancy had not managed to mobilize more that a couple thousand men and the Bulgarians had quickly responded by bringing in several thousand men with artillery and air support and indiscriminately attacking rebels and civilians alike, in the villages of Doxato and Choristi alone nearly 500 men would be executed by Bulgarian troops, the second time since 1913 that Doxato was subject to a Bulgarian massacre. By the end of the month the uprising was over.
Rayack, Lebanon, October 3rd, 1941
Two dozen Mustang fighters were delivered to Groupe de chasse I/7, the first of the new American fighters to reach the Near East. The RAF would have very much preferred the aircraft to have gone to its own units in Britain where the first Mustang deliveries had start taking place instead of the French. But the order for 700 Mustang I was in part being financed by French gold, the Americans pretending they did not notice the source of it given official US non-recognition of Fighting France, and the French were not paying for the planes to go to Britain, while they got British cast-offs...
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