WI Barbarossa goes through Turkey?

Elisia

Banned
What if the Germans attack Turkey on 6th April simultaneously with operation Marita? Turkey was weak and the turkish soldiers worse than the Italian so allthough the country is wast the Germans could have conquered it by late May/early June.

With this some 20 or 30 Divisions could have attacked thr Caucasus while the remaining 120 Divisions would have attacked the USSR the way it happened in OTL
 
That would be insane idiocy and end the war much sooner. Trying the hold down Turkey would be death, and Britain would get very defensive of Iraq and Palestine, while the Free French would attack for Syria.
 
That action will do all of the following:

1. Push Turkey towards the Allies, who surround Turkey on three sides because let's face it Stalin knows that the only real objective Germany has for a conquest of Turkey is a shot at the Soviet Union's Caucasus oil resources.

2. Cause Germany to get bogged down in mountainous turf occupied mostly by a hostile population.

3. Cost the Germans the entire campaign and probably end the war sooner.
 
No way does Germany pacify the Turks, unless they do ethnic cleansing on a scale unequaled in all of history. That itself would take years, if not decades and would cost the Germans an unsustainable amount of blood and treasure.
 
That would be insane idiocy and end the war much sooner. Trying the hold down Turkey would be death, and Britain would get very defensive of Iraq and Palestine, while the Free French would attack for Syria.

They're all already at war by then, the British are just going to run naval interference if the Germans want to do so much as blitz across the Sea of Marmara.

If there was no Axis invasion of Greece, Germany would try to entice Metaxas with the promise of Constantinople, Metaxas, being far too intelligent to fall for it, would leave the Germans to dry.

Assuming OTL...

Germany still has a war in hostile territory surrounded by three MORE hostile powers.
 
No way does Germany pacify the Turks, unless they do ethnic cleansing on a scale unequaled in all of history. That itself would take years, if not decades and would cost the Germans an unsustainable amount of blood and treasure.

And in the meantime infuriate the Turks, the Germans will not have the time to finish the job.
 
Indeed, but more like the Constantinople front since the Royal Navy will lock down the strait rather speedily leaving a massive idle German force waiting to get across...

I think German airpower will be able to neutralize any ships Britain sends to hold the straits. Istanbul and the Dardanelles shouldn't bottle up the Germans.

The mountainous interior and poor infrastructure on the other hand, make this a poor invasion route.
 
Is it possible to get the Turks to agree to open thoroughfares for the Germans to get to the British forces in the middle-east?
 
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