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What if Turkey joined The Axis ?

Discussion in 'What If - Other' started by hebelecan, Mar 13, 2009.

  1. hebelecan

    hebelecan Member

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    Throught the war Turkey tried to stay natural and was ruled by an isolationist president, Inonu. What if someone replaced him by making a right-wing coup ?

    Relations with the Axis side would greatly improve, thus Turks would end up in the Axis.
    Looking at the Turkish army condition in 1940s you can see that its open to real improvements which can be supplied by Germany. Not to mention the stratecigal porsition of the country which is located at the backdoor of the Soviet Union and its precious oil field in Baku. A gate way to Middle East, Blacksea.
    Imagine the Turks pushing the Allies to Suez and with the Italian help, Encircling the Commonwealth troops deployed in Middle East and North Africa. Pushing the Soviets through the Caucaus and to Stalingrad which would help the Germans reach there before winter.

    Well Its doubtful that the Turkish military can accomplish a 2 hard tasks like this but like i said it was very open to improvements and lend-leased equipment from Germany would make things much easier.

    An approximate estimate of the Turkish army in 1938

    14 Infantry Divisions
    1 Mountain Commando Division
    3 Semi-Motorized Cavarly Divisions
    10-12 Gendarmiere Divisions
    1 Mechanized Division
    %90 of them obsolote

    2 Bomber wings
    2 Figther wings
    Obsolote

    A small obsolote navy
     
  2. JCFalkenbergIII

    JCFalkenbergIII Expert

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  3. neverseperat

    neverseperat Member

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    they would be defeated xD they were too weak after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire the economy would be in shambles and british/ soviet controlled surroundings would find that as a key point to win
     
  4. JCFalkenbergIII

    JCFalkenbergIII Expert

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    "The Turks, although neutral, were courted by both Germany and the Allies. They staunchly maintained their neutrality to the end of the war, giving haven to Germans escaping the Russian Juggernaut in Bulgaria and Romania in 1944, and from the Allies in Greece in 1944-45.
    Of course their surrendered Kar. 98K's and other equipment were immediately absorbed by the Turkish Army."


    "The Turks had a dilemma as World War II approached. On the one hand, they had made a great deal of progress toward becoming a modern secular nation. Entering the war on either side would put that progress at risk. On the other hand, the Turks had lost a great deal of territory at the end of World War I. In the Middle East, they lost territory which today is Iraq, Syria, Jordan, Israel, and part of Saudi Arabia. In the Mediterranean, the Italians seized islands along the Turkish coast, some as close as 3 miles away from the mainland. A strong current of Turkish political thought said that World War II was an opportunity to take those territories back. The question was: which territories did they go for? The Italian-held islands were an affront to Turkey. On the other hand, England ran (directly or indirectly) former Turkish territory in Iraq, Jordan, and Palestine. France held Syria and Lebanon. Turkey was also interested in regaining influence and/or territory in Turkish-speaking areas of the Soviet Union. Turkey could swing toward the allies and try to recover the Mediterranean islands, or it could swing toward the Axis and try to recover lost areas in the Middle East. After the Germans invaded the Soviet Union, Turkey also had the option of trying to exploit that war to reach its goals in the Soviet Union.

    Throughout the war, the Allies and Axis were very aware of Turkey's potential role. At various times both sides offered fairly major incentives to bring the Turks in. A couple of times it looked like they were about to succeed."

    http://members.aol.com/dalecoz/ww2_0998.htm

    "Armed Forces: In 1938 the Turkish standing army had 20 000 officers and 174 000 men. Military service lasted for three years. In 1939 the Turkish army was administrationally divided into three army inspectorates, nine corps, and one military governorship; the country's armed forces were composed of 20 infantry divisions, three brigades of mountain troops, one fortress brigade, and five cavalry divisions (including two reserve cavalry divisions) - altogether 132 regiments (60 infantry, six mountain troops, 21 cavalry, eight reserve cavalry, 20 field artillery, 10 heavy artillery, and seven fortress artillery). In early 1941 Turkey established 17 corps headquarters, 43 divisions and three independent infantry brigades, two divisions and one independent cavalry brigade, as well as two mechanized divisions. The armed forces were poorly equipped; weapons shipments from Germany, Great Britain, and U.S. did little to improve that condition. Just before the onset of hostilities the Turkish navy underwent a program of expansion and modernization; two submarines were ordered for construction in Germany, two submarines and four destroyers were ordered for construction in U.K. Lesser vessels were also constructed in home shipyards. After Germany delivered one submarine in 1939, the Turkish navy contained 19 naval vessels and they included one armoured ship, one line cruiser, two light cruisers, two torpedo-boats, four destroyers, five submarines, and four other lesser ships (most vessels were obsolete); with a total displacement of 55 775 tonnes (the number of naval personnel stood at 9 200). The real combat value of the navy was insignificant. By the end of WWII, the navy had one battle cruiser, two cruisers, two gunboats, three minesweepers, eight destroyers, 12 submarines, three motor torpedo boats, five minelayers, a surveying vessel, a depot ship, a fleet tug, a collier, and an oiler. By 1940 the Turkish air force was composed of four air regiments (each regiment contained six air companies), and had in possession a total of 370 aircraft (it had 8 500 personnel). Thanks to British and French shipments one more air regiment, along with five independent air wings, was formed in 1941. Shipments of military equipment from Germany replaced the shipments from Allied countries in the same year. Close to the end of the war, two air force divisions were organized; they together contained 15 air wings (or 30 flights). The Turkish armed forces did not participated in any military operations of WWII. "

    The Armed Forces of WWII ( Near East ).
     
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  5. hebelecan

    hebelecan Member

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    Well Allied forces in Africa couldnt stand an assault on both sides. With Germans starting Barbrossa Reds would have 2 choices
    Either invade the s*** out of Turkey or just try to hold a defensive line with less manpower losses and concantrate on the war machine in the west
     
  6. JCFalkenbergIII

    JCFalkenbergIII Expert

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  7. JCFalkenbergIII

    JCFalkenbergIII Expert

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    http://www.angelfire.com/pokemon2/ku...i/turkey2.html

    Quote:
    İsmet İnönü tried to overcome the difficulties stemming from the world economic crisis with a policy of statism during the period when he was the Prime Minister. He wanted to develop industry and did very important things in this way. Inonu's greatest success was in keeping Turkey out of the Second World War. He wanted his country to be neutral in this war.
    His policy in this way was build a balance between other countries and at the same time insisting on neutrality. His first job was to sign an agreement with Soviet and German on 23 August 1939. Inönü thought that his agreement could harm Turkey, so signed agreements with France and Britain on 13 October 1939. And with this agreement Turkey could get economic aid. Later İnönü signed nonaggression pact with Soviet Union on 25 March 1941.

    Germans arrived on Turkey's doorstep in June 1941. A few days before German attacked the Soviet Union, Inönü signed a nonaggression pact with Germany. Inönü's this policy continued throughout the war. Inönü never permitted German access to the Straits (strategic location controlling the Turkish Straits (Bosporus, Sea of Marmara, Dardanelles) that link Black and Aegean Seas) or passage on or over Turkish land, maintaining his assertion that the Germans could not win the war. After Germany's defeats in Egypt, North Africa, and Stalingrad seemed to confirm this position, Inönü relented at a meeting with Roosevelt and Churchill in Cairo to a request that Turkish military facilities be made available to the Allied forces.

    When the war was about to end, Turkey sided with the USA, Britain and the Soviet Union and declared war against Germany and Japan and signed the United Nations communiqué dated 24 January 1945. Turkey, which was officially invited to the San Francisco Conference on 5 March 1945, was among the founding members of the United Nations.

    Turkey did not enter the Second World War, but was negatively affected by the war. Throughout the war a large army was kept ready, prices increased rapidly, many of the basic food items were rationed, many items could not be found or were sold on the black market. During the war years, inflation rose significantly and this is still one of the main problems for now.
     
  8. TbC25

    TbC25 recruit

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    If Turkey joined Axis , i think :D , war could be won , because of turkish teritories . Yes , turkish army in WW2 had only 170.000 men , so what ? Only guaranteeing military acces to Germany , turkish army would have an advantage . Germans would send reinforcements to turkish army , and send some divisions there , to take caucasian oil fields . Sorry , english isn't my native language , Sorry for gramatical errors:eek::eek::eek:
     
  9. urqh

    urqh Tea drinking surrender monkey

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  10. JCFalkenbergIII

    JCFalkenbergIII Expert

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  11. JCFalkenbergIII

    JCFalkenbergIII Expert

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    You might want to read some of the other threads on this subject and perhaps see what faults there are in your logic. The Germans were stretched far enough as it was that LOGISTICALLY they could not support sending thier own troops nor supply the Turks with the MODERN weapons and equipment that was needed.
     
  12. Sloniksp

    Sloniksp Ставка

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    Here is a question.....


    WHY WOULD TURKEY WANT TO GET INVOLVED AGAIN??

    The last time it cost them an empire!
     
  13. A-58

    A-58 Cool Dude

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    And most of it went to the British and the French....
     

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