Of lost monkeys and broken vehicles

[Lascaris]

At this point Greek history and general Philhellenism must be gripping America. I wonder if Greece will expand once again after the Ally Victory at the expense of Turkey and Bulgaria? Certainly the Bosporus being Greek will be in all the Allies' interest post war. The Levant will be interesting, Kurds and Assyrians are setting up to gaining their own state.

Even in OTL you had a wave of philhellenism as seen by the Greek War Relief Association. TTL its likely going even higher particularly if the Greeks actually manage to survive. This could have interesting repercussions after the war, frex when the question of Cyprus rises up...

Capturing Cyprus will be challenging. And would the Germans really agree to use their precious paratroopers for such a sideshow? They are allied, but Cyprus is a thorn on the side of Turkey, not Germany.

Possibly not, It depends on how much they want to accommodate he Turks. Who have a cards on their sleeve to get concessions from Germany. Starting with the love affair Hitler and the German nationalist right had for Turkish nationalists in general and Kemal in particular (one that to be fair was an one sided affair) to chrome deposits.

Well for one is closer and two i think at this time Cyprus had some RAF infrastructure and last cyprus has a population that can potentially be loyal (Turkish Cypriots) unlike crete which in otl by the was completely greek

The Turkish Cypriots are in a problematic position. They stayed mostly loyal to Britain in 1914-18.It's more difficult to do so in 1941 given that for the past 20 years they witnessed first Greek expansion in Asia Minor and then an active campaign on the Greek-Cypriot part for unification with Greece. Even if they do want to stay loyal they will be suspect to the British...

Keeping Cyprus supplied to conduct a sustainable bombing campaign against the Suez canal is going to be very difficult for the Axis if the Aegean stays in Allied hands.
But yes, Cyprus would be definetely closer to the Suez canal than Crete, although that works both ways.

Supplying Cyprus at all would be quite difficult as long as air superiority was not ensured. Which would require a sustained commitment on the Axis part.

So is it fair to assume that the only major Luftwaffe formation in the Mediterranean is the X Fliegerkorps?

Not till the end of May when VIII Fliegerkorps will likely have to go.

And this time the Allies have Smyrna - a major port, to act as a logistics base.

Unless it has fallen to the Turkish army. Even f it has not fallen it will be under siege...

 

[Tursiops Amicus]

I'm partial to Michalos Roussis...

Who is Michalos Roussis?

 

[Lascaris]

Who is Michalos Roussis?

The hero of the "kotzabashi of Kastropyrgos" trilogy by M. Karagatsis. Roussis is a Peloponnesian magnate on the eve of the Greek revolution. He's a generally decent human being, well connected, rich much more interested about womanizing than politics and by nature fearful. One the eve of the revolution he's brought to Tripolitsa along other magnates by the Turks were he's taken a hostage. To survive abusing and fearing torture he converts to Islam, unlike the other hostages. Only the Greeks win and he's considered a traitor for converting with a death warrant on his head. He escapes Tripolitsa, hiding from his own people, then joins the Greek army under a false name as a common soldier in hopes of rehabilitating himself. When time for battle at Dervenakia comes he panics but in his panic instead of running back he runs forward first against the Turks. When among them instinct takes over and he goes berserk. And thus he turns into a hero and gets rehabilitated... by accident.

And this ends book one. In book two "Blood lost and won" 3 years have passed and Roussis is widely respected but he knows how he became a hero and does not respect his own self for it. So this time he goes on his own on what's a forlorn hope in the battle of Maniaki. He fights heroically for real this time, survives but...

 

[Andreas]

Corfu is a thorn on the Italian flank.

I 'd love to see an epic fight on the fortifications of Corfu town as per the siege of 1716, preferably with the same outcome.

 

[Tursiops Amicus]

The hero of the "kotzabashi of Kastropyrgos" trilogy by M. Karagatsis. Roussis is a Peloponnesian magnate on the eve of the Greek revolution. He's a generally decent human being, well connected, rich much more interested about womanizing than politics and by nature fearful. One the eve of the revolution he's brought to Tripolitsa along other magnates by the Turks were he's taken a hostage. To survive abusing and fearing torture he converts to Islam, unlike the other hostages. Only the Greeks win and he's considered a traitor for converting with a death warrant on his head. He escapes Tripolitsa, hiding from his own people, then joins the Greek army under a false name as a common soldier in hopes of rehabilitating himself. When time for battle at Dervenakia comes he panics but in his panic instead of running back he runs forward first against the Turks. When among them instinct takes over and he goes berserk. And thus he turns into a hero and gets rehabilitated... by accident.

And this ends book one. In book two "Blood lost and won" 3 years have passed and Roussis is widely respected but he knows how he became a hero and does not respect his own self for it. So this time he goes on his own on what's a forlorn hope in the battle of Maniaki. He fights heroically for real this time, survives but...

It seems interesting. I'll look for one of these books.

 

[Lascaris]

Basrah, April 21st, 1941

The 20th Indian infantry brigade had landed in the city 3 days earlier without being opposed by the Iraqi army. Till then a standoff had developed as neither the Iraqis nor the British wanted to initiate an actual clash, despite persistent efforts by the German ambassador in Baghdad, Franz Groba to get the Iraqis to commit on the German side.

El Agheila, April 25th, 1941

The little town fell to the Germans as British troops fell back on a line from Marada to the east of El Agheila. In a month British forces had been pushed back 300 kilometers and of the 256 tanks they had start the battle with only 104 were left still running. But Rommel had lost 107 tanks of his own as well and had to stop his advance at least for now.

Smyrna line, April 28th, 1941

Seven weeks of fighting had claimed 10,000 Greek casualties and three time as many Turkish ones, but the Turkish army had failed to make any significant headway against the Greek fortifications even after the Turks had finally managed to bring their heavy K39 siege guns to the frontline, the 8 guns available had been too few and the main forts designed to stand up to heavy artillery. Now Fahrettin pasha had to regroup and wait for Smyrna to get starved and bombed to submission. Following the battle of Lesvos the previous month, the lines from Piraeus to Smyrna were relatively safe from surface raiders, but submarines and Italian MAS boats off Lemnos and the straits were a different matter as were the German and Italian air forces, the German Fliegerkorps VIII still had slightly over 700 aircraft available in Greece in addition to nearly 400 Italian aircraft, 4th Squadra Aera had to be redeployed on operations against Malta and North Africa and the Turkish air force so far was getting the better of the outnumbered Greek and French forces it had to fight. Smyrna had a population of 566,819 people according to the census of 1940, right before the start of the war, with another 1,494,824 people in the rest of Ionia. Between a third and half of the second had run to Smyrna ahead of the advancing Turkish armies. Between them and the supply needs of the 168,000 men of the Asia Minor army, Smyrna needed 2-2,500 tons of supplies per day to avoid starvation. Already a small number of women and children had been moved to the nearby islands of Lesvos and Chios. But likely more and more systematic action would be needed...

Corfu, April 29th, 1941

Greek forces had contested the island step by step, inflicting nearly 3,000 casualties in the Italians, despite nearly no outside help. But as the Italians closed to Corfu town further resistance was becoming impossible. The town had already been repeatedly bombarded by Italian cruisers and destroyers as well as the Italian air force, for three weeks allied air forces had shown up only sporadically and allied navies not at all. This abruptly changed as just past midnight the heavy cruisers Helli and Lemnos backed by destroyers Themistoklis, Miaoulis, Psara and Spetsai attacked the Italian squadron in Corfu channel, three light cruisers and four destroyers. After the massacre at Cythera the previous month the Italians were alert to the possibility of night action but two decades of neglect could not be fixed in a month and the Greek heavy cruisers were far better protected than the Italian ships. As the Italian ships were pushed north with two of the destroyers sunk, four more Greek destroyers entered the port of Corfu town. By sunrise the Greek squadron was already sailing south of Zakynthos at top speed with 2,000 men of the Greek 10th Infantry regiment aboard. Psara had been sunk in the night action.

RAF Habbaniya, May 2nd, 1941

British and Greek pilots being trained in the base took off at dawn, attacking the Iraqi troops that the previous days had surrounded the base and the Iraqi air force aircraft in Baghdad's airport. World war 2 had just reached Iraq...

Turkish-Iraqi border, May 4th, 1941

The VII Turkish corps crossed the border into Iraq heading into Mosul. Despite outnumbering the British at Habbaniya by a wide margin the Iraqi army had failed to make any headway so far. Besides the opportunity to kick the British out of Iraq and its oil was too good to pass. Besides with active aid to the Iraqis the Syrian nationalists could hopefully rise up against the French as well, after all Turkish ties to them dated back to the Great Syrian Revolt of 1925.

Syrian-Iraqi border, May 7th, 1941

The 86e Division d'infanterie crossed into Iraq. The British were not entirely happy with getting Fremnch troops marching into their sphere of influence, it would be impolitic to say colony since Iraq was supposed to be independent, but did not have all that many options either. For some reason the Iraqis had retreated from Habbaniya the previous night despite their superior numbers, Arab Legion forces were advancing from Jordan across the desert towards Rutba, a brigade sized force of the 1st Cavalry division was preparing to follow them and the 7th Australian division was marching north into Syria. But a small force of German, Italian and Turkish aircraft had already landed in Mosul from Turkey and 50,000 Turkish soldiers were marching for it. Thus war necessities prevailed over colonial policy.

Scotland, May 8th, 1941

The lone Bf-110 didn't even noticed the pair of Spitfires as they closed on it and shot it down. The Spitfire pilots wondered briefly what the single aircraft was doing before shrugging it off. It was an easy kill after all, but any aircraft shot down was an occasion for a few, or not so few beers. It would be only post-war that archival search would determine that the aircraft was likely being piloted Rudolf Hess even though conspiracy theories that he remained alive and at large following his disappearance in May 1941 would persist for decades.

Mediterranean sea, May 11th, 1941

The Lion convoy of fast transports had left Gibraltar escorted by Force H a few days ago. In Malta its cover had switched to the Mediterranean fleet. Now a single ship broke off the convoy , and headed north for Piraeus under heavy Greek escort while the rest of the convoy continued to Alexandria. The next day the transport would offload its precious cargo, 57 Centaur tanks and 10 Hurricanes to Piraeus. Along with 60 M11 tanks captured by the British in North Africa and not needed any more, it would provide enough tanks for the Greeks to rebuild their 1st armoured brigade which had been reduced to less than a dozen tanks in two months of fighting.

Spercheios river, Central Greece, May 13th, 1941

The by now familiar sound of the heavy artillery and hundreds of aircraft announced the attack as German and Italian divisions surged forward. In the past three weeks the three panzer divisions in the Greek front had been reduced to a single understrength one as the 9th Panzer left for Romania and 2nd Panzer, her tanks passed to the 9th and the 5th sent back to Germany to rebuild. Of the twelve infantry divisions, five had followed 9th panzer east. But thirteen Italian divisions from Epirus and Macedonia had taken the place of the Germans. Redeployment of the VIII Fliegerkorps would have to start by the end of the month, which was giving a window of about three weeks for a second chance at finishing off the Greeks, since Mussolini was willing, not to say eager, to provide the troops and brag it was the Italians who had after all conquered Greece. The 2nd battle of Thermopylae begun...

 

[catconqueror]

If the German panzers cannot beat a retreating Allied army, what chances do the Italian have against a dug in allied lines?

This is going to turn into another Isonozo,13 battles at Thermopylae here we come.

 

[Sceonn]

Greece not being evicted from either the Balkans or Anatolia is a PR golden goose. Turkey is overextending, soon enough attrition is going to whittle away at their local air superiority.

 

[Vaeius]

I do wonder how much the Turkish economy can be pushed, I don't see them easily or quickly replacing any equipment losses as they push into Iraq. What's going on with the Kurds and Assyrians by this point by the way? Facing revolts and fighting off the allies at the same time wouldn't be a great time while also besieging Smyrna and occupying Greek territory.

Hopefully the Greek's can integrate those tanks quickly enough, not sure two days are enough time for them to be usable at Thermopylae. But would certainly help afterwards if they can hold, especially if they push back while Germany is busy in Russia. Maybe back up to the Olympus range?

What's going on in the State's by the way, the lend lease shipments ought to be coming soon right?

Also it seems Hess is delusional in two timelines. Maybe Stalin will chill a little without worrying about Hess dealing with Britain? Nah....

 

[emperor joe]

So in effect smyrna is now the largest greek city right now, with the italians taking over the battle of thermopylae I forsee that the the italians are going the have heavy losses both in the men and equipment and maybe the will be no Italian involvement in ttl Barbarossa.
Now when the germans attack the soviets the allies with have the chance to gain air superiority in the Aegean making possible the removal the women and children away from smyrna with the most likely destination being crete,this should improve the supply situation in smyrna making possible the arrival of greek and allied troops to attack the turks and open the straits open to allied ships.
And lastly a quick question has glaucos clerides joined the RAF or has he volunteered of the HAF instead?

 

[X Oristos]

The 20th Indian infantry brigade had landed in the city 3 days earlier without being opposed by the Iraqi army. Till then a standoff had developed as neither the Iraqis nor the British wanted to initiate an actual clash, despite persistent efforts by the German ambassador in Baghdad, Franz Groba to get the Iraqis to commit on the German side.

The Indian Army can concentrate a decent-sized force in Iraq. If I remember correctly, there were 5 indian brigades during the OTL Anglo-Iraqi War, with a second wave of another 4 brigades that either participated in summer 1941 at the invasion of Iran or became lines of communication troops. I guess a certain general Slim takes control of the Indian Army in Basra. And Bill Slim is no Townshend, the opposite rather.

The turkish corps is marching aye, but it is marching towards desctruction and interment.

El Agheila, April 25th, 1941

So the high tide of Rommel's attack stops at El Agheila. From now on, the Commonwealth can establish a significant material superiority over the Axis and Malta is receiving aircraft by way of Araxos and Benghazi.

the German Fliegerkorps VIII still had slightly over 700 aircraft available in Greece

That is 300 aircraft lost or in the shop. Not bad, not bad at all.

Between a third and half of the second had run to Smyrna ahead of the advancing Turkish armies.

So at least half the civilian population is left behind. This is bad news to say the least.

. Already a small number of women and children had been moved to the nearby islands of Lesvos and Chios. But likely more and more systematic action would be needed...

The problem is that Chios cannot support many refugees over an extended period of time. The cultivated land in the island was comprised mostly of lemon, mandarine, orange, olive and mastic trees. While olive oil adds valuable fats to the diet, what was severely lacking was grain. So relocating people there is rather a short term solution.

The same applies to Lesvos but to a lower degree. Lesvos had an abundance of olive oil but was lacking in grain and pulses. The locals can be fed, but not any large group of refugees.

By sunrise the Greek squadron was already sailing south of Zakynthos at top speed with 2,000 men of the Greek 10th Infantry regiment aboard.

And Katsotas lives to fight another day. I think he will be promoted to command a division very soon.

British and Greek pilots being trained in the base took off at dawn, attacking the Iraqi troops that the previous days had surrounded the base and the Iraqi air force aircraft in Baghdad's airport. World war 2 had just reached Iraq...

So more pilots and base personnel in RAF Habbaniyah compared to OTL. They might as well survive the siege until they are relieved.

he next day the transport would offload its precious cargo, 57 Centaur tanks and 10 Hurricanes to Piraeus.

I see Sholto Douglas and Leigh Mallory are not releasing any Spitfires for the Mediterranean Theatre as in OTL. Perhaps political pressure from the still fighting Greece might result in Spitfires somewhat earlier than OTL.

The by now familiar sound of the heavy artillery and hundreds of aircraft announced the attack as German and Italian divisions surged forward. In the past three weeks the three panzer divisions in the Greek front had been reduced to a single understrength one as the 9th Panzer left for Romania and 2nd Panzer, her tanks passed to the 9th and the 5th sent back to Germany to rebuild. Of the twelve infantry divisions, five had followed 9th panzer east. But thirteen Italian divisions from Epirus and Macedonia had taken the place of the Germans

So, 20 infantry divisions and 1 panzer division supplied by a single rail line. Good luck Benny, you will need it.

 

[goumaister]

The problem is that Chios cannot support many refugees over an extended period of time. The cultivated land in the island was comprised mostly of lemon, mandarine, orange, olive and mastic trees. While olive oil adds valuable fats to the diet, what was severely lacking was grain. So relocating people there is rather a short term solution.

The same applies to Lesvos but to a lower degree. Lesvos had an abundance of olive oil but was lacking in grain and pulses. The locals can be fed, but not any large group of refugees.

Wow yes! This is a very serious problem and it needs fixing before the winter arrives, especially the 1941-1942 winter which was colder than most and it had a big impact in OTL occupied Greece.

The Turks are being opportunistic here and it makes sense. They have more men that they can't throw at Smyrna in any meaningful way so why not break the Allies around you since you have local superiority. Now if the Germans and Italians have sparred enough material to properly equip them all this time then they will be a formidable foe, as mentioned they have decent generals as well and high spirits due to jihad being proclaimed and their have cornered the hated Greeks. This front will make or break them.

What's going on in the State's by the way, the lend lease shipments ought to be coming soon right?

I think those Centaur tanks and the Hurricanes are the first shipment of lend lease to Greece, while the rest went to Alexandria.

The British holding Cyrenaica longer will be a boost to their logistics though I doubt they can hold for a long time. They still haven't found a way to counter Rommel and to to that they need more battles and more casualties.

Wow an update on this special day huh? A nice present!

 

[X Oristos]

This OTL poster is perfect for Lascaris' story
.

 

[mapuche lautarino]

I think the Germans are much more interested in taking Gibraltar ???

 

[Lascaris]

If the German panzers cannot beat a retreating Allied army, what chances do the Italian have against a dug in allied lines?

This is going to turn into another Isonozo,13 battles at Thermopylae here we come.

To be fair to the Germans they broke through two fortified lines on bad terrain and advanced nearly 400 km on bad terrain in the face of determined opposition while being supplied by a single track railroad and a few roads varying from mediocre to muddy tracks, that get sabotaged on top of it. That they then fail to break through a third line and even more mountains at least without bringing in more troops that they'd need against the Soviets...

Greece not being evicted from either the Balkans or Anatolia is a PR golden goose. Turkey is overextending, soon enough attrition is going to whittle away at their local air superiority.

The standard problem of all Axis powers throughout the war. But in propaganda terms, allied propagandists don't even need to try hard. I mean they just got an Axis attack stopped from all places at Thermopylae. How difficult it is to take advantage when you are handed something like this on a platter?

I do wonder how much the Turkish economy can be pushed, I don't see them easily or quickly replacing any equipment losses as they push into Iraq. What's going on with the Kurds and Assyrians by this point by the way? Facing revolts and fighting off the allies at the same time wouldn't be a great time while also besieging Smyrna and occupying Greek territory.

Effectively no Assyrians left in Turkey by this point. The Turkish army in Iraq and the Free French are both marching straight into the Assyrian triangle at the moment. The Assyrian rifles in Iraq are of course on the British side. The Kurds are more complicated. Just like OTL the Turks have smashed up multiple Kurdish uprisings so far. Unlike OTL the French have created a Kurdish statelet of their own in Syria and the sultan and caliph is still Turkish head of state even though for all practical reasons a figure head.

Hopefully the Greek's can integrate those tanks quickly enough, not sure two days are enough time for them to be usable at Thermopylae. But would certainly help afterwards if they can hold, especially if they push back while Germany is busy in Russia. Maybe back up to the Olympus range?

What's going on in the State's by the way, the lend lease shipments ought to be coming soon right?

Lend Lease has officially been passed and enacted. The first shipment for Greece 115 artillery pieces is on its way while HAF has already received a shipment of 30 P-40s late in April. Which given the levels of attrition it has suffered so far is a good thing...

Also it seems Hess is delusional in two timelines. Maybe Stalin will chill a little without worrying about Hess dealing with Britain? Nah....

Don't see any reason why Hess would be any less delusional just on account of the Greeks having done better. But think of the positive aspects... the allied governments won't need to keep paying for Spandau for a couple decades more! Now the combined effects of Goering not being a drug addict and Walther Wever surviving may be more interesting... if they do not cancel each other out with the gains from Wever cancelled out by Goering doing even more active empire building and vice versa...

So in effect smyrna is now the largest greek city right now,

Athens-Piraeus has 700,000 with a further 169,000 in the rest of Attica. Now if you count the refugees in Smyrna...

with the italians taking over the battle of thermopylae I forsee that the the italians are going the have heavy losses both in the men and equipment and maybe the will be no Italian involvement in ttl Barbarossa.
Now when the germans attack the soviets the allies with have the chance to gain air superiority in the Aegean making possible the removal the women and children away from smyrna with the most likely destination being crete,this should improve the supply situation in smyrna making possible the arrival of greek and allied troops to attack the turks and open the straits open to allied ships.

And lastly a quick question has glaucos clerides joined the RAF or has he volunteered of the HAF instead?

What he should do? Logically he's in Britain studying in 1939 from which it follows that he would volunteer in 1939 for the RAF. But the TTL HAF needs way more aircrews than OTL and people like Clerides, or John Plagis volunteering for transfer to Greece makes a fair degree of sense...

The Indian Army can concentrate a decent-sized force in Iraq. If I remember correctly, there were 5 indian brigades during the OTL Anglo-Iraqi War, with a second wave of another 4 brigades that either participated in summer 1941 at the invasion of Iran or became lines of communication troops. I guess a certain general Slim takes control of the Indian Army in Basra. And Bill Slim is no Townshend, the opposite rather.

The turkish corps is marching aye, but it is marching towards desctruction and interment.

For now it is marching into a headlong meeting engagement with the Free French in what is mostly Assyrian land...

So the high tide of Rommel's attack stops at El Agheila. From now on, the Commonwealth can establish a significant material superiority over the Axis and Malta is receiving aircraft by way of Araxos and Benghazi.

The Commonwealth in OTL lost every single tank they had running at the start of Rommel's attack. Here they still have an armoured brigades worth of tanks running to which are added the tanks of the alt-Tiger convoy. And as shown by none other than Rommel himself the El-Agheila position O'Connor currently holds is pretty good to defend...

That is 300 aircraft lost or in the shop. Not bad, not bad at all.

Some aircraft had been already redeployed to Romania and Poland. But for a tidbit... that might be somewhat altered...

1. Aircraft losses September 20, 1940 - February 17, 1941

Italian: 322
Hungarian: 89
Bulgarian: 70
British: 32
French: 15
Greek: 78
Yugoslav: 378

2. Aircraft losses February 18, 1941 - April 20, 1941

German: 187
Italian: 147
Bulgarian: 20
Turkish: 48
British: 146
French: 75
Greek: 215
Yugoslav: 132

Now keeping proper track of the Regia Aeronautica between April 1941 and the 1943 armistice in the Balkans is a bit of an issue as is keeping track of Italian aircraft losses throughout the war. RA start out with 3,269 aircraft, built or bought after June 40 roughly 9000, lost 5,272 and ended up with 1,734. There are over 5,000 missing here presumably retired for one reason or another.

So at least half the civilian population is left behind. This is bad news to say the least.

Not everyone would try or manage to flee. After all the local Greeks and Circassians have experienced TTL 1914-21 but NOT 1922. Aside from the Pontic Greeks and the Armenians resettled there of course but more on that later...

The problem is that Chios cannot support many refugees over an extended period of time. The cultivated land in the island was comprised mostly of lemon, mandarine, orange, olive and mastic trees. While olive oil adds valuable fats to the diet, what was severely lacking was grain. So relocating people there is rather a short term solution.

The same applies to Lesvos but to a lower degree. Lesvos had an abundance of olive oil but was lacking in grain and pulses. The locals can be fed, but not any large group of refugees.

That's true but at least they are not constantly being bombed like Smyrna. If Greece south of Thermopylae actually manages to survive then a logical move would be using the Smyrna convoys to move civilians to European Greece on the return leg of their trips from Smyrna.

And Katsotas lives to fight another day. I think he will be promoted to command a division very soon.

And Tsakalotos lives to fight another day. Katsotas might show up, they were friends with my grandpa, but that's a different matter.

So more pilots and base personnel in RAF Habbaniyah compared to OTL. They might as well survive the siege until they are relieved.

Not really. There were Greek pilots training at Habbaniya also in OTL, some flew in the raids others commanded artillery pieces against the Iraqis

I see Sholto Douglas and Leigh Mallory are not releasing any Spitfires for the Mediterranean Theatre as in OTL. Perhaps political pressure from the still fighting Greece might result in Spitfires somewhat earlier than OTL.

Possibly... till then Pulawski's birds are the best allied fighter available in the Mediterranean.

So, 20 infantry divisions and 1 panzer division supplied by a single rail line. Good luck Benny, you will need it.

German 12th army: 1 Panzer, 2 Gebirgs, 5 Infantry divisions. The Panzer is below 60% strength...
Italian 2nd army: 2 armoured, 3 Celere, 3 Alpini, 7 Infantry divisions

25 divisions at lest on paper available aside from the ones in Epirus.

Wow yes! This is a very serious problem and it needs fixing before the winter arrives, especially the 1941-1942 winter which was colder than most and it had a big impact in OTL occupied Greece.

This does not even count that the main wheat producing areas of Greece have all been occupied as of this moment. So unoccupied Greece, assuming it remains unoccupied will be needed large scale imports of foodstuffs to survive. That PR the Greeks are gaining in the United States and elsewhere... they will very likely need it to avoid seeing feeding their population relegated behind two dozen more other allied shipping priorities. Of course that the Greeks do have one of the world's largest merchant marines doesn't hurt either...

The Turks are being opportunistic here and it makes sense. They have more men that they can't throw at Smyrna in any meaningful way so why not break the Allies around you since you have local superiority. Now if the Germans and Italians have sparred enough material to properly equip them all this time then they will be a formidable foe, as mentioned they have decent generals as well and high spirits due to jihad being proclaimed and their have cornered the hated Greeks. This front will make or break them.

"Properly equip" is a big discussion. If the WW2 Germans weren't well WW2 Germans, their industry should more than suffice to properly equip all Axis armies, while they also got their allies locally producing up to date stuff.

I think those Centaur tanks and the Hurricanes are the first shipment of lend lease to Greece, while the rest went to Alexandria.

They are British aid reaching Greece...

The British holding Cyrenaica longer will be a boost to their logistics though I doubt they can hold for a long time. They still haven't found a way to counter Rommel and to to that they need more battles and more casualties.

It depends. Brevity involved 53 British tanks, even without the reinforcements have two to three times as many available. By the time of Battle Axe if nothing else has changed they should have about 50% more tanks at least.

I think the Germans are much more interested in taking Gibraltar ???

General Ochoa may have something to say about it...

 

[X Oristos]

25 divisions at lest on paper available aside from the ones in Epirus.

How do you say in russian "huge logistics fuckup" ? Larissagrad?

And Tsakalotos lives to fight another day.

Oops!

 

[Lascaris]

How do you say in russian "huge logistics fuckup" ? Larissagrad?

The allies are at least all of 200km from the largest port in the Mediterranean. The Germans and Italians have the joy of having to bring everything outside of maybe looted food all the way through Yugoslavia... or over a single railroad going from Agioi Saranta to Thessaly TTL. A mere 1500km from Trieste to Lamia and 1090 from the Hungarian border. Bug river to Moscow is 1060km. What could possibly go wrong?

 

[Anarch King of Dipsodes]

...in his panic instead of running back he runs forward first against the Turks.

Rather like Sir Harry Flashman at Balaclava.

When among them instinct takes over and he goes berserk. And thus he turns into a hero and gets rehabilitated... by accident.

Ever see the movie Europa, Europa?

 

[Lascaris]

Rather like Sir Harry Flashman at Balaclava.

Ever see the movie Europa, Europa?

Now that you mention it I think I have, parts of it at least.

 

[Anarch King of Dipsodes]

Now that you mention it I think I have, parts of it at least.

Did you see the section where the protagonist becomes a "hero" while trying to escape into Soviet lines?