Iron Cross

On March 2, 1943, Marshal Rommel brought the main force of the German Middle East Group composed of elite units such as the Grossdeutschland Division, the Viking Division, and the Prinz Eugen Mountain Infantry Division and two Iranian infantry divisions to Not far from Tabriz At this point, in front of them was the Persian Army of the Red Army led by Lieutenant General Metzov. More than half a month ago, he rushed straight from Isfahan to Tehran at lightning speed, successfully defeated the Red Army troops who were in a difficult position and mishandled the situation, won a great victory and prompted Iran to join the Axis camp.

Faced with the aggressive posture of the German army, Zhukov and Vasilevsky assigned him the 11th Guards Heavy Tank Brigade from the base camp reserve, all equipped with the latest KV-3 tanks. Tyulenev also assigned 3 more tanks from the Caucasus Front. Reinforcements from one division and two brigades helped Mezov increase the strength of the Persian Army to more than 130,000 people.

Just when everyone thought that Rommel would advance vigorously and continue to attack, he slowed down and slowly led his troops from Tehran to Tabriz, an important town in northwestern Iran. He only traveled 300 kilometers from Isfahan to Tehran. It took him a day and a night, but he walked the more than 400 kilometers from Tehran to Tabriz for more than half a month. This speed made Metzov greatly relieved, and he hurriedly used this time to reorganize the defense line, sort out the troops and replenish supplies.

Although Rommel repeatedly advised Pahlavi to stay in Tehran and listen to the news, the stubborn emperor insisted on following to see the recovery of Iranian territory. Many people, including him, believed that the German army could advance faster - not only because there were no enemy forces blocking the road, but also because the supply and material supply lines were very smooth.

Since the Axis controls the sea power in the Indian Ocean, there are currently a large number of ships traveling between Alexandria and Abadan, and then supplying the Middle East Army through the railway system in Iran. For Rommel, the speed and capacity of this transportation line were much greater than when he was struggling in the North African desert. Under the mobilization and call of the Iranian government, the Iranian people used donkeys, horses and other livestock carts to help the German army transport supplies from the train station to the front line. There is a mixture of mechanized modern transportation and traditional animal-powered transportation on all roads. Although it is crowded, the overall situation is busy but not chaotic.

Thanks to the capture of the Abadan Port, both Rommel's Middle East Army and Guderian's Africa Army received a fairly sufficient supply of fuel. Speer urgently dispatched capable engineers and workers from China to Afghanistan. The Bataan refinery is recovering from the damage caused by the British army's withdrawal and is expected to resume production in April before the captured fuel is used up. According to optimistic estimates, with the gradual advancement of the repair work, the production capacity of the Abadan Refinery will gradually return to its heyday from 1 million tons. Not only will the combat troops in the Middle East have no worries about fuel supply, but even the troops in the Eastern Mediterranean will be able to Enjoy this advantage.

After losing control of the sea in the Indian Ocean, British and American submarines tried to use the west coast of India and relevant ports in South Africa as bases to break diplomatic relations, but the Axis cargo ships basically traveled along the coastline, and coastal anti-submarine patrol aircraft and the Socotra Island Anti-submarine power, the probability of submarine exposure is much greater than in the Atlantic Ocean. The cost of breaking the diplomatic ties was high, but the results were small. Faced with the fact that nine submarines were sunk and only one cargo ship of more than 7,000 tons was obtained, the Allies had no choice but to give up.

Therefore, Pahlavi wanted to ask Rommel why he was walking so slowly - he had been holding this question in his mind for a long time. He felt that he would get bored if he held it in any longer. He believed that Rommel was not walking so slowly because he was afraid of fighting. There must be other reasons that he doesn't understand, but not only can he not figure out what they are, but the staff officers and generals around him can't figure them out either.

"Is this the problem that has troubled His Majesty for a long time?" After hearing Pahlavi's question, Rommel suddenly laughed.

"Yes, yes..." Pahlavi complimented, "The marshal has a unique way of using troops. We really can't figure it out. This...can you reveal it if it doesn't involve confidentiality?"

"If it had been two days ago, I might have refused to answer, but today there will be no problem." Rommel asked his adjutant to get a map and patiently explained it to Pahlavi, "Your Majesty, please look, this is Batumi, this is No. Bliss, this is Baku..."

"Wait..." Pahlavi always felt that something was wrong, "I'm asking about Tabriz."

Gauss next to him also laughed, took out his pencil and drew three arrows on the map, pointing to the three places Rommel just mentioned.

Pahlavi saw that the starting points of the arrows were, without exception, the area behind the Turkish border. He finally reacted, jumped up and asked in surprise: "Is Turkey ready to join the war?"

"Turkey has been secretly mobilizing for ten days, and the decision to participate in the war will be announced either tonight or early tomorrow morning." Rommel said with a smile, "The reason why I lead the troops to advance slowly is to put pressure on the opponents and give them enough time to The troops are deployed around Tabriz, so that there will be insufficient troops in depth..."

"I understand, I understand. As long as Turkey sends troops to cut off the enemy's retreat, these troops will be surrounded by you and the Turkish troops. No one can escape."

Gauss smiled and nodded: "Your Majesty, you can regain all of Iran this month."

At 4 a.m. on March 3, the Turkish Foreign Minister suddenly disregarded diplomatic etiquette and broke into the residence of the Soviet ambassador. He read the declaration of war to the sleepy ambassador who had no idea what was going on, and announced that the relevant diplomats were expelled as unwelcome persons. The other party wanted to protest angrily, but was stunned by the next sentence: "You can send a telegram to Moscow and tell them that our army will launch an attack in 15 minutes..."

At 4:15, Moscow, which received the alarm telegram, had not had time to pass the alarm to the front line. More than 500,000 well-prepared Turkish troops rushed out from the border, including an armored division and an infantry division led by Major General Walter Wenk, which were drawn from the Kleist Group of the German Army on the southern front. They changed into Turkish uniforms in the secret mobilization a few days ago to deceive the Russians on the opposite side, and now they are the spearhead of the entire army's attack.

Shortly after the army's attack, when it was light, the long-dormant German bomber fleet took off from Mosul and Turkey, bombing Soviet military targets in Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan into a mess. What is particularly noteworthy is that there were a large number of SM-79 bombers in this bomber fleet. After Mussolini expressed his intention to "contribute" more strength, the Italian Air Force not only dispatched more than 200 aircraft to Gibraltar, but also dispatched more than 300 aircraft to the Middle East and Turkey, and the main force was all Bf-179 bombers.

For understandable reasons, the German fleet spared the Baku oil field area.

At 9 o'clock, the Turkish troops occupied the first target: Batumi on the Black Sea coast. At 5 o'clock in the evening, the Turks rushed to a place less than 50 kilometers away from Tbilisi. There were only three incomplete divisions of the Red Army, and no more than 20 tanks could be driven. They faced at least 120,000 Turkish troops, led by the German infantry division. At 11 o'clock in the evening, the Turkish troops, led by the German armored division, quickly cut off the road of the Red Army in Tabriz to Armenia, more than 300 kilometers away from the Baku oil fields.

Mezhov, who was suddenly attacked and his retreat was cut off, was in a mess and hurried to ask for help from Chulenev. Unexpectedly, the latter was also in a state of panic. There was chaos in Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan, with communication interrupted and organizational chaos. The superiors did not know where the subordinates were, and the subordinates did not know how many enemies they were facing. All of them were at a loss. The troops who were forcibly conscripted last summer were in chaos before the battle even started. The officers and soldiers of the three ethnic minorities who had always been alienated from the Russians either took the opportunity to launch a rebellion or shot at the officers they disliked. There was no organized resistance at all.

The overall situation was very good. After the Turkish officers and soldiers, who were usually afraid of the Red Army, found that the enemy was so vulnerable, their courage and ambition began to swell. They even temporarily changed the battle plan from slowly advancing to launching a large-scale penetration. They didn't expect that the reason they could fight so smoothly was, first, because the surprise attack took advantage; second, because the assault group led by Wenk played a pivotal role and defeated the most resistant troops in the Red Army; third, because all the powerful troops were transferred to the direction of Tabriz by Mezhov, the Turks were facing only third-rate or even inferior troops.

Lieutenant General Mezhov was horrified to find that the more than 100,000 troops on the Tabriz front were already trapped by the Turkish and German armies. If they did not seize the opportunity to withdraw to Azerbaijan and Baku in time, they would probably be completely surrounded. But this was not a good choice. If more than 100,000 people showed a little panic, the Germans on the opposite side would immediately rush over and bite him to death - he was now completely out of his control.

Turkish President Inonu ordered the troops to be dispatched and declared war on the Soviet Union completely out of his control: stimulated by Germany's repeated victories and deliberate wooing, the "patriotic enthusiasm" of the Turkish officer corps had long been aroused. When Germany won the Battle of the North Sea and occupied the Azores like thunder, and the British side had no room for resistance at all, the officer corps' desire to send troops finally became unbearable.

The intelligence system told Inonu that the military officers believed that the civilian system around the president was obstructing the war. Some people were organizing military remonstrations and preparing to "clean up the emperor's side". Even many people in the presidential guard were involved in the conspiracy. This made Inonu, who started his career in the military, feel terrified. After racking his brains, he took this step that could not be reversed...