Turkish army in november 1942

[alleeannt]

I fellows! I'm going to definitively finish my mod but i'd like to insert the possibility of an entrance of turkey on axis part.

I'm searching for any information about turkish army, particularly in november 1942.

TAHNK you!

[PowerGmbH]

I do not know much about TK army, but i found out that the Flagship of the Turkish fleet was called "Yavuz" a middle class Cruiser.

Also TK had some 15 Submarines in the Black Sea.

[xwormwood]

Yavuz = the former WW1 Battlecruiser "Goeben" (German Hochseeflotte) .

From german-navy.de:

Goebens life was quite unique - as part of the Mediterranean Division, the ship was sold to Turkey in 1916, but still operated with the German crew on board. During the operations against the Russian fleet in the Black Sea, the ship was called "Dyadya" - The Uncle" by the Russians. At the end of World War I, it was completely taken over by Turkey and in Turkish services until 1954. Since negotiations failed to return the ship to Germany, it was scrapped in 1974.

From wikipedia:

Goben, as Yavuz Selim (until 1936) and later as simply Yavuz, continued active service in the Turkish navy until well after World War II. Her war damage rendered her practically useless until 1926, when repairs were begun. She was finally fit for service again in 1930 and recommissioned. In 1938 she carried the coffin of the founder of modern Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, from Istanbul to the Anatolian port of Izmit.

Practically unchanged from her World War I configuration and still coal powered, she was given NATO pennant number 370 in 1952, although she was used since 1948 only for representational purposes. In 1954 Yavuz was decommissioned and placed in reserve.

The West German government offered to purchase Yavuz in 1963, but Turkey declined. The Turkish government later changed its mind, and placed the battlecruiser up for sale in 1966. However, the political climate of West Germany in the late 1960s and early 1970s was not conducive to the military, particularly for a practically unchanged remnant of the country's imperial past. Yavuz was finally purchased in 1971, and was towed from her berth on 7 June 1973. The last surviving battlecruiser was broken up between July 1973 and February 1976.

[ February 19, 2008, 11:21 AM: Message edited by: xwormwood ]

[Moonslayer]

From The Armed Forces of WWII (Near East)

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).

Hope this is useful.

[xwormwood]

from wikipedia:

Turkish Air Force, beginning in mid-1942, received 72 examples of the Fw 190 A-3a (export model of A-3, a stood for ausländisch - foreign) from Germany to modernize their air force. These aircraft were basically Fw 190 A-3s, with BMW 801 D-2 engines and FuG VIIa radios and an armament fit of four MG 17s, with the option of installing two MG FF/M cannon in the outer wing positions. The export order was completed between October 1942 and March 1943. The Fw 190 remained in service until 1948-1949.