Quote:
Originally Posted by FireGilbert
I’m thinking a better option in 1941 is to invaded Turkey with the intention of using it to take over the British oil fields in Iraq and Iran. It was a logical step after taking over the Balkans. The Turks and the small British force in the Middle East would have been no match for the Wehrmacht resulting in a crippling blow to the British and being able to open up a 2nd Caucus front during the inevitable USSR confrontation.
|
Except the terrain and infrastructure in Turkey is even worse for mechanized operations by an invader than in Russia. And Turkey didn't have a modern army, but it had a large one, and the experience of WW1 suggests it would have fought hard on home soil.
Think of how difficult it would be to build and sustain a supply line through the Balkans, over the Aegean, through a hostile Turkey that almost no paved roads, etc.
It's a cool counterfactual (and one I've tried several times in wargames), but I think the Germans would have bogged down in Turkey just as they did in the Caucasus.