Burma, February 23rd, 1944
Rajabil had fallen the the 7th Indian Division the previous month. Now the Japanese 55th Infantry Division attacked back, trying to seize it back. Despite pressure, Montgomery would not release reinforcements to the defending Indian troops. He would be proven true as the Indians held out against all Japanese attacks.
Batum, February 24, 1944
Over a thousand conscripts begun to disembark from the train. It had been recognized by the STAVKA, that Triandafillov was right, in his requests for reinforcements before the offensive against Turkey could be resumed. Over 146,000 men and nearly 700 tanks had been assigned to reinforce the Caucasus front and were being dispatched south. The STAVKA had been forced to delay the planned offensive against Finland and pull out from the Far East another five tank brigades in order to find the needed forces but Stalin had decreed that the offensive against Turkey should take priority. And what the vozd decreed happened.
Berlin, February 27th, 1944
The order to continue arms shipments to Turkey was given. Von Papen's reports from Sivas about Cakmak having meetings with politicians outside the government were concerning and Turkey's importance to the German war effort reduced after Slim seizing the Ergani chrome mines. But Turkey was still tying down hundreds of thousands of Allied and Soviet troops at relatively limited cost to Germany. But at the same time field marshal Von Weichs, the commander of Heeresgruppe E, was keeping all the replacements he was getting to his divisions in the Balkans. The five German divisions in Anatolia hardly had between six and seven thousand men each. Von Weichs would hardly mind pulling the divisions out outright if allowed from Berlin, He was not. And with the Turkish railroad network unable to hande moving more than a division a month till spring came, he could not even if allowed.
Norfolk Navy Yard, March 1st, 1944
What would become USS Tarawa, the nineteenth Essex class carrier was laid down. Simultaneously one more carrier was being laid down in the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Eight carriers were already in service with the USN. Another dozen were under construction, four had already been launched and yet more were being planned. Not a single purpose built fleet carrier had joined the Japanese navy since the start of the war. Six were building but by the time they completed at least two dozen Essex class carriers were likely to be in service. And this didn't even count the four British fleet carriers under construction...
Right Bank Ukraine, March 4th, 1944
The massive Soviet offensive to liberate Western Ukraine, start in late December had appeared to have come to an end with the capture of Krivoj Rog and Soviet forces advancing to the Inhulets river in the end of February. But as over 2.1 million Soviet soldiers resumed the offensive this would prove just wishful thinking. The ordeal of the German, Romanian and Hungarian forces would go on and keep getting worse.
South-Eastern Anatolia, March 7th, 1944
The southern front sprang to life as British, French and Iranian forces went to the attack. Progress was very slow, since the last offensive De Lattre had lost the 3e Division Blindee which had gone to Greece and the 10e Division Infanterie Coloniale, which had gone to Italy ans Slim was left with two Indian divisions, the Arab legion, by now expanded to a light division and seven brigades of Kurdish volunteers. Between them the three allied armies had a bit over 227,000 men facing nearly 171,000 Turkish and German soldiers. But the offensive even if going slow accomplished its goal of keeping the 2nd Turkish army engaged in heavy fighting and unable to dispatch reinforcements elsewhere.
Burma, March 8th, 1944
The Japanese 15th Army went to the offensive in Manipur aiming to capture Imphal and Kohima. But the 14th army was numerically superior, better armed, better supplied and well dug in. Bernard Montgomery had made certain his forces were thoroughly prepared...
Smyrna, March 11th, 1944
Another bunch of Challenger tanks was taken off the ships to be driven to the train station. From there they would be shipped to the III Armoured Division somewhere to the north of Palaiokastron [1]. The nine divisions of the Army of Asia Minor under Ptolemaios Sarigiannis had grown to more than a quarter million men and six hundred artillery pieces. The flow of men and supplies went on...
Budapest, March 15th, 1944
The Hungarian prime minister Miklos Kallay had start negotiations with the western allies over changing sides. But word had reached Germany and after the disaster that had been the Italian surrender the previous August, the Germans had had no intention of taking any chances. Which the Hungarian regent, admiral Horthy had been tricked into visiting Germany to consult with Hitler, several German divisions had invaded and occupied Hungary. Resistance had been virtually non existent, the Hungarian army had not fought against the Germans. Within days a new puppet government under Dome Sztojay would be established. The Hungarian army which had not fought against the invaders would continue to fight against the Allies.
Helsinki, March 21st, 1944
The Finnish government rejected Soviet peace terms. There appeared to be no immediate threat to Finland. Hopefully if the country held out some more it would extract better terns...
Caucasus, March 22nd, 1944
The largest artillery barrage in the history of Anatolia, signaled the beginning of the Caucasus Front's offensive, as Vladimir Triandafilloov unleashed 433,000 Soviet soldiers and 966 tanks against the Turkish 3rd army and its German allies. The Turks and Germans under Fahrettin Altay were well dug in but were also heavily outnumbers with about 242,000 men between them.
Western Anatolia, March 23rd, 1944
The Turkish Western Front had been the only one not to be under Allied attack. Or rather it had been the only one not to be under attack for the single day between the beginning of the Soviet attack in the Caucasus and its 181,000 men finding themselves under attack from the Greek Army of Asia Minor...
[1] Balikesir
