France Fights On (English Translation) - Thread II - To the continent!

[Wings]

December 12th, 1943

Crossbow
Occupied France - Many aircraft having been damaged during the previous day's mission, only 85 B-17s show up over Siracourt for a full-scale blitz. The land starts to be strongly disturbed in the surroundings, but not in the way that the farmers still present would like to see! Curiously, and contrary to Eperlecques where only the decoys of the construction site remain, the Germans continue the construction as usual. It must also be said that the Führer has a weakness for large concrete bunkers.

Naval warfare
Danzig - The torpedo boat T-3, repaired after more than a year of work, is back in service with the 2nd Torpedo Boat Flotilla.

 

[Wings]

December 12th, 1943

"Free Republic of Domodossola" - A few weeks of tranquility were not enough. Certainly, after the feeling of vexation at the time of the declaration of the free Republic of Domodossola (!), the Bernese triumvirate Dulles/MacCaffery/Pourchot maneuvered so that the Swiss government (all the more anxious to show its friendship to the Allies as they approached the borders of the Confederation) went to grant Domodossola a form of official recognition... which makes it easier to get supplies through. Certainly, MacCaffery sent one of his friends, Professor Tibodi, to head the provisional Republican council in order to structure the mini-"state" from a political point of view as much as possible, the objective being not to reproduce the recent example of Montefiorino. Certainly, the Roman government has mandated its military attaché in Switzerland, general Bianchi, so that he goes, with several officers, to organize the partisan forces. It is true that the CVL of General Cadorna tries to coordinate actions with the Republic to reduce the germano-fascist pressure on Domodossola.
But today, when a mixed SS/Blackshirt brigade commanded by SS general Tensfeld attacks the "Republic", everyone realizes that it is hopeless. In a few days, the Partisans leave en masse to try to take refuge in the countryside - the fault, in particular, of a total absence of coordination between the "Garibaldi" and the non-communist bands. The Garibaldians refuse to be subordinated to non-communists and demand first of all to be officially recognized as members of the allied armies!

 

[Wings]

December 12th, 1943

Change of camp or redemption?
Repression... and Resistance
Souesmes (Loir-et-Cher) - In this small Sologne village, the maquisards of Captain Maurice* are attacked by 700 Germans coming from Bourges, who want to take advantage of the winter weather to strike a deadly blow to the maquisards by destroying their camp and their supplies. But Colonel Berckhardt's men make an unfortunate discovery: the Sologne maquisards are not just a few hundred, as expected, but nearly 500! If the Germans were looking for a place where the FST Garrison of Loches and the midshipmen of the Salbris school went, they now have an idea.
After having lost a hundred dead and 150 wounded, the Germans withdraw at nightfall. They return the next day with two thousand men: they lose another fifty dead and wounded, and this time, the Souesmes maquis does not resist. But it will be able to leave having lost less than one hundred men in total. The Sologne is no longer a territory that the Occupier can claim to control.

Romania falls
Irreversible
Casa Nouă (Royal Palace of Bucharest), 22:00 - In the former pavilion of the Casa Regală in României**, King Michael is preparing to cross the Rubicon, if not the Danube.
He is in the company of his closest friends: his private secretary Mircea Ionniţiu, marshal of the palace Constantin Sănătescu, the indispensable baron Mocsony-Styrcea and also Iuliu Maniu - a former prime minister who may soon become one again.
All this world, reinforced by the discreet presence of some factionalists provided by Colonel Dumitru Dămăceanu and even (!) by the armed Partisans of Lucrețiu Pătrășcanu***, now awaits the arrival of the Conducator. The trap took a little longer than expected: the fault of an umpteenth Russian bombardment, which targeted the Doicești refinery and the Târgoviște tanks in the late afternoon. Always the oil! The source of Romania's wealth as well as of its greatest misfortunes.
At the center of the set, Michael takes a few moments to consider the room that will serve as the setting for the final act of the Romanian political drama. A small and simple pavilion, which has long served as an alcove for the love affairs of his father Carol II and his mistress Elena Lupescu. He too often stayed there - for lack of a habitable royal palace after the earthquake of 1940, then during his passages in Bucharest (as rare as possible) in order to answer Antonescu's convocations while keeping a semblance of intimacy. The Red Dog! Finally, soon all this painful masquerade will be soon finished.
Finally, shortly before 23:00, the marshal appears. He has lost a lot of his confidence in a year: his head has become bald and wrinkled, his cheeks have sunken and his eyes now look a little extinguished by the physical suffering, the failures... and the fatalism.
The king takes the floor, and he doesn't waste any time. Attacking violently and without any restraint his old adversary, he sweeps quickly the totality of the events of these last weeks, to finally evoke the Soviet conditions - obviously as hard as ever, while the Germans are now closer to the capital every hour... "We all saw what happened to the Italians a year ago! What do you plan to do to prevent us from suffering the same fate? Where are your allies, marshal? By what means, exactly, do you intend to get the country out of the slog in which they put us in?"
The Conducator must agree that he lacks satisfactory perspectives on this subject... Also, in a movement of bravado mood (or of staggering naivety!), he indicates then that he relies above all on the sense of honor of the Germans... Before going so far as to specify that in practice, he would only conclude an armistice with the agreement of the Führer, this "in order to respect the word of an officer that I gave him. If he refuses, I will accompany him to the end."
Wrong answer!
- Under these conditions, you will agree that we cannot trust you to succeed in the future, after you have failed so much in the past. In this case, there is nothing more we can do!
The last sentence was an agreed signal. Colonel Emilian Ionescu enters the room with four men: Ion Antonescu is put under arrest, deposed from all authority. He will then be entrusted by General Constantin Sănătescu to the care of Emil Bodnăraș, whose armed workers will know how to keep "engineer Ceaușu" well hidden, in a house in the Vatra Luminoasă district, on Sighișoara Street... The comrades may not have had much to do with the fall of the Conducator, communist historiography will later remember their role, to give it a much greater importance! But for the time being, the Romanian authoritarian regime is simply collapsing like that.
At the same time, the Bucharest garrison seizes all the key points of the capital and releases the Autonomy(ie) mission, while generals Aurel Aldea and Gheorghe Mihail present themselves to the Army Headquarters with explicit written instructions.
Obviously, in Ploesti, things might not go so well...
In the hope of avoiding too unpleasant a development, Constantin Sănătescu quickly goes to the German ambassador, Manfred von Killinger, to offer him a "non-conflictual retreat" from Romanian territory, on the Finnish model. As for the Baron Mocsony-Styrcea, for his part, goes to Snagov, to the headquarters of the Foreign Ministry to call (officially this time) Ankara, in order to reach the Allies.
Meanwhile, Michael hurries to the national radio station to record a statement recording the change of government, the fall of the Conducator and the de facto passage of Romania into the Allied camp: "Romania has accepted the armistice offered by the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, the French Republic and the United States of America.
of America. From this moment, I unilaterally proclaim a cease-fire - all acts of hostility against the Red Army must cease, as well as operations against Great Britain, France and the United States. This announcement will be broadcast at midnight precisely."
Does this give the new government - which includes ministers without portfolio Iuliu Maniu, Constantin I.C. Brătianu, Constantin-Titel Petrescu and... Lucrețiu Pătrășcanu - to take his marks and measure his powers?
King Michael is understandably worried. He would tell much later that he had dreamed of being able to act like the French and get rid of his cumbersome marshal as early as 1940, at the same time as the Iron Guard. Thus, Romania would perhaps not have found itself in this terrible situation...
.........
Heads or tails
Somewhere - The coin rolls on the stone floor, polished by the centuries - the millennia... - of trampling and sandy wind. Remaining a long time on the edge, she seems to hesitate, jumps from one block to another before finally bumping into a paving stone slightly higher than its neighbor to rock on the side, letting appear, not the profile of the Emperor, but that of Janus. The god with two faces!
"The two solstices... That suits them well. How disappointing! Finally, that is also foreign currency too!"
.........
Lose-lose
"Today, some nationalists, looking at the circumstances of the Romanian turnaround, are accustomed to evoke the obvious failure of the Antonescu regime, which could probably have held out militarily until the arrival of German reinforcements to stop the Russian advance in front of Bucharest, before - perhaps - pushing them back towards the Danube. In short, the Conducator's regime would have been above all a victim of a kind of institutional fragility or even, for the most exalted, of a real betrayal that led to the capitulation, then to the Soviet occupation of the whole territory.
This point of view is undoubtedly militarily valid.
However, it ignores the state of complete exhaustion that the Kingdom at the end of 1943. Indeed, it was facing a major offensive with an army in full reconstitution, which certainly had the necessary manpower but in no way had the material to equip them. Faced with an ally that was at best contemptuous (which only parsimoniously granted its support, while itself incurring defeats on all fronts), threatened (but at the same time reassured!) by the rise of the Western forces from Greece to Yugoslavia, it is easy to understand that the men of the 3rd Army (in particular!) did not wish to let themselves be massacred for free for others, and moreover in the service of a cause of which they did not perceive the interest of their nation, from the simple soldier to the general.
It is thus well and truly the strategically catastrophic situation of Romania as well as Bucharest's growing distrust of Berlin that led to the reversal. The person responsible for this state of affairs was obviously the revanchist and hazardous foreign policy of Conducator Antonescu, whose crushing weight was borne by the person concerned. Nothing else. And certainly not a supposed betrayal, or the "atavistic cowardice of a Latin army in the service of Jewish plutocrats" that Radio Berlin would soon proclaim. In fact, the veterans of all the battles - and especially that of the Băneasa bridge - know what the sense of duty and sacrifice of their army. Their opponents too - even if, paradoxically, the fierce defense of the banks of the Grivița River may have saved the 24. Panzer and the 502. schw Pz Abt from finding themselves subsequently surrounded!
In the end, under such circumstances, King Michael and his ministers had nothing else - apart from personal courage - but to seize the right moment, with a bit of luck on top of that. Precisely what had been missing from the Bulgarian regent Kyril of Preslav, three months earlier. In doing so, the king and his entourage thought without a doubt to save their country from destruction - but they probably did not imagine the servitude in which it would be plunged for many years, as a final legacy of Antonescu's tragic mistakes.
This time, however, they would have to assume the consequences - before their fellow citizens and before History. The old order, even reformed, would never return - whatever their more or less naive pretensions or their more or less disinterested efforts. Poverty, forced urbanization, collectivization... The times to come would be terrible. A heroic and redemptive act being impossible, Romania had simply had to make a lose-lose choice. Alas for her, on the evening of December 12th, 1943, there was undoubtedly no other solution, for lack of having been able to show political courage earlier."
(Hitler's Forgotten Ally - Ion Antonescu and his regime, Romania 1940-1944, by Dennis Deletan, Palgrave Macmillan, 2006)

* It is the pseudonym of a Polish SOE agent, Captain Stanislas Makowski, who was parachuted in at the end of spring in agreement with the BCRA, in order to organize a maquis powerful enough to disrupt the communications and the transport of German troops through the Sologne.
** The supreme irony of history is that the Romanian royal house is descended from the Germans of the house of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, the youngest branch of the Hohenzollerns, from which the Kaisers of the Second Reich!
*** The leaders of the RCP, Bodnăras, Pârvulescu, and Rangheţ, for their part chose to remain discreet.

 

[Wings]

December 12th, 1943

Burma and Malaya Campaign
Land redeployment and air actions
Burma Front - The last infantry regiment of the 9th Japanese Division leaves the Yé area to settle much further south, between Mergui and the Thai border. Only the artillery regiment of this unit remains in the plain. The front line is now held by the 12th Division in the plain and by the 71st in the hills to the east. Both have received significant reinforcements. Less favored, the 55th Division, which had been very hard hit during Tiger and reduced to a little less than 50 percent of its strength, is still stationed near Tavoy. The 1st Division of the Indian National Army is still deployed on the coast, but more and more to the north, as the 9th Japanese Division moves south.
In the air, the Spitfires of the 3rd TAF repeat the operation of December 1st: they draw the Tavoy fighters as far north as possible while the whole Bristol family - Beaumont, Blenheim and Beaufighter - spend the day on Rhubarb missions. The feint has little success, but the 11th and 77th Sentai have their hands full all day, between their own combat patrols, bomber escorts, and assisting the 50th and 64th Sentai to the north.
As a result, the British raids meet little opposition. One Blenheim is lost and another damaged, as well as a Beaumont, while the Beaufighters of Sqn 27 perform very well: their firepower allows them to shoot down a Hayabusa and a Shoki who mistook them for Blenheims.
At Kampong Ulu, the 1st Sentai has a very bad day. Indeed, its base is not fully operational after the previous night's bombardment when the B-25s of the 490th and 491st BS, escorted by the P-40s with skulls of the 80th FG, which operate at the limit of their range, even with additional tanks. One Warhawk is lost at sea, but the pilot is recovered.

Andaman Islands - Dilgipur base sees the return of the B-24s of the 436th and 492nd BS after their round trip raid on Hanoi.

Indonesia - Operation Banquet
Bali - In the early morning, it is the turn of the installations around Bali to be assaulted by TF 57 and 100 aircraft. The surprise effect is total, the port is successfully bombed, while the airfield is copiously bombed. Lagadec: "Just as I was about to take off, an engine failure deprived me of this new mission. At the return of the planes, I learn that Danny took advantage of it to equalize the score: he replaced the leader of the Victorious Corsairs, shot down the day before, and took one of the three Japanese who went down today! That's thirty-two all around."
In Hong Kong, at the Imperial Navy headquarters, we now see a series of naval air raids moving northward. The B6Ns of the 601st Kokutai, based at Bandjarmasin, were put on alert and reconnaissance missions were sent beyond the Lombok Strait. But they come back having found the sea empty: indeed, as soon as they returned from the raid, the allied squadron headed south-west to reach "Euston Station" and resupply.

Indochina Campaign
Strategic bombing
Haiphong - While the day of the 11th passes in repairs, around 01:00 on the 12th, the sirens sound again their sinister roar. The anti-aircraft guns start to thunder, their projectiles burst in a sky swept by searchlights. This time, it is all the heavy bombers of the 10th AF (9th, 436th, 492nd, 493rd BS). Contrary to their habits, they carry out a night raid, which does not improve their accuracy, although they try to target the fires set by the British the night before...
Once again, hell breaks loose on the city. Alas, if the bombers aim at the port and the Japanese positions, their bombs often explode elsewhere; houses collapse and fires spread. The firemen did what they could, but the chaos makes their efforts futile. They have to evacuate the victims, treat the wounded, take care of screaming children who have lost their parents and of parents who are mad with grief who have lost their children...

 

[Wings]

December 12th, 1943

Danube River Front
Ploesti-Bucharest - Breakthrough
Odessa Front sector - It continues to rain on Romania - a little lighter than yesterday, but still enough to slow down the Soviets.
On the right bank of the Danube, the 18th Army enters Tulcea, with the Romanian division Vladimirescu in the lead, for a parade not as triumphant as hoped. It is obviously disappointing (the kingdom still does not collapse!) but it is not very serious: the 4th Army Corps continues its retreat, spurred on by the bites of the Red Flotilla - which still leaves the BKA 311 and 321, respectively destroyed by artillery and set on fire by machine guns. Dumitru Dămăceanu has already passed Babadag to turn towards Baia, thus taking advantage of the geometry of Lake Golotiva as well as the greater proximity to Constantza to hope to find a more favorable defensive configuration. He thus gave up 50 kilometers in three days. Kilometers that he obviously could not have held in the end (especially with a left flank in the process of collapsing!), but all the same, it alters the morale of his troops. And it also increases the morale of Andrei Gretchko's men, who see the enemy flee before their eyes and now only have to occupy a ground that has been abandoned to them, although, for the time being, still more or less trapped.
On the other side of the Danube, the 6th GAC attacks the defenses which had stood up to it the day before with a little luck - but also a lot of determination.
Contrary to what one could have imagined, Alexander Shamshin is here rather constrained in his offensive axes. The fault of vast swampy areas between Cuza Vodă and Zăvoaia, and then in the vicinity of Ulmu. In fact, the roads here follow the dikes between the marshes, one would believe it looks almost like Holland - a comparison that escapes the Soviet tankers, of course.
But what they know very well, on the other hand, is that they do not have much more air support than the day before. Confronted with TACAM ambushed in positions impossible to overrun and an infantry as courageous as outdated, the Red Army progresses much more than expected. However, in one morning it captures the crossroads of Zăvoaia (in the center), before fighting Dudescu and Cuza Vodă (on the right). In the absence of reinforcements on the Romanian side, the breakthrough seems inevitable in the long run ... it is the law of numbers and armor.
Especially since further west, in Buzău, the front is still cracking. Now fully reassured about the risk of a German attack on its flank from Focșani, Pavel Batov pushes ever harder and rejects the 20th ID towards Stâlpu and the road to Ploesti. It is in vain that the 2nd ID of Constantin Iordachescu tries to threaten the flank of the 6th Guards Army - the advance of this one seems irresistible, for lack of means to oppose it. The oil wells are now only 55 kilometers away! Of course, the Panzer III of von Edelsheim were duly warned of the approach of the Reds - and General Heinrici with them.
As for the 9th Army of Vasily Glagolev, it now pushes back the 330. ID (not really holding on to the ground!) towards the Carpathians. Mărășești falls during the day, Focșani is reached in the evening. Now in enemy hands, the rich mining city will therefore not see - unlike in 1917* - an armistice that many now consider inevitable. The divisions that Antonescu thought he would form to defend this sector of the front in the spring of 1944 never came. By evening, Odobești and Panciu are in sight - the Axis center really seems to be dissolving... For their part, Karl Casper's Landsers are already in the Vidra and Răcoasa gorges, preparing stoppers!
.........
Tulcea - "Our entry in Tulcea had been disappointing: the little town was completely abandoned or almost, its inhabitants having fled, driven by an unreasonable panic. Many buildings had been mined and everything smelled of misery and death. We were not welcome - which did not prevent me from finding, a little further on, the village Tudor Vladimirescu, close to my past exploits!
On our path lined with gaunt trees too often decorated with hanged men, the rain made the mud grow. The exaltation of the fight and the victory was followed by frustration and boredom. However, as the cold and wet night of the Danube fell again on our shelter (a simple hut, at least for tonight), I was kept awake by a curious certainty. Irrational, impossible to define, and yet particularly pervasive. Tonight, something was happening." (Farewell my country... once again, Vasil Gravil, Gallimard 1957)
.........
Sector of the 4th Ukrainian Front (Moldova and Siret) - Here too, the situation has become completely fluid, and Karl-Adolf Hollidt's maneuver perfectly transparent. The 17. Armee - deprived of almost all its mechanized forces, gone south - will have reached its assigned withdrawal positions by tomorrow evening, hardly hindered by a cautious 47th Army and a 2nd Armored Corps insufficient for its ambitions. It should then be able to free the LIV. ArmeeKorps (Carl Hilpert), reinforced by one or two reserve divisions, to descend in its turn towards Ploesti.
As for the 11. Armee of Georg-Hans Reinhardt, if it can of course not detach any reinforcement because of its insignificant weakness (too bad, it is the closest to the goal!), it also meets little opposition from the 38th Army (too alone to claim to disrupt two Fascist army corps) and the 62nd Army, which is literally worn out by so many efforts made in vain. Thus, due to the lack of fighters, the situation in this region of the front should not take long to stabilize again - the snow will do the rest.

Poisoned gift
HG SudUkraine (Bran Castle, Brașov) - Generaloberst Alfred Jodl has gone, leaving Gotthard Heinrici alone with the Romanian problems - his problems now.
And it is an understatement to say that, for the time being, he is not helped... Hollidt will arrive tonight; Reinhardt will follow in the night. In both cases, their formations have already irreversibly engaged maneuvers from orders given before his arrival. Certainly, in retrospect, these orders were justified, but that still limits the interest of a staff conference... Heinrici, no doubt, will have to listen to his subordinates and (perhaps) advise them, much more than command them to solve a situation that is hardly under control at this time.
But there is better... or worse. After the Belgrade insurrection, the British entered Serbia! Well, more precisely, the Yugoslavs entered - but since they are under British command, it's all the same (isn't it?). Faced with the apocalyptic picture of the whole HG Sud-Ukraine trapped between the Russians and the 18th AAG! - the general believes less and less in the possibility of defending Bucharest and anything from the Wallachian plain, oil or not, Romanians or not, and especially Romanian oil or not.
It is already not at all certain that von Weichs will send his 1. Panzer - in such a circumstance, it would be quite astonishing that he would accept to get rid of his only armored division! No doubt, for the moment, he has not yet cancelled this transfer...but who can say that it will be the same tomorrow? Besides, his 12. Armee is already persiflage, asking "where exactly" it should send the XXI. GAK of Hans-Gustav Felber, supposedly to defend Bulgaria. East or west of Sofia? Let's be serious - this country is indefensible.
Fortunately, Bulgaria is not the problem of the HG SudUkraine - which is now openly mocking what is happening south of the Danube and would like to stabilize its own situation, which is getting worse all the time. Heinrici sees himself as an unfortunate man who has been thrown in a ravine and desperately tries to hang on to every passing branch to stop his fall... and for the moment, while waiting for the arrival of the panzers coming from the north, these branches are mainly Romanian. Not enough to reassure him, in truth!

* On December 9th, 1917, at Focșani, the Romanians signed an armistice with the Austro-Germans, which preluded the brief peace of Bucharest.

 

[Wings]

December 12th, 1943

Italian campaign
Satisfaction
Italian front - A meeting similar to the one of the day before is held in Milan, but this time, between German generals. They are extremely satisfied. The Gottenstellung kept its promises, it had blunted the enemy's vanguards and a good armoured counter-attack had eliminated what was left.
General Kesselring has a smile on his face: he will have a nice success to present to his Führer, and a success obtained at low cost. He scrupulously respected the orders to keep Italy, or at least the greater part of it - it is therefore pointless to pursue the enemy and expose oneself to blows by going too far. Kesselring knows that the time of the fat cows is over, that the red ogre is approaching the borders of the Reich and that he would have to be content with limited means to keep the Allies at bay at the top of the Italian boot.

Balkan campaign
Bloodbath
Morava Valley (Serbia) - At sunrise, as the snow continues to fall softly on the mountains, a clamor is heard, on the background of the noise of engines. Tanks are moving, cohorts of soldiers silhouetted on the white ground as the 1st Yugoslavian Army Corps advances towards the north. Tired of watching his compatriots die of hunger or be massacred from afar, General Brasic has just ordered his forces to run over the enemy and to Belgrade.
He obeys, beyond his personal convictions, the direct instructions of king Peter II, with whom he had a long conversation the evening before in company of various officers, including a certain Major Vranješević. Brasic's orders are of course not in accordance with the instructions from Salonika - but his men do not care, harangued by their officers, themselves stimulated by the obvious enthusiasm of their generals, including Krstic and Stefanović, who finally see their oath of September 27th fulfilled.
On the flanks of the Yugoslav corps, the 6th and 10th Armoured, warned of the movement at the last moment, seem quite helpless - but what could Gatehouse and Gairdner do? For lack of anything better, and with the fatalism of those who had seen the blow coming, they report to Salonika.
The Yugoslav troops advance all day through the snowy fields, without encountering any opposition. In the evening, they are already on the outskirts of Bujanovac - but not without their movement having been observed by the Germans
.........
Radio-Alger, 11:30 - With the complicity of Léon Blum, king Peter II addresses his Nation and to his Army. The speech is broadcast on all the radios of the 1st AC and the maquis, reputed to be loyalists, warned during the night, are also listening. Even in Belgrade, the Chetniks knew that something was going to happen. And the listeners will not be disappointed.
"Dear brothers and sisters of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, you who have suffered for too long under the enemy's boot, soldiers of our Armies, I address you in these grave and decisive hours, after long reflection. For a long time, my government has long been concerned about the events underway in our Nation, which defy human understanding. I myself have questioned the responsibility of my blood in the confrontations that ravage our Earth. What sins have the Kingdom of Yugoslavia and its people comitted to suffer such suffering?
My lineage has been fighting since the beginning of time. We fought against the Ottomans, against the Austrians, for our ideas, for our freedom. We have not known peace for a long time, but we knew war well - or so we thought. For in the last two terrible years, everything has changed.
For more than two years we have been facing a cruel and merciless adversary, who benefit from the support of snakes with human faces that we thought were our Slavic brothers. Desperate to defeat us on the battlefield, these enemies have decided on our extermination and attacked our culture, our pride, an innocent and defenseless population. After so many other cities, Belgrade itself is now threatened with annihilation. The soldiers of our Home Army have long fought valiantly, in order to thwart these infamous plans. But soon they will not be able to continue this fight, not because of their courage, but because of their resources. Our families, defenseless, will be massacred by iron, fire and famine. Belgrade, Serbia and the whole Kingdom of Yugoslavia are doomed - unless we act now. Unless the Army reconstituted outside our borders with the help of our powerful Allies now goes on the attack!
Proud fighters of the Royal Free Army of Yugoslavia, if we want to see our parents grow old, our children grow up and our Nation prosper again, it is up to us to go and fight the enemy that occupies our Homeland, whoever he may be. We are coming. We will go and find the Germanic enemies and the Ustasha traitors wherever they are and we will destroy them. With the support of our faithful Allies, we will inflict such terrible blows on them that they will not lift their heads again until the executioner cuts it off. Yugoslav soldiers! What I ask of you is difficult, but indispensable. Go into battle and bring us back Hope!"
This martial flight triggers thunderous cheers among the Partisans in their maquis and among the troops who are moving up the Morava Valley - General Brasic's men are now marching into battle to liberate their country.

Confirmed concerns and useful precautions
Novi Sad - General Alexander Löhr is increasingly worried: his superior Maximilian von Weichs informed him in confidence that the Red Army is now at the gates of Bucharest. The collapse of the Romanian front seems imminent - but the Heeresgruppe Sud-Ukraine should, however, be able to form a new line of defense in the Carpathian Mountains with what remains of the native army.
For the head of the 12. Armee, the news that an Allied offensive has begun in the Morava Valley is proof that misfortune never comes alone. The Reds of the Kremlin and the Plutocrats of the City have given the word! "In these conditions...and given the evolution of the situation in Romania, the departure of the 1. Panzerdivision be hasty, to say the least? After all, I don't even know in which direction I should order Krüger to move!
The answer is without kindness, but without hostility: "I will see with the OKW what it is possible to do to delay its departure, the time for the Heeresgruppe Sud-Ukraine to reposition itself, and for you to stop the British. As I have already indicated to you, make arrangements to preserve as much ground as possible. It is still possible to keep the majority of Serbia, as long as our comrades of the Eastern Front protect our flank." Satisfied, Alexander Löhr salutes and takes his leave. Making arrangements... that is just what he intends to do, for the greater good of his poor army corps.
First the XXII. GAK, as exposed as ever. Fehn is just asking for instructions, because its first elements arrived in Sofia and report a "chaotic situation, making it impossible to materialize a stopping position, taking into account the multiplicity of enemy offensive axes". Without daring to write it, Gustav Fehn asks his superior to allow him to avoid encirclement. But it is politically impossible to abandon Sofia... for the moment. Löhr, sympathetic, suggests to his subordinate to "privilege a flexible defense intended to wear out the adversary without endangering your units." A fine example of wooden language, worthy of certain political communiqués!
Then, the XXI. Gebirgs-Armee-Korps - Hans-Gustav Felber is also concerned, and asks with some humor if he should be prepared to hold the border... with Romania. He adds: "In any case, and considering the extreme exposure of my forces in Bujanovac without any benefit, I must inform you that I have already taken the initiative to withdraw the 118. Jäger, the 187. ID and the 93. schwere PanzerjägerAbt towards Vranje, pending a a wider maneuver towards Leskovac and Nis. The 297. ID and the KG Braun remain in reserve, able to cover my flanks." A sensible action - Löhr gives Felber the go-ahead to form a defensive line in this area, making the most of the rugged terrain of the Predejane region, immediately to the south.
.........
Shkodër - The generals of the 20. Armee are certainly not immediately concerned with the events in Romania - but that does not mean that they are not kept informed by Lothar Rendulic's services and that they are not alarmed, too.
Still more concerned about the risk of being surrounded between Albania and Montenegro, Hellmuth Felmy renews his proposal to withdraw the LXVIII. Armee-Korps towards the Podgorica region - without success, however, for the moment.

Black souls
Annexed Bosnia - Pavelic's instructions, widely distributed since the day before, as well as the news of the Belgrade insurrection triggered a new outbreak of bloody fever in the areas where the Ustasha are active. Exalted patriots attack the garrisons with cries of "For Belgrade, for the King!", while the Croats strike blindly, often getting ahead of the rebels... In the middle of this chaos, groups of starving refugees try to flee, to steal food or simply to hide. The country seems to be in convulsions.

December in Belgrade
Belgrade - Since SS-Oberführer Bock launches his infernal columns through the city, the capital of Yugoslavia has not had a moment's rest. Small groups of vehicles and soldiers have been roaming the streets in search of lives to destroy, caches to burn, deaths to sow. However, if this strategy remains obviously effective in the short term, it is already showing signs of running out of steam. On the one hand, only the 7. Regiment and a few divisional battalions are put on line - more than half of the division is deployed outside Belgrade. On the other hand, the Chetniks seem to have learned to play with their opponents, trying to corner SS columns in small streets, where they can more easily attack the open machines. The day alternates between periods of deceptive calm and bloody skirmishes.
Thus, a column going up Ruzveltova street is blocked at the intersection of Svetog Nikole by a barricade made up largely of the debris of neighboring buildings demolished during previous fights. Educated by experience, the German machines try to go back without delay, but from the facades of the buildings falls a rain of various projectiles. Indeed, even if all the insurgents do not have firearms, it is not that which stops a Serb! Bolts, bricks, Molotov cocktails... a whole inventory of more or less dangerous objects fall from the windows, at the same time as a shower of bullets. If the SdKfz 251, in the back, and the Marder, in the center, manage to get out of trouble, the leading machine gun machine guns the barrage to cover its teammates while turning around. It is then set on fire by an improvised explosive device which, launched with precision, falls into the open cockpit. The crew is mowed down by furious fire while trying to escape. Before withdrawing, the Germans can only fire several 75 mm shells blindly at the facades, which collapse, dragging down an unknown number of Serbian combatants (or non-combatants).
Of course, nightfall does not put an end to the fighting. The men of the Oplenac corps from Kalabić try to infiltrate through the German lines to take out sentries or small isolated groups. The most daring lose their lives, but this does not discourage the others. A self-propelled gun SdKfz 222 even disappears, leaving only its crew with their throats cut. But such actions are not only the work of insurgents: in the darkness, the 1st Special Combat Detachment sends patrols to reconnoiter enemy assembly points and depots - a job facilitated by the confusion of insurgent uniforms (or lack thereof). These patrols often take prisoners, some of whom are deserters. No matter: all of them are brutally interrogated before being finished off and thrown into the Sava.
.........
During this time, by the light of candles recovered from churches, Chetnik leaders are gathered in a house not far from the Danube for a new conciliabule to coordinate their actions. The discussion is followed by a prayer imploring the Almighty to bring back the good weather and bring victory to his followers, the Chetnik fighters. This ceremony is led by one of the popes who went underground in the last few months in recent months, as the idea of a service performed by Momčilo Djujic was deemed inappropriate by just about everyone (except of course his supporters). So pleas go up to heaven - what will the Lord do with them?

Allied HQ, Athens, 13:00 - Witold Krymer has finally arrived at the 18th Army Group HQ to present his report on the situation in Belgrade. Meanwhile, the news of General Brasic's bloodshed had already reached Montgomery, who does not give the SOE envoy a very warm welcome. Firstly, because he considers the insurrection in Belgrade a matter of internal Yugoslavian politics, or at the very least of foreign policy, but that this affair is in no case of its competence. Secondly, because the Serbian madness has broken part of its chain of command - leaving Brasic and his men to their fate would be a just punishment for their disobedience. Finally, he still believes that in the current weather and logistical conditions, an offensive towards Belgrade would be too adventurous, even to race with the Red Army.
Krymer, in front of Montgomery, Audet and Spiliotopoulos, has the heavy task of carrying the word of a group of former Yugoslavian army deserters, lost politicians and defrocked popes - all of whom have in common the fact that they are assassins. The Polish-Lithuanian, who (as an added bonus) is not a real military man himself, is careful not to assess the chances of success of the insurrection and even more careful not to describe the political orientation of the leaders. He cautiously prefers to stick to the evaluation of the forces in presence, describing German units overwhelmed and unable for the moment to regain complete control of Belgrade, while underlining the mobilization capacities of the maquis still scattered in Serbia and Bosnia. And Krymer has other arguments: "Not supporting the insurrection in Belgrade would sweep away any hope of turning the militias still loyal to the Axis, who would no longer believe in our word. Worse, the warlords who collaborated more or less confidently with our services would also risk turning their backs. Finally, on a purely humanitarian level, I must inform you, Gentlemen, that not to intervene could only aggravate the divisions between Serbs and between Yugoslavs. In short, it would be a good opportunity for some to say that we are indifferent to the woes of others and do not seek to liberate anyone, but simply to share Europe with Moscow! This would not prevent the Soviets from asserting that our only real objective is to prevent them from liberating the Workers of all Europe from capitalist oppression!"
Krymer sighs, the image of his meeting on Takovska Avenue comes back to his mind... He concludes: "All our stabilization work would be definitively destroyed. At first, communist and royalist partisans will clash under the gaze of the Germans and Ustasha, who will kill the wounded. Then, the survivors will turn against the Slovenes, the Bosnians and of course the Croats, shattering any hope of reconciliation. Your armies will intervene, but will not be able to do anything except freeze the conflict, like in Albania. The grudges will fester, each side will arm itself - and the blood feud will flare up again after your inevitable departure.
We are in danger of witnessing the complete and irremediable dissolution of a nation, of the very essence of a people. And afterwards, once Germany has been defeated, only the Soviet Union would benefit from this catastrophe."
These words are very meaningful, but they go far beyond the military framework. However, they strike the spirits of Generals Audet and Spiliotopoulos - for the latter, they even constitute a painful reminder of the precarious situation of his country. It is impossible to say, however, whether Monty was touched... on his invitation, Krymer takes his leave.

The wisdom of Winston
Allied HQ, Athens, 18:00 - Since Krymer's departure, Bernard Montgomery has thought long and hard about the conversation he is about to have. His judgment has not changed: for him, the precipitous and forced launching of Garden remains a folly, militarily dangerous and, moreover, a serious threat to his authority. But he has to suffer, after the interminable speech of this obscure SOE agent, the contradiction of his two principal assistants, who tried without too much subtlety to inflect his judgment.
- Is it not possible to advance in contact with the enemy and try to provoke his withdrawal under the combined pressure of our forces and the Soviets?
This is Audet speaking - you can tell he's been thinking about it. This frog-eater was the first to be informed of Brasic's incursion, which does not seem to have surprised him.
- Any action on our part will divert enemy forces carrying out the current repression and will show the Germans that we cannot tolerate such misdeeds without reacting.
Obviously, these are the arguments of Spiliotopoulos.
Finally, Monty ordered that he be left alone. Because after the Serbs, the Poles, the French and Greeks, he must now face the one who is at the same time his most formidable adversary and his most powerful ally - the only person really capable to influence these decisions. But it is not at all certain that he agrees with him. Montgomery grabs the receiver with a quick hand and sits back in his chair.
- Sir, the Prime Minister is waiting.
- Go on.
A few clicks later, a familiar cheerful voice is heard: "Good evening, Monty, glad to have you on the line, I was going to call you!
The British general is not so enthusiastic: "Good evening, Sir. You are aware of the situation, of course?
- Absolutely, I've been dealing with the recriminations of His Majesty Peter II, who is encouraged by our French and Greek friends.
- Nothing new under the sun, if I may say so. What are we going to do?
The answer is slow in coming...
- Hem... First of all, you have to understand that it is... complicated here in London, Monty.
- With all due respect, sir, it's even more... complicated here.
- Monty, as you know, I've done my best to keep my promise. Alas, what you asked of me came to you... a little late, I know. Nevertheless...
The poor stick of the British general suffers again the wrath of its owner, who twists it violently before answering in a united tone: "Nevertheless?
- Nevertheless, in the current political context, we cannot dismiss with a wave of the hand the legitimate concerns of our allies, even though we now have the means to help them. It would be easy for the House to say that we are damaging the credibility of the Kingdom - not to mention the credibility of my policy. And then there are the Russians - if they get to Belgrade, your Balkan campaign is over, and so is our influence in the region.
- All this is certainly true, Prime Minister. But I too will say: "nevertheless". Nevertheless, this view leaves no room for the military thing. I cannot take responsibility for what you suggest. I command an army, I am not in charge of protecting the sensitivities of one or the other. If my decisions were to lead to disaster the forces that you have entrusted to me, I would assume the burden. But what responsibility can I assume if any exiled kingpin imposes his battle plans on me? What respect can my authority inspire if every officer of the eight nationalities that make up my army group prefers to obey the moods of his government rather than my staff?
Montgomery's tone only rose during his tirade - but he comes down again to conclude: "In these circumstances, Prime Minister, I am afraid that the end of this year will also mark the end of my term of office.
There is a very short silence - but Churchill too has prepared his interview. He already has an answer: "Monty, I understand your anger, it is fully justified.
But what image would you leave if you left the ship at the entrance to the rapids? Not so long ago, you offered me a gambit - you did your part, and even though I was late, I gave you something to go on in the near future. Today, I'm offering you an agreement. Will you let me lay it out?"
A sigh of exasperation later, "Of course, Sir. I am listening."
- Well, Monty, suppose the Commonwealth forces follow, then catch up and General Brasic's forces in their drive to Belgrade. I may be going astray, but there are three possible outcomes, provided our forces are led with the prudence that is yours. In the most favorable case - but not the most probable when we know these Bloody Huns - the opponent leaves the camp for fear of being caught between our troops and those of the Reds. We chase them, flank the Soviets and return to Belgrade without a blow. You are the liberator of Serbia after the one of Greece, the savior of Belgrade after Athens. And I can claim for you additional resources. In the worst case scenario, disaster strikes us. Despite our help, the Panzers beat or even crush the Yugoslavian troops launched forward and eliminate the insurgents. But our own losses will be reduced and we will not have given up any ground - I trust you. In this case, it will be Brasic, Peter II and their French and Greek friends who will bear the responsibility of this sad adventure. And count on me to go and expose it very clearly to whom it may concern! Everyone will know that, on my instruction, in a spirit of solidarity and with your unwillingness, you will have done your best to limit the consequences of a madness that you have denounced.
Your authority, which you rightly care about, will become unquestionable. As for the last scenario... Let's say that it is intermediate between the two.
- If I understand correctly, Prime Minister, you propose to follow the movement by protesting and on your explicit order. If it goes well, the fruits of glory will be for us, if not, the bitterness of defeat will be for the others?
- Who will have caused their fate. And will not be able to reproach us for anything. And obviously, in any case, I would not fail to have a very long conversation with Mister Karađorđević and Mister Blum about this. De Gaulle is a soldier, he probably already understood - even if the politician in him agrees, basically, with Peter II.
- I see.
Decidedly, thinks Montgomery, the First lacks neither timeliness nor cynicism.
But that's nothing new! "I'm going to try to limit the damage, hotheads or not, these are my troops. If you don't mind, I'd like us to resume this conversation... at Christmas."
- With pleasure, Monty! I'll see you soon. And good luck!
- And, unfortunately, you can't do anything about the weather, but I'm counting on you for the deliveries to follow in the ports! Good evening, Sir.
.........
Churchill's and Montgomery's respective memoirs will give slightly different versions of this discussion - the one presented here corresponds to a median scenario which, as is often the case, the most likely.
As for the Montgomery-Brasic exchange that followed, it has never been clearly the object of a narrative, so divergent are the memories of the two interlocutors. The first claimed until his death to have ordered the Serbian general to stop and wait for his forces before continuing, while the second claimed to have received a discharge for his past actions and a free hand for the future. Communication may have been poor, and language difficulties being what they are, everyone will certainly have understood what they wanted to hear. Besides, Brasic could very well have said to himself that, if everything for the best, glory would be his, and that if everything went wrong, it would be the fault of that stubborn Montgomery. Finally, let us not forget that if the Serbs have mythologized a battle in the history of their country, it was a defeat (Kosovo Polje, 1389): in the eyes of posterity, Brasic is not afraid of anything!

Bulgarian affair
Worry without comedy
Pleven (Bulgaria) - Major-General Trendafilov has arrived at his destination, and his brigade with him. The Bulgarian officer knows well the weakness of his means. He has at his disposal two battalions of 48 tanks each, but three quarters of them are Panzer III Ausf. J and the others are Panzer 38t which shone in 1940... but 1940 is far away.
An assault gun battalion, with 24 StuG IVs and as many StuG IIIs, represents the best of its equipment. In addition, there is a company of self-propelled guns - 24 SdKfz 221 and 222 - and an anti-aircraft company, with 12 SdKfz 251/17 and 12 SdKfz 251/21.
Is it necessary to specify that almost all the crews are blue, while their vehicles are for the most part already quite tired.
Fatalistically, Trendafilov judges that his unit is likely to have a little difficulty to stop three or four Soviet armies. Sending his daily report to General Marinov, he strongly suggests to ask the Germans to reactivate the former 3rd Army of Major-General Nikola Hristov Hristov, disarmed on the Black Sea coast and which still includes two divisions. Certainly, Pleven is not his sector - but the commander of the armored brigade does not dare to mention the late 4th Army of Atanasov Stefanov, destroyed while fighting the Germans in the area of Pernik ...
While he sends this message, a large formation of twin-engine bombers passes a few kilometers to the north, heading west and visibly mocking the violation of Bulgarian airspace. With binoculars, we can clearly see the double drifts of the planes, but not the red stars that adorn them, whose presence is however certain. Trendafilov thinks more and more...

 

[Wings]

December 12th, 1943

Operation Lavoisier
Drôme - The French armoured divisions finally reach the plain. The Germans have reestablished themselves on the course of the Drôme, but they know that their position is not going to be tenable. In Lyon, the 255. ID receives marching orders to come and border the Rhône along the progression of the French, in order to avoid any bad surprise. The 2. Panzer defends the sector between the river and Livron, while the parachutists are installed in a plug between Crest and Aouste. In the meantime, the 16. Panzer is watching over the situation. Further east, in what is today called the Drôme des collines, the Gebirgsjägers also begin their retreat, from north of Saillans to Pontaix and Die, which is now completely in ruins.
While the French aircraft provide close support, the USAAF opposes intrusions of all kinds in the region. Thus, a young 2nd Lieutenant of the 52nd FG, James "Sully" Varnell, obtains his first victory against an Fw 190. Between other missions, beyond the coverage of the French, the American fighters also ensure the watch over routes followed by the 15th Air Force bombers towards the Reich.

 

[Wings]

December 13th, 1943

Crossbow
Occupied France - A persistent stormy outbreak inland in the Somme, Nord and Oise, the bombers of the 9th AF (377 planes) and the 12th AF (182 planes) divert to the Channel and Opal Coast sites, without encountering any real opposition, the Luftwaffe having hardly any aircraft left to oppose them, between groups whose fields were drowned in rain and those whose runways looked like Emmental*.
The escort fighters are increasingly carrying rockets and even small bombs. If it is useless against concrete pillboxes, it is still effective against trucks and barracks.

Naval warfare
Kiel - While in dry dock for maintenance, the torpedo boat T-15 is destroyed by a bomb dropped by a B-24. This one is only one of the innumerable aircraft which attack Bremen, Hamburg and Kiel at the same time. The ship is not put back into service.

* Much more perforated than Gruyere cheese, contrary to what people say about the latter!

 

[Wings]

December 13th, 1943

Romania tilts
Rubicon
Bucharest, 00:00 - Sometimes the circumstances of history, like in a bad novel, seem to be laboriously matched to the event. Thus, at the precise moment when the speech is broadcast on the radios, the rain moves south and the weather calms down a bit over the Romanian capital.
At first greeted with incredulity by the few listeners still tuned in at that hour, the news spreads quickly among the population, triggering a rumor that grows in a few hours. The war would be over! It is understandable that the Romanian of the street wants to believe it... In the middle of the night, one sees rather quickly spontaneous gatherings form in the street, under the complicit, interloqued or wrathful eye (according to the case!) of policemen, soldiers or political militants of all obediences.
Among those who celebrate a peace that is not yet there, how many really know the composition of their new government? A certain general Constantin Sănătescu, marshal of the Palace, would have been appointed president of the Council... General Aurel Aldea is said to have become Minister of the Interior, with Gheorghe Mihail as chief of staff... If the military take power, it means that one can still stand up to the communists!
Certainly, Sănătescu is now at the head of the Nation, next to the king - but Lucrețiu Pătrășcanu, admittedly below him, is minister without portfolio and (this is new) Minister of Justice... on an interim basis. So it is a communist who guards the doors of the prisons... It is not Grigore Niculescu-Buzești, the new minister of foreign affairs - a conscientious but obscure civil servant who had been to various legations as well as by the League of Nations - who will be able to stop the Soviet armor alone...
Moreover, as a symbol of what was to come, it was not Michael who wrote his own statement: it is in the hand of Pătrășcanu, and was proofread by Belu Zilber. This Jewish Moldavian once emanated from the Siguranța, but he is above all, and for a long time, a spy for the USSR... Obviously, these details are not known to the public, but in a way, the RCP already controls the ruler.

Germany
German Embassy in Romania (Calea Victoriei, Bucharest), 00:15 - Woken up by his staff, His Excellency Manfred von Killinger is not about to receive his visitor wearing his nightcap - but almost. Faced with a general Sănătescu as haughty as he is caustic - he obviously takes great pleasure in announcing the latest news and in particular to specify that Antonescu "is no longer in charge" to explain this brand new concept of "non-conflictual withdrawal of German forces on Romanian territory" - the ambassador loses his nerve. Killinger demands to be received immediately by King Michael in order to better understand the reality of the situation and above all its foreseeable consequences - for Romania, for the Reich... and above all for him.
Faced with this unprofessional and unexpected irritation, the Romanian general decides to be patient. With a smile, he takes his leave, saying that His Majesty is at the palace. Herr Killinger is free to come and ask for an audience with Him, if he wishes.
.........
Royal Palace of Bucharest, 02:15 - Von Killinger was not asked to come... He rushes to the residence to obtain an audience with King Michael and to discuss with him "the serious consequences" of the upheavals during the night.
One suspects that it takes a little more to make the sovereign back down - he has already exceeded the limits allowed to an ally of the Reich and knows that there is no turning back now. Michael therefore receives Killinger, surrounded by Sănătescu and Niculescu-Buzești (his foreign minister).
The German ambassador storms in, furious, asking questions in a flurry and demanding an immediate meeting with Marshal Antonescu "who must be released as soon as possible" (although his arrest is not even official). He concludes by announcing that "Romania would suffer the most terrible reprisals, if some madness would push Your Majesty to persist in this new foreign policy which the Reich cannot accept."
Faced with this torrent of reproaches, ultimatums and threats, Michael - he no longer has any choice! - remains calm as can be. Antonescu? He submitted his resignation of his own free will, is not the target of any charges for the moment and is not detained by the Royal Police (he's in the hands of the RCP!). As for the armistice requested by Romania from the allied powers, the duty of the Romanian government is obviously to take care of its country "to mitigate the disaster to come", since the Heer no longer contributes to its defense, so to speak.
And the sovereign recalls that there is still, however, a significant number of German military or civilian personnel on the territory of his country, and he would be happy if they were to withdraw as soon as possible and in good order. In the absence of hostile act on their part, it goes without saying that the reciprocal will be guaranteed: "It is more than a suggestion, Your Excellency. I urge you to make it so."
Catastrophized, Ambassador Killinger understands that he no longer has any influence on the Romanians. Unfortunately, he had no influence on Gotthard Heinrici, who was not likely to act on his request for... ah yes, of "non-conflictual withdrawal", if a fit of madness should push him to pass it on. Giving in to a panic tinged with of dejection, the diplomat hurriedly withdraws, followed at a distance by a few policemen loyal to the new regime. The latter will send a few hours later a disappointing report: far from contacting his superiors or doing anything useful, Manfred von Killinger rushes back to his embassy to...pack his suitcase, put it (along with his secretary...) in a car, and drive himself to an isolated villa in Săftica, a charming little village north of Bucharest. The professionalism of great negotiators... It is true that it is Monday, and that His Excellency may not have been able to enjoy his weekend!
Unfortunately, this so-called ambassador is still the main channel of communication between Bucharest and Berlin... Sănătescu therefore proposes to send emissaries to return to him at the end of the morning, once he has recovered from his emotions.
In the meantime, and to prevent any attempt to attack his person, His Majesty will go to his residence in Dobrița, in Oltenia - close to the Yugoslav border.
.........
Zeppelin Bunker (near Zossen, south of Berlin), 03:00 - However, the Reich does not necessarily need Killinger to be aware of what is going on in Bucharest.
Between the Heer forces passing through the city, the Luftwaffe on the outskirts and the Kriegsmarine in Constantza, the German government has enough people on Romanian territory to know what was said on the radio and to notice a change of attitude towards it.
So the information quickly reached the famous Maybach II bunker - literally besieged by converging reports on the subject. Obviously, a quick decision is needed. The Führerhauptquartier is therefore informed urgently.

USSR
Moscow, 04:00 - On its side, the USSR obviously does not waste time. Informed by three different channels (the Red Army which reports a stop of the Romanian shootings on the front line, the official Romanian requests... and the RCP which supports the requests of its governments' requests) the Kremlin officially announces to the world, by cable sent in the middle of the night to all the allied and neutral capitals, that it recognizes the Sănătescu government (thus the restoration of the "reactionary monarchy"!) and accepts his request for a cease-fire. It was up to him to send as soon as possible plenipotentiaries to officially sign an armistice - in the meantime, the operations continue, and the forces of the Red Army will retaliate as soon as they feel threatened.
In fact, the Stavka obviously fears a violent German reaction on the model of Italy, a reaction for which it seems obvious that the Romanian army is not really frankly prepared. It is therefore better to get hold of as much land, equipment and prisoners as possible as soon as possible (for the time being, the Romanians are still enemy combatants!), while waiting to see. Between gaining a more favorable strategic position in the Balkans, definitive securing of the left flank of the Red Army and the near extinction of the Reich's oil resources, the Soviet planners estimate that the war could be shortened by almost six months if Romania fell, willingly or not. All the more reason to waste no time.
Minister Vyacheslav Molotov agrees. This is why he sends a plane to Bucharest to bring the Romanian representatives back to Moscow as soon as possible.

United Kingdom
10 Downing Street (London), 07:00 - Winston Churchill sleeps the sleep of the just - but he does not protest if you wake him up. Anyway, he gets up every day around (even if it is to work in bed). And so it is without worry that his butler enters his room and wakes him up - respectfully - from sleep. He presents in his white gloved hand a tray with a telephone: "Mr Eden, Sir."
- Anthony, what a happy surprise to know you so early! So, what good news from France or Yugoslavia?
- Good morning, Prime Minister. I thought it appropriate to call you without delay, as soon as the news came: Romania capitulates!
Faced with this event, which upsets him at least as much as it pleases him, Winston remains silent for a short time. Obviously, with the Soviet offensive underway, this was expected - but the British Prime Minister still hoped that the Romanians would hold out until next spring, so that he could possibly negotiate something from Belgrade. Damn Russians who are not afraid of the cold... Damn Montgomery, unable of recognizing history when it is holding out a pole to him! Bringing the Eastern Balkans under the influence of London was already very difficult: it is now impossible.
It remains therefore to limit the damage...
- I suppose that this information is confirmed by all our services... Do we have a precise idea of the situation in Bucharest? If I am not mistaken, we had people there!
- And the French as well. Their post has started broadcasting again. So we have a safe and quick way to contact the new government.
- Um... What do you think we can do, Anthony?
Note that Old Lion is talking about what can be done, not what should be done.
- First of all, we must recognize this new government and assure it of all our... solidarity. Which could possibly take the form of an air support against the Germans, from Yugoslavia or Greece. It is difficult to do more, however, with the operations in progress in Serbia.
- Yes, yes! That dear Yugoslavian 1st Corps! Who gloriously leads our troops to the victory. I guess they will be even more motivated now.
- I've talked to Sir Alan [Brooke] about it, and he thinks it's feasible. He also pointed out that, now the whole right flank of the German forces facing the Russians is threatened with collapse. This should make it easier for the 18th AAG to move up to the Danube.
- Mhhhh, yes...
- Romania comes out of the war. The Reich loses a major ally, its main source of oil and probably, in the long run, all its positions on the Black Sea. We gain a new cobelligerent, a secure flank for our own operations in Yugoslavia and the certainty that the war will end next year. Hundreds of thousands of lives will be spared.
- That's right. Now that the Red Army can concentrate its forces to break through Hungary and Poland, the armies of Mister Hitler will not be able to cope. But still...
- Prime Minister... May I respectfully remind you that we were not going to liberate the whole of Eastern Europe on our own?
- Yes, we were. But I am now wondering about the fate of Poland and Czechoslovakia. Let us hope that they will not exchange one tyrannical occupier for another. Finally! It is too late now. Proceed as you have so cleverly proposed, I shall have to address the House this morning.
Churchill hangs up the phone with a sense of disgusted frustration. His entire strategy in Central Europe is in the toilet! He who had hoped to civilly block the road to part of the Balkans to the Soviet army sees from now on his dream collapsing (at the same time as that of the Reich!). Eastern Europe will be Stalinist.
In truth, it is a disaster - not military, but political - that will affect the place in the world for the next fifty years, at least. Thank God, at least Greece, Italy and part of Yugoslavia have been saved. With, sure, a good helping hand from the French troops and negotiators - both of which allowed England to embark on this kind of adventure in 1942, without even having to wait for the arrival of the cousins from America.
A disaster, yes... But like all gamblers, Churchill knew that it was not possible to leave the table at the first setback - Romania and (probably) Bulgaria are going to fall to the Reds? So what! He has already bet too much to stop at this kind of detail. And so he intends to hold on to Yugoslavia - and even Hungary, and Austria - so as not to leave this great game without some gains. Even if, to do this, he will have to go all the way to Moscow one day to talk to the Little Father of the Peoples in person!

Romania-USSR
Bucharest-Cotroceni Airport, 09:30 - While the German elements on this base are still being expelled, a large Petliakov Pe-8 coming from Odessa lands on the former Luftwaffe transit base, escorted by a dozen MiG-3Us of the 16 GvIAP, while MiG-5s hover over the runways. The four-engine aircraft awaits the members of the Romanian delegation, which the government has just brought in a hurry. At its head, of course, is Lucrețiu Pătrășcanu - who leaves accompanied by Gheorghe Pop (the general secretary of the National Peasant Party), by Constantin Vișoianu (an experienced diplomat, especially at the League of Nations), Ion Șerban Christu (a former minister) and also a military man, Baron Mocsony-Styrcea. Prince Barbu Alexandru Știrbey, on the other hand, is still in Cairo... Too bad for him.
It is therefore up to these men to go and sign the official armistice request, while waiting to negotiate lasting conditions. This will come... later! When the plane takes off, it is not quite 10:00. However, in its 10 o'clock bulletin, Radio-Moscow will announce that the capitulation is already signed!

Autonomy(ie)
Bucharest, 10:00 - Once again free to move around the capital, the Autonomy(ie) mission wastes no time in resuming its broadcasts and describing the situation "terribly confused but nevertheless encouraging" (according to Colonel de Chastelain) of the insurgent Romania, as well as to "propose modalities of real assistance to the new government" (dixit captain Jacques Bergier). The Franco-British have many, many things to tell, while the city now rustles with rumors of bloody clashes in Ploesti, in the north in the Carpathians, but also all around the capital.
Meanwhile, the Red Army seems to continue its advance as if it were still in enemy territory. The local civil authorities, properly panicked, report seizures, confiscations and other requisitions at gunpoint - all of which they can do nothing about. Of course, the new team in power in Bucharest would like the West to support it with Moscow so that the USSR will stop treating as an enemy a government that it has itself recognized as legitimate and and whose request for a cease-fire it has accepted. Obviously, Autonomy(ie) transmits... What more can it do?

Antonescu
Bucharest, 10:30 - A few blocks away, on Sighișoara Street, Ion Antonescu writes a long document that looks like a political testament. The deposed Conducator delivers his own vision of the facts - obviously more in his favor than the one that history will remember. He argues in particular that he had never opposed the principle of his country's exit from the conflict. If he had not been able to resolve himself to do so, it was more because of the hardness of the Soviet conditions (in particular the definitive cession of Bessarabia and the north of Bucovina, without speaking of all that was to come...) and above all his obstinate refusal to turn his weapons against a former ally who had, in spite of everything, helped him in his attempt to repair the wrongs caused by the USSR to his country. It is therefore obviously because of his sense of honor that Antonescu was deposed - and nothing else.
Passing from hand to hand until finally landing in the personal archives of Gheorghe Teodorescu (of the Royal Palace Guard), this pro domo plea will be published only after the disappearance of the USSR, in particular by the nationalist newspaper Românul. The latter was thus obviously seeking to open a trial in rehabilitation of the Conducator's action during the Second World War. However, all historians agree today that if this document is probably authentic, nothing in it can seriously revise the very negative judgment that has been made today of Antonescu's action.

United Kingdom
House of Commons (London), 11:00 - In other circumstances - notably had the Allied troops been absent from the Balkans - it is not certain that the Bulldog would have given the Romanian surrender the honor of a speech. But while so many interests are at stake (it is the whole action of the 18th AAG that we will have to justify!), the man also knows how to be pragmatic when necessary - after all, had he not, on the morning of May 17th, 1942, lyrically evoked that he saw "Russian soldiers standing on the threshold of their native land, which their fathers have tilled since time immemorial"? At the time, the Baltics, Romanians and Poles appreciated it... But Churchill has more than one trick up his sleeve. He will prove it again by trying to turn lead into gold.
- After the Kingdom of Italy, it is now the turn of the Kingdom of Romania to lay down its arms and join the camp of Freedom. This noble country, which was once our ally against the adversary that butchered it on behalf of others, has thus returned from its mistakes. This is good and I am glad of it.
[loud applause from the Conservative Party].
- I welcome it all the more because our armies have contributed so much to it!
(Protests on the Labour benches) Yes, ladies and gentlemen! You cannot object. And I beg you to shut up now your unjust recriminations, which are disrespectful to our troops in the Balkans, to those who command them, to those who have died in their ranks, and to those who continue to risk their lives for the Crown as we speak.
[loud cheers].
- Indeed, ladies and gentlemen, our forces did contribute to this brilliant result. By diverting to the south a great part of the reinforcements planned for the Russian front, by destroying important enemy elite formations in Greece, in Macedonia, in Albania and everywhere else our weapons have carried us. Today, I see in the defeat of fascism in Romania more than the triumph of a single valiant nation, which some would have us believe. I see in it the proof that our efforts combined with those of the Soviet Union are paying off! We must increase our efforts so that the soft underbelly of Europe will give way more and more each day, thus hastening the defeat of the Reich!
[New cheers].
It is understandable that Churchill's main concern here is to ensure the maintenance of supplies necessary for Montgomery's pursuit of Garden - an operation that was launched in a certain improvisation continues to trouble the British high command. Sir Thomas Riddell-Webster, Quartermaster General of His Majesty's armies, even declared that he could not decently claim to be in charge (i.e., to supply the armies of the Commonwealth), if everyone started "doing bad polo". That is to say, galloping to get hold of the ball before crossing the field to try to score a goal without worrying about his team. "It never worked before, it won't work anymore today." So Churchill needs political support, to calm the grumbling that rises about this costly adventure in Yugoslavia. But there is more.
- Our armies having been associated with this victory, it is logical that the same should apply for our government. And so I announce to the honourable members of this House that we will of course be represented in the forthcoming discussions with the new authorities of Bucharest, in order to decide in honor and justice the means of a lasting and satisfactory peace, respecting the aspirations and freedom of each people. It will obviously be the same for every country in Europe that will wish - and I am sure they will all wish at some point - to leave the ranks of this moribund Axis to safeguard its integrity and its independence, within a renewed concert of civilized nations. There they will join all our valiant allies of the early days, crushed under the Nazi boot for far too long and who await our help - the help that is coming to them today on the wings of Victory!
Here Churchill is clearly winking at Hungary - while trying to make up for the disastrous impression produced by the two previous failures, on Bulgaria and Romania, for which the British armies had basically only followed events from a distance. But he is also thinking of Poland, and even of Czechoslovakia - no doubt displaying his ambitions in the face of Stalin. A kind of warning, in short. However, for Montgomery's armies to be able to claim to contribute (even from a distance!) to the liberation of Warsaw or the fall of Budapest, there is still a long way to go. A long way. But in the thunder of Westminster, not all truths are obvious. Nor are they all good to say.

Germany (?)
Săftica (suburb of Bucharest), 12:00 - Those damned Romanians really don't want to leave Herr Killinger alone! His Excellency is just recovering - in the company of his young secretary - from his emotions of the past night, that he receives the visit of two Romanian officers: Colonel Eugen Cristescu and General Constantin Tobescu. Thesecome, on order of their government - obviously worried about the German reaction, already violent this morning and which will undoubtedly be even more so this afternoon -
renew with the one who remains (after all) the ambassador of the Reich the formal offer of evacuation without combat of the Heer out of the Kingdom. Bucharest has already shown a great deal of good will on this subject, especially in Constantza and in the capital, so why mess it up?
Faced with this presentation, which was as sensible as it was naive, Manfred Freiherr von Killinger is at pains to develop a coherent discourse. Beyond the contempt that he displays while placing himself in the posture of the outraged - which at least allows him not to have to pretend to debate - he has no authority whatsoever to give instructions to the Heer. Realizing that there is really nothing to be gained from this individual and that they are wasting their Cristescu and Tobescu decide to withdraw, while telling Killinger that he is now a prisoner and under house arrest, given the hostile attitude of the Reich. The two officers leave a section on the spot and return to the capital, leaving the capital, leaving the deposed ambassador as useless as humiliated.

United Kingdom
10 Downing Street (London), 12:00 - After Moscow, it is the turn of Her Majesty's government to officially recognize the Sănătescu regime and accept its surrender, according to the formal instructions of the Prime Minister. Churchill is indeed anxious not to be further outflanked by Stalin. This recognition will be followed, a few minutes later, by that of the French Republic, in Marseille, and then by the United States of America. The minor powers will follow in the wake.

France
Provisional seat of government of the French Republic (Palais Longchamp, Marseille), 12:30 - "Don't you think, Mr. Minister, that our British allies have been somewhat inelegant?
- It is that they are themselves extremely nervous on the subject, General!" Léon Blum replies. "As you know, our friend Churchill has invested a lot - if I may say so - in the Balkans. He has committed far more men and equipment than we will ever have. For him, this brutal Romanian reversal marks above all a giant step of communism in the direction of the Mediterranean. His old fads come back and he tries to oppose Moscow by multiplying gestures of goodwill towards Bucharest...
- Even if it means leaving us on the sidelines! But tell me, dear friend, what exactly are your feelings on this matter? Those of the statesman, of course - in whom I have complete confidence, it is obvious...
- Thank you, General - I had no doubt. To put it simply, I am afraid that the USSR will not let our new Romanian friends off the hook so easily. They have the means to impose their will, they have grievances against them, and above all they do not have to suffer the fickleness of the public opinion of a democratic country.
- The Workers' Paradise! Of course it is! So, since they are the ones who decide, what will they decide, our Soviet friends?
- I contacted their ambassador, Mr. Bogomolov. He told me that for the moment, military operations obviously had priority. In-depth negotiations about the possible place of the Kingdom of Romania among the Allied powers, its status and the compensation it will have to pay to the USSR will take place later, once the situation on the front has stabilized. Then he added, in a malicious tone: "Aren't we generous? We even agree to negotiate with your great friends in Bucharest! What better proof that our attitude is certainly constructive!" I quote him...
- If he says so. In any case, we must hope so for the Romanians. For there is nothing more we can do for them!
And De Gaulle crushes his cigarette, as he would trigger the cleaver of a guillotine.

USSR
Moscow, 15:00 - The Romanian plenipotentiaries arrive at the Kremlin. Without wasting any time, they are received in the premises of the People's Commissariat for Foreign Affairs by a smiling Minister Molotov. After all, as Comrade Bogomolov told the French, the Soviet Union is generous, very generous even, and it will prove it!
Of course, the Soviet was quick to announce to his visitors the bombing of Bucharest (without specifying that the VVS were absolutely not opposed to it) and, at the same time, urged them to clarify the position of the Kingdom vis-à-vis of the Reich. Baron Mocsony-Styrcea, with the sad and disoriented air of one who sees the situation slipping away from him, has only to declare that, of course, the declaration of war by Romania towards Germany is surely only a matter of hours. Pătrășcanu will not even have needed to force the government's hand...
However, the baron adds - with a thin smile - that his Kingdom is now able to assist the Red Army. This, with his 3rd Army already on the line, with his troops not included in this army and even with a future 4th Army that could be created this winter, subject to a little material aid from the Allies. "One million men, that's what we're proposing!" he says. This is obviously an exaggeration, but it can nevertheless weigh in the balance.
Molotov takes note and loses no more time before proposing to move on to the technical negotiations on the modalities of the cease-fire.

Armistice!
Moscow, 18:00 - The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics announces to the world that it has concluded an armistice with the Kingdom of Romania. As a result, hostile acts between the Red Army and the Romanian Army must cease immediately - any violation being likely to call into question by right the terms of the armistice. The Romanian forces in contact with the Red Army must therefore place themselves without delay at the disposal of the latter, for disarmament, internment or possibly collaboration according to modalities yet to be defined. As for those who are confronted with the forces of the Reich, they are obviously encouraged to defend themselves.

Declaration of war
Bucharest, 18:00 - In a ruined Palatul Victoria - one of the wings is still filled with smoke from a fire caused by this afternoon's bombing - General Constantin Sănătescu signs, in the name of His Majesty King Michael, the declaration of war of Romania to Germany (the bombing of Bucharest is a casus belli if there was any) and, in the process, to Hungary, to show that Romania had indeed chosen the allied camp!

 

[Wings]

December 13th, 1943

Boufarik - Coming out of the Operational Conversion Unit, the women pilots are admitted as Non Operational Fighter Personnel (Penano-Chasse).

 

[Wings]

December 13th, 1943

Bulgaria - The Romanian capitulation is announced at midnight! It announces of course the inevitable and imminent entry of the Red Army on the Bulgarian territory. Taking note of this happy news, NOVA starts a vast campaign of acts of resistance - or of terrorism, according to the point of view - against the Marinov regime.
However, its means remain rather limited (we are not in Belarus!), despite the reinforcement of defectors parachuted in by the NKVD. The actions in question will not go very far. Unfortunately, they will add violence to violence in the coming days, and will contribute to destabilize an already shaky regime, which probably did not need all this to stumble.

 

[Wings]

December 13th, 1943

Indochina Campaign
Strategic bombing
Haiphong - The destruction is enormous, as if the allied planes had wanted to put Haiphong on a par with the capital in terms of ruins. The offices of the Chargeurs Réunis, the docks of the Chamber of Commerce, the Cotton Company, the Denis et Cie, the Brifleu, Faud et Cie docks were severely damaged.
More than 500 people were killed and nearly 750 injured. This air raid was the deadliest of the war in Indochina.
The pro-Japanese collaborationist press could not help but castigate "the brutal aggressor who stupidly hit poor defenseless people". But the population gnashes its teeth - the refugees from Hanoi were numerous and the massacres that followed the insurrection are etched in all memories. The Vietnamese people do not curse the bombers; they all repeat that the bombs that hit their homes are intended for the Japanese and only regret that they missed their targets. Moreover, occurring only a few days after the second anniversary of the beginning of the war, the attack particularly strikes the imagination. It is seen as a sure sign of the coming downfall of the enemy.
A few days later, Algiers protests, demanding that the USAAF avoid bombings that are so costly in civilian losses... But the affair does not go very far, the French are very busy with the fights in Metropolitan France and the prospect of a resettlement on their native soil.

Indonesia - Operation Banquet
Indian Ocean - While Japanese reconnaissance operations south of Bali continue to go nowhere, it is a day of (semi) relaxation on board the ships of the Royal Navy and the French Navy. Indeed, it is time to refuel of all kinds: oil of course, for the escorts, but also for spare parts and men.
The small Unicorn takes off several aircraft (including a few French ones) to replace the damaged planes (about 10 % of the planes having participated in the raids), because of the flak or sometimes accidents. As far as the crews are concerned, the losses are around 5 %, with some seriously wounded to be evacuated to the hospital ship HMS Oxfordshire. If the reserve pilots of the Royal Navy stay on the Unicorn, those of the French Navy are on board the MN Ile de Noirmoutier and have to be transhipped.
The tankers have their work cut out for them during the 27 hours of operations: the vessels are of different types and equipped with different equipment, they will take a very variable time to fill their bunkers. And there are some unpleasant surprises, such as the much higher than expected consumption of some of the smaller ships (HMS Phoebe consumed 70% of its fuel in four days of cruising).

 

[Wings]

December 13th, 1943

Battle of Romania
First reaction
Führerhauptquartier Wolfsschlucht IV (near Besançon), 05:00 - The OKW receives the alarming news from Romania. An immediate decision at the highest level is urgently needed. Problem: the Führer is sleeping at this time. Is it really wise to wake him up for what could be (one never knows...) a simple rumor or a false alarm?
We would need the opinion of Keitel or Jodl... But the first one is in Berlin and the second one is unavailable, arriving from Brașov. The time to resolve the issue, we must wait.

HG SudUkraine (Bran Castle, Brașov), 05:30 - General Gotthard Heinrici, is awake, and wide awake at that. A stroke of luck - linked to the conference held last night - he has his two army generals on hand! Without wasting a single minute, and anticipating the inevitable instructions to come regarding the new attitude to adopt towards the Romanians, the head of the HG Sud-Ukraine takes several critical decisions.
- Order to the 24. Panzer and its partner the 502. schw. Pz. Abt to take from now on, in agreement with the Luftwaffe forces already on the spot, all necessary measures to secure the refineries and oil wells - this was to be with the help of the Romanians, it will be without them, and even against them if necessary. The men of von Edelsheim will have to disarm their former allies... if possible. They are of course authorized to retaliate, and even to take the initiative if necessary.
- Acceleration of the transfer of the PanzerDivisions from the Carpathians - these already had to drive day and night, now they will have to go faster! They are needed in the Wallachian plain, and as soon as possible.
- As a matter of course, all military collaboration of any kind with the Royal Army: the German convoys supplying them must be stopped, the Romanian convoys present in areas controlled by the Reich are to be seized, and all military personnel within reach of the German forces areto be arrested... if possible, again.
The rest will await orders from the OKH - Heinrici cannot do more on his own authority without overstepping his responsibilities. Obviously, the Luftwaffe will also be warned, the Kriegsmarine and the little people of the administrative services - for the form. It is up to them to contact, gather and shelter their personnel, the Heer will not manage everything! Because Heinrici, as a good German soldier, already knows at least two things: it will be difficult for him to hold Ploesti until the arrival of reinforcements from the 17. Armee (in particular), and yet the high command will surely ask him very quickly for an energetic action...against Bucharest. Because, let's be serious: who can imagine for a moment that the Reich will give up Romania without a fight?

Oil...
Ploesti, 07:00 - The 24. Panzer arrives in the night in the capital of Romanian oil, by the Urziceni road. Maximilian von Edelsheim is perfectly aware of the current events - he has heard Heinrici himself on the radio, and Heinrici has given him clear and precise instructions on how to proceed.
When his columns arrive at the Bucov bridge - which crosses the Teleajen river to the Redevența refinery, then to the pumping station and finally to the railroad line linking the Concordia Vega and then the Dacia Româna - the men are hardly impressed by the few roadblocks improvised by the Romanians, who cannot even seize the installations because of the presence of the numerous German personnel of the refineries and the servants of the multiple Flak guns. The local officials having not mined the bridge, the Panzer IIIs continued their advance, indifferent to the warnings and the warning shots. A few bursts of fire are enough to open the way.
At the same time, further south, Major Märker seizes with his heavy tanks and a company of PanzerGrenadiers the road and railway bridges north of Berceni, all intact and far too weakly defended to pretend to resist 57.25 tons of German steel... The Tigers soon press on toward the Româno-Americană refinery, pushing back defenders who are as brave as they are overwhelmed.
Meanwhile, the Luftwaffe still firmly holds the facilities. It even undertakes to go into the surrounding streets to join up with the panzers. The outcome seems inevitable - it's just a matter of hours.

Sea...
Military port of Constantza, 08:30 - A gloomy sunrise over the last Axis port facilities in the Black Sea. The crews and maintenance teams are confined to their barracks - a useful precaution while the Kriegsmarine security battalions and the Romanian military are now glaring at each other. The tension resulting from a feeling of betrayed brotherhood of arms is constantly growing. A single spark could set off the powder keg.
Of course, Admiral Gustav Kieseritzky has already received his instructions from the Shell-Haus. These are clear: defend his ships against seizure, hold the port at all costs, seize strategic installations and Romanian naval units... and wait for reinforcements. A challenge, considering the weak means at his disposal... As for the reinforcements, let's be serious: the Heer has nothing less than 200 kilometers away!
The Tirpitz battery could probably resist for a while, and its guns are a formidable threat. The admiral then had them pointed at the city, in order to have a strong argument in the negotiations that he plans, in order to avoid the too small German garrison to find itself prisoner. Fortunately, between seafarers, it is always possible to discuss. And when Admiral Horia Macellariu asks to see his (former) comrade, the German hopes that it is not just to threaten and demand a surrender.
Half an hour later, everything is arranged. Kieseritzky has indeed made some clamors in front of this betrayal and invoked his sense of duty, he also had to agree that his situation is hopeless and that resisting here would only serve to get people killed.
A little later, Hitler, who had just woken up in a very bad mood, orders that "the the city of Constantza be destroyed" without taking into account that the affair would end very badly for the garrison (among others). Fortunately, it is already too late.
The Germans have until 5 pm to withdraw. They are free to destroy all the equipment they cannot carry and to go wherever they wish. They will hardly have a choice - but Macellariu can't do anything about that: of course, Bulgaria has not yet officially deserted the Axis camp, but the German troops are mainly concentrated around Sofia, at about 500 km from Constantza, their evacuation is considered... and the aborted attempt of the Regent is in all the memories. Kieseritzky accepts these terms; the destruction and preparations for departure begin now.

And air!
Bucharest-Otopeni airfield, 09:10 - At the main Luftwaffe base in Romania, located in the immediate vicinity of the capital, things are not going so well. The planes of the III/JG.4 that were ready to fly had already taken off on the orders of FliegerFührer Schwarzes Meer, to take cover in Kronstadt-Braşov: Braşov is indeed entirely controlled by the Germans. But there are still people in Bucharest - a lot of people even, not only in Otopeni but also in six other airfields (Băneasa, Bârseşu, Giuleşti, Pipera, Tunari and Cotroceni, where the repair shops are located).
It is certainly a question of some combat units - the Flak-Abt 520/851 - but also of elements unable to resist: staff, administrative personnel (Befehlshaber der deutschen Luftwaffe in Rumänien), mechanics of the Frontreparaturbetrieb, men of the Luftschutz-Warn-Abt Rumänien (signal troops), pioneers of the Lw-Ausbau-Stab, personnel of the Nachschubstab Rumänien and of the medical offices of the Lw-Lazarett Bukarest, plus some radar operators on leave. That is to say 2,600 people in all*, not to mention the personnel not directly dependent on the Luftwaffe.
It is understandable that the mood is not festive when the Romanian troops present themselves at the entrance of each base with a certain... brusqueness - the events of Ploesti are already known - to seize the installations, disarm the factionalists and prevent any destruction. Faced with liaison officers who shout treason and warn that this affront will not remain without consequences, the Romanians are satisfied to answer simply that they serve their country.
The Germans have two hours to flee northwards in cars or trucks, leaving all their equipment there. After so many losses, the FARR are counting on filling up a bit at the expense of their former ally... The recruited personnel are therefore not interned - but this generosity does not concern the isolated, refractory and other ambushers scattered around the capital. For them, the day will be long and the settling of scores numerous.

New reaction
Führerhauptquartier Wolfsschlucht IV (near Besançon), 09:30 - Wilhelm Keitel has the Führer woken up - who obviously reacts in his usual way by calling a staff conference. Even before making any decisions, Hitler spends a long time to take stock of every aspect of the situation, thus wasting precious time that would (perhaps) have allowed him to get ahead of his new opponents.
This is because the dictator wants to act with discernment - in his mind, the situation is always reversible and it is still possible, by an action as determined as decisive, to bring Romania back into line, as was the case with the Bulgarians. And then, after all, Romania is not Italy... Or rather, the Romanians do not have the Franco-Americans to support them.
In short, we must rush to Bucharest as quickly as possible. Even though the means to do so are rather limited. "Where are the 15. and 17. Panzer?" Still on their way, they accelerate, but neither they nor the 14. PanzerGrenadier will not be able to arrive until December 15th - at best. "What about the 1. Panzer?" Army Group E cancelled its transfer, between the British in Serbia and the defense (or rather evacuation...) of Bulgaria, von Weichs felt he had too much to do to let it go. And for once, the OKH did not dare contradict him. "What about the 13. Panzer?" Somebody has to serve as a reserve and hold the hinge with Manstein towards Chernivtsi.
The map of the Eastern Front paints a bleak picture: the right flank of the Heer, in the lowlands, is now completely open to the enemy, and it has practically no reserves in this area.
- Let the 24. Panzer rush to Bucharest to overthrow this traitorous Jewish government before it is too late! However, in case of failure, we must plan now the extension of our device in order to defend at least the Carpathians. Let the 2. PanzerArmee prepare to move south, to take orders from Heinrici.
Then, after a brief pause: "So the 8. Armee to take over, even if it means evacuating... the Chernivtsi region to Ivano-Frankivsk. No, to Kolomyia!"
This maneuver involves abandoning 100 kilometers of plains and eventually sliding the entire HG NordUkraine system down 80 kilometers, deconcentrating the 3. PanzerArmee at Olevsk. It is understandable that this upsets Hitler...
To try to counter this, Keitel has an idea: "My Führer, in the Carpathians, there are only three or four crossing points. A reinforced army corps would be enough to hold the area. We could leave it to the Hungarians, after all it's their territory."
- Good idea, but no thanks, Keitel! After what we've just seen in Bucharest - not to mention the Bar affair last fall - I have no more confidence in the army of this old crumbling admiral than in that of the Conducator. We'll see what we do with the Hungarians, for the moment, they are holding their own, that's all! However, in the long run, it will probably be necessary to create one or two additional AKs for the 11. Armee, in order to maintain all this.
After a final thought, Hitler concludes: "Call Heinrici back, so that he can give his orders! It is imperative that the 24. Panzer to take Bucharest today! Ah, last point: that in the meantime, the Luftwaffe razes the city center - that will make them think!"

Liberated!
Prisoners' camp near Bucharest, 10:45 - The whole world has forgotten some soldiers caught up in the tumult that Romania is currently experiencing: the Allied prisoners of war in detention in the kingdom of Michael! It is essentially about a thousand airmen, mostly Americans, awaiting transfer to Germany. These men are of course aware of the events of the previous night - and they are literally ecstatic: this good surprise might save them a stay in a Stalag. Only thing is, between them and freedom, there are still the Germans and the airmen are at the mercy of a Nazi revenge, as well as of a Russian bombing mistake.
Among the prisoners thus freed is Colonel James A. Gunn III, a B-24 pilot in the 392nd Bombardment Group, shot down on November 6th over Ploesti.
Gunn had just been transferred from a camp closer to Brașov (so he was kept away from the Germans, a curious coincidence!). Now he wonders how he and his comrades are going to get out of there, although the Romanian guards have already given them some weapons - but they said that it was better to avoid being seen in town. In fact, if Gunn heeded this common sense advice, not all of his compatriots did. Some of them were quick - in the middle of the night! - to visit Bucharest to enjoy a taste of newfound freedom.
This is (for example) the case of Lieutenants Henry Lasco and Martin Roth, who went on a reconnaissance mission and came back from their escapade with mixed impressions... Shots, shots in the distance, shouts in German, sounds of boots... In the darkness, Lasco even violently hit the corpse of a Landser hanging from a lamppost! Attempting to take shelter under a stoop, he was literally attacked by a group of young Romanians (and Romanian women!), overexcited by the sight of his uniform and started to kiss them while shouting to the whole neighborhood that the Americans had arrived! At the risk, of course, to stir up individuals less well-intentioned towards Uncle Sam... It is understandable that Lasco and Roth preferred to return home immediately. But if they are now, with their comrades, more or less safe behind the barbed wire, they are not out of the woods for
for all that!

Expelled
Constantza, 11:30 - In a deathly silence barely disturbed by the cry of the seagulls, the last Type-IIB U-boats of the 30. Unterseeboots-Flottille set sail. The U-19 and U-24 leave for their last patrol - U-18 is already at sea, it will be informed by radio. Admiral Kieseritzky had considered sending them to Varna, but he had just learned that the German army is starting to evacuate Bulgaria - and the Bulgarians had already tried to emancipate themselves from the Axis... these traitors would risk delivering the submarines to the Allies! Moreover, it already seems to be a given to Kptlt Rosenbaum that the Turks will not allow either submarines to cross the Bosphorus from north to south any more than they allowed it in the other way. And if they did allow them, where would they go? The Mediterranean is allied!**
For their part, the commanders of the three submarines are determined to fire their last torpedoes (five per ship) against any adversary - Soviet but also Romanian - who would
to present themselves.

Bad losers
Braşov-Kronstadt Air Base, 11:30 - The FliegerFührer Schwarzes Meer Joachim Bauer had to beat his sides to comply with the instructions of his Reichsmarschall. His means were never infinite and the weather is uncertain today on the Carpathians... In short!
Even if, in truth, Bauer would probably prefer to recover his entire world now lost in territory and to take stock of what he recovers from the Romanians with the defection of the FARR***, he nevertheless gathers the Junkers 88 of KG.77, and is able to add the Heinkel 111 of KG.55 (IX. FliegerKorps), which came from Ukraine for the occasion. That is to say if the affair is of importance...
The escort will be provided, as it should be, by the first two Gruppen of the indispensable JG.4. Unfortunately, all this has a corollary - if the troops need support today, they will have to make do with the Bf 110s of the ZG.1. Too bad - orders are orders. The formation takes off, assembles and passes heavily over Bran Castle before turning south.

HQ of HG SudUkraine (Bran Castle, Brașov), 12:00 - Adolf Hitler gives his instructions to the Army Group, via Rastenburg and the famous Zeppelin bunker, which is becoming every day more overloaded with communications. Gotthard Heinrici has many hidden concerns, but overall he is satisfied. Withdrawal to the Carpathians, the southward shift of the 17. Armee to the south, continuation of the movements undertaken, placing at his disposal the 2. PanzerArmee of von Arnim - not exactly the best army in the Ostheer, but on given horse... Common sense, common sense, common sense. Of course, since it comes from the Führer!
One reservation, however: this offensive that he was asked to take in the direction of Bucharest. Certainly, Ploesti is now completely secure, but Heinrici does not really see what von Edelsheim and Märker could do anything significant in the Romanian capital once they had reached the capital. It is probably a matter of making these cowards pay for their betrayal of their commitment to the Reich, while encouraging the evacuation of the city by the German elements that are still there.
So be it: the 24. Panzer will let its PanzerGrenadier Rgt 26 and part of its artillery secure the refineries together with the Flak battalions; the rest will take the road to Bucharest. It is only 42 kilometers, the tanks - despite the foreseeable difficulties on the way - should occupy the capital in the evening. In the meantime, the head of HG Sud Ukraine will have plenty of time to receive von Arnim and to prepare the slip of his army group. Panzer Marsch!

Bad losers
Bucharest, 12:30 - Luftwaffe forces approach the Romanian capital. In the absence of any radar (the only ones watching over the city are those of the Luftwaffe!) and the service being in full chaos, the bombers are reported only very late, while the Romanian fighters are not alerted in time.
It is a terror raid: it does not aim at any military objective and it is devastating. The National Theater of Bucharest is destroyed, the Royal Palace is severely damaged as well as the Palatul Victoria (seat of the government), while the Ateneul Român (a concert hall of neo-classical architecture) is hit by two bombs that rip open its dome. The numerous flak only shoot sdown two bombers, because are were flying too high.
It is only when the Germanic eagles were withdrawing that the 3rd Fighter Flotilla finally appears over the city. Its IAR-80s launch an assault on the formations of their former ally. Dryly pushed back in spite of all their courage, the Romanians lose 7 planes, in exchange of only 2 bombers and 2 escorts. However, the essential is not there - for the opinion, the situation is now clear: the Germans are the aggressors and the army resisted them, with the king at their head. The national union becomes a reality...

Liberated?
Prison camp around Bucharest, 13:00 - Meanwhile, Colonel Gunn considers that his situation (and that of his comrades) is decidedly bad. If the Germans were to return to Bucharest tomorrow, wouldn't they be executed on the spot? Already that a string of bombs dropped by a He 111 hit the camp, killing five American airmen and wounding a dozen... And among the others, dysentery is taking its toll: many of them are not even in a condition to flee or hide****. Those who have tried their luck in the city are now wandering in the streets, not always helped by a local population who is friendly, but not necessarily welcoming. Here too, it is clear that the war is not over.
But something must be done! As the highest ranking officer on site, Gunn feels that he has a responsibility to these men. So he leaves the camp on foot and heads for downtown. He heads for the War Department... or at least the nearest command post. He has to succeed, in the name of the USAAF, in getting the Romanians interested in the fate of his comrades, and to obtain, if not the means to escape, at least the means to contact the 9th AF. And the sooner the better. On the road, the colonel comes across a group of wounded. By bullets this time: a B-17 crew dining happily in a restaurant was shot at by a marauding Landser, who opened fire with a machine gun. Four people were killed.

Nach Bucharest!
Ploesti, 13:30 - Maximilian von Edelsheim takes note of the orders of HG South Ukraine. Those are clear, without appeal and... virile, shall we say, especially for a unit totally isolated in enemy territory and having to cover its right flank against a probable Soviet-Romanian offensive from Buzău. Soviet-Romanian - a new expression that is likely to endure.
The 24. Panzer has been warned: the HG E, present in Bulgaria and Serbia, will not help it. It can only count on itself and on the 502. schw Pz Abt. The panzers moved away from the oil wells to turn their tracks to the south. It is expected that they will arrive at the capital by early night, but they will soon encounter obstacles, which will only harden with the kilometers.

Very bad loser
Führerhauptquartier Wolfsschlucht IV (near Besançon), 16:00 - Hitler receives the news of the day with a certain satisfaction. The Romanians are routed in the north, Bucharest chastened, the panzers on their way to retake the capital... All this is positively perfect. Well, as far as it is possible in the present situation.
- The pressure must be maintained. Destroy the Romanians still in our lines. Let the 15. Panzer and the 17. Panzer make no break tonight! When we conquered France, there was no question of a break! And that the Luftwaffe launches tonight a new raid on Bucharest. I want to see them cry as I made the Dutch and the Yugoslavs!
"Zum Befehl, mein Führer!" replies the audience in chorus.

Scuttling
Constantza, 17:00 - The swastika has already been brought in to be replaced by the blue-yellow-red flag, but the last Germans have nevertheless been given a grace period to evacuate.
At sunset, the Schnellboots S-42, S-46, S-47 and S-49 set sail, escorting the handful of captured trawlers which constitute the main part of the remnants of the Croatian Naval Legion (because there are still some very lonely Ustachis in Romania). All these small ships - overloaded with men, fortunately the weather is quite nice... - will go to moor in front of the Turkish port of Zonguldak. There, the launches will be scuttled and their boats towed to the harbor by the trawlers (which were themselves stripped of all military equipment).
The internment of the sailors in neutral territory obviously saved their lives - and prevented them from capture by the Soviets.
But for the rest of the Kriegsmarine troops - who had just enough time to set the Tirpitz battery on fire - the future looks uncertain, to say the least. Fortunately... and as a precaution, as the Romanians seemed to him to be unsafe after the Bulgarian treachery, Admiral Gustav Kieseritzky had succeeded in gathering enough vehicles in the port to evacuate all the men who remained after the departure of the launches, trawlers and submarines (so much for the orders from Berlin!). But to reach the German lines on the side of Ploesti, it would be necessary to cover 250 kilometers in the middle of the chaos resulting from the Soviet offensive, and they would have to cross the Danube. They could also, of course, try to pass through Bulgaria to reach the sector of Army Group E, but the country is undoubtedly hostile to them - the blood spilled a few months earlier is not forgotten... - and the admiral receives confirmation that the German army is evacuating the country. Moreover, he is informed that the British are advancing into Serbia. It would probably be easier to go along the coast to be interned in Turkey.
In the absence of a clear perspective, Kieseritzky left everyone free to try their luck: the most disciplined (led by the admiral, it is necessary to give the example...) will leave towards the west in the hope to reach the relative safety of the friendly lines - while knowing that all along they were at the mercy of an aerial strafing, or even of an ambush by anti-Nazis of the 25th hour. The most...realistic will take the road to Turkey via Bulgaria. Finally, out of the 2,500 men (present in Constantza on the morning of December 13th, about 500 succeeded in crossing into Turkey and 1,500 of them (of which only 20 were Croats) joined the Reich lines. A real feat...
However, for the Romanians, the important thing is no longer there: while the last departing people put on their bags, Horia Macellariu receives a message from the Admiralty of the Red Flag Fleet. This one asks for the provision of pilot officers able to guide their ships in the middle of the minefields, for an entry in the port tomorrow morning.

Ploesti-Bucharest - Rising tide
Sector of the Odessa Front - Obviously, the Romanian surrender has immediate and considerable consequences on the front. Facing the 18th Army - which can now accelerate its march, having nothing more to fear from its former adversary - the 4th Army Corps of Dumitru Dămăceanu begins a redeployment, not a withdrawal. In fact, according to the instructions of the central staff (prepared during the previous five days, they were transmitted before noon), his three infantry divisions must now march due south to protect Constantza from a coup de force coming from Bulgaria and to secure the road to Bucharest. One thinks here obviously of the main crossing points on the Danube, including Hârșova and Cernavoda (and its famous fort).
The news of the kingdom's rallying to the Reds - for no one is fooled by the attitude that Germans are going to adopt - obviously makes a few teeth cringe. A simple speech does not erase a year and a half of war, suffering and death. However, in the ranks of the troops - and even more so among the officers - the terrible rumors about Bloody Christmas, a year ago, and the repression in Bulgaria last summer have taken their toll. Everyone is aware that the best way to avoid Italian or Bulgarian-style reprisals, or even Polish-style devastation, lies in a rapid and unhesitating collaboration with the Soviets. The army therefore obeys the King, out of patriotism and realism.
On its side, the 18th Army pushes with force - according to the instructions of the Stavka - and sends motorized columns that reached Babadag and the hills surrounding Ciucurova before nightfall.
The whole of Andrei Gretchko's troops are advancing well. In doing so, the frontovikis often encounter isolated Romanian detachments - retreating units or former delaying elements - which are taken prisoner without a fight. The instructions are indeed clear: no negotiation, no collaboration, the Romanian forces are always considered as adversaries and the orders given before keep all their relevance, except that before opening fire, it is now necessary to systematically propose to the Romanians to surrender - which they certainly do without hesitation. In the days to come, the Red Army will take no less than 120 000 prisoners: soldiers, policemen... sometimes even railwaymen (for the frontovikis, a uniform is a uniform!).
Very few will return from the Gulag.
As for the attitude of the troops towards the civilian population... requisitions, rapes and summary executions are now commonplace. Drunk with revenge against the Axis, which had sacked their Motherland, fed with dehumanizing propaganda calling for the extermination of the Fascists, the Soviet soldier behaves very badly - and this is unfortunately only the beginning.
Meanwhile, around Însurăței, the two Romanian armored divisions suddenly move westward, in order to defend Bucharest. Alexandru Beldiceanu and Radu Gherghe do well: Dumitru Carlaont's 8th ID, obviously forced to open its lines to the 6th Guards Armored Corps, is taken entirely prisoner in less than a day.
Unfortunately for them, the infantrymen do not have vehicles on which to flee to better...collaborate with their new allies.
Alexander Shamshin does not pursue the TACAMs and other Romanian armored vehicles - indeed, the Stavka has set him a much more ambitious goal: to secure the Bulgarian border through Călărași, Oltenița, and then Russe. In fact, in Moscow, it is not known that the XXII. GAK is in evacuation of Bulgaria...
If Shamshin leaves Bucharest aside, it is also because it is now the objective of the 6th Guards Army, free to clear Buzău definitively to rush towards Ploesti. On its way, it takes prisoner a good part of the 20th and 2nd ID (Ioan Arhip and Constantin Iordachescu). By acting in this way, Pavel Batov does not try especially to help the defenders of the capital by threatening the flank of the 24. Panzer, which at the same time move towards the south. He looks much more simply for the way to take of speed the panzers to move up to Brașov himself while seizing Bucharest in the passage - according to Moscow's instructions, the Horia, Cloșca și Crișan division should enter the city first! By evening, Batov is already in Mizil, barely 30 kilometers from the oil wells. His columns could have made very nice targets for the Luftwaffe - too bad, this one is above Bucharest.
On the Danube, the monitors go up the river to reach their moorings. They will all be seized by the Red Army: the NMS Mihail Kogălniceanu, Ion C. Brătianu, Lascăr Catargiu and Ardeal will lower their flags without a fight, along with a whole flotilla of naval dust.
Finally, in the area of Focșani, while Vasily Glagolev's 9th Army begins to enter the Bârsești and Răcoasa gorges - where the 330. ID is waiting for them more or less serenely - a drama is played out. Indeed, the 1st ID of General Saidac learns of the surrender at Târgu Secuiesc, that is, north of Brașov - right in the middle of the 11. Armee and more or less at the level of the column tails of the 17. and 15. Panzer! Ernst-Günther Baade's armor then begins an elegant maneuver to encircle their former allies in the plain, whose situation quickly appears absolutely hopeless...
Calls for surrender are launched after some artillery warning shots, but the men of the 1st Division are veterans, determined not to let themselves be defeated - and it seems that Italian-speaking officers have been broadcasting in a particularly realistic way the events in Italy a year earlier. Finally, in spite of the shells that rained down, facing even less understanding men than the Soviets, Alexandru Saidac sends a heroic message: "This is General Saidac, commander of the 1st Infantry Division of the prestigious Romanian army. We do not recognize the injunctions of an army that fires on its own allies. We will fight to the end." In fact, the 1st Division, in an impossible position, fought all night and part of the morning until it was completely destroyed, thus losing precious time to the panzers on their way south. An unknown feat, which unfortunately will have only few witnesses and whose memory will not be honored by anyone - and certainly not by the future communist regime.
.........
Romania - "Incredulity, relief, excitement - in the middle of the night, Lieutenant Palariar announced that the war was over! Not the war against the German fascists - but they had nothing to lose by waiting. But the fratricidal war, the civil war, the cursed war that spilled the blood of brotherly peoples for nothing for the benefit of a mad dictator who had wanted the whole world to die.
It was impossible to sleep, of course - we had too many things to think about, too many actions to prepare... perspectives that opened before us. So we celebrated, singing tunes as cheerful as they were diverse: Romanian, Russian - a little gypsy too. One of our comrades had found a violin and for once the the hierarchy turned a blind eye.
However, at six o'clock in the morning, we were lined up, with the lightly wounded, to advance on the double towards the South. It didn't matter if we had slept or not! It did not matter - a new hope was carrying us, and in this dawn, our boots seemed much lighter than usual." (Farewell my country... once again, Vasil Gravil, Gallimard 1957)

Sector of the 4th Ukrainian Front (Moldova and Siret) - For Fyodor Tolbukhin, the Romanian capitulation does not change much... The Soviet armies have certainly one opponent - but his army still has in front of it a 17. Armee very sufficient for its task and an 11. Armee which is not able to defend the passes which have already (alas) tried to cross two months earlier. So nothing significant to report - from Onești to Gura Humorului, the Axis remains more or less free to maneuver as it sees fit and should be able to free up a corps tomorrow to serve as additional reinforcements for the operations in the south.

Reinforcements
Wrong place
HeeresGruppe Nord - The reorganizations continue... The Army Group of Gen. Georg von Küchler receives a new reinforcement: the 912. StuG Abt (Hauptmann Kruck). Its arrival is supposed to compensate (in part...) the departure of several PanzerDivisions of the HG Nord and Mitte, which are required elsewhere. Too bad for the Reich, it is not in Romania!

* Specifically 135 officers (including 80 liaison officers), 2,250 non-commissioned officers and men and 121 civilian workers.
** Berlin will, however, contact Ankara in this regard, without result.
*** Braşov is home to an IAR assembly plant for the Bf 109 G, as well as a flight school - all under German control.
**** "I was so sick that I couldn't even move. The detention had broken me both physically and mentally." Sergeant Harry Fritz (tail gunner) would later tell.

 

[Wings]

December 13th, 1943

Operation Walrus
Adriatic - After a few days of conditioning, the Walrus missions resume. The Beaufighters and Beaumonts of Sqn 89, 605 and 18, 55 carry out a low-level raid against the port of Trieste at dawn. If two aircraft are shot down by the Flak, the results are positive since, among others, one of the few surviving Axis ships, the escort torpedo boat Spada, is severely damaged by a direct hit. The upper part of the bow was torn off and the ship was not repaired before the end of the conflict.

Balkan campaign
Bloodbath
South of the Morava Valley (Serbia) - Stefanović's armor moving in the lead, the 1st Yugoslav Corps seizes the town of Vranje, deserted by its inhabitants as well as by the Heer forces, in full retreat towards the north. Contact is made with the Partisans of the sector, dispersed and who had remained silent since the insurrection coordinated with Market - contact without warmth, it should be noted, given the obedience of these groups...
Overlooking these insignificant frictions, Brasic orders to run without delay to Belgrade: his troops meet almost no resistance during their advance, the situation in the capital remains as worrying as ever and the many civilians hiding in the woods of the region are coming out of their hiding places one after the other, in search of protection and... listening. The Serbian general therefore chooses to sound the alarm of the pursuit of an enemy in discomfiture without waiting for the British tanks, which are still dragging themselves to Bujanovac. The more he hurries, the more inhabitants of Belgrade he can save - including the most patriotic members of the "National Salvation" government.
.........
Headquarters of the Yugoslav government in exile (Alger) - In his office, King Peter II learns the last news of the offensive in progress towards Belgrade and welcomes them with undisguised satisfaction. His Prime Minister Slobodan Jovanović, the Minister of the Army Petar Živković and Minister of Foreign Affairs Momčilo Ninčić congratulate him warmly, and the young king is delighted - but all these men are hardliners against the Croats, Tito and, more generally, all those they consider opponents of the royal and united Yugoslavia. The sovereign is young... will he have the wisdom to listen to discordant voices?
.........
Balkan Front - The precipitous start of Garden leads the allied generals to adapt their position. The XIIIth Corps, although hardly threatened by Kosovo, takes defensive measures in the face of an improbable German counter-attack. On the right flank, taking into account the very clear deterioration of the Axis situation in Romania (and soon, certainly, in Bulgaria), Robertson's 1st Armoured leaves Sturmitsa to reach Kumanovo - in reserve in the rear of the Allied advanced units. One can recognize Montgomery's prudence in these maneuvers.
In the west, towards the Adriatic, the British suggest to General Dentz to launch actions to put the 20. Armee under pressure, and thus dissuade it from sending reinforcements towards Serbia. But the Frenchman reacts with reserve to this proposal, which amounts to sending elements as children lost in snowy valleys, while he has hardly any reserves. And then... who can say what the Albanians would do if the 2nd Army let them off the hook? Poles, Czechs and Algerians are content with a few reconnaissance in force.

Confirmed concerns and useful precautions
HQ of the 12. Armee, Novi Sad town hall, 14:00 - Alexander Löhr spends the morning with his Chief of Staff Foertsch, in constant communication with his two corps. He has practically given up on holding Bulgaria, but still wants to stop the Allies at Leskovac while lining the Bulgarian border with the forces of the XXII. GAK. In Romania, he trusts the Heeresgruppe Sud-Ukraine to succeed in blocking the Soviets with the help of the Romanians, the Hungarians... and the Carpathians. Once the situation is frozen again, everyone will have the whole winter to think.
The telephone in front of him rings. As usual, it probably announces bad news. "Der General von Weichs, Herr General." - Ah, very bad news indeed. Will the 1. PanzerDivision be taken away from him?
- Heil Hitler!
- Heil Hitler Löhr! No time to lose, it will be official only tomorrow, but I announce it to you today: Romania capitulated this morning in Moscow!
The first blow - under the worried gaze of Hermann Foertsch, the commander of the 12. Armee seems to be getting older by the minute. "The cowards, the traitors! Slavs and Latins all at the same time, it was predictable! And the Romanian army?"
- What did you expect? Not only does it surrender, but it changes sides! The HG SudUkraine already reports skirmishes with the Romanians in addition to the Soviets.
Second blow - a cold wind from the East seems to sweep through the room. The two men do not need to see each other to understand that their plans are now in tatters.
- What is left for us to do, Herr General?
- We have to save your army, General Löhr. Get Fehn's army corps from the trap it is in! For the other, I take it upon myself to maintain the 1. PanzerDivision under your authority for the time being. The OKW asked me this morning to send it to the Carpathians for reinforcements - I sent them packing. An insurrection, a flanking action and an enemy offensive should be enough for the gentlemen from Berlin!
- I see. And from XXII. Gebirgs-Armee-Korps is out of the way, my entire army can withdraw to...
- We will have the opportunity to talk about it before then, Löhr - you have to do, I believe.
Indeed... Alexander Löhr takes his leave, cuts the call without hanging up the line and immediately asks for Sofia from his operator.
.........
Sofia (Bulgaria) - It doesn't take long for General Fehn to give his orders after hanging up - they can be summed up in three words: save yourself. The XXII. GAK leaves the capital in a hurry, under the amused look of the Bulgarians.
In the evening, the three German divisions leave towards the north, in direction of Dimitrovgrad and the border. Everybody knows that they will never come back.
.........
South of the Morava Valley (Serbia) - As agreed by telephone with Alexander Löhr, Hans-Gustav Felber gives up holding the Morava Valley. The big battle in the mountains between Vranje and Leskovac becomes a simple delaying operation in the plain of Guberevac - it is now useless to expose his forces by letting them venture south.
The three formations coming from Vranje (187. ID, 118. Jäger and 93. schwere Panzerjäger Abt.) therefore continue their movement toward Nis, crossing without stopping the town of Vladičin Han. They will join Krüger's 1. Panzer, which is preparing to fight.

December in Belgrade
Belgrade - The day is spent, as the day before, between harassment operations, in bloody ambushes and fruitless shootings. The latter start again with ardor at around 15:00, as a formation of Leo 451s in French colors flies over the city. General Weiss (1st Air Force) provided an escort (Polish NA-89s) - unnecessary precaution: apart from a rather sparse flak, the venerable bombers recycled in transport fly over the Sava-Danube confluence without opposition and drop many containers of material. On Krymer's advice, the 18th Army Group finally decides to support the insurgents somewhat.
However, not all of the equipment reaches the Chetniks. The SS recovered about one out of three parcels, fallen in their lines or captured by the motorized columns during their raids. The contents are a perfect little urban guerrilla kit: small arms, grenades, and above all mines of all kinds, including anti-tank... Friedrich-Wilhelm Bock is informed of this discovery with great speed and is foaming with rage, but he can only give instructions to his units to be careful. His tanks are not invulnerable anymore in Belgrade...
On its side, the Committee of Defense of Belgrade tries to proceed to a fair distribution between the various movements of the materials fallen from the sky, which does not go without causing dangerous but inevitable tensions between the tribes of Partisans, always quick to accuse each other of favoritism, or even of deliberate sacrifice of their partners. The threat of fratricidal fighting is never far away - but "Ivo the Frenchman" manages to maintain a certain understanding between the insurgents.
At the end of the day, the agent of the 2nd Bureau transmits to Athens a report on the recovery of the parachute drops, detailing the important needs remaining to be covered and the risk to see the SS seize part of the parcels. This report triggers a curious chain reaction. First, the Supply Service decides to... restrict the supply of materials, explaining, with a very English sense of humor: "We don't have enough for the Allied armies, we can't supply the Germans either!" Luckily, upon learning of this through the Audet-Spiliotopoulos channel, the Greek units redeployed in Greece will take the initiative to draw from their own reserves to compensate for these restrictions. They will give to the air transport formations all sorts of gifts, including their outdated Boys rifles (still quite effective against self-propelled guns or semi-tracked guns). This gesture will be accompanied by this mischievous comment: "It will be necessary now that, by spring, the English will have to provide us with these bazookas that we talk about so much!
Meanwhile, as the day draws to a close, SS-Standartenführer Friedrich-Wilhelm Bock is now considering the systematic blasting of buildings to force the "Serbian rats" to come and confront him on open ground. A wish difficult to realize, due to a lack of means - what could be used to blow up a whole city? His staff then informs him of the approach of General Boban's Black Legion, which comes from Kaluđerica, to the southeast. If this unit positions itself as agreed next to the 8. Regiment, Belgrade will be well and truly surrounded.
Alas, pressed by his Supreme Leader in Zagreb to show Croatian enthusiasm, Boban lacks prudence and launches a hasty assault to retake the Vračar district. "Fear has invaded the city - let's relieve the Serbs of their worries!" the Ustasha dreams aloud - because the reality is somewhat different.
The Croats do not have the (relative) military competence of the SS, nor do they have their materials, and the assault makes little progress before it very quickly skids in the blood of the "legionnaires" themselves.
Rafael Boban, quite humiliated, is forced to go and find Bock to ask for his instructions, after a large detour through the south of the city. The Standartenführer is careful not to engage in camaraderie with the Croatian: the Ustasha suffer from a very bad reputation, even by the loose standards of the SS, and the little demonstration of this afternoon inspired him to make some very unfriendly remarks - "our Serbian enemies are amateurs, but our Croatian allies are smokers!" Boban is therefore firmly invited to hold the suburbs and to let the professionals work in the city. He leaves, quite disappointed, without seeing that Friedrich-Wilhelm Bock orders his orderly to clean the floor behind him as one would do in a stable...

Serbian solidarity
Yugoslavia - The tremors generated by the Belgrade insurrection are still reverberating throughout the country. Reacting to the various disorders, Germans and Croats obviously redouble their repression. Only Kosovo and the south of Morava, where the ballists and titists believe they have done enough for the benefit they have derived from it, while in Albania, Enver Hoxha's forces are reorganizing, obviously calmly while waiting for the departure of the Germans.
The main reaction is triggered in Serbia, in the mountains of the Ušće region. For General Mihailovic does not want to be left on the sidelines, lost near the Bosnian border. So, without waiting for all the necessary information, the leader of the Yugoslav Army in the Fatherland decides to attack to reach out to the Belgrade insurgents, or at least to relieve the pressure on the capital. He acts against the advice of Colonel Fitzroy MacLean and despite the reservations of Major Dragoslav Račić - who would have preferred to simply intensify the harassment of the German troops.
The "Assault Force" thus rushes from the Studenica Monastery to the capital. On the road to Kraljevo, it soon comes up against the Serbian Volunteer Corps of Konstantin "Kosta" Mušicki, who did not have the good spirit to change sides and whose detachment finally entrenched itself in the ruins of the fortress of Maglič, in order to cover the retreat of their comrades. It is in this fortress that in the 19th century the voivode Radoslav Jelečanin had stopped the Ottomans. There will be no more quarter given between brothers than between Turks and Serbs in the old days...

Fatalism
Athens (Allied HQ, Syntagma Square) - The Allied air force is finally able to take off some F5-A in order to carry out reconnaissance missions in the Morava valley. The Garden offensive was launched without the intelligence on the enemy having been gathered - it is now necessary to try to get a clearer picture, and this as soon as possible.
The pictures arrive on Montgomery's desk at about 18:00, when he is in a very bad mood. The faithful De Guincamp had displayed in front of him the various allied newspapers, which mention (for once) the Balkans again, Monty is still upset after his conversation of the day before with Churchill. "Belgrade: Monty to the Rescue!" is the headline of the Daily Telegraph, while Le Monde states: "General Montgomery raises the honor of the Allied armies" (tarnished, according to the newspaper, by the non-intervention in Bulgaria). But nothing raises his morale.
Unperturbed, the officer in charge of interpreting the photographs comments on them with the usual British phlegm, but is careful not to draw any formal conclusions. One series of photos, however, is very interesting. Taken in the region of Leskovac, we see twenty or so German tanks of a recent type, which seem to be moving towards the northeast.
- Sir, I would like to draw your attention to the risk of the presence of a large armored formation at this location.
Is Montgomery listening carefully? He feels he has been deprived of his command.
"I am now only an intermediary between Churchill and the armies of the 18th AAG," he thinks, sullenly. He retorts in a gloomy tone: "I take note of it. But it is likely, in view of the nameless mess that reigns at the moment, that these machines will withdraw. The Germans are not going to leave them stuck between the Russians and us! Inform General Brasic anyway. "
Perhaps the latter will take this into account... But as he has already launched his army corps without bothering to get proper information about the opponent, it is likely that a few photos will not make him back down!

Black souls
Croatia and annexed Bosnia - Allied humanitarian airdrops are less numerous than before because of the operations in progress. As a result, the actions of the Partisans in the area controlled by the Croats or by the XV. GAK are becoming more and more violent and desperate, to the (discreet) concern of Slavko Štancer, who does not share all the hopes that Pavelic placed in the deployment of his units in the former Yugoslavia. It is true that these troops are brave - but not necessarily a match for professional and equipped units. Under these conditions, who can prejudge their behavior in case of an encounter with allied armor, while the Germans have not always been very supportive of their partners? Moreover, the independent state of Croatia deployed all its world for Brzo or to assist the Germans, it has no more real reserves. The Ustasha army can only cross its fingers and hope.

Bulgarian affair
Worry without comedy
Sofia (Reich embassy) - Obviously, this is the last time that Adolf Beckerle summons general Ivan Krastev Marinov to his office. Passing between the employees busy burning documents or loading trucks, the wily Bulgarian barely suppresses a smile - but fortunately, the sight of his obnoxious adversary soon takes care of it.
- General Marinov, the Reich must unfortunately redeploy its armies because of the infectious treachery of your Romanian neighbors. I, who have always supported your country against all prejudices, I see my judgment confirmed: you were indeed more reliable than the Romanians! I am going back to Berlin to make my report, but I count on you to defend Sofia until I come back with reinforcements!
The glorious Standartenführer looks panicked... Does he even know that the Heer forces are now leaving the capital in full view of everyone?
Without losing his seriousness, Marinov unfolds his traditional profession of faith, adding that the divisions garrisoned along the Thracian border are moving northward, in order to form the Festung Sofia. Obviously, this is not the case - the fault of deficient communications, of course!
- It's perfect, I leave you, come back tomorrow for a last point.
Marinov takes leave with pleasure. He has now the certainty to see his ordeal end very soon.

 

[Wings]

December 13th, 1943

Operation Lavoisier
Drôme - On the French rear, the operations of cleaning the last nests of resistance come just in time for the crossing of the Drôme river in force. After a powerful aerial bombardment and under the constant cover of the 11th BACA, the 14th ID obtains several bridgeheads which resist to counter-attacks and will expand in the following hours.
German delaying operations are relatively effective, but costly, like the one that follows, against elements of the 113th RI and the 4th Spahis, sent to support the 14th DI for the crossing of the Drôme.
.........
Interview with a former member of the 113th RI, Staff Sergeant ***, for Les Chemins de la Mémoire (an operation of the French Ministry of Defense and Veterans Affairs).
"We arrived in mid-December 1943, and since the landing we had gone up the Rhone Valley to below Valence. We had just crossed the Drôme, which we had stormed, by a night crossing on dinghies. We were marching on Livron, and the M7 Charlie light tanks of the 4th Spahis accompanied us.
Over our heads turned a Cigale, that is to say an observation plane of the 14th DI. Its pilot was a Spanish Republican, a former fighter pilot, who had passed through Mexico, and who had preferred to enter the light aviation of cooperation with the Army rather than in the Transport, where one had wanted to confine him in view of his age. He had commanded a squadron of Chatos towards the end of the Civil War and he said that he knew how to cooperate with the infantry. We called him by his by his callsign, Snowy 2, or by his first name, José. Thus we were an unofficial Foreign Legion with our Senegalese, our Belgians, our escaped prisoners from the French mainland, our Spanish prisons, our survivors of the French Campaign and our newly recruited maquisards - the amalgam was rather well done between "old" and "new", mind you.
José was therefore pulling the strings of the tactical support, provided alternately by the Americans on Thunderbolts and by our old Belgian accomplices of the "Cocottes Vertes", which compensated by their precision for the lesser carrying capacity of their Mustangs.
We didn't like the Americans very much. They were not very precise, and they said that with their "1,000 lb" High Explosives, they didn't need to be. Except that they had killed some men, especially the 4th Spahis. On the other hand, the Belgians, they gave in cross-stitch and Calais lace, sorry, in Bruges lace ! The commander of our battalion had managed to get them to deliver peas from Provence. They were not quite as good as those from Malines, which they had answered, but it was a nice change from the usual.
The "Cigales" were light aircraft, built in Algiers from British designs.
José had managed to adapt small bombs, 10 kg, on the points which were normally intended for smoke bombs. He turned over us with his four smoke bombs and his two tiny bombs, and he took risks. His plane was terribly vulnerable. It was little more than a tourist kite in the middle of a war. Normally, an observation plane would stay above our lines, but José was flying 10 to 15 km inside the German lines.
He had been shot at several times and on at least one occasion, he had brought back a Cigale that looked more like a skimmer. But the information he brought back was sure.
That morning it had snowed, and on our right the hills of the Diois were white.
In our corner, it had melted, but the ground was soft. The Germans were sparing themselves. The day before, they had fired 88s, and José had guided a 155 mm retort: GPFs, the Long Toms, from the 11th Corps Brigade; that had calmed them down.
Today, it was the First [Company]'s turn to get in on it. We were making good progress well under low clouds. I was with the radio man in the jeep that was following the men in the lead. The corporal who was driving kept grumbling. He was saying that we were going to an ambush, that it was too easy today. Second Lieutenant Dio joined us around 09:00, dropped a "It stinks like shit" and went to talk with the men of the 4th Spahis.
Two M7s were covering us, and we kept moving.
At about 09:15, a Cigale flew over us, then advanced over the enemy device. It was José.
I called him at 09:25 or 09:30. He said that there were several farms within 5,000 meters from our position, but that he couldn't see anything. He continued to advance over the enemy-held terrain, but of the enemy, not one could be seen.
Then he called back a few minutes before 10:00.
"Snowy 2 to Authority 1, over."
"Authority 1 to Snowy 2, over."
"Authority 1, we can't see anyone, but I saw caterpillar tracks in the mud, behind the farms. Over."
"Authority 1 to Snowy 2, caterpillar tracks behind the farms. Tanks or Panzerjägers? Over."
"Snowy 2 to Authority 1, oh bugger, do you want me to stop and go down and see?" (José had given his French a very local color since the landing).
At this point, the battalion CP intervened: "Aletti to Snowy 2, call for support."
"Snowy 2 to Aletti, understood, calling."
For 30 or 40 seconds, we didn't hear him anymore, he must have switched to the frequency of the fighter-bombers.
The Jeep had stopped during the communication. I was startled because Dio had arrived without a sound. He was always like that and it was annoying. He said, "I'll take the lead section, you follow with a platoon of Charlie from the Spahis." Then he went in front. I left the Jeep to join the tank that commanded the platoon.
We agreed to move in two elements, two light tanks directly behind Dio and the other three, including one armed with a 75 mm howitzer, three hundred meters behind with us all around.
When I got back to the Jeep, the radio told me that Snowy 2 was calling.
"Authority 1 to Snowy 2, over."
"Snowy 2 to Authority 1, there is a wood 800 meters due east of the farms, with other tracks. It stinks! Over."
I called Dio on the Talwie [Walkie Talkie], he agreed, it stank bad, but he wouldn't stop. "The Schleus are just waiting for us to stop. If we make a stop, they'll fire a mortar. And then there are ghosts here. So, fuck it, let's go."
And I remembered the Senegalese of Valence, in 1940. We talked about them a lot at the time. Since then, the Senegalese had made the Krauts pay, and dearly, but apparently you can't get rid of ghosts like that.
The Cigale was always circling over the farms and the woods. We were getting close.
We must have been less than 1,000 meters away when all of a sudden I heard on the radio:
"Oh marrecons! Authority 1 from Snowy 2, I have just seen 8 to 10 gonziers in camouflaged uniforms, they are retreating into the woods. I'm calling fire support."
We waited maybe three or four minutes, and then four P-47s went by, roaring over us. Snowy 2 dropped two smoke bombs on the edge of the wood, the planes came up and then swooped down, and we heard the explosions of the bombs.
On the other side, nobody moved or returned fire.
"Snowy 2 to Authority 1, these idiots dropped on the field and not on the edge. Wait, I'm asking for real professionals."
With the radio, we laughed. The Cowboys had put it off target, as usual. Dio scolded on the Talwie, and we started to get close while spreading out.
The Cigale turned above the wood, then it returned towards the farmhouse, of which we were then about 500 meters away. And suddenly we heard that sound of a saw or an anvil, that when you hear it once you don't forget it.
Jose was exultant on the radio.
"Snowy 2 to Authority 1, three Jägers camouflaged under straw bales and probably two Leopards, plus about a company of biffins."
"Aletti to Snowy 2, mark them by the time fire support arrives."
I yelled, "On the farm, aim for the straw stacks!" and the support M7 started spitting. I heard a crack, and a 75 shell fell within 10 meters from another M7, which began to accelerate and zigzag.
I looked in the direction of the farm, and there I saw something unimaginable.
The Cigale was in the process of dropping its two small 10 kg bombs when it was hit by an MG-34. In fact, the machine gun hit the propeller, and a blade came off. So the plane went off course, and we saw a big piece fall on the ground. Then, we understood that it was the engine, which had broken off because of the vibrations coming from the loss of a propeller blade. But this did not disconcert Snowy 2. He came back to us by gliding and he landed in the field in front of the farm.
It was getting hot. One of the M-7s exploded, hit by a 75 mm. But the howitzer had managed to set the straw bales on fire. Two Marders came out and one got lit up by the second M7.
I yelled to the lieutenant in charge of the tanks: "Watch out, there are two Leopards stashed somewhere!"
He made a big sign and we all lay down. He was firing hoof shells and it was better to take cover when the shot started. A second M7 exploded, and one of the Leopards went out in the open, just to get lit up by the platoon leader. He stopped and started smoking. Two men came out, but they were mowed down by one of our machine guns. The support section was putting their 60 mm mortars in battery, while two AU-12/82s started to spray the farm.
Dio yelled, "Smoke the edge of the woods, the ones at the farm, we'll take care of it!"
At that moment on the radio, I heard: "Snowy 2 to Authority 1, I saw 8 Leopards in the woods."
"Authority 1 to Snowy 2, get out when you can."
"Snowy 2 to Authority 1, don't worry, I'm guiding the Mustangs."
We had forgotten about them, but not José. From his wreckage, on land, he guided the Belgians, who dropped their Mouriaque packages on the Krauts' tanks, before returning with the .50.
The Schleus had understood. They withdrew from the wood while the M7 Prieur [Priest for the Americans] of the division's artillery began spraying. Of course, they gave us a few parting gifts in the form of a mortar fire that fell on 1st Platoon.
Another M7 Charlie exploded, hit by the second Leopard, which was stubborn, but whose luck did not last. A lucky hit blew the left track. He continued to cannonade until the platoon leader's 6-pounder set him on fire, with a hoof shell.
Dio had been wounded, but he was rallying the men. We approached. The last PanzerJäger came out retreating, covering the Schleus who were also retreating. The platoon leader's M7 didn't have the sight. I was guiding the howitzer fire. On an open vehicle, flare shells are quite effective.
On the other side, there was only one section left intact in the farmhouse, but the guys who were still there were firing away.
We must have been 150 meters from the wreck of the Cigale, and José was calmly following the battle, giving an occasional word of advice on the radio.
Dio yelled, "Tell him to get out of the way, now, we'll cover him."
I took over the radio, "Authority 1 to Snowy 2, get out now, we'll cover you."
"Snowy 2 to Authority. Thanks guys. I'm going in."
Jose got out of the plane, but instead of lying down and crawling, he stood up and started walking towards us.
We were all yelling, "José, run! Run, for God's sake!"
But, he, quietly, kept walking.
At one point, he turned around to the Schleus, showed them his fist and said something like "Aqui te espero!" Then he walked away, without hurrying, towards us. The Germans were firing as hard as they could.
A Kabyle corporal shouted, "Fissa José, fissa!"
Dio had stood up, he was pissing blood from his left arm, where he had taken a piece of mortar.
He shouted again: "Run, José!"
But he replied, "These hijos de puta don't know how to aim."
At that moment, we heard mortars firing.
Dio threw himself on the ground and we all followed him.
The shell fell on us and I got dirt on my helmet.
When I stood up, José was on the ground, dead. It was 10:35."
...........................
In the hills to the east, the 3rd DIM, reinforced by the 13th DBLE and the 2nd RCA, battle all day with the Fallschirmjägers of the 2. FJ Division. During this time, the 157. Gebirgs-Division begins a retreat along the roads and valleys leading to the Vercors plateau. The losses accumulate for the German mountain fighters because not only the 10th DI is on their heels, but also the artillery of the corps provides an effective support.

Reinforcements
Gulf of Fos - The Americans continue to land units which will reinforce their lines. Thus today, an original unit arrives, the only one of its kind in the US Army: the 10th Mountain Infantry Division.
The history of the creation of this division goes back to 1940, after the Norwegian campaign and at the initiative of a National Guard officer and a National Parks official. But everything had to be done! Fortunately, the Americans could benefit from French technical assistance in the form of advisors (among them Maurice Herzog, but also the brothers Raymond and Georges Berthet) and did not have to carry out themselves the tedious work of militarization of the civil material or of translating the various operational documents.
For a time, there was talk of deploying the first regiment of this type to the Aleutian Islands, splitting it up to make up for any losses, but the campaign ended before the unit embarked. After having considered for a moment to make it a light division, the staff finally decided, following the advice of the French advisors, to make it a normally equipped division, but with an important mule train.
Rated A by U.S. Army standards, the 10th Mountain is said to have the highest IQ in the US Army, as it has many academics who ski or climb. It also has a large contingent of soldiers of Norwegian origin. The division quickly became a reference, so much so that the winter part of the American commando courses was organized with its help.

 

[Wings]

December 14th, 1943

Greece
New reign
Attica - The 1st Infantry Division of general Batas deploys its regiments between Amphissa and Athens. Its arrival is enough to calm the few demonstrations of joy (sincere) triggered in a spontaneous way (or almost...) by the announcement of the capitulation of Romania. Obviously, in Greece, some would like to see the Red Army arrive...
Indifferent to the agitators, diadoch Paul celebrates his birthday in the royal palace, without lavish expenses and in a purely private way - but nevertheless very commented.

Romania
Call for help
Bucharest, 12:00 - The new government of national unity has been in office for 36 hours. For the moment - and against many predictions - it is holding up well and even seems to have succeeded in uniting the State, the People and the Army in its turn against Germany. In itself, this is no small feat...
However, and even if for the moment the dissensions remain obviously under the carpet, everyone is already preparing for the future. The National Peasant Party of Iuliu Maniu, in particular, would like to escape at least a little from the heavy communist tutelage; and it regains some hope with the liberation of the Autonomy(ie) mission. Is it not possible that the Allies in Yugoslavia would turn to the northeast after having taken Niš - a city they would be approaching with great speed? By driving day and night, they could perhaps cross the Danube at Vidin and reach Craiova before the Reds!
We would then have two... liberation zones in Romania, or even Bulgaria: one in the west and one in the east. Even if, of course, it would be above all to hit the Germans on both sides!
Alas, Athens does not seem to be in favor of this maneuver - already that the unannounced triggering of Garden had... strongly displeased General Montgomery! Moreover, a path easy to draw on a map is not always easy to follow, especially in front of the Germans, on Balkan mountain roads and in the middle of winter.
The allied correspondents therefore do not commit themselves to anything - except to say that they would ask Sir Arthur Tedder to provide the Romanians with air support, in the eventuality that the planes of the Allied Air Forces in the Eastern Mediterranean have nothing better to do...
Another disappointment, of course. And during this time, the Red Army continues its march and the negotiations continue in Moscow.

Lack of eagerness
Moscow, 14:00 - While the throats are being cut on the road from Bucharest to Ploesti and Russian tanks are rushing along the former Soviet-Romanian front, Minister Molotov and the Stavka (whose delegation is led by Alexei Antonov, who occasionally coming to see if everything was going well...) take their time to negotiate the practical details of a real Romanian rally to the Red Army.
It is surprising that the Russians are not more eager to see the Romanian Army pass from the status of enemy to that of cobelligerent. This is because in truth - and beyond the fact that the Soviet Union wishes to make its new obliged parties pay for their past attempts towards the West - Moscow does not see the point of normalizing its relationship with the Romanian kingdom, especially in a situation that is already outrageously favorable. Every hour that passes allows communism, the Army of the Workers and Peasants and especially to Stalin, to assert more their hold on a country which is from now on in a situation so desperate that it can only multiply the concessions.
The Red Army has already defeated the Wehrmacht many times this year. It is to repeat this performance again in the future, with or without the Romanian Army. So we should not make her believe that we need her too much...
No! It is better to let time do its work - in any case, it works for the USSR.
And in the meantime, the 3rd Romanian Army and the Bucharest garrison - which are no longer opponents of the Red Army, but certainly not yet its allies - continue to fight alone against the Germans.

 

[Wings]

December 14th, 1943

Burma and Malaya Campaign
Air actions
Andaman Islands - As soon as they return from the north, the American B-24s carry out a raid against the garrison of Sabang. The Ki-43s of the 24th Sentai attempt an interception, but are effectively kept at bay by the P-38s of the 449th and 459th FS and even lose one aircraft.
The next night, Ki-21s attempt to attack Port Blair, but are unsuccessful.

Indonesia - Operation Banquet
Java - TF-57s and 100s return to the northeast and launch their aircraft toward the port of Jakarta and the airfields of Yogyakarta, Mospati and Salang, where the aircraft of the 21st Sentai are concentrated. However, the alert was given and 24 Ki-45 Toryus and as many Hayabusas were able to take off.
But the Corsairs have the advantage of numbers and altitude and are much more maneuverable than the Ki-45s: the Japanese lose eleven aircraft, plus six damaged against three fighters and two Avengers. The Japanese flak also takes its toll (two bombers shot down and several damaged), but once again the bases suffer heavy material and human damage.
On the side of the Allied pilots, the Illustrious' fighter commander, Lt-Commander Cork, wins his first victory on the Corsair, his eighth in all, the others having been obtained mainly in the Mediterranean. But the entire squadron commented on Danny Potter's lead over Yvon Lagadec, 33 to 32!
At the 3rd Air Force headquarters in Singapore, it is 18:00 and they are still counting the losses due to this raid when a captain of the IJN shows up. He transmits a report on the possibility of carrier attacks in the days to come. Without blinking, the Army officers thank the Navy for its cooperation... although a little late.

Sino-Japanese War
The tribulations of an Englishman in China
Lanzhou - Joseph Needham's archaeological expedition arrives in Lanzhou, the capital of Gansu province, about halfway to its goal. The ebullient biochemist, accompanied by his driver Guang Wei, his secretary Huang Xingzong and Liao Hongying, a young student he has his eye on, decides to take a break after three weeks of a journey marked by multiple mechanical incidents, which made him curse the second-hand truck that the stewardship of the RAF office in Chongqing gave him.
While the whole team is staying in one of the few decent hotels of the city, a diplomat of Her Gracious Majesty introduces himself: Derek Bryan, stationed in this remote corner of China, has little to do with his days and offers to join Needham for the rest of the journey to Dunhuang. This one will bite his fingers because Bryan and Miss Liao will not be long in forming a romance that will lead, a few months later, to a marriage in due form.

 

[Wings]

December 14th, 1943

Battle of Romania
For Bucharest
Bucharest road, 0:15 - Since the beginning of the night, the 24. Panzer has been driving south - but the modest roadblocks improvised in the afternoon become, in the darkness, much more resistant and better guarded as the miles pass. Oh, nothing serious enough to claim to really stop the German steel - and if by any chance the Panzer IIIs are not enough, Major Märker's Tiger have more than enough arguments to rout the mediocre traitors. But here's the thing - the Panzers are precious, and all the shells they fire will have to be replaced. But when, and especially by whom? Moreover, crews and grenadiers (not to mention their mounts) have accumulated a serious fatigue, since nine days already that the Soviet offensive started.
Here they are in Miroslăvești, forced to fight like ragmen on the banks of the very modest Prahova to secure a crossing point. A battle won in advance, obviously, like the previous ones, but even if the battle will inevitably be victorious, it will be necessary to work hard to deliver it.
And in the meantime, we are not moving forward - or not fast enough anyway.
.........
Bucharest, 01:00 - The Luftwaffe is back for another vengeful strike on the capital. This time, it does not take much risk: the local flak is, at best, sparse, and the RAF do not really have night fighters. As for the VVS, they have Petlyakov Pe-3s in this role - but these birds are rare* and above all they are reserved for the strategic defense of the Rodina against possible German attacks.
They will not be risked over the Romanian capital, which remains for the time being that of an old enemy and not yet really that of a new ally.
The Luftwaffe can thus bomb the residential areas of the city center almost with impunity, guided by the fires lit the day before. The whole while losing only one twin-engine plane, which crashes on landing due to a mechanical problem. In Bucharest, on the other hand, there are 450 victims, almost all civilians.
.........
Bucharest road, 08:30 - At the beginning of this new day, von Edelsheim's men are barely in Ciolpani. Since the previous evening, they had only covered a little more than 20 km.
In short, from barricade to barricade, from stopper to fortified point, we still do not advance!

Poor razzia
Constantza, 08:45 - The sun is hardly risen that the Fleet of the Red Flag enters in the harbor - it's the minesweepers Ivan Borisov and Semion Roshal and the old destroyer Nezamojnik, which are coming to disembark a company of marines to put all military vessels (floating or not) under sequestration. Others will of course follow including the 3rd Minesweeper Division, composed of converted coasters**, which will have the task of eliminating from the Romanian coasts any risk for navigation, together with the indispensable Tral class.
To their great disappointment, the Soviets do not find much to put under their teeth - the Romanian fleet - never flamboyant, but still respectable on the scale of the country - is gone. There are only four ships left: the launches NMS Vârtejul, Viforul and Vedenia, as well as the mine-laying submarine NMS Rechinul - whose condition does not allow it to lay anything for the moment. Soviet riflemen are nevertheless posted on board, as well as on the launches, prohibiting any departure.

Delivered?...
Bucharest, 10:30 - Colonel Gunn spends the night wandering, risking his life, in search of an attentive ear. It is a miracle that he was not the victim of a stray bullet or a Nazi bomb. And here is another miracle: there are people to listen to him!
This morning, the colonel takes place in a car that takes him to Popesti airfield - which has the good taste to have hosted only the FARR, or almost, and to be south of the capital (i.e., the farthest from the enemy). Moreover, the weather is poor but still passable. When Gunn arrives on the field, he discovers his limousine - an old JIS-79B, a licensed IAR copy of the twin-engine version of the famous SM.79 Sparviero. The colonel quickly notices that neither the plane nor the pilot inspire him confidence. The aircraft looks so worn that the American doubts that it can even taxi to the runway. As for his pilot, he does not speak English, and seems to be afraid of both his passenger and the journey he has to make.
The bomber takes to the air anyway... However, after twenty minutes of travel, it turns back - the pilot reporting (by signs) problems with the engines. Problems which Gunn believes all the less as for him, the two Jumo 211Da purr nicely. Back on the ground. As he exits the aircraft, the American aviator angrily kicks a piece of scrap metal that was lying around. Everything has to be redone!
His moody gesture attracts the attention of an elegant, slender figure, who comes towards him with his hand outstretched. In a confident voice and in perfect English, the man announces: "Colonel, if you manage to slip into the belly of my Bf 109, I'll take you to Greece". Captain Constantin Cantacuzino, multi-decorated ace of the Forţele Aeriene Regale ale României, who came to test one of the six Fw 190s of II/SG.2 in transit on the field and captured the day before, has just found a new adventure...

For Bucharest
Bucharest road, 13:00 - von Edelsheim's panzers reach Tâncăbești - a small village on the Lacul Tâncăbeşti and an obligatory point of passage for those who want to reach the capital. Although properly supported this morning by the Bf 110s of ZG.1, the panzers are still losing time in the face of improvised groups composed of various elements rounded up by the services of Colonel Dumitru Dămăceanu, who are climbing to the front of Bucharest literally at the sound of the cannon.
The 24. Panzer and the 502. schw. Pz Abt have still made 24 kilometers since the day before.
Soon, the airport of Otopeni (only 11 kilometers away) will be threatened - the FARR would already be evacuating it. In any case, not an hour goes by without a pair of Bf 110s coming to strafe the runway, well covered by the III/JG.4... This one puts itself between them and the fighters as well as Romanian ground support aircraft, and claims 8 victories for only 3 losses. However, in the middle of all this chaos, there is some good news for the Romanians. For example, the weather is getting cloudy: soon the Zerstörers with the wasp will have to stop their interventions.
But for now, the melee continues, as uneven as ever. The bridge over Lake Tâncăbeşti has already blown up and the isthmus is fiercely defended. Each grove becomes a kind of redoubt that must be reduced by force in the face of desperate resistance. All this reminds something to the German general... He then had a word that became famous: "Ah, if these dogs had fought as well against the Russians! Today, they look like Frenchmen!"
He is obviously referring to the French he knew in June-July 1940. Somewhere, it is a nice compliment - even if von Edelsheim probably never bothered to consider the efforts of his former allies in Odessa or elsewhere. Besides, the Red Army had T-34s - he, essentially, has Panzer IIIs. Not exactly the same type of opponent.
.........
23:30 - The 24. Panzer reaches the airfield of Otopeni. In the night illuminated by a rain of flares and under the whistle of the shells, the armoured vehicles with the black cross move to seize one of the main air bases of the capital.
It remained under Romanian control for only 36 hours.
As in the north, the fighting is extremely violent. Like in the north, the Romanian infantrymen, reinforced by a few TACAMs and a handful of poor Vanatore de care R-35 just out of the workshops, valiantly try to hold on, before finally folding under the number and intensity of the enemy fire. At the other end of the taxiway, the tubes of the mobile artillery calmly line up the strongest positions, one after the other, without fear of retaliation. Their servants can see with binoculars one of the Panzer IIIs, which, as it passes, shoves and then disintegrates an old IAR-39, in a gesture as symbolic as it is furious.
At almost midnight, the terminal is finally taken and the last survivors withdraw to the south under machine gun fire. Maximilian von Edelsheim sees the achievement and the victory! He rallies his troop and continues on; he is only 15 kilometers from the center of Bucharest. And in front of him, there is only one major obstacle left: the Băneasa bridge over the Grivița River.

Ploesti-Bucharest - Rising tide
Odessa Front sector - The situation in the east of the front is still fluid, despite the changing weather. In the absence of an adversary, the 5th Air Army (Sergei Goriunov) sends numerous aircraft in reconnaissance or in distant hunting towards the south. Most of them have the good taste not to strafe the retreating Romanian columns - on the other hand, many will fly along the Danube and the Bulgarian border, although Bulgaria is not supposed to be at war with the USSR.
From Babadag to Ciucurova, the 18th Army literally leaps towards Cogealac and Saraiu - two localities that are reached by forced march in the middle of the night, in the absence of any opposition. Andrei Gretchko can hope to secure the Hârșova crossing point by tomorrow at noon. Cernavoda and especially Constantza should follow within two days - at worst.
Meanwhile, the Romanian 4th AC, accompanied by the 9th DC, continue to cavort toward the south, while it seems now obvious that there is nothing more to fear from Bulgaria. In the evening, Dumitru Dămăceanu asks Bucharest for permission to move his entire force through Cernavoda in order to reinforce the capital - a wise suggestion, we may need people there in the next few days. In the meantime, the Armored Division of the Guard and the 1st DB - which pass the Ialomița at Slobozia - are now trying to reach Bucharest by dodging the red wave as best they can.
The red wave arrives.
It surges behind the Romanian armor, between Țăndărei and Bărăganul, where Alexander Shamshin's 6th GAC continues its ride along the Danube, taking thousands of prisoners.
And it is also on their right, where the 6th Guards Army is still charging south and the Bucharest-Ploesti axis, already reaching Albești-Paleologu and Sălciile. In fact, Pavel Batov has finished dispersing and annihilating all that is left of the 1st AC of General Corneliu Dragalina, forced to offer his own surrender***. Obviously, this mass (powerful but tired) was spotted by the Luftwaffe. However, the Germans do not have the desire - or the leisure - to modify their plans, whereas Batov risks however to run up very quickly against the flank of the force on its way to Bucharest!
The race for speed continues - except for the 9th Army of Vasily Glagolev. Already well tired by the past fights on the Siret, this one must stop at least for a while its effort in front of the 330. ID (Georg Zwade), correctly supported by the 370 ID (Fritz Becker).
The Carpathians are definitely true to their reputation!
.........
Sector of the 4th Ukrainian Front (Moldova and Siret) - Circumstances are obviously much calmer here, while Fyodor Tolbukhin tries only very weakly to force the crossing points held by the Axis in the Carpathians. Completely reassured, Karl-Adolf Hollidt can thus withdraw from the front the LIV. ArmeeKorps (Carl Hilpert) from the front to go - as promised - to help hold the southern flank of the Ostheer, waiting for the advantage that the descent of the 2. PanzerArmee will bring.

Doubts and worries
HQ of HG SudUkraine (Bran Castle, Brașov), 18:00 - Under the rain that drips from the old stones and spitting out the gutters, Gotthard Heinrici feels that things are not going fast enough... The panzers of Ernst-Günther Baade (especially) and those of Karl-Friedrich von der Meden were delayed by the weather and the ridiculous Romanian resistance at Târgu Secuiesc. They barely make it to Brașov and will hit Ploesti (with luck...) after tomorrow at best. The 14. PanzerGrenadier of Rudolf Holste will follow three days later - still at best. Then the LIV. AK... that will surely be for Christmas!
As for the HG NordUkraine, according to the last news, Manstein would be pulling his ear to cede the 2. PanzerArmee - not really his best unit, that's how things stand.
If it were up to him, Heinrici would immediately order the 24. Panzer to withdraw to the north, to hold the oil wells until reinforcements arrive. Or rather to destroy them before withdrawing, with reinforcements - the general is not an engineer, but he doubts that anyone has ever seen a derrick working under enemy fire. This story is definitely not going anywhere.
In reality, it is now clear to him that the OKH made a bet: that the Romanian rebellion would collapse like the Bulgarian one, with a single well-placed blow. Except that even there, there had been resistance - as far as the general has reliable information, because the HG E rarely makes the headlines... And we will not, of course, come back to the deplorable Italian case.
But it is now obvious that the Romanians are not collapsing. Therefore, this bet - even if Heinrici cannot yet state it too frankly to his hierarchy - seems to be losing more and more with every moment. To take Bucharest and then hold it for at least 48 hours with a single division (even reinforced with heavy tanks) is more of a daring than a challenge. And from temerity to madness, there is only one river filled with tears. The one of the Grivița.

* In total, there will be barely 500 Pe-3 and Pe-3bis (improved version according to feedback from the field). Among them, only 30 will be equipped with a radar - the Gneiss-2, of local manufacture.
** T.31 Pionyer, T.32 Zemlyak, T.33 Traktorist, T.34 Rabotnik, T.35 Ssudkom, T.36 Mestkom, T.37 Delegat, T.38 Raykomvod and T.39 Doroteya (Dzhalita class)
*** Surprisingly, unlike many other soldiers who fought on the Russian front, General Dragalina did not have to suffer too much from the wrath of the new regime. Put at the disposal of the Ministry of Defense in January 1944, he was appointed Inspector General of Mechanized Troops, before being definitively retired in October. Although harassed by regular searches by the Securitate, he died in his bed of natural causes in the month of July 1949. He is buried in the Bellu military cemetery in Bucharest.

 

[Wings]

December 14th, 1943

Italian Campaign
Italian front - Uneventful day, except for a few exchanges of fire.

Balkan campaign
Bloodbath
South of the Morava valley (Serbia) - Pursuing the retreating German forces, the 1st Yugoslav Corps reaches the bottom of the Vranje corridor and enters the Vladičin Han Gorge. The Serbian soldiers continue to advance without fear towards Leskovac, certain that they would not be ambushed in the mountainous terrain - and for good reason, Tito's partisans control them largely. But not enough, however, to stop the routing Germans, one persists in saying.

Confirmed concerns and useful precautions
Bulgaria - The XXII. Gebirgs-Armee-Korps continues its withdrawal in catastrophe, accompanying the evacuation of Sofia of the maximum of material and German nationals. The three divisions, thus weighed down with administrative personnel, auxiliaries and other "grey mice", move painfully in the cold of winter, forming a picture which evokes a little more at each moment a retreat of Napoleonic Russia, but without the Cossacks.
Still... At mid-day, one of the columns of the 19. PanzerGrenadier suddenly sees a small group of Soviet bombers approach, which seems to have found a target of opportunity. But is it really luck, in this in this now almost openly hostile country?
The German vehicles are used to aerial attacks and disperse in haste under cover: the bombs do almost no damage. But the raid serves as a warning to Gustav Fehn - his corps is well within range of the Soviet air force and at the mercy of indiscretions. As a result, he will only move at night. This will obviously slow down his retreat...

Leskovac - In accordance with the instructions received the day before, Hans-Gustav Felber plans to fight his delaying battle (and no longer a stopping battle) south of Leskovac, where the 1. PanzerDivision continues its deployment. His superior, Alexander Löhr, negotiated on his side with Oberst Hans Seidemann (Fliegerführer Balkan) in order to obtain - once is not usual - the support of the Luftwaffe.
So things are not so bad! Despite the circumstances, the head of the XXI. Gebirgs-Armee-Korps confidently plans to hold on for a day or two, and more if necessary, by retreating foot by foot all along the Morava plain to Nis - that is to say about forty kilometers. He hopes to gain the time necessary for the XXII. GAK to escape from the Bulgarian trap. It is thus absolutely not a question to hold on to the ground: Felber wants to keep his units in condition.
Precisely, the forces coming from Vranje reach Grdelica at this very moment and are leaving the hills. The 118. Jäger, the 187. ID and the 28 surviving Hornisse manage to escape the harassment of the Allied air force and the few ambushes of the Partisans thanks to clouds, cover and... luck. These units have the night to get into position between Gložane and Donja Jajina, while their leaders go to confer with Walter Krüger about the upcoming battle.

Black souls
Croatia and annexed Bosnia - While the repression continues mechanically in the Bosnian mountains, the 2nd Ustasha Corps of General Franjo Pacak finally reaches Sarajevo. He immediately reports to General Lüters - who is comfortably seated in the town hall facing the Miljacka River.

December in Belgrade
Belgrade, 07:00 - Finally assured of his flanks and his rear thanks to the arrival of the Black Legion, Friedrich-Wilhelm Bock feels strong enough to attempt a grand offensive to drive the rebellion out of a part of the city center.
The action starts very early. The 7. and 8. Rgt, finally combined, try to take in pincer the Zapadni Vračar suburb (just behind the royal estate), before advancing towards Vračar, an area that is still not very friendly to the SS.
Shocked but not surprised by this attack, which they sensed was coming the next day, the Chetniks bend but do not break, making abundant use of the gifts received the day before - at the risk of running out of reserves for the following days. The SS nevertheless succeed in clearing the suburb at the end of the afternoon and progress northwards, albeit with caution: they have ost a dozen machines in delaying actions and other ambushes. Faced with this situation, Bock relaunches Löhr in order to get the Croatian 1st Corps as soon as possible, which would allow him to finally deploy all his power against the enemy.
.........
10:00 - For his part, worried about being sidelined and yet obeying Bock's instructions to "control the perimeter of the city while maintaining pressure on the insurgents", General Rafael Boban relaunches on his own initiative an action in the direction of the campus of Vukov spomenik, by Cvetkova pijaca.
But in this zone of boulevards, the Serbian Partisans are very quickly at the party, taking a malicious pleasure in decimating their former Yugoslav brothers - some observers even consider that they put more enthusiasm into it than in the face of the Germans. However, Boban is in constant communication with the head of the Croatian army, Slavko Štancer, who is himself regularly summoned by Pavelic to report on the progress of the repression...
.........
Zagreb, 12:00 - However, Štancer, foreseeing the difficulties of the Black Legion, contacted Vladimir Kren of the Zrakoplovstvo Nezavisne Države Hrvatske (ZNDH, Air Force of the Independent State of Croatia), in order to order him to launch an air support mission on Belgrade in the middle of the afternoon. Kren is a unreliable opportunist*, but has no illusions about the capabilities of his air force.
As bombers, he has nine Dornier 17K based in Zagreb and five Bristol Blenheims I forgotten in Sarajevo-Zajlovac. Is it really necessary to mention the 45 Breguet XIX and 42 Potez 25 of another time, already moderately effective against the Partisans, and the 10 Zmaj Fizir FP-2 training planes, converted for troop transport and light bombing ? Moreover, all these relics are scattered between Zagreb, Sarajevo and Zaluzanj (not far from Banja Luka).
To these more or less modern bombers, an escort would be necessary: for several months, the skies of the Balkans are no longer safe. But for the fighters, it is worse. Kren has precisely twelve fighters: 4 Ikarus IK-2 of 1935, 7 Czech Avia BH-33 from 1928 (!) and a single Hawker Fury II. It is not even certain that these museum pieces can keep up with the planes they should be escorting. And even if the pilots are courageous (they fly most of the time without suit, helmet or parachute...), the Croatian general has some scruples to send them so freely to death.
One moment, Kren stops and takes himself to dream. If the Serbs had not succeeded in sabotaging the Ikarus factory in Zemun. If the Italians had had the time and the means to fulfill their orders of Fiat G.50bis and Caproni Ca.311M. If the Germans had been willing to deliver the 22 BF 109E ordered (and paid for!) in 1942, or at least let him keep the the aircraft captured in 1941 instead of distributing them to the Romanians, Finns and other Bulgarians - one sees the gratitude that they drew from it! No doubt that the Poglavnik will know how to remind them - courteously - from time to time. The Croatian air force has never received anything from the Reich, except for nine Czechoslovakian airliners**...
No more daydreams - we have to obey. So, the nine Do 17 from Zagreb will take off at 13:00 to bomb the eastern part of Belgrade. No escort fighters - Kren is not in the mood to laugh. A pass to drop his bombs, before a return at low altitude following the Sava river and the plains of Lonjsko Polje to the Croatian capital. We will see if the men of the Black Legion manage to designate an objective.
.........
Belgrade, 14:30 - While the fighting continues on the ground, from which rise many plumes of smoke, the formation sent by Kren presents itself above the Serbian capital following the Danube. The aircraft are not targeted by any fire - the insurgents hardly have any flak. But the Black Legion does not have either on its side, any designation smoke - of which it is not sure that they would have been visible among the fires!
For lack of better, and on the indications of an untrained radio operator, the pilots of the bombers are reduced to dropping their projectiles a little bit randomly on the most active zones, the most spectacular fires... and the most remarkable buildings. This is how the Buddhist temple of Kozarčeva street, built by Kalmyks who came from the Caspian Sea to seek refuge from the Bolsheviks, is hit by several bombs which put down its pagoda of Mongolian style.
Turning to the south-west, the Dorniers set off again towards their base, passing largely above the sector held by the 4 SS-Polizei-Panzergrenadier. Although perfectly identifiable, they are nevertheless shot at by the SS Flak - either because the latter had not been warned, or that it did not care who the attackers were. In any case, the planes will all return to Zagreb. A report on the incident will however be sent to SS-Standartenführer Friedrich-Wilhelm Bock, who uses it to deplore the lack of support from the Heer and the Luftwaffe...

The Luftwaffe challenged
Wolfsschanze, Rastenburg, 19:30 - The news of the bombing of Belgrade arrives among a flood of bad news from the Eastern Front. The Führer, who sees his dreams of a European empire collapsing like a house of cards, obviously finds the main cause of the Heer's setbacks in the change of camp in Romania. And the Allied offensive in Serbia, however minor, does not soften his mood, even if the reports of the Waffen-SS mention the progress of the repression in Belgrade. Slavs, Latins, Jews, Bolsheviks, City bankers, Africans? the source of the evils of the thousand-year Reich!
Clinging, as he often does, to the slightest piece of good news compatible with his racial theses, Hitler takes not of this mediocre event to unleash his fury on Hermann Göring and his poor Luftwaffe.
- Göring, your airmen are definitely not good for anything anymore. Think that they are those of the Croats, our only allies in the region, who give the lesson to Serbian traitors that one of your generals had tried to protect to the end. Of course, it did not occur to him to finish what he had started in 1941! I demand, Herr Reichsmarschall, that your air force raze the city of Belgrade to the ground! Thus we will finally send a clear message to all cowards and weaklings who stand in our way.
As usual for Göring, this is obviously feasible - a matter of principle. And if it is not, it must become so. Over the heads of his entire hierarchy, he contacts Oberst Hans Seidemann directly, who has to redefine the objective of the mission planned for tomorrow.

Old Serbian grudges
Kraljevo (Serbia) - Mihailovic's Assault Force arrives on the outskirts of the city during the night and seizes the suburbs on the southern bank of the Ibar River. In the morning, the situation is therefore relatively static. The exchange of fire continues intermittently, interspersed with colorful and very local insults...
Major Dragoslav Racic is worried about this situation - he knows that his unit, although powerful, is exposed in this wide valley and loses time and men without any real gain. His deputy, the old but still green Dušan Smiljanić***, agrees - and the man even adds that such an opponent endangers the unity of the troop. For on the opposite, on the other side of the river, Mihailo Olćan is in command instead of "Kosta" Mušicki. Olćan, Nedić's former Minister of Economy, the recruiter of the Serbian Volunteer Corps, the man who once said that "Serbs should be grateful that the mighty German sledgehammer fell not on the head of the Serbian people, but on the Jews of Serbia". On this day, the Serbs have little reasons to be grateful to the Reich... However, the man remains the damned soul of the Germans, and plays with his men the role of a sort of political commissar - with the added bonus of military competence. Many in the Assault Force who would like to see his head on a stick, even if it means forgetting Belgrade.
It is therefore necessary to unblock the situation as soon as possible, before the operation turns into a bloody settlement of scores. Because the SDK forces have three regiments in the sector, equipped in the Italian style and numbering 6,000 men in all. All day long, they look for passage points from Mataruška Banja to Vrba, in this plain partitioned by hedges so favorable to the defense and moreover crossed by two rivers (the Ibar and the Morava).
......
Montenegro - Observing with interest the Serbs fighting in the Morava valley, Lothar Rendulic decides to act preventively by mounting his own operation of repression on the back of the LXVIII. Armee-Korps. To do so, he decides to gather Hellmuth Felmy and Pavle Đurišić, a former collaborator of Mihailovic who was soon converted in the murder of Muslims and anti-communist collaboration in support of the Italians.
The man was imprisoned by the Germans during Bloody Christmas, but quickly released thanks to Neubacher's mediation. He is now replacing Gen. Đukanović (killed in September at the Ostrog Monastery) at the head of the anti-communist forces in Montenegro, while maintaining very good relations with the Serbian Volunteer Corps and especially with Dimitrije Ljotić. The individual should therefore be reliable. The interview is scheduled within two days.
......
Athens - Concerned about developments in Belgrade, where reports received (including those of MacLean) mention the risk of divisions, even fratricidal clashes between Chetniks, then between Chetniks and Communist partisans, S.O.E. and the 2nd Bureau decide to send reinforcements to "Ivo the Frenchman". Indeed, who can say what will happen if the Belgrade insurgents, Mihailovic's forces and the 1st Yugoslav Corps join forces and find themselves facing the Communist partisans?
Anxious to keep Yugoslavia united in the fight against the Reich, the secret services decide to anticipate, hoping to use their influence to the best of their ability thanks to a specialized field agent. Sign of the importance of the thing, the French choose for this mission an experienced duo: the colonel Georges-Henri Morel, accompanied by his secretary-translator Sonia Olschanesky.

Too far away
Skopje (Ristik Palace) - Bernard Montgomery is passing through the Macedonian capital, ostensibly snubbing regent Paul, who had invited him to his birthday party. After all, it is also King George VI's jubilee today, the Briton has the right to choose. But for this celebration, nothing beats the company of good old Charles Bullen-Smith or even Francis Tuker. And for the leader of the 4th Indian Division, who contributed so much (albeit in discipline) to Market's success, Monty is full of praise: "I am proud to have under me the commander of the best division in the world!" The compliment is a bit of an exaggeration - it doesn't make it any less pleasing.
After the traditional toasts and "God save the King," Tuker and Bullen-Smith can't help but ask their superior (with due reserve) about current events in Morava, which are nothing like what they had anticipated. They are convinced that Montgomery will pound his fist on the table...but they don't seem to recognize their boss anymore.
Of course, the commander of the 18th Allied Army Group is careful not to mention his last conversation with Churchill. He does not brag either, it was not now that he could launch into "Hungary for Christmas" rantings. Finally, with visibly feigned enthusiasm, Montgomery says: "The High Command and I have decided to try to do something to help the civilian population, and also the insurgents. It is a simple question of solidarity between allies - which of course I fully support. We will be in Nis in two days, and in Belgrade in eight. If the city holds out until then, of course."
Bullen-Smith concludes, looking a little worried all the same: "We must hope so, General. But until Belgrade, in the middle of winter... Is it not to be feared that it is a city too far?"

A bad advisor
Alger (seat of the Yugoslav government in exile) - Ever more enthusiastic about the outcome of the current offensive, King Peter II prepares his entry into Belgrade and the inevitable political transition that will follow. His mood is however darkened by the action of his minister Petar Živković - who complacently and promptly transmitted to him the advice of Momčilo Ninčić, the numerous reports of GGerman and Croatian exactions in Serbia. These reports are true, of course, and even often under the truth. But they risk clouding the sovereign's judgment, hardly informed of the past or current Chetnik exactions.
Already, the young king is considering getting rid of Slobodan Jovanović, whom he finds too soft, too conciliatory - the man is certainly extremely monarchist, but he believes that justice should observe a certain reserve, at least for the time being, in order to limit the risk of retaliation or inter-ethnic clashes. As for the Croatian ministers such as Juraj Krnjević (Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of PTT) or Juraj Sutej (Minister of Finance and Industry)... if the reports are confirmed, Peter II wonders what he will do with them.

Bulgarian affair
Curtain for the ambassador
Sofia (embassy of the Reich) - General Marinov presents himself at the hour at the embassy, which he finds deserted, open to the four winds, the paintings and precious furniture (some of which came from the royal palace) evacuated, the archives and documents burned.
Walking phlegmatically through the corridors and lounges with a cigarette on his lips, Marinov listens to his boots echoing on the floor. Curious triumph... He won against his de jure ally by losing to his opponent - who is however his historical protector. Still that the terms "win" and "lose" can be discussed.
For yes, Bulgaria is saved, so to speak: it will not be destroyed by the fire of battle, nor by the iron of Nazi oppression. But the kingdom of the late Boris III seems in a bad spot: the Russians - the Reds - are not far away and, even if they are still not officially at war with Bulgaria, it is doubtful that they will stop at the border of the Danube. The border guards already report numerous military aircraft overflights...
So, what to do to maintain the independence of the country?
For the sake of form, Marinov will send a cease-fire request to the Allies - well, to the Westerners: British, French, Greeks - ah, and to the Americans, too. The message should not take long to arrive. And then what? Will the British deign to come, even in the complete and guaranteed absence of opposition?
That would be the dream scenario, hoped for by all... It would even seem that the men of the 15th and 22nd Divisions are already fraternizing with the Australians, at Samuilova Krepost. But the general knows that the decisions taken by the chancelleries rarely meet the wishes of the men in the ranks...
With these thoughts, Ivan Krastev Marinov finally arrives at the office of Herr Beckerle's study - the room is deserted, of course, and the furniture (expensive, of course) has been moved out. There is only one chair left! With some derision, the Bulgarian pretends to go behind the missing desk, sits down on the chair, looks theatrically severe and declares: "Marinov, you have three days, not one more!" Then he crushes his cigarette with real satisfaction - what does it matter for the moment what happens next - he can finally exclaim: good riddance!
.........
"Adolf Beckerle (1902-1976): SS official and Reich diplomat born in Frankfurt am Main, Hesse. An economist with a degree from the University of Frankfurt, he joined the Reichswehr as a volunteer in 1922, then became a member of the NSDAP (7197th registered). However, he gave up his membership in order to join the Prussian police force - a career that he later abandoned like many others in the banking, nursing, commercial and industrial sectors.
In 1928, after this period of research, Beckerle returned to his first love, becoming a member of the NSDAP and the SA on September 1st, 1928. Showing very quickly some zeal, he took over the direction of the Sturm 68 in Frankfurt, climbed the ranks and became SA-Standartenführer for the whole region of Hesse-Nassau South. He entered the Reichstag on July 31st, 1932, as a Nazi deputy. Using his political clout and his newfound expertise in policing, he was appointed deputy chief of the Frankfurt police force on September 14th, 1933, having already become SA-Obergruppenführer for the whole of Hesse. On a personal level, he married his wife Silke Edelmann on February 27th, 1935.
The Night of the Long Knives put an end to his rise only very temporarily - Beckerle remained in Hesse until June 1941, after a two-month stint (October and November 1939) as chief of the Polish police in Lodz. He volunteered to serve at the front (he was a reserve lieutenant), he was finally approached by von Ribbentrop to join the group forming a new generation of diplomats, more persuasive in the face of the Central European countries and able to counteract the activities of the SS in this area. Beckerle accepted the position, before joining the SS...
Appointed ambassador in Sofia, he joined his post on June 28th, 1941. He will then spend more than two years to influence with less and less finesse the Bulgarian government and tsar Boris III, then his successor the prince-regent Kyril of Preslav, so that the kingdom contributes more to the fight against the allied armies in Greece and (unsuccessfully) to have Bulgaria declare war on the Soviet Union. These two attempts will have moderate and null success, respectively, but his anti-Jewish activities were, unfortunately, more effective. It is estimated that 11,000 people deemed "non-Bulgarians" were sent to their deaths as a result of his actions, especially in Thrace and Macedonia.
The attempt of reversal triggered by the Regent on September 6th, 1943 surprised him, while he thought he had the situation under control. Confined to his embassy until the capture of Sofia by the 1. PanzerDivision, Beckerle will then try to reconstitute an autonomous Bulgaria, but subservient to the Reich, through the intermediary of the Marinov-Bozhilov government. The latter will be distinguished, one by its duplicity, the other by its inefficiency. Unfortunately, Beckerle will also take advantage of the collapse of the governmental authority to attempt to carry out a policy of total extermination of the Jews in Thrace, then in Bulgaria, which fortunately will only have a moderate success.
After the reversal of Romania, he left Sofia in a hurry during the night of December 14th, 1943 and fled with the retreating Heer forces. He returned to Germany via Hungary, and spent the end of the war in discretion.
Arrested at home, in Frankfurt, in May 1945, by the Allied occupation forces, he was sentenced by a denazification court to 25 years in prison as a "major Nazi leader" - his role in the Shoah was unknown at the time. After ten years in prison in Cologne, he was released in 1955, on the basis of the Adenauer amnesty laws, and the city of Frankfurt even paid him compensation for his service.
For the next ten years he was a simple police officer in Neu-Isenburg, respected by his peers. But in November 1966, everything changed: he was arrested again, this time for "crimes against humanity. The Nazi hunter Elliot Welles had just found in the German archives his instruction of October 24th, 1943, requesting the sending of SS-Sonderkommandos to Bulgaria - the indictments were to follow.
He was tried at the Frankfurt court for the murder of precisely 14,093 people, but he denied his involvement until the end, hiding behind his status as a diplomat, his distance from the field and the difficulties of communication. Sentenced to twenty years in prison, Beckerle did not serve this sentence because of his health - he did not die until eight years later. But another form of punishment was to hit him - his wife, Frau Edelmann, discovered his involvement in the Holocaust and committed suicide out of shame." (Robert Stan Pratsky - Dictionary of the Second World War in the Mediterranean, Flammarion, 2008)
.........
Silistra (Romanian-Bulgarian border), shortly before midnight - The Red Army may have "liberated" a good part of Romania, the Bulgarian border has not yet been crossed by a Soviet soldier. This curious state of affairs ends today, when a GAZ-A crosses the Danube in a ferry, under the complicit look of the border guards. On board, the former lieutenant colonel (and pre-war Prime Minister) Kimon Stoyanov Georgiev, who has many friends to find.

* During the 1941 invasion, Kren (then a major) defected on the first day of the conflict, going to land his Potez 25 in Graz. He immediately pledged his allegiance to the Ustasha and revealed to Luftwaffe officers the position of a certain number of dispersal sites used by the VVKJ, as well as its radio codes.
This betrayal partly explains the rapid destruction of the Royal Yugoslav Air Force. A rumor even places him in the bombing post of a Heinkel 111 flying over Belgrade during operation "Punishment"...
** Seven Avia-Fokker F7, one F9 and one F18 used to operate civil lines... and to train a parachute company!
*** Smiljanić was 50 years old but still regularly participated in the front line fighting! In 1941, when he was leader of the Gružanskog detachment, he was taken prisoner... but freed himself before obtaining the surrender of the Landsers group in charge of his transfer.

 

[Wings]

December 14th, 1943

Operation Lavoisier
Drôme - The weather is getting worse and worse. It is by a gray and cold weather that the 2. and 16. Panzer drop out to re-establish themselves on a new line, Fiancey-Montoison.
However, to fight while retreating under a rain of shells and under an allied sky is not simple. The losses are mounting. In the evening, the 2. Panzer has only about thirty tanks left, whereas this unit could still be considered as "new" a few days before.
A little to the east, the 2. FJ Rgt has all the difficulties of the world to keep the contact on its right with the 64. Panzergrenadier Rgt, as it is now under pressure from the 21e Zouaves, which the tanks of the 2nd RCA had joined. For its part, the 3rd RTM, well supported by its divisional artillery, faces the 7. FJ Rgt in the hills around the D731, while the 6th RTS changes its axis of progression and now threatens the flank of the 6. FJ Rgt southeast of Beaufort sur Gervanne.
This redeployment allowed the Senegalese, who had previously been engaged in another sector, to join the rest of the 3rd DIM. Its niche facing the German mountain fighters is taken over by the 10th DI, which brings up its 5th RI. The "10" is also reinforced by elements of the 3rd RSM. The Spahis are immediately in contact with the 157. Gebirgsjäger Division, very weak and in full retreat towards the north and the Vercors.

Ambush
Alps - Above Orcières, a ski patrol of the 7th BCA falls into an ambush at the level of the Estaris lake. The patrol manages to free itself, but not without losses. It seems that the Italians managed to infiltrate and set up a strong point on the Prèles ridge. For Battalion Chief Lorin, such a position is too close and means that the Alpini must have a relay, perhaps at the Pré de la Chaumette refuge. He decides to send a reconnaissance team to the neighboring valley.