Was watching Rick Stein last night whilst he ate his way around Turkey, and one part caught my attention. He visited the railway carriage in which Churchill and Turkish President Inönü met in 1943 to discuss Turkey's possible entry into the war. Did a bit of digging: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/İsmet_İnönü
CHURCHILL'S SECRET WAR: DIPLOMATIC DECRYPTS: THE FOREIGN OFFICE AND TURKEY, 1942-44 Spectator Mar 1, 1997 http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3724/is_199703/ai_n8756773/print
According to: http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?t=94985 In 1938 the Turkish standing army had 20 000 officers and 174 000 men. Military service lasted for three years. In 1939 the Turkish army was administrationally divided into three army inspectorates, nine corps, and one military governorship; the country's armed forces were composed of 20 infantry divisions, three brigades of mountain troops, one fortress brigade, and five cavalry divisions (including two reserve cavalry divisions) - altogether 132 regiments (60 infantry, six mountain troops, 21 cavalry, eight reserve cavalry, 20 field artillery, 10 heavy artillery, and seven fortress artillery). In early 1941 Turkey established 17 corps headquarters, 43 divisions and three independent infantry brigades, two divisions and one independent cavalry brigade, as well as two mechanized divisions. The armed forces were poorly equipped; weapons shipments from Germany, Great Britain, and U.S. did little to improve that condition. Just before the onset of hostilities the Turkish navy underwent a program of expansion and modernization; two submarines were ordered for construction in Germany, two submarines and four destroyers were ordered for construction in U.K. Lesser vessels were also constructed in home shipyards. After Germany delivered one submarine in 1939, the Turkish navy contained 19 naval vessels and they included one armoured ship, one line cruiser, two light cruisers, two torpedo-boats, four destroyers, five submarines, and four other lesser ships (most vessels were obsolete); with a total displacement of 55 775 tonnes (the number of naval personnel stood at 9 200). The real combat value of the navy was insignificant. By the end of WWII, the navy had one battle cruiser, two cruisers, two gunboats, three minesweepers, eight destroyers, 12 submarines, three motor torpedo boats, five minelayers, a surveying vessel, a depot ship, a fleet tug, a collier, and an oiler. By 1940 the Turkish air force was composed of four air regiments (each regiment contained six air companies), and had in possession a total of 370 aircraft (it had 8 500 personnel). Thanks to British and French shipments one more air regiment, along with five independent air wings, was formed in 1941. Shipments of military equipment from Germany replaced the shipments from Allied countries in the same year. Close to the end of the war, two air force divisions were organized; they together contained 15 air wings (or 30 flights). The Turkish armed forces did not participated in any military operations of WWII.
I started a thread on rafcommands about Turkish aircrew training with the RAF during WW2. If anyone is interested: Turkish Casualties - RafCommands Forums
Turkey The Turks gave great assistance by turning a blind eye to MI9 efforts to pick up British and Commonwealth Evaders after the fall of Greece and Crete. Many hundreds passed through Turkey and rejoined the Middle East Forces. There is a very interesting file at TNA that gives a list of such escapes and how they were achieved. From memory the first report is made by a Commando who's one line description was "swam to Turkey". The File is AIR20/2330. Brian
Yes, many Beaufighter crews also headed for Turkey as described in Nesbit's Armed Rovers. I'm still reading about 454 Sqn who operated mainly over the eastern Med before going to Italy. No mention of finding refuge in Turkey yet but will post if I come across it.
