There is no doubt that in the event of a Nazi victory at Stalingrad, Turkey would have attacked the Caucasus front.
On June 22, 1941, Nazi Germany declared war on the Soviet Union.
During this period, pro-German sentiments and propaganda intensified in Turkey.
There were many supporters of an alliance with Germany, especially in the Turkish armed forces, led by Chief of the General Staff General Cakmak.
A few days before the war, on June 18, 1941, Germany signed a treaty of “friendship and non-aggression” (Saracoglu-von Papen) with Turkey.
In parallel with Germany’s attack on the USSR, Turkey declared partial mobilization, concentrating a large number of troops on the border with Soviet Armenia.
According to historian Yu. Gorkov, after the Turkish mobilization, Stalin clearly stated that he was “not confident in Turkey’s neutrality” and did not rule out an attack from its side.
The British had similar concerns, and at the first conference of representatives of the Allied countries, held in Moscow in September 1941, Lord Beaverbrook, a member of the British delegation, proposed “encouraging Turkey to maintain neutrality”, but Stalin resolutely opposed this and stated that he did not trust the Turks. Rzheshevsky O. A. Stalin and Churchill. Meetings. Conversations. Discussions: Documents, Comments. 1941-1945. – M .: Science, 2004. – P. 22. – ISBN 5-02-009821-3 /. Stalin’s position was justified, since soon after this, a Turkish military delegation headed by General Ali Fuad Erden went to the occupied territories of the USSR and met with Adolf Hitler.
In 1942, Turkish generals demanded that President Ismet Inonu immediately begin a war against the USSR, but the latter was in no hurry and waited for the outcome of the Battle of Stalingrad.
In the summer of 1942, the Turks carried out a large-scale mobilization and transferred about 750 thousand soldiers to the border with the USSR.
V. Kontevsky in his work “Russia-Turkey: stages of trade and economic cooperation” notes that the Turks concentrated about 50 divisions against the Transcaucasian Front.
The Soviet group of only 200 thousand people confronted the Turkish army of 750 thousand to 1 million people.
During the Battle of Stalingrad on August 27, 1942, Turkish Foreign Minister Saracoglu told German Ambassador von Papen:
“The destruction of Russia is the centuries-old dream of the Turkish people.”
/Nadein-Raevsky V. A. Pan-Turkism: Ideology, History, Politics. – M.: 2017. – P. 155./:
Finally, the glorious victory of the Soviet army at Stalingrad forced the Turks to abandon their plans.
The contribution of the children of the Armenian people to the glorious victory at Stalingrad was also great.
Of the 30 thousand Armenians who participated in the battle, 10 thousand died on the battlefield, five of them were awarded the high title of Hero of the USSR.
The 76th Armenian Rifle Division, in whose ranks my grandfather Petros Avagyan fought, showed exceptional heroism.
Eternal glory to the heroes of the Great Patriotic War.
2025-05-19