Chasing the Soft Underbelly examines the role of Turkey during the
Second World War. While it was non-belligerent until February 1945,
there were many attempts to push it into the conflict.
Studies of the Second World War traditionally begin with the rise of
Hitler and the failure of the Western democracies to challenge fascism.
Important though these events were, Turkey and the Balkans played a
crucial role at key moments during the conflict. Hitler understood
Germany's need for the natural resources of the Balkans, whilst Turkey
was also important to Stalin, who saw the Straits as a route into the
Black Sea and the Soviet Union.
Churchill was another key player whose interest in Turkey went back to
the Gallipoli campaign of the First World War. This was an interest,
some might say, an obsession, which he maintained during the interwar
years and throughout the Second World War. The 'soft underbelly' was his
shorthand for attacking Germany through Turkey and the Balkans. While
Turkey is typically a footnote in most histories of the Second World
War, it featured highly in the strategies of the combatants. This book
explores those strategies based on primary and secondary sources. It
starts with examining Turkey before the war and the threats and
opportunities it faced. This includes a chapter on the Turkish armed
forces and their preparedness for war.
The rest of the book takes the reader chronologically through the war,
outlining the various plans of the combatants as they impacted Turkey.
These reflected the war's progress as it raged around Turkey's borders
and on occasion, within it. It also outlines how the Turkish armed
forces developed during the war as they obtained equipment and training
from both sides.
Despite Britain being the driving force on the Allied side in the failed
efforts to get Turkey to declare war, they did keep Turkey out of the
Axis camp, which would have had severe military consequences in 1939-41.
The Turkish leadership played a skilful diplomatic and military game to
maintain their non-belligerent status, although at a considerable
economic cost. Other than in 1942, at the height of the Axis tide,
Turkey faced mainly in the direction of the Allies whilst always worried
about the Soviet Union. That concern came to a head as the Red Army
arrived on their European border in 1944.
