Gertrude (code name)

The Anatolian peninsula

The Gertrude or Gertrud was the code name of the joint invasion plan for Turkey by Nazi Germany and the Tsardom of Bulgaria, during Case Blue.[1]

The Gertrud was scheduled to begin in late 1941 and would be completed in five weeks. Initially, four infantry divisions were to be brought in from Denmark, all supported by an artillery brigade. This army would lead the attack from northern Turkey, leading the invasion. The Kriegsmarine would support the army with twenty-seven ships stationed in the Aegean Sea and the Dodecanese.[2]

However, the project was abandoned because of the rapid advance of the Red Army in the Caucasus region, the conclusion of the German–Turkish Treaty of Friendship, and the Allied invasion of Sicily.[3]

References

1. Rand McNally Encyclopedia of World War II. 1977. ISBN 9780528810602. Retrieved 2023-07-05. {{cite book}}: |website= ignored (help)
2. Michael, Kerrigan (2019). World War II Plans That Never Happened: The True Story of Cancelled Invasions, Assassinations and Secret Weapons Operations from 1939-1945. Sterling Publishing. pp. 96–97. ISBN 978-1782748809.
3. Abramian, Eduard (2007). Forgotten Legion: Sonderverbände Bergmann in World War II, 1941–1945. Europa Books. p. 47. ISBN 978-1891227714.