Chapter 47

Despite the carpet bombing ordered by President Lehrer, the Ayatollah Makhtol's forces were still advancing against the allies on all fronts. Makhtol's armies had conquered Istanbul March 10th, and had pushed the allies out of northwestern Turkey past the Greek border three days later. Makhtol did not stop there, continuing to advance into northern Greece and into southern Bulgaria.

Two days later, Makhtol was able to force the allied troops out of Turkey near the small town of Gulpinar. Many military historians began comparing the allied withdrawal from Turkey at Gulpinar with the historic World War II allied retreat at Dunkirk. Both battles were the sites of disastrous routs of the allied armies. Allied armies were routed from the European mainland at Dunkirk and were routed from southwest Asia at Gulpinar. At Dunkirk, English and French civilians at considerable personal risks, used whatever boats they could gather together to ferry the allied troops across the English Channel. At Gulpinar, Greek and Turkish civilians did the same thing to try to ferry as many allied soldiers across the Aegean Sea, also at great personal risks. At Dunkirk, the allied forces were compelled to abandon much of their equipment and arms on the beaches. At Gulpinar, the allies were also forced to abandon much of their equipment and weapons in order to withdraw as many troops as possible.

As Makhtol's forces entered northern Greece, his generals rushed to bring in reinforcements. They swept across northern Greece, cutting off the supply lines that the allies had established to get men and supplies into Greece to defend the peninsula from the invasion which they thought would be from the south. Once they had completely swept across the peninsula, invading Albania on March 20th, Makhtol split his forces, sending the larger part, nearly a half million soldiers, north across Albania, Macedonia, Serbia, and Bulgaria, while sending 150,000 troops south to conquer the remainder of Greece.

While his forces were cutting off Greece, Makhtol also sent his forces around to the north of the Black Sea, conquering Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, parts of southern Russia and the southern Ukraine, and through Moldova to join with his other forces in Romania by the middle of April. From there, the larger part proceeded up the Danube River, approaching southwestern Hungary by the end of April, while the smaller group, some 250,000 troops, went southeast through the former Yugoslavia toward northern Italy, which they reached by early May.

The news wasn't any better in Italy or Spain. In Italy, Makhtol once again split his forces and landed 200,000 troops at Salerno, and then moved them across the Italian peninsula, cutting off the allied forces that were fighting in the south. With Makhtol's forces within 150 miles of the Vatican, Pope Peter II and the curia decided to flee to Avignon in southern France, which they reached April 3rd.