Invasion of Turkey

[FINALCUT247]

So in my latest play as Axis I decided to try the turkey gambit. In late 1940 I invaded turkey from Bulgaria with the Africa Corp via amphibious assault along the north coast and USSR immediately declared war on me and rushed half their Army into Turkey. I was surprised by this and my whole Eastern front force was caught off guard with the Soviet troops pushing into Poland en masse before I was prepared. Is invasion of Turkey an automatic entry for USSR into the war on side of aliies?

[Bill Runacre]

An Axis declaration of war on Turkey will swing the USSR 25-35% towards the Allies, so if they are already at a fairly high mobilization level then that will lead to war.

Although for the USSR to be that close to entering the war in late 1940 is surprising. Had you been maintaining sufficient units in Poland to prevent Soviet mobilization?

This is explained in Pop Up messages as well as in the Strategy Guide.

[FINALCUT247]

Appreciate the reply. I had units in Poland but I was moving a lot into Poland and Lithuania pretty quick so I'm sure Stalin was getting nervous. It was December 1940 when I invaded Turkey so Stalin was close enough I guess that this move triggered him. I actually thought it was cool because it was a total surprise which just added a lot of excitement to the game. I spent my play session yesterday recovering and as we go into winter 1941/1942 I'm in a decent spot with the Soviets falling back in the Ukraine and Turkish fronts while just trying to maintain a strong north without really pushing much there. My goal is all that lovely oil in the Caucasus region so even after the surprise I have recovered from the initial blow nicely. Now if only the Italians can hold Libya on their own. Doubtful. LOL