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Prussian officers had first been employed to modernise the
Ottoman (Imperial Turkish) army in the 1840's with limited success. It was not
until the 1880's (following defeat in the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78)
that a full term German military mission (under Colmar Freiherr von der Goltz) was set up to assist and equip the
Ottoman army. Even then progress was slow. By the time the Ottoman Empire entered the First World War on the
German side her army was still in the process of modernisation with a new
military mission (under Otto Liman von
Sanders) sent out in 1913 in the wake of Ottoman defeats in the Balkans wars
1912-13. Throughout the
First World War several thousand German soldiers, sailors and airmen served in many varied capacities in the
Ottoman Empire. In addition Austria-Hungary also sent smaller numbers of
similarly useful men and materials to assist the Ottoman Empire during the war.
Recommended External Links -
The Story of Enver Pascha
and
Turkey's WarGerman Forces in the Ottoman Empire 1914-18
The 1913 German Military Mission to the Ottoman Empire
When war broke out in Europe in the Summer of 1914 there were already over
500 German military personnel serving in the Ottoman Empire. They included staff
officers, training
personnel, engineers, technicians, artillery gunners and aircrews. The military
mission was commanded by Generalleutnant Otto Liman von Sanders who was also
commander of the 1st Turkish Army Corps defending Istanbul, the Dardanelles Straits and the Gallipoli
Peninsular. When war broke out a further 500 German military personnel were sent
to assist the Ottoman army.
SMS Goeben and SMS Breslau
The battle cruiser SMS Goeben and
the light cruiser SMS
Breslau were trapped in the Mediterranean Sea at the outbreak of the First World
War. After bombarding the French bases
at Bône and Philippeville in Algeria they handed themselves over to the Ottoman navy
rather than surrender to the overwhelming power of the Entente navies in the
Mediterranean. Once under the Ottoman flag they bombarded the Russian ports of
Sevastopol and Odessa thus precipitating a Russian declaration of
war on the Ottoman Empire thus bringing them
into the war on the German side. During the war the two ships remained on patrol in the
Black Sea while sailors from the ships also served as machine gunners on the
Gallipoli front. Under the Ottoman flag the Goeben and Breslau were renamed the
TCG Yavuz Sultan Selim (after Sultan Selim I) and Midilli (the Turkish name for
the Aegean island of Lesbos) respectively. The Midilli was sunk by a mine in 1918
but the Yavuz Sultan Selim remained in Turkish service until 1950 (being renamed
TCG Yavuz in 1936). It was finally scrapped in 1973.
Pascha I Expedition
Pascha I was a 16,000 strong army expedition
formed to assist Ottoman forces in March 1916 under the command of Oberst Friedrich Freiherr Kress von Kressenstein . It consisted mostly of heavy
artillery, machine gun and support troops with a fighter plane squadron (FA300). It
fought as part of the 4th Ottoman Army against British troops in the Sinai
campaign in the Summer of 1916.
Pascha II Expedition
A second Pascha Expedition (often known as the "Asienkorps") was formed in the spring of 1917 for deployment
in October under the command of Oberst Gustav von Oppen. This was a more rounded
fighting unit with infantry consisting of the 701st, 702nd and 703rd infantry battalions
with supporting machine gun, artillery, cavalry, transport and medical units and
four squadrons of fighter planes (FA301-304. FA305 was sent to reinforce in 1918). In all it was about 10,000 strong. It was originally sent to
recapture Baghdad but when this was deemed unfeasible the Asienkorps instead
fought alongside the Ottoman army in Palestine. It was finally withdrawn in
late
1918 just before the Ottoman surrender.
Central Asian Missions
During the First World War Germany sent several missions into Central Asia,
in areas usually considered to be part of the Ottoman sphere of influence. Some of
these missions had the support of the Ottomans, but others clashed directly with
their interests.
Persia
A plan was proposed by Wilhelm Wassmuss
to incite the tribes of Persia to rise up against their British occupiers. It
was hoped that this would form a larger Islamic revolution against British rule,
threatening British India. Kaiser Wilhelm II was a keen supporter of the plan
and it was put into action in February 1915. Wassmuss wandered from tribe to
tribe using his knowledge of Arab customs and languages, along with bribes of
gold supplied to him from Germany, Arabic propaganda pamphlets, promises of
German military aid and mystic scenes in which he claimed to speak directly to
the Kaiser to gain their friendship. Wassmuss became a legend in Persia causing
the British a great deal of concern and effort in his capture and earning
himself the nickname "The German Lawrence" although his mission ultimately
failed to incite a full scale rebellion.
Afghanistan
Although it may seem an unlikely ally of Germany, Afghanistan could have proved a
crucial one. If the Afghan Emir Habibullah joined the war on the side of the central
powers and threatened the North West frontier of British India, Britain would be
forced to withdraw troops from other theatres to deal with the threat. If Indian
nationalists also rose up in rebellion at the same time the British Empire might
have a real crisis on its hands. With this aim a part military, part diplomatic
mission under the joint command of the Indian nationalist leader
Raja Mahedra
Pratap, the German
diplomat Otto von Hentig and the German adventurer and artillery officer
Oskar von Niedermeyer was sent to Afghanistan
in 1915. It consisted of a cadre of German troops specially recruited with former Asian
and colonial experience, Persian tribesmen and several
escaped
German and Austrian Prisoners of War on the run from Russian captivity who they met along the way.
Although they reached Kabul after an epic journey evading hostile tribesmen and
British and Russian patrols under the harshest climatic conditions, the mission was ultimately a
failure as they could not convince the Afghans to join the war.
Georgia
As the Russian Empire descended into chaos and revolution through 1917 and 1918 the rich
oilfields of Georgia and Azerbaijan became an important objective for several armies at the
same time. Bolshevik, White Russian, British and Ottoman armies all headed for
Baku with the hopes of capturing the oilfields. Germany also sent an army, the
Georgian Legion (sometimes known as the Caucasus Expedition) consisting of 3,000 mostly
Bavarian troops (including the 7th Bavarian Cavalry Brigade, 7th and 9th Bavarian Reserve
Jäger Battalions, the 10th Sturm Battalion, the 176th Mortar Company and a
Machine Gun Abteilung) under the command of Generalmajor Friedrich
Freiherr Kress von Kressenstein. Along the
way they picked up further troops from escaped German Prisoners of War and
German colonists living in Georgia. They arrived
in Tiflis, the Georgian capital in June 1918 where they were welcomed as
defenders against the Bolsheviks. Due to the confused situation and rivalries
for the oil, they clashed with Ottoman troops briefly on the way. The revolution
in Germany and the end of the war finally caused their mission to be aborted.
Recommended External Link -
Discussion on the Axis History Forum
on the
Georgian Legion
Austro-Hungarian Troops in the Ottoman Empire
Austria-Hungary first lent its heavy artillery to the
Ottoman Empire in December 1915. Two heavy artillery
batteries (the "9. Mototmörserbatterie" and the "36. Haubitzbatterei") fought for the Ottomans at Gallipoli
and later during the Suez Offensive. In 1916 the "Gebrigshaubitzdivision von
Marno" consisting of two batteries of mountain howitzers was also sent to the
Suez Front and continued to fight alongside the Ottoman army until the end of
the war (having been renamed the
"Gebirgshaubitzabteilung
in der Türkei" in 1917 and "Feldhaubitzabteilung in der Türkei"
in 1918). As well as artillery, Austria-Hungary
assisted the Ottoman army in 1916 with four much needed motorised units (the "1.,
2., 3., 4., Autokolonnen Türkei").
In late 1917 a new Austro-Hungarian mission was
planned to be sent to assist the Ottoman Empire called the "Orientkorps". This
unit was intended, like the German Asienkorps, to include infantry battalions as well
as artillery and transport. The Orientkorps underwent training and
equipping for tropical climates but with the war not going so well for
Austria-Hungary by this late date most of the troops were diverted to other
fronts. Only the artillery batteries (the "Gebirgskannonenabteilung
in der Türkei") and one motorised unit (the "10.
Autokolonne Türkei") were eventually
sent to Palestine in June 1918.
As well as these troops, many Austro-Hungarian army and
navy personnel served in the Ottoman Empire during the First World War as staff
officers,
pilots, engineers, medics, communications technicians, and as training personnel
assisting the Ottoman army with artillery, engineering and even skiing.
Recommended External Links -
Page listing all
Austro-Hungarian Units in the Ottoman Empire at
the Austro-Hungarian Army
website and a discussion on the Axis History Forum
on
Austro-Hungarians at
Gallipoli and in Palestine
The End of the Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire surrendered to the Entente on 30th October 1918 after
defeats on several fronts. Just prior to that most Germans had retreated
home or became allied prisoners of war. As a result of the war and its following
treaties (the
Treaty of Sèvres 1920 and the
Treaty of Lausanne
1923) the
Ottoman Empire was split up and a new Turkish Republic was declared.
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