Armed forces of Turkey in WW2?

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CyirlSh
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Armed forces of Turkey in WW2?

#1

Post by CyirlSh » 07 Feb 2006, 11:03

I cannot find the information on armed forces of Turkey in WW2 (1939-1945).
1. On coastal artillery
Whether somebody can - can - to tell that:
- Number and type of gun of coastal artillery
- Where settled down units coastal defense and them TO&E/OOB
2. ООВ and numberof planes in aircraft. Especially 1940-1942.
3. Whether there are no data on TO&E tank, infantry and cavalry divisions, mountain brigades
4. TO&E and OOB antiaircraft defense. Type and number of guns

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seljuk
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#2

Post by seljuk » 20 Mar 2007, 16:20

Armed Forces: In 1938 the Turkish standing army had 20 000 officers and 174 000 men. Military service lasted for three years. In 1939 the Turkish army was administrationally divided into three army inspectorates, nine corps, and one military governorship; the country's armed forces were composed of 20 infantry divisions, three brigades of mountain troops, one fortress brigade, and five cavalry divisions (including two reserve cavalry divisions) - altogether 132 regiments (60 infantry, six mountain troops, 21 cavalry, eight reserve cavalry, 20 field artillery, 10 heavy artillery, and seven fortress artillery). In early 1941 Turkey established 17 corps headquarters, 43 divisions and three independent infantry brigades, two divisions and one independent cavalry brigade, as well as two mechanized divisions. The armed forces were poorly equipped; weapons shipments from Germany, Great Britain, and U.S. did little to improve that condition. Just before the onset of hostilities the Turkish navy underwent a program of expansion and modernization; two submarines were ordered for construction in Germany, two submarines and four destroyers were ordered for construction in U.K. Lesser vessels were also constructed in home shipyards. After Germany delivered one submarine in 1939, the Turkish navy contained 19 naval vessels and they included one armoured ship, one line cruiser, two light cruisers, two torpedo-boats, four destroyers, five submarines, and four other lesser ships (most vessels were obsolete); with a total displacement of 55 775 tonnes (the number of naval personnel stood at 9 200). The real combat value of the navy was insignificant. By the end of WWII, the navy had one battle cruiser, two cruisers, two gunboats, three minesweepers, eight destroyers, 12 submarines, three motor torpedo boats, five minelayers, a surveying vessel, a depot ship, a fleet tug, a collier, and an oiler. By 1940 the Turkish air force was composed of four air regiments (each regiment contained six air companies), and had in possession a total of 370 aircraft (it had 8 500 personnel). Thanks to British and French shipments one more air regiment, along with five independent air wings, was formed in 1941. Shipments of military equipment from Germany replaced the shipments from Allied countries in the same year. Close to the end of the war, two air force divisions were organized; they together contained 15 air wings (or 30 flights). The Turkish armed forces did not participated in any military operations of WWII.


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AJK
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#3

Post by AJK » 20 Mar 2007, 19:25

Hi Seljuk,

Thank you for a very informative posting about the structure of Turkey's army during the war. I know that this is a huge task, but do you by any chance have a listing of the commanders of the army inspectorates, corps, infantry divisions and cavalry divisions in 1939, 1941, and up to 1945?

Thanks, and best wishes,

AJK

Tosun Saral
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#4

Post by Tosun Saral » 21 Mar 2007, 12:32


Tosun Saral
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#5

Post by Tosun Saral » 21 Mar 2007, 12:45

some cav. Divs & Regs that ı could list:

1st Cav. Div. 10th Cav. reg.
9th AC 41st Cav. Reg
3rd AC, 2nd Cav. Div., 13rd Cav. Reg
54th Cav. Reg in Antep
14th cav. Div. in Urfa, 14th Cav. reg.
2nd Cav. Div. 22nd Cav. Brigade in Trace

arpitec
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#6

Post by arpitec » 03 Apr 2007, 06:00

Image
WW2 Turkish Infantrymen.

Gazimev
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#7

Post by Gazimev » 19 Jan 2008, 20:28

1st Army Commandership HQ (Istanbul)
Commanders:
Full Gen. Fahrettin ALTAY (1933-1943)
Full Gen. C. Cahit TOYDEMIR (1943-1946)

3rd Army Corps Commandership HQ (Corlu)
1st, 61th, 62th Infantry Division
4th Army Corps Commandership HQ (Catalca)
8th, 22nd, 28th, 84th Infantry Division
10th Army Corps Commandership HQ (Kirklareli)
46th Infantry, 2nd Cavalry Division
20th Army Corps Commandership HQ (?)
23rd, 24th, 33th, 52th Infantry Division
Istanbul Commandership HQ (Istanbul)
11st Infantry Division
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2nd Army Commandership HQ (Balikesir)
Commanders:
Full Gen. A. Nafiz GURMAN (1940-1944)
Full Gen. M. Nuri YAMUT (1944-1946)

1st Army Corps Commandership HQ (Canakkale)
6th, 57th, 65th Infantry Division
2nd Army Corps Comandership HQ (Gelibolu)
4th, 32nd, 66th Infantry Division
5th Army Corps Commandership HQ (Bursa)
5th, 16th, 69th Infantry Division
12th Army Corps Commandership HQ (Izmir)
63rd, 70th, 71th Infantry Division
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

3rd Army Commandership HQ (Erzincan)
Commanders:
Full Gen. M. Kazim ORBAY(1940-1942)
Full Gen. Mustafa MUGLALI (1942-1945)

7th Army Corps Commandership HQ (Diyarbakir)
2nd, 10th, 83rd Infantry Division
8th Army Corps Commandership HQ (Merzifon)
12th, 15th Infantry Division
9th Army Corps Commandership HQ (Sarikamis)
3rd, 9th, 29th Infantry, 1st Cavalry Division
18th Army Corps Commandership HQ (Kars)
48, 67, 91th Infantry Division
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

High Command HQ (Ankara) (Reserve Forces)

6th Army Corps Commandership HQ (Kocaeli)
7th, 17th, 41th Infantry Division
17th Army Corps Commandership HQ (Maras)
20th, 39th Infantry, 14th Cavalry Division
Last edited by Gazimev on 19 Jan 2008, 22:30, edited 1 time in total.

Tosun Saral
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#8

Post by Tosun Saral » 19 Jan 2008, 21:15

M-47 Patton= No more in envantory of Turkish Army. Can be seen at the enterence of every armoured unit as a museum factor. In Cyprus some of them are digged into grount to be a immobile fortification againts possible a greek invasion if they dare.

M-48 = Entered into inventory after M47s. They are all modernized under new code numbers and still in the use of Turkish Army.

M-48A1= Still used in Turkish army as a bulldozer

M-48A20 is known as bridge builder tank.

M-48A2C= Has a benzin engine. The Gendarm units fighting againts the terror organization used this tank many years.

M-48T5= is the new modernized type of M-48 by german aid. No more in inventory. Still used by Turkish Armoured Units Education Centre to trein the new crew of tank personel.
M-48A5T-1 is the modernized version of M-48A1 by American kitleriyle aid. Dizel Engine. Has a 105 cm gun accaording to NATO standarts. Has a M1 commander tower, a AAC gun, telemetre

M-48A5T-2 modernized version of M-48A1 by Amerikan aid.

M-60A1

M-60A3

Leopard 1A1

Leopard 1A4

Leopard 1A3T1-T2

ColinWright
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Re: Armed forces of Turkey in WW2?

#9

Post by ColinWright » 17 Mar 2010, 09:51

Gazimev:

I'm trying to piece together an OOB for the Turkish army in 1941. I found your post above very useful.

I have some references to the following units from other sources, and I would like any information you can give me on them. Are they additional formations, different names for formations you list, formations that didn't exist at all?

1st Light Armoured Brigade/Division

1st Mountain Brigade/Division aka Agri Dagi Mountain Brigade

18 Mountain Brigade/Division aka Mugla Mountain Brigade

39 Mountain Brigade/Division aka Islahiye Mountain Brigade

Elazig Mountain Brigade/Division

Catalca Garrison

Kars Garrison

Erzerum Garrison

Edirne Border Brigade

Naturally, any information you can provide on the organization, strength, or condition of these formations in 1941 would be appreciated as well -- but this is getting to be a tall order.

Finally, I have some information on coast defense batteries -- but one bit doesn't make much sense. The battery protecting the entrance into the Bosphorus from the Black Sea is insignificant -- but I've somehow wound up with information suggesting a formidable concentration of coastal artillery at Izmit -- which doesn't make much sense.

Any light you (or anyone else) can shed on any of the above would be very helpful.

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nuyt
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Re: Armed forces of Turkey in WW2?

#10

Post by nuyt » 17 Mar 2010, 22:23

Interesting. Could you elaborate a bit about that concentration of guns?
Izmit is near Golcuk naval base, the main base for the Turkish Navy, built in the 1930s.

Do you also have more details about artillery weapons used by the other divisions and brigades?

Kind regards,

ColinWright
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Re: Armed forces of Turkey in WW2?

#11

Post by ColinWright » 18 Mar 2010, 01:00

nuyt wrote:Interesting. Could you elaborate a bit about that concentration of guns?
Izmit is near Golcuk naval base, the main base for the Turkish Navy, built in the 1930s.

Do you also have more details about artillery weapons used by the other divisions and brigades?

Kind regards,
Well, this is from a TOAW scenario I've taken up again, and I have no idea what my original source is -- in other words, it's about as low-grade a source as you can get. About all I'm sure of is that I don't make things up out of whole cloth, so I must have had some reason to create this unit.

2 150 mm fixed guns, later to increase to 4

12 75 mm guns (perhaps merely a battalion of field artillery)

what appears to be an infantry regiment

Looking at it, I suppose it's not really that impressive a force, but it stands out in comparison to the unit blocking the Black Sea end of the Straits. That has virtually nothing -- which is ridiculous. The Turks were refortifying the Gallipoli end of the Straits -- they were worried about the British but complacent about the Russians?

Left to my own devices, I'll make something up out of whole cloth -- but if I can find it, any historical information would be better than none. And in fact, if you have any data on Turkey in 1941 at all, I'd be happy to read it over. It'll either confirm or call into question what I already have -- and either one is good, although obviously the first is to be preferred.

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tigre
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Re: Armed forces of Turkey in WW2?

#12

Post by tigre » 24 Nov 2016, 22:25

Hello to all :D; taking in account the German submersible UA a bit of previous history...........................

German submersibles for Turkey prior to the WWII.

In 1936, Turkey ordered the building of four submarines, whose orders were put to the Germania Werft in Germany. Two of them were to be built in Germany proper, and two in Turkey. The contract was signed by the Deputy Minister of Defense, General Kazım Özalp, on the Turkish side, and by Ferrostahl A.G and the N.V. Ingenieurskantoor Voor Scheepsbouw by the German side. According to the contract, the labor force used for the construction of the submarines had to represent at least 75% of Turkish workers. The labor force used to assemble the devices and equipment was to represent 30% of Turkish workers.

The names given to the four submarines were: SALDIRAY, BATIRAY, ATILAY, YILDIRAY.

The U boats TCG SALDIRAY and TCG BATIRAY were laid down on February 10, 1937 in Germany. While the TCG ATILAY was laid down on August 14, 1937 and the TCG YILDIRAY on September 9, 1937 in Istanbul.

The first to be finalized was the TCG SALDIRAY, being launched on July 23, 1938 and sailed to Turkey on April 2, 1939, being commissioned on June 5, 1939. As it is know the second U boat, the TCG BATIRAY never was delivered and entered service in the Kriegsmarine as UA.

Sources: http://tunasu.angelfire.com/1923-1948.htm
http://www.ebay.de/itm/Gr-Foto-1936-Kri ... 934wt_1606

Cheers. Raúl M 8-).
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The first of the serie, the TCG SALDIRAY .........................................
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