1st and 2nd Provisional Force in Arabia

[stevebecker]

Mates,

The order of Battle shows two Provisional Force units formed for operations on the Hajez Railway in 1917-18.

I take it these were mixed formations and had no set units in them?

Are there any details on them?

Cheers

S.B

[stevebecker]

Mates,

Tosun gave us this after a question by Dominic;

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Postby Tosun Saral » 16 Nov 2006 17:23

Here are the units:
1- 1nci Kuvvei Mürettebe (1st Composite Force) commander:
Üçüncü Cemal Pasha, the 3rd Cemal Pasha (There were 3 Cemals: a- 4th Army Ahmet Cemal Pasha, b- Mersinli Cemal Pasha and 3rd Cemal Pasha)

2- 2nci Kuvvei Mürettebe (2nd Composite Force) commander: Lt. Col. Mehmet Atıf (Col.Ateşdağlı 1876-1947))

Cheers

S.B

[stevebecker]

Mates,

I did find something of interest;

Comp Regt - LtCol Hamid Fakhri Bey KIA at Tafileh (mixed force from the 48th Div at Amman)

3Bn/151st
1Bn/152nd
1Bn/150th

Possibly one of the two Provisional or Composite Regts mentioned above?

Do we have any details on LtCol Hamid Fakhri and where and when he was killed?

Any ideas?

Cheers

S.B

[Tosun Saral]

Staff Lt. Col. Hamit Fahri Bey Commander of 48th Inf Div. in 1917. 48th Div. send from Caucasus front to Syrian Front on June 16th 1917. He was killed at Tafile Battele on Jan 26th 1918.

[stevebecker]

Tosun,

Yes thank you, I should have seen that,

I wonder what a Divisional commander is doing with a Regt battle group from his Division?

I think the 1st Prov or Composite Force was formed from units on the Amman end of the rail line, while the 2nd Prov or Composite Force was formed from units on the southern end possibly from units around Medina?

I think that because the 2nd Prov or Comp Force commander LtCol. Mehmet Atıf , I could only find one officer near that name and he commanded this unit;

2nd Camel (Hecin) Regt (Camel Raider Bn) commanders Atif Bey or Ali Pasha (based at Medina)

if the same man then the 1st Prov or Comp Force must have come from Amman which Cemal and Fahri both came from that area.

Cheers

S.B

[stevebecker]

Tosun,

A mate on the other site gave me this.

Steve,

If Hamid Fakhri Pasha was killed at Tafileh, then it was most probably on 25 January 1918

Lawrence in his 'Seven Pillars' (p.490) has

“Old General Hamid Fakhri collected his staff and Headquarters, and told each man to take a rifle.

'I have been forty years a soldier, but never saw I rebels fight like these. Enter the ranks'. . . . but he was too late.”


A little earlier (p. 483) Lawrence describes Hamid Fakhri Pasha's (48th Div) task force force as

“...about nine hundred infantry made up of three battalions (in January 1918 a Turkish battalion was a poor thing) with a hundred cavalry, two mountain howitzers, and twenty-seven machine-guns...”

regards

Michael


Cheers

S.B

[Tosun Saral]

There was no Hamid Fakhri Pasha but Hamit Fahri Bey

[stevebecker]

Tosun,

Your right, its the old mistake between English and Turkish with the "D" and "T".

Not the only officers name mixed up when dealing in this area.

Do you think 2nd Prov or Comp Force commander LtCol. Mehmet Atıf is the same man as Atif Bey the former commnader 2nd Camel (Hecin) Regt (Camel Raider Bn) in the Medina Area.

Any ideas

Cheers

S.B