Turkish infantry regiments of the First Inspection 1914

[territoriale]

I have recently obtained a copy of the Turkish Army Handbook 1916 (reprint) and note that it has a table of turkish forces as at June 1914.

The First Inspection is shown as comprising of I to V Corps, all having 9 infantry regiments apart from I Corps with 10. Ericksen's 'Ordered to Die' has a table of turkish forces in August 1914 which shows I Corps being made up of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Divisions.

Does anyone know -

1. What the identities of the 10 regiments in I Corps at that date? &
2. Is it wrong to assume that the 46 regiments in the First Inspection were numbered 1 to 46 given the mixed numbering in the Divisions later mobilised in 1914?

Thanks,
Martin

[drewsart]

Hi Martin

Just thought I would throw a twist in here

I too have a copy of this book (Turkish army hand book 1916 - reprint) and find it interesting but not all that accurate. While it does contain some extraordinary stuff I would only use it as a secondary source

Tosun my be the best one to answer your enquiry

Andrew

[drewsart]

Hi martin

In The Book Soldiers of the Prophet (page 124) it lists the following forces for 1914, It comes from an organisational table prepered for the Turkish War Ministry and gives divisional dispositions

European Turkey 7 Divisions
Western Asia Minor 9 Divisions
Eastern Asia Minor 9 Divisions
Syria and Palestine 5 Divisions
Hejaz, Yemen and Asir 4 Divisions
Mesopotamia 4 Divisions
Total 38 Divisions

plus there were also 5 divisions in the early stage of forming

on page 140 - 150

1st Army corps is listed as having
1st (3 Regts), 2nd (3 regts), 3rd (3 Regts)

2nd Army Corps listed as having
4th (3 Regts), 5th (3 Regts) 6th (3 Regts)

3rd Army Corps listed as having
7th (3 Regts), 8th (3 Regts) 9th (3 Regts)

5th Army Corps listed as having
13th (3 Regts), 14th (3 Regts) 15th (3 Regts)

6th Army Corps listed as having
24th (3 Regts), 26th (3 Regts)

Unattached divisions

10th, 11th, 12th, 16th, 19th, 20th, 25th, 42nd all with 3 Regts

The regiments of the 1st army corps are:

1st Division - 70th, 71st and 124th Regtiments
2nd Division - 1st, 5th and 6th Regiments
3rd Division - 31st 32nd and 39th Regiments

I find only 9 Regiments not 10 - however this does not count divisional assets and i find no corps level regiments attached - although there were unattached regiments in the area of 1st corps

I hope this helps

Andrew

[jwsleser]

Andrew

The 3rd Division in June 1914 had the 7th, 8th and 9th Regiments. This division was basically disassembled in November 1914. The 8th Regiment became independent and was sent to the Caucasus (Stanke Bey Mufrezesi). The 7th and 9th Regiment formed the 1nci Kuvvei Seferiye. The 3rd Division was rebuilt with the 31st, 32nd and 39th Regiments.

territoriale

Yes it is wrong. The 31st, 32nd, 39th, 46th, 55th-66th Regiments didn't exist in Aug 1914. These regiments had not been rebuilt after the Balkan Wars. The surplus concripts from mobilization were used to form these regiments.

Jeff

[territoriale]

My thanks to the forum members who replied to my query; having had the opportunity to reread the Turkish Army Handbook, it appears that British Intelligence regarded the Constantinople Fire Brigade as the 10th regiment of the I corps.

I also now have a better understanding of the regimental numbering sequence and the gaps/disruption to the sequencing in the Turkish OOB left, I assume, from the 1st and 2nd Balkan Wars.

Does anyone have a definitive list of the Turkish infantry divisions and regiments lost, disrupted or disbanded as a result of these conflicts?

Thanks,
Martin

[Peter H]

Martin,

From Erickson's Defeat in Detail.

A case may be made that many of the regiments of these divisions survived and were integrated into other formations...Turkey lost thirty-six active and reserve divisions.

[jwsleser]

territoriale

Peter has provided the big picture. Regiments are tricky. Immediately after the war, the Ottomans rebuilt/reorganized their remaining divisions with existing regiments to bring divisions up to full strength. Some some of the divisions listed above were disbanded to move intact regiments to fill other divisions. Between the Balkan Wars and WWI, the Ottomans were constantly rebuilding regiments and reorganizing divisions to return to their basic organzational scheme, that of regiments numbered sequentially in divisions and the divisions having regiments corresponding to their divisional number sequence (15th Divison would have regiments 43-45). At the same time, the Ottoman reserve structure was changed from using Redif (reserve) divisons to incorporating reserves as fillers to active cadres. This is why the 1st Division still consisted of the 70th, 71st and 124th Regiment in Oct 1914 as it was rebuild with two existing regiments and one new regiment.

Jeff