German MG Bn at Suva

[stevebecker]

Mates,

I noticed this inquiry on the other site;

"In 'Gallipoli 1915 - Through Turkish Eyes' by the academic Mr. Haluk Oral (translated from the Turkish by Amy Spangler & edited by Bill Sellers [Eceabat on the GWF] published in 2007 by Türkiye Iş Bankasi Kültür Yayinlari – ISBN 978 9944 88 217 0) the author quotes from a document written by General Fahrettin Altay in 1935, summarising the 'Suvla landings and other operations.'

On page 332 the entry relates to the evening of 7th August 1915 and includes:
"A German machine-gun battalion made up of twelve machine-guns was assigned to the 9th Division."

What happened to this German battalion and its 12 machine-guns?

The 9th Division had been under the command of Hans Kannengiesser Pasha. He had, however, been wounded in the chest, relieved of command and evacuated from the front shortly before this time, and (perhaps unsurprisingly therefore) as far as I can tell his book makes no reference to this 'German machine-gun battalion.'

Edward E Erickson in his 'Gallipoli - The Ottoman Campaign' gives the OoB for the 9th Division at this time as:
25th Regiment, 26th Regiment, 64th Regiment and 2nd Artillery Regiment
He makes no mention of a 'German machine-gun battalion'
(NB: nor is such a unit mentioned by Erickson under 'Willmer Gp.')
[also note that Kannengiesser in his book refers to his command as being made up of
"...two infantry regiments 25 and 64, with my battery..." (see page 204)]

In the British Official History, Vol.II, see page 283 (8 Aug.), footnote 2:
Willmer had reported in writing at 6 am. "...Machine-gun detachment from the fleet has arrived and has been put into position..."
Liman von Sanders in his '5 Years in Turkey' (page 90 of the 2000 edition) also mentions
"In the great Anafarta landing our fleet could give us no assistance except through the machine-gun detachment........they were first used on the Ismail Tepe."

I understand that most probably Fahrettin's use of the word 'battalion' was inexact here and that these men and their guns may have been reinforcements supplied by the Navy. I further understand that they may have been split up amongst several Turkish units. Indeed they may even have been split up amongst units other than the 9th Division.

any ideas?

S.B

[turcoscot]

Hello Steve,
The diary of (then) Major Izzettin Calislar, who was Chief of Staff of the Anafartalar Group, has a couple of entries.

For August 9, 1915: "Around midafternoon (ikindi) the German naval officers arrived. We selected positions for machine guns in our sector, in No. 9 and N0. 12 trenches facing Sahinsirt and Sazlidere"

For August 11, 1915: "A naval machine gun company arrived".

For August 12, 1915: " The naval machine guns are harrassing the enemy's Agildere operation and rendering it difficult by causing casualties".

The reference is "On Yillik Savas: Org. Izzettin Calislar'in Not Defterlerinden Balkan, Birinci Dunya ve Istiklal Savaslari", Is Bankasi yayinlari, pgs. 128-129 [Ten Years of War: The Balkan War, First World War and War of Independence from the Notebooks of Lt. General Izzettin Calislar]

[jwsleser]

Steve

The Turkish officials (vol. V Çanakkale part 3) mentions German machineguns on 7 August (page 400).

Küçük Anafartanin batisi – Ismailoğlutepe hattinda 31 nci Alayin 2 nci Taburuyla Bursa Jandarma Taburu, dört Alman makineli tüfeği ve 40 ath bulunuyor

On the west Small Anafarta – Ismailoğlutepe line was the 2/31 Regiment, the Bursa Jandarma Battalion, 4 German MGs and 40 riders (mounted troops) present.

This is part of the force under Wilmer. On Kroki 49 (7 Aug), it shows the 4 German MGs with the Bursa Jandarma, but has the 2/81 instead of the 2/31. As the 81st wasn’t present at Anafarta, this is a typo.

I have not found a mention of German MGs in the text after that. Five German MGs are shown on Kurulus 12 (21 August: 3 with the 127th Regiment, 2 with the Bursa Jandarma). Kurulus 13 (end of August) also shows 5 German MGs, all with the 127th Regiment.

Jeff

[Tosun Saral]

Maj. Gen.Cemil Conk " Çanakkale Hatıraları" (Memories of Gallipoli)

Lt. Col. Cemil Bey commanded the 36th Inf. Regt. at Kerevizdere fights.
He commanded the 4th Div. After Kannangiesser was wounded by a MG bullet at the chest, he was made the commander of 9th Div. where he fouıght the Conkbayiri battle. After the civil reforms of Turkish Republic he got the surname /familyname "Conk"

About Turkish MGs at Gallipoli

"On August 7th 1915 at 11:10 I received a 6 articled order from Esat Pasha the commander of North Group. In the last article he was stating that "today towrds noon 12 MGs will be coming to Bigali. The officers and the crew are Germans. They are ordered to serve under your order at your region. Contact with them and order them their positions which you wish"
I immediately send an officer to Bigali for that MGs"

"At 14:30 the MGs arrived. The German officer commanding the group told me that only he himself and a NCO could use the guns. I gave this officer with 4 MGs to the order of 24th Regt and NCO with 4 MGs to the order of 14th Regt. The rest I wanted to send to Wilmer Bey at Anafartalar. ButI couldnt find a way to send them. For that reason I left them behind."

http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic. ... k&start=15

[stevebecker]

Mates,

Thank you for that detailed answer on this subject.

I didn't know that the Germans sent Naval MG crews to help at Suvla, the only ones I knew of were those sent to Hells.

Thats adds to our knowage of this sad campaign.

S.B

[turcoscot]

Dear Steve,
I was looking for something else on the Bundesarchiv web site, and found a photo of the German Mg battalion at Gallipoli. If you search on turkei 1914-1918 it will pop up, along with several others.

Hope this helps,

Reha