A 110 years old Turkish Ghazi/veteran remembers:The Gas unit

Discussions on the final era of the Ottoman Empire, from the Young Turk Revolution of 1908 until the Treaty of Lausanne in 1923.
Post Reply
Tosun Saral
Member
Posts: 4079
Joined: 02 Nov 2005, 20:32
Location: Ankara/Turkey
Contact:

A 110 years old Turkish Ghazi/veteran remembers:The Gas unit

#1

Post by Tosun Saral » 20 Nov 2005, 00:59

Yakup Satar was a Tartar Turk borned in 1893 at Crimea. His father Zeki Bey was one of the Tartar leaders who fought for independence againts Russians. As a result of their defeat they had to refuge to homeland Ottoman Turkey.

Yakup enlisted the Turkish army in 1915. After his training in Istanbul, he was chosen as one of the 200 soldiers by some German Officers and was taken to another training camp outside Istanbul. Yakup Satar, 110 years old, told his story to Ersin Kalkan, a journalist from the Turkish newspaper “Hürriyet” on October 20th 2003. “We had special German made uniforms. They gave us masks. We usually joked among us while we are wearing masks on our faces.We had some tupes without powder which we had to carry on our back. Later we learned that our company was called “gazcilar”, the gasmen. Germans ordered us throwing gas to the enemy instead of bullets. They also warned us for keeping our mouths closed. Even, we should not have sent letters to our families about our training.”

After training, 50 of them including Yakup Satar was sent to Baghdad front by train in a special wagon concentrated from other military troops. He was not informed about the rest’s address. He goes on telling “After a long journey we arrived Baghdad. We were staying in tents, in desert. We waited nearly for a month for the equipment. We were not allowed to talk with the other soldiers. 6 months later, we got orders from Istanbul: Our troop was prohibited to use poisonous gas. At the same time British troops were advancing to Basra. Thus, our troops colluded and I was missioned in an MG company.”

Infantry soldier Yakup Satar was taken prisioner by the British forces during the battles in Iraq. After his release he joined the national forces of Mustafa Kemal during the War of Independence (1919-22). He retired from the army as master sargeant.

bob lembke
In memoriam
Posts: 774
Joined: 31 Oct 2004, 19:53
Location: Philadelphia, PA

Gazcilar

#2

Post by bob lembke » 21 Nov 2005, 07:22

Merhaba, Tosun!

Very interesting!

I probably have asked you before, but do you know anything about Turkish troops training with or using flame throwers? I understand that the Germans gave the Turks 30 sets of equipment, and I have seen a picture that seems to show a Turkish flame thrower squad training in Galicia.

Allahaismarladik, 1)

Bob Lembke

1) Yes, I know that the "i"s are all wrong.


Tosun Saral
Member
Posts: 4079
Joined: 02 Nov 2005, 20:32
Location: Ankara/Turkey
Contact:

#3

Post by Tosun Saral » 21 Nov 2005, 12:54

Sevgili Bob, I am looking after flamethrowers of Galicya Front. If I find ı will inform you.
Tosun

PS My late father Major General Ahmet Hulki Saral was the reorganizer of the Askeri Muze in 1956 while he was director of the museum. During the WW2 the treasures of the museum was transported to Konya because of the thread of advancing Germans.

Post Reply

Return to “The end of the Ottoman Empire 1908-1923”