From Gallipoli...Really?

Abundantly published and disseminated poster. Interesting effort.

One of them wearing a German aviator cap. The shamelessly reproduced poster photoshops it out. Date on the back is 1918, after the Gallipoli Campaign. The same historic necrophilia that boasts the military losses up to 250 000 is at work again. This truly is an asymmetric war against the Turkish military. At the end of the Great War Russian and Austrian armies totally collapsed. Only the Ottoman army could claim to be standing strong (even with 500000 deserters) with arms and supplies in a fighting formation.

The picture possibly shows a 1917 (post Gallipoli) model LVG CV Benz engine (1x 200hp Benz Bz IV) Large general-purpose reconnaissance two-seater built by the Luft Verkehrs Gesellschaft at the back ground. The condition of the soldiers possibly point to the Middle East/Mesopotamia campaign where supplies were extremly hindered and at least two of this type planes were present in Palestine. Originally no German aviation units served in Mesopotamia, although German personal were attached to Ottoman aviation units such as Ottoman 6 Flying Battalion. The Bavarian Squadron 304 were stationed at Merhavya from November 1917. August 22 - an LVG was brought down near Tireh and August 31 - an LVG came toppling down from 12 000 ft near Mejdel Gab.

Mavi Boncuk |
Air Campaign for Gallipoli

The British early on had mostly seaplanes [1]. Some examples were the Wight A1, Sopwith 807, Short 135 & 184. Landplanes included Farmans, Nieuports, BEs and Voisins. At the beginning of the Expedition, the Allied main aircraft was the Sopwith Tabloid seaplane. At the beginning of hostilities in Gallipoli, the French stationed a squadron or Escadrille consisting of eight Farman HF.20 aircraft stationed at Bozcaada.

The types of aircraft used by the Turks at Gallipoli in 1915-16 were various early Albatros B-type, LVG B-type, and Gotha floatplanes. The Albatross B.I was a reconnaissance aircraft that first entered front-line service in late 1913. The B.I was one of the first aircraft to be built with the position of the pilot and observer in a side-by-side tandem configuration. Ottoman air squadrons had used Bleriot, REP, and Mars aircraft during the Balkan Wars with Bulgaria in 1912-13. [*]The German Marine unit at Gallipoli (later called the Wasserfliegerabteilung) had arrived in late spring 1915 in the area but was firstly only equipped with unarmed aircraft and in late summer they began receiving better Gotha Seaplanes. The group’s first commander was Lieutenant Ludwing Preussner, he was soon replaced by Captain Tahsin. On July 13th, the group was reinforced by four new aircraft. Other German aircraft reached this theatre of war in April 1915, as unarmed B-types[2]. Later these double seaters used also MGs as observers. Siegert (Funken aus der Luftwaffenschmiede) reported the use of Albatros C.577/15 for 5. January 1916. David Nicolle's "the Ottoman army 1914-18" reports that the Turks begun aerial recoinassance above the Straits already in Aug 1914 with a Nieuport seaplane ( one of the Nieuport 6Hs received by Turkish army in 1914). The squadron, which was composed of a mixture of German and Turkish pilots, made on September 18th, one of the most astonishing discoveries of the campaign. The squadron commander, Captain Korner, reported on that morning that he saw for the first time a decrease in the number of enemy forces at Gallipoli. German naval pilot Wilhelm Schubert[3] (1879-1972)served in this unit and supposedly scored 5 victories over Gallipoli area.

On the European Continent, the series of quick German victories on the Easter Front pushed Bulgaria to join the Central Power in September 1916. With Bulgaria in their pocket, and the collapse of the Serb resistance a month later, the Germans were now able to re-supply the Ottomans with aircraft, parts and ammunition from the vast railroad system now available to them. A fact not lost on the Allied high command. As the flow of aircraft began to increase, so did the Turk’s air force capabilities. By late September, the Ottomans had setup another seaplane base near Canakkale. From there, the five assigned Gothas WD2 seaplanes began to harass the allied-held airfields of Imbros and Tenedos(Bozcaada).

By August 10th, the allies knew the situation on the peninsula had deteriorated to a point that they could not sustain reliable combat operations on the Conkbayiri line. On the other front, Anafartalar, the allies attacked once more on the morning of August 13th, but the assault was turned back with relative ease. By the 17th, the third and last great battle for Anafartalar was over. Despite the fact that all the allied vessels in the area bombarded the Turkish defensive positions, the Ottomans held. A series of bloody battles continued until Lord Kitchener visited the Gallipoli beachhead on November 14th.

A month later, the French and British high commands decided to abandon the campaign. Now they would retreat to the sea as fast as possible. During the retreat operation, the R.N.A.S. Number 2 squadron, augmented by kite balloons from balloon-carrying ships; gave cover to the ground and naval forces. They were able to keep the rapidly expanded Ottoman air force in check during most of the retreat. What the Turks could not do in aerial combat, they did on reconnaissance operations. Observation reports from the abandoned allied positions revealed to them the scope of their enemy’s retreat. Occasionally, Turkish seaplanes were deployed in bombing missions over the allied camps and artillery positions. In all, Turkish seaplanes dropped more than thirty three free-fall bombs hitting seventeen different targets.

When the allies finally evacuated the peninsula in January 1916, the aerial defence of the entire Dardanelles sector of operations were assigned to the newly formed Dardanelles Squadron. Meanwhile, Fliegerabteilung Number 1 remained in constant combat readiness at Galata.

[*] Mario (Mauricio) Scherff flew observation and aerial bomb dropping missions around Edirne in Thrace. Scherff, in his memoirs published in "Das Buch der deutschen Fluggeschichte" by Peter Supf, claims his observer Yuzbasi (Captain) Kemal was the same person as Mustafa Kemal Ataturk which is not true of course. At the time Scherff was performing these flights, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk held the rank of Binbasi (Major) and he was the operations officer of the Ottoman corps stationed at Gallipoli.

[1] Kitchener denied Hamilton air reconnaissance prior to the landing. There was no air support for the British and ANZAC forces. Before the Allies decided to launch their major naval offensive, scout planes were sent out only to look for the locations of mines in the Straits. At that time, sea mines were normally placed at a depth of about 9 m.. They could be easy recognized from high altitudes. During the Allies reconnaissance missions, there were prevailing heavy seas in the operational area. Thus, the aircrews reported back to their home ships that the area appeared to be mine-clear. The Irresistible, Bouvet, and Ocean were sunk immediately after contact with mines, while the Inflexible, Suffren and Gaulois were heavily damaged.
[2] The Rumplers B models were recycled as trainers after the Gallipoli campaign.
[3] Schubert joined the force in 21. March 21, 1898 as a cadet. In the First World War Schubert was first liaison officer to the 1st Bulgarian army in 1915 and afterwards until spring 1918 to the 2nd Bulgarian army. He was Military Atteche "Militärattaché" in Moscow from May to November 1918.

"At around 4:00pm, the Turks launched another scout mission over the Straits. A second sortie, by the Rumpler, took part two and half hours later. Both of these missions were intended to locate Allied ships west of Limni. During the first sortie, it was observed that the Allied armada stationed there was commencing retreating maneuvers from that specific area of operations, a fact confirmed by the second patrol aircraft. The next four days saw the grounding of the Turkish aircraft due to bad weather. Activity picked up in the morning hours of the 22nd, when a Turkish artillery shell hit a Royal Navy scout plane, forcing it to crash land at the Bay of Saroz. Another Turkish patrol mission was performed in the early morning hours of the 26th, again to Limni, and again the scout plane reported the Allied pull-out of the area. On this same day, the Turkish air forces on the Gallipoli area received two additional B1. Albatross courtesy of the German government.

While the Ottoman’s crude air arm was primarily used in a reconnaissance roll, it provided to the Turks with valuable information to the whereabouts of the Allied armada, the French and British air effort was more offensive in its profile."
Source: Air Effort over Gallipoli: A Brief Look at the Air Campaign over the Dardanelles by Raul Colon.