Ottoman Army at Gallipoli Standard Uniform

[Oilking97]

Hey guys! Hope you are doing well I am writing to ask for some potential research help for a project! My friend and I are working on recreating a figure of a Turkish soldier from the Gallipoli battle, but we aren't sure exactly what the uniform would have been at that point in time. Would anyone be able to provide us with some information as to what the standard uniform and equipment would be and potentially some photos if you have them? I find Turkish history quite fascinating, and this is a passion project of mine, so I would like it to be as accurate as possible! Your help is much appreciated

[von thoma]

I can recommend you the book "Ottoman Infantryman 1914-18 " by David Nicolle
It contains numerous illustrations and photographs, a very complete book on this subject.

[stevebecker]

Mate,

Can I say you have to be careful here about what uniform you want to show.

Von Thoma has shown what many like to think an Ottoman soldier (and Officer) looked like, but in fact a soldier in the field never looked like that.

He was in many cases dressed in rags of his old uniform with a mixture of uniform types and head dress.

There is some debait how much this was in late 1915 as stores had started to arrive in greater amounts (Food and clothing) but how much got down to the common men is unknown?

If you saw the Russel Crowe Movie "The Well Digger" where the Ottoman soldiers make there attack in the first sceanes of the movie, you will see all types of uniforms along with civilian cloths. While I am unsure if the Ottoman Army was so clothed in late 1915, I know at the end of 1918 they were so clothed.

So what I am saying is be careful how you want to show your Ottoman soldier, in fansie dress or as a workmen

S.B

[Oilking97]

I can recommend you the book "Ottoman Infantryman 1914-18 " by David Nicolle
It contains numerous illustrations and photographs, a very complete book on this subject.

Thanks! I managed to get a copy of this. Just curious-how reliable are these books? I've seen numerous things on various forums that say some info in them is wrong!

[jwsleser]

On the whole, the Ottoman Army units at Gallipoli were well armed and equipped at the start of the campaign. These units had not yet seen active service in the war, being held to protect Thrace and western Anatolia. As has been implied, over time the appearance of Ottoman soldiers would deteriorate as uniforms would wear out and not be replaced. Field repairs were common. However, fresh units arriving during the campaign would present a better appearance than those that have been fighting. Given this, the army would provide a very eclectic appearance at any one time.

The main differences would be headdress. The Arab units wore the keffiyeh while the Turks and other ethic groups wore the Kabalak (Enveriye) helmet. Some units had the cotton summer uniforms.

Ottoman soldier.jpg

The official Ottoman uniforms and equipment.

[stevebecker]

Mate,

Jwsleser, makes a good point.

During the summer months the men were in lighter uniforms, while in the later months (Nov Dec 1915) was a bad winter, with heavy losses to the winter weather.

All sides froze, and flash floods caused many losses.

So the men tried to keep warm with what ever they could get.

As I said the Ottoman supply system had some trouble moving all types of things to the front, while some units had winter clothing, not all did, even if some supplies were arriving by late 1915.

Cheers

S.B

[Tosun Saral]

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so that I could show you 1001 photos of turkish WW1 soldiers. cheers from Ankara

[Tom from Cornwall]

There are a few photos of captured Turkish soldiers on the IWM photography section. There are also some rather grim photos taken during one of the truces which occurred so that the dead of both sides could be buried in no man's land which strongly bring home the tragedy of Gallipoli.

The first one might be difficult to recreate.

Gallipoli turkish sniper.PNG

But this second one gives a better idea of the condition of the uniforms of both sides during the fighting; unfortunately there are no dates recorded for the photos.

turkish soldier.PNG

I hope they are useful, for more photographs and examples of captured equipment try looking at this IWM page:

https://www.iwm.org.uk/search/global?qu ... &pageSize=

Regards

Tom

[Oilking97]

Would it be accurate to say that the image below would be a "standard" Ottoman uniform around this period? And did they wear packs?

https://www.ottoman-uniforms.com/s/cc_i ... 1480453683

[stevebecker]

Mate,

From what I seen the photos by Jwsleser are as they would have arrived at the battle area, yes packs and all.

when going in to the trenches these would have been stacked in the rear and not seen until after the relief.

As to your photo, no this was more in Palestine then the normal Ottoman uniform as a type of Green (as shown by Von thoma).

But I am unsure if the desert color uniform was issued or as I seen in many photos these Green uniforms faded over time on operations, like in Palestine.

Uniform replacement was almost unheard of in the Ottoman Army, for the men in the field, and I can't see if a sewing kit was isssued to the Ottoman soldier, like to our boys (The AIF) who could repair or replace worn uniforms.

S.B