Ottoman Army uniforms during the Great War

 

In 1909 a khaki coloured uniform had been introduced in the Ottoman Army. The traditional fez had been replaced by the so called kabalak, a rather peculiar headgear made from strips of cloth wrapped around a wicker frame and looking a bit like a sun-helmet. Officers had a sheepskin cap, a so called kalpak, (also often worn by the cavalry) but in the line they also wore the kabalak. The most common colour of uniform was, as mentioned khaki, but the variation in this, and in boots, was big: an almost infinite number of shades of khaki, beige and brown could be seen. The uniform consisted of a jacket with one row of buttons and a standing collar, short pants and puttees, plus brown coloured leather gear. The Ottoman state hadn’t really the industrial capacity to support their big Army for such a long war, and as a consequence the Ottoman soldiers often could be seen with old, mended or improvised clothing. As the war wore and, the biggest problem turned out to be footwear, that was often bad or even lacking. 

When it came to insignias and such, branch of service was indicated by coloured collars for officers and on the edging of officers kalabak, collar patches for the other ranks. The basic branch colour of the Infantry was olive green, of machine-gun companies grass green, of the cavalry light grey, and of the artillery dark blue. Ranks of officers was indicated by silver pips and golden braiding on shoulder-boards. (Members of the General Staff had Red braids on their trousers.) Ranks of NCO ranks were shown by stripes around the sleeve.  

This on the rank insignia of the Ottoman Army in WW1, comes from a contemporary British Source, kindly supplied by Cristiano Campos:

"The rank of officers is shown in general by the shoulder cords, though there are also sonic other minor distinctive marks in full dress. The shoulder cords are of universal pattern, and are worn equally with the service jacket, the tunic, and the greatcoat; they are gilt for combatants branches, silver for non- combatants. The design of the lace is of three different kinds, one for generals, one for field officers., and the third for officers below that rank. White stars differentiate the grades within these three groups of ranks. Thus:

3 Stars	Marshal	-	Kol aghassi (a sort of middle rank between major & captain.
2 stars	General	Colonel	Captain
1 Star	Lieutenant-general	Lieutenant-colonel	Lieutenant
No Star	Major-general	Major	2nd Lieutenant

The minor distinctive marks, also warn in full dress, are increased gold braiding on the cuffs and collar of the tunic for general and field officers; thick gold fringe on the general's, epaulettes; thin fringe on those of field officers, and plain epau­lettes for officers below that rank.

Capes are sometimes worn by officers in which case the stars denoting rank are shown on collar patches of the distinctive colour.

Non-comissioned officers are distinguished from rank and file by having coloured shoulder straps, of distinctive colour for the arm to which they belong. To distinguish the various grades of non-commissioned officers, broad transverse bands are added (gilt for combatant ranks, silver for non-combatant). Sergeants have one band, assistant sergeant-majors two bands, and sergeant-majors three bands. Corporals have no band. The shoulder straps are bordered with red edging, and sergeant-majors also wear a red tassel to their side orms.

A further distinction of bands of distinctive colour above the cuffs is also now being introduced : in this case a corporal will have one broad band, a sergeant one broad and one narrow, an assistant sergeant-major two broad, and a sergeant-major three broad bands,

In action there has been a tendency on the part of officers to discard all b adges of rank. Those who were captured on the Canal in February 1915 had their shoulder straps in their pockets for production when required."

For more info on Ottoman Army uniforms, click here!

The Ottoman soldiers personal equipment was in many aspects German in design, although simplified, while the weapons themselves were almost exclusively of German make. Beginning in 1917 a simple steel helmet of German-inspired design was introduced, but it never came into general use: like the kabalak it lacked visor, actually for religious reasons. The standard infantry rifle was the 7.65mm Turkish Mauser, of either model M.1893 or the M.1903. Bayonets were also of German manufacture, while some Ottoman infantry could be seen with combat knives stuck in their boots. The Cavalry were armed with a rifle or carbine, often the Turkish Mauser M.1905. The Ottomans used German MG/08 Heavy Machine-Guns.

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On Turkish Artillery

The Ottoman army fielded the 9cm c73 variant in substantial numbers.  It's replacement, the Krupp 75mm commercial version of the c96 n/A equipped their first line divisions.  Korps artillerie was represented by the 15cm c93 sFH, some  21cm Msr, and some L 15cm RKanone. They had a host of small mountain howitzers and guns.  Some 10.5cm lFH had begun to arrive also when the war began.  Their fortress artillerie was basic Krupp from the 80s.  Additionally, the Asia Korps sprinkled their modest, but excellent artillerie around too.  There were examples of new pieces from the Skoda 15cm M14, to th 13cm K.  The Germans even sent a batterie of 7,7cm  L FK L/35 (Franz.) to serve in the desert. An interesting story reputes the Turks managed to high-jack a shipment of brand new Schneider 75mm guns in route to Serbia in 1912.   There is some obvious truth to the story as a 1918 post-hostilities photo shows a number of these guns in a British captured weapons pool somewhere outside Jerusalem. - Jack Mueller