From Gaza to Jerusalem
Page 31
The basic infantry weapon was the .303in calibre Short Magazine Lee–Enfield (SMLE) rifle, which was rugged and accurate and came with a bayonet. Machine guns were also issued. The ‘heavy’ types, initially the Maxim but later the Vickers Machine Gun with a four-man crew, were used by battalion level units who could be moved around to where they were needed. Each platoon had its own ‘light’ machine guns with two-man crews, either Lewis guns or the French Hotchkiss gun. Both of these lighter types had magazines with open sections that easily became clogged and jammed in sandy conditions.
Battalions were usually numbered as part of a larger regiment, although this latter was a largely administrative designation. As a rule, the 1st and 2nd Battalions of a regiment were the regular troops, the 3rd and 4th Battalions the part-time soldiers of the Territorial Army, and the 5th and 6th Battalions the nominal formations of the Reserves (soldiers who had served as regulars, and bound to act as a reserve force for a set number of years). With the massive expansion of the army in 1914, many new battalions were established. The Territorial Army was meant only for home defence and not obliged to serve overseas, but the vast majority volunteered to do so anyway. As a result, a ‘second line’ of battalions was established to take their place. The original units, with a ‘1/’ prefix, were despatched to the war, while battalions with a ‘2/’ prefix were raised at home. Many of these units, once fully trained, were despatched to Egypt, and a ‘third line’ (‘3/’) were raised in their place. Many of these third-line units would be sent to the front later in the war, and a fourth line established at home. The Indian, Australian and New Zealand forces had a straightforward numerical system of units, and the above system should not be confused with the Gurkha system of having multi-battalion regiments. For example, the 2/7th Gurkha Rifles refers to the 2nd Battalion of the 7th Regiment.
On active service, the regiment was (for infantry) a largely irrelevant concept. Instead, three or four battalions were grouped together to form brigades. Above that, three or four brigades were grouped into divisions, and two to four divisions would make up a corps. Brigades, divisions and corps had additional support troops attached, ranging from artillery and cavalry to signals, medical and administrative units.
The artillery were split into several groups, each prefixed in the British service with the title ‘Royal’. Horse artillery were the fast moving, lighter guns that would give close support to attacks. Field artillery were heavier guns for harder pounding, generally more sedentary and further back from the front lines. Garrison artillery were the big guns mostly used in static positions, such as coastal defences or fortresses, although they also operated some of the larger battlefield guns and mortars. The Indian forces also had mountain artillery, which were light guns (sometimes known as ‘screw guns’) that could be dismantled and carried to otherwise inaccessible areas on the backs of elephants, camels or mules. Artillery forces were usually organised into batteries of six field guns (or four for the Royal Horse Artillery) or four howitzers, which could be further split into sections.
Unlike the infantry, for the cavalry a regiment was a battlefield unit. As a note on terminology, technically the British, Australian and New Zealand cavalry were actually mounted rifles, who were to ride into battle and then fight on foot, although they would act like traditional cavalry when it came to scouting before and after battle, and even occasionally fight mounted.
In peacetime cavalry units did not have separate equivalents to battalions, although some formed second line units after the outbreak of the war. A regiment consisted of just over 500 officers and men, divided into three squadrons of 150 men plus a headquarters and a machine-gun section. Each squadron was sub-divided into four troops, and each troop into sections of four men. These men would ride four abreast on the march. As, in the vast majority of cases, the cavalry were supposed to only ride into action, and then fight on foot, one of those four would lead the horses of the other three to safety in battle. Obviously, this greatly weakened the fighting strength of the unit.
Cavalry could be grouped together in brigades and divisions, and would be in Egypt and Palestine, but could also be attached as individual regiments to infantry divisions or corps. Here, they would be on hand to act as scouts or messengers for the different headquarters, or as a highly mobile reserve, that could be despatched quickly to a point of danger or opportunity.
The Imperial Camel Corps were mounted infantry, in that they were mounted, but equipped and organised on the same company and battalion pattern as the infantry were. There were four battalions, any three of which served together as the Imperial Camel Corps Brigade, while the fourth was on detached garrison and patrol duties in Egypt. These battalions rotated that duty.
APPENDIX C:
ORDERS OF BATTLE, 1/5TH KING’S OWN SCOTTISH BORDERERS’ RAID ON SEA POST, 11 JUNE 1917
First Wave: (OC Assault Lieutenant Turner)
Left Assault Party:
1 officer (2/Lieutenant MacKinnon), 15 riflemen (5 armed with hatchets)
2 x bombing parties: Each of 1 NCO, 2 throwers, 2 bayonet men, and 2 bomb carriers
2 sandbaggers (each with a shovel and 25 empty bags)
Followed by: 1 Royal Engineer and 3 other ranks with heavy axes
(All drawn from D Company)
Right Assault Party:
1 officer (Lieutenant McGeorge), 15 riflemen (5 armed with hatchets)
2 x bombing parties: Each of 1 NCO, 2 throwers, 2 bayonet men and 2 bomb carriers
2 sandbaggers (each with a shovel and 25 empty bags)
Followed by: 1 Royal Engineer and 3 other ranks with heavy axes
(1 bombing party from B Company, all others from C Company)
Second Wave: (OC Supports Captain Sir R.G.W. Grierson)
Reserve Assault Party:
1 officer (Lieutenant Muir), 15 riflemen (5 armed with hatchets)
2 x bombing parties: Each of 1 NCO, 2 throwers, 2 bayonet men and 2 bomb carriers
2 sandbaggers (each with a shovel and 25 empty bags)
(All from A Company)
Support Party:
1 officer (Capt. Penman) and 25 riflemen
Booty party: 10 other ranks (to collect enemy weapons, equipment or documents)
(All from C Company)
Others:
Battalion bombing officer (Lieutenant Burt, attached from 1/5th Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders)
5 Royal Engineers
2 axemen (from A Company)
6 bomb carriers
Support Signal Party: 1 NCO, 1 telephone operator and 1 linesman, plus 8 runners
4 stretcher-bearers (2 stretchers) (from A Company)
Third Wave:
Bombing reserve: 1 officer and 5 bomb carriers
Reserve signal party: 1 NCO, 2 telephone operators and 2 linesmen, plus runners
2 x demolition parties: Each of 4 Royal Engineers (3 with heavy axes, 1 with a mine)
Medical party: 4 stretcher-bearers (2 stretchers)
Reserve:
2 officers (Capt. Gibson (OC Reserve) and Capt. Johnstone), 60 other ranks (from A Company)
2 x bombing parties: Each of 1 NCO, 2 throwers, 2 bayonet men and 2 bomb carriers (attached from 1/4th KOSB)
1 Lewis gun (from A Company)
12 bomb carriers (from C Company)
2 Royal Engineer parties: Each of 3 Royal Engineers
12 stretcher-bearers (6 stretchers) (from B, C and D Companies)
Beach Party:
1 officer (Lieutenant McEwan), 25 other ranks (from C Company)
1 Lewis gun (from C Company)
1 bombing party: 1 NCO, 2 throwers, 2 bayonet men and 2 bomb carriers (attached from 1/4th KOSB)
Beach Party Reserve:
1 officer (Capt. Scott Elliot), 15 other ranks (from C Company)
1 bombing party: 1 NCO, 2 throwers, 2 bayonet men and 2 bomb carriers (attached from 1/4th KOSB)
3 bomb carriers (from C Company)
4 stretcher-bearers (2 stretchers) (
supplied by 1/4th KOSB)
Regimental Aid Post:
3rd Lowland Field Ambulance
10 stretcher-bearers (5 stretchers) each from 1/4th KOSB and 1/5th Royal Scots Fusiliers
Artillery Support:
A, B and C Batteries, 261st Brigade, Royal Field Artillery
A, B and C Batteries, 262nd Brigade, Royal Field Artillery
A and B Batteries, 267th Brigade, Royal Field Artillery
Total from 1/5th KOSB:
11 officers and 361 NCOs and other ranks
(Not including troops providing supporting fire from 1/4th King’s Own Scottish Borderers, 1/5th Royal Scots Fusiliers, 1/6th and 1/5th Highland Light Infantry, 1/5th Argyll and Sutherland Highlands, 155th Brigade Machine Gun Company, and Royal Field Artillery)
APPENDIX D:
NOTE ON THE STRUCTURE AND EQUIPMENT OF OTTOMAN FORCES
The Ottoman Army had undergone massive reorganisation just before the First World War, as a result of their defeats in the Balkans Wars. These wars had cost the Ottomans some 250,000 men and seen forty-three divisions wiped from their order of battle. They had also led to the loss of much of the empire’s European lands, and with them a significant proportion of their population and their industrial base, both of which losses would lead to considerable problems during the First World War.
The Ottoman Army raised their divisions based on set geographical recruiting areas, and so the loss of the Balkans meant that these had to be redrawn. The army also radically changed its structure in that all reserve units were abolished. Instead of having (as Britain had) specifically reservist battalions, brigades and divisions, all Ottoman front-line units were instead held at a peacetime strength of around 40 per cent. In time of war, reservists were channelled into regular formations to make up their numbers. In this way, all of their units had a solid core of professional soldiers, although equally it meant that each contained a majority of older troops whose training and experience was probably out of date. Despite this, again due to the Balkans Wars, the Ottoman Army had the most experienced army of any of the Great Powers in 1914.
An Ottoman infantry division was built around three infantry regiments. Each division also had an artillery regiment, a cavalry squadron, a pioneers (engineers) company and a sanitation company, to give a full strength of 10,000–12,000 men. An infantry regiment consisted of three battalions, numbered as the 1st, 2nd and 3rd battalions of that particular regiment. Each battalion had four companies, each of four officers and 260 non-commissioned officers and men, as well as a small battalion headquarters and a machine-gun company.
Three divisions would be grouped together to make a corps. These would also have their own artillery regiment and a cavalry regiment attached.
A cavalry regiment consisted of four front-line squadrons of 130 officers and men, plus a regimental headquarters of thirty officers and men. Each regiment also had a fifth squadron that acted as a depot, who trained and provided reinforcements and remounts. The cavalry were armed with carbines and swords, and a few units carried lances.
An artillery regiment, as attached to an infantry division, had either two or three battalions, each of three batteries of four field guns. Those regiments attached to a corps were different, with two mountain-gun battalions (each of three batteries of four guns) and a heavy battalion, of three batteries of six either heavy artillery pieces or howitzers.
All of the above strengths were theoretical, paper-strengths. During the war, few units reached full strength, and by 1917 most were lucky to be at 50 per cent. The Ottomans were perpetually short of officers (who often commanded much higher formations than their British equivalents would, with colonels commanding regiments (equivalent to a brigade) or even divisions) and experienced NCOs, as well as men to fill the ranks. Heavy weaponry was also in extremely short supply, especially artillery and machine guns, many of which had to be supplied by Germany or Austria. Even then, many units were greatly under strength.
At the start of the war, the average Ottoman soldier was well equipped. Their khaki uniform was not unlike British uniforms, and was topped by a ‘kabalak’. This type of hat had been designed by Enver Pasha (and so was also known as an ‘enveriye’) and consisted of a frame around which two long strips of fabric were wound to make the cover. Each man carried a rifle – most commonly an 1893 or 1903 pattern bolt-action, magazine-feed 7.65mm Mauser. For this they carried 130 rounds of ammunition and a bayonet. The quality of uniforms, equipment and boots declined rapidly soon after the start of the war, as the expansion of the army and shortages of raw materials (cotton imports from Egypt were immediately stopped, for example) were felt.
Other supporting services for the front-line troops were also often lacking. Medical services were frequently poorly supplied and under strength, leading to serious health problems and high rates of sickness and disease. The poor food provided for soldiers further exacerbated this. Ottoman soldiers could, indeed had to, survive on rations that their opponents could scarcely believe sustained life. The official rations were meagre, and even these were seldom met in the field, leading to (among other problems) widespread scurvy and dysentery. Pay, which could have been used to buy extra food, was low and usually far in arrears. The ability of the average mehmetçik to endure the harshest of conditions for months on end and still maintain the ability to fight with skill and determination is staggering.
APPENDIX E:
ORDERS OF BATTLE, EGYPTIAN EXPEDITIONARY FORCE,
3RD BATTLE OF GAZA
General Headquarters
Commander-in-Chief: General Sir Edmund H.H. Allenby, KCB
Chief of the General Staff: Major General L.J. Bols, CB DSO
Brigadier General, General Staff: Brigadier General G. Dawnay, DSO MVO
Deputy Adjutant General: Major General J. Adye, CB
Deputy Quartermaster General: Major General Sir Walter Campbell, KCMG CB DSO
Major General, Royal Artillery: Major General S.C.U. Smith, CB
Engineerin-Chief: Major General H.B.H. Wright, CB CMG
Desert Mounted Corps
GOC: Lieutenant General Sir H.G. Chauvel, KCMG CB
General Staff: Brigadier General R.G.H. Howard-Vyse, DSO
Deputy Adjutant and Quartermaster General: Brigadier General E.F. Trew, DSO
GOC Royal Artillery: Brigadier General A.D’A. King, CB DSO
Australian and New Zealand Mounted Division
GOC: Major General E.W.C. Chaytor, CB CMG
1st Australian Light Horse Brigade: Brigadier General C.F. Cox, CB
1st Regt ALH, 2nd Regt ALH, 3rd Regt ALH
2nd Australian Light Horse Brigade: Brigadier General G. de L. Ryrie, CMG
5th Regt ALH, 6th Regt ALH, 7th Regt ALH
New Zealand Mounted Rifles Brigade: Brigadier General W. Meldrum, CB DSO
Auckland M.R. Regt, Canterbury M.R. Regt, Wellington M.R. Regt
Artillery: XVIII Brigade RHA (Inverness, Ayr, and Somerset Btys)
Engineers: A. and NZ Field Sqn
Australian Mounted Division
GOC: Major General H.W. Hodgson, CB CVO
3rd Australian Light Horse Brigade: Brigadier General L.C. Wilson, CMG
8th Regt ALH, 9th Regt ALH, 10th Regt ALH
4th Australian Light Horse Brigade: Brigadier General W. Grant, DSO
4th Regt ALH, 11th Regt ALH, 12th Regt ALH
5th Mounted Brigade: Brigadier General P.D. Fitzgerald, DSO
1/1st Warwick Yeo., 1/1st Gloucester Yeo., 1/1st Worcester Yeo.
Artillery: XIX Brigade RHA (Notts. Bty RHA, ‘A’ and ‘B’ Btys HAC)
Engineers: Australian Mounted Division Field Sqn
Yeomanry Mounted Division
General Officer Commanding (GOC): Major General G. de S. Barrow, CB
6th Mounted Brigade: Brigadier General C.A.C. Godwin
1/1st Bucks Yeo., 1/1st Berks Yeo., 1/1st Dorset Yeo.
8th Mounted Brigade: Brigadier General C.S. Rome
1/1st City of Lo
ndon Yeo., 1/1st County of London (Middlesex) Yeo., 1/3rd County of London Yeo.
22nd Mounted Brigade: Brigadier General F.A.B. Fryer
1/1st Lincs. Yeo., 1/1st Staffs. Yeo., 1/1st E. Riding Yeo.
Artillery: XX Brigade RHA (Berks, Hants, and Leicester Btys)
Engineers: No. 6 Field Sqn RE
Corps Troops
Machine Gun Corps: Nos 2, 3, 11, and 12 Light Armoured Motor Btys
Nos 1 and 7 Light Car Patrols
Attached
7th Mounted Brigade: Brigadier General J.T. Wigan, DSO
1/1st Sherwood Rangers, 1/1st S. Notts. Hussars
Attached: Essex Bty RHA
Imperial Camel Corps Brigade: Brigadier General C.L. Smith, VC MC
2nd (Imperial) Bn, 3rd (A and NZ) Bn, 4th (A and NZ) Bn
Attached: Hong Kong and Singapore Mountain Bty
XX Corps
GOC: Lieutenant General Sir P.W. Chetwode, Bt. KCMG CB DSO
General Staff: Brigadier General W.H. Bartholomew, CMG
Deputy Adjutant and Quartermaster General: Brigadier General E. Evans, DSO
GOC Royal Artillery: Brigadier General A.H. Short, CB
Chief Engineer: Brigadier General R.L. Wailer
53rd (Welsh) Division
GOC: Major General S.F. Mott
158th Brigade: Brigadier General H.A. Vernon, DSO
1/5th R. Welsh Fusiliers, 1/6th R. Welsh Fusiliers, 1/7th R. Welsh Fusiliers, 1/1st Herefordshire Regt
159th Brigade: Brigadier General N.E. Money, DSO
1/4th Cheshire Regt, 1/7th Cheshire Regt, 1/4th Welsh Regt, 1/5th Welsh Regt
160th Brigade: Brigadier General V.L.N. Pearson
1/4th R. Sussex Regt, 2/4th R. West Surrey Regt, 2/4th R. West Kent Regt, 2/10th Middlesex Regt