Ottoman 12 Division Machine Guns at 2nd Anafartalar

[johnshep]

I am posting in the hope that those with access to the Turkish Official Histories or other Ottoman sources might be able to provide some insights on the deployment of machine guns by the Ottoman 12 Division on or around 21 August, 1915.

We know from the OB chart that in the sector occupied by 12 Division, there were 2 German machine guns under the command of the Bursa Jandarma and a further 4 under the command of 36 Infantry Regiment making six in all.

In a recent posting jwsleser has confirmed that the Bursa Jandarma had been reduced to 2 companies at about that time. The chart from the Turkish OH dated 27 August shows them to be situated towards the southern area of Ismailoglu Tepe, and if it is safe to assume the 2 German machine guns were in the same area on 21st, it would certainly tie in with reports in British war diaries and letters of enfilading fire on Hill 70 from the direction of Ismailoglu Tepe / Hill 112.

This leaves the 4 with 36 Infantry Regiment. Reports in the war diaries of 1 Border Regiment refer to heavy fire from a knoll to the north-east of Hill 70 - grid ref 105 D8 on the 1;20,000. The post-action 1:5,000 map seems to indicate that this had been used a heavily defended redoubt, so it might seem reasonable to speculate that this had been the position of one or maybe more of the remaining 4 machine guns. The difficulty is that 36 Infantry Regiment is shown on the chart mentioned as being well to the north of Hill 70 - between Sulajic and Kuchuk Anafarta Ova in fact.

Could one or more of 36 Regiment's machine guns have been (temporarily?) under the command of 35 Infantry Regiment who are shown on the chart as being deployed on, and to the north of, Hill 70? And do the sources provide any clues as to the positions of any remaining machine guns?

Any assistance gratefully received.

John