Bosphorus defences info needed

[Guest Eugen Pinak]

Hello all,

Anybody has information about Bosphorus defences during WW I: number and caliber of guns, location of forts and field fortifications.

Any iformation about Turkish units (divisions, corps) in the vicinity of Bosphorus duting the Summers of 1915 and 1916 is much appreciated as well.

Thank you in advance,

Eupen Pinak

[gerryl]

Hello all,

Anybody has information about Bosphorus defences during WW I: number and caliber of guns, location of forts and field fortifications.

Any iformation about Turkish units (divisions, corps) in the vicinity of Bosphorus duting the Summers of 1915 and 1916 is much appreciated as well.

Thank you in advance,

Eupen Pinak

Hi Euren,

The first two forts entering the straits of the Dardanelles were Kum Kale on the south part and Sedul Bahr on the north. Together with the other 13 forts they had about 100 guns up to 14in calibre. There were 60.000 turkish troops in 6 divisions under german and turkish generals.

Regards

Gerryl

[jwsleser]

Eugen

The Çanakkale defenses are complex. The best I can offer is to scan the map of the defenses from the Turkish official history and post it to you. While in Turkish, most of the information is easy to understand. I can offer the same for the Ottoman forces in the area as of April 1915.

Jeff

[michaeldr]

Eugen,

Have a look at the info & map here supplied by one of our Turkish Pals

It should be of help

http://1914-1918.org/forum/index.php?showt...rkish+batteries

Regards

Michael D.R.

[Guest Eugen Pinak]

Hello all,

With all my respect it seems that you misunderstood me. I have a lot of information about defences and troops in Dardanelles (Çanakkale) area - including those great info I've found on this forum.

What I need is similar information about Bosphorus area. I am trying to figure out this possibility of Russian landing near Bosphorus durind the Summer of 1915 or 1916. I was able to find some info about Russian plans, forces, etc. But I have almost no info about Turkish side.

Best regards,

Eugen Pinak

[jwsleser]

Eugen

My apologies for not carefully reading your post. You have asked a difficult question. Most of my information is from the Turkish official histories. While providing excellent information on all the combat fronts, the one area not covered in any detail is Thrace and the area around Istanbul. Part of my research has been to understand how Ottoman units were raised during the war. Many units were created/rebuilt while attached to the 1st and 2nd Army. The official history doesn’t address these armies except in general terms. I haven’t read anything discussing the Bosphorus defenses. If any of the Turkish members of this group has this information, I too am interested in the answer to your question.

I will check to see which units were available to defend the city during this time period. I will also check the histories of the Turkish War of Independence and the 1912-13 Balkan War to see if the defenses are addressed during those periods. While not specific to your time period, they might offer what was there in terms of forts and armaments. The Balkan War history might have some detail on the fixed defenses as the fighting did get close to Istanbul. I don’t recall reading anything in detail on this, but I will take a closer look in case I missed something.

Jeff

[jwsleser]

Eugen

I looked through the Balkan and Turkish War of Independence series. No help on the Bosphorus defenses. I will continue to look at other sources, but I feel a Turkish member with access to a good library is required to answer this question.

Have a great day!

Jeff