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Amphibious landing at Alexandretta?


Thomas

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As early as 1914 some British officers were calling for an amphibious landing behind Turkish lines in Palestine but was rejected throughout the war could an amphibious landing to the north of Palestine brought an early end to the conflict in the Palestine theatre?

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Kitchener proposed this scheme to Maxwell in November 1914 as an attack on what was seen as a bottle-neck in the Turkish communications south from Anatolia to Palestine and Arabia. The General Staff in London were against it militarily and politically it was seen as unsound, since the support of the 'locals' could not be guarantied.

The idea was again put up, this time by Maxwell, in November 1915 when Kitchener was deciding to evacuate Gallipoli. Again the scheme was not supported and this time the French sat on it. This area was already seen by them as within their sphere of influence and since they could not handle the operation themselves it was again dropped.

The troop requirements of Egypt and the defence of the Suez Canal were always uppermost in the minds of the planners. They probably overestimated the Turkish ability to pose a real and substantial threat by underestimating his losses on Gallipoli and his difficulties in finding the numbers of troops which he also had to supply to other fronts such as Mesopotamia and the Caucuses. In consequence the British overestimated their requirements for troops to be held in Egypt and in fact they probably could have spared the forces for an attack at Ayas Bay or Alexandretta.

However, at least in November 1915, their recent experience of an opposed amphibious landing at Gallipoli must have given them pause for thought, never mind the opposition of their French allies.

Regards

Michael D.R.

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Thank you Michael D.R for your contribution. I can certainly see why the French woudn't be to happy with British troops in Alexandretta because of it's importance to them as a sphere of influence after the war. Allenby raised the suggestion of landing in Alexandretta again in 1918 before the Battle of Meggido, but was over ruled by London. Surely if a landing had taken place then the entire Turkish seventh, eighth and possibly the second armies could have been completely destroyed.

I'd like to hear your view on this.

P.S do you know of any French or Italian troops fighting in Palestine and not directly under British control.

Regards, Thomas McCall

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Thomas,

Sorry, but there is not much more that I can add

The plans were probably taken down and dusted off every now and again to see if there was anything worth following up on but from here it is hard for me to tell how serious they were.

There is a theory that they were encouraged in late 1915 only as a ploy to keep Birdwood and Maxwell quiet. They both had doubts about the negative impact in "the east" arising from the Anglo-French withdrawal/defeat at Gallipoli and a landing at Ayas Bay was seen as a way of counteracting this loss of face by the Europeans. When Birdie and Maxwell were reconciled to withdrawal from Gallipoli the plans for another landing were quietly shelved. A few months later the Sykes-Picot Agreement was secretly signed and France became the dominant power in this particular corner of the middle-east.

Regards

Michael D.R.

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