Turkish Units in Salonika Campaign

[Guest dr_gobson]

When looking for photo refences for Turkish Cavalry in the Imperial War Museum collection I came across a photo described as -

"TURKISH FORCES IN THE SALONIKA CAMPAIGN 1915-1918

A Turkish Cavalry patrol passing through a village in eastern Macedonia."

Does anyone know what Turkish units were involved in the Salonika campaign and where they operated and over what period ?

TIA

[Tom W.]

The Turks sent the 50th Infantry Division to Salonika on September 12, 1916. It arrived in early October. The 50th Division was commanded by Staff Lieutenant Colonel Sükrü Naili and had 11,979 men armed with 11,320 rifles, 12 machine guns, and 16 cannons. On the Salonika front it deployed next to the Bulgarian 10th Infantry Division; it moved two regiments forward and kept one in reserve.

On November 27, 1916, in response to Bulgarian and German requests, the Turks sent the XX Corps (26th and 54th Infantry Divisions) and 46th Infantry Division To Salonika. The 46th Infantry Division had 12,609 men armed with 9,858 rifles, 12 machine guns, and 16 cannons.

The Turks withdrew the XX Corps and 46th and 50th Infantry Divisions in April of 1917. These units went back to Turkish Thrace. One unidentified infantry regiment remained in Macedonia until the Bulgarians signed an armistice on September 30, 1918.

(Edward J. Erickson, Ordered to Die: a History of the Ottoman Army in the First World War. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 2001. Pages 147-149.)

In January 1916 the Rumelia Field Detachment (177th Infantry Regiment) transferred from Thrace to the 1st Bulgarian Army at Monastir.

(Nigel Thomas and Dusan Babac. Armies in the Balkans 1914-18. Osprey Men-at-Arms 356. Oxford: Osprey Publishing, 2001. Page 19.)

[infantry]

One unidentified infantry regiment remained in Macedonia until the Bulgarians signed an armistice on September 30, 1918.

(

That unnamed regiment is no other than 177th Regimental Group

[Tom W.]

Thanks.