Eastern Europe

This is a subject often overlooked and considered as a simple detail in the story of Turkey in the First World War. Many people think that Turkish troops only fought on the Empire’s own territories. However, this was not the case, they did not only fight on their own soil. Nearly 100 thousand Turkish troops were sent to the Eastern European Front in 1916 in order to support the Central Powers efforts against the Russian army. Although they played an important role in the European fronts. However one cannot help thinking that these troops, which were among the creme of the Turkish Army, could be used in more efficient ways, i.e. in fronts where they were needed to protect the motherland.

There is no consensus among Turkish sources about the origins of Turkish participation in the European Eastern Front. In his colossal biography of Enver Paşa, Şevket Süreyya Aydemir argues that Turkey’s allies have not demanded troop support and in fact, Enver’s proposals to send troops were rejected by the German Chief of Staff General Falkenhayn. He states that Falkenhayn’s successor, Hindenburg, agreed, however with some doubts.

Visit the European
fronts

Galicia

Romania

Macedonia

The fact is that in summer 1916, after the Brusilov Offensive, Central Powers had a big manpower gap in the Eastern Power and an urgent request was made to Turkey by General Falkenhayn who asked the Turkish High Command to supply troops in order to fill those gaps. Austrians were not very comfortable with this decision, but they were persuaded. Germans were thinking that Turkey had a surplus of available divisions, especially since the Gallipoli campaign was over. As a result of the agreement with the German High Command, Turkey decided to send its XV Army Corps to Galicia, XI Army Corps to Romania, XX Army Corps and 177th Infantry Regiment to Macedonia.

Troops sent to Europe were looking very different than those who were defending the home territory. These divisions were made of the most elite officers of the Turkish army and also the troops were well-built, young and well-equipped. Enver Paşa wanted the crème of the Turkish Army to serve in the European fronts, but this was done at the expense of taking away the best talents from the units fighting to defend the Turkish homeland.

The total number of Turkish troops served in the European Eastern Front vary between 117,000 and 130,000 according to different Turkish sources. Nearly 8,000 of them were killed in action with another 22,000 being wounded.

An interesting note about Turkish involvement in European theater of war is mentioned by Şefik Ertem. This work states that the Turkey's allies have asked the Ottoman government for to pay for all expenses Turkish troops had at the fronts. These expenses even included ammunition, food and medical material.