TheOttomandefensewasreadywhentheFranco-Britishinvasionbeganon 24
April.
ThebattlefortheÇanakkalepeninsulawasaprimeexampleofcombinedarms
warfare.Thebattleprovedaninstructiveexperienceforallcombatpartiesin-
volved.²³³Thiswasespeciallythecaseforthemorethan 3000 Germansoldiers
thatsawactionduringthecampaign.Whentheinvadersforces’advancehad
cometoahaltsoonafterthelandingsandthesituationbegantoresemblethe
stalemateontheWesternfront,Germanminewarfarespecialistswerecalledin.
MinewarfarewasamilitarytechnologywellknowntotheOttomanarmiesof
thepast.Duringthecampaignsofthe1 6 thandthe 18 thcenturies,theOttoman
armyhadmadeextensiveuseofundergroundminewarfare.Thereafter,bythein-
creasinglydefensivemilitarysituationoftheOttomanstate,thistypeofwarfare
hadpassedintooblivion.NowtheOttomanarmywastobenefitfromtheGerman
experiencederivedfromtheJapaneserolemodelandtheGermanapplicationat
theWesternfrontsincelate1 91 4.²³⁴TheGermanarmy“dominatedminingduring
191 4to1 915 andcontinuedtomaintainsupremacyagainstFrancethroughout
thewar.”²³⁵However,thisreferredtothedivisionallevel,whereasthetechniques
oftheBritisharmyweresuperioratthelevelofsmall-scaletactics.
Theprincipleofminewarfarewassimpleandhadonlyslightlychanged
sinceitsusebytheOttomanforcesintheearlymodernperiod.Bydiggingunder-
groundtunnels,theengineersquadcarefullyapproachedtheenemypositions,
wheretheyplacedexplosivesinordertoblowuptheenemypositionsbyremote
ignition.Theblastmostlykilledtheenemytroopsinthisareaandcreatedagap
withintheenemylines,whichwastobefilledbytheowninfantrywaitinginthe
rear.Suchtactics“wereasymptomofthedeadlockratherthanthekeytounlock
it.”²³⁶Althoughtheydidnotsolvethegeneralproblemofthestalemate,they
wereappliedforseveralmonthsduring1 915 ontheGallipolipeninsula.Yet
theOttomanarmyhadtofollowtheBritishleadtopreventabreakthrough;a
pointwheretheGermanspecialistswereaskedforsupport.
InGallipoli,Germanydeployedengineerprivates,whichweretocollaborate
withtheOttomandiggingsquads.OneoftheseGermanspecialistswasAdolf
ZaferToprak,“Çanakkale’deKara,DenizveHavaGücüKoordinasyonu”[Thecoordination
ofarmy,navyandairforceinÇanakkale]ToplumsalTarih 111 (2003), 84 – 93.
SimonJones,UndergroundWarfare, 1914 – 1918 (Barnsley:Pen&SwordMilitary,2010), 17.
Jones,UndergroundWarfare,2 53.
Jones,UndergroundWarfare, 92.
FromGallipolitoGalicia:thestaticwarfareexperience 79