fieldofartilleryreformwasputtothetestinGallipoliwheretheOttomanartil-
lerycouldonlyprovideerraticfiresupportforitsowninfantry.Theseverelosses
ofthelastwarandthedependencyonGermansupplyduetothelackofanOtto-
manordnanceindustrybecamepainfullyapparentfortherestofthewar.²⁶⁵
TheexperienceacquiredduringtheGallipolicampaignwasalsofurther
evaluatedintheOttomanartillerycrops,leadingtothedistributionofartillery
guidelinesbytheGermanMajorGeneralHugoWehrle(1866–1949),published
in 1916 .²⁶⁶Inthisbooklet,Wehrledescribedthewartimedevelopmentsregarding
theuseofthefieldartilleryonthecontemporarybattlefield,includingthede-
fenseofentrenchedartillerypositions,safestorageofammunitionorwithdraw-
almaneuvers.ForhisspecialistaudiencewithcommandoftheGermanlan-
guage,Wehrlealsoprovidedthe GermantermsinLatinscriptto easethe
classificationofthewrittenexplanations.Wehrleseemstohaveactivelypromot-
edthedistributionofthisbooklet.²⁶⁷Oneofthebiggestinnovationswasnotto
bemadeintheartillery,butwithintheOttomaninfantrythankstoGermanas-
sistance.
TheEmpirestrikesback:TheOttomanStormtroopers,
1917 – 18
TheGermanarmyhaddevelopedtheStormtroopertacticsoutoftheneedto
forcedecisionsontheWesternfront.TheconceptwasalsoconferredtotheAus-
tro-HungarianandBulgarianally,²⁶⁸andeventuallyalsototheOttomaninfantry
forces.Thesystem,basedonRussiandevelopmentsforaspecializedinfantry,
hadbeendiscussedintheGermanarmyalreadybeforethewar.²⁶⁹Nonetheless,
EdwardJ.Erickson,“OttomanArtilleryintheFirstWorldWar,”inKingofBattle:Artilleryin
WorldWarI,ed.SandersMarble(Leiden:Brill, 20 15), 180 – 18 5.
Wehrle,AlmanyadakiTecrübelereNazaranTopçununİstihdamıHakkındaMütalaat[AStudy
oftheGermanexperienceintheDeploymentoftheArtillery](Istanbul:Matbaa-ıAskeriye,1 33 2/
1916).
Cf.thecablebyWehrlefromtheIstanbulheadquarterstoColonelKretzschmarinMossul
6 tharmy,regardingsendingof1 00 copiesoftheaforementionedbooklet,3July 191 7.TSAMO
500 – 12519 – 449 ,2 90.
MarioChristianOrtner,Diek.u.k.Sturmtruppen 1916 – 1918:ElitesoldatenderMonarchie
(Wien:Stöhr,1998), 14 – 22.
OneofthefirstevaluationswaspublishedbythelaterheadoftheGermanmilitarymis-
sion;OttoLimanvonSanders,AufklärungundSicherungvorderFrontdurchKavallerie,selbstän-
digePatrouillenderInfanterie,JagdkommandosundreitendeInfanterie(Berlin:Schröder,1904).
TheEmpirestrikesback:TheOttomanStormtroopers, 1917 – 18 85