Smashing of the Balkan League on the guns on the Ottomans

Paul MacQ

Donor
After trying to sort feasibility of a Ottoman win in the first Balkans war, I am now very happy not only Feasible but probable with Change in Tactics and Strategic priorities taking over.

Allot of what is Written here to start with is noted in https://www.alternatehistory.com/discussion/showthread.php?t=141392

Within the Ottoman Leadership there is Conflicting views of on strategy and the fever of Tactical Offensives and the need for defence before reserves can bring numbers to beer on the battlefield , And a better game plan of what is wanted to be achieved and how to get it. Allot of this is to do with the Youth and inexperience of Combat leaders up to Army group level.

PoD Field Marshal Colmar von der Goltz Lately Retired from Active service in the German Army 1911 is asked to go back to the Ottoman Empire as part of a German lead Commission .The Field Marshal he had served for 12 Years as an advisor and was much respected he had been Given Title of Mushir (Field Marshal) before leaving the Empire in 1896

The request for von der Goltz Retired was in response to the Growing tensions with the Balkan states and simply asked to review at first the Defensive positions and dispositions of the Ottoman defences in Rumelia.

To understand the standing of this prolific Writer and Military expert that will play such an important role in TTL a run down of his experience after leaving the Ottoman Empire in 1896 were he was already well respected.

1896- 1898 Commander of the 5h Infantry Division
1898-1900 Head Inspector of Engineer and Pioneer Corps and inspector of fortifications
1900-1902 Unknown
1902-1907 Commander of 1st Army Corps
1907 Inspector General of the newly created 6th Army
Retires from Active Service Mid 1911
(OTL would become an advisor and Combat commander in Ottoman Empire after period in 1914-1915 as Military Governor of occupied Belgium)

With some sense urgency von der Goltz arrives in Istanbul Oct 29th 1911 one Month after the start of the Italo-Turkish war being fought in Libya.

One of the conflicts that will happen is vdG’s Ideas and Strategy conflict so much with that of the Ottoman Chief of staff Nazim Pasha. Having been a student if Ferdinand Foch an instructor at a French Staff College, was enamoured to the French Offensive Doctrine.

As expected with an active front and a nation involved in Fighting Frustrated by the inability of reinforcing of Libya due to the Naval Dominance of the Italian Navy von der Goltz has his hands fill Directing attentions to what would be the reason for him coming,

Allot of what befell the Ottomans OTL was a direct consequence of this poor Doctrine especially unsuited to the Balkan region full of Good defensive chock points.

Final compromise and reason is found in a Middle ground between the Old Solder vdG’s and Nazim, Offensive does has it’s place, But only when at least Parity in force is met and preferably the idea of getting local superiority before offensives. And the knowledge that Defensive Positions have an important place, what does sit well with the Aggressive Nazim is the Idea of Counter attack after a well executed defence.

One of the early things noted by von der Goltz was the lack of information regards possible Dispositions of what Ottoman troops would face in the Balkans at this early stage it was not even noted how closely the Balkan League was to agreements.

Several organizational changes were half way through Implementation the Ottomans Armies had been changing Divisional Structure and Command in these new organisations was not as yet sorted.

Weak points for the Ottomans were a weak Carder of NCOs’ partly related to demographics. Poor levels of literacy and general poor state of the Ottoman economy
This leading to Troops being used more effectively defensively.

At the behest of von der Goltz a experiment was done to see how fast one Corp of the Army could be raised from Peacetime standing to Full mobilization as expected by von der Goltz the Hierarchy of the Ottoman Army was shocked as they realised the Best expectations were so very wide off the mark.

The Weapons and Logistics of the Ottoman army could only be improved with Time and money, at this stage amount of time before the Army was needed was unknown, and more money was hardly possible with the state of the Ottoman economy.

Doing what he could with the resources at hand von der Goltz requests and gets aid from home of 70 Officers and 60 Senior NCOs’ to help with retraining and streamlining of the Ottoman Army Mostly at the Command and Staff level first. But you can only do so much in a year.

The general competence of the Ottoman staff was not matched by Numbers so at the request of vdG requests and gets aid from home of 70 Officers and 60 Senior NCOs’ to help with retraining and streamlining of the Ottoman Army Mostly at the Command and Staff level first spreading the load and despite language difficulties things are improved. But you can only do so much in a year and that is the time they have.


Now how to find out what these small upstart nations might be up too. Now time for the Good Field Marshal to visit the state of Ottoman Fortifications in the Uniform of an Ottoman Mushir.

One naval change will be an understanding of the current naval position especially related to the Greeks, and after the Greek getting the Armoured Cruiser Georgios Averof that arrived in Greece September 1, 1911 The Ottomans had major concerns regarding this Vessel and worried that it's timeframe for the Purchas of Dreadnaughts would leave them Vulnerable for too long, After commission were sent out regarding possible replacements. The Prospects of Getting the ships Reshadiye and Mahmud Resad V.

With limited time and Money and some good diplomacy asking how the British could upset the Balance of power in the Western Med. Negotiations start with the prospect of the purchase of Ships.

With the premise that navy commissions where also in Germany and the U.S looking at vessels and wanting to not loss faith with there old ally, Negotiations continues. After only 2 Months of Negotiation 2 vessels are decided on, these being the British Battleships of the Swiftsure Class. Negotiations happen between December 1911 and January 12

There are 2 points of the British will make, they sagest that although these 2 vessels can cause problems with the Italians they are in no position to beat the Italians, But will address the balance for now.

After the British step in a conference is held regarding Peace talks between the Ottomans and the Italian’s. Though no armistice is signed a Ceasefire is agreed to. And no further adventures by the Italians is agreed, these negotiations will continue right up till the start of the Balkan War that will explode on the scene still in Oct 1912.

After the ceasefire is agreed to the British and unknown to the Italian’s the 2 ships for a cost of £1,800,000 less than the British Navy had bought these 2 to prevent the risk of Russians buying them Dec 1903, After giving The Royal navy good service, the 2 vessels are in Alexandria under British Flags as part of the Mediterranean fleet. Too overly rushed together crews from the Ottoman navy, These met these Powerful 2 Vessels Carrying ( there new untrained crews March 15th, )

The rush to get Crews to these ships will cause a few red faces as the Mahmud Resad V. ( Ex Swiftsure ) is towed in by its Sister Sultan Osman I.( Ex Triumph ) due to Boiler problems from inexperience . As steep learning curve is ahead of the crews. Ships arrive Istanbul 20th April.

Negotiations are also underway regarding lighter ships also from the British.

All parties other than the Greeks and Italian happy as these vessels now pose a threat to Italian operations in Libya and the planning of operations by the Greeks. These 2 vessels suddenly change the Naval Balance in the Balkans. The British have been seen as coming through for there old Friends. And the Greeks now furious and scared as they Ottomans have just leaped ahead in the Naval race with them. Close relations with the Royal Navy will continue for the Ottoman Navy Balanced by the even Closer Relationship the Ottoman Army and the Germans.

Oddly enough 2 ships Ordered for a South American nation of Chile and cancelled after financial restraints. These 2 ships had caused the British some problems as not designed from start for the British navy yet Finished with as much British standard equipment as possible after being laid down. With a main Armament of 2x2 10” guns and powerful secondary armament of 7.5” far from standard armament of British Pre-Dreadnaughts Faster and Lighter armed than the rest of British Vessels, would suddenly find them selves causing Political problems.

The British in part seeing that the Germans are gaining influence in part due to vdG decide importantly a change in Strategy, Asking also if British Army can be of assistance, in hopes of finding out how close the relations between Germany and The Ottoman empire is getting.

As a side consequence of the trust now put in the Ottomans ( more wanting to win favour ) one British newspaper Columnist J.D. Bourchier ( as he did OTL, possibly part of the British intelligence service ) does not meet with Greek Prim Minister Eleftherios Pilio to start negotiations regarding Joining the Balkan league. Instead Greece will stand this war out. Instead some information will be let slip to the Ottomans the British understanding of what is happening within the Balkan league. J.D. Bourchier is very well connected in Sofia at the highest levels.

By August the Ottomans know something is happening and that they will probably be facing the combined forces of the Bulgarians, Serbia and Montenegro sometime in the near future.
 
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Paul MacQ

Donor
During this time one development that that Ottomans worked on that was far from being behind the developed powers in technology if not in scale was the development of an air arm.

By 15th March 1912 the Ottomans have a total of 8 Bleriot XI in 3 different models
5 2 setter and 3 Single seat. With and example of the financial restraints in the Empire these aircraft are bought by Public Donations. These aircraft will be the foundation that the Ottoman air force is built on. (Have pushed the time for deployment of aircraft only 3 Months compared to OTL)

Latter on with push a total of 23 aircraft are in service. For the start of Hostilities (OTL 15 machines acquired by private donations) On the behest of vdG integration and a demand for intelligence a Specialized training program for Reconnaissance finding out what the limitations and abilities of this new Technology can bring July 1912 ( OTL this formal training was not started till May 1913)

6 Aircraft are set aside for the first detailed attempt at Photoreconnaissance very limited by the Film and Camera technologies of the day, These aircraft will penetrate a couple of miles over Boarders more by mistakes in Aerial Navigation then in it’s infancy. It is the advances in the Need of new Technolgies that the Germans woll make the greatest impact back at home.

This is one area that the German Hierarchy will be most happy hearing in reports from vdG. Soon several young German officers are visiting at own expense and to get first hand knowledge.

Valuable lessons are learnt in a short amount of time, not without loss, when urgency is needed some risks are thought worth while. Leading to the lose of 4 aircraft unreliable aircraft in Mountainous terrain, in the coming months.

Limitations of this new technology will not be lost on the Balkan league and there own efforts catching up with the Ottomans lead will see the first case of Aircraft firing at each other.

What will not be known to the Bulgarians is how much information about there military dispositions the Ottomans will get from eyes in the sky. Camouflaging of Troops and equipment is a new thing to worry about and like all new things experience needs be learnt some how.
 
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Paul MacQ

Donor
Balkan league totals after Mobilization.

Bulgaria
Commander-in-Chief was Tsar Ferdinand
almost 600,000 men mobilized in total, out of a population of 4,300,000
( very highest proportion of any of the combatants to population by far)
Serbia
230,000 men with about 230 guns population of 2,912,000 people
Montenegrin forces included in the Serbian Totals
(OTL with a Population 2.66 Million Greece would have contributed 115,000 )

Ottoman Empire in Balkans
According to the organizational plan the men of the Western Group had to number 598,000
340,000 will be Mobilized by the time declarations of War 8th October .

( OTL Slow mobilization procedures and the poor railroad efficiency reduced drastically the available men, so that when war began, according to the Western Army Staff there were only 200,000 men available)

Population of the Empire 26,000,000, but only 6,130,000 of them lived in the European part of the Empire, and of these only 2,300,000 were Muslim this is the part of Population available for Service, Plus troops from other parts of the Empire.


At the suggestion of of vdG a new Training Camp/Depot will be created South of the City of Solonika between the Villages of Pylea and Panarama, This will not be for new Forces but as a Training center for New recruits. Stationed here for Training will be no less than 72,000 recruits at different stages of Basic to complete Training, With no time for Infrastructure this will be most a Camp full of Tents, Young men from all over the Empire. ( high Proportion from Anatolia That will not need to be shipped to at Mobilization.

This is also the School of training set up for Future NCO courses and training with the idea of advanced infantry Training. Though these will have little effect or implementation by the time of Hostilities.

There will be only a very limited supply of Guns ( 16 for the training of Artillery) and MG's most for Training units, But will be a Source of Supply that will be heavily defended. The location was picked as a reminder that the possible Threat from Greece was not forgotten, and being invulnerable to the other likely aggressors.

Some would have thought that the Ottomans new of at least the intention of the foes if not time table, that full Mobilization should have been done. But this overlooks the massive and expensive cost of keeping troops, An no war as yet, about all that could be thought to be handled at this time.
 
Looking forward to this and I had an idea as to how Greece might be kept out: Crete was not formally transferred to Greece until the OE yielded all claims in the aftermath of the 1st Balkan War but Great Britain was the key player in this. If London can be given a reason to put a bit of pressure on Greece, perhaps noting that of the Balkan League Greece is the only one that can gain a valuable prize(Crete) without going to war...or NOT gain this prize if London is irate...Greece might choose to delay entry so it can see which side is likely to win.

Of course, without Greece the rest of the League is reduced in power, and especially at sea, so this might lead to other changes. Perhaps Bulgaria smells a rat in Serbia providing little more than a third of Bulgaria's manpower with two-thirds the population?
 

Paul MacQ

Donor
Looking forward to this and I had an idea as to how Greece might be kept out: Crete was not formally transferred to Greece until the OE yielded all claims in the aftermath of the 1st Balkan War but Great Britain was the key player in this. If London can be given a reason to put a bit of pressure on Greece, perhaps noting that of the Balkan League Greece is the only one that can gain a valuable prize(Crete) without going to war...or NOT gain this prize if London is irate...Greece might choose to delay entry so it can see which side is likely to win.

Of course, without Greece the rest of the League is reduced in power, and especially at sea, so this might lead to other changes. Perhaps Bulgaria smells a rat in Serbia providing little more than a third of Bulgaria's manpower with two-thirds the population?

Yes Britain do have allot of pull and at the moment a bit more kudos with the Ottomans, Greece had several Aims in the war OTL one of which was getting as many ( what they called Ethnic Geek more accurately Hellenes ) and adjusting Boarders.

Not so many years ago ( mostly ending in 1908 ) The Greeks and Bulgarians were supporting armed bands agaisnt each others Ethnic groups in the region ( see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macedonian_Struggle ) the whole region was a mess. Those 2 nations getting together despite the mutual hate, in one league was what got me started on this Timeline.

Crete was a issue, I am going to have Greece play some hardball, But we will see.

Politics with the Ottomans during the fighting. I will see what happens I have a end goal,

Interesting - I'm interested to see the ramifications for the First World War.

The scope of what I want,

A very different result in the First Balkans war.
Some pressure taken off the starting point of WW1.
An interesting interlude between this war and WW1 ( especially some fun political intrigue )
A Great war not starting till August 1917.. But that is a long long way off
 

Paul MacQ

Donor
Now looking for a few interesting Characters to add to this Mix. So going to now open up for some suggestions here.

1. Need a good German Officer to be brought in as advisor Infantry Training School. (the more radical controversial the better. Yet able to get on with the old man von der Goltz )

2. Need a half dozen British Officers that will be allowed to observers on the moderate restructuring of the Ottoman Army, now who to lead that,

3. A new British naval Attaché getting his nose in Ottoman Navies affairs.

4. I have played light so far with the British changing there opinions, now what British Politician/’s might be pro Ottoman, Opening there mouths and offending the Bulgarian's

5 A Russian Officer that will be an observer/advisor to the Bulgarians

Next thing I am working on is a the Balkan league stepping on each others toes, They are not going to be coordinating as well as they did OTL Also some desperate moves to try and get the Greeks on board with the League.
 

Paul MacQ

Donor
While hiding a Calvary Squadron amongst some Olive trees a still rather uncommon sound is heard in the sky, the splutter and of a rotary engine in the sky. As in the Valley below a Battalion Ottoman Infantry march in 4 Columns. Followed by a Battery of light field Guns.

A mature Ottoman Calvary Yüzbaşı (Captain) turns to a young German wearing the uniform of the 1st Uhlan Regiment. “ So Manfred do you think you will win your bet with that young infantry officer… You think they spotted us ? “The young German aristocrat looks up wistfully at the flying canvas contraption between the leaves of the Trees “ We will see, I am still not sure how good a view you get from up there ,, "chuckles " or how good that Wuttermbergers eye sight is, I think you see those flying contraptions well before they can see you “

July 1st was calm and balmy day as a fragile Bleriot comes to land in at the open field. Waiting for it is a party of senior officers.
Stepping out of the plan a 2 young officers one German and wearing the Wings of a Pilot Lieutenant Yusuf Kenan with a smile on his face confidently stride towards the Marshals. In rather good German he looks to a solid older man in spectacles “ Herr Mushir van der Goltz , the little exercise was a success as our young Erwin will be showing you. "

The rather short but healthy young German officer was making some marks and notations on a Map before approaching the party. Stopping short of the group of senior Officers stands erect salutes with a hint of mirth in his eyes. “ Herr Field Marshal your request for the Forces spotted in the area of operation that was noted by myself and Lieutenant Kenan is as Follows

In the 8 miles stretch of road was observed 3 Battalions of Infantry 2 Batteries of Field Guns ,,, “ then a pause and a grin crossing face, “ Also spotted on these locations on the map a group I estimate to be Company strength at this village .. seems they could not help but have a few come out to get a look at the plane ,, oh and a squadron of Calvary I suspect lancers as I saw several pennants among an Olive orchard here,,, Seems they were more disciplined than the Infantry in the Village yet there skittish horses movement gave them away, I will have a full report ready for you by the time of latee afternoons debriefing”

Poor Manfred is yet to now he has lost his bet with the other young lieutenant
 
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So are we going to get another update? After stumblling across the thread whilst searching for something else I'm interested to see where it leads.
 
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