Soldiers of the Prophet

The author, born in March 1872, was commissioned from the Militia into the Suffolk Regiment, as 2Lt, on 23 Dec 1893. He transferred to the Indian Army, to the 30th Punjabis, in May 1906 and was made Brevet Lt Col in June 1915 and substantiveLt Col on 23 Dec 1919. At the end of the war he was GSO1 Turkey and he was a 1st Class interpreter in Arabic. This book contains a series of articles about operations undertaken by the Turkish Army, taken wholly or in part from the journals of the RUSI, the United Service Institution of India and the Suffolk Regimental Gazette. Most of them relate to the Great War - Mesopotamia, Gallipoli, Oman and Persia. In time they cover the period1910 to 1918 and the end of the Great War. We are seeing the gradual demise of the Ottoman Empire. The book begins in 1910 with the (successful) punitive expedition into the Hauran (biblical Bashan, lying to the east of Lake Galilee) against the Druses, who had rebelled against Turkish sovereignty, followed almost immediately by the Arab revolt in Kerak which lies to the south-east of the Dead Sea. This, too, was eventually suppressed though not much punitive action could be taken because the Arab tribes simply melted away into the desert. Some of the operations in the Great War are considered from the Turkish side, such as events leading to the capture (by the British) of Basra and the attempt to recapture it. Other topics include the sitory of Kut and the rebellion in Oman.There is a great deal on the Turkish army in Gallipoli, with detailed order of battle, and another interesting piece on the Turkish army during the Great War, setting down certain facts and figures, especially order of battle details. This is a very informative book, and there can t be many of them specialising in its particular subject.…