Quality of Materiel - 1870s
In one, and only one, thing the Turkish soldier was not cheated. He was well fed, and got his full allowance of the rations allowed him. The men were fed exceedingly well, for food could always be had by the government on credit; more particularly when the credit carried with it a bonus of from thirty to fifty percent to the contractors. But the mess were never less than three, and often twenty, or even more, months in arrears of pay. To pay them required hard cash, and that was an article almost unknown in the Ottoman Empire.
The reasons for this were first, because the contractors for food were almost invariably Moslems, who, whatever their faults may be, did not prey upon the government in the same manner as did the foreigners, the Jews, and the native Christians of Constantinople. The second reason is, that seeing he was kept months in arrears with his pay, and when ha wanted a little ready money had to borrow from the regimental paymaster, at the rate of ten percent per month - seeing, also, that the clothing provided for him does not cost a quarter of what the government paid for it - the authorities took care that the line must be drawn somewhere; and they drew it at the food. Of this he got his, or rather the government's, money's worth. The contractors for it were nearly always provincials, and these were certainly more honest and honorable in their dealings than their fellow-countrymen on the Bosphorns. The Turkish soldier was, therefore, with rare exceptions, well fed. All ranks, from the "Mushir" to the private, drew rations according to their respective grades. But, to do the Turks justice, it must be said of them that when, by any chance - in a campaign, for instance - their food was not forthcoming, they neither growled nor grumbled, but bore their misfortunes like men and soldiers.
The rations of the troops were good, and generally regularly served out. It was composed of bread 960 grams, meat 256 grams, vegetables 256 grams, butter 4 grams, salt 1 gram. For each man the company received 250 grammes of wood, and 3 grams of oil. The rations of forage was : - Barley, 3,840 kilograms ; hay, 3,840 ; straw, 1,280. Officers received a certain number of rations according to their rank, and in most cases made money by selling them. The pay of the privates was generally in arrear, sometimes as much as two years!
The uniform and general appearance of the Turkish army left very much to be desired. It was difficult to say whether their dress was more ugly than unserviceable, or more useless than hideous. It consisted of a dull red fez, or skull cap, with a round brass plate, about twice the size of a five-shilling piece, at the top, whence springs the blue silk or cotton tassel. The coat was a dark-colored short frock, or tunic, made tight even to bursting, with trousers of the same shoddy-like cloth. For undress there was a short jacket of the same material, also so tight that it looks almost as if it had been made upon the man.
The quality of the cloth, and the tightness of the fit, is the work of the contractor, who, as a matter of course, tries to turn a more or less dishonest penny where and how he can. The belts were black, of bad leather, and hardly ever properly cleaned. Like the clothing, they are "contracted" for by some of the many rogues, who have for so many years fattened on the life-blood of Turkey. And although, like the tunics and boots, the treasury paid such a price for them as ought to procure the very best articles of the kind made in Europe, the contracts were sold again and again, until the actual provider of these accoutrements generally went to France or Germany, and there bought the "cast" articles of either, or both, armies. They were then patched np after a fashion; made to look new for the moment; the higher military authorities were either persuaded that the belts are excellent, or else matters were "made pleasant" for them, to induce thorn to say so; and thus the soldiers get rotten old belts, the contractors fill their pockets, and the official world of Turkey was perfectly satisfied.
Like everything else in Turkey, the military clothing system was one which robbed with equal impartiality the government and its servants. When a corps d'armee required new clothing, the contract was advertised, and tenders were sent in for the different articles wanted. It was not the party who sent in the lowest tender, nor yet he who gave the best guarantee for the performance of his contract, that gaot the job. With all their religions apathy, no people knew better than the Turks how to make matters pleasant all round. In other words, "backsheesh," or bribery, goes a long way in the land.
But the evil did not end here. The individual who was fortunate enough to obtain the contract - and who was invariably a Jew or a Christian, often a European - no sooner got what he wanted than he put it up for auction. Thus, the primary contract is put up for sale; and so it passes through two or three hands more, always at a profit to the last seller. When the last purchaser has got it into his hands, and sees he cannot squeeze another drop out of it, he sets to work to make the clothing, or to get it made. But by this time, as an English tradesman would say, "there is no margin left for profit." The sufferer, of course, is the Turkish soldier. The suit of uniform, for which, perhaps, the treasury pays five pounds, will not cost more than one pound, or one pound ten shillings, when it reached him.
People must make money; and if a man is not to make money out of government contracts, who he is to make it out of? The soldier did not seem to see this. When his uniform was sent him, it was made of mere rotten shoddy. It did not look well a week, and was in holes in a month. But the Turkish warrior knew nothing as to the cost, the material, or what time clothes ought to last. He had neither daily nor weekly press to enlighten him. His officers were either as ignorant as himself, or were "in the swim" with the contractors. And as the clothing was accepted as a fate, "Allah is great," the men say ; "the cloth is not good, but that is the fault of some unbelieving dog of a Christian, who has taken the Padisha's money and cheated him. But it is our kismet-our fate. Allah is great. Long live the Sultan!" And here ended the whole affair.
And as it was with the clothing, so was it with the arms, the saddlery, the horses, the guns, and all that pertains unto the army. The quality of the material of war was certainly good. The rifles in the hands of the troops were Sniders, but they were being rapidly changed for Martini-Henries. The cavalry was mostly armed with Winchester and Remington repeating-rifles. The field-guns were mostly steel Krupps, on the Prussian system. The forts in the Dardanelles were being armed with heavy Armstrong guns, but as of the mid-1870s were as yet in an imperfect state.
In the Turkish army the quantity of the material of war was in a comparatively satisfactory state in the 1870s. There were by this time 600,000 Martini-Henry rifles in store, and a like number of Sniders in the hands of the troops. In 1875 there were 80,000,000 of Snider cartridges in store, and orders were given for very large quantities of Martini-Henry ammunition. There was a fair stock of fieldguns and ammunition, and the Government possessed 50,000 repeating-carbines on the Winchester system, besides large quantities of Remingtons. Of Pontoon and field-telegraph trains there were none, which was a grave defect. On the whole, however, the quantity of the material of war may be said to be fairly good.
In consequence of the financial difficulties of Turkey, in the 1870s the possibility of keeping up the supply of the army was most seriously endangered. Otherwise, the geographical position of the country, and the large number of pack-animals and bullock-wagons that existed, tended to facilitate the supply of an army in the field.
The horses in Turkey are very small, but well bred, and exceedingly hardy. They were unfitted for artillery, but are serviceable for light cavalry and outpost work. The great bulk of the traffic of the country was performed by pack-animals. The supply of horses, such as they were, was very great, in consequence of the traffic of the country being done by pack-animals. Every farm or village, however small, can supply a few pack-animals, and this must greatly facilitate the means of supply. The neighborhood of Hungary and Transylvania afforded a fertile source for the supply of the larger breeds of horses, in time of peace, but this supply would be cut off by a war on the Danube frontier. Turkey and Asia Minor were admirably suited for Government horse-breeding establishments, but the corruption in all branches of administration is so great that their creation could not be advised.
The recruiting of horses, or remounts, comes under the head of two systems. Agents are sent by the Minister of War to foreign countries (principally Hungary) to purchase horses, and purchases are made in the military districts by commissions nominated by the general of the corps d'armee, and sometimes by the colonels of regiments. The artillery purchase the greater part of their horses abroad, in Hungary, Transylvania, and in Bessarabia; there would, therefore, be great difficulty in getting remounts for this branch of the service during war, as the Turkish horses are so small that they are unfitted for the use of artillery.
Turkey was especially a grain and forage-producing country, and depots or intrenched camps would draw their provisions from neighboring districts. With proper care, water can be found almost everywhere in Turkey in Europe, and on the plains one had only to dig a few feet through the soft alluvial soil, to meet with a fair supply. In the rainy season the means of communication become so bad, by reason of the deep mud and sticky nature of the soil, that the difficulties of supply are almost insuperable, and must seriously endanger any large army that attempts a long march between the months of November and May.
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
