The emerging Turkish republic did not last long, and in the 1920s and 1930s there were several Kurdish rebellions in southeastern Turkey, the most important of which were the Sheikh Said Rebellion of 1925 and the Desim Rebellion of 1937. All of this was brutally suppressed by the Turkish Army, with the largest military operation involving up to 50,000 troops, in addition to related atrocities against civilians, such as the Desim massacre. But it is not often mentioned in the international community. Thus, it is called the "forgotten massacre".
In 1935, Turkey purchased 60 T-26 mod.1933 light tanks and 60 BA-6 armored vehicles from the Soviet Union, using these armored vehicles to form the 1st Tank Battalion, and soon with the arrival of more tanks, an armored brigade was formed. It was also the first time That Turkey had formed an independent armored force.
Turkish T26 tanks in the military parade
BA6 armored vehicle
During World War II, Turkey has always taken advantage of its favorable geographical location to "meet the source left and right", and in October 1939, just after the outbreak of World War II, Turkey also concluded a military mutual assistance alliance with Britain and France. However, immediately after the surrender of France on June 22, 1940, Turkey issued a statement declaring neutrality that month.
With the entry of Axis powers into the Balkans, the Third Reich began to border Turkey directly, and on June 18, 1941, Turkey and Germany signed the Treaty of Friendship, Mutual Assistance and Non-Aggression. According to the above-mentioned treaty, Turkey was obliged to remain neutral with the Soviet Union and Germany in the event of an armed conflict, but the expansion of Germany also greatly disturbed Turkey, and the Turkish Army was ordered to begin to mobilize and put it on alert, at this time the Turkish Army had 11 corps, 23 divisions, 1 armored brigade, 3 cavalry brigades and 7 border brigades, with a total strength of nearly one million.
Turkish infantry during World War II ·
Turkish soldiers practicing machine gun fire
In an air defense exercise in 1941, the Turkish MG08 machine gun team observed the situation on the minaret of Aya Sofia
But the Turkish Army was less modern, the vast majority of troops were only light infantry divisions, the Army lacked tanks, no armored vehicles, neither factories to produce and repair them, nor enough mechanics to maintain them. Infantry divisions were severely short of anti-aircraft guns and anti-tank guns. This made it difficult for the Turkish Army to confront German armored forces, and the Turks' communications technology was still stuck in the Period of World War I. And nothing is known about high-tech equipment such as radar. Moreover, due to their military qualities, they were unable to master all these modern inventions. And the most important thing is that Turkey does not have a perfect industrial system, can not support a full-scale war with Germany, so for most of the second world war, Turkey is careful to maintain neutrality, in fact, in 1944, Germany in the Eastern Front successive defeats, and the Allied overlord operation also opened up a second battlefield, the defeat of Nazi Germany can be clearly foreseen, Turkey announced to stop exporting chromite to Germany, but still did not declare war on Germany, It was not until February 23, 1945, that it was decided to declare war on Germany.
The Turks celebrate victory in World War II
After World War II, the Turkish Army Command was established on July 1, 1949, and Nuri Yamut was appointed the first commander of the Turkish Army.
After the outbreak of the Korean War, Turkey sent the 1st Brigade of 5,000 men to South Korea in 1950 to assist the UN forces in combat, consisting of three infantry battalions, an artillery battalion and auxiliary units. These Turkish soldiers were burly, bearded, carrying Turkish machetes around their waists, and looked very fierce. Lieutenant General Kurt, commander of the U.S. 9th Army, was so pleased with the Turkish soldiers that he made an exception by incorporating the team into his 25th Infantry Division.
Turkish Brigade Oath Division
The first battle between the Turkish Brigade and the Volunteers was the Battle of Gazhiling on November 27, 1950, when the Turkish Brigade was ordered to block the Volunteers at Gazhiling. The Turkish army stationed a battalion of troops and a company of combat engineers at Gazhiling, and was engaged by the 3rd Battalion of the 114th Division of the 38th Army of the Volunteer Army. At about 9 p.m. on November 27, 1950, soldiers of the 3rd Battalion took advantage of the night to touch the Gari Ridge, the soldiers of the 8th Company detoured from the flanks, and the 7th Company attacked from the front. Under the fierce attack of the volunteers, the Turks were unable to resist at all, and the soldiers of the 8th Company occupied the mountainside on the north side of the Gazhi Ridge in only 10 minutes, and the Turkish soldiers stationed here were completely annihilated. It has to be said that the Turkish soldiers are still very brave, in the case of the collapse of the defensive line, not only did not flee in a hurry, but organized troops to carry out a white-knife battle against the volunteer counter-attack, and about 80 people of the Turkish brigade pulled out their Turkish machetes and suddenly launched a counterattack on the 3rd battalion of the volunteer army. The 3rd Battalion immediately engaged in a frontal attack with two companies, and with 1 company detoured along both sides of the road and behind its flanks, quickly annihilating it completely.
Turkish Brigade Soldiers
Soldiers of the Turkish brigade were on standby in the trenches
By 1953, the 1st Brigade had changed its defense and returned to the mainland, and was replaced by the 3rd Brigade, who participated in the Battle of Pingcun Nanshan that year. Despite the Oolong incident, which struck friendly forces and the performance of some of the battles was controversial, the fighting spirit of the Turkish troops was relatively good overall, and it was also praised by some high-level UN troops (such as MacArthur). The brigade received the Distinguished Unit Medal from President Truman on July 11, 1951 (and now also the Korea Presidential Unit Medal).
Before Turkey joined NATO on February 18, 1952, a large amount of U.S. military aid began to arrive with the assistance of the U.S. Joint Military Mission to Turkey (JAMMAT), helping the Turkish Army in its modernization process.
The Turkish army, especially the army, during the Cold War, was given the role of defender of the secular constitution. But since 1960, the Turkish military has taken several military coups to overthrow the civilian government and repeatedly interfered in the government's distribution of power.
In 1960, Turkey underwent the first military coup in its history. The coup was carried out by 38 young officers of the Turkish army outside the command sequence of the General Staff, planned by Alparslan Tirkesh. On 27 May, General Gemal Gulsel led the overthrow of the increasingly authoritarian Democratic elected government. The following year, Democratic Prime Minister Adnan Menderes and two government ministers were executed by hanging. A constitutional referendum was then held on July 9, 1961. A new constitution was drafted to replace the 1924 constitution. The constitution received 61.7 percent of voter support and 81.0 percent of the vote.
General Gemael Gulsel
In the 1960 coup d'état, Turkish troops were on the streets of the capital Ankara
A month after Menderes and other members of the Turkish government were executed, general elections were held on 15 October 1961. Executive power was returned to civilians, but the serious consequence of the coup was the first intervention in the country's internal affairs by the Turkish military, especially the army. Until October 1965, the military remained dominant in the political arena. Turkish Army Colonel Talat Admir organized two failed coups in February 1962 and May 1963. In the first free elections after the 1965 coup, Suleiman Demirer was elected and has been president ever since.
In 1971, dissatisfied with the emergence of various militant groups in Turkey, the Turkish military submitted a memorandum to President Suleiman Demirer and the National Assembly calling for the establishment of "a strong and trustworthy government." The Justice Party government was forced to resign under pressure from the military, but a year later, the military regime again gave way to a civilian government.
Since the mid-1960s, the Turkish Army has been in a corps-division-brigade formation, with each army subordinate to a different number of divisions and brigades. The total strength recorded by IISS in 1966-67 was 360,000 men, with 16 infantry divisions, 4 armored brigades and independent armored cavalry regiments, and two airborne battalions.
Thomas Roberts' Handbook of the Republic of Turkey, written in 1968, stated at the end of 1968 that the Army had 425,000 men, three field armies (first: Istanbul, second: Konya, and third: Erzurum), thirteen infantry divisions, one armored division (equipped with M-47 and M-48), four armored brigades (M47 Patton tanks), two armored cavalry regiments, two mechanized infantry brigades, and two parachute battalions. There are also 450,000 reserves.
In 1974, EOKA, a Greek-american armed group in Cyprus backed by the Greek military government, staged a coup d'état that overthrew the cleric, moderate President Makarios and installed the radical Greek nationalist Nigus Sampson as president, which provoked serious dissatisfaction from the Turkish government and decided to intervene militarily. In the early morning of 20 July 1974, the vanguard of the 6th Army of the Turkish Army, supported by the Air Force and Navy, launched Operation Attila 1, landing at Pantamili, 8 km west of Kyrenia. Despite limited resistance from the Cyprus National Guard, most of the fighting ceased on 23 July, but sporadic clashes continued after that date until 14 August, when the Turkish army succeeded in establishing a bridgehead on the island of Cyprus.
In 1974, Turkish soldiers displayed the flag on the island of Cyprus
On 14 August 1974, due to the failure of diplomatic efforts, the Turkish government ordered forces in Cyprus to launch Operation Attila 2, launching a full-scale invasion throughout Cyprus. The Turkish forces on the island received massive reinforcements during a weeks-long ceasefire, launching a full-scale raid on ill-prepared Greeks and Greek forces. In the face of a large number of armored mechanized units of the Turkish Army, combined with artillery and air support, the defenses of the Greek Army and the Cyprus National Guard collapsed within a few days, and by 16 August 1974, the Turkish 28th and 39th Infantry Divisions had occupied about 37% of the island's territory, including the towns of Famagusta, Varosha and Morps.
Turkish tanks drove into Famagusta, the main city of the island, during the operation
The island's capital, Nicosia, was shelled and bombed by the Turkish army, and some key facilities were set on fire
The conflict in Cyprus led to a de facto split of the island between the Turkish Cypriot-controlled north and the Greek Cypriot-controlled south. Turkey still has a puppet regime (the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus) and troops in Cyprus, and a political solution is still far away.
Flag of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus
In 1981-82, the Army had 1 armored division, 2 mechanized infantry divisions and 14 infantry divisions, with 3,000 M47 main battle tanks, 500 M48 main battle tanks, and 70 Leopard 1A3s, for a total of 3,570 tanks.
Prior to the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact in 1990, the Army's main static defensive tasks were to counter any possible attack by the Soviet/Warsaw Pact army on Thrace and to monitor and deter Greek troops, as well as to counter possible attacks by the Soviet Transcaucasian Military District on the Caucasus border. The Army had 525,000 men (plus 950,000 reservists), in addition to a gendarmerie force of 110,000 men. Organized into 4 army groups, 2 mechanized divisions, 14 infantry divisions, 6 armored brigades, 4 mechanized brigades, 12 infantry brigades, 3 coastal defense brigades, assault brigades, marine brigades, airborne brigades and a large number of independent regiments and battalion-level units, the main equipment includes:
Tanks: 523+ M-47, 1130 M48A1/A2, 1,980 M48T1/T2 (A5), 81 Leopard 1A3, 108 M41, 114 M24 Xiafei
Armored transport vehicles: 700 M59, 2300 M113 (including derivatives), 400-600 M2/M3 half-tracked vehicles, and some reserve M8/M20 armored vehicles
Towed guns: 100 M116 75 mm, 830 M101A1 105 mm, 104 Škoda 150 mm, 500 M114A1 155 mm, 150 M59 155 mm, 140 M115 203 mm, 20 RA-7040 40 tube 70 mm multiple rocket launchers
Self-propelled guns: 300 X M52 105 mm, 26+ X M108 105 mm, 150 X 44 T 155 mm, 36 X M107 175 mm, 16 X110 203 mm, 81 X M55 203 mm
Air defense equipment: 160 x 12.7 mm quad, 20 x GAI-DO1 20 mm, 260 x GDF-003 35 mm, 725 x Berforth L60/70 40 mm, 100 + m51 75 mm, 100 + m m117/M118 90 mm, 100 + m42A1, 12 + set of light swords, red eye. The Air Force also has 24 sets of light swords and 128 sets of Nike Hercules.
Anti-tank missiles: 400 sets of Cobras, 300 sets of SS-11, 516 sets of ceramic, 392 sets of Milan
In terms of equipment, the Turkish Army, like greece next door, is a garbage sea army, large in number but backward in equipment.
Of course, being big doesn't mean it's necessarily good. In 1990, when the General Staff attempted to move 120,000 troops to the border with Iraq, they discovered that there was a serious flaw in the Army's ability to respond to crises that could erupt suddenly in distant areas, as turk troops were too large, mobility was extremely limited, and there was no rapid reaction force capable of responding to sudden crises. This situation forced the Turkish Army to embark on a process of reorganization and modernization, which continues to this day. Turkey's ultimate goal is to produce indigenous military equipment and achieve self-sufficiency in military technology, and to begin the process of divisional transformation into brigades, improving the army's degree of integration and mobility.
The Turkish soldiers carried Thomson of his grandfather on his back
The Turkish Army on duty on the Soviet-Turkish border
M48 tank
Turkish Anti-Aircraft Artillery Corps
On June 30, 1997, the military again intervened politically in the government, but did not stage a coup d'état. The military forced the resignation of Turkey's first religious prime minister, Necmettin Erbakan, who is none other than the "political mentor" of the current prime minister, Erdogan Erbakan.
On July 15, 2016, the Army-led Turkish military once again attempted to overthrow President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in a coup d'état, (friends who have read the previous article will know that the Turkish Army coup is an ancestral traditional skill) in the hope of interrupting the Islamization of Turkey, but ultimately failed. The attempted coup killed at least 265 people and injured thousands of people, including reports of bombings on the Turkish Parliament Building in Ankara and the Turkish Presidential Palace that night, as well as gunfire heard at airports in Ankara and Istanbul.
Turkish tanks took to the streets
Turkish troops blocked the bridge across the sea
The populace chased after Turkish tanks
Symbol of defeat: Leopard 2 tanks and various firearms equipment were thrown in the streets in a haphazard manner
The coup began on the evening of July 15 when soldiers were ordered to block one of the bosphorus bridge lanes, and the navy ships received orders to go to sea, but the naval commander disappeared, and no government leadership was detained by the rebels. When the evening news reported that rebels surrounded government buildings and airstrikes on the presidential palace, it was later confirmed that nothing had happened, and that the Erdogan government had been detained and expelled tens of thousands of military and civil servants in the ensuing purge, and a large number of schools, news media and political organizations had been dissolved and closed.
After the outbreak of the Syrian civil war, the Turkish Army showed a strong side, the Army sent troops to occupy parts of northern Syria, and there were many conflicts with the Rojava Armed Forces, 1515 and syrian government forces, among others, and the Army played a pioneering role. The Turkish Army has so far launched four large-scale operations in the area, namely Operation Euphrates Shield, Operation Olive Branch, Operation Fountain of Peace and Operation Spring Shield.
Modern Turkish infantry
Mechanized unit of the Turkish Army
Leopard 2A4TR
Modern Turkish Army Equipment Table
Tanks: 340 Leopard 2A4TR, 227 Leopard 1A3, 170 Leopard 1A1, 170 Sabra, 752 60TM, 610 M60A3TTS, 758 M48A5T2
Armored vehicles: 2800 FNSS ACV-15 (650 infantry fighting vehicle model, 1400 armored transport vehicle model, 50 anti-tank model, 700 self-propelled mortar model), 3638 various types of M113 (3200 base A1/A2, 180M106 self-propelled mortar, 160M113TOW anti-tank model, 88M88A2 armored rescue vehicle), 700 FNSS PARS 6x6, 320 FNSS PARS 8X8, 535 BTR80s.
Light motor vehicles: 2000 BMC hedgehogs, 500 Noel Ed, 1600 Otoka Eye Snakes, 57 Catermersil Sidder, 550 Otokar Scorpions, 250 Otoka APVs. There are also nearly 20,000 jeeps of various types
Tactical missiles: 150 Bora, 100 J-600T Lightning, 72 MGM-140 ATACMS
Rocket launchers: 12 X M270, 135 x T-300 Kasırga, more than 160 X-122 Sakarya, more than 100 X-107
Self-propelled guns: 219 M110A2, 36 M107, 300 T-155 Fırtına, 362 M52, 26 M44
Towed guns: 162 M115, 400 Leopard 155 mm, 535 M114, 75 M101
Anti-aircraft missiles: 8 Sets of Hisar-O, 10 Sets of Hissar-A, 150 Sets of ATILGAN PMSS, 80 Sets of Zıpkın PMADS, 13 Sets of ACV-30 Korkut
Self-propelled anti-aircraft guns: 262 M42s (stock)
Towed anti-aircraft guns: 803 Bofors 40 mm, 120 GDF-003B, 493 Oerlikon 20 mm, 432 Rhine 20 mm, 160 M45 anti-aircraft machine guns
Drones: 110 TB2s, 12 Bayraktar Çaldıran, 20 Barakta Lookouts, 150 Barakta Minis, 30 RQ20 Cougars, 356 STM Carriers, 108 Hobby
Helicopter gunships: 66 T129s, 10 AH1W Super-Eye Snakes, 34 AH1F Cobras
Transport helicopters: 11 CH47s, 57 S70s, 86 UH60s, 26 AS532s, 19 M17s, 28 AB206s, 177 UH1s, 18 UH1Ns
Observation helicopters: 3 OH58s, 28 TH55s
Fixed-wing aircraft: 2 DO28s, 6 Super King Air 350s, 98 Cessna 185s, 34 West Tabrias, 25 T41s, 3 Cessna 421s, 4 Barons
At present, the Turkish Army has a total of 260,200 active personnel well-equipped, and its combat effectiveness can be described as the strongest presence in the Islamic world.
Altay main battle tank jointly developed by Turkey and South Korea
An infantry fighting vehicle model of the ACV15 series with a 25 mm cannon
A series of armored vehicle families developed by FNSS
T122 rocket launcher
T300 rocket launcher
T55 self-propelled gun
Hisar-O anti-aircraft missile system
T129 gunship
Turkey's national defense is changing from "made in all countries" to independent production, and gradually establishing a sound defense industry system, so as to continuously provide heavy equipment to the army, I believe that the future of the Turkish Army must have a broad space for development.
The second part of the military history series 02 ends here, thank you for the officers. Interested friends can point likes, dots of attention, host the author, thank you.