28 Mayıs 2020 Perşembe

TNT History Archives: First-hand Account of Ottoman-Italian Battle in Libya (1912)

//Ed. note: In April 1912, the Istanbul newspaper Sebilü'r
Reşad published a letter written about a month earlier by
Nazmi Efendi, a young Ottoman student fighting alongside
Enver, Mustafa Kemal and the rest of a small contingent 
of  Ottoman soldiers in Libya against the Italian Army.

Turkey-Italy War in Libya click here for background.

Türk ordusu 108 yıl sonra Enver Paşa'nın izinde Trablusgarp yolunda
       Mustafa Kemal (Atatürk) and Enver (Paşa) in Libya.

Nazmi Efendi described a battle near Derne and counted
it as a great Ottoman-Bedouin victory, although the 
account of probably the same battle in Wikipedia has a
different outcome: 

On 3 March 1912, 1,500 Libyan volunteers attacked Italian 
troops who were building trenches near Derna. The Italians, 
who were outnumbered but had superior weaponry, held the
line. A lack of coordination between the Italian units sent 
from Derna as reinforcements and the intervention of Turkish 
artillery threatened the Italian line, and the Libyans 
attempted to surround the Italian troops. Further Italian 
reinforcements, however, were able to stabilise the situation, 
and the battle ended in the afternoon with an Italian victory. 

The redoubtable Abdürreşid İbrahim Efendi mentioned 
has made a TNT appearances before:

Abdürreşid İbrahim click here for a 1918 sighting.

Abdürreşid İbrahim bio click here for an abbreviated 
bio in English, up to about 1905. He died in 1944.


Dosya:Mustafa Kemal in Derna, 1912.jpg - Vikipedi
Mustafa Kemal, standing - second from right, at Derne in 1912.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Yesterday we received a letter from Nazmi Efendi, a law student who
went to the war in Libya along with Abdürreşid İbrahim Efendi.  We
felt it would be appropriate to present it verbatim:


We were at the combined Ottoman and Arab HQS.  But today wasn't 
like the other days because there was extraordinary activity in 
connection with the morrow.  Finally, nightfall came and our heroic 
officers said to our magnificent soldiers: tomorrow the Italians will 
learn their lesson and there will be quite a battle.  Everyone started 
to wipe down their rifle and oil their bayonet.  Although was now 
6 o'clock in the morning none of those heroes was sleeping, as if it 
were daytime.

Finally, before dawn we began to hear the enemy's treacherous 
cannon.  Right away, we went to join up with the heroic Bedouins
who had grabbed their weapons and gone at great speed during the
night to raid the enemy.  As if our feet had wings, we reached the 
battle line in 25 minutes, rather than the 3 hours it would normally
take, and stopped at a nearby place.    

The vile enemy force of more than 8,000 was firing at just a few
Ottoman soldiers and about 100 Arabs, as they fixed their bayonets
to come forward.  But when the traitorous enemy could not force 
even 25 of our soldiers from their positions, our honored commander
ordered us to "Get ready! Fix bayonets! Forward!"  

Then our glorious, bloody bayonets began to pierce the treacherous, 
cowardly hearts of the enemy.  We countered the enemy's cannon, 
machine guns and rifles to the extent that they could not even retreat.
The bloody battle lasted for 13 hours, with the Italians losing more
than 2,000 men and just as many rifles and ammunition as they ran
away like whores, stampeding all over one another.  We, though,
pursued, shot at them and plunged our bayonets into their backs.  

The Italian–Turkish War 1911–12 – Qunfudha Bay [Kunfuda Bay ...

I have herewith written in brief about this day I will never forget.  As 
the cannonballs and bullets rained down on me, I thought of my mother
and my siblings.  But with the thousands of heroic Bedouins shouting
"God is Great!", I came to my senses and could think of nothing other
than slapping my trembling bayonet into the heart of the enemy in 
revenge for our martyrs and our nation, showing the crescent flag 
waving above our chief against the cross, and shouting the praises of 
God far and wide. 

My ears were filled with the cries of the faithful and my eyes saw
nothing of importance in the world.  With every step forward, I heard
the clamor of battle and martyrdom, as we made our bloody advance.
God gave us victory and we carried the day, planting the illustrious 
crescent in place of the ravaged cross.  It was wonderful to see the
enemy flee. The low-life cowards!  And they were going to bring
civilization. Ha! Now as they run away they can't find a hole to hide
in.   They're so fraught that they won't be able to make another run at
us.  

God is giving us triumph.  On all the fronts of the war, the cross is 
under attack by the crescent.  God willing, the enemy will soon be 
completely annihilated.  In Derne alone, there more than 15,000
Bedouins armed with the latest weaponry.  It's like that everywhere.
For the İslamic fighters here the least thing they worry about is death,
reasoning that no one can escape death so let death try to get away 
from us.

During the battle, a cannonball's impact blew the cap off my head
but nothing else happened to me.  On our way, Abdürreşid Efendi was
a great help, explaining to the Arabs that we are Moslems. We are
forever grateful to him.  Please pass my greetings to my friend Cevdi
Efendi.  I was in Derne for a month and a half and in Tobruk for 15
days.  Now I'm in Defne and will return soon, God willing.  Tunuslu 
Şhaikh Salih Efendi, who writes for our newspaper from time to time,
is here and sends his regard to all of you.  Best wishes to Abdürreşid
Efendi and all of you from all of us soldiers.

Defne 22 March 328 (1912)





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