Ottoman surrender to the Italians at Psithos,
Rhodes
Within the context of
the Italian-Ottoman War over Libya, in May 1912
Italy launched an invasion of
the island of Rhodes, which had been part
of the Ottoman Empire for 400 years. The Italian claim to Rhodes and
the
neighboring 11 islands (Dodecanese), was supposedly based on the
Roman Empire’s
control of these islands two thousand years before.
In the 1940 issue of
the Turkish “Askeri Mecmuası” (Military Journal),
a very thorough treatment of
the War was published as a translation of
Italian Capt. I. Revol’s original
Italian text by retired Turkish General
Kadri Demirkayya. Herewith is the English translation of the
portions
of Capt. Revol’s report and General Demirkaya’s translation bearing
on
the Rhodes invasion, based on the Turkish text:
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Ameglio Division’s Rhodes Expedition –
Special Division Command
Operations Order – No. 1
To: Independent
units and their commanders; service and
organization
chiefs tied to the division.
Info: Second Fleet Commanding Vice Admiral.
The envious duty of occupying the island of Rhodes has been
given to
our division and its units.
My intention is to land soldiers at the port of Kalithéas,
with the initial
target being the speedy seizure of Koskion’s southwestern
point. The
second aim is to prevent the
flight of the enemy units at the Rhodes
garrison to the interior of the island
by seizing the northern and
southeastern hills of Asguru, and then to defeat
the enemy units and
occupy the city.
With these aims in mind, and with the agreement of the
commander of
the Second Fleet, I have
decided that:
a)As the first
stage, the marine battalion that makes landing will follow
the Kalthéas-Koskino
road and send an infantry company with a heavy
machine gun team one kilometer to the south and towards
Kalithéas.
The other company, together
with a heavy machine gun team, will be
sent one kilometer to the north, towards
Koskino;
Two battalions from the 34th infantry regiment that are part
of the initial
landing, will immediately head toward Kalithéas to support the
marine
units and to provide support against any possible enemy attack;
b) The military
engineering company will work together with the Navy
personnel to establish
arrangements and organization on the shore, based
on the instructions of the
commanders on the shore;
c)Two battalions
of the Fourth Bersagliye Regiment and the Alp
Battalion, together with their
heavy machine gun teams, will have the
Piacenza light cavalry team in front of
them and the mountain battalion,
with its two batteries (comprised of the batteries themselves and
the
first echelon of the second ammunition column) will follow them.
Col. Maltini will be in command at the
vanguard element, whose job
will be to quickly occupy Kostino in order to open the way to Rhodes.
The fortifications-breaking company and the customs guard
team will
be tied to the vanguard, in order to set up companion detachments for
the first and second mountain batteries, respectively;
The telephone team will follow the vanguard and set up the
requisite
lines to establish communications with the division command;
d)The 57th
Infantry Regiment, together with its two heavy machine gun
teams, the
1906-model Cannon Battalion, the 34th Infantry Regiment,
together with its two
heavy machine gun teams, and the mountain health
detachment will comprise the
main portion. The 57th Infantry Regiment
will assign a companion company for the 1906-model Cannon Battalion;
e)The 34th
Infantry Regiment’s battalion, which will first head toward
Kalithéas to
reinforce the marine units, will subsequently
follow the
detachments as a rear
guard;
f) I myself will march at the head of the main portion;
g)The remaining
units and various organizations and escorts will stay
on the ships to await the
second order.
Signals
After landing, the division command will establish contact
with the
fleet command by means of flares during the day and ‘helyosta’
(‘heliostat’ – light reflector) at night.
All infantry battalions and cannon batteries will be
equipped by the
Fleet Command with flares for the various elements to show their
positions during the
march. This measure is being adopted to
ensure
that the cannon batteries on the ships fire either in front of, or
behind,
our units.
For added security, the division command will inform the
Fleet
Command of subsequent targets.
Instructions
Equipment: The units
will land without packs. All soldiers
will have
with them sandbags, light fortification tools and overcoats.
Ammunition: The ammunition crates will not be taken during
the
landing. However, each soldier will
have 200 bullets and each cannon
will have 120 shells.
Food: Both officers
and soldiers will land with one day’s worth of fresh
food and two day’s worth
of canned food. For the animals,
three-day’s
worth of oats will be taken during landing.
Water: All barrels and casks will be full of water. Each detachment will
have their own water
casks with them, by means of having them
transported to shore or carrying them
themselves.
Health kits:
Battalion and battery commanders will ensure that health
kits and
stretchers are landed together with each unit.
Every regimental
commander will make landfall with 12 mules for the
heavy machine gun
teams and mules for carrying the health kits and mules to
carry stretchers
– two for each battalion.
((Signed)) Division Commander General Ameglio
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