TNT History Archives: Italian Invasion of Ottoman Rhodes (May 1912)/Part III

 

                 Description of the Invasion of Rhodes 

                             and Related Telegrams

 

Besides a number of batteries, the units taken from the forces in Libya 

included the 34th (from Tobruk) and the 57th (from Benhgazi) infantry 

regiments; 10 infantry battalions from the 4th Bersagliye (from Bengazi) 

and the Ferenstelle Alp (from Bengazi) battalions; five batteries – 3 of 

them mountain batteries and one from Tripoli; along with one cavalry 

team.

These units were put under the command of recently-promoted General 

Ameglio, after the two olive grove victories of 12 March (1912 in Libya).

 

General Ameglio’s chief of staff was Major Filippo Mombelli, who had 

previously commanded the Fenerstelle Alp battalion at Tripoli and who 

had gone to Rome on 15 April to obtain the necessary approvals of the 

Ministry of War, the General Staff and the provisions committee for the 

expeditionary force. 

At four o’clock on 4 May, the landing began in Kalithéa Bay and met 

no resistance, ending at 1400 hours.  At this point, General Ameglio 

began to march toward the city of Rhodes on the northeast extremity 

of the island, ,repulsing some Turkish troops encountered along the 

way.  It is certain  that the city could have been seized that evening and 

the Ottoman troops there taken prisoner but since the status of those 

troops was unclear, the decision was made to spend the night at 

Sandruli-Tombe on the slopes overlooking the Bay of Trianda.

The Italian units, which would be matching up with Turks for the first 

time, gathered on the slopes which separated Rhodes city from General 

Ameglio, who waited until the morning to enter this city, which had once 

belonged to the ancient Knights of Rhodes.  However, the number of 

Ottoman troops in the city could not be discerned with certainty.  The

Italians estimated that there were between 2,000 and 5,000 troops and 

they knew that the Ottomans were equipped with mountain batteries.   

This was a rather insignificant force but as hostilities increased the 

Ottomans were reinforced with 1,500 troops and two more mountain 

batteries in May.

The entrance to Rhodes port  had some fortifications left over from the

Middle Ages, two new batteries and some old redoubts that were armed 

with  Krupp cannon that had been reconditioned.  Nevertheless, these 

fortifications were no match for the  Italian fleet’s armaments. 

However, the Italians knew that the Turks were fierce fighters, 

regardless of their numbers, and the Turksish soldiers’ legendary 

endurance, tenacity and discipline were on the minds of the Italians.  

Consequently, General Ameglio quite rightly reined in his natual 

inclination to attack impulsively, in light of these considerations.

 

    

  General Giovanni Ameglio

 

The night of 4/5 May passed quietly.  The Italian reconnaissance teams 

witnessed a number of Turkish movements and, in fact, in one of the 

areas of rough terrain the Italian commander of one of the teams, a 

sergeant,  was taken prisoner.  On the other hand, though, there was no 

activity or anxiety observed at the Turkish HQS. 

On the morning of 5 May, Rhodes was ordered to surrender.  Realizing 

that the city could not be defended, the Turkish governor  told the 

Italians they were free to enter.  He himself, however, fled the city and 

two days later he was caught by the Italians while boarding a rowboat 

at Lindos, intending  to head for the Anatolian shore. 

  

At 1400 hours on 5 May, the tri-color Italian flag waved over Rhodes 

and General Ameglio was welcomed in triumph by Rhodes’s local 

Greek community. 

With regard to the regular Turkish troops, they disappeared to parts 

unknown.  Consequently, the glee engendered by occupying Rhodes 

was tempered by the Italians’ concern that Turkish units could emerge 

at any time to confront them.  What had happened to the Turkish units?   

They wanted to escape the wrath of the local Greek populace, on the 

one hand, and reach a point out of the range of the Italian fleet’s guns, 

on the other.   The retreating Turkish troops stopped at a place not too 

far from the city, from where they could still harass General Ameglio’s 

troops.  Subsequently, the Turkish troops, hoping to avoid capture, split 

up into small groups and tried to pass through more remote and lightly 

manned Italian checkpoints under cover of darkness.   Eventually, they 

re-assembled at the Psithos slopes.

On the island of Rhodes there is long and wide whalebone-like 

mountain range that rises to 1,250 meters in height and has many 

perpendicular, separate elements.   Between Apono-Kalamona and 

Psithos there is an axis hill from which two corresponding slopes 

descend.  Here is where the Turkish troops took up their protected 

positions, from which points they could observe both the coast road 

and the interior roads coming from Rhodes. 

At the same time, the Turks’ positions afforded them the chance to 

retreat to the island’s highest point, if necessary.  In addition, this area, 

covered with pine forests, provided the Turks with much better 

opportunities for ambushes and harassing attacks than if they had 

remained at their main base. 

The land’s lime make-up made the slopes quite steep, with the lower 

areas much less amenable to movement than the upper slopes and the 

hills themselves, so the existing roads passed higher up.  In short, the 

land was similiar to the Apennine mountains of Italy’s Liguria region.  

Consequently, the fighting here took on the nature of mountain warfare.

A concerted attack on the Turkish positions would be audacious but 

would not result in a clear-cut victory, dispersing the Turks that much 

more and sending them toward the coast.  However, the Italians learned 

that the Turks’ resources were quite limited and that their cohesiveness 

was disintigrating.  On 4 May, a detachment of 57 Turks was taken 

prisoner without difficulty and more and more POWs began to be 

transported back to Rhodes city.  

In addition, there were Ottoman deserters who could not  find food.   All 

of this indicated that a complete Ottoman collapse was in the offing.  

Nevertheless, there was concern that  these Turkish soldiers fighting to the 

end would be remembered as the ‘Plevne’ heroes of this war.  So, with this 

in mind, General Ameglio maintained his strict restraint and only on the 

night of 15-16 May did he begin to implement a sober-minded operation 

that would result in a shining triumph.

//END of PART THREE//