KEMAL PASHA AND HIS ARMY.

Dunstan Times, Issue 3147, 11 December 1922, Page 7

KEMAL PASHA AND HIS ARMY.

(By John Clayton, Smyrna.) Seventy thousand fighting men, in addition to supply services and other non-combatants, are waiting the outcome of the negotiations between the Turkish and British military leaders Jt is not ai large army, but one ideally suited l for the sort of combat that prevails in Anatolia; blooded by a magnificent defence, a victorious offensive, they are now waiting to give battle; to Great Britain.* Probably 40,000 fighting men are already on the Chanak and Jsmid fronts, with every available unit being rushed northward as reinforcements.

Kemal Pasha does not want to fight. He is ready for the Conference, for he realises the size of the job be will take on if forced to carry through his project-; at the) point of the bayonet rather than by diplomacy. His recent interview granted to me clearly indicated' his position. He will 1 not admit of foreign troops on Turkish soil. He deems a treaty for the guarantee of the freedom of tho' Straits, together with complete demilitarisation, sufficient. He asks no more than a treaty for the safety of Constantinople. However, I do not believe be will let those desires stand in the way of a Conference. Ho hopes to find around the Conference table a modus operand! for guaranteeing both the freedom of the Dardanelles and the safety of his capital. If he is reasonably sure after Tuesday’s meeting

that the British will not throw large

bodies of troops into the battle region during the progress of the negotiations be will agree to; an immediate conclave, probably at Venice, to decide the terms of peace with the Greeks, and future relations with Great Britain, France, and the Near East.

Mustnpha Kemal Pasha, although, only -11, has achieved military distincton which many men his senior •might envv. Kemal was educated at the

Turkish Staff College school at Constantinople— at that time under German imdlenco —and was a junior ofiiccr at the time of the Young Turk Itohclliou. Me also studied both in France and Germany for periods after his graduation. He first gained distinction during the revolution, during which he associated himself with Enver. Taalat. and Djccal. He attained the rank of colonel in the new Turkish army, which he held at the outbreak of the war. His military ability was already recognised by Ins superiors, who saw in him a dangerous rival to the Triumvirate then controlling I nrkisii affairs. Me was assigned to protect Gallipoli in the hope that the campaign would break him. But Enver Taalat, and Djemal reckoned without their host. When Kemal returned to Constantinople after the Gallipoli campaign his reputation was established. From that moment lie became an object of hatred to the Irinmvirate. He was assignee! the most difficult of tasks, the almost lost cause of the Turkish army in the field. From all he emerged triumphant, and at the end of tlie war he had fought his way to the rank of general. Immediately niter the Armistice the young man began looking for more proini sing careers than the military. Men who had won reputations during the war were forgotten. Allied control officers throughout Turkey were supervising the break-up of military _ supplies and the surrender of arms. Kemal bided his time. There came the landing of the Greek troops at Smyrna. After the Armistice Kemal again came into his own. He departed from Constantinople for Sivas. there gathering a .simfll handful of men around his - fanda.rd', and became the champion of the new Nationalism. At first he was taken seriously by none hut himself and a faithful few, who were convinced that Turkey could he regenerated. Outlawed by the Sultan, scoffed at by the Allies, pitied by men who had tried to break bis military reputation and career. That was three years ago. To-day Kemal Pasha stands at the head of a victorious army and a, regenerated Government, which lie lias built from nothing. He lias organised bis artillery from a maze < f German. Turkish, and Russian pieces, adding English and French ae the time went on. He took old German ’planes as a ncdons, and constructed an air service by tine addition of more German. French. Italian, and even British ’planes 1 . Those latter wore captured during the battle of Sakaria. Ho reequipped from German dumps until ho could get French and Italian rifles and equipment. He called to himself one by one the best Turkish generals outside the triumvirate. Many had been exiled to Malta. As they returned they were more than eager to offer their services to the Nationalist chief. The results of bis indefatigable efforts the world lias witnessed during the past month. In one of the most spectacular campaigns in history Kemal has driven from the land an invading army larger than its own, captured most of its materials and equipment. To-day he is at the gates of Constantinople and Dardanelles. The terms which he offered to the Allies were scorned eight months ago; thev are now being eagerly pressed on him' in an endeavor to prevent further conflict ami save the Dardanelles to the “Leagnic” garrison. He goes to the Conference in the guise of a dictator.

If it comes to fight—none is more anxious than Keinal to avoid war lie will bo able to throw oven larger forces into the field than lie did against the Creeks. Scarcely one of his reserve units has been used in these operations. He relied in the main on the battle units of 12.000 cavalry to rout the armies of General J ladiiancstis. Even these troops, despite the rapid advance over a distance of 400 kilometres, are still in excellent shape, with their equipment intact. Their uniforms are not the smartest, hut they are hardy, sun-tanned, wind-bitten troops, who look capable of standing hardships that would tear a European army wide open. What they lack in uniforms they make np in equipment. Many of Kcmal’s men have the conventional olivc-drab uniforms, much like the American, with high collars, but there are also unusual "departures iu chic uniforms in blue, in homespun. iu drab, with blouses of French blue and trousers. There are picturesque Lazis from distant Eastern provinces, garbed entirely in Mack. They have tight blouses, trousers with skin-tight pants and li;i(r<ry scat, leather puttees .and soft leather mocassins. Capping all a black turban is wound tightly round the head. Ammunition belts encircle the waist and pass over both shoulders, loaded with cartridges for their modern Lehcl rifles. They are further armed with a short poignard, often with an ultra-modern “potato masher” (German grenade). There arc Arab troops from the Southern provinces—city dwellers, not nomads —in conventional olive-drab or homespun, with stout hoots, and a burnous thrown over their heads. There the Kurds, many in grey civilian coats and breeches, black hoots, with a gay kerchief tied over their heads. Most of them carry a knife as well as a rifle and a. bayonet. All the. Turkish troops are great fighters with cold steel. It was this more than any other thing that routed the Greeks at Afiuni. The officers, for the most part, are uniformed in olive-drab, with high collars. much like the American dross. Their' markings are worn on the tabs

and eoHardends. They are topped with a black, brimless cap of lamhekin, known as the kalpak or vizorless felt cap.

In equipment the Kemalist troops leave little to bo desired. Their arms are of the most modern, and 1 they seem to havei large supplies of ammunition. The cavalryman generally has two horses, one of which he leads. With every cavalry unit there is a- battery of mountain artillery, or Hotchkiss guns carried! in the same manner. There is an unusually large proportion of automatic rifles among the cavalry and a larger percentage among the infantry. One of the surprises l of the campaign is the number of batteries Kemal swung into action at Afium and Ushak, with an abundance of ammunition. He probably boasted l of three hundred guns when the offensive began. He captured at least 250 from the Greeks. In the main they are now the famous French , 75’s. The Russian and' German pieces of similar calibre have been relincd and breached to take the same ammunition. There are also batteries of 4-inch German howitzers and heavier pieces. The improvement in the air service is little short of remarkable, but it is still far below the standard of Western power. During the summer they re reived many French and Italian machines. The total is four squadrons of fifteen planes each,. The pilots are mostly foreign-trained, with a. sprinkling of French and Italian, according to the British and the Greeks. Kemalist oUlcers, however, deny this. There have been many rumors of a French tactician in charge of the Turkish operations. The appearance of the army has changed in three years from n German organisation, with all the stiffness of German troops, to supple units. One familiar with France was led to believe that French officers had a large part in the campaign. So far as training is concerned that is true in a measure. Erstwhile French officers’ are said to have whipped new units into shape, hut the change in their hearing is due as much to the fact that Turkish troops are better adapted in spirit to the French idea than the German. The attitude of the officers toward the men in this revolutionary army is that of fathers to children. The peasant lads from Turkish villages have already responded to this new treatment. '

To Feviz Pasha, Kemal's Chief of Staff, goes the credit of the battle ])lans. This able general ,recently promoted to field-marshal for his successes against the Greeks, not only drew up the plans for the offensive, but was responsible for the tactical retreat which-resulted in the Turkish victory at Sakaria a year ago; Ho, too, was a graduate at the Staff College at Constantinople, and spent some time in Germany and Franco as a student of military tactics. T-sniet Pasha, chief of the Turkish armies in the field, is another product of the Young Turk revolution. Like the Commander-in-Chief, he received some trftTning abroad, but was educated mainly at Constantinople. Turkey as a military Power cannot lie compared to England,.but with the country fighting for them and British honje conditions urging the greatest economy of men, they hope to wring a favorable peace even from Great Britain.