NOTES ON THE WAR NEWS

Evening Post, Volume CXXXI, Issue 38, 14 February 1941, Page 8

NOTES ON THE WAR NEWS

TURKEY & THE WIR

MILITARY STRENGTH

If the Germans drive down upon Bulgaria and | Greece;.the.; Turks may -decide that menaces, their national interests,; and oppose it with force. At v : the moment it is not certain just v • what Turkey regards as a: cause, ; ;; of war, but the possibility of her '_■ being actively engaged in the conflict .makes her.-.- military ■ , strength of considerable interest; For a long time after the World War .-, restrictions were laid upon Turkish re-? ■ r.ming, but most of these were ulti-mately-lifted or merely' disregarded, and- permission, was given by the assemble^ Powers for the refortification of the Dardanelles to beVcarried out. Krupp and Skoda are reported to have shared this contract. The Turkish army today consists of 11 army corps, comprising 23 infantry ciyisions, 3 cavalry divisions, and 7 fortress commands. This is ap- . war strength, and very * little expansion would be possible if the country were attacked. Such a ; mobilisation has been made, possible b,. the calling up of reservists arid the, premature mobilisation of new classes, lor training. , " \ A Great Reserve. Eehindthis fdrce is a total of about 750,000 trained reservists, and the annual intake of the army has been about 80.000: men, roughly half the annual contingent of men liable to serve. The army is equipped mainly with Mauser (German) rifles, and the artillery with 3-inch field guns and also with 4.5-inch and 6-inch howitzers of various foreign makes. : There is an armoured brigade which, according to recent information, is chiefly supplied with medium tanks, and the army also uses a six-wheeled armoured car with a revolving turret. Some of the tanks have corns, from Russia. As in most European countries service in the Turkish Army is compulsory. It last for eighteen months: in the case of the infantry and two years in the case of artillery, cavalry, air force, and technical units. Men are liable to serve at 20 and. remain liable for 26 years. ( The Turkish Air Force. : The Turkish'air force was born in 193 G. when General Inonu, now the country's leader, urged, its extension in view of the international situation. The goal announced was 1000 planes arid 15.000 pilots. However, this is -far from being attained. The approximate strength of the air force is probably not much more than 400 planes, and the total air personnel has recently been estimated as 8000. But the known strength at the outbreak of war was 8400, and there is every reason to believe that an active policy of training has been carried out for the past year, so the figure may be well over .10,000 by now. Some of the machines used by this air force are obsolescent, but many, of ••them are still useful. The Turks have had Blenheim bombers delivered to them and have obtained a number of fairly recent American-made planes, and they have fceen able: to draw some types from, Russia, it is thought. A great deal depends on how" close the liaison with Britain: has been and how far the British Government has agreed to spare material for the.equipment of Turkey. \ , That ranks as a war secret. The Naval Forces.1 ■ ■ , The Turkish navy is manned by about 10,000 men, but its effective'strength is about half that figure. The fleet includes: the battle cruiser Yavuz, formerly the German ship Goeben, which escaped to Turkish waters in' the World War. This ship is of 23,000,t0ns £md mounts ten llin guns. There are also the cruisers Hamidiye, of 3800 tons, and the Mecidiye, 3300 tons, mounting 5.9 in guns and s.lin guns respectively, and both 38 years old, and there are two gunboats, 3 minesweepers, 4 destroyers, 6 submarines, and auxiliary craft. Four of the destroyers are modern Italian-built craft and five of the submarines are modern ships. One came from Germany just before the war began. , In addition, Turkey has been planning to develop her own construction of warships and has been building two more submarines in the Golden Horn. Two minelayers have recently been turned out fflom the Turkish yard at G'olcuk. This: work,' hats been developed by Krupp, and one of the sensations of last year was when the Turks suddenly packed the Germans engaged in it off back1 home. <_■ . Industrial Organisation. / Some attention has been paid to the need to strengthen the, industrial organisation of the country in case of war. Construction of steel works has been pushed ahead in Karabuk, in Central Anatolia. Before the German occupation of Czecho-Slovakia Skoda was said to be developing'other industrial plans for the .Government, but the details have never been revealed. The recognition of Turkey's industrial weakness led to the creation of a Five-Year Plan for industrialisation of the country in 1934. This was followed by the establishment of such staple industries as tpxtiles. mining, paper, sugar, glass, and cement. A second Five-Year Plan was approved in 1936 relating mainly to mines, mining industries, and electrification and £100.000,000 (Turkish) was allowed for carrying it out. Further stimulus came from the £10.000,000 loan made by the British Government as part of the AngloTurkish Guarantee Agreement. Much of this is reported to have been spent in fortifying the European frontiers of the country. Mainly Agricultural. The first blast furnace at Karabuk was lit at the end of 1939. This establishment was to cost £3,000,000. But despite all these efforts Turkey remains predominantly an agricultural country. With a population of 14,000,000, she had fairly recently only two and a half times the number of industrial workers that there are in New Zealand. Her chief export has remained tobacco, which equals the next three items together in value. Tnese three items are cottoni shelled hazel-nuts, and dried raisins, and the other important exports are figs, barley, chrome," and mohair. The Turks, as New Zealanders know from the World War, are good fighters, and have usually' been • considered especially, tenacious in defence. In a I new war they would appear to be short 'of material, as they were :'ti the last conflict, but no doubt could receive substantial aid from Britain in a reasonable time. 1 They have shown military ability in the past, but are handicapped by their communications system, which is still deficient. On their own ground they ' would be formidable opponents, _ and might easily distinguish -.themselves «f the Greeks have done.; - ~.