Military Units and Their Fighting Qualities

Here are notes on the units likely to be involved in the Gallipoli campaign. The numbers in parentheses next to the unit’s name is the unit’s starting Strength Level.

British Units

Royal Navy Division (4)

The RND was formed at the outbreak of WWI from Royal Marines who were not needed for service on warships. It fought briefly in October 1914 in the defence of Antwerp, before retraining and re-equipping in England prior to posting in Egypt. The RND starts the game short of manpower, lacking some supporting services and having taken significant losses in Belgium- the RND is thus “Weak” in strength. The troops are considered well-trained professions of high discipline, and particularly competent in amphibious operations. The RND’s predominantly sea-going experience and lack of supporting services could, however, be a problem in a sustained ground deployment.

British 29th Division (6)

The 29th Division was probably the best British division that served at Gallipoli, and one of the best of any nation in the campaign. It was formed in January to March 1915 almost exclusively from regular army garrisons taken from various parts of the Empire, and although brand new as a division it had the advantage of containing a large number of professional soldiers who had not yet been worn out on the battlefields of the Western Front- a great rarity at the time. The 29th can thus be considered as a crack division of well-disciplined and well-trained men. The Division’s historical performance in the campaign also bears witness to the division’s resilience, as the 29th was to attack again and again on the Helles Front, losing heavily in the process, but nevertheless always seemed to be able to spearhead one more push.

British “New Army” Divisions: 10th (Irish), 11th (Northern), and 13th (Western) Divisions (6)

These Divisions are all part of the “New Army”- the new British army recruited after the outbreak of WWI to expand the professional army rapidly shrinking in size due to casualties in France and Belgium. All three divisions were formed from civilian volunteers in August and September 1914. Given that the men of these divisions were volunteers who received considerable training in the British Isles before employment the divisions have potential, but presently have no combat experience and are poorly led- there was a shortage of good officers when the divisions were formed and so the divisions’ officers are for the most part aging regulars of no great talent promoted above their level of competence.

British “Territorial” Divisions: 42nd (East Lancashire), 52nd (Lowland), 53rd (Welsh), and 54th (East Anglian) Divisions (6)

These divisions were all raised when the Territorial Army was established in 1908 from units comprised of part-time volunteers. These troops were intended only as second-line units to be used for home defence, thus freeing Regular Army units for overseas service. After the outbreak of WWI, however, the Territorial Army troops were asked to serve as first-line troops overseas, and the great majority of men agreed. Although having the disadvantage of a “second-line” stigma the fresh recruits of the New Army do not share, as well as a tradition of amateurism, the Territorials at leat have had the opportunity to acquire military skills over the space of a number of years of part-time training. None of these divisions has any combat experience, as to date they have been engaged in guarding coastlines and similarly unchallenging work. The 53rd and 54th Divisions, in particular, were not well regarded in the campaign, being described by their corps commander, Lieutenant-General Stopford as “unreliable” “shaky and “sucked oranges” after their landing at Suvla Bay in August 1915 (although Stopford himself was looking for scapegoats for his own poor performance at this time and so the criticism might not have been altogether justified).

British 2nd Mounted Division (6)

The 2nd Mounted was a “Yeomanry” division, which meant that is was part of the Territorial Army, but had the advantage of being mounted on horses. The unit can thus be considered similar to the Territorial infantry divisions, except that its men will be of a higher social class and possess the ability to ride.

ANZAC Units

Australian 1st and 2nd Divisions (6)

The call for volunteers in Australia at the outset of the war was very enthusiastically received, and far more men came forward than could be immediately equipped and sent to Europe. The recruiters were thus able to pick and choose amongst the recruits to ensure the highest standard (particularly in the case of the 1st Division). As two of the criteria for selection were height and chest size, it is not surprising that Australian troops were subsequently regarded by the British as particularly fine physical specimens. The handpicked recruits also had very high morale. Although around half of the recruits had no military experience, about 10% had previously served as British regulars, and about 40% had received some prior militia or compulsory military service training. The officers were Australian, generally drawn from the militia, although about one-sixth had prior combat experience (mainly in the Second Boer War). The Australian troops received less training than the British New Army recruits, and were less well disciplined, but this does not seem to have impaired their combat effectiveness. Although initially regarded as inferior to British troops, the Australians soon obtained an excellent reputation in combat, and were afterwards employed on the Western Front as shock troops.

The New Zealand and Australian Division (4)

Unlike the two Australian divisions, the New Zealand and Australian Division started the campaign with only 2 brigades: the New Zealand Brigade and the 4th Australian Brigade- although there was also artillery and engineers supplied by New Zealand. The division thus starts as Weak. Historically it was later supplemented by the addition of the New Zealand Mounted Rifles Brigade and the 1st Australian Light Horse Brigade, but these may be kept as independent brigades in the game if so desired. There was also the Maori Detachment, a battalion of Maori troops which later joined the Division. The comments regarding the Australian divisions apply in relation to the Australians of this division and generally speaking also to the New Zealand troops, although the New Zealander troops generally had a higher level of previous military training than the Australians and were better disciplined, but had slightly lower physical criteria for recruitment (an Australian recruit had to be 5’ 6” or taller, whilst a New Zealander could get away with being 5’ 4”).

1st, 2nd and 3rd Australian Light Horse Brigades and New Zealand Mounted Rifles Brigade (2)

The Australian Light Horse Brigades were recruited in a similar manner to the Australian infantry, except that the recruits were much more likely to have a rural background, and hence be better marksmen and possess greater self-sufficiency. The extreme bravery of the Light Horsemen was amply demonstrated at The Nek on 7 August 1915 when a fourth wave of troops from the 8th Light Horse Regiment charged from their trenches without questioning their orders even after seeing the first three waves shot down to almost to a man in the first few yards after leaving the trench, with the result of 234 casualties out of 300 men (the officers managed to stop some men in the fourth wave from charging, otherwise the casualties would have been higher still). Presumably the New Zealand Mounted Rifles Brigade were of similar high quality. These units should thus all be considered as elite, although being mounted units, regimental strengths were smaller than those of infantry battalions, so they will suffer proportionately more heavily from casualties.

Indian Army

29th Indian Infantry Brigade (2)

Although Indian Army troops were not generally well regarded by the British, this unit was an exception as it consisted predominantly of Gurkha troops, rounded out with a unit of Sikhs. The Brigade can be considered a unit of elite shock infantry.

French Units

Corps Expeditionaire D’Orient, 1st and 2nd Divisions (6)

The Corps Expeditionaire D’Orient was led by General Albert d’Amade, and ultimately consisted of 2 divisions. Each of the divisions was divided into two brigades, a “Metropolitan” brigade and a “Colonial” brigade. Although consisting of only 2 brigades apiece (as opposed to the 3 brigades comprising most of the British Imperial divisions), French military organisation differed from the British and French brigades were approximately 50% larger, thus yielding a similar overall divisional strength. The Metropolitan brigades were of high quality and were possessed of customary French élan; they consisted of a regiment (in the French sense of 3 battalions) from metropolitan France and a regiment of Zouaves- originally elite Algerian troops, but increasingly Frenchmen dressed like and (successfully) emulating the bravery of the tribesmen. The 1st Division also had a battalion of Foreign Legion troops (substituted for one of the Zouave battalions). The Colonial brigades were of lower quality, however, comprised primarily of Senegalese troops that were found to have a lower than average breaking point in combat.

Ottoman Units

Because of the limited information available with regard to the Ottoman divisions that participated in the Gallipoli campaign, no attempt will be made to differentiate between the abilities of the great majority of them. Instead, some general comments will be made that are applicable to all Ottoman units, and then Mustafa Kemal’s own 19th Division will be separately mentioned.

Ottoman Divisions in General (4)

As at the start of 1915, the Ottoman army had been warring (albeit not continuously) for four years against Italy, the Balkan states, Russia and then Britain, and had lost every campaign. The army’s performance was little better against the Arab secessionists in what would become Saudi Arabia. In the Gallipoli campaign, however, the ability of the Ottoman soldier came to be well-respected by the Allied fighting man, and the Ottoman troops of the Fifth Army proved very successful in their defensive endeavours, so the army clearly had its strengths.

There were five factors present at Gallipoli that drew the best out of the Ottoman troops. The first is that although the population of the Gallipoli peninsular was predominantly Greek, its proximity to Constantinople made the Ottoman soldiers feel that they were fighting for their homeland rather than fighting to oppress the peoples of the far reaches of the Empire. Secondly, Ottoman troops generally proved themselves more adept at defence than attack. Thirdly, by the time of Gallipoli the Ottoman army had been modernised to some extent by German military instructors. Fourthly, the Fifth Army had the benefit of good leadership- Liman von Sanders was an able commander, a number of divisions were commanded by experienced German officers, and amongst the home-grown Turkish officers was the nigh-legendary Mustafa Kemal. Fifthly, the units sent to Gallipoli tended to be the best troops the Ottoman army had.

Ottoman divisions were smaller than those employed by the Allies, and generally numbered about 10,000 men per division. Each division was comprised of 3 regiments, each of 3 battalions. They were better supported in terms of artillery than the Allied troops- provided naval guns are excluded. Although fighting much close to home, the Ottoman Fifth Army had supply problems that were in many respects greater than those of the Allies, as there were no rail lines passing close to the Dardanelles, and so supplies had either to be brought 100 miles by road from the nearest railhead, run the gauntlet of Allied submarines to be shipped in, or a some combination of each.

Ottoman 19th Division (4)

The 19th Division was led by Mustafa Kemal. It consisted of the 72nd and 77th Regiments manned by Arab soldiers, and the 57th comprised of troops from Thrace and Anatolia. Although the 72nd and 77th Regiments did not individually distinguish themselves, the 57th Regiment earned high praise from Kemal for the willingness of its men to die at his behest when he flung the Regiment at the ANZACS on 25 April to arrest their progress: “A famous regiment, this, because it was completely wiped out”.