XPost: soc.history.war.misc
On 21/02/2023 18:27, a425couple wrote:
Alexander
Normal guy with limited brain power Feb 6
What are the most mind-blowing tricks used during any war?
During the Palestine campaign of World War 1, the British and Ottomans
were deadlocked in a trench-warfare stalemate. The progression was
extremely slow.
One day, the British learned that the Ottomans had run out of
cigarettes. To try and demoralize the enemy, they sent cigarettes
wrapped in propaganda to the Ottomans. As a response to this, the
Ottomans threw away the propaganda and smoked the cigarettes anyway.
The reality is that Turkey was a major producer of Opium right into the
1970's and amongst their major customers until the beginning of WW1 was
the British pharmaceuticals industry
The war against Turkey was remarkable for how successful it was. An
Ottoman force launched an attack on the Sinai Peninsula attempting to
seize or destroy the Suez Canal - it failed
In Jan 1917 a newly formed British Expeditionat Force returned the
compliment, invading Egypt and advancing to Gaza and pushed on to
Jerusalem. This was an era when communications and road were primitive
and the BEF was small. Fittingly the climactic battle in Palestine was
fought and won at Meggido considered the site of Armageddon.
In the process 3 Ottoman armies were destroyed and their equipment lost. Jerusalem, Damascus and Aleppo were seized. The Ottomans fought hard but
were pooely equipped and asked for an Armistice in October 1918 as the
old empire disintegrated into chaos due to famine induced by a British Blockade. A shortage of cigarettes was the least of their problems.
Total British and Imperial losses were 12,873 killed/missing, 37,193
wounded, and 1,385 captured.
Total Ottoman losses were as best as can be tallied
Battle losses 15,364 KIA, 34,199 WIA, 10,069 MIA, 78,735 POW
Losses from illness were higher with 50,000 dying from illness
In total the best estimate of total Ottoman losses were 230,500
15,364 KIA, 10,069 MIA, 40,900 died of disease, 85,497 WIA/DOW, 78,735 Prisoners of War.
The POW's were mostly Ottoman but 3,000 Austro-German men and 206
Austro-German officers were also captured
In WW1 terms this was considered a side show.
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