In Tripoli - Enver Pasha's Diary

 My current wargame project was inspired by the Turkish TV series Land of Loyals, an entertaining take on the Italian conquest of Libya during the Italian-Ottoman War of 1911-12. Highly recommended, but use the subtitles. The English dubbing uses an array of upper-class English accents, which are simply bizarre.

While it makes dramatic TV, it isn't a documentary. My starting point for the history was Osprey's MAA, Armies of the Italian-Turkish War, which is an excellent overview and includes the uniform plates I need. 

For a primary source, I have been reading, In Tripoli, Enver Pasha's diary during the war. It's not strictly speaking a diary at all. It is a compilation of letters he wrote to friends in Germany and to his wife.  

Enver Pasha (1881–1922) was an Ottoman military officer and political leader, best known as one of the “Three Pashas” who dominated the Ottoman government during World War I. Rising to prominence after the Young Turk Revolution of 1908, he became Minister of War and played a central role in aligning the Ottoman Empire with Germany. 

In 1911, when Italy invaded Ottoman Tripolitania (modern-day Libya), Enver Pasha travelled covertly to the region, as the Ottoman Empire could not openly deploy regular troops due to diplomatic constraints. Alongside other young Ottoman officers, most notably Mustafa Kemal (later Atatürk), Enver helped organise local Arab and Berber forces into an effective guerrilla resistance. He operated mainly around Benghazi and Derna, coordinating military strategy, training fighters, and strengthening ties with local leaders, including the Senussi order. His letters cover this period.

Most of his letters are pretty short and outline the military actions he led and the organisation of the resistance. They were always short of equipment and munitions, so they relied heavily on captured Italian stores. There were some Ottoman troops, but he mostly relied on the local tribes. They were equally happy fighting each other as they were fighting the Italians. It took some remarkable leadership skills to keep them together. As he says, his army "looks more like a horde of armed men, similar to soldiers of the First Republic." (He means France).

There is an annoying lack of detail on the military actions, and some of his casualty claims look more than a little suspect. However, there are many small details I enjoyed. He created uniformed 'Guard' companies composed of the sons of influential sheikhs, units I will definitely have on the tabletop. A machine-gun company commanded by a German volunteer, Lieutenant von Bentheim. There was a British volunteer, Stuart Smallwood, who commanded a scout unit, specialising in reconnoitring Italian defences. He converted to Islam and was killed in action. I must dig deeper, but here is one blogger's research, although I don't think he is right about the films.  Enver wasn't so keen on the European women in his HQ: "God, we have a great number of Bedouin women here, who behave quietly, yet two European women cannot bear to get along with each other." He was equally nonplussed about the 'gift' of two women from the Grand Senussi. 

The letters are translated from a French copy into English. The Germans apparently edited their version. Well worth a read.

I have made a start with the wargame figures, Italians for starters, using Pendraken figures in 10mm. My kepi-clad Italians are converted from the Belgium WW1 range, and others are mostly from the WW1 Middle East WW1 range.