german officers trench

"The Right of German Officers Trench, commanding No-man's-land at Quinn's Post (see on extreme right). On the horizonare (from left to right) : Russell's Top, The Nek, Baby 700, and part of Battleship Hill. In the middle distance are Pope's Hill (with Courtney's Post nearer to the reader), Waterfall gully, Dead Man's Ridge, the Bloody Angle (with the chessboard above it) and Quinn's. The Nek, Dead Man's, Bloody Angle, and all the ground above them were Turkish. No-Man's-Land at Quinn's was impassable, being commanded by Turkish machine-guns at Dead Man's, the Chessboard, and German Officers', and by Anzac machine-guns at Russell's Top, Pope's and Steele's just outside the picture, facing German Officers'", period picture reproduced from "Gallipoli Mission", (Crows Nest 1990), Charles E.W. Bean, p. 234.

The place got its English name early in the campaign, when a German officer was apparently spotted in a Turkish trench.

"Gallipoli Battlefield Guide", (Istanbul 2006), Gürsel Göncü & Şahin Aldoğan, p. 37.

There were many sources of misunderstanding, without even counting the mistakes made by the translators. For example for the ever so important indication of time : 6 o’clock in the morning is 6 hours after midnight, whether it is day or night, but for the Turks 6 o’clock in the morning is 6 hours after the official sunrise which varies constantly.

The designation of days was also different because the Muslim calendar starts with the Prophet Mohammed’s escape from Mecca to Medina. Hence their 8^th May 1331 corresponds to our 20^th May 1915.
It is therefore difficult to have clear previsions and arrangements; Turks like to improvise and this confusion concerning time / date allows for big improvisations. One has to add to this an incredible taste for good manners and dignity and disgust for violence and agitation; violence shows a lack of education. It is extremely impolite to say “no”, therefore one always says “yes” which however does not involve an immediate execution of the task. One does not mention unpleasant things to superiors, for fear of upsetting them.

“Gallipoli”, (Paris 1934), General Hans Kannengieser (translated from German by Lanoix) , p. 147-149