Front, July 1916, by Ottoman Lt. Ahmed Ekrem, written in a Russian
prison camp at Satılmış Gedik, near Kars, in August 1916.
Area under Russian control in September 1917 (yellow).
//Ed. Note: Following the calamitous defeat of the Turkish army at
Sarıkamış in late 1914 and early 1915, on the Caucasus Front at
the outset of World War I, Russian forces pursued their Turkish
counterparts ever-deeper into Anatolian Turkey. From April to
July 1916, the Russian army besieged and then took Bayburt as
part of this push into the Ottoman heartland.
First Lieutenant Ahmed Ekrem was a member of the Ottoman
Army’s 52nd Regiment and commanded a machine gun team.
Lt. Ekrem was among the Ottoman forces that had been pushed
west after the Russians took Bayburt and he was taken prisoner
after a fierce battle with Cossacks north of Şiran in the southwest
of today’s Gümüşhane province.
A month after the battle, Lt. Ekrem wrote an account of the event
while in a Russian prison camp at Satılmış Gedik, near Kars. He
described the posturing of forces and the fighting itself in vivid
detail. But he also did not spare any sympathy for the Turkish
units on the front line, whom he accused of cowardice and treachery
for abandoning their positions in the face of the Cossack onslaught
and he cited those units as bearing responsibility for the Turkish
defeat and his own capture.
Herewith Lt. Ahmed Ekrem's account of the battle with Russian
Cossacks at Zimon, today's Çevrepınar village, in southwestern
Gümüşhane province in July, 1916.//
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sentimental Memoir
Ahmed Ekrem
Russia: Captivity
After our Army’s defeat at Bayburt, our Division gradually retreated
to the Pulur-Maduma (Gelinpertek) line and occupied a site north of
Şiran and east of the village of Mataracı. A position was chosen
north and east of Taşlıca Tepe (Taşlıca Hill) as the main line where
the forward outpost was situated. Our regiment was assigned to the
forward position on the east front (shown as the forward outpost on
the map). My company was at the regimental headquarters at
Çukuralma, together with a reserve battalion. Trenches were dug at
places for machine guns at the foward position. Subsequenly, in
accordance with an order I received from the regimental commander,
I sent a team (the first team was commanded by Second Lieutenant
Şarya Efendi) to the forward line, which was under the orders of the
2nd Battalion Commander. When the regimental headquarters was
established at Zimon (today’s Çevrepınar) village, the company,
along with its remaining teams, came to that village.
//Lt. Ahmed Ekrem's hand-drawn battlefield map, above
and English translation, below.///
Outpost X
X Tuzlu Tepe (Hill)
Battalion 52nd Regiment 97th Regiment 4th Regiment 15th Company
North ============================================
^ Pasture -+- 52nd Regiment -+- 97th Regiment =
^ Boyun noktası X (point) = 4th Regiment 14th Company
^ -!- =
^ 4th Regiment 13th Company -!- -+- 52nd Regiment =
^ =
South
One team from 4th Regiment 13th Company X Taşlıca Tepe
The machine guns came here from further forward during the night
X Çukuralma
X Zimon
52nd Regiment 3rd Battalion
==============
-+- -+- 52nd Regiment Machine Gun Team
52nd Regiment 2nd Battalion
==============
Night of 21/22 July:
4th Regiment 16th Company/Division HQS area
Cannon here
Road to Şiran ------- / Legend: -%- infantry detachment
/ == infantry line
/ -+- machine gun (with assigned regiment)
-!- cannon
There were clashes now and then around the outpost on the Division’s northern front,
but it remained calm on our regiment’s front. At the same time, our regiment
fortified the main line position. The 3rd Battalion’s third company was situated
on a hill south of Zimon village (another company was with the 2dn Battalion further
on). There was a machine gun team with the reserve battalion at Boyun Noktası
(Boyun Point) that was reinforcing that position, together with the existing engineering
company. Trenches were dug here, as well, for machine guns, in case they were needed.
On the night of 19/20 July 1332 (1916), a company of the 97th Regiment abandoned an
outpost to the enemy and, in order to re-take it, a company from the 4th Battalion, 4th
Regiment, was sent. (The head sergeant of the company that abandoned this position
was sentenced to death by an order from the Division. When he heard about this he
sought asylum with the enemy. The next night the enemy mounted a strong raid that
led to my imprisonment. The likelihood is that this raid was executed based on the
information the asylum-seeking sergeant provided to the enemy about our situation.
This sergeant subsequently renounced his citizenship in Russia.)
On 20 July serious clashes occurred in the vicinity of the outpost. A mountain
cannon team at Boyun Noktası provided help with fire from that location. The 97th
and 99th Regiments were positioned on this front. But the situation deteriorated.
Consequently, the detachment commander (52nd Regiment Commander) spent the
night at Boyun Noktası and during the night the northern front detachment was
withdrawn to the main line. The night passed peacefully.
On the morning of 21 July, there was fierce rifle fire on the eastern front, our
regiment’s front. After defending the position as much as possible, our 2nd
Battalion and the 3rd Company, which were both there, retreated. Because another
mountain team had come to Boyun Noktası during the night, it was positioned in the
east. The enemy occupied the hills where our forward-line detachments were situated.
At this time our cannon began directing fire there. Nevertheless, the enemy
advanced relentlessly and in a scattered fashion. Based on an order I received from
the Regimental Commander, I put my two machine guns in trenches facing east. The
2nd Battalion retreated in an orderly manner and occupied the main line. Four days
before, the First Machine Gun Team had been pulled back to the hill where the 3rd
Battalion was situated. (the main line situation is shown on the map.)
The enemy was relentlessly advancing from the east. Both the first and second
machine gun teams were prevented from advancing because of the firing from the
enemy side. However, since the terrain was wooded and irregular, the enemy, too,
had trouble advancing so the impact was reduced. Finally, a battle began in the east
and the north with infantry and cannon. Based on an order received before 9 o’clock,
a machine gun was positioned at a spot facing north, on the west side of Boyun
Noktası. The enemy was quiet on the northern front and firing in the north diminished.
But our trenches facing north were impacted more by the enemy cannon in the east
because they were completely vulnerable, based on the direction of fire.
At around 2 o’clock in the afternoon the cannon teams and the 4th Regiment’s 16th
Company, which were in reserve, were moved from Boyun Noktası to Taşlıca Tepe.
All the while they came under enemy cannon fire both from the north and the east.
The fighting was localized and there was only exchanges of fire. After 4 o’clock I
obtained intelligence to the effect that the enemy was approaching step by step from
the east, hidden in the forest. So our infantrymen left their trenches and began to
wait for the enemy in the rear. Since we could not see the enemy from our position,
I appealed to the 14th Company Officer of the 4th Regiment and explained the
problem. In truth, I learned that the enemy was approaching but our soldiers were
positioned in front of their trenches in order to mount a counterattack against any
attack on the area behind the trenches. I was able to make eye contact with the
infantrymen there. The Regimental Commander is the Detachment Commander
and he was at Taşlıca Tepe.
I understood that the enemy wanted to make a raid tonight, so in order to get the
attention of the Regimental Commander I asked him about the machine guns,
saying “where shall I place the machine guns tonight?”. In response, his order was
to “the order has been sent and it is next to the ?.... ambush site?. It will be
distributed there.”
distributed there.”
When night fell, a detachment order came from the position commander – the 97th
Regiment Commander – written as follows: “Certain re-positionings of detachments
will take place tonight. At nightfall, the 52nd Regiment’s machine gun team at Boyun
Noktası will move to Taşlıca Tepe and occupy the position they previously prepared
there. Besides this, no unit will change position without an order to do so and anyone
who does will be punished with the most severe penalty.”
Based on this order, I gathered up my team and had them eat some cooked food.
When night had completely fallen , so the enemy couldn’t see us, I moved to Taşlıca
Tepe, which is big and steep, resembling a conical-shaped tent. As the name implies,
there are very sharp stones and rocks, separated by extremely slippery grass that
makes passage by both man and beast very difficult. We made it to the summit
only by taking three steps forward and one back the whole way up. I spoke with
the detachment commander and informed him that we had come. The detachment
commander ordered me to occupy the previously prepared position on the rocks
200 meters northeast of the summit. In response, I said that the hill was not
conducive to the need for cover and that I could not shelter the animals there. The
detachment commander replied “then just take the guns and ammunition. Leave
the animals here with me.” I asked whether I would have infantry support and
was told that there were 150 soldiers of the 13th Company of the 4th Regiment
there. Consequently, I took the guns and the ammunition down and sent the
animals up. I told the sergeant I left there that in addition to instructions already
given, he should act according to the commands of the detachment commander,
in the event of an enemy raid.
makes passage by both man and beast very difficult. We made it to the summit
only by taking three steps forward and one back the whole way up. I spoke with
the detachment commander and informed him that we had come. The detachment
commander ordered me to occupy the previously prepared position on the rocks
200 meters northeast of the summit. In response, I said that the hill was not
conducive to the need for cover and that I could not shelter the animals there. The
detachment commander replied “then just take the guns and ammunition. Leave
the animals here with me.” I asked whether I would have infantry support and
was told that there were 150 soldiers of the 13th Company of the 4th Regiment
there. Consequently, I took the guns and the ammunition down and sent the
animals up. I told the sergeant I left there that in addition to instructions already
given, he should act according to the commands of the detachment commander,
in the event of an enemy raid.
I saw the squad of infantrymen in the trench ten feet away from us, at a spot
where the rocks came together. The corporal said that they were members of the
13th Company and that the company commander was 200 meters away, at a spot
where there was a small fire. I learned that a team from the company was around
the rock we occupied and that there was also an officer reconnaissance team
in the rear of the pasture. I sent word to the company commader that “the
machine guns have been brought to the rocks.”
where the rocks came together. The corporal said that they were members of the
13th Company and that the company commander was 200 meters away, at a spot
where there was a small fire. I learned that a team from the company was around
the rock we occupied and that there was also an officer reconnaissance team
in the rear of the pasture. I sent word to the company commader that “the
machine guns have been brought to the rocks.”
The trenches we had previously dug here were facing east. Since it was necessary
to dig a trench in the direction of the pasture, I told reserve officer Rıza Efendi and
the gunners to dig the trench tomorrow morning before it got light because (the enemy)
couldn’t see the ground in the darkness and direct fire there. I had the guns put in the
old trenches and since the soldiers hadn’t slept in two nights, I had them lie down next
to the guns to sleep but I cautioned them to have someone keep watch.
to dig a trench in the direction of the pasture, I told reserve officer Rıza Efendi and
the gunners to dig the trench tomorrow morning before it got light because (the enemy)
couldn’t see the ground in the darkness and direct fire there. I had the guns put in the
old trenches and since the soldiers hadn’t slept in two nights, I had them lie down next
to the guns to sleep but I cautioned them to have someone keep watch.
//END OF PART I///
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