TNT History Mini-Series: Islamic Army of the Caucasus in Dagestan(1918)/Part I

//Ed. Note:  At the end of World War I, the Ottoman 
Army achieved one of its greatest triumphs, along the 
shores of the Caspian Sea.  But the victory by the 
"Kafkas İslam Ordusu" (Islamic Army of the 














Caucasus (IAC)) was overshadowed by the humiliating
armistice imposed by the Allies on the Ottoman Empire
and signed on the island of Mondros in the Aegean Sea
on 30 October 1918. 

The battle for Petrovsk (Makhachkale), Dagestan, in 
early November ended in defeat for the Cossack forces
led by Lazar Becherakhov (who was loyal to the White
Russian leader General Anton Denikin and who had 
chased the Bolsheviks north) at the hands of 
the IAC's North Caucasus Command (NCC). By the 
end of November, though, the Ottoman troops had  
evacuated Petrovsk, based on the terms of the Mondros
 Armistice. 

The IAC's exploits in seizing Baku in September 1918 
are fairly well known.  The operations of the IAC's 
NCC, which seized Derbent and Petrovsk in Dagestan 
in October and November 1918, have been largely 
forgotten.  One of its members, Colonel Mehmet Tevfik 
wrote in detail about the North Caucasus operations in
1919 and his account was published in Ottoman in the 
"Askeri Mecmua" (Military Magazine") in 1927.

Herewith, TNT presents the English translation of 
Col. Mehmed Tevfik's account., beginning with a
disclaimer from Tevfik that reflects his awareness, in
1927, of the sensitivities of the new Turkish Republic 
vis-a-vis what had been the embryo of a Pan-Turkic 
crusade in the Caucasus, engineered by Ottoman leader 
Enver Paşa.//

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Writer: Colonel Mehmed Tevfik

Certain ideas and the entirety of the operation 

described in these pages may be contrary to the

principles of the Turkish Republic and ought to

be.  Nevertheless, I performed my duty in 

accordance with the ideas that were established,

based on the decisions and actions of those in 

command at that time.  I want to state clearly, as

well,  that this article has not been written to judge

and criticize the operation, the politics and the 

military movements.  I leave the information for 

my colleagues and those in charge of history lessons

 at the War College.  I wrote it only to confirm, to the

 best of my knowledge, the entirety of the operation 

and certain important phases and so that the 

operations and the battles that our heroic army 

engaged in in a battle space far from our homeland 

and under very difficult conditions will not be 

forgotten.   

The lines that I have written herein about the Northern

Caucasus Operation during the last year of the World

War, were penned immediately following the operation

in 1335 (1919). The Northern Caucasus Operation was

the expansion and evolution of the Azerbaijan 
operation toward the north and marked both the 
beginning and end of the aforementioned Azerbaijan 
operation. 

//Ed note: this disclaimer was probably written by 

Mehmed Tevfik at the time of publication of his article in 

the March 1927 issue of the  “Askeri Mecmua” (Military

Journal).//

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North Caucasus Battles

General Situation in Dagestan, Bolshevik Area of 

Occupation, Battle Fronts

                General Staff Major İsmail Hakkı Bey, who came to

Ganja on 3 June 1918 (1918) with Nuri Paşa, the Commander 

of the Islamic Army of the Caucasus (IAC), was assigned to the 

Olanski and Zagatlı areas.  After this valued officer recruited our

POW officers and soldiers (captured by the Russians earlier in
WWI) and successfully established security in the area, he
came to Akhty  on 23 June 1918 to operate in Dagestan, the
primary area of concern.

                 Until the arrival of Yusuf İzzet Paşa as Commander of 

the North Caucasus Command (NCC), İsmail Hakkı Bey served
as acting chief of the NCC.  When İsmail Hakkı Bey reached
Dagestan, the  situation there was as follows:

                The Baku-Derbent-Petrovsk (Makhachkala) railway and

the  cities of Derbent, Petrovsk, Koba and Demirhan-Şura were under 

Bolshevik occupation.  Since the Bolsheviks had seized the railway 

and major commercial centers, they had control of Dagestan’s 

lifelines.  In places outside of the Bolsheviks’ occupation, confusion 

reigned.  A shaikh by the name of Mamala Ali Hacı, who lived in 

Akusha village in the Dargu area and who had great influence, did 

not recognize Avaralı Necmuddin Efendi, who had declared an 

imamate.   Mamalı Ali promulgated  statements to the effect that 

fighting with the Bolsheviks was against Islamic law.   In Dagestan,

 the government was in the hands of mullahs and ignorant men. 

                In every area, there were different centers of influence and 

the districts were independent.  The Russian administration had 

created a pliant last generation in  Dagestan.  Everyone was 

establishing security via outside forces.  The number of thinkers in 

Dagestan was very small.  Since the intellectual class had been 

educated with Russian education, they were disliked by the people.

Some of them wanted the return of the Russian government but the

people were completely tied to the ulema.  At this time the bulk of

Bolshevik forces were along the Kararmaryan-Gordmir line in the 

Caucasus.  In addition, there were Bolshevik forces that could 

confront irregular local forces in Demirhan Şura, Petrovsk 

(Makhachkala), Haçmaz and Koba.  It was estimated that the 

Bolsheviks were strongest in the vicinity of Haçmaz, which lay

on the Baku-Derbent rail line.  When necessary, these forces could

move by train to Demirhan Şura via Petrovsk and via Baku to the
Azerbaijan front.  So an attack from Akhty (southwest of Derbent)
on Koba and Haçmaz would cut off communicastions between Baku
and Dagestan and threaten links with Baku, which was the base of 

operations for the Bolsheviks in Azerbaijan.

At the beginning of July 1918, the existing military organization and

 battlefronts in Dagestan were as follows:

Turkish officers and soldiers:

In Akhty: three officers – Cavalry Captain Sabri Efendi and two junior

officers, along with about 100 unarmed (Turkish) POWs, who formed

 the bulk of the detachment.  Sabri Efendi was, at the same time, also 

the superintendant of police, in other words, the local authority.  A 

course was opened in the district, which was quite calm and secure, 

to train village teachers.

In the Kasum Kent area: a (Turkish) POW cavalry captain by the name

 of Nakiuddin Efendi has set up an Ottoman organization in the district 

and established a peaceful situation.

In Madzahlis: One of our (Turkish) POWs, Cavalry Lieutenant Resmi 

Efendi and, in Gazi Komuh, a (Turkish) Gendarmerie senior sergeant 

of ours are both trying to establish order in their respective 

surroundings.  The situation of a force that could be deployed against

 the Bolsheviks is as follows: 

1)      There is a force of a few hundred people from the former Dagestan

 Moslem Regiment in the vicinity of Harzi on the right bank of the 

Samur River, between  Akhty and Koba and about 30 kilometers 

northwest of Koba.  This detachment has two Lavis, one Maksim 

machine gun and a cannon with no breech-block mechanism.  Most

 of the regiment’s officers were Russian.

2)     There is a volunteer force in the vicinity of Mamevaş, which is 

20 kilometers east of Kasum Kent, and which is in the service of 

Captain Nakiuddin Efendi. 

3)      The strongest front against the Bolsheviks is the Kızılyar - Işık 

Dağ front, which is about 40 kilometers south of Demirhan Şura.  

The front has been occupied by the followers of Saltalı Azın Hacı. 

 There are 500 infantry and cavalry at the front and only one cannon. 

 There is not even a one-man front at Dargu, whose center is Lavaş,

 and which is controlled by Mamalı Ali Hacı, who is beholden to the

 Bolsheviks.  The defense of the front has been taken up solely by the 

villages of Koca Elma and Kokbar Kerksbil.  The front is administered

 by an administrative battle HQS made up of residents of Koca Elma 

and Hoca Mahir villages and members elected from three villages.  

This HQS is linked to Azın Hacı, who has say over the appointment 

of the commanders at the Gunib front and how guns and ammunition 

are used there. These three villages displayed remarkable religious 

devotion during the battles that Shaikh Şamil engaged in with the 

Russians (he led a 25-year resistance in the mid-1800s). However, 

the people of Dargu provided aid to the Russians at the time of Shaikh

Şamil and now support the Bolsheviks.

Turkish IAC/NCC troops came from the Black Sea 

port of  Batumi  to Ganja in western Azerbaijan, 

from where they moved to the area around Derbent 

in southeastern  Dagestan, on the shore of the Caspian

 Sea.

//End Part I//