15 Aralık 2018 Cumartesi

TNT History Mini-Series: WWI Caucasus Front/1914. An Iranian's Assessment/Part IV/FINAL

//Ed. Note:  Our Iranian observer's assessment of the 
Turkish-Russian confrontation on the Caucasus Front in
the Fall of 1914 ends with a description of the decisive 
Battle of Sarıkamış, a brutal defeat for the Turks, at the
end of December.//  


battle of sarıkamış ile ilgili görsel sonucu

                          Evolution of the Turkish Operation

The Third Turkish Army’s lightning attack on Kars was prevented by
its poor means of communication, delays in moving reserves and 
ammunition, and the necessity of breaking down the Russian defenses
before a support force arrived. In more than three weeks the Turks 
were barely able to traverse the 23-kilometer distance between Azap
and Zivin.

Subsequently, on 3 Cedi (December), the 6th, 7th, 28th and 29th 
divisions of the Ninth Turkish Army and two divisions from the Tenth
Army Corps broke the Russian resistance at Zivin and reached the 
border. On the fourth day of the same month, Surpalan and Karaurgan
fell into Turkish hands, and on the fifth, they passed through Siyak, north
of Surphaç. On the sixth of the month (13 December),   the Turks seized
Sarıkamış, the starting point of the Kars railway, after a bloody clash.
The Russian gave up Mt. Soğanlı and retreated to Kara Hamza.

ardahan kars  haritası ile ilgili görsel sonucu


On the Third Army’s northern front, a division moving from Artvin 
seized Otishane and on the tenth of Kavis arrived at Ardanuç, from 
where it extended its movement toward Ardahan. Later, on the sixth 
of Cedi, the Turks broke the Russian resistance at the Balanuş pass and
reached Ardahan.  The Russians in the Oltu Çay valley were 
completely surrounded.  Here they resisted a division of the Tenth 
Army Corps that was advancing from north of Narman.  Further to the
north the Ayta and Çürük branches entered the fortress location ten 
kilometers from Batumi and the Russians set up their own positions on
the peaks north of Aharis. 

On the southern front, the Russians in the Murad Su valley were forced
to retreat from Tutak but, receiving reinforcements, they launched a 
new attack on the front on the sixth of the month.  After this, the 
battlefront was sometimes at Hamur ((just south of Ağrı)) because of 
Turkish pressure, or at Tutak ((further south of Ağrı)) because of Russian 
attacks.

ağrı haritası ile ilgili görsel sonucu


Clashes on the Iranian border,  which was of secondary importance,  
extended from Saray on Turkish territory ((Van)) to Kotur on the Iranian 
side.  Prior to a Russian regiment in Iranian Kurdistan being crushed, the 
Turks seized Savuşbulak and headed toward Meyandu Ab.  From there, 
hired Kurdish irregulars under the command of Şücaüddevle 
completely bedeviled the Russians and seized six cannon. The Turkish
-Kurdish force headed from Meydandu Ab toward Murağa and Bınab
with the goal of seizing Tebriz.

van haritası ile ilgili görsel sonucu

So because the Turks took too long to reinforce their forces at Köprüköy
and Azap,  and because they were facing an enemy that had been able 
to gather more forces at Kars with support detachments brought in from
Siberia,  the result was that the Turks’ forward progress ended at this 
time and place.

  
                                              
                                  The Russians’ Counter-operation

On 8 Cedi (14 December), the main force of the Third Army left 
Sarıkamış and suffered many casualties in the face of  stiff resistance 
from the Russians at Kara Hamza, which they had occupied, and their 
batteries, which had been reinforced to a degree far beyond what they 
were prior to the war.  The Turks’ efforts to defend the land east of 
Sarıkamış against the counterattack of the Russians, who had been 
reinvigorated, produced no result.  They were forced to retreat to 
Sarıkamış and on 10 Cedi (16 December), after giving up 6,500 
prisoners and losing a great many soldiers and equipment, they 
continued their retreat toward the border.

A Turkish division that wanted to march to Kars from Ardahan in
the month of Cedi (December) was forced to do battle with the 
reinforced Russians who had taken up positions in the hills south
of Ardahan.

The eigth regiment lost its regimental banner and a portion of its troops
because of the Cossacks’ cavalry attack, while the remainder of the 
regiment was forced to retreat  toward Ardahan under enemy artillery
fire.  From here, despite the snow-covered roads and hot pursuit of the 
Cossacks, they stopped at Balanuş Pass in order to cross the valley.

battle of sarıkamış ile ilgili görsel sonucu

On the sixteenth of Cedi, Russian forces pursued the remnants of the 
Ninth and Tenth Army Corps toward the border and defeated the 
Eleventh Army Corps at Karaurgan, the last village on Russian 
territory.   This army corps had come to collect the defeated elements
but because it arrived late it did not figure in the result of the battle –
after five days of fighting the Eleventy Army Corps, as well, retreated
and the 92nd regiment was crushed.  At this point, on 21 Cedi , the 
Russians were able to cross the border and pursue the Turks, which 
they did up until Horasan-Ardost.  Here the Russians  defeated the 
33rd and 34th divisions of the Eleventh Army Corps that were guarding
the Erzurum road.  A portion of the Turkish battery was seized, as well.

The Russians, too, were forced to conclude their attack because of the 
distance from their main force and the illness of their soldiers.
At this time, on 27 Cedi, the battlefront was motionless because of the
effect of the snow.  The Russians were unable to attack the Erzurum 
fortifications, especially because the Turks were able to gather 
reinforcement detachments and move them quickly to the battlefield.  
On the same date, the Turks evacuated Ardahan and Oltu and retreated
in the Cürüksu valley. In Iran, the Turks occupied Tebriz and Sufiyan,
with support from the Kurds.

Subsequently, while the Russians were preparing a counterattack, 
because there were no Turkish or Kurdish forces in Tebriz, they entered 
here without a fight and moved on toward Murağa.

So,  with regard to this situation,  the Turks’ operation was fruitless 
on all sides.


 
Battle of Sarıkamış, 26 December 1914 (Dates in Iranian's 
article are about two weeks before, owing to calendar conflicts
in those days.)

                                                  Result

Was the Turks’ failure the consequence of  the Russians’ unorthodox 
attacks or  their  hindering of the  Third Turkish Army’s  operations, 
or was it the Turks’ poor choices in the execution of their operation?  
The reason for this failure should  more likely be sought in the poor 
preparation and misdirection of the Turkish General Staff’s  estimation
of how events would proceed.  Because for its own army, the Turks 
did not appreciate nor give importance to their poor roads, 
communications and transport structures nor to the inadequacy of the 
clothing required for soldiers to fend off the cold in the high mountains
in winter  and, subsequently, to the lack of ammunition.

Nevertheless, the Turks’ extremely high espri  d’corps prevented this 
defeat from becoming a hopeless annihilation.

battle of sarıkamış ile ilgili görsel sonucu

//End of Part IV/FINAL//



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