In the face of the Russian offensive against Erzurum,
Fuad Bey and his Turkish cohorts fled from Kepenek,
south of Horasan, along the Aras River toward
Erzurum, passing by Köprüköy and Hasankale
(Pasinler).
13 January 1916
The Russians have begun an all-out attack on every front. The sound
of cannon fire reaches the sky.
14 January 1916 (no entry)
15 January 1916
The attack continues. The front where our division is was violent. In
the end, the 83rd Regiment lost its old trenches and pulled back a bit.
The 17th Division came to our aid. The 11th Army Corps lost Telli
Redoubt and some of its positions. There was no change on the front
where the 82nd and 84th Regiments are. The 84th Regiment was
holding the Elagöz Karataş line.
16 January 1916
This evening the retreat order was written for Kepenek by the 28th
Division Commander, Cemil. The order had been written in a different
form, in detail, at midday. The reason for this was that Telli Redoubt
and all other positions of the 11th Army Corps had been taken by the
Russians. Since the 11th Army Corps could not put up any resistance
whatsoever, a number of important places were lost. When the 11th
Army Corps retreated this caused a vacuum where it had formed a
front line with the 9th Army Corps at the Aras River and consequently
the 28th Division was ordered to pull back somewhat. But the order that
was issued at mid-day was issued again in the evening differently.
Initially, whereas the hazy Bomba Mountain, Ince Boncuk and the Aras
Line were shown, this time the order was given to move non-stop in the
direction of Haçlı, Yağan and Şezniler. So we moved. It was night. The
moon rose rather late. The snow about us was knee-deep in some places.
I was very tired by the time we got to Haçlı, feeling like I was about to
die. After resting for such a long time it was really aggravating to
have to move all of a sudden. The veterinarian had me mounted on
one of the pack animals, saying that I was ill. I will never forget this act
of kindness. We then left Haçlı. On our right, the 11th Army Corps side
was aflame, burning. The villages were all burning. Poor Köprüköy was
all in flames. What a horrible sight…everywhere was covered with snow,
the villages burning…what a terrible situation. The thought that these
places would fall to the enemy fills one with feelings of deep regret and
sadness. By morning we still had not yet reached Şezniler. We passed
Düzovalı and Kardabas Bridge. At a stream, we tried for two hours to
get the cannons unstuck. I spread my cape on top of the snow here.
Paying no attention to my cold feet, I remedied my sleeplessness with
a nice hour’s nap…
The Battle of Köprüköy
17 January 1916
Just as the sun rose we moved out. The road went in two directions at
this point. I spoke with 2nd Battalion Secretary Hamdi. I knew from the
orders that the movement would be toward Hartu. Passing Tertiller
village on the right, the movement began to the rear of the first ridge that
forms the beginning of the Pasinler Plain, and near midday we reached
Tortum village. We rested a bit on our feet. Moving out from here we
came to Hartu, which was directly opposite Hasankale. Thanks to the
veterinarian we found a house and went inside. We spent the day
comfortably there.
Time to Move Out
18 January 1916
In the morning we got up and walked around a bit. We saw Machine
Gunner Rafet, Tevfik Usta and Rıfkı and spoke with them. Everyone
talked about the trouble he’d experienced. We went into the rooms and
sat for a while. Just about mid-day I went over to Major Abdullah.
This evening our regiment would have rear guard duty. The position
was two hours ahead of us. Major Abdullah got angry with me,
screaming at me for no reason. Toward evening we wentto the position
with _____. The commander told Müftü and me to hand over the
regimental standard, which we still had, to Rifleman Mehmed. Having
done this, I stayed in Hartu. Evening came. The munitions and supplies
went to Erzurum today. I gave a letter to those going so they could
mail it. Müftü and I went to look for Rifleman Mehmed but when we
couldn’t find him Müftü became quite frightened. He kept on saying
‘What will we do? What will we do?’. I calmed him down and told
him to leave everything to me. He insisted though and wouldn’t
leave me. We wrote to the commander. After drinking tea in the room
the poor veterinarian went to the position. At night we slept a bit,
then there was a noise. The veterinarian came and after drinking tea
we slept.
Toward morning, first, 2nd Battalion Pack Animal Officer Mustafa
Ağa came and told us to hurry up and move out. Then the baggage
movers came and we loaded the remaining things. We took the
regimental standard and moved out, but before we did Müftü’s
behavior was really quite funny and childish. As we leave Hartu all
around us is sadness. Looking from the village one sees the villagers
as they escape. But all of the belonging of one of them that
were loaded onto an ox have fallen all over the place. He leaves
them there and picks up his child, walking all around. What misery,
what a calamity! Seeing such things, one’s heart breaks.
Machine Gunner Tevfik caught up to us so we moved ahead with
him, passing the hill and a soft ridge that was hidden from our sight.
Poor Hasankale was burning. My God what is this! Then we looked
and saw that the village in front of us, Alvar, was engulfed in flames
and smoke. Toward evening we entered Alvar.
19 January 1916
We didn’t stop in Alvar but kept marching. Quite a bit afterwards
we passed through the barbed wire fence and nearby more barbwire
fences were being set up. It’s clear that henceforth we’ll defend
Erzurum, but for what reason? It’s already being surrendered. Then
we reached Yeni Köy but we didn’t stop, before coming to Yıkılgan.
We stayed ın a house (more of a stable) the veterinarian found. The
nights are very cold.
The Russians (red) pursued the Turks from Horasan
directly to Erzurum, far left on map, throughout
January 1916.
20-27 January 1916 (no entries)
28 January 1916
We remained at Yıkılgan. Two days later I had a fight with the Aide-
de-Camp. The crude fellow was quite rude. If I had had a stick in my
hand I would have hit the man, I was so mad. In any event, we changed
houses and went to a room next to the regimental commander – myself,
Müftü, the veterinarian and Doctor Nuri. At this time we learned that
the Russians had taken an outpost from the 82nd Regiment and one
officer was taken prisoner and one killed. I’m very upset. Even if a
force were to come and we tried to do this job again…
29 January 1916
We left Yıkılgan in order to take the forward outpost from the82nd
Regiment for our regiment. We passed Güllü and reached Alibezirgan.
The 3rd Battalion is at Gerdek Kaya. We settled in an the forward
outpost position.
30 January 1916
The Russians attacked and took Kurşak Kaya as the result of the
cowardice of Machine Gunner Captain Tevfik of the 7th Company.
The 1st Battalion commander threatened him and on the pretext of
scouting he went over to the enemy. This was written to the division.
31 January 1916 (no entry)
//END of PART X//
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