TNT History Mini-Series: "Bergama Raid", an Early Turkish Nationalist Success, Dissected (1919)

//Ed. note: The fledgling Turkish Nationalist 

Army's success with a raid on Bergama in 

June 1919 is dissected in detail here by one

of its architects, Captain Kemal, who was

the chief of staff of the 14th Army Corps,

headquartered in Bandırma.

The victory was short-lived, as  the Greek

army returned to occupy Bergama until

14 September 1922.//

Battle Memoir of Kemal Bey, Chief of Staff in Balıkesir

On 6 June 1919, the detachment made up of 70 soldiers from the 

infantry regiment of the national forces in Balıkesir was given two 

machine guns to use and ordered to travel overland to Soma.  In

order to gain two days, I decided to make the trip to Soma by train

and meet up with the detachment there. 

However, gathering the troops and securing funds proved to be 

quite difficult so the two days I hoped to gain went up in smoke

and I was only able to leave Balıkesir on the train on 8 June, 

arriving in Soma that evening and meeting up with the detachment.

My commander Yusuf İzzet Paşa gave me and my train mate, the 

commander of the infantry regiment in Balıkesir, a note to pass to 

the English representative in Akhisar but it was ultimately turned

over to the English by other means.  In any case, I read the note and

in it Yusuf İzzet Paşa protested the advance of the Greek army based

on its own whims and without any official sanction by the Great 

Powers.  

Yuzuf İzzet Paşa complained that the Greek army had entered this 

region without proper notice in order to gain the right to defend the 

area it occupied under international law.  As a result of the note, the 

English made an appeal in Ayvalık for the Greeks to stand down but 

they were unsuccessful. 

 

Yusuf İzzet Paşa in Dagistan click here for the first 

part of a long TNT series about his exploits 10 

months earlier as part of the Ottoman Islamic Army 

of the Caucasus. When the Turkish National Army

emerged, Yusuf İzzet Paşa became the commander

of the 14th Army Corps at Bandırma.

With regard to my train travel,  there were French soldiers posted 

on the Bandırma-Izmir railroad and the French flag flew at the 

stations.  It would have been necessary to somehow veil the 

transport of the detachment by train, as armed soldiers are not 

allowed to travel on the train.  Consequently, the detachment 

traveled overland to Soma. 

Prior to my departure from Balıkesir, we had a meeting in which 

Vehbi Bey explained that it was not possible to move south from 

Giresun (now Savaştepe, about halfway from Balıkesir to Soma)

so we should await the enemy at the provincial (Manisa) border

and fight them there.  I, however, thought that the farther away from

our territory that we could engage the enemy the better and that we

ought to attack, rather than defend.  Consequently, I felt it would be

best for me to be able to act freely in my operations.

//END of PART ONE//