with the Bolsheviks until early August 1918 in
southeastern Dagestan, when a new foe chases away the
Bolsheviks - Col. Lazar Bicherekhov and his Terek
Cossacks, loyal to Gen. Anton Denikin, the leader of
the White Russians. Bicherekhov takes Derbent and
Petrovsk.//
Arrival of the 4th Infantry Division and the 1st
Cavalry Division at Ganja and the Dagestan Operation,
the Seizure of Koba, Haçmaz and Demirhan Şura
The local forces gathered for the assault on Koba, Derbent and
Demirhan Şura could not make much of a dent against the weak
Bolshevik forces because of the lack of Ottoman officers to move
and manage them and, in particular, because there was no reliable
regular detachment. The single Ottoman officer on each front or
at each location could only take care of important duties like
command of the front and policing. For there to be a proper
undertaking in Dagestan, there ought to have been officers, junior
officers, money, ammunition and weapons. Following
the unsuccessful attack on Demirhan Şura, İsmail Hakkı Bey wrote
that in order to work successfully, first, the Bolsheviks had to be
repelled and to do this an Ottoman detachment made up of various
classes should be sent. However, the situation at Baku made it
inconvenient to send a force from Azerbaijan to Dagestan. Only
after the seizure of Baku could the Dagestan problem be solved.
At the beginning of May 1918 an infantry and a cavalry division – the
1st Infantry Division and the 4th Cavalry Division – were established
with officers and junior officers in Istanbul for the northern Caucasus.
This force was only able to reach Batumi at the beginning of July 1918,
two months later. This force, made up of 74 officers and 577 junior
officers and soldiers, departed from Batumi piece by piece. Soldiers
united under the name of the ‘organization battalion’ marched on foot
from Batumi to Ağstafa (in Azerbaijan), while the rest of the force
was transported between 14 July and 26 July. The ‘organization
battalion’ was able to reach Ağstafa on 7 August, after a march of 21
days. The first convoy (Infantry 12ye) that came with the main force
on 18 July, was sent to İsmail Hakkı Bey’s command in Akhty via
Nuha. The second convoy (Infantry 14ye) was assigned temporarily
to Zagatalı. The remainder of the force assembled at Ganja under the
command of Cavalry Division Commander Colonel Akif Bey.
The Division Commander wrote a memo to the Islamic Army of the
Caucasus (IAC) command on 7 August informing it that despite many
inquiries regarding the duty and targets of the detachments deployed
to the northern Caucasus, he had not been successful in obtaining any
orders or explanations from the IAC or the 3rd Army. Colonel Akif
Bey, together with the ‘organization battalion’ and some officers, set
out from Ganja for Gunib via the Şehmahi-Koba road on 15 August
and the 14ye Infantry group at Zagatalı left for Koba a day earlier via
the Nuha-Akhty road. Although Akif Bey had been told by IAC that
he would be in command (in the northern Caucasus) until the arrival
of Yusuf İzzet Paşa, since he did not accept this command İsmail
Hakkı Bey, who was in Gunib, exercised command instead. According
to the last order given to Akif Bey by Nuri Paşa, the infantry division
was assigned to Dagestan and the cavalry division was assigned to the
organization at the location where the Chechens were. First of all, on
10 August, Infantry Regiment 12, along with a few cavalry and artillery
officers arrived at Gunib and began to organize at Gunib, Hunzak and
Gazi Kumuk. The other officers and the ‘organization battalion’ was
not able to reach Demirhan Şura until the middle of September.
Col. Lazar Bicherekhov of the Terek Cossacks
Developments at the beginning of August completely changed the
situation in Dagestan. The Armenian (sic) Bicherekhov separated from
the Bolsheviks and headed north, taking advantage of the Baku-
Derbent rail line. In this circumstance, the Bolsheviks, who had control
of Koba and Haçmaz, decided not to fight with Bicherekhov and began
to withdraw. Local forces under the command of Colonel Şükrü Bey
attacked the Bolsheviks, retaking Koba on 2 August and Haçmaz,
which was situated on the rail line, on 11 August. Since the main rail
bridges between Haçmaz and Derbent had previously been destroyed by
local forces, Bicherekhov had to wait at Yalama for a few days in order
to be able to transport his detachment’s cannon and equipment to
Derbent.
Bicherekhov’s detachment consisted of 500-600 infantrymen and some
cavalry, 14 cannon, 20 or so machine guns, automobiles, etc. Thanks
to this detachment’s capabilities, Bicherekhov was able to occupy
Derbent, forcing the Bolsheviks to withdraw to the north. The local
forces to the west of Derbent saw that it would be impossible for them
to hinder and resist Bicherekhov’s forces. So Bicherekhov left a
requisite contingent at Derbent, headed north and defeated the Bolsheviks
in a battle near Buniyak. In this way, Bicherekhov secured Derbent for
himself. Bicherekhov’s abandonment of the defense of Baku may have
sparked his conflict with the Bolsheviks and his preference to move on
Derbent and Petrovsk (Makhaçkale). The fact that Bicherekhov fought
against the Bolsheviks north of Derbent and his being a native son of
Derbent (sic), support this view.
Up until the beginning of August, there had been some English officers
with armored automobiles in the Bolshevik-Armenian army. Upon the
first Baku attack of 5 August, which was unsuccessful, the English
detachment began to come to Baku.
There was no possibility of Bicherekhov, who was settled in Derbent,
attacking our forces, which were besieging Baku from the coast road,
from the side or the rear. But neither was it practical to have a
detachment taken from the forces besieging Baku and sent to Derbent.
The local forces providing cover on the left flank of our army in front
of Baku had to leave this duty for now and come to Derbent. Only
two mountain guns and a sizeable amount of ammunition headed for
the Baku front could be diverted here.
With a telegram from the Main HQS on 12 August, it was made known
that Major General Yusuf İzzet Paşa had been made the commander of
the North Caucasus Command; that the attachment of cavalry division
officers in the command of Colonel Akif Bey, who was assigned to the
northern Caucasus, to the Islam Army was approved; and that only
officers of the 14th Infantry Division would go to the northern Caucasus.
Yet, at this time cavalry and infantry officer had departed Ganja and
were heading for the northern Caucasus. This was the first information
given to the Islam Army about these elements since they left Istanbul 3
months before. The divisions had not been told where to go. Because
it was deemed inopportune to recall the cavalry division, there had
been no change made to its disposition.
Yusuf İzzet Paşa
Yusuf İzzet Paşa, who reached Batumi on 29 August, came to Dagestan
after Derbent had been taken. From then on, he directed military
operations. Up until the arrival of Yusuf İzzet Paşa, the entirety of
operations in Dagestan had been administered by the IAC and
implemented in Dagestan under the orders and commands of acting
commander General Staff Chief İsmail Hakkı Bey. Following İzzet
Paşa’s assuming of command in Dagestan the IAD and NCC became
directly tied to the Main HQS.
After Bicherekhov occupied Derbent and Petrovsk, Demirhan Şura,
which had been evacuated by the Bolsheviks, came under the
occupation of Bicherekhov’s troops. Because Bicherekhov’s troops
were much more disciplined than the Bolsheviks, it became clear that
a second attempt to take Demirhan Şura with the “organized battalion
” and local forces would be pointless. Since the 15th Division had
been tasked with occupying Derbent’s north and Petrovsk, following
the seizure of Baku, the Islam Army ordered İsmail Hakkı Bey to
attack Demirhan Şura. Events proved to support this idea. When
the 15th Division seized Derbent and began a lightening stike on
Petrovsk, Bicherekhov gathered all his troops in Petrovsk. In this
regard, when the 15th Division arrived at the Yitakın location, since
Demirhan Şura had been evacuated, we occupied it without a fight.
French map from 1724. Bacou/Baku, Derbent
and Tarcou (Petrovsk/Makhachkala)
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