Turkey's Caucasian foray 1918

[Peter H]

Under the Treaty of Brest Litovsk,Turkey gained the following territory--Batum,Kars and Ardahan.

German map of Turkish gains:




However with the Russian collapse in the Caucasus,the new Trans-Caucasian Federation of Armenia,Azerbaijan and Georgia,remained unprotected by the Brest Litovsk protocols and a "serious power vacuum" was in play.Enver soon took advantage of this and sent the Turkish army eastwards.Some have called this the Pan Turanic Empire folly,a design to unite all the Turkish peoples from Constantinople to Central Asia at a time when more pressing military problems were faced further south in Palestine and Mesopotamia.Ultimately a Turkish force of around 100,000 men(ten divisions with supporting arms) were involved.

[Peter H]

According to Erickson "the Germans were not at all happy with the continuning Turkish drive into the former Russian Empire,and regarded the Turkish acquisition of the Caucasus as bordering on a serious violation of the Treaty of Brest Litovsk".

Georgia,under German pressure,declared itself a separate state,breaking away from the federation.A German military expedition was sent to support this new nation,effectively blocking any further Turkish expansion northwards.(refer here: http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?t=22742 ).

Turks and Germans clash--according to Erickson:

Vehip's troops came directly into contact with a combined German and Georgian force on the main road to Tiflis.The Turks attacked and took many prisoners.This incident resulted in Berlin officially threatening to withdraw its troops and support from the Ottoman Empire!.Tensions between the Germans and Turks were at an all-time high.

German troops with what has been described elsewhere as Turkish prisoners in irregular garb:

[Peter H]

Turkish map from Erickson of the Caucasus 1918 campaigns.

The lunge to the Caspian followed in June 1918 after "the northward expansion of the Turks into Georgia was finished".

The Baku battle,September 1918,was said to have cost 1,000 Turkish dead.

[Peter H]

Still fighting in November 1918.according to Erickson:

..The 15th Infantry Division then continued to drive northwards along the Caspian coast,arriving at Petrovsk on October 28.The division launched several attacks in early November,finally taking the city on November 8 1918.The 15th Infantry Division had the honor of conducting the last Turkish offensive operation in the First World War.

[Peter H]

Enver meet his own death in Central Asia in 1922:

http://www.celestial.com.kg/about_kyrgy ... volt.shtml

Enver Pasha had served as Minister for War in the Ottoman Empire. When the empire fell at the end of the First World War in 1918, he was forced to flee and ended up in Moscow. Here he managed to convince Lenin that he just the man to bring Central Asia, Afghanistan and British India to heel, and was despatched to Bukhara in November 1921 to prepare an army for the conquest.

Pasha had different plans, however. He wanted to create a Pan-Turkic state with Central Asia as it«s center and power base. Once in Bukhara he set about conspiring with Basmachi leaders who had already, with their grassroots support and intimate knowledge of the mountainous geography, proved worthy opponents of the Soviet fledgling government. Pasha was to provide the one thing that they lacked — a leader who could unite them.

It is perhaps ironic that Enver — who had once, as a Young Turk, fought against the Islamic "Scholasticist Recidivists" demanding Shari’a law in Istanbul, should collaborate with a similar group, using religious epithets more than a dozen years later and more than a thousand miles away — and should be remembered as the leader of an Islamic Revolt.

Sneaking out of Bukhara — he soon amassed a force of 20,000 recruits. Initially his army scored great successes — capturing Dushanbe and most of the former Emirate. He refused to negotiate with the Bolsheviks — who responded by sending an army of 100,000 men and announcing reforms — reconvening the Islamic courts, tax cuts and returning confiscated land — thus eating into the support of the rebels amongst the populace.

Other support also faded away, or failed to materialise. His troops disappeared back into the mountains from where they had emerged, and the Emir of Afghanistan refused him reinforcements (instead signing a treaty with the Bolsheviks). In August 1922, he rode out from Dushanbe with a small band of loyal officers and supporters. No-one really knows what happened to him — his body was never recovered — but it is thought he died, sword in hand, in a skirmish where the entire Basmachi platoon was wiped storming a machine gun post in the Parmirs east off Dushanbe.

[Peter H]

The capture of Kars,25th April 1918,from the resisting Armenians:

How the Germans saw it.





The short term Democratic Republic of South West Caucasus was set up in December 1918:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_o ... t_Caucasus

[Tosun Saral]

The Order of battle of Group Command of Eastern Armies during during its Expedition into North Caucasus-Azerbaycan and Iran in the Summer of 1918
The Group of Eastern Armies was established on June 8 1918. It was attached to 6th Army Eastern Armies Group on July 1918 in Mousul.

Commander : Lt. gen. Vehip Pasha (Kaçi)
Deputy commander:Lt. Gen. Esat Pasha (Bülkat)
New Commander after resigment of Vehip Pasa on July 3rd: Maj. gen. Halil Pasha (Lt. Gen. Kut)
-Chief Operations officer. Maj. Salih (Gen. of the Army Omutak: 5th Chief of Staf of Turkish Armed Forces during 1.8.1916 - 8.6.1949, Army serial Nr: P. 1323(1907)-1)
-Officer at HQ: capt. Baki (Lt. gen. Vandemir)

commander 3rd Army: Lt. Gen. Esat Pasha (Bülkat)
- 6th AC: Brigadier Hilmi Pasha
-- 3rd Div.: Lt. Col. Edip
-- 37th Div: Col. Kazım (gen. of the Army Özalp) (The 37th Div. was forwarded to Palastine Front in July 1918)
-- 5th Caucasus Div: Col. Mürsel (maj. gen. Bakü) ( A Reg. of the div. took Tabriz and 5th took Gence on June 8th. Gen. Mürsel got the surname "Bakü" according the new civil law of Turkish Republic)
Chief of Staf. capt. Rüştü
-- 36th Div: Col. Hamdi ( Col.Pirselim) (The 36th which was attached to 1st caucasus Div was given to 6th AC on July 1918)
Osmanlı Rumeli Müfrezesi (The Ottoman Rumelian Detachment)(or 177th Reg.): Lt. Col. Sadik.(come with 15th Div from Macedonian Front to Batum on June 1918

to be continued

[stevebecker]

Mate,

Is that the 3rd Div or the 3rd Caucasus Division?

I see the Commander is LtCol Edip Servet Bey (Tör) who had the 3rd Div in 1918 so I surpose I answered my own question,but in the history of the 3rd Div there is no mention of their movement to the Caucasus front for that Div?

Also I show that the 5th Caucasus Div and 36th Caucasus Division's were part of the 4th Caucasus Corps in 1918 was that before or after there part in the 6th Corps.

Does anyone know the make up the artillery of the 36th and 37th Caucasus Division's

S.B

[jwsleser]

Steve

It is the 3rd Kafkas Division. The OB for June 1918 is:

[stevebecker]

Mates,

Do we know what Cav Bde was part of the 9th Army (Orient Army Group Caucasus) shown in the above order of battle?

Cheers

S.B