Battle of the Sakarya

Battle of the Sakarya
Part of the Greco-Turkish War (1919–22) of the Turkish War of Independence

At Duatepe observation hill (in Polatlı): Fevzi Çakmak, Kâzım Özalp, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, İsmet İnönü and Hayrullah Fişek
DateAugust 23 – September 13, 1921
Location
On the banks of Sakarya River, Turkey
Result

Turkish victory

  • Greek advance halted
Belligerents
Kingdom of Greece Greece Ottoman Empire Ankara Government
Commanders and leaders
Constantine I
Anastasios Papoulas
Prince Andrew		 Mustafa Kemal Pasha
Fevzi Pasha
İsmet Pasha
Units involved
Order of battle Order of battle
Strength
120,000 soldiers
3,780 officers
57,000 rifles
2,768 machine guns
386 cannons
1,350 swords
600 3-ton trucks
240 1-ton trucks
18 airplanes[1]		 96,326 soldiers
5,401 officers
54,572 rifles
825 machine guns
196 cannons
1,309 swords
2 aircraft [1]
Casualties and losses
From August 23 to September 16:[2]
4,000 dead
19,000 wounded
354 missing
Total: 22,900		 3,700 dead
18,480 wounded
108 captives
5,639 deserters
8,089 missing
Total: 38,029[3][Note 1]

The Battle of the Sakarya (Turkish: Sakarya Meydan Muharebesi, lit. 'Sakarya Field Battle'), also known as the Battle of the Sangarios (Greek: Μάχη του Σαγγαρίου, romanized: Máchi tou Sangaríou), was an important engagement in the Greco-Turkish War (1919–1922).

The battle went on for 21 days from August 23 to September 13, 1921, close to the banks of the Sakarya River in the immediate vicinity of Polatlı, which is today a district of the Ankara Province.[5] The battle line stretched over 62 miles (100 km).[6]

It is also known as the Officers' Battle[7] (Turkish: Subaylar Savaşı) in Turkey because of the unusually high casualty rate (70–80%) among the officers.[8] Later, it was also called Melhâme-i Kübrâ (Islamic equivalent to Armageddon) by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.[9]

The Battle of the Sakarya is considered as the turning point of the Turkish War of Independence.[10][11][12][13][14][15][16] The Turkish observer, writer, and literary critic İsmail Habip Sevük later described the importance of the battle with these words:

The retreat that started in Vienna on 13 September 1683 stopped 238 years later.[17]

  1. ^ a b Battle of Sakarya Archived June 27, 2009, at the Wayback Machine, Turkish General Staff, retrieved: 12 Ağustos 2009.
  2. ^ Σαγγάριος 1921, Η επική μάχη που σφράγησε την τύχη του Μικρασιατικού Ελληνισμού, Εκδόσεις Περισκόπιο, Ιούλιος 2008, ISBN 978-960-6740-45-9, page 32
  3. ^ Zeki Sarıhan: Kurtuluş Savaşı günlüğü: açıklamalı kronoloji. Sakarya savaşı'ndan Lozan'ın açılışına (23 Ağustos 1921-20 Kasım 1922) (engl.: Diary of the War of Independence: commented chronology. From the Battle of Sakarya to the opening of Lausanne (23 August 1921-20 November 1922)), Türk Tarih Kurumu yayınları (publishing house), 1996, ISBN 975-16-0517-2, page 62.
  4. ^ Celâl Erikan: 100 [i.e. Yüz] soruda Kurtuluş Savaşımızın tarihi, Edition I, Gerçek Yayınevi, 1971, İstanbul, page 166. (in Turkish)
  5. ^ Campbell, Verity; Carillet, Jean-Bernard; Elridge, Dan; Gordon, Frances Linzee (2007). Turkey. Lonely Planet. ISBN 978-1-74104-556-7.
  6. ^ Edmund Schopen: Die neue Türkei, Wilhelm Goldmann Verlag, 1938, page 95. (in German)
  7. ^ Sean McMeekin, The Berlin-Baghdad Express: The Ottoman Empire and Germany's Bid for World Power , Harvard University Press, 2010, ISBN 978-0-674-05739-5, p. 302.
  8. ^ Osman Faruk Loğoğlu, İsmet İnönü and the Making of Modern Turkey, İnönü Vakfı, 1997, ISBN 978-975-7951-01-8, p. 56.
  9. ^ [1] Archived 2019-02-04 at the Wayback Machine Sakarya Meydan Muharebesi’nin Yankıları (Melhâme-i Kübrâ Büyük Kan Seli veya büyük Savaş Alanı)
  10. ^ Revue internationale d'histoire militaire Volumes 46–48, International Committee of Historical Sciences. Commission of comparative military history, 1980, page 222
  11. ^ International review of military history (Volume 50), International Committee of Historical Sciences. Commission d'histoire militaire comparée, 1981, page 25.
  12. ^ Dominic Whiting, Turkey Handbook, Footprint Travel Guides, 2000, ISBN 1-900949-85-7, page 445.
  13. ^ Young Turk, Moris Farhi, Arcade Publishing, 2005, ISBN 978-1-55970-764-0, page 153.
  14. ^ Kevin Fewster, Vecihi Başarin, Hatice Hürmüz Başarin, A Turkish view of Gallipoli: Çanakkale, Hodja, 1985, ISBN 0-949575-38-0, page 118.
  15. ^ William M. Hale Turkish foreign policy, 1774–2000, Routledge, 2000, ISBN 0-7146-5071-4, page 52.
  16. ^ Michael Dumper, Bruce E. Stanley: Cities of the Middle East and North Africa: a historical encyclopedia, ABC-CLIO, 2007, ISBN 1-57607-919-8, page 38.
  17. ^ Kate Fleet, Suraiya Faroqhi, Reşat Kasaba: The Cambridge History of Turkey (Volume 4), Cambridge University Press, 2008, ISBN 0-521-62096-1, page 138.


Cite error: There are <ref group=Note> tags on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=Note}} template (see the help page).