Erzurum offensive | |||||||||
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Part of the Caucasus campaign of the First World War | |||||||||
Le Petit Journal Feb. 27, 1916 Retreat of the Turks after the taking of Erzurum by the Russians | |||||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||||
Russian Empire | Ottoman Empire | ||||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
Nikolai Yudenich | Abdul Kerim Pasha | ||||||||
Strength | |||||||||
Russian Caucasus Army 130,000 infantry 338 guns[3] |
Third Army 78,000 450 guns[3] | ||||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||||
2,339 killed 14,796 wounded[4][5] |
66,000[6][7] 20,000 POWs including 300 officers 450 cannons[8] |
The Erzurum offensive (Russian: Эрзурумское сражение, romanized: Erzurumskoe srazhenie; Turkish: Erzurum Taarruzu) or Battle of Erzurum (Turkish: Erzurum Muharebesi) was a major winter offensive by the Imperial Russian Army on the Caucasus Campaign, during the First World War that led to the capture of the strategic city of Erzurum. The Ottoman forces, in winter quarters, suffered a series of unexpected reverses, which led to a Russian victory.