Battle of Bitlis

Battle of Bitlis
Битлисское сражение
Բաղեշի ճակատամարտ
Bitlis Muharebesi
Part of Caucasus campaign

DateJuly 1915 – August 1916
Location
Bitlis Vilayet, Ottoman Empire
Result Russian victory[1][2][3]
Belligerents

Russian Empire

Ottoman Empire

Commanders and leaders
Nikolai Yudenich
Andranik Ozanian		 Mustafa Kemal Pasha
Ahmed Izzet Pasha[cmt. 1]
Strength
Russian Caucasus Army
Armenian Fedayi		 Second Army
Kurdish Tribesmen
Casualties and losses
Unknown 34,000 captured or killed[3]

The Battle of Bitlis refers to a series of engagements in the summer of 1916 for the town of Bitlis and to a lesser extent nearby Muş, between Russian Imperial forces and their Ottoman counterparts. The town was the last stronghold of the Ottoman Empire preventing the Russians from entering Anatolia and Mesopotamia. Part of the battle is known as Battle of Muş

The first military confrontation at Bitlis occurred in July 1915, when Russian troops launched an unsuccessful assault on the town's fortifications. The second confrontation began in February 1916 and ended with the capture of Bitlis by new Russian corps, which largely consisted of the 1st Battalion of the Armenian volunteer units under the command of Andranik Ozanian. The Allied withdrawal from Gallipoli gave opportunity for Turkish forces to redeploy to the Caucasus region. Russian commander Nikolai Yudenich intended to attack the Turks before they could organize their forces to launch an attack.[3] After a series of clashes in Koprukoy, Erzurum, Muş, the Russian IV Caucasian Corps captured Bitlis on 2-3 March,[4] 1,000 more prisoners were taken in the city.[5]

The Ottoman troops of Ahmed Izzet Pasha were composed of veterans from the Gallipoli campaign. They were to outflank the Russians in Bitlis before the end of March, but communications were terrible, and troops had to march from Ankara for a month. The Turkish Second Army's (belated) offensive began on 2 August 1916 and successfully took back Bitlis (and Muş) but lost other territories in the Euphrates region to the Russians.[6] On 24 August, the Russian forces had recaptured both Mush and Bitlis.[7][3][8][9][1][2][10] The Ottomans suffered 34,000 casualties, around half of which were POWs.[3]

  1. ^ a b The International Military Digest Annual: A Review of the Current Literature of Military Science for 1915. New York City: The International Military Digest. 1916. p. 224. Noteworthy in this theater is the Russian success in recapturing Mush and Bitlis (Aug 25), which the Turks had won earlier in the month.
  2. ^ a b Encyclopedia Americana. Vol. 29. Danbury, Connecticut: Grolier. 2000. p. 300. ISBN 0-7172-0133-3. In any case, Yudenich was able to recapture Mus and Bitlis on August 24.
  3. ^ a b c d e Tucker, Spencer (2002). The Great War, 1914-1918. UCL Press. pp. 180–181. ISBN 1-85728-390-2. But Yudenich retook both on 24 August, whereupon both sides retired into winter
  4. ^ Burg, David F. (2010). Almanac of World War I. University of Kentucky Press. p. 104. ISBN 9780813127453.
  5. ^ Gilbert, Martin (2023). The First World War: A complete History. Moscow: Квадрига. p. 322. ISBN 978-5-389-08465-0.
  6. ^ Tucker, Spencer; Wood, Laura Matysek; Murphy, Justin D. (1999). The European Powers in the First World War: An Encyclopedia. Garland Publishing. p. 175. ISBN 0-8153-3351-X.
  7. ^ Jaques 2006, p. 143.
  8. ^ Chalabian, Antranig (1988). General Andranik and the Armenian Revolutionary Movement. pp. 273–275. ISBN 0962274119.
  9. ^ Herman, Gerald (1992). The Pivotal Conflict: A Comprehensive Chronology of the First World War, 1914-1919. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press. p. 268. ISBN 0-313-22793-4.
  10. ^ Encyclopedia Americana International Edition. Danbury, Connecticut: Grolier. 1970. p. 299. To the south, the Turkish Second Army took Mus and Bitlis in mid-August, but the Russians recaptured the two towns a week later.


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