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Battle of Ardahan
The Battle of Ardahan (Turkish: Ardahan Harekâtı; Russian: Битва при Ардагане, Armenian: Արդահանի ճակատամարտ) was fought between 25 December 1914 and 18 January 1915 and was an Ottoman military operation commanded by German Lt. Col. Stange to capture the city of Ardahan and cut the Russian link to Sarikamish–Kars line, supporting the Battle of Sarikamish. By 3 January 1915, Vorontsov-Dashkov achieved a decisive victory over the Ottoman forces at Ardahan.
Ardahan was one of the eastern Ottoman provinces that had come under Russian rule in 1878. Armenian separatist ambitions proved to be just as unacceptable to the Russians as they had been to the Turks, but the Russians successfully overcame doctrinal differences between the Armenian and Russian churches to forge a common Christian identity in a bid to ignite a Christian uprising against the Muslim Turks. However, fearing reprisals against Armenian civilians, not all Armenians joined the Russian war effort.
As the situation quickly escalated, Enver Pasha sought to outflank the Russian forces to seize Sarıkamış and cut off Russian access to railway lines. From Sarıkamış, Turkish forces would proceed to retake Kars, Batum and Ardahan. Enver planned to deploy the X Corps north to Ardahan, while the IX Corps proceeded to Sarıkamış. On the day of battle, 22 December, a terrible snowstorm struck. The Ottoman Third Army lacked proper supplies for these conditions, and incurring heavy losses retreated under Russian fire.
The operation was part of what the Russian Empire viewed the Caucasus front. It was a secondary to the Eastern front. Russia had taken the fortress of Kars from the Turks during the Russo-Turkish War in 1877 and feared a campaign into the Caucasus, aimed at retaking Kars and the port of Batum.
Ottoman generalship and organization were negligible compared to the Allies. Enver hoped a success would facilitate opening the route to Tbilisi and beyond, with a revolt of Caucasian Muslims; another strategic goal was to cut Russian access to hydrocarbon resources around the Caspian Sea. This long-term goal made Britain wary; the Anglo-Persian Oil Company was in the proposed path.
On 30 October 1914, the 3rd Army headquarters was informed by High Command in Istanbul about an exchange of fire during the pursuit of Goeben and Breslau in the Black Sea. High Command expected the Russian Army to cross the Ottoman border at any time. The Bergmann Offensive (2 November 1914 – 16 November 1914) ended with the defeat of Russian troops. The Russian success was along the southern shoulders of the offense where Armenian volunteers visible (effective) and taken Karaköse and Doğubeyazıt. Hasan İzzet Pasha managed to stabilize the front by letting the Russians 25 kilometers inside the Ottoman Empire along the Erzurum-Sarikamish axis.
Hostility against Ottoman Armenian soldiers was nearing a breaking point in the Ottoman ranks. Turks blamed Armenians for defecting and supplying Russians with intelligence on Ottoman positions. Actively recruited by Armenian volunteer forces fighting alongside the Russians, and regarded with suspicion among Ottoman forces, there were reports that in each battalion at least three to five Armenians were shot each day.
The "Stange Bey Detachment" left Istanbul on the battleship Yavuz. Two battalions under the command of Christian August Stange disembarked in Rize on 10 December 1914. The detachment was then reinforced with nearly two thousand Kurdish volunteers and materially assisted by the rebellious Adjarians of the country. Behaeddin Shakir and the Teşkilât-ı Mahsusa (the predecessor of the MIT of Turkey), were given the task to raise volunteers among the population in the region.
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Battle of Ardahan AI simulator
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Battle of Ardahan
The Battle of Ardahan (Turkish: Ardahan Harekâtı; Russian: Битва при Ардагане, Armenian: Արդահանի ճակատամարտ) was fought between 25 December 1914 and 18 January 1915 and was an Ottoman military operation commanded by German Lt. Col. Stange to capture the city of Ardahan and cut the Russian link to Sarikamish–Kars line, supporting the Battle of Sarikamish. By 3 January 1915, Vorontsov-Dashkov achieved a decisive victory over the Ottoman forces at Ardahan.
Ardahan was one of the eastern Ottoman provinces that had come under Russian rule in 1878. Armenian separatist ambitions proved to be just as unacceptable to the Russians as they had been to the Turks, but the Russians successfully overcame doctrinal differences between the Armenian and Russian churches to forge a common Christian identity in a bid to ignite a Christian uprising against the Muslim Turks. However, fearing reprisals against Armenian civilians, not all Armenians joined the Russian war effort.
As the situation quickly escalated, Enver Pasha sought to outflank the Russian forces to seize Sarıkamış and cut off Russian access to railway lines. From Sarıkamış, Turkish forces would proceed to retake Kars, Batum and Ardahan. Enver planned to deploy the X Corps north to Ardahan, while the IX Corps proceeded to Sarıkamış. On the day of battle, 22 December, a terrible snowstorm struck. The Ottoman Third Army lacked proper supplies for these conditions, and incurring heavy losses retreated under Russian fire.
The operation was part of what the Russian Empire viewed the Caucasus front. It was a secondary to the Eastern front. Russia had taken the fortress of Kars from the Turks during the Russo-Turkish War in 1877 and feared a campaign into the Caucasus, aimed at retaking Kars and the port of Batum.
Ottoman generalship and organization were negligible compared to the Allies. Enver hoped a success would facilitate opening the route to Tbilisi and beyond, with a revolt of Caucasian Muslims; another strategic goal was to cut Russian access to hydrocarbon resources around the Caspian Sea. This long-term goal made Britain wary; the Anglo-Persian Oil Company was in the proposed path.
On 30 October 1914, the 3rd Army headquarters was informed by High Command in Istanbul about an exchange of fire during the pursuit of Goeben and Breslau in the Black Sea. High Command expected the Russian Army to cross the Ottoman border at any time. The Bergmann Offensive (2 November 1914 – 16 November 1914) ended with the defeat of Russian troops. The Russian success was along the southern shoulders of the offense where Armenian volunteers visible (effective) and taken Karaköse and Doğubeyazıt. Hasan İzzet Pasha managed to stabilize the front by letting the Russians 25 kilometers inside the Ottoman Empire along the Erzurum-Sarikamish axis.
Hostility against Ottoman Armenian soldiers was nearing a breaking point in the Ottoman ranks. Turks blamed Armenians for defecting and supplying Russians with intelligence on Ottoman positions. Actively recruited by Armenian volunteer forces fighting alongside the Russians, and regarded with suspicion among Ottoman forces, there were reports that in each battalion at least three to five Armenians were shot each day.
The "Stange Bey Detachment" left Istanbul on the battleship Yavuz. Two battalions under the command of Christian August Stange disembarked in Rize on 10 December 1914. The detachment was then reinforced with nearly two thousand Kurdish volunteers and materially assisted by the rebellious Adjarians of the country. Behaeddin Shakir and the Teşkilât-ı Mahsusa (the predecessor of the MIT of Turkey), were given the task to raise volunteers among the population in the region.