Battle of Erzincan explained

Conflict:Battle of Erzincan
Эрзинджанское сражение
Երզնկայի ճակատամարտ
Erzincan Savaşı
Partof:World War I
Date:2–25 July 1916
Place:Erzincan, Erzurum Vilayet, Ottoman Empire
Result:Russian victory
Combatant1: Russian Empire
Commander1: Nikolai Yudenich
Commander2: Wehib Pasha
Topal Osman
Strength1:Russian Caucasus Army Greek Caucasus Division
Strength2:Third Army
Casualties1:12,000[1]
Casualties2:34,000, of them 17,000 captured[2]
Territory:Russians successfully capture Erzincan from the Ottomans

The Battle of Erzincan (Russian: Эрзинджанское сражение, Turkish: Erzincan Muharebesi) was a Russian victory over the Ottoman Empire during the First World War.

In February 1916, Nikolai Yudenich had taken the cities of Erzurum and Trabzon. Trabzon had provided the Russians with a port to receive reinforcements in the Caucasus. Enver Pasha ordered the Third Army, now under Vehip Pasha, to retake Trabzon.[3] Vehip's attack failed and General Yudenich counterattacked on July 2. The Russian attack hit the Turkish communications center of Erzincan forcing Vehip's troops to retreat as well as losing 34,000 men, half taken as POWs. As a result, the Third Army was rendered ineffective for the rest of the year and Erzincan was captured by the Russians.[4]

References

Notes and References

  1. Allen W. E. D., Muratoff Paul. Caucasian Battlefields: A History of the Wars on the Turco-Caucasian Border 1828–1921. Cambridge University Press. 2011. p. 411.
  2. Book: Boyd. Douglas. Other First World War: The Blood-Soaked Eastern Front. September 2014 . 978-0750957861.
  3. A Global Chronology of Conflict, Volume Four, ed. Spencer C. Tucker, (ABC-CLIO, 2010), 1625.
  4. David Eggenberger, An Encyclopedia of Battles: Accounts of Over 1,560 Battles from 1479 b.c. to the Present, (Courier Dover Publications, 1985), 137.