Not to be confused with Battle of Erzincan (1473).
Battle of Erzincan
ConflictBattle of Erzincan
Эрзинджанское сражение
Երզնկայի ճակատամարտ
Erzincan Savaşı
PartofCaucasus campaign
Date2–25 July 1916
PlaceErzincan, Erzurum Vilayet, Ottoman Empire
ResultRussian victory
Combatant 1Russian Empire
Combatant 2Ottoman Empire
Commander 1Nikolai Yudenich
Commander 2Hasan Izzet Pasha
Topal Osman
Wehib Pasha
Units 1Russian Caucasus Army
Greek Caucasus Division
Units 2Third Army
Casualties 112,000[1]
Casualties 234,000, of them 17,000 captured[2]
TerritoryRussians 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.[3] 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.[3] As a result, the Third Army was rendered ineffective for the rest of the year and Erzincan was captured by the Russians.[4]

Notes

  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. ^ Boyd, Douglas (September 2014). Other First World War: The Blood-Soaked Eastern Front. ISBN 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.

References