Battle of Malazgirt (1915)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Battle of Malazgirt

Part of the Caucasus Campaign in the Middle Eastern Theatre (World War I)

Date	July 10 - 26, 1915
Location	Malazgirt, Turkey
Result	Tactical Russian Victory

Combatants

Russian Empire

Ottoman Empire

Commanders

General Oganovski
Nikolai Yudenich

Kerim Pasha

Strength

22,000

40,000

Casualties

10,000

6,000 prisoners

Caucasus Campaign
Sarikamis – Malazgirt – Van – Koprukoy – Erzurum – Erzincan – Bitlis – Kara Killisse – Sardarapat – Bash Abaran – Baku

The Battle of Malazgirt was a battle of the Caucasus Campaign of World War I, in 1915. Even though losses were heavy on both sides, the ground situation changed little by the end of the action.

On July 10, 1915, General Oganovski launched an offensive to capture the hills just west of Malazgirt. He believed that the Turkish forces were weak. However the Turkish forces contained several divisions numbering upwards of 40,000 men which was not known to the Russians. On July 16, the Ottoman Army counter-attacked under Abdul Kerim Pasha. They outnumbered the Russians by a factor of 3-1. Oganovski was forced to retreat from Malazgirt and in the process he lost his baggage train. Yudenich, who was in command of the front only learned of the situation on July 22, by which time the Russians were pressing the attack to Kara Kilise about 16 km northeast of Malazgirt.

Yudenich quickly regrouped his forces and launched a counter-offensive with 22,000 horse and foot soldiers. During this manoeuvre, a force of Cossack cavalry captured 6,000 prisoners at Kara Kilise. Russian casualties were reported to be about 10,000. Malazgirt was recaptured but Yudenich didn't have a large enough force to exploit the situation further.

[edit] Aftermath

1915 was relatively quiet on the Caucasus Front which was considered subordinate to the main front in Poland. While the ground situation changed little during this battle, the tactical victory boosted national Russian morale. This minor victory provided some respite to the continuing losses on the Eastern Front.