Battle of Kurekdere

Battle of Kurekdere
Part of the Crimean War
Date August 6, 1854
Location Alexandropol, Erivan Governorate, Russian Empire
(now Gyumri, Armenia)
Result Russian Victory[1][2]
Belligerents
Ottoman Empire Russian Empire
Strength
25,000, + 8,000-10,000 irregulars (not engaged),
78 guns[3][4]
21,000, + 4,000 irregulars,
64 guns[3][4]
Casualties and losses
3,500 killed and wounded,
2,000 prisoners[3][4]
3,000 killed and wounded[3][4]

The Battle of Kurekdere took place in 1854 as part of the Crimean War. It started when the Ottoman army of Kars marched towards Gyumri to attack the Russian force, already weakened with detachments. The battle was related with great spirit and the defeat of the Ottoman army by the Russian forces.[1]

In accounting the Russians for the defeat of an army nearly 40,000 Ottoman forces of all arms by a hostile force of less than one-half that number, it is not sufficient to say that the management of the whole battle on the side of the Turks was a series of blunders from the first to last, strategical errors might have protracted the mission and have added to the cost of a victory.[1][5] Four months after the battle of Kurekdere no military operations took place. Some European officers there were strongly advised a forward movement on Tiflis.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d A Narrative of the Siege of Kars: Together with a narrative of travel and adventures in Armenia... - Page 98 by Humphry Sandwith
  2. ^ Pictorial history of the Russian War, 1854-5-6 [signed G.D.]. By George Dodd
  3. ^ a b c d Charles Duncan, A Campaign with the Turks in Asia, 1855. p. 190-191 [1]
  4. ^ a b c d George Dodd, Pictorial History of the Russian War 1854-5-6, 1856. p. 137 [2]
  5. ^ The patriot and the hero general Guyon on the battle fields of Hungary and Asia By Arthur Kinglake, Richard Debaufre Guyon