The Battle of the Sakarya ( tr, Sakarya Meydan Muharebesi, lit=Sakarya Field Battle), also known as the Battle of the Sangarios ( el, Μάχη του Σαγγαρίου, Máchi tou Sangaríou), was an important engagement in the
Greco-Turkish War (1919–1922)
The Greco-Turkish War of 1919–1922, ota, گرب جابهاسی, Garb Cebhesi) in Turkey, and the Asia Minor Campaign ( el, Μικρασιατική Εκστρατεία, Mikrasiatikí Ekstrateía) or the Asia Minor Catastrophe ( el, Μικ ...
.
The battle went on for 21 days from August 23 to September 13, 1921, close to the banks of the
Sakarya River
The Sakarya (Sakara River, tr, Sakarya Irmağı; gr, Σαγγάριος, translit=Sangarios; Latin: ''Sangarius'') is the third longest river in Turkey. It runs through the region known in ancient times as Phrygia. It was considered one of th ...
in the immediate vicinity of
Polatlı
Polatlı (formerly Ancient Greek: Γόρδιον, Górdion and Latin: Gordium) is a city and a district in Ankara Province in the Central Anatolia region of Turkey, 80 km west of the Turkish capital Ankara, on the road to Eskişehir. Accordi ...
, which is today a district of the
Ankara Province
Ankara Province ( tr, , ) is a province of Turkey with the capital city Ankara.
Demographics
History
The site of the modern city has been home to settlements by many historic Anatolian civilizations in antiquity and classical times, in ...
. The battle line stretched over 62 miles (100 km).
It is also known as the Officers' Battle ( tr, Subaylar Savaşı) in
Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...
because of the unusually high casualty rate (70–80%) among the officers. Later, it was also called ''
Melhâme-i Kübrâ'' (Islamic equivalent to
Armageddon
According to the Book of Revelation in the New Testament of the Christian Bible, Armageddon (, from grc, Ἁρμαγεδών ''Harmagedōn'', Late Latin: , from Hebrew: ''Har Məgīddō'') is the prophesied location of a gathering of armies ...
) by
Kemal Atatürk Kemal may refer to:
;People
* Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, a Turkish politician and the first president of Turkey
* Kemal (name), a common Turkish name
;Places
* Kemalpaşa, İzmir Province, Turkey
* Mustafakemalpaşa, Bursa Province, Turkey
;See als ...
.
The Battle of the Sakarya is considered as the turning point of the
Turkish War of Independence
The Turkish War of Independence "War of Liberation", also known figuratively as ''İstiklâl Harbi'' "Independence War" or ''Millî Mücadele'' "National Struggle" (19 May 1919 – 24 July 1923) was a series of military campaigns waged by th ...
. The Turkish observer, writer, and literary critic İsmail Habip Sevük later described the importance of the battle with these words:
Background
The Greek offensive, under King
Constantine I
Constantine I ( , ; la, Flavius Valerius Constantinus, ; ; 27 February 22 May 337), also known as Constantine the Great, was Roman emperor from AD 306 to 337, the first one to Constantine the Great and Christianity, convert to Christiani ...
as Supreme Commander of the Greek Forces in Asia, was committed on July 16, 1921 and skilfully executed. A
feint
Feint is a French term that entered English via the discipline of swordsmanship and fencing. Feints are maneuvers designed to distract or mislead, done by giving the impression that a certain maneuver will take place, while in fact another, or e ...
towards the Turkish right flank at
Eskişehir
Eskişehir ( , ; from "old" and "city") is a city in northwestern Turkey and the capital of the Eskişehir Province. The urban population of the city is 898,369 with a metropolitan population of 797,708. The city is located on the banks of the ...
distracted
Ismet Pasha just as the major assault fell on the left at
Kara Hisar. The Greeks then wheeled their axis to the north, swept towards Eskişehir and rolled up the Turkish defence in a series of frontal assaults that was combined with flanking movements.
[Christopher Chant "Warfare of the 20th. Century – Armed Conflicts Outside the Two World Wars" Chartwell Books Inc. New Jersey 1988. , p. 22]
Eskişehir fell on July 17 despite a vigorous counterattack by Ismet Pasha, who was determined to fight to the finish. The saner counsels of
Mustafa Kemal
Mustafa ( ar, مصطفى
, Muṣṭafā) is one of the names of Prophet Muhammad, and the name means "chosen, selected, appointed, preferred", used as an Arabic given name and surname. Mustafa is a common name in the Muslim world.
Given name ...
prevailed, however, and Ismet disengaged with great losses to reach the comparative safety of the
Sakarya River
The Sakarya (Sakara River, tr, Sakarya Irmağı; gr, Σαγγάριος, translit=Sangarios; Latin: ''Sangarius'') is the third longest river in Turkey. It runs through the region known in ancient times as Phrygia. It was considered one of th ...
, some 30 mi (48 km) to the north and only 50 miles (80 km) from
Ankara
Ankara ( , ; ), historically known as Ancyra and Angora, is the capital of Turkey. Located in the central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5.1 million in its urban center and over 5.7 million in Ankara Province, maki ...
.
![Sakaryarivermapfinal](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cc/Sakaryarivermapfinal.jpg)
The determining feature of the terrain was the river itself, which flows eastward across the plateau, suddenly curves north and then turns back westwards. The great loop described forms a natural barrier. The river banks are awkward and steep, and bridges were few with only two on the frontal section of the loop. East of the loop, the landscape rises before an invader in rocky, barren ridges and hills towards Ankara. It was in those hills, east of the river that the
Turks
Turk or Turks may refer to:
Communities and ethnic groups
* Turkic peoples, a collection of ethnic groups who speak Turkic languages
* Turkish people, or the Turks, a Turkic ethnic group and nation
* Turkish citizen, a citizen of the Republic ...
dug in their defensive positions. The front followed the hills east of the Sakarya River from a point near
Polatlı
Polatlı (formerly Ancient Greek: Γόρδιον, Górdion and Latin: Gordium) is a city and a district in Ankara Province in the Central Anatolia region of Turkey, 80 km west of the Turkish capital Ankara, on the road to Eskişehir. Accordi ...
southwards to the place at which the Gök River joins the Sakarya, and then swung at rightangles eastwards following the line of the Gök River. That was an excellent defensive ground.
For the Greeks, the question on whether to dig in and rest on their previous gains or to advance towards Ankara in great effort and destroy the
Army of the Grand National Assembly. That was difficult to resolve and posed the eternal problems with which the Greek staff had to deal since the beginning of the war. The dangers of extending the lines of communications still further in such an inhospitable terrain that killed horses, caused vehicles to break down and prevented the movement of heavy artillery were obvious. The present front that gave the
Greeks
The Greeks or Hellenes (; el, Έλληνες, ''Éllines'' ) are an ethnic group and nation indigenous to the Eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea regions, namely Greece, Cyprus, Albania, Italy, Turkey, Egypt, and, to a lesser extent, oth ...
the control of the essential strategic railway was tactically most favourable, but the Army of the Grand National Assembly had escaped encirclement at
Kütahya
Kütahya () (historically, Cotyaeum or Kotyaion, Ancient Greek, Greek: Κοτύαιον) is a city in western Turkey which lies on the Porsuk River, Porsuk river, at 969 metres above sea level. It is inhabited by some 578,640 people (2022 estimate) ...
and so nothing had been settled. That made the temptation of achieving a knockout blow become irresistible.
Battle
![Aikhmalotoi](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/94/Aikhmalotoi.JPG)
On August 10, Greek King Constantine I finally committed his forces to an assault against the Sakarya Line. The Greeks marched hard for nine days before they made contact with the enemy. The march included an outflanking manoeuvre through the northern part of
Anatolia
Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The re ...
through the
Salt Desert, where food and water scarcely existed and so the advancing infantry foraged the poor Turkish villages for maize and water or meat from the flocks that were pastured on the fringe of the desert.
[Michael Llewellyn Smith, p. 233]
On August 23, battle was finally joined by the Greeks making contact with the advanced Turkish positions south of the Gök River. The Turkish General Staff had made its headquarters at Polatlı, on the railway a few miles east of the coast of the Sakarya River, and its troops were prepared to resist.
On August 26, the Greeks attacked all along the line. Crossing the shallow Gök, the infantry fought its way step up onto the heights, where every ridge and hill top had to be stormed against strong entrenchments and withering fire.
By September 2, the commanding heights of the key Mount Chal were in Greek hands, but once the enveloping movement against the Turkish left flank had failed, the battle descended to a typical head-on confrontation of infantry, machine guns and artillery.
The Greeks launched their main effort in the centre and pushed forward some 10 mi (16 km) in 10 days through the Turks' second line of defence. Some Greek units came as close as 31 mi (50 km) to the city of
Ankara
Ankara ( , ; ), historically known as Ancyra and Angora, is the capital of Turkey. Located in the central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5.1 million in its urban center and over 5.7 million in Ankara Province, maki ...
. That was the peak of their achievement in the Asia Minor Campaign.
For days during the battle, neither ammunition nor food had reached the front because of the successful harassment of the Greek lines of communications and the raids behind the Greek lines by Turkish cavalry. All of the Greek troops were committed to the battle, but fresh Turkish draftees were still arriving throughout the campaign in response to the
Turkish National Movement
The Turkish National Movement ( tr, Türk Ulusal Hareketi) encompasses the political and military activities of the Turkish revolutionaries that resulted in the creation and shaping of the modern Republic of Turkey, as a consequence of the defe ...
's mobilisation. All of those causes ended the impetus of the Greek attack. For a few days, there was a lull in the fighting during which neither of the exhausted armies could press an attack.
[Michael Llewellyn Smith, p. 233–234] Constantine, who commanded the battle personally, was almost taken prisoner by a Turkish patrol.
Astute as ever at the decisive moment, Mustafa Kemal assumed personal command and led a small counterattack against the Greek left, around
Mount Chal
Mount is often used as part of the name of specific mountains, e.g. Mount Everest.
Mount or Mounts may also refer to:
Places
* Mount, Cornwall, a village in Warleggan parish, England
* Mount, Perranzabuloe, a hamlet in Perranzabuloe parish, ...
, on September 8. The Greek line held, and the attack itself achieved a limited military success, but fear that presaged a major Turkish effort to outflank their forces while the severity of the winter was approaching made Constantine break off the Greek assault on September 14, 1921.
[Christopher Chant, p. 23]
That made
Anastasios Papoulas
Anastasios Papoulas ( el, Αναστάσιος Παπούλας; 1/13 January 1857 – 24 April 1935) was a Greek general, most notable as the Greek commander-in-chief during most of the Greco-Turkish War of 1919–22. Originally a firm roya ...
order a general retreat toward Eskişehir and Afyonkarahisar. The Greek troops evacuated Mount Chal, which had been taken at such a cost, and they retired unmolested across the Sakarya River to the positions that they had left a month earlier and took their guns and equipment with them. In the line of the retreating army, nothing was left that could benefit the Turks. Railways and bridges were blown up, and villages were burnt in the
scorched-earth policy
A scorched-earth policy is a military strategy that aims to destroy anything that might be useful to the enemy. Any assets that could be used by the enemy may be targeted, which usually includes obvious weapons, transport vehicles, commun ...
.
After the Greek retreat, the Turkish forces managed to retake
Sivrihisar
Sivrihisar ( tr, Sivrihisar, "a pointed castle") is a town and district of Eskişehir Province in the Central Anatolia Region of Turkey. According to 2010 census, population of the district is 23 488 of which 9,817 live in the town of Sivrihisar. ...
on September 20,
Aziziye
Aziziye is a municipality and governed district in Greater Erzurum, Turkey. Erzurum is one of 30 metropolitan centers in Turkey
There are 81 provinces in Turkey ( tr, il). Among the 81 provinces, 30 provinces are designated metropolitan municipa ...
on September 22 and
Bolvadin
Bolvadin (Ancient Greek: Πολύβοτον/Πολύβοτος and Latin: ''Polybotum''/''Polybotus'') is a city of Afyonkarahisar Province in Turkey. It is the seat of Bolvadin District.[Çay
Çay is a town and district of Afyonkarahisar Province in the Aegean region of Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on th ...]
on September 24.
Aftermath
![Greco Turkish War 1919-1922](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f3/Greco_Turkish_War_1919-1922.svg)
The retreat from Sakarya marked the end of the Greeks' hopes to
impose a settlement on Turkey by the force of arms. In May 1922, Papoulas and his complete staff resigned and was replaced by General
Georgios Hatzianestis, who proved much more inept than his predecessor.
[Christopher Chant "Warfare of the 20th. Century – Armed Conflicts Outside the Two World Wars" Chartwell Books Inc. New Jersey 1988. , p. 23]
On the other hand, Mustafa Kemal returned to Ankara, where the
Grand National Assembly Great National Assembly or Grand National Assembly may refer to:
* Great National Assembly of Alba Iulia, an assembly of Romanian delegates that declared the unification of Transylvania and Romania
* Great National Assembly (Socialist Republic of R ...
awarded him the rank of
Field Marshal
Field marshal (or field-marshal, abbreviated as FM) is the most senior military rank, ordinarily senior to the general officer ranks. Usually, it is the highest rank in an army and as such few persons are appointed to it. It is considered as ...
of the Army and the title of
Gazi
A ''ghazi'' ( ar, غازي, , plural ''ġuzāt'') is an individual who participated in ''ghazw'' (, '' ''), meaning military expeditions or raiding. The latter term was applied in early Islamic literature to expeditions led by the Islamic prophe ...
to render its honours as the saviour of the Turkish nation.
According to the
speech that was delivered years later before the same National Assembly at the Second General Conference of the
Republican People's Party
The Republican People's Party ( tr, Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi, , acronymized as CHP ) is a Kemalist and social-democratic political party in Turkey which currently stands as the main opposition party. It is also the oldest political party ...
, which took part from October 15 to 20, 1927, Kemal was said to have ordered that "not an inch of the country should be abandoned until it was drenched with the blood of the citizens" once he realised that the Turkish Army was losing ground rapidly and that virtually no natural defences were left between the battle line and Ankara.
Lord Curzon
George Nathaniel Curzon, 1st Marquess Curzon of Kedleston, (11 January 1859 – 20 March 1925), styled Lord Curzon of Kedleston between 1898 and 1911 and then Earl Curzon of Kedleston between 1911 and 1921, was a British Conservative statesman ...
argued that the military situation became a
stalemate
Stalemate is a situation in the game of chess where the player whose turn it is to move is not in check and has no legal move. Stalemate results in a draw. During the endgame, stalemate is a resource that can enable the player with the inferior ...
with time tending favour the Turks. Their reputation by the British was improving. In his opinion, the Turkish nationalists were then more ready to negotiate.
The Ankara government then signed the
Treaty of Kars
The Treaty of Kars ( tr, Kars Antlaşması, rus, Карсский договор, Karskii dogovor, ka, ყარსის ხელშეკრულება, hy, Կարսի պայմանագիր, az, Qars müqaviləsi) was a treaty that est ...
with the Russians and the most important
Treaty of Ankara with the French, which reduced the enemy's front notably in the
Cilician theatre and allowed it to concentrate against the Greeks to the west.
For the Turkish troops, the battle was the turning point of the war, which would develop in a series of important military clashes against the Greeks and drive the invaders out of Asia Minor during the
Turkish War of Independence
The Turkish War of Independence "War of Liberation", also known figuratively as ''İstiklâl Harbi'' "Independence War" or ''Millî Mücadele'' "National Struggle" (19 May 1919 – 24 July 1923) was a series of military campaigns waged by th ...
.
[Shaw, Stanford Jay; , p. 362] The Greeks could do nothing but fight to secure their retreat. On August 26, the Turkish offensive started with
Battle of Dumlupınar
The Battle of Dumlupınar ( el, Μάχη του Τουμλού Μπουνάρ, translit=Máchi tou Toumloú Bounár, tr, Dumlupınar (Meydan) Muharebesi, lit=Dumlupınar (Field) Battle), or known as Field Battle of the Commander-in-Chief ( t ...
. Kemal dispatched his army on a drive to the coast of the
Aegean Sea
The Aegean Sea ; tr, Ege Denizi (Greek language, Greek: Αιγαίο Πέλαγος: "Egéo Pélagos", Turkish language, Turkish: "Ege Denizi" or "Adalar Denizi") is an elongated embayment of the Mediterranean Sea between Europe and Asia. It ...
to pursue the Greek Army. That would culminate in the
direct assault of Smyrna from September 9 to 11, 1922.
The war ended by the withdrawal of the Greeks from Asia Minor, as would be formalised by the
Treaty of Lausanne
The Treaty of Lausanne (french: Traité de Lausanne) was a peace treaty negotiated during the Lausanne Conference of 1922–23 and signed in the Palais de Rumine, Lausanne, Switzerland, on 24 July 1923. The treaty officially settled the conflic ...
, on 24 July 1923.
Gallery
File:GreekWoundedRecovery.jpg, Evacuation of wounded Greek soldiers
File:TurkishPrisoners.jpg, Collection of Turkish prisoners
File:GreekInfantryWaitinginCover.jpg, Greek infantry awaits order to attack
File:GreekAdvancePolatli.jpg, Greek infantry approaches the heights of Polatlı
File:Greek Evzones of the 1-38 Evzones Regiment advance towards Turkish positions, 1921.jpg, Evzones
The Evzones or Evzonoi ( el, Εύζωνες, Εύζωνοι, ) were several historical elite light infantry and mountain units of the Greek Army. Today, they are the members of the Presidential Guard ( el, Προεδρική Φρουρά , transli ...
attack
File:Dead of Greek soldiers after the battle of Sakarya.jpg, Bodies of killed Greek soldiers after the Battle of the Sakarya
File:Battle of Sangarios 1921.png, Greek lithograph of the era, depicting the battle as a Greek victory
File:Mustafa Kemal & Salih.jpg, Mustafa Kemal and Salih (Bozok) at Duatepe Hill, observing enemy positions
File:Millimucadelekarikaturleri-1.JPG, "Anatolia's present to Greece on the occasion of the new year". Political cartoon published one month after the battle
See also
*
First Battle of İnönü
The First Battle of İnönü ( tr, Birinci İnönü Muharebesi) took place between 6 and 11 January 1921 near İnönü in Hüdavendigâr Vilayet (present-day Eskişehir Province, Turkey) during the Greco-Turkish War (1919–22), also known as ...
*
Second Battle of İnönü
The Second Battle of İnönü ( tr, İkinci İnönü Muharebesi) was a battle fought between March 23 and April 1, 1921 near İnönü in present-day Eskişehir Province, Turkey during the Greco-Turkish War (1919–22), also known as the weste ...
*
Mehmetçik Monument
Notes
References
Bibliography
*
*
See also
*
Order of battle for the Battle of Sakarya
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sakarya
Conflicts in 1921
Sakarya 1921
Angora vilayet
1921 in the Ottoman Empire
1921 in Greece
History of Sakarya Province
August 1921 events
September 1921 events
Battles of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk
Battles of İsmet İnönü