Battle of Erzincan

Battle of Erzincan Эрзинджанское сражение Երզնկայի ճակատամարտ Erzincan Savaşı
Part of World War I
Surrender of Turkish soldiers
Date 2–25 July 1916 Location Erzincan, Erzurum Vilayet, Ottoman Empire Result Russian victory Territorial changes Russians successfully capture Erzincan from the Ottomans
Belligerents
Russian Empire	Ottoman Empire
Commanders and leaders
Nikolai Yudenich	Hasan Izzet Pasha Topal Osman
Strength
Russian Caucasus Army Greek Caucasus Division	Third Army
Casualties and losses
12,000[1]	34,000, of them 17,000 captured[2]

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

• Spencer C. Tucker(Editor), A Global Chronology of Conflict, Volume Four, ABC-CLIO, 2010.
• Erzurum-Erzincan