Alashkert operation

After the end of the Sarykamysh operation 1914–1915, units of the 4th Caucasian Army Corps ( infantry general P.I. Oganovsky ) went to the Kop, Bitlis area with the goal of occupying an embracing position for a general attack on Erzurum .

The Turkish command, trying to disrupt the command plan of the Caucasian Army, secretly concentrated west of Lake Van a strong strike force led by Abdul-Kerim Pasha (89 battalions , 48 squadrons and hundreds). She had the task of squeezing the 4th Caucasian Army Corps (31 battalions, 70 squadrons and hundreds) in an impassable and deserted area north of Lake Van, destroy it, and then go on the offensive on Kars to cut the communications of the Russian troops and force them to withdraw. Parts of the corps under pressure from superior enemy forces were forced to move from line to line.

By July 8 ( 21 ), Turkish troops reached the border of Helian , Jura , Diyadin , creating the threat of a breakthrough to Kars . To disrupt the enemy’s plan, the Russian command created in the Dayar region a strike detachment of Lieutenant General N.N. Baratov (24 battalions, 31 hundreds), which launched a counterattack on the flank and rear of the 3rd Turkish Army on July 9 ( 22 ). A day later, the main forces of the 4th Caucasian Army Corps went on the offensive. The Turkish troops, fearing a detour, began to retreat and, taking advantage of the insufficiently energetic actions of the corps units, were able on July 21 ( August 3 ) to go on the defensive at the turn of Bulyuk-Bashi , Ercish . As a result of the operation, the enemy’s plan to destroy the 4th Caucasian Army Corps and break through to Kars failed. Russian troops retained most of the territory they occupied and provided the conditions for the Erzurum operation of 1915-1916.

• Alashkert

Books

in Russian

• Avakyan G.G., Balbabyan N.S., Zakharov V.A., Novikov V.V. and others. Armenians in the First World War (1914-1918). - M .: Publishing House "Russian Writer", 2014. - 768 p. - ISBN 978-5-91642-139-2 .
• Ayrapetov O. R. Participation of the Russian Empire in the First World War (1914-1917): Series of 4 books. - M .: Kuchkovo field, 2014-2016.
• Korsun N.G. World War I on the Caucasian Front. - M .: Military Publishing House of the NPO of the USSR, 1946 .-- 100 p.
• Maslovsky E.V. [World War on the Caucasian Front, 1914-1917: strategic essay.] - M.: Veche, 2015. - 544 p. - ISBN 978-5-4444-1754-6

in English

• , Muratoff PP Caucasian Battlefields: A History of the Wars on the Turco-Caucasian Border. 1828-1921 (English) . - Cambridge: CUP , 1953. - 614 p. - ISBN 978-1-108-01335-2 .
  • Allen W., Muratov P. The Battle of the Caucasus. The history of wars on the Turkish-Caucasian front. 1828-1921 / Per. from English E.V. Lamanova . - M .: Centerpolygraph , 2016 .-- 606 p. - ISBN 978-5-9524-5203-9 .

in French

• Korganoff G. La Participation des Arméniens à la Guerre Mondiale sur le Front du Caucase (1914-1918) : [ fr. ] / Le Général G. Korganoff. - P .: Massis, 1927 .-- 209 s.
  • Korganov G. G. Participation of Armenians in the World War on the Caucasian Front (1914-1918) / Per. with fr. Yu. L. Pirumyan , E. E. Dolbakyan . - M .: MAX Press, 2011 .-- 183 p. - ISBN 978-5-317-03563-1 .

• Russian State Library. Forgotten Heroes. Lost victories. The Caucasian Front of World War I 1914-1918 (Neopr.) . Virtual exhibitions of the Russian State Library (2014).