Avlyar-Aladzhin battle

In June 1877, the troops of the current corps (commander of the cavalry, M. T. Loris-Melikov ) of the Caucasian Army were forced to lift the siege of Kars and retreat to the area of Kuryuk-Dara , Bashkadiklar , where they occupied the defenses ^[1] . Following the retreating Russian troops, the Turkish Anatolian army , led by Mushir ( Marshal ) Ahmed Mukhtar Pasha, also turned and took up defense on the northern slopes of the Aladzhin Heights and Mount Avliyar 20-30 km east of Kars. The left flank of the Turkish troops relied on the fortified heights of Bolshoi and Maly Yagny, the center on the villages of Subotan and Hadzhivili prepared in advance for defense, the right flank on the heights of Kyzyl-tepe and Inakh-tepe. In front of the main defensive line, advanced fortifications were prepared, and 5-10 km behind it was the rear defense line, which ran along the line of the village of Vizinkey, heights Avlyar and Aladzha . The defense of the Turkish troops was facilitated by the area, which was replete with inaccessible steep rocky slopes, deep ravines and a large number of dominant heights.

For 2.5 months, both sides did not take active steps, accumulating strength for a decisive battle. By mid-September, the size of the Anatolian army was 37-38 thousand people with 74 guns, and the current Caucasian corps - up to 56 thousand people with 220 guns. The battle plan was developed by the chief of staff of the Caucasian Army N. N. Obruchev . According to his plan, it was planned to strike at the Anatolian army, defeat it and throw the remnants of Turkish troops south from the Alexandropol -Kars road and cut them off from Kars.

For this purpose, three groups were created: the right-wing group (commander M.T. Loris-Melikov) had the task of acting in the direction of the main attack; the left-flank (commander Lieutenant-General I. D. Lazarev ) was supposed to forge the enemy in the center and on the right flank; Major General B. M. Shelkovnikov’s detachment (5 battalions , 3 hundreds , 12 guns ) was to deeply go around the right flank of the Turkish troops and go to the rear of the main Turkish position. The defeat of the Turkish troops was supposed to be achieved by the simultaneous blow of all three groups. In the reserve of the corps (Lieutenant General P.N. Shatilov ) there were 10 infantry battalions, 10 squadrons and Cossack hundreds, 40 guns.

The offensive of the Russian troops began on September 19 (October 1), when Shelkovnikov’s detachment began a roundabout maneuver. September 20 (October 2) after artillery preparation the main group of Russian troops went on the attack. The enemy stubbornly resisted and repulsed the attacks of the Russian troops at almost all defense points, only in the evening they managed to bring down the Turks from the height of the Big Yagny. In the morning of the same day, Shelkovnikov’s detachment unexpectedly for the Turkish troops went to their rear near the village of Aladzha and created a panic . But he failed to turn the tide of the battle - the small size of the detachment affected. Pulling up reinforcements (up to 10 battalions, 24 guns), the Turks blocked the Russian detachment, which for several hours fought in encirclement and by the evening after a fierce battle managed to break out and retreat to the Arpa River, having lost 582 dead and wounded. In this battle, the parties suffered heavy losses - Russian 3383 people killed and wounded, Turks up to 5000 people. At night, Ahmed Mukhtar Pasha withdrew his troops from the front lines, strengthening the defense of key points of his main position at their expense.

On September 21–22 ( October 3–4 ), Turkish troops tried to launch a counterattack in the areas of Subotan and the height of Kyzyl-tepe, but were unsuccessful. At the same time, Loris-Melikov, due to lack of drinking water, was forced to leave the height of the Big Yagny and withdraw his units to the Kuryuk-Daransky fortified camp. The Turkish command, fearing for its communications, in turn, on September 27 (October 9) also sent troops from its main position to the rear defense line, after which the villages of Subotan and Hadzhivali left by the Turks, the heights of Kyzyl-tepe and Bolshaya Yagny were occupied by Russians without a fight.

General Loris-Melikov praised the actions of the Turks as preparation for a retreat to Kars, and in order to prevent this, he decided to deliver a decisive blow. The idea of ​​the new battle was generally similar to the plan of its first stage: a strike by the main forces from the front with a simultaneous bypass of the enemy’s right flank and exit to the rear, with the goal of encircling and destroying Turkish troops in the Avliyar and Aladzh heights. In view of the previous failure, the alignment of forces was reconsidered, a frontal strike was delivered by the main forces of the corps (units of Lieutenant General V. A. Geyman and XX Roop ); a detachment of Lieutenant General I. D. Lazarev was allocated to bypass the right flank of the Turks, reinforced by part of the forces of the Erivan detachment of Lieutenant General A. A. Tergukasov . Almost a third of the corps forces were allocated to the detachment detachment: over 23 infantry battalions, 26 squadrons and Cossack hundreds, 78 guns. To communicate and coordinate the actions of the main forces and the detachment detachment, field telegraph lines were arranged ^[1] .

On the evening of September 27 ( October 9 ), Lazarev’s detachment set out on a campaign and the next day went to Digor . Only in the evening of October 2 (October 14) did Turkish troops discover its movement in their rear. A reserve of the Anatolian army (15 battalions) was thrown against the Russian detachment, which was defeated by a detachment detachment near the village of Shatyr-oglu. In pursuit of the retreating enemy, on the night of October 3 (October 15), Lazarev’s troops stormed the Orlok heights by storm, creating a threat to the Anatolian army.

On the morning of October 3 (15), after 3 hours of artillery preparation, the main forces of the existing corps of the Caucasian Army went on the offensive. They quickly captured the key stronghold of the enemy’s defense - Avliyar high and the village of Vizinkey. There broke a detachment of Lazarev. As a result, the Anatolian army was divided into two parts: the left-flank group, pursued by the cavalry of Prince Lieutenant General Z. G. Chavchavadze , fled to Kars in disorder, while the right-flank group was surrounded by Lazarev and Roop detachments and capitulated.

In the battle on October 3 (15), the Russian army lost 56 officers and 1,385 lower ranks killed and wounded, of whom 202 were killed. The Turkish Anatolian army was defeated: its losses amounted to 5 to 6 thousand killed and wounded, 7 pasha, 250 officers, more than 8 thousand soldiers were captured, another 3 to 4 thousand fled ^[1] . 35 guns, over 8 thousand guns, large stocks of food and equipment were captured.

In just two weeks of the battle, the Russian army lost over 5,500 soldiers and officers killed and wounded, the Turkish army - up to 20 thousand people.

As a result of this victory, a strategic initiative was seized at the Caucasian theater of operations. The threat of a Turkish invasion of Armenia and Georgia was removed, before the Russian troops opened the way to Kars and to the occupation of the whole of Anatolia.

During the battle, the Russian command skillfully applied frontal attacks in combination with bypassing the enemy’s flank and subsequent blow to his rear, a wide maneuver by forces and means, massive use of artillery, tactics of rifle chains . The newest tactical technique was the use of telegraph to control troops and coordinate their actions directly during the battle ^[1] . Among the shortcomings, it is necessary to note the weak organization of intelligence, which led to a two-month standing in front of a weaker enemy; poor choice of attack directions and the weakness of the detachment at the first stage of the battle.

"The defeat of the army of Mukhtar on the Aladzha Heights" on October 3, 1877, is mentioned on the Column of Glory in St. Petersburg ( 1886 ).

The Russian philosopher V. S. Solovyov, in “ Three Conversations ” (1899), mentions the battle “on the Aladzhin Heights,” where he describes the brutal massacre of the Bashibuzuks over residents of an Armenian village.

• Avlyar-Aladzhin battle of 1877 // A - Bureau of military commissars / [under the general. ed. A. A. Grechko ]. - M .: Military Publishing House of the USSR Defense Ministry , 1976. - ( Soviet Military Encyclopedia : [in 8 vols.]; 1976-1980, vol. 1).
• Zolotarev V.A. Russia and Turkey: The War of 1877-1878. - M. , 1983.
• Encyclopedia of Military and Naval Sciences : in 8 volumes / Ed. G. A. Leer . - SPb. : Type. V. Bezobrazova and Co. °, 1883. - T. 1: Aachen Congress - Burney. - S. 102-104.