Battle of Erzincan

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Battle of Erzincan

Date	2 July, 1916
Location	Erzincan, Turkey
Result	Russian victory

Combatants

Image:Russian Empire 1914 17.svg Russian Empire

Image:Ottoman Flag.svg Ottoman Empire

Commanders

Nikolai Yudenich

Vehip Pasha

Strength

Russian Caucasus Army

Turkish Third Army

Casualties

34,000 ^{[citation needed]}

Caucasus Campaign
Sarikamis – Malazgirt – Van – Koprukoy – Erzurum – Erzincan – Bitlis – Kara Killisse – Sardarapat – Bash Abaran

The Battle of Erzincan was a Russian victory over the Ottoman Empire during the First World War.

The Turkish commander, Enver Pasha launched an offensive in May, 1916 intending to recapture the ground lost to Nikolai Yudenich earlier that year. In February, Yudenich had taken the cities of Erzurum and Trebizond. Trebizond had provided the Russians with a port to receive reinforcements in the Caucasus. Enver, ordered the Turkish Third Army, now under Vehip Pasha to retake Trebizond. Vehip's attack failed and General Yudenich counterattacked on July 2. The Russian attack hit the Turkish communications center of Erzincan forcing Vehip's troops to retreat as well as losing many POWs. As a result the Third Army was rendered ineffective for the rest of the year.