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Great Offensive

Turkish offensive during the Turkish War of Independence

Summary

Turkish offensive during the Turkish War of Independence

Field	Value
conflict	Great Offensive
partof	the Greco-Turkish War (1919–22) of the Turkish War of Independence
image	Büyük_Taarruz_kolaj.jpg
image_size	350
caption	From the top left: Turkish artillery units, the forward operation of a Turkish cavalry unit during the Battle of Dumlupınar, the last Turkish soldiers to join the attack being sent off from Ulus Square with ceremonies and prayers, Turkish infantry units wait in the trenches for the attack, Greek soldiers on backward way.
date	26 August – 18 September 1922
place	Western Anatolia (Afyon, Kütahya, Uşak, İzmir)
territory	* Turkish capture of Smyrna
result	Turkish victory
combatant1	Ottoman_flag_alternative_2.svg Ankara Government
combatant2	Kingdom of Greece Greece
commander1	Ottoman_flag_alternative_2.svg Mustafa Kemal Pasha
Ottoman_flag_alternative_2.svg Fevzi Pasha
Ottoman_flag_alternative_2.svg İsmet Pasha
commander2	Kingdom of Greece Georgios Hatzianestis
Kingdom of Greece Nikolaos Trikoupis
Kingdom of Greece Kimon Digenis
strength1	{{plainlist
*323 artillery<ref name	"mentes"Belgelerle Türk tarihi dergisi, Editions 28–31, Menteş Kitabevi, 1999, page 35 }}
strength2	{{plainlist
*348 artillery<ref name	"mentes"/}}
casualties1	{{plainlist
casualties2	{{plainlist
*Total: 50,000<ref>[https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res	F70D15F83B5D1A7A93CAA91782D85F468285F9 Armistice sought by Greeks as Turks press near Smyrna], New York Times, published 8 September 1922}}

Greek Army withdrawal from Western Anatolia
Armistice of Mudanya
End of the Turkish War of Independence Ottoman_flag_alternative_2.svg Fevzi Pasha Ottoman_flag_alternative_2.svg İsmet Pasha Kingdom of Greece Nikolaos Trikoupis Kingdom of Greece Kimon Digenis
98,670–103,000 infantry
5,286 cavalry
323 artillery}}
130,000 infantry
1,300 cavalry
348 artillery}}
2,318 killed, 9,360 wounded, 1,697 missing and 101 prisoners
Total: 13,476}} By 7 September:
35,000 killed and wounded, 15,000 prisoners
Total: 50,000}} The Great Offensive () was the largest and final military operation of the Turkish War of Independence, fought between the Turkish Armed Forces loyal to the government of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, and the Kingdom of Greece, ending the Greco-Turkish War. The offensive began on 26 August 1922 with the Battle of Dumlupınar. The Turks amassed around 98,000 men, the largest number since the beginning of the war, to begin the offensive against the Greek army of approximately 130,000 men. From 31 August to 9 September, the front moved a distance of 300 km as the Greek troops retreated. The Turkish army lacked motorized vehicles; its forces consisted of infantry and cavalry units, and logistical support was provided by a supply system based on ox carts.

The Turkish troops reached the sea on 9 September with the capture of İzmir. The operation ended on 18 September 1922 with the capture of Erdek and Biga. The staggering defeat caused great dissent within the Greek army and a general loss of morale, which led to unwillingness to continue fighting. On top of this, numerous Greek divisions had been encircled and destroyed as effective fighting units, which meant that the Greek army had lost its offensive capabilities and was unable to organize a controlled retreat, leading to numerous Greek POWs.

{{anchor|After Dumlupınar|31 August|1 September|2 September|3 September|4 September|5 September|6 September|7 September|8 September|9 September|Aftermath}}Advance

The offensive started with the Battle of Dumlupınar, where the Turkish army defeated the Greek army within four days, paving the way for a rapid offensive. After Mustafa Kemal Atatürk's order issued in the Forces of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, the main part of the Turkish Army began moving toward İzmir and a secondary force began moving from Eskişehir toward Bursa. The commander-in-chief of the Greek forces in Asia Minor, Nikolaos Trikoupis, surrendered on 29 August. On 7 September, Aydın, Germencik and Kuşadası fell under Turkish control. On 16 September, the last Greek troops left Çeşme, and two days later the Greek III Corps left Erdek. The British Chief of Staff expressed his admiration for the Turkish military operation.

Gallery

File:Turkish cavalry during mopping‐up operation 1922.jpg|alt=Cavalry galloping|Turkish cavalry during a mopping-up operation File:Turkish infantry in trench.jpg|alt=Soldiers in a trench, with one looking in a different direction|Turkish infantry in a trench File:Turkish V Cavalry Corps.jpg|alt=Large group photo, with a dog in front|Fahrettin Altay and V Cavalry Corps officers File:Greek soldiers retreat, 1922.jpeg|alt=Soldiers marching down a road|Greek soldiers retreating File:Turkish village burned down.jpg|alt=Burning buildings, with residents watching|A Turkish village burnt by retreating Greek troops File:Turgutlu inspection of the burned town.JPG|Inspection of the burned town of Turgutlu by a group of dignitaries and journalists File:Greek POW officers 1922.jpg|alt=Large group photo of men in uniform|Greek POW officers in Ankara File:Atatürk in Kocatepe before the start of the Great Offensive, August 30, 1922.jpg|Mustafa Kemal Pasha at Kocatepe hill, Afyonkarahisar

References

Footnotes

Bibliography

Kemal Niş, Reşat Söker, Türk İstiklâl Harbi, Batı Cephesi, Büyük Taarruz’da Takip Harekâtı (31 Ağustos – 18 Eylül 1922), Cilt 2, Kısım. 6, 3. Kitap, Genkurmay Başkanlığı Basımevi, Ankara, 1969.
İsmet Görgülü, Büyük Taarruz: 70 nci Yıl Armağanı, Genelkurmay Başkanlığı Basımevi, Ankara, 1992.
Celal Erikan, Komutan Atatürk, Cilt I-II, Üçüncü Basım, Türkiye İş Bankası Kültür Yayınları, İstanbul, 2001, .

References

tr
A. Dural: ''His Story: Mustafa Kemal and Turkish Revolution'', {{ISBN. 0595412513, iUniverse, 2007, page 93
tr
''Assertion of unitary, independent national states in central and southeast europe (1821–1923)'', Bibliotheca historica romaniae Edition 62, Edited by Viorica Moisuc and Ion Calafeteanu, Section des sciences historiques de l'Académie de la République Populaire Roumaine., 1980, page 340 (footnote 94)
Ali Çimen, Göknur Göğebakan: ''Tarihi Değiştiren Savaşlar'', 2. Edition, {{ISBN. 9752634869, page 321. {{in lang. tr
[https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F70D15F83B5D1A7A93CAA91782D85F468285F9 ''Armistice sought by Greeks as Turks press near Smyrna''], [[New York Times]], published 8 September 1922
"Warfare and armed conflicts : a statistical encyclopedia of casualty and other figures, 1492/2015".
Chronicling America – Historic American Newspapers, [http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85058393/1922-09-07/ed-1/seq-2/;words=GREEKS+Greeks+Greek?date1=08%2F26%2F1922&sort=relevance&rows=20&searchType=advanced&proxdistance=5&date2=09%2F10%2F1922&ortext=greek&proxtext=&phrasetext=&andtext=&dateFilterType=range&page=2&index=2 ''Turk Cavalry Routs Greeks''], The Ogden standard-examiner (Ogden, Utah), 7 September 1922, page 2.
[https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1922/09/08/99066324.pdf ''Armistice Sought By Greeks As Turks Press''] 8 September 1922.
Bruce Clark: ''Twice a Stranger: The Mass Expulsions That Forged Modern Greece And Turkey'', Harvard University Press, 2006, {{ISBN
International Committee of Historical Sciences, 1980, [https://books.google.com/books?id=SJlmAAAAMAAJ&q=%22men+was+partly+annihilated+and+partly+taken%22 page 227].
International Committee of Historical Sciences. 1980, [https://books.google.com/books?id=SJlmAAAAMAAJ&q=%22The+units+of+the+Turkish+Army+had+marched+a+distance+of+300+km+in+10%22 page 227].
International Committee of Historical Sciences, 1980, [https://books.google.com/books?id=SJlmAAAAMAAJ&q=%22Turkish+Army+carrying+out+this+operation+lacked+all+kinds+of+motorized+vehicles%3B+its+forces+consisted+of+only+infantry+and%22 page 227].
International Committee of Historical Sciences. Commission of comparative military history, ''Revue internationale d'histoire militaire (Editions 46–48)'', University of Michigan, 1980, [https://books.google.com/books?id=SJlmAAAAMAAJ&q=%22A+pursuit+operation+started+on+a+400+km.+wide+front%22 page 227].
"Trikupis" veya "Trikopis", Büyük Larousse Sözlük ve Ansiklopedisi, 22. Cilt, Milliyet Yay., İstanbul.
Aggelomatis, Chr., "Chronicle of Great Tragedy" (The Epic of Asia Minor), Estia, 1963, pp. 194-5
9789186884147, page 62.

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conflicts-in-1922 battles-of-the-greco-turkish-war-(1919–1922) 1922-in-the-ottoman-empire 1922-in-greece history-of-aydın-province history-of-i̇zmir-province history-of-kütahya-province history-of-manisa-province history-of-uşak-province 20th-century-in-i̇zmir august-1922 september-1922 battles-of-mustafa-kemal-atatürk military-history-of-i̇zmir

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