Battle of the Sakarya
Major battle of the Turkish War of Independence / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Battle of the Sakarya (Turkish: Sakarya Meydan Muharebesi, lit. 'Sakarya Field Battle'), also known as the Battle of the Sangarios (Greek: Μάχη του Σαγγαρίου, romanized: Máchi tou Sangaríou), was an important engagement in the Greco-Turkish War (1919–1922).
Battle of the Sakarya | |||||||
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Part of the Greco-Turkish War (1919–22) of the Turkish War of Independence | |||||||
At Duatepe observation hill (in Polatlı): Fevzi Çakmak, Kâzım Özalp, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, İsmet İnönü and Hayrullah Fişek | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
Greece | Ankara Government | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Constantine I Anastasios Papoulas Prince Andrew |
Mustafa Kemal Pasha Fevzi Pasha İsmet Pasha | ||||||
Units involved | |||||||
Order of battle | Order of battle | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
120,000 soldiers 3,780 officers 57,000 rifles 2,768 machine guns 386 cannons 1,350 swords 600 3-ton trucks 240 1-ton trucks 18 airplanes[1] |
96,326 soldiers 5,401 officers 54,572 rifles 825 machine guns 196 cannons 1,309 swords 2 aircraft [1] | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
From August 23 to September 16:[2] 4,000 dead 19,000 wounded 354 missing Total: 22,900 |
3,700 dead 18,480 wounded 108 captives 5,639 deserters 8,089 missing Total: 38,029[3][Note 1] |
The battle went on for 21 days from August 23 to September 13, 1921, close to the banks of the Sakarya River in the immediate vicinity of Polatlı, which is today a district of the Ankara Province.[5] The battle line stretched over 62 miles (100 km).[6]
It is also known as the Officers' Battle[7] (Turkish: Subaylar Savaşı) in Turkey because of the unusually high casualty rate (70–80%) among the officers.[8] Later, it was also called Melhâme-i Kübrâ (Islamic equivalent to Armageddon) by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.[9]
The Battle of the Sakarya is considered as the turning point of the Turkish War of Independence.[10][11][12][13][14][15][16] The Turkish observer, writer, and literary critic İsmail Habip Sevük later described the importance of the battle with these words:
The retreat that started in Vienna on 13 September 1683 stopped 238 years later.[17]