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| Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia |
| The Air War in the Southern Caucasus 1916-17 |
| 2022-05-29 |
| [CrossAndCockade] This article by Peter Dye came about because of the chance purchase of a dozen prints from aerial photographs taken in the Ottoman Empire’s Eastern Provinces during the First World War. Researching their history has revealed new details of the fighting between the Ottoman and Russian armies, rarely mentioned in popular histories of the First World War, and of the tragedy that befell the Armenian communities of the Eastern Provinces. Many of the images show abandoned villages, their roofs missing and the population either killed or deported. The scale of the destruction is sobering, as is the rugged beauty of the landscape, dominated by high mountain ranges, steep-sided valleys, and swift flowing streams. Winter comes early to the Armenian Highlands and lasts deep into Spring. There are few roads or large towns, but numerous small settlements can be found, scattered across the valleys and high plains. The area is dominated by the Euphrates River and its tributaries that flow west from the mountains, north of the Taurus, before turning south towards Syria and Iraq. It is difficult to believe that a war was fought here or that these photographs represent the very first aerial views of this remote and inaccessible region, providing a unique record of a landscape and a way of life that disappeared with the Armenian genocide of 1915. Most of the prints are uncaptioned and none are dated. Modern satellite imagery has allowed a few locations to be identified, but many remain ‘unknown’. The region has changed hugely over the last hundred years as rapid economic development (and, sadly, natural disasters) have literally transformed the land. However, it is hoped that someone reading this article may be able to identify the remaining locations. A further complication in this search is that most settlements have changed names over the last century. To make matters more difficult, many villages in the Armenian Highlands were known by several different names - depending on the community or language involved. Where possible, both ‘original’ and contemporary names are identified. By early 1916, the war was not going well for the Ottoman Empire. Admittedly, the Allies had been forced to give up their bridgehead in Gallipoli, evacuating their forces in the face of an aggressive Ottoman defence. In Mesopotamia, the British had been surrounded at Kut, south of Baghdad, and would soon surrender. However, the initial Ottoman offensives against the Russians in the Caucasus and the British in Egypt had been costly failures. Although the Ottoman army had been bolstered by the loan of German staff officers, they lacked modern aircraft. As a result, Germany had sent increasing numbers of aircraft and aviation personnel to support the small Ottoman air service and, from March 1916, entire flying units. These ‘Pascha’ squadrons proved invaluable, although they were handicapped by the long supply lines to Germany. The Allied withdrawal from Gallipoli allowed the Ottoman High Command to reinforce their positions in the Eastern Provinces. The experienced Ottoman 2nd Army, transferred from the Dardanelles, took over the southern part of the front while the Ottoman 3rd Army attempted to halt further Russian advances in the north. It was hoped that the Ottoman 2nd Army would threaten the flank of any future Russian offensive, however, most of its units were not in position when the Russians launched a major attack between Trabzon and Lake Vad, inflicting severe casualties on the Ottoman 3rd Army. Erzurum (present-day Erzerum) was captured on 1 March 1916, followed by Trabzon on 15 April and Erzincan on 25 July. There was now a danger that further Russian advances could see them link up with the British in Mesopotamia. The presence of a RNAS armoured car detachment, part of the British Armoured Car Expeditionary Force under Lieutenant-Commander Oliver Locker-Lampson, which helped the Russians capture Musch (Moush) in August 1916, may have made this possibility look all the more likely. Read the rest at the link |
| Posted by:badanov |