The Trebizond Campaign, also known as the Battle of Trebizond, was a series of successful Russian naval and land operations that resulted in the capture of
Trabzon. It was the logistical step after the
Erzerum Campaign. Operations began on February 5 and concluded when the Ottoman troops abandoned Trabzon on the night of April 15, 1916.[1]
Lazistan offensive
Timeline
1916
2nd half of January; Russians occupied the territory between the
coruh and the Russian frontier.
Makriali was taken.
January 17–20; Russian destroyers crushed a large number of Turkish sailing crafts along Lazistan coast that were supplying Turkish army.[2]
February 5; Russian squadron heavily damaged Turkish trenches beyond the
Arhavi river.
February 6: Turks abandoned their lines, leaving 500 dead behind.
February 15–16: The same sequence of events was repeated at
Vitze. Turks retrenched behind the Buyuk-dere river. Several Turkish battalions reinforced
Rize from Trebizond. General
Lyakhov in conference with naval officers accepted proposal to land infantry (2 battalions with 2 mountain guns) in the rear of the Turkish position.
March 4–5; Rostislav and the gunboats Kubanetz and Donetz supported the amphibious landing at
Atina.[3] Turks on the Buyuk-dere position fled into the mountains.
March 6–7; the landing operation was repeated at
Mapavri and met with only slight resistance.
March 8; Russians occupied Rize and pushed their patrols forward to the river Kalapotamos to the east of the small town of
Of. Here the advance of the Black Sea coast detachment was temporarily halted.
Effect on Armenians
Prior to World War I, the vibrant Armenian community of Trabzon numbered 30,000.[4] In 1915, during the
Armenian genocide, they were massacred and deported.[4] After the Russian capture of Trabzon, some 500 surviving Armenians were able to return,[4] as well as Armenian monks of the
Kaymakli Monastery.[5]
References
^Walton, Robert (1984). The Capture of Trabzon. Marshall Cavendish Illustrated Encyclopedia of World War I, vol iv. New York: Marshall Cavendish Corporation. pp. 1306–1313.
ISBN0-86307-181-3.
^Weir, Gary E.; Halpern, Paul G. (February 1996). "A Naval History of World War I.". The American Historical Review. 101 (1): 157.
doi:
10.2307/2169242.
ISSN0002-8762.
JSTOR2169242.