The 'Battle of Baku' (, ), also referred to as the 'Defense of Baku'
[2](
[3]) was the final battle of the
Caucasus Campaign but just the beginning phase of
Armenian-Azerbaijani War.
It took place in the vicinity of
Baku, in September 1918 . The
Ottoman-
Azerbaijani-
Dagestani forces of the
Army of Islam led by led by
Nuri Pasha won the battle against a coalition of
British,
Armenian and
White Russian forces led by
Lionel Dunsterville.
Background
Following the
abdication of the Tsar in
1917, the
Caucasus Front collapsed, and Russian troops evacuated
Armenia.
Batum and
Van were captured by the
Ottoman Empire.
[ Dunsterforce. Marshall Cavendish Illustrated Encyclopedia of WWI, vol ix, , Leslie, Missen, Marshall Cavendish Corporation, , ]
A number of Russian troops left through
Anzali, but 2 parties remained.
General
Nikolai Baratov remained in
Hamadan with a substantial force, who could not evacuate before winter. He waited for spring. At
Kermanshah, a Russian colonel of
Ossetian origin named
Lazar Bicherakhov remained with 10,000 faithful troops. Both men were supplanted with
British liaison officers.
As a result of this collapse, the roughly 800 miles between
Mesopotamia and the
Caucasus were open for an Ottoman force to pass through
. The situation was especially dire in the Caucasus, where
Enver Pasha had planned to place
Armenia,
Georgia and
Azerbaijan under Turkish suzerainty as part of his
Pan-Turanian plan
. This would give the
Central Powers numerous natural resources, including the oilfields of Baku. The control of the Caspian would open the way to further expansion in
Central Asia, and possibly
British India.
== Formation of the
Dunsterforce ==
Threatened by the possibility, the British chose to send a mission of officer and instructors to the region to counter the Turks
. The belief behind the mission was that the three republics would fight the Turks to avoid massacre
. It was hope that his would keep the Caucasus-Tabriz front intact and put a stop on Enver’s Pan-Turanian plans
.
The British mission was headed by Major-General
Lionel Dunsterville, who arrived to take command of the mission force in
Baghdad on
January 18,
1918. The first few members of the force were already assembling
.
He was set to proceed from
Mesopotamia, through
Persia to the port of
Anzali, then board ship to
Baku and on. Dunsterville set out from Baghdad on
January 27,
1918, with 4 NCO’s and batmen in 41 Ford vans and cars
.
However, the country on their road was overrun by the anti-British Jangalis under
Mirza Kuchak Khan, a force about 5,000 strong. On
February 17, he arrived at Anzali. Here he was denied passage to Baku by local
Bolsheviks, who cited the change in the political situation.
March massacres
Main articles: March Days
Meanwhile the arrest of General Talyshinski, the commander of the Azerbaijani division, and some of its officers all of whom arrived in
Baku on
March 9, increased the anti-Soviet feelings among the city's Azeri population. On 30 March the Soviet based on the unfounded report that the
Muslim crew of the ship ''Evelina'' was armed and ready to revolt against the Soviet, disarmed the crew which tried to resist
[4] This led to a 3 days of inter ethnic warfare
referred to as the
March Days, which resulted in the massacre of up to 12,000 Azerbaijanis by the Bolsheviks and armed Armenian units in the city of
Baku and other locations of
Baku Governorate.
[5][6][7]
Situation continues to deteriorate
The situation continued to deteriorate, and in March, Turco-German forces occupied
Batum,
Tbilisi,
Kars,
Alexandropol and
Yerevan. By May, a military mission under
Nuri Pasha, brother of
Enver Pasha, settled in Tabriz to organize the Army of Islam to fight not only Armenians but also Bolsheviks
. ⅓ of the newly-formed army consisted of Turkish soldiers, the rest being Azerbaijani forces and volunteers from Dagestan.
[8]
. Nuri Pasha's army occupied large parts of the Azerbaijani Democratic Republic without much opposition, influencing the fragile structure of the newly-formed state. Ottoman interference led some elements of Azerbaijani society to oppose Turks.
By June, Moscow had sent a Bolshevik commissar named
Stepan Shahumian with some troops to take charge in Baku
. However much of the troops Shahumian requested to Moscow for the protection of Baku didn't arrive because they were held up on the orders of
Stalin in Tsaristyn. Also on Stalin's order, the grain collected in Northern Caucasus to feed the starving people in Baku was directed to Tsaristyn. Shahumian protested to Lenin and to the Military Committee for Stalin's beahviour and he often stated: "Stalin will not help us". Lack of troops and food will be decisive for the fate of the Baku Soviet.
[9]
Soviet-Ottoman clashes outside Baku
on June 5, 1918, the Ottoman Army launched an assault on Baku that was successfully repulsed by the Baku Soviet Army, though it was evident the Army of Islam had much more men than Soviet forces. On 10 June the Baku Army launched an offensive but was defeated by Turkish troops and retreated to Baku, while the latters started to prepare another attack.
At this point, earlier in June, Bicherakhov was in the vicinity of
Qazvin, trying to go north
. After defeating some Janglis, he proceeded to check the situation in Baku
. Returning on
June 22, he planned to save the situation by blocking the Army of Islam at Alyaty Pristan'
. However, he arrived too late, and instead went farther north to
Derbent, planning to attack the invading Army of Islam from the north. At Baku he left only a small
Cossack contingent
.
Beside the Russians, the Janglis also harassed elements of the
Dunsterforce going to Anzali on their way to Baku. Once defeated, the Janglis dispersed. On reaching Anzali in late July, Dunsterville also arrested the local Bolsheviks who had sided with the Janglis
.
Coup and arrival in Baku
On
July 26, a
coup d'état overthrew the Bolsheviks in Baku
. The new body, the
Central Caspian Dictatorship, wanted to arrest
Shahumian, but he and his 1,200 Red Army troops seized the local arsenal and 13 ships, and began heading to Astrakhan. The
Caspian fleet, loyal the new government, turned them back
.
By
July 30, the advance parties of the
Army of Islam had reached the heights above Baku
. Therefore, Dunsterville, immediately started sending contingents of his troops to Baku. On
August 16, British troops were in Baku
.
Opposing forces
Inside Baku itself, the local commander was a former Tsarist General named Dokuchaev
[10], along with his
Armenian Chief of Staff,
Colonel Avetisov. Under their command were about 6,000
Centrocaspian Dictatorship troops of the
Baku Army or
Baku Battalions. A vast majority of the troops in this force were
Armenians, though there were some
Russians among them. Their artillery was compromised of some 40 field guns. The British troops in battle under Dunsterville numbered roughly 1,000. They were supplanted by a field artillery battery, machine gun section, three armoured cars, and also 2
airplanes. Opposing them were roughly 14,000 Ottoman troops with 500 cavalrymen and 40 pieces of artillery
.
Abortive offensive by Baku Army
Armenian defenders of Baku.
On
August 17th Duchachaiev took an offensive at
Diga. He planned for 600 Armenians under
Colonel Stepanov to attack to the north of Baku
. He would further be reinforced by some
Warwicks and
North Staffords, eventually taking
Novkhani. By doing this, they planned to close the gap to the sea, and control a strongly defensible line from one end of the
Apsheron Peninsula to the other. The attack failed without artillery support, as the “Inspector of Artillery” had not been given warning
.
The local counteroffensive failed to push the Army of Islam back
. The operation was not given artillery cover, as the “Inspector of Artillery” had not been warned. As a result of the failure, the remnants of the force retired to a line slightly north of Diga
.
Main battle
While Baku and it's environs was the site of clashes since June, and into mid-August, the term ''Battle of Baku'' refers to the operations of
August 26 -
September 14.
First Turkish assault
On
August 26, the Army of Islam launched their main attack against positions at
Volchi Vorota. Despite a shortage of artillery, British and Baku troops held the positions against the Army of Islam. Following the main assault, the Turks also attacked
Binagadi hill farther north, but also failed. After these attacks, reinforcements were sent to the
Balajari station, from where they held the heights to the north
. However, faced with increased artillery fire from Turks, they finally retired to the railway line.
On
August 28 and
29, the Turks shelled the city heavily, and attacked the
Stafford Hill position. 500 Turks in close order charged up the hill, but were repulsed with the help of artillery. However, the under-strength British troops were forced to retire to positions farther south at
Warwick Castle.
The oil derricks of Baku shelled during the battle.
Between August 29, and September 1, the Turks managed to capture the positions of Warwick Hill and Diga, several coalition units were overrun, and losses were heavy. By this point, allied troops were pushed back to a saucer-like position that made up the eights surrounding Baku
.
However, Ottoman losses were so heavy that
Mursal Pasha was not immediately able to continue his offensive. This gave the Baku Army invaluable time to reorganize
.
Dunsterville’s dilemma
Faced with an ever worsening situation, Dunsterville organized a meeting with the
Centrocaspian Dictators on
September 1. He said that he was not willing to risk more British lives and gave them a heads up for his withdrawal. However, the dictators protested stating that they would fight to the bitter end, and the British should leave only when troops of the Baku Army did
.
Dunsterville decided to stay until the situation became hopeless, and Bicherakhov had captured
Petrovsk, allowing him to send help to Baku. The reinforcement of 600 men from his force, including
Cossacks raised hope
.
Lull in the fighting
One of the British armored cars during the battle.
Between
September 1 and
13, the Turks did not attack. During this period, the Baku force prepared itself and send out airplane patrols constantly
. On
September 12, an
Arab officer from the
Turkish 10th division deserted, giving information suggesting the main assault would take place on the 14th
.
Defeat and evacuation
On the night of the 13/14, the Turks began their attacks. The Turks nearly overran the strategic position of
Wolf’s Gap, from where the whole battlefield could be seen. However, a counterattack stopped them. The fighting continued for the rest of the day, and the situation eventually became hopeless. By the Night of the 14th, the remnants of the
Baku Army and
Dunsterforce and evacuated the city for Anzali
.
Atrocities during the capture of the city
Main articles: September Days
A terrible panic in Baku ensued when the Turks began to enter the city. Armenians crowded the harbor in a frantic effort to escape the fate that they knew always accompanied a Turkish victory
[12]. Regular Ottoman troops were not allowed to enter the city for two days, so that the local irregulars – ''bashibozuks'' – would conduct looting and pillaging
12. The violence with which they turned on the Armenians knew no bounds
12.The man in charge of posts and telegraphs in Baku, one of those who negotiated the surrender of the city and vainly tried to prevent the worst excesses, noted:
Aftermath
The total British losses after the battle totaled about 200 men and officers killed, missing or wounded. Mursal Pasha admitted Ottoman losses to be at around 2,000
. The casualties among Baku's 80,000 person Armenian community vary from 9,000 to 10,000, which was roughly equal to the number of Azeris massacred by Armenians and Bolsheviks during the
March Days.
Altogehter as many as 50,000 Armenians were either killed or deported.
[ Commonwealth and Independence in Post-Soviet Eurasia, , Bruno, Coppieters, Routlege, , ]
It was the last major massacre of World War I.
[13]
No oil from Baku’s oilfields got beyond
Tbilisi before the
Turks and
Germans signed the armistice
. By
November 16,
Nuri and
Mursal Pasha were ejected from Baku and a British general sailed into the city, headed by one of the ships that had evacuated on the night of
September 14.
Gallery
References
1. The Diaries of General Lionel Dunsterville: 1911-1922
2. Yale, William (1968) ''Near East: A Modern History'' p. 247
3. Dadyan, Khatchatur(2006) ''Armenians and Baku'', p. 118
4. ''Документы об истории гражданской войны в С.С.С.Р.,'' Vol. 1, pp. 282–283.
5. "New Republics in the Caucasus", ''The New York Times Current History'', v. 11 no. 2 (March 1920), p. 492
6. Michael Smith. "Anatomy of Rumor: Murder Scandal, the Musavat Party and Narrative of the Russian Revolution in Baku, 1917-1920", ''Journal of Contemporary History'', Vol 36, No. 2, (Apr. 2001), p. 228
7. Michael Smith. "Azerbaijan and Russia: Society and State: Traumatic Loss and Azerbaijani National Memory"
8. Russian Azerbaijan, 1905-1920: The Shaping of National Identity in a Muslim Community, , Tadeusz, Swietochowski, Cambridge University Press, ,
9. Stalin: An Unknown Portrait, , Miklós, Kun, Central European University Press, ,
10. Довольно вредное ископаемое by Alexander Goryanin
11. World War I: Battle for Baku
12. ARMENIA: The Survuval of a Nation, , Christopher, Walker, St. Martin's Press, ,
13. Andreopoulos, George(1997) ''Genocide: Conceptual and Historical Dimensions'' University of
Pennsylvania Press, ISBN 0812216164 p. 236
External links
★
The Note Issues of Azerbaijan: Part I – The Baku Issues
★
The Diaries of General Lionel Dunsterville, 1918
★
With General Dunsterville in Persia and Transcaucasus
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