Units and commanders present at the Battle of Dumlupınar
On August 1922 during the
Battle of Dumlupınar, the opposing armies were deployed as follows:
Greek order of battle
In summer 1922, the Greek
Army of Asia Minor (
Greek: Στρατιά Μικράς Ασίας) held a front of 713 km, extending from
Cius in the
Sea of Marmara south-east to a bulge around
Eskişehir, thence south to
Afyonkarahisar, where it turned west and south over the Akar Dağ Mountain and then followed the right bank of the
Büyük Menderes River to the
Aegean Sea. The line had been established following the retreat of autumn 1921, after the
Battle of Sakarya.[1] The Army of Asia Minor had its headquarters in
Smyrna (Izmir) and was commanded by Lieutenant General
Georgios Hatzianestis, with Major General
Georgios Valettas as his chief of staff. It comprised a force of 220,000 men, of whom 140,000 were situated at the front but only 80,000 were counted as front-line combatants. The Army's equipment comprised 264 field guns, 980 machine guns and 2,592 sub-machine guns, as well as 55 aircraft.[1]
The northern sector of the front, from the Marmara Sea to around Eskişehir, was covered by the
III Corps, and the southern sector, a wide bulge around Afyonkarahisar, by the
I Corps with
II Corps as its immediate reserve. The remaining southern sector of the front along the Menderes was lightly held by rear-echelon units under the Smyrna Superior General Military Command (Ανώτερη Γενική Στρατιωτική Διοίκηση Σμύρνης).[2] The Greek combat units were structured as follows, from north to south:[3]
III Corps, headquarters at Eskişehir, under Major General
Petros Soumilas, with Colonel N. Spyropoulos as chief of staff
11th Infantry Division under Major General
Nikolaos Kladas, covering a sector of 60 km from the Sea of Marmara up to
Bilecik. The Bilecik sector, linking the 11th with the 3rd Division, was held by the 16th Infantry Regiment detached from the 11th Division
1st Infantry Division under Major General
Athanasios Frangou, reinforced with the 49th Infantry Regiment, covering the Akar Dağ sector (50 km) to the south-west of Afyonkarahisar.
The "Plastiras Detachment" under Colonel
Nikolaos Plastiras, comprising Plastiras' own
5/42 Evzone Regiment and the 13th Mountain Artillery Squadron, both detached from the 13th Division, as the Corps reserve
Due to lack of forces, the 1st Division left 10-kilometre sector at the Çay Hisar ravine was left uncovered, and a further 6-kilometre gap existed between the lines of the 1st and 4th Divisions.[4]
II Corps, headquarters at Kazlı Göl Hamam to the north-west of Afyonkarahisar, under Major General
Kimon Digenis, with Colonel I. Vasilakopoulos as chief of staff
9th Infantry Division under Colonel
Panagiotis Gardikas, covering the Sarice Dağ gap (32 km) with two battalions, while the rest were kept as a reserve at Duger
13th Infantry Division under Colonel
Miltiadis Kaibalis, covering the Demirler sector (10 km) with one regiment, with the 5/42 Evzone and an artillery squadron detached to I Corps, and with the other regiment as reserve at Ihsaniye
Kütahya Military Command, with four battalions, covering the lines of communication in the rear area
2nd Infantry Division under Colonel
Stylianos Gonatas, reinforced with five battalions, covered a line of 170 km west of its base,
Uşak, on the southern flank of I Corps, along with the
Cavalry Division under Major General
Andreas Kallinskis-Roïdis, which was under direct Army Command control
Celal Erikan, Komutan Atatürk, Cilt I-II, Üçüncü Basım, Türkiye İş Bankası Kültür Yayınları, İstanbul, 2001,
ISBN975-458-288-2, pp. 639–641. (in Turkish)
Despotopoulos, Alexandros (1978). "Η Μικρασιατική Καταστροφή" [The Asia Minor Catastrophe]. Ιστορία του Ελληνικού Έθνους, Τόμος ΙΕ′: Νεώτερος ελληνισμός από το 1913 ως το 1941 [History of the Greek Nation, Volume XV: Modern Hellenism from 1913 to 1941] (in Greek). Ekdotiki Athinon A.E. pp. 200–233.
External links
Komutanlar, Kocatepe Büyük Taarruz Uygulama ve Araştırma Merkezi (in Turkish)