The Ottoman Third Army was originally established in the Balkans, and had its headquarters at Salonica. It formed the core of the military forces that supported the Young Turk Revolution of 1908, and many of its officers (including Enver Pasha and Mustafa Kemal Atatürk) later rose to fame and power in Turkey. During the First World War, it fought in the northern and eastern parts of the Ottoman Empire. It participated in the Battle of Sarikamish, where it suffered a crushing defeat.
Order of Battle, December 1914
Prior to Sarikamish, the Army consisted of 95,000 troops in the following units and commanders1:
- IX Corps - Achmet Fevzi Pasha
- 17th division
- 19th division
- 29th division
- X Corps - Hafiz Hakki Pasha
- 30th division
- 31st division
- XI Corps - Abdul Kerim
Following the battle of Sarikamish, it was reduced to some 20,000 men with loss of all guns and heavy equipment.1
References
- ^ a b Hinterhoff, Eugene (1984). The Campaign in Armenia. Marshall Cavendish Illustrated Encyclopedia of World War I, vol ii. New York: Marshall Cavendish Corporation, p.500. ISBN 0-86307-181-3.
|