Little Great War: Kavkaz Campaign Epilogue

The Turcowaz in their trenches - and the Izumrud-Zeleniya 
buildup on the west bank of the Tekhuri River. The town is 
Gakhomela.

If the third Battle of Zugdidi might be said to have formed the closing chapter of the Kavkaz Campaign narrative (see 3rd Zugdidi), there was yet an epilogue. For some considerable time military operations underwent a pause. Victorious, the Izumrud-Zeleniyan Army was nevertheless badly in need of rest and replenishment. So, about the recaptured town they remained, with enough troops sent back down the road to the Tekhuri River front at Gakhomela to keep the Ameer's column in check.

For his part, Abdul Abulbul Ameer maintained his position on the east bank of the Tekhuri River in the hope and expectation that, reorganising his forces about Poti, or perhaps further south along the Karadeniz coast road, Duya Ed Din Pasha would soon again advance. The two could then between crush the infidel at Zugdidi.

It transpired that the moral shock meted out to Duya Ed Din's column had finished that pincer for good. Nothing more could be got from them, unless they might be persuaded to make a stand near Trebizond itself. The Ameer might have retired in turn, but, receiving no instructions, and his obdurate disposition disinclining him against any retrograde move, he chose to remain behind his entrenchments before Gakhomela. It said something for his ruthless fortitude that he not only kept his wild irregulars in hand, but managed to consolidate and reorganise his army for whatever might eventuate.

There he remained several weeks, well into August, withal, as an uneasy lull fell over the contested region. By then, however, he began to observe a considerable buildup of troops to his front, infantry and guns especially, on the far side of the river. Confident in his defensive arrangements, he and his column awaited what the Czar's forces might throw at him.

The Czar's forces heaped up around Gakhomela
on the west bank of the Tehkuri River

The Army of Izumrud-Zeleniya comprised:

Army HQ: General-Major N. P. Ignatiev = 6 Strength points (SP)
1st (Grenadier) Division - HQ + 1st through 4th Regiments = 2 + 4x4 = 18SP
2nd (Rifle) Division - HQ + 5th through 8th Regiments = 18SP
3rd (Rifle) Division - HQ + 9th through 12th Regiments = 18SP
2nd Light Cavalry Division - 5th through 8th Light Horse (Cossacks) 2+4x3 = 14SP
1st Field Artillery Regiment - I and II (Field) Battalions = 2x2 = 4SP
Naval Artillery Detachment -
     V (Naval) Artillery Battalion = 2SP
     VI (Naval) Machinegun Battalion (Nordenfelds) = 2SP
Transport columns were kept well to the rear, so their SPs are not included.

Totals:
20 units, activate DR=1: 8 units; DR=2: 9 units; DR=3,4: 10 units; DR=5: 11 units; DR=6: 12 units
SP = 82. Exhausted at -27SP ; rout at -41SP 
    

East of the river, the Army of Abdul Abulbul Ameer
dug in and ready for a fight

Turcowaz: 
Army Command, Staff and HQ: Abdul Abulbul Ameer (Average) 6SP

4th Division: HQ (2SP), 37th, 38th, 40th Regiment @ 4SP  = 14SP

5th Division: HQ (2SP), 41st, 43rd, 44th Regiment @ 4SP  = 14SP

6th Division: HQ (2SP), 46th, 47th, 48th Regiment @ 4SP = 14SP

X Machinegun Battalion = 2SP 

2nd Cavalry Brigade: 21st, 22nd, 23rd Cavalry @ 2SP = 6SP

V, VI/ 3rd Mountain Artillery @ 2SP (average) = 4SP
XIII Medium Artillery = 2SP

101st, 102nd Medium Transport Battalion held off table to the rear

113th, 114th Pack Transport Battalion held off table to the rear

Totals:
16 units, activate DR=1: 6 units; DR=2: 7 units; DR=3,4: 8 units; DR=5: 9 units; DR=6: 10 units
SP = 62: Exhausted at -21; Routed at -31.

The battlefield of the Tekhuri River

Looking over the battlefield SW towards Gakhomela

Dawn breaks, with the Czar's 3rd Division
ready to go 'over the top'.

Effective artillery preparation batters the first line 
the Turcowaz 4th Division. They lose several of their 
precious Gardner guns as well.

Dashing across no man's land, the lead units of 3rd Division,
9th and 12th Regiments, carry the first line of enemy trenches
 and drive the surviving defenders back upon their supports.

9th Regiment has taken heavy casualties in storming the 
Turcowaz trench line.

Under a dark cloud, 1st and 2nd Czarist Divisions
are barely half way across no man's land...

...but 3rd Division has set their sights
upon the Turcowaz second line.

Zeleniyan 2nd Division assaults the enemy in the woods 
and beside the overgrown mere, 7th Regiment seizes 
the abandoned works that housed the enemy machine guns.

Fierce fighting on 3rd Division's front.
Part of the Turcowaz second line has been abandoned. 
10th Regiment takes over from the exhausted 9th,
12th Infantry assaults the farmhouse position.

Irregular light horse counter-attacks 7th Regiment,
but elsewhere, 5th Division is holding its line.

1st Division, with support from 2nd Cavalry 
Division, assaults the 6th Division line

37th Infantry repels 12th Regiment's attack;
38th stalls 10th Regiment, though both equally depleted.
Meanwhile 11th Regiment is diverted to help the 7th. 

Defeating the counterattacks by elements of enemy 4th and 
5th Divisions, 3rd Division grinds on, its heavy 
equipment having been brought forward in support. 

Fierce fighting in the woods, both sides taking fearful losses.

The leading elements of 1st Division overrun the 
6th Division trench line, the guns first and then rolling up the 
infantry. The remnants fall back into the woods behind the line. 
On the left flank, 47th Infantry looks isolated and alone!

General view of the battlefield. Turcowaz lines driven in on 
both flanks, but, however depleted, 5th Division is still holding ... just!

Farmyard carried, elements of 3rd Division
gather for a final assault on the Turcowaz third line.
Meanwhile 2nd Division has finally evicted the 
enemy 5th out of the woods.

At last, 6th Division abandons its last forward position,
beginning a retreat by the whole army.

Such was an undoubted victory for the army of Izumrud-Zeleniya: a successful, if costly, storm of the entire Turcowaz line. As the army streamed off to the south-east. Abdul Abulbul Ameer rounded upon his commander of artillery. Well he might, for that arm has performed abysmally all morning. Losses in dead and wounded were about even, but several hundred more of Turcowaz soldiers fetched up, for a goodish while, as prisoners of war.

For the next few years an uneasy 'peace' - more like a conflict in suspended animation - settled over the region. The Turcowaz army withdrew to the hills and mountains east of Trebizond and in the region of Kars. The Army of the Czar settled into the garrison duty of an Army in Occupation around Zugdidi and Kutaisi.

But all through the rest of the decade and well into the next, tensions rose as the Izumrud-Zeleniyan Navy obtained enough powerful units of its own to challenge Turcowaz naval supremacy over the Karadeniz - the Chyonoye Morye. At that, the Czar sought a secure passage through the Ionople Strait into the Mesogesean Sea - however such an arrangement might be arrived at. If a deal could not be negotiated, then one might have to be coerced. The wrangling grew the more heated as the years passed. 

Then, in 1884, matters came rapidly to a head...

To be continued...