First Battle of İnönü

The First Battle of İnönü was the first battle of the in the Greco-Turkish War (1919-1922), part of Turkish War of Independence. The battle was fought from 9 to 11 January 1921, near Eskişehir in Anatolia.

Battle

A Greek reconnaissance force under Papoulas began to move from their base in Bursa in the direction of Eskişehir in early January, 1921. The battle began with a Greek assault on the positions of İsmet's troops near the railway station of İnönü on January 9, 1921 and fighting continued until dark. On January 10, Greek Islands division began moving along the Kovalca-Akpınar line, and İzmir division was moving on Yeniköy-Teke-Hayriye direction and additional forces were moving on Söğüt-Gündüzbey line.

The better-equipped Greeks taking advantage of the fog pushed back the Turks around the railroad protected by the 11. division and took the dominant hill called Metristepe where fighting continued till 2pm.^[2]

Fevzi Paşa, following the recommendation of commander of the Western Front İsmet Pasha, gave the order to pull back to Beşkardeşdağı-Zemzemiye-Oklubalı line and moved the headquarters to Çukurhisar.

After capturing the Akpınar-Kovalca line, Greeks stopped the attack and dug in. Upon observing the Turkish positions being reinforced with 61. division, they realized that Turks were determined to hold there and not fall back any further. Not feeling quite ready for a major confrontation with a large force, Greeks vacated the İnönü vicinity and pulled back on January 11.

Results

Politically, the battle was significant as the arguments among the Turkish revolutionaries were concluded in the favor of the institution of a centralized control of the Turkish Army. As a result of his performance at İnönü, Colonel İsmet was made a general. Also, the prestige gained in the aftermath of the battle helped the revolutionaries to announce the first Teşkilat-ı Esasıye on January 20, 1921. Internationally, the Turkish revolutionaries proved themselves as a military force. The prestige gained in the aftermath of the battle helped revolutionaries to initiate a new round of negotiations with the Russians which ended with the Treaty of Moscow on March 16, 1921.

The second round of this small scale encounter, Second Battle of İnönü was to be replayed within a month in the same area, after the London Conference failed to reconcile the differences between the two sides.

References