Battle of Tellidede was a clash around Aydın,

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...

during the Greco-Turkish War (1919–1922). The Greek army planning to throw back the Turkish irregular forces around Aydın, started an offensive at the Tellidede ridges.

Battle

Greek machine gun team during the Greco-Turkish War

On 25 June, the Greek troops attacked the Turkish forces, who were located at the Ovaemir- Yeniköy-

Kadıköy Kadıköy (), known in classical antiquity and during the Roman and Byzantine eras as Chalcedon ( gr, Χαλκηδών), is a large, populous, and cosmopolitan district in the Asian side of Istanbul, Turkey, on the northern shore of the Sea o ...

line. The right flank, defended by the Karadurmuş

platoon A platoon is a military unit typically composed of two or more squads, sections, or patrols. Platoon organization varies depending on the country and the branch, but a platoon can be composed of 50 people, although specific platoons may rang ...

, faced heavy

machine gun A machine gun is a fully automatic, rifled autoloading firearm designed for sustained direct fire with rifle cartridges. Other automatic firearms such as automatic shotguns and automatic rifles (including assault rifles and battle rifles) ar ...

fire. The left flank was defended by volunteers from Çakırbeyli, Beydere and Selami Bey's

Koçarlı Koçarlı is a town and a district of Aydın Province, in the Aegean region of Turkey, from the city of Aydın. Geography Koçarlı today is a small town of 6,534 people and although there is an institute of Adnan Menderes University and thus ...

. The center area was defended by the Çineli Tahir

. The defending forces numbered 200 men. They faced a Greek

battalion A battalion is a military unit, typically consisting of 300 to 1,200 soldiers commanded by a lieutenant colonel, and subdivided into a number of companies (usually each commanded by a major or a captain). In some countries, battalions a ...

of 800 men supported by heavy

s. Soon the Turks started to run out of ammunition. Furthermore, the terrain was impractical for defense against a much larger force. Facing these problems they decided to abandon the area and retreated southern to the

Büyük Menderes River The Büyük Menderes River (historically the Maeander or Meander, from Ancient Greek: Μαίανδρος, ''Maíandros''; tr, Büyük Menderes Irmağı), is a river in southwestern Turkey. It rises in west central Turkey near Dinar before fl ...

Result

The Greeks had suffered over 30 killed and wounded during their offensive, while the Turks had sustained 6 killed and a few wounded during their retreat. After the battle, the Greek troops burnt down Ovaemir, Yeniköy and Kadıköy. Most of the residents of these settlements had fled earlier, only the elderly and disabled had stayed there. They were killed by the Greek soldiers.Ajun Kurter: ''Türk Hava Kuvvetleri tarihi'', Hava Kuvvetleri Komutanlığı, 2009
page 54
The headpieces, covered in the blood, of the killed Turks were stuck on the top of the rifle bayonets and presented to the Turkish residents of Aydın.

References

Sources

* Oğuz Gülcan
''BATI ANADOLU’DA KUVAYI MİLLİYENİN OLUŞUMU (1919–1920)''
Ankara Üniversitesi Türk İnkılap Tarihi Enstitüsü, 2007, page 259-260 (Ankara University Open Archive System). {{coord missing, Turkey Tellidede History of Aydın Province 1919 in the Ottoman Empire 1919 in Greece Tellidede Tellidede Tellidede June 1919 events Battles in 1919