The Malgaç Raid, was a raid conducted by

Yörük Ali Efe Yörük Ali Efe (1895 – 23 September 1951) was a Turkish guerilla leader in the Ottoman Empire, and an officer in the Turkish Army during the Turkish War of Independence. He was an important leader in Kuva-yi Milliye of the Aegean Region. Aft ...

and his men on 16 June 1919. The target of the raid was the Malgaç railway bridge, which was used by the Greeks to transport military equipment to

Nazilli Nazilli is the largest town in Aydın Province in the Aegean region of western Turkey, east of the city of Aydın, on the road to Denizli. Etymology Nazilli is a Turkish name that has somehow evolved from the former (also Turkish) name of P ...

and beyond. It was one of the first organized civil resistance attacks against the invading Greek forces in western

Anatolia Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The ...

Prelude

The bridge was part of the Izmir-Aydın railway, which was the first railway built in the Ottoman Empire. The Malgaç bridge was located between Sultanhisar and Atça, built above the Malgaç stream. Yoruk Ali Efe

Raid

The bridge was guarded by 20 heavily armed Greek soldiers, supported with machine guns. In the night of 15–16 June, the Turkish people, Turks advanced from Donduran, Yenipazar, Donduran and crossed the Büyük Menderes River with rafts at 02:00 am. During the crossing they were divided into two groups, each group contained 30 men. When they finally reached the Malgaç bridge, they surrounded it by advancing in the cornfields. Simultaneously, some of the men climbed on the telephone poles and cut off the phone lines to prevent the calling of Greek people, Greek reinforcements. They attacked the bridge from three sides, surprising the Greek guards and killing all of them. The bridge was destroyed by placing dynamite at the bridge piers. Woken up by the explosion and loud gunfire, Greek soldiers from the nearby headquarter tried to reach for help but they were hold off. After inflicting some casualties on the reinforcements, the Turkish forces retreated. The attack lasted several hours and the Greek troops had suffered over 20 killed and the Turks had only one wounded.

Result

The Turks had captured some weapons and ammunition. As a result of the destruction of the bridge and the railway, the invading Greek forces could not use the railway to transport equipment on the Aydın-

route for a considerable time.

References

Sources

YORUK ALI EFE AND MALGAC SURPRISE ATTACK
Sultanhisar Municipality
''Çine Kuvayı Milliye Müzesi'', Yaşar Aksoy, 06.07.2008
(Article about the Malgaç Raid)
Malgaç Baskını'nın 93. Yıldönümü (93rd anniversary of the Malgaç Raid)
haberler.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Malgac Raid Battles of the Greco-Turkish War (1919–1922) History of Aydın Province Aidin Vilayet 1919 in the Ottoman Empire 1919 in Greece Conflicts in 1919 Kuva-yi Milliye June 1919 events Battles in 1919