The Great Offensive () was the largest and final military operation of the

Turkish War of Independence , strength1 = May 1919: 35,000November 1920: 86,000Turkish General Staff, ''Türk İstiklal Harbinde Batı Cephesi'', Edition II, Part 2, Ankara 1999, p. 225August 1922: 271,000Celâl Erikan, Rıdvan Akın: ''Kurtuluş Savaşı tarih ...

, fought between the

Turkish Armed Forces The Turkish Armed Forces (TAF; , TSK) are the armed forces, military forces of the Turkey, Republic of Turkey. The TAF consist of the Turkish Army, Land Forces, the Turkish Navy, Naval Forces and the Turkish Air Force, Air Forces. The Chief of ...

loyal to the government of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, and the

Kingdom of Greece The Kingdom of Greece (, Romanization, romanized: ''Vasíleion tis Elládos'', pronounced ) was the Greece, Greek Nation state, nation-state established in 1832 and was the successor state to the First Hellenic Republic. It was internationally ...

, ending the Greco-Turkish War. The offensive began on 26 August 1922 with the Battle of Dumlupınar. The Turks amassed around 98,000 men, the largest number since the beginning of the war, to begin the offensive against the Greek army of approximately 130,000 men.International Committee of Historical Sciences, 1980
page 227
From 31 August to 9 September, the front moved a distance of as the Greek troops retreated. The Turkish army lacked motorized vehicles; its forces consisted of infantry and cavalry units, and logistical support was provided by a supply system based on ox carts. The Turkish troops reached the sea on 9 September with the capture of İzmir. The operation ended on 18 September 1922 with the capture of

Erdek Erdek is a municipality and district of Balıkesir Province, Turkey. Its area is 307 km2, and its population is 31,902 (2022). Located on the Kapıdağ Peninsula, on the north coast of the Gulf of Erdek at the south of the Sea of Marmara, ...

and

Biga Biga may refer to: Places * Biga, Çanakkale, a town and district of Çanakkale Province in Turkey * Sanjak of Biga, an Ottoman province * Biga Çayı, a river in Çanakkale Province * Biga Peninsula, a peninsula in Turkey, in the northwest part ...

. The staggering defeat caused great dissent within the Greek army and a general loss of morale, which led to unwillingness to continue fighting. On top of this, numerous Greek divisions had been encircled and destroyed as effective fighting units, which meant that the Greek army had lost its offensive capabilities and was unable to organize a controlled retreat, leading to numerous Greek POWs.

Advance

The offensive started with the Battle of Dumlupınar, where the Turkish army defeated the Greek army within four days, paving the way for a rapid offensive. After

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk Mustafa Kemal Atatürk ( 1881 – 10 November 1938) was a Turkish field marshal and revolutionary statesman who was the founding father of the Republic of Turkey, serving as its first President of Turkey, president from 1923 until Death an ...

's order issued in the Forces of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, the main part of the Turkish Army began moving toward

İzmir İzmir is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, third most populous city in Turkey, after Istanbul and Ankara. It is on the Aegean Sea, Aegean coast of Anatolia, and is the capital of İzmir Province. In 2024, the city of İzmir had ...

and a secondary force began moving from

Eskişehir Eskişehir ( , ; from 'old' and 'city') is a city in northwestern Turkey and the capital of the Eskişehir Province. The urban population of the city is 821 315 (Odunpazari + Tebebasi), with a metropolitan population of 921 630. The city is l ...

toward

Bursa Bursa () is a city in northwestern Turkey and the administrative center of Bursa Province. The fourth-most populous city in Turkey and second-most populous in the Marmara Region, Bursa is one of the industrial centers of the country. Most of ...

.International Committee of Historical Sciences. Commission of comparative military history, ''Revue internationale d'histoire militaire (Editions 46–48)'', University of Michigan, 1980
page 227
The commander-in-chief of the Greek forces in Asia Minor, Nikolaos Trikoupis, surrendered on 29 August. On 7 September,

Aydın Aydın ( ''EYE-din''; ; formerly named ''Güzelhisar; Greek: Τράλλεις)'' is a city in and the seat of Aydın Province in Turkey's Aegean Region. The city is located at the heart of the lower valley of Büyük Menderes River (ancient ...

, Germencik and Kuşadası fell under Turkish control. On 16 September, the last Greek troops left

Çeşme Çeşme, officially the Çeşme Municipality, is a municipality and Districts of Turkey, district of İzmir Province, Turkey. Its area is 285 km2, and its population is 48,924 (2022). It sits at Turkey's westernmost end, on a promontory on t ...

, and two days later the Greek III Corps left

. The British Chief of Staff expressed his admiration for the Turkish military operation.Elisabeth Özdalga
''The Last Dragoman: The Swedish Orientalist Johannes Kolmodin as Scholar, Activist and Diplomat''
Swedish Research Institute in Istanbul, 2006, , page 62.

Gallery

File:Turkish cavalry during mopping‐up operation 1922.jpg, alt=Cavalry galloping, Turkish cavalry during a mopping-up operation File:Turkish infantry in trench.jpg, alt=Soldiers in a trench, with one looking in a different direction, Turkish infantry in a trench File:Turkish V Cavalry Corps.jpg, alt=Large group photo, with a dog in front, Fahrettin Altay and V Cavalry Corps officers File:Greek soldiers retreat, 1922.jpeg, alt=Soldiers marching down a road, Greek soldiers retreating File:Turkish village burned down.jpg, alt=Burning buildings, with residents watching, A Turkish village burnt by retreating Greek troops File:Turgutlu inspection of the burned town.JPG, Inspection of the burned town of Turgutlu by a group of dignitaries and journalists File:Greek POW officers 1922.jpg, alt=Large group photo of men in uniform, Greek POW officers in

Ankara Ankara is the capital city of Turkey and List of national capitals by area, the largest capital by area in the world. Located in the Central Anatolia Region, central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5,290,822 in its urban center ( ...

File:Atatürk in Kocatepe before the start of the Great Offensive, August 30, 1922.jpg, Mustafa Kemal Pasha at Kocatepe hill,

Afyonkarahisar Afyonkarahisar (, 'poppy, opium', ''kara'' 'black', ''hisar'' 'fortress') is a major city in western Turkey. It is the administrative centre of Afyonkarahisar Province and Afyonkarahisar District. Its population is 251,799 (2021). Afyon is in the ...

References

Footnotes

Bibliography

* Kemal Niş, Reşat Söker, ''Türk İstiklâl Harbi, Batı Cephesi, Büyük Taarruz’da Takip Harekâtı (31 Ağustos – 18 Eylül 1922)'', Cilt 2, Kısım. 6, 3. Kitap, Genkurmay Başkanlığı Basımevi, Ankara, 1969. * İsmet Görgülü, ''Büyük Taarruz: 70 nci Yıl Armağanı'', Genelkurmay Başkanlığı Basımevi, Ankara, 1992. * Celal Erikan, ''Komutan Atatürk'', Cilt I-II, Üçüncü Basım, Türkiye İş Bankası Kültür Yayınları, İstanbul, 2001, .

External links

"9 Eylül 1922 İzmir'in Kurtuluşu"
("9 September 1922 Rebelation of İzmir"), ''Tarihten Kesitler'', General Staff of the Republic of Turkey.
''İzmir Marşı (Izmir March)''
(

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) in

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