"Centenary project: Greco-Turkish War 1919-1922" Topic

With Konstantinos Travlos's kind permission, I am posting about his announcement of his next project. You may have been following his project of the last couple of years, developing scenarios and supporting material for all the major battles of the Balkan Wars of 1912-1913. As that set is now complete and ready for publication, he is about to embark on giving similar treatment to a little-known (to us anglophones) but very substantial conflict, the Greek-Turkish War of 1919-1922.

Konstantinos envisions games with the basic units being at one of two scales: Battalion and Regimental, which will determine scenario size and firepower ranges. There may be scenarios at operational level.

Together with Onur Buyuran, he will create a detailed OOB list, plus a bibliography section, plus a short update.

Possible Scenarios

Early War
-Battle of Han-Gediz, 14-15/24-28 October 1920(Introduction Game)

-1st Battle of Inonu (24-29 December 1920/6-11 January 1921)

-2nd Battle of Inonu/Battle of Avgin-Inonu-Kovalicha 14-19TH March 1921 (OC)27TH March-1st April 1921(NC)

-1st Battle of Afyon-Karahisar 13-15th March 1921 (OC)26th- 2th 8 March 1921(NC)

-1st Battle of Dumlupinar(Aslihanlar) 26-28 March 1921 (OC) 7-9April 1921 (NC)

Battles of Eskishehir-Kutahya-Afyon Karahisar Operations

-Battle of Chavush Chiftlik/Hill 1799 2-3July 1921 (OC)/15-16 July 1921 (NC)
-Battle of Eskishehir 8th July 1921(OC)/21 July 1921(NC)

Battle of Sangarius/Battle of Sakarya

-Battle of Tamburoglu 11-14th August 1921(OC)/23 August 1921 (NC) Battalion Scale:

-Battle of Sapanja 11th-16th August 1921(OC)

-Battle of Kale Gozu 13th-18th August 1921(OC)

-Battle of Chal Dag-Ardiz Dag 15th-20th August 1921 (OC)

-Battle of Karajakaya 22nd-23rd August1921 (OC)

-Battle of Yamak, 28 August 1921 (OC)
-Battle of Dua Tepe 28th-29th August 1921 (OC)

3rd Battle of Afyon Karahisar 17th-25th September 1921 (OC)/7th-9th October 1921 (NC)

Great Turkish Attack of August 1922
-4th Battle of Afyonkarahisar 13th-14th August 1922(OC)/26th-27th August 1922(NC)
-Battle of Hamurkoy-Ilbulak Dag, 16(OC)/29 (NC) August 1922/ 2nd Battle of Dulumpinar
-Battle of Aliveran/Alioren 17(OC)/30th(NC) August 1922

Konstantinos's goal is probably to have this out somewhere between 2022-2023.

Konstantinos's website already contains substantial resources:
link

You can follow the progress of this important project there, or via the Bloody Big BATTLES Yahoo group:
link

Chris

Bloody Big BATTLES!
bloodybigbattles.blogspot.com

As noted, there isn't a lot of good English language information on this was, so there is a great deal to be said for this project.

I don't know how Konstantinos feels about this, but in addition to the Greeks and Mustafa Kemal's Turks, there were British, French, Italian, and Imperial Ottoman troops armies operating in Asia Minor to varying degrees, which might form the basis of a "what if" scenario. Many wargamers would already have WWI Brits or French, and could put together such a game. If Konstantinos came across these orders of battle in the course of his research, it might be a fun thing to include.

Grelber

I read a few things on this rather obscure war, and find it quite fascinating, although it got rather ugly. The politics of the intervening powers was also confusing. If memory serves, the Turks, after the initial Greek attack, desperately needed weapons, so turned to the Bolsheviks, who were happy to provide what they could since they were also currently fighting the French and British on Russian soil during the RCW. Yet the French later supported the Turks and pulled out of Anatolia, in hopes the Turks would be a buffer against the spread of international communism.

Enemy of my enemy is my friend, although it all seemed rather circular.

That said, I'll definitely buy a book or supplement about it!

Hi Grelber, thanks for the suggestion. Konstantinos tells me he has the OOBs you're asking for, and if we are able to tack on the OOB to the scenario books they will be available, but no "what if" scenarios.

Tony, glad we've piqued your interest in buying the book. You've probably got 3 or 4 years to save up …

Chris