Persian Empire 1845

Chapter 666 Resuming the Caucasus Offensive

As May arrived, the snow in the Caucasus Mountains melted considerably, making the mountain roads muddy but passable for large armies. The harassment and counter-harassment that had persisted throughout the spring had brought both sides to their breaking point. Both the Russian Caucasian forces, intending to advance south, and the Iranian army, determined to keep the enemy at bay, knew that a decisive moment was approaching. The May offensive would no longer be sporadic skirmishes, but a decisive battle launched by both sides after accumulating strength, aimed at seizing the strategic initiative.

After a frustrating spring of passively dealing with harassment, Grand Prince Mikhail Nikolaevich, Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Caucasus Military District, resolved to launch an unprecedented summer offensive. His strategic objective was to break through Iran's main defenses in the Caucasus, seize key passes and transportation hubs, and advance directly towards the heart of Iran-Azerbaijan, forcing Iran to tie down more troops in the Caucasus and thus be unable to support the Ottoman front.

For this battle, the Russian military command increased the number of troops on the Caucasus front to an unprecedented 42, and divided them into three routes.

The Western Route Army marched south along the narrow plains of the Black Sea coast, capturing the two important Black Sea ports of Sukhumi and Batumi, and threatening the eastern heartland of the Ottoman Empire, attempting to achieve strategic coordination with the Russian army on the Ottoman front.

The central army marched straight for Tbilisi! This was the strategic core of the entire Caucasus theater. The main attack route followed the traditional military roads, focusing on breaking through natural barriers such as the Daryar Gorge and the Krest Pass to secure the gateway to Tbilisi. The commander here, of course, was Prince Rostovsky, eager for revenge.

The eastern army will advance south along the Caspian coast, first occupying the territories of the Chechens and Circassians, and then capturing Baku! Taking this oil city would have enormous economic and psychological value, and would also pose a threat to Iranian territory from the east.

On May 15, before the morning light had completely dispelled the morning mist that clung to the main mountain range of the Caucasus, the deafening roar of artillery fire shattered the silence of the Daryar Valley.

Under the personal supervision of Prince Mikhail Lobanov-Rostovsky, the central force of the Russian Caucasian Army launched its summer offensive. This favorite of the Tsar, determined to avenge the defeat, deployed most of his heavy artillery—more than two hundred howitzers and cannons of various types—along the relatively gentle slopes on the north side of the canyon, and bombarded the strategically important Iranian positions held at the southern end of the canyon for two hours with devastating force.

Shells rained down like hail, striking the field fortifications meticulously constructed by the Iranian army over months. Earthen bunkers were overturned, barbed wire was shattered, and exposed rocks were splintered into sharp fragments that flew everywhere. The entire southern entrance to the canyon was shrouded in thick smoke and dust.

"Hold your ground! Stay in the bunkers! Don't show your faces without orders!" Iranian garrison commander General Ali Khan Sadar shouted hoarsely into the telephone from his command post deep in the mountains. His 5th Corps bore the heavy responsibility of guarding this most convenient, yet most dangerous, passage to Tbilisi. He knew that the Russian army would inevitably commit its main forces here, and the outcome here would determine the fate of the entire Caucasus theater.

After the shelling, the first wave of Russian attack began. An entire division of infantry, like a gray tide, surged towards the Iranian positions along the bottom of the canyon and the slopes on both sides.

When Russian soldiers reached within 100 meters of the forward positions, General Sadar ordered a counterattack. The remaining Iranian soldiers seemed to emerge from the earth, peeking out from cratered fortifications, rock crevices, and ruins, constructing a wall of death with rifles, machine guns, and mortars. "For Iran! For the Shah!" Shouts mingled with gunfire and explosions. The Iranian defenders, holding the higher ground, had the advantage, their machine gun fire sweeping down swathes of Russian soldiers. But the Russians displayed tenacious fighting spirit; relying on their numerical superiority, they charged forward wave after wave, stepping over the corpses of their comrades. A fierce tug-of-war ensued on the front lines, grenades flying through the air, and hand-to-hand combat frequently erupting in the trenches.

On the first day, the Russian army launched five large-scale battalion-level assaults, all of which were repelled by the Iranian Fifth Army. The entrance to the canyon was littered with corpses, and the river water was stained a pale red. But Prince Rostovsky showed no mercy to his soldiers' lives; he knew that in this terrain, the only way to attack was to carve a path through blood and steel.

The shelling intensified the following day, with the Russians even deploying heavy mortars in an attempt to destroy the permanent firing positions built by the Iranian forces along the mountainside. The offensive waves grew increasingly fierce. Iranian casualties rose sharply, and some forward positions were lost, only to be recaptured through fierce nighttime counterattacks. The battle had entered its most brutal phase of attrition warfare.

General Sadar sent a telegram to the General Headquarters in Tbilisi requesting reinforcements: "...The Russian offensive is relentless, our casualties are heavy, and our ammunition consumption is enormous...but morale is high, and we are determined to fight to the last man...I implore Your Excellency Commander-in-Chief, it is time!"

Just as the fierce battle raged in the Daryar Gorge, late on the night of May 17, a special assault group of about 5 men, composed of Iran's most elite mountain troops and Ottoman support forces, began their extremely difficult and daring flanking maneuver under the cover of darkness.

Their objective was not to directly confront the Russian forces, but to bypass the main battlefield of the Daryar Gorge and undertake an epic forced march along the remote, cliff-lined flank of the Krest Pass.

This path could hardly be called a road; it was a treacherous passage known only to the local mountain people and smugglers. Soldiers had to climb near-vertical cliffs by hand, trudging along narrow, one-person-wide walkways with a sheer drop below. They discarded all unnecessary baggage, carrying only light weapons, ammunition, and a few days' worth of rations. Mules and light artillery were disassembled and carried by the soldiers themselves.

The cold, lack of oxygen, and the constant danger of falling off cliffs threatened everyone. But a strong sense of mission and a desire for victory sustained this team. They knew that every meter they advanced gave their comrades, who were struggling to hold on, a greater chance of success, and a greater chance of winning the entire battle.

After two days and two nights of relentless marching, at dawn on May 20th, this exhausted but determined assault group appeared like a divine army descending from the sky, suddenly appearing at the northern end of the Daryar Gorge, behind the main force of the Russian central army! They seized key high ground, cut off the connection between the Russian front-line troops and the logistics base, and began to construct blocking positions facing north.

(End of this chapter)