Abstract:

When the Turkish War of Independence began in 1919, no regular army was present capable of fighting against the Allied powers. The remaining units had also been reorganized under the weak corps organization. In Anatolia, the organization of the Kuva-yı Milliye [National Forces] had initially fought against the occupations, but the occupation of İzmir by the Greeks revealed that no permanent success was achievable through them, and thus the Western Front Command was established. Under this command, the regular Turkish army started being organized in Anatolia. This study will provide information on the divisions included in the establishment of the Group Commands of the Western Front and where these divisions were stationed along the front. In this way, one can better understand how the divisions that caused the Turkish army to triumph in the Battle of Sakarya, which switched Turks from being on the defensive to being on the offensive, had been assembled on the Western Front with great effort.

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