Day Five (26 December 1914)

11th Corps:

The 11th Corps still could not tie down the Russian Forces at the front. The units at this front were continuously withdrawing.

Sketch: 26 December 1914

9'uncu Kolordu:

The 29th Division had advanced up to Karga Hill in the North of upper Sarikamish. The 17th Division, on the other hand, had reached Kartal Hill. These two hills were indeed red in color due to the blood shed. The Russians were sending new soldiers to the hills when the Turks were just about to capture them. The Turks were clearing the hills at the cost of high casualties and the Russians were filling the hills with soldiers at the cost of high casualties as well. The number of soldiers in the battalions decreased down to 100 – 150.

Russians were about to panic and ready to leave Sarikamish when they saw Turkish soldiers at the opposite ridges.

Sketch: 26 December 1914

Painting: Turkish 9th Corps assault to Sarikamish
Cihangir Aksit, water color painting

10th Corps:

The 32nd Division of the 10th Corps, coming from the other wing, arrived at Bardiz after a relatively easy march.

The situation in the 30th and 31st Divisions, on the other hand, was terrible. The snow on the ground with a depth of 1.5 meters was making it difficult for the soldiers to progress. There wasn’t any logistic support any more. It was no longer possible to help anyone lying on the ground. Every soldier had to care for himself. Units were being sent to forests to graze. Soldiers were scrambling for the stuff of the other soldiers who fell on the ground. The officers were running in all directions as if they wanted to commit a suicide.

Painting: Turkish loses...

Soldiers, including their commanders, were all suffering from lice as well as ticks. High fever and exhaustion began to spread among the soldiers. It was typhus.

Soldiers preferred going into a freezing sleep, the most pleasant kind of death. It was a kind of death, a white and bloodless death, which never let the soul leave the body, making both of them as rigid as a stone together.

It took 22 hours to cover a distance of 25 km., which was the distance to Beyköy. Soldiers arriving at this village were crawling. But Hafiz Hakki Pasha gave an unbelievable order and said; ‘no rest. Go on’. Enver Pasha didn’t know that the 10th Corps had such a big trouble.

In fact, new Russian Units were coming to Sarikamish during that time. In short, the defense was getting stronger.