Greco-Turkish war 1919-1922

DTB · 15 July 2003, 02:14 AM

Hi all,

I saw that there are some tukish forumites so maybe they can help.

I'm looking for information on the aerial aspect for the greco-turkish war (1919-1922).

I did found an interesting web site giving a complete history of this little-known war... in turkish language, that I don't read.
( *http://www.tayyareci.com * )

A short résumé of the war (info collected from the book "Ionian Vision" :

1919 : Occupation of Smyrna (Ismir) and eastern Thrace by the Greeks. Turkey is divided between occupations zones among western powers : France in Cilicia, Italy in the South-west, and Istambul by England-France-Italy-USA. The official leader of Turkey is still the sultan in Istambul, but Mustapha Kemal controls Anatolia and forms a government in Ankara.

feb 1920 : The Kemalist defeat the french in Cilicia. Pro-turk party forms in France and ask for and agreement with the kemalists.

june 1920 : The greeks launch a general offensive and occupy all for NW turkey. To regular turkish troops fight them, but irregulars "Tchetedjis" who make sneak attacks and retreat out of greek occupation zone. To eradicate them, the greek high command lauch this offensive.

dec 1920 : Venizelos (greek pro-allied prime minister) looses elections and (pro-german) King Contantine comes back to power. Venizelist officers are fired from the army and replaced by royalist officers.

jan 1921 : the royalist greek high command launches a test attack against the turks in Inonü. The new turkish regular army resists (Ismet Pacha).

march 1921 : Great greek offensive, followed by massacres of turkish populations around Ismid and Marmara Sea. In july, the greek now occupy the Eski Sehir/ Afyon Karahissar line. But the massacres they committed made them loose the sympathy of the western powers and their weapons supply.

Aug 1921 : Sakarya Battle : the greeks try to occupy Ankara but Kemal resists. The Greeks withdraw in good order in the Eski-Sehir / Afyon-Karahissar line.

Aug 1922 : Turkish offensive, the greek army routs.

9 sept 1922 : The turkish army take Smyrna (Izmir) and commits massacres in the greek and armenian population.

About the aerial aspects of the war :

As I have understood, the turkish air force had a few remaining aircraft from the ottoman air force : 7 Albatros B III, 14 Albatros D III, 1 Albatros C I, 7 Albatros C II, 10 Halberstadt D V, 8 AEG C IV, 2 Nieuport 17, 5 Fokker D I, 7 Fokker D VII.

I suppose they performed a few aerial reccos on the front. The greek air force was not very numerous either, so I don't think we had any dogfights.

As I know, the greeks had these planes :

- Breguet 14, SPAD XIII, Nieuport 28 for the army.

- DH 9, Camel for the navy.

Later in the war, the turks improved their air force by 4 Pfaltz D III, 3 Albatros D Va, 1 DFW C VII, 5 Gotha WD 13, 2 Albatros C XV. Aircraft sold by smugglers I suppose.

The italians gave them (I suppose) 2 Fiat R2, 6 Saml B1 and *3 Nieuport 27 because they didn't like the greek occupation of the Smyrna district.

But the french gave them enought planes to make an efficient air force : 37 Breguet 14 and 21 SPAD XIII in the end of 1921 after the treaty signed between Franklin Bouillon and the Kemalists (20 oct 1921).

Any info, correction, additions would be welcome !

Regards,

DTB

Tomasz · 18 July 2003, 02:18 AM

DTB,

I wish I understood Turkish. Here is what I have found on Greeks:

OdeB

The Greek military aviation was traditionally split between the army (HAFC) equipped with the French aircraft and being trained by French and the navy (HNAS) using British a/c and being trained by ex RNAS.

At the start of the war in April 1919 the HAFC consisted of:

532 Mira at Alexandroupolis
533 Mira at Thessaloniki
534 Mira at Drama
an air detachment of 533 Mira in Athens
a flying training center in Sedes
a repair unit in Mikra

All of these units were equipped with the mixed inventory of Breguets, Dorands, Caudrons. It seems, that after the only Greek fighter unit (531 Mira Diokseos) had been disbanded in 1918, all Greek scout planes were distributed between the squadrons. At the time of the war in the Asia Minor the Spad VIIs, Nieuport XXIVbis and some Spad XIIIs were the main Greek army fighters. Totally HAFC had some 70 aircraft on its strength.

At the start of the war the HNAS had some 50 aircraft but apparently no active unit besides the flying training schools at Phaleron and Tatoi. The main HNAS fighters of the era were Camel 1F.1s.

1919: The Smyrna/Ismir operation
Initially very low aerial activities.
In June 533 Mira equipped with Bre.XIVs, S.VIIs and S.XIIIs landed in Smyrna and started recon, bombing and strafing missions.
In August HNAS established Smyrna Naval Air Squadron with 10 DH.9s and 15 Camels.
From the end of the year HAFC squadrons in Asia Minor would operate under Hellenic Army Air Service Directorate (HAASD). Simultaneously the squadrons were renamed and relocated:
- 532 Mira renamed 'A' Mira -> Drama/Thracia
- 533 Mira renamed 'B' Mira -> Kazamir/Smyrna beachhead
- 534 Mira renamed 'C' Mira -> Panormos/Northern front
There were no aerial engagements recorded during 1919

Early 1920: Thracia campaign
All the air operations were carried by 'A' Mira equipped by two Bre.XIVs, two AR.1s and a Nie.XXIVbis.
Ground support missions only - no aerial engagements.
In the final stage of the campaign 'A' Mira moved to Orestias.

Summer 1920: Panormos - Proussa offensive
The offensive was supported by 'C' Mira.
The first aerial engagements took place in late summer 1920. On 16/08/20 a Turkish Bre.XIV (rather a DFW or a Rumpler if the combat happened at all) was claimed to be forced to land by a Grek Spad (of 'C' Mira probably). Unfortunately I could not find any detail on the victor's name nor any confirmation on the Turkish side.

Winter 1920/1921
Greek 'C' Mira and Smyrna Naval Air Squadron performed several recon, bombing and strafing missions.

March 1921: Greek offensive
From the very beginning "C" Mira was bombing and strafing intensively enemy positions. The HNAS aircraft joined it soon.
As the offensive gave little success, Greeks decided to strengthen the expeditionary forces. Thus the 'D' Mira was formed on May 1st. The new Mira comprised only of 4 Bre.XIVs and 2 AR.2s, but soon 3 Bre.XIVs, 3 Spads and a Caudron G.3 joined.
The 'D' Mira joined the 'B' Mira in Usak in June.
In June both HAFC and HNAS performed a series of bombing and strafing missions. E.g on June 9th naval DH.9s bombed the railroad station and the airfield in Kutahya.
On 21/06/21 a Greek Spad VII pilot claimed a Turkish fighter which had scrambled to intercept a Greek raid. On the other hand a Turkish scout forced a Greek to land near Eski-Sehir.
The June 27th offensive brought high Greek aerial activity with Afyon Karahisar as a prominent bombing target.
During the assault on Ankara Greek aviation performed a series of bombing missions. In early August Greek bombers helped the Army to avoid an encirclement by the Turkish counter strike. For example on August 8th DH.9s were bombing Turkish column and prevented its further advance.

September 1922: Turkish counter-offensive
In March 1922 the Greek OdB was as follows:

'A' Mira in Orestrias
'B' Mira in Eski-Sehir sector
'C' Mira in Eski-Sehir sector
'D' Mira in Usak sector
a HNAS base in Phaleron
a HNAS flight in Usak
a HNAS flight in Afyon

On 12/07/22 Sgt Christoforos Stavropoulos downed a Turkish fighter in a fierce dogfight. The Turkish pilot was killed and buried by Greeks with honors.
Just after the start of the Turkish offensive in August, the new 'E' Mira was created, but I couldn't find any details on its equipment or location.
The last days of the war saw panic retreat of the Greek Army. The air reconnaissance helped Greeks to avoid encirclement and enabled withdrawal of all major land units. The last Greek planes were evacuated *from Turkey on 26/08/22.

As I have written this info is based exclusively on Greek sources. I hope the Turkish version of the story will be translated into English some day.

Cheers,

Tomasz