Russians take Köprüköy

According to the British chronology of the war, on 6 November 1914 Russian troops took Köprüköy, a village on the upper Aras, roughly halfway between the border and the fortress of Erzurum. There was a stone bridge over the river there, carrying the main road from the Russian Caucasus into the interior of Anatolia. It was therefore an important crossing on the way to Erzurum.

A few days earlier General Georgy Bergmann had crossed the border and reached the village of Azap without much difficulty. Instead of digging in on the line he had gained, as the plan envisaged, he led his corps further west. According to studies, the Russians arrived before Köprüköy between 4 and 6 November, and according to some of them took the village itself on 7 November. The sources do not agree here: some of them, including Polish Wikipedia, state that the Turkish units held their positions and the Russians failed to break through the defence.

In any case the Russian gains were short-lived. The commander of the Ottoman Third Army, General Hasan İzzet Pasha, preferred to wait for the Russians in prepared positions. The war minister, Enver Pasha, however, ordered him to counter-attack. On 7 November XI Corps struck at Bergmann’s troops, which found themselves far from their bases, at the end of a long mountain supply road, in worsening weather.

Over the following days heavy fighting went on at Köprüköy on both banks of the Aras, in rain and snow. Soon the Ottoman IX Corps entered the battle, threatening the Russians with encirclement.