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| First Battle of İnönü | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of theGreco-Turkish War (1919–22) | |||||||
 Mustafa Kemal at the end of the First Battle of İnönü | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 Ankara Government |  Greece | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| İsmet Pasha | Anastasios Papoulas | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 6,000 soldiers[4] | 18,000 soldiers[4] | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 95 killed[5] 183 wounded[5] 211 prisoners[6] | 51 killed, 130 wounded[6] | ||||||
TheFirst Battle of İnönü (Turkish:Birinci İnönü Muharebesi) took place between 6 and 11 January 1921 nearİnönü inHüdavendigâr Vilayet (present-dayEskişehir Province,Turkey) during theGreco-Turkish War (1919–22), also known as the western front of the largerTurkish War of Independence. This was the first battle for theArmy of the Grand National Assembly that was newly builtstanding army (Düzenli ordu) in place ofirregular troops.
A Greek reconnaissance force under GeneralAnastasios Papoulas began to move from their base inBursa in the direction ofEskişehir in early January 1921. The battle began with a Greek assault on the positions of Miralay (Colonel)İsmet Pasha's troops near the railway station of İnönü on January 9, 1921 and the fighting continued until dark. On January 10, the Greek Islands division began moving along the Kovalca-Akpınar line, and the İzmir division was moving on Yeniköy-Teke-Hayriye direction and additional forces were moving on Söğüt-Gündüzbey line. AdditionallyÇerkes Ethem turned against the newcentral government inAnkara, refusing to join his forces with the regular army established under the command ofİsmet İnönü. The newly reconstituted Turkish army had to put down his rebellion while also fighting theGreeks.[7]
The better-equipped Greeks taking advantage of the fog pushed back the Turks around the railroad protected by the 11th Division and took the dominant hill called Metristepe where fighting continued till 2pm.[2]
FerikFevzi Çakmak, following the recommendation of the commander of the Western Front Miralay İsmet İnönü, gave the order to pull back to Beşkardeşdağı-Zemzemiye-Oklubalı line and moved the headquarters to Çukurhisar.
After capturing the Akpınar-Kovalca line, Greeks stopped the attack and dug in. Upon observing the Turkish positions being reinforced with the 61st Division, they realized that the Turks were determined to hold there and not fall back any further. Not feeling quite ready to withstand on the battlefield, the Greeks vacated the İnönü vicinity and pulled back on January 11. The Turks were unable to pursue the Greeks not only because of exhaustion and lack of supplies but also because of the need to suppressÇerkes Ethem as well as the Green Army.[7]
Politically, the battle was significant as the arguments within theTurkish National Movement were concluded in the favor of the institution of a centralized control of the Army of the Grand National Assembly. As a result of his performance at İnönü, Colonel İsmet was made a general. Also, the prestige gained in the aftermath of the battle helped the revolutionaries to announce theTurkish Constitution of 1921 on January 20, 1921. Internationally, the Turkish revolutionaries proved themselves as a military force. The prestige gained in the aftermath of the battle helped revolutionaries to initiate a new round of negotiations withSoviet Russia which ended with theTreaty of Moscow on March 16, 1921.
The second round of this small scale encounter, theSecond Battle of İnönü was to be replayed within a month in the same area, after the London Conference failed to reconcile the differences between the two sides.
