June to August 1922
The year of preparation
For eleven months after the Battle of Sakarya the two armies face each other on a line from the Sea of Marmara past Eskişehir and Afyon. Ankara buys arms from Soviet Russia, Italy and France, moves divisions from the eastern and southern fronts, and trains the army. The plan, kept secret from almost everyone, is to strike the Greek southern wing at Afyon from the south and cut it off from İzmir and from the Greek corps at Eskişehir. In August Mustafa Kemal leaves Ankara in secret, letting it be known that he is hosting a tea party, and goes to the front headquarters at Akşehir.
Generals and officers waiting for Mustafa Kemal at Akşehir station before the Great Offensive, August 1922Wikimedia Commons, NA, Public domain (Akshehir Station before the Great Offensive.jpg)
Turkish artillerymen before the Great Offensive, 1922Wikimedia Commons, NA, Public domain (Turkish artillerymen before the Great Offensive.jpg)
Exercise of the First Army at Ilgın, 1 April 1922Wikimedia Commons, NA, Public domain (Military exercise at Ilgın 1 April 1922.jpg)
Sources
- Andrew Mango, Atatürk (1999).
- Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, Nutuk (1927).
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