Today in History – 20 August

Preparing for the Great Offensive

A news piece dated August 20, 1922 in the Hâkimiyeti Milliye newspaper of Ankara read as follows:

President of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey and Commander in Chief Gazi Mustafa Kemal Pasha will organize a banquet for the diplomatic corps in our city at his mansion in Çankaya on Monday, August 21st at 4:00 PM. All ambassadors and political figures will be present at the banquet. Invitations have been sent out yesterday to concerned parties.

The news was nothing but a big ruse. Mustafa Kemal Pasha had secretly traveled from Ankara to Konya by car on the night of August 17th and had moved on to Akşehir on August 19th to visit the headquarters of the Western Front. Following the deliberations, Mustafa Kemal explained to Western Front Commander İsmet Pasha, First Army Commander Nureddin ibrahim Pasha (Konyar) and Second Army Commander Yakup şevki Pasha (Suba??) the plan of attack on the map and gave orders for attack on August 26th.

As of that moment, everyone began to work frantically towards the Great Offensive. As the final preparations were completed in the army, the Supreme Military Command and the Headquarters of the Western Front were transferred to Kocatepe where the battle would begin. On the night of August 25th, Commander in Chief Mustafa Kemal Pasha sent the following telegraph from the front to Chairman of the Council of Ministers to Rauf Bey (Orbay):

The attack on the enemy will commence on the 26th day of August!