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The
Fall of Western Georgia, Retreat towards Batumi and Evacuation of Georgian
Government
March
8-13
The loss of Surami in combination with
successful Soviet advance from Abkhazia and Racha made the defense of the
remaining Georgian territory next to impossible. On March 8, the remnants of
Georgian defenders of Abkhazia retreated across Inguri river towards the town
of Zugdidi
which fell into the Soviet hands 24 hours later. Simultaneously, Soviet
Mamisoni group advancing from Oni, wiped out small Georgian covering force
near the village of Meqvena and enveloped Kutaisi from North-West. On the 10th
of March, the 98th Rifle Brigade advancing from Surami approached Kutaisi and entered the
city after 2-hour battle. The Georgian government hastily left Kutaisi for Batumi
while some 3000 Georgian troops retreated towards Samtredia
covered by the armored trains.
Despite recent defeats, Georgian
Commander-in-Chief Kvinitadze had a new plan for further continuation of the
war against the Soviets. According to Kvinitadze, all the Georgian forces
that were still battle worthy, were to cross the river
of Rioni into the provinces of Guria
and Ajaria and contain the Soviets along the new defense lines formed by
mountain ranges and rivers running down into the Black
sea. In case that strategy had failed as well, Kvinitadze
considered it possible to consolidate the government and the remaining troops
in the excellently fortified port of
Batumi simultaneously launching
guerilla warfare all over Georgia
using Georgia’s
alpine provinces of Svaneti and Pshavo-Khevsureti as major partisan base
areas. That plan was actively supported by Colonel Kaikhosro Cholokashvili
who later organized guerilla resistance and became famous field commander and
a national hero.
However, the last strategic plan of
Georgian military leadership failed largely due to the Turkish invasion of Batumi and Ajaria.
Between 11th and 17th of March, the Turks under Kazim
bei entered the city, took over some of the forts of its defense system and
tried to take over all other forts still in Georgian hands. As General
Kvinitadze wrote in his memoirs, Turkish-Georgian relationship in Batumi and around it was
marked with a combination of friendly rhetoric and hostile actions.
Click on the map to get high resolution image
March
14-21
The loss of Batumi that had been considered as the last
Georgian stronghold, made further resistance impossible. Facing the
inevitable loss of the war, The government of Georgia
sent envoys to Kutaisi
to negotiate ceasefire with the command of the Red Army that in its turn, was
exhausted and scattered. On March 14 an agreement was signed in accordance
with which Georgian government was given several days for demobilization of
the remnants of Georgian army and evacuation from Batumi
to Constantinople (Istanbul).
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General George Mazniashvili
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General George Purtseladze
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On March 17, the national government and
military leadership of Georgia along with thousands of soldiers and civilians
boarded two French and one Italian ships tied up at Batumi bay to leave the
port next morning. The troops still remaining in Batumi were put under the command of
General George Mazniashvili who was put in charge of their demobilization. On
the same day Kazim bei, the commander of all Turkish troops stationed in Batumi and around it
declared the city under Turkish administration with himself as a Governor
General and demanded disarmament of the remnants of Georgian army. That
action was confronted by Mazniashvili who ordered his troops to attack the
Turks and draw them out of the city. After three days of ferocious fighting,
Kasim bei’s Turks were forced out of Batumi
and Northern Ajaria. Next morning, the Red
Army troops under Zhloba entered Guria and Northern
Ajaria and accepted capitulation of Mazniashvili’s troops. Small
amount of Georgian soldiers still stationed in the area refused to surrender
to the Soviets and escaped into the mountains to continue fighting as
partisans under Colonel Cholokashvili. Those who surrendered, including General
George Purtseladze, were shot to death at the beach
near Batumi
Three days later in Tbilisi the Parliament of Georgia was
dissolved by the decree of the Revolutionary Committee.
Colonel Kakutsa Cholokashvili (right) with his guerilla
troopers
Conclusion
In 1921, the
nation-building process of Georgia
was interrupted as a result of the Soviet-Georgian war – lost by the
Georgians - and the Sovietization of the country, except in the districts
ceded to Turkey.
The brief intermezzo of independence was over. Born of crisis and chaos, the First Republic did not have enough resources
to solve the most important domestic problems and, at the same time,
withstand outside pressure. The restored state also lacked international
support partially due to the fact that her geographic position and
geo-political situation in the whole East Mediterranean
area did not attract enough interest on behalf of the Allied powers. An
international attempt to protect tiny and weak socialist republic from her
aggressive neighbors seemed much less effective than to wait for a conflict
between victorious Russia
and Turkey to arise around
the territorial issues in the South Caucasus.
Independent Georgia also did not have either dominant ideology or significant
nationwide pro-independence sentiment. Among other reasons for Georgia’s
military defeat, one can also mention the lack of strong professional
leadership capable of consolidating the nation to win the war against
significantly superior enemies.
However, shortcomings and failures aside,
the precedent of independent nationhood was created, basic democratic
institutions built and major economic reforms performed. Moreover, after the
los of independence, Georgia
was not incorporated directly into Russia as it was within the
former Russian Empire. Rather, it was transformed into one of several “Soviet
republics” that enjoyed limited quasi-statehood in spite of political and
economic subordination to Moscow.
Three years of troubled independence were never totally forgotten by the
people of Georgia,
and the memory of that period was forwarded from generation to generation and
became a vital part of the active national liberation movement of the late
80s and the “Rose Revolution” of 2003.
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