<– Part 43 – May 16, 1915  | Part 44 – May 23, 1915 |  Part 45 – May 30, 1915 –>

On May 17, hearing news of an imminent Russian advance, the Ottomans retreated from Vans, which had been under siege for nearly one month. The Armenians had succeeded in resisted the Turkish genocide targeted against them. Several days later, the Russian army entered, and strengthened the Armenian government in place.

The Ottomans faced another setback on the 19th. An attack on ANZAC cove – the third such – was repelled with heavy losses. It seems that a British aerial reconnaisance plane had spotted the Turkish movements and the defenders had time to dig-in even further. The Ottomans lost nearly 10,000 men, to about 650 on the Australian side.

On May 23, ignoring prior treaty agreements with the Central Powers, Italy declared war on Austria-Hungary, thereby entering this Great War. Although part of the triple alliance between the German Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and Italy, Italy has long been an opponent of Austria, fueled by standard revanchism to reclaim northern territories. Italy defended its action by declaring that the alliance was defensive in nature, and that due to Austria & Germany’s declarations of war Italy was not obligated to honor it.