<– Part 82 – February 13, 1916  | Part 83 – February 20, 1916 |  Part 84 – February 27, 1916 –>

Ernst von Raben, commander of the defense at Mora.

The Erzurum campaign came to an end February 16 as the Cossack vanguard of the Russian Caucasus Army entered the city of Erzurum. The second-most heavily fortified city in the Ottoman empire (second only to the capital Constantinople[1]), Erzurum was surrounded by two rings of fortresses. With the Russians advancing over “impassible” ridges, and the Ottoman defenders too spread to support each other, the forts were abandoned February 15, and the entire city soon after. Although aware of Turkish movements due to aerial reconnaissance, the Russian forces failed to follow up on their victory. Altogether, the Russian troops lost 9,000 of their 325,000 troops, while the Ottoman Third Army lost 10,000 of their 134,000, with an additional 5,000 taken prisoner. Many of the casualties were to frostbite and other winter-related hardships.

The German Kamerun colony has finally fallen. Although the majority of the territory was de facto surrendered to the Allied forces with the evacuation of all German forces, the mountain of Mora, under siege since the beginning of the war 17 months ago has finally fallen with 155 of the 204 original defenders. The German commander, Ernst von Raben, secured the transportation of his askaris (African colonial troops) to their homelands, with £2,000 given to him to pay the troops. The German soldiers are being delivered to England for imprisonment. With this, the German Kamerun colonies has been jointly-occupied by the British and French.

[1] OOC: Istanbul did not come into vogue as the proper name of the city until the 1920’s, and was still referred to as Constantinople by English-speakers beyond that time.