Battle of Surmalu

On the second day, Armenian armored vehicles from Kanaker joined the group of Kuro Tarkhanian, breaching Turkish isolation in Igdir despite heavy machine-gun fire. Colonel Tarkhanian lost half of his 260 soldiers in harsh close-combat near Dalikdash before Turkish forces left on October 26. Meanwhile, the Turkish 11th Caucasus Division attacked the Karakala bridge but was unable to dislodge the defenders. They burned the bridge before fleeing. Colonel Khudabashian, distinguished himself in these battles, driving the Turks and Kurds toward Kulp, up the slopes of Mount Ararat, and into the Bartoghi Mountains along the old Russo-Turkish frontier with the assistance of Colonel Tarkhanian's men and Lieutenant Colonel Halberian's newly formed 10th Infantry Regiment. Kanayan's invading army established bases from the Karakala bridge to Verin and Nerkin Charukhchi, Yaidji, Khoshkhabar, the Igdir-Khalfalu road, Sultanabad, Mount Gasimtach,Dalikdash, Karakoyunlu, Dashburun, and Diza [tr], constituting the battle.^[1]

With the loyalty of the Armenian soldiers to their officers, the Armenians enjoyed a victory at Surmalu. Although the Armenians would abandon their positions at Surmalu later on due to the Turkish capture of Kars, the two-day battle denied the Turks entry into the Surmalu region temporarily.

• Hovannisian, Richard G. (1996). The Republic of Armenia, Vol. IV: Between Crescent and Sickle, Partition and Sovietization. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-08804-2.
• Herzig, Edmund; Kurkchiyan, Marina (2004). The Armenians: Past and Present in the Making of National Identity. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-135-79836-9.