The process leading to the Great Offensive and the victory of August 30

Today marks the 102nd anniversary of August 30, the day of the de facto victory in the War of Independence. August 30 is not only the day when Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the architect of a fully independent Turkey, reaped the fruits of three years of labor, but it also stands as one of the most significant military achievements of the era.

The process leading to August 30 began immediately after the Battle of Sakarya. The Battle of Sakarya, which concluded with a Turkish victory in September 1921, was one of the critical turning points of the War of Independence. With this victory, it became definitively clear that the Greek Army could not neutralize the Turkish Army; the initiative passed to the Turkish side, and the countdown to the final defeat began for the severely exhausted Greek Army.

After their defeat, the Greeks retreated to the railway line between Eskişehir and Afyon and established a defensive line in this region. This was an improvised move, and no one in the Greek Army had the slightest idea of what to do in the future. Almost all high-ranking officers in the Greek Army were aware that they had been defeated, and no one was still dreaming of a Greater Greece that included the Aegean coast.

The Greek failure also meant that the Allied powers would not be able to force the Turks to accept the Treaty of Sèvres. However, Greece's credit with the Allied powers had been exhausted long before this date, and it had ceased to be a respected ally, including in the eyes of Britain, which had spearheaded Greece's entry into the war. No country was any longer supporting Greece in its efforts to retain the territories it had seized during the war.

Greek decision-makers had decided to hold onto the positions they could maintain in order to secure a reasonable peace, resolve issues regarding the fate of the Anatolian Greeks, and, if possible, at least hold onto İzmir to buy time. While a solid defensive line established in dominant positions might have seemed like a logical idea at the time, time would show that this move was a critical mistake.

The decision to buy time would weaken the Greek position rather than strengthen it. Morale in the Greek Army was declining with each passing day, and desertions were becoming increasingly chronic. As the Greek atrocities in Anatolia gradually became known worldwide, Greece became more isolated, and even the British, Greece's greatest supporters, would leave Greece completely alone to avoid any association with the disgrace that was unfolding.

While the Greek Army was gradually weakening, the Turkish Army was growing stronger. After the Battle of Sakarya, the Turkish Army entered a period of rapid growth, and the army effectively transformed into an educational institution, preparing for an offensive operation based on modern tactics. The army, which had been in a purely defensive configuration before Sakarya, entered 1922 in an offensive configuration, and by the summer of 1922, it was ready to wipe the Greek Army out of Anatolia.

During this process, Turkey had also surpassed Greece diplomatically. Italy had supported the Turks since the Greeks landed in İzmir. After the victory at Sakarya, France would also begin to support Turkey. From the autumn of 1920 onwards, Russia was increasingly providing arms and financial aid to Turkey. After Sakarya, Italy and France also began selling arms to Turkey. Thanks to the weapons obtained from these three countries, the Turkish Army would enter the summer of 1922 having almost completely solved its arms problem (although the Greek Army still possessed more weapons when the Great Offensive began).

By the summer of 1922, the Greeks had failed to achieve any of their current goals. Despite this, they refused to see the impasse they were in and refused to withdraw. After the Turkish Army became fully prepared, there was no reason to wait any longer, and the decision to attack was made in July. The long-awaited operation began on August 26, and the Greek defense system collapsed on August 27. With the victory of the Battle of the Commander-in-Chief on August 30, the Greek Army was effectively defeated, and from this date on, the process of driving the Greeks into the sea began.

The First World War occurred as a conflict where, as a result of uncontrolled developments in weapons technology, the defending side gained a significant advantage over the attacking side if it could establish a solid position. Relying on this reality of the era, the Greeks thought they could stop the Turkish offensive despite all the negatives they were facing. Indeed, this was what had happened to them during the Battle of Sakarya. However, the Turks utilized the period after the Battle of Sakarya extremely efficiently and successfully adapted to solutions that would eliminate the enemy's positional advantage. The Turkish Army in 1922 was a force capable of successfully applying the most modern tactics of the era. The Turkish Army's offensive tactics would turn the Greek Army's defensive line, spread across a wide front, into a death trap. Consequently, in a very short time, the presence of the Greek Army, which possessed more weapons and personnel than the Turkish Army, was completely eradicated in Anatolia. A victory equivalent to the Great Offensive would not be achieved until the German campaign in France in 1940.

August 30 was first celebrated as the Victory of the Commander-in-Chief in 1924, with a ceremony attended by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk in Dumlupınar. Since 1926, it has been celebrated as Victory Day.