Siege of Marash - Active Stage

Active Stage

The first French units to come under attack were those officers accompanying the local gendarmerie or standing guard. The contingents of the French garrison at Marash, numbering only 2,000 men, were separated from one another in the city-wide siege. Direct communications did not exist between Marash and division headquarters and General Dufieux was only informed of the insurrection on January 31, after several Armenians from the French Armenian Legion managed to disguise themselves as Muslims and cross the battle lines. He immediately appointed Lieutenant Colonel Robert Normand to lead a relief expedition, composed of three infantry battalions and half a squadron of cavalry, to Marash, and dispatched aerial recon flights, giving hope to the besieged French, Armenians and American relief workers who were assisting the local population.

On February 7, Normand's unit fought its way into the city and began to bombard the Turkish positions with heavy artillery. The following day, he relieved Cornelope's column, which had held its position for two weeks, and broke through to reach General Quérette's headquarters. To Quérette's astonishment, Normand told that he had come with orders from General Dufieux to begin the full evacuation of the French garrison of Marash, followed by the Christian and loyal Muslim population. Quérette was reluctant to carry out such a command but Normand claimed that no more reinforcements or supplies would be sent. With this in mind Quérette agreed to the evacuation. The order to evacuate ironically came at precisely the same moment that the Turkish Nationalists were seeking a cease fire: no sooner had General Quérette begun negotiations with the Turkish representative, Dr. Mustafa, when he was told by Normand to prepare to evacuate. By 3:00 in the morning of February 11, Quérette had destroyed the remaining ammunition dumps and was preparing to slip out under the cover of darkness, in order to prevent the terrified Armenian population from hindering his troops' withdrawal. They were, however, unable to do so and 4,000–5,000 Armenians managed to flee with the French troops in a three-day, 75-mile (121 km) long march to Islahiye. Subsequently called the "Marash Affair," many of the Armenian refugees died from exhaustion and from the bitter cold, such that there were only 1,500 of their number when they reached Islahiye on February 13.

The French casualties of the battle included 160 killed, 280 wounded, 170 missing and 300 severely frostbitten.