Sarykamysh, Dec 25 1914

Gospodin General-Leitenant, welcome to the Kavkaz.  Diplomatic talks with the Ottoman Empire have broken down.  The Germano-Turkish fleet, headed by the cruisers Goeben and Breslau (renamed Sultan Selim and Midillu, flying the Turkish flag), bombarded our Black Sea ports of Odessa, Sevastopol, Novorossisk, and Feodosia on 29th October.  On 1st November Russia declared war on Turkey.

The Turkish high command (Enver Pasha) resolved to open an offensive in the Kavkaz Mountains.  Hoping to trigger anti-Russian sentiment in this volatile region - the object of our pacification campaigns since the the rule of Catherine I - and to extend the Ottoman Empire over all Muslim and Turkik peoples of the region, Enver Pasha assembled a force of 150,000 soldiers in the 3rd Army (Hassan Izzet Pasha) against our 100,000 in the Kavkaz Army (Vorontzov-Dashkov) for the winter 1914-15 campaign.

Pre-empting Turkish plans, our I Corps crossed the border on 1st November and moved from Sarykamysh with the aim of capturing the key Erzerum fortress at the base of the Kavkaz Mountains.  By December the front had stabilized with our forces holding a salient into Turkish territory.

On December 25th the Turkish 3rd Army launched the counter-offensive to capture Sarykamysh.  You must defeat the Turkish offensive and retain our position in preparation for our Erzerum offensive.
