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Terter operation

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Terter operation
Part of First Nagorno-Karabakh War
DateApril - May 1994
Location
Terter,Aghdam and
Goranboy District Azerbaijan
Result Armenian victory
Belligerents
 Nagorno-Karabakh
[a]		  Azerbaijan
[b]
Commanders and leaders
Samvel Babayan[1]
Manvel Grigoryan
Nelson Soghomonyan[2]
Sergei Chalyan		 Najmeddin Sadikov[3]
Elbrus Orudzhev
Rovshan Akbarov
Maharram Seyidov
Strength
Stepanakert Regiment[4]
5th motorized rifle brigade[4]
83rd motorized rifle brigade[5]
separate motorized rifle battalion "Tigran Mets"[4]

776th Separate Reconnaissance
777th motorized rifle regiment[6]
701st motorized rifle brigade

703rd motorized rifle brigade[7]
Casualties and losses
unknown unknown

Terter operation[8] (April-May 1994) - was a large-scale offensive by Armenian forces at the final stage of the First Karabakh war, accompanied by battles in the Terter, Agdam and Goranboy regions of Azerbaijan, as a result of which several villages in the Agdam and Terter regions came under the control of the NKR.

Background

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In late 1993 - early 1994, after a series of major defeats, Azerbaijan attempted a counteroffensive along the entire length of the front. Despite local successes, the Azerbaijanis failed to significantly change the situation on the battlefield and achieve a major victory.[9] By February 1994, their offensive was stopped and actually repelled,[10] there were no significant changes in the front line compared to the autumn of 1993. By the beginning of spring, the offensive potential of Azerbaijan depleted and the armed forces got exhausted.[11]

In April of 1994, the Armenian command planned a large-scale military operation which involved breaking through the defenses of the Azerbaijani army in the area of the city Terter (formerly Mir-Bashir) which occupies an important operational-strategic purpose,[12][13] capturing it and further advancing to the regional centers of Barda and Yevlakh.[14] Had it been successful, the North-west of Azerbaijan would be cut off from the rest of the territory of the republic,[15] which would cause new flows of refugees.[16] “The capture of the city by the Armenians could discredit the government of Heydar Aliyev with the subsequent end of the war on the terms of the Armenian side”.[17]

Battle

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The offensive began on the night of April 10.[18] The strikes were delivered in three diverging operational directions from the Mardakert region in the direction of the city of Terter, as well as to the west and south.[19] Up to 2,000 servicemen and a large number of armored vehicles (including 17 tanks) and armored personnel carriers[20] from the 83rd motorized rifle brigade[21] and the Stepanakert mobile regiment were brought into battle.

According to the Azerbaijani side, on April 16, units of the Armenian army attempted to attack the villages of Talysh and Gulludzha in the Aghdam region. On April 17, from the early morning, after intensive artillery preparation, the Armenian armed formations again launched attacks on the village of Tapkarakoyunlu in the Goranboy region, and the next day they repeated an attempt at a tank breakthrough on the city of Terter, simultaneously attacking villages in the vicinity of the city with infantry.[22]

On April 20, 1994, after 10 days of fierce fighting and repeated attempts to break through the front line, by introducing units of the 5th Motorized Rifle Brigade and the Tigran Mets battalion into battle, the Armenian troops managed to force the Azerbaijani units to retreat.[23] Several settlements of the Aghdam and Terter regions[24] came under the control of the Armenians, they also managed to advance in the direction of Goranboy-Shaumyanovsk[25][26].As trophies, 28 armored vehicles were captured - 8 tanks, 5 infantry fighting vehicles, 15 armored personnel carriers.[27]

Despite the factor of surprise and the constant transfer of reinforcements, the Armenian troops failed to achieve their goals. Relying on the fortified region of Terter, the Azerbaijanis were able to organize a defense, inflicting counterattacks and using massive firepower by artillery, attack aircraft and combat helicopters on the advancing Armenian group.

Bibliography

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  • De Waal, Thomas (2003). Black Garden: Armenia and Azerbaijan Through Peace and War. New York: New York University Press.
  • Cheterian, Vicken (2011). War and Peace in the Caucasus: Russia's Troubled Frontier. New York: Columbia University Press.

Notes

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  1. ^ Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast (NKAO) until 1991.
  2. ^ Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic (Soviet Azerbaijan) until 1991.

References

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  1. ^ "Самвел Бабаян. Победы - как они были". Archived from the original on 2016-08-17.
  2. ^ "Валерий Газарян.Политика, стратегия и краткий анализ войны 1991 – 1994 годов". 28 December 2016. Archived from the original on 2021-12-19.
  3. ^ "Памятка Владимиру Казимирову о причинах перемирия в Карабахской войне в мае 1994 года".
  4. ^ a b c Жуков, 2009 & 49.
  5. ^ Жирохов & 2012 281.
  6. ^ "После боев в Тертере слава о бойцах батальона 777 пошла по всему фронту". 16 April 2019.
  7. ^ Велимамедов & 2021 566.
  8. ^ "Памятка Владимиру Казимирову о причинах перемирия в Карабахской войне в мае 1994 года" (in Russian).
  9. ^ "Новый путь Азербайджана : Prezident Kitabxanası".
  10. ^ Cornell, Svante E. (2017-02-03). The International Politics of the Armenian-Azerbaijani Conflict: The Original "Frozen Conflict" and European Security. Palgrave Macmillan US. ISBN 978-1-137-60004-2.
  11. ^ Cheterian, Vicken (2008). War and Peace in the Caucasus: Russia's Troubled Frontier. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-1-85065-929-7.
  12. ^ Waal, Thomas De (2003). Black Garden: Armenia and Azerbaijan Through Peace and War. NYU Press. ISBN 978-0-8147-1945-9.
  13. ^ "Армия Азербайджана вышла на направление главного удара".
  14. ^ Cheterian, Vicken (2008). War and Peace in the Caucasus: Russia's Troubled Frontier. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-1-85065-929-7.
  15. ^ Cornell, Svante E. (1999). The Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict. Inst. för Östeuropastudier.
  16. ^ Велимамедов, Мамед (2021-07-27). Карабахская война 1991-1994 (in Russian). Litres. ISBN 978-5-04-359003-9.
  17. ^ Велимамедов, Мамед (2021-07-27). Карабахская война 1991-1994 (in Russian). Litres. ISBN 978-5-04-359003-9.
  18. ^ Dehdashti, Rexane (2000). Internationale Organisationen als Vermittler in innerstaatlichen Konflikten: die OSZE und der Berg Karabach-Konflikt (in German). Campus Verlag. ISBN 978-3-593-36626-5.
  19. ^ Ширкорад, Александр (2009). Широкорад А. Б. Война и мир Закавказья за последние три тысячи лет (in Russian) (2009 ed.). Moscow: Александр Ширкорад. p. 156. ISBN 9785170594634.
  20. ^ "Новый путь Азербайджана : Prezident Kitabxanası".
  21. ^ Александрович, Жирохов Михаил (2012). Семена распада: войны и конфликты на территории бывшего СССР (in Russian). БХВ-Петербург. ISBN 978-5-9775-0817-9.
  22. ^ Aliyev, Yashar (18 April 1994). LETTER DATED APRIL 18, 1994 FROM THE PERMANENT MISSION OF AZERBAIJAN TO THE UNITED NATIONS AT OFFICE TO THE CHAIRMAN OF THE SECURITY COUNCIL (in Russian) (1994 ed.). Baku: Yashar T. Aliyev. p. 1.
  23. ^ Велимамедов, Мамед (2021-07-27). Карабахская война 1991-1994 (in Russian). Litres. ISBN 978-5-04-359003-9.
  24. ^ "Хроника карабахского конфликта".
  25. ^ Geukjian, Ohannes (2016-05-13). Ethnicity, Nationalism and Conflict in the South Caucasus: Nagorno-Karabakh and the Legacy of Soviet Nationalities Policy. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-317-14074-0.
  26. ^ Kozhokin, Evgeniĭ Mikhaĭlovich (1998). Армения: проблемы независимого развития (in Russian). Rossiĭskiĭ in-t strategicheskikh issledovaniĭ. ISBN 978-5-7893-0008-4.
  27. ^ Zhukov, Dmitriĭ (2010). Войны на руинах СССР (in Russian). Эксмо. ISBN 978-5-699-33801-6.
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