Battle of Ushno
The Battle of Ushno was a military engagement near present-day Oshnavieh, in the West Azerbaijan province of Iran, fought between the Assyrian volunteers led by Agha Petros and the Ottoman Empire, reinforced by local Persian and Kurdish troops. This battle is a part of the broader Ottoman invasion of Iranian Azerbaijan, with the goal of subduing the Assyrian Christian authority over the region, and to finally enter the city of Urmia.
Background
In late March 1918, the Ottomans had in response to the British Invasion of western Iran, dispatched a force to Iranian Azerbaijan in order to occupy both Sauj Bulak and Ushno.On April 8, 1918, the Ottoman Turkish forces advanced from Sauj Bulak and Ushno, taking up positions on the outskirts of the village of Qasim Lui, next to Urmia and located in a valley near Ushno. The Assyrian guards on the southern side of Urmia informed Agha Petros about the approaching Turkish forces. Agha Petros dispatched a force to the village of Seray and another to the villages of the Barandouz River. The Assyrians gathered at the command center to listen to Agha Petros's speech. Agha Petros said:
Prior to this, the Assyrian force had fought against Persian Cossack troops in Urmia and Dilman, after the Iranian government had sent them to disarm the Assyrians. The Persian Cossacks failed, and the Assyrians continued to carry their arms and to maintain their military organization.
Battle
The Assyrian force under the command of Agha Petros decided to confront the Turks in the vicinity of Ushno, facing a more superior force numbering between 2,000 and 9,000 soldiers, accompanied by Persian Cossack and Kurdish troops, while armed with heavy cannons.Agha Petros and Malik Khoshaba then set out with 1,500 fighters and two cannons toward Qasim Lui, where the Turkish forces were encamped on the opposite bank of the river. 50 Assyrian fighters advanced two miles ahead of the army, but the Turks opened fire on them, killing 8 of them. The rest withdrew and reported the incident to Agha Petros, informing him that Turkish fighters, along with Iranians known as the "Black Caps," had joined the Turks in preparation for an attack on Urmia.
Agha Petros ordered his forces to retreat four miles until they reached a hill near the village of Balanush. There, the fighters’ morale began to weaken, and signs of withdrawal appeared. Agha Petros stood among them and said:When the fighters heard this speech, enthusiasm spread among them, and they rushed into battle. Agha Petros then dispatched a force led by Raphael Khan, along with an Armenian unit led by Baron Arsen, to cut off the Suldouze road and block enemy reinforcements. He then divided his remaining forces into two parts:
The first, led by Malik Khoshaba, to take position on one side of the Qasim Lui River.
The second, a thousand fighters under his own command, marched by night through the Kurdish villages to encircle the enemy from Mount Qasim Lui.
The plan was for the forces stationed by the river to begin their attack upon hearing Agha Petros’ gunfire as a signal, after which the mountain forces would launch a second assault, catching the Turks off guard. On the following morning, while the enemy was still deep in sleep, the Assyrian fighters struck from every direction, and chaos spread throughout the Turkish ranks.
The Iranian author Mohammad Gholi Majd wrote about the battle of Ushno in his book The Great Famine & Genocide in Iran 1917–1919, stating that it took place on April 16, 1918. In his other book, Persia in World War I and Its Conquest by Great Britain, he adds that the Turkish force numbered 2,000 and was defeated by the Assyrians in the mountains of Ushno. However, this date is probably a misconception, as contemporary sources indicate that reports of the Turkish advance appeared on April 16—three days after the initial battle occurred.