Plans of the Russian Army

Sketch: Maneuver plans of the Russians

The majority of the forces, comprising two corps called "Sarikamish Group", was on the Horasan-Sarikamish line. On their north was Siçankale Mountain. The Russians were not expecting a large scale besieging, relying on hard winter and poor road conditions. In other words, they were relying on the "winter conditions", which was Russians historical supporter.

Photo: Russian Army

As I said the Russians were not expecting any attack from the North especially within the winter timeframe. Thus they didn’t allocate any reserves. Furthermore, they were dispersed along wide fronts. All these factors gave a great opportunity for the Ottoman Army to conduct a besieging operation in theory.

But later, enlarging the front of the siege by 12 km will prohibit a probable victory and will cause a corps to annihilate at Allahuekber Mountains.