Battle of Aspindza

The battle of the Georgian army under the command of King Erekle II against the army of Turks and Lezgins in 1770. During the Russo-Turkish War in 1768–1774, a Russian expeditionary force entered Georgia. It was supposed to draw part of the Turkish forces towards the Transcaucasian front by organizing sabotage. Erekle II offered the Russian representatives to march on Akhaltsikhe with a joint Russian-Georgian force, Erekle's goal was to liberate Meskheti from the domination of the Turks. In March 1770, the Russian-Georgian troops joined in Surami. The Russian military unit (1200 men) was commanded by General G. Tottleben, while Georgian army (about 7000 men) — by Erekle II. Both armies joined on March 24 and marched through the Borjomi valley towards Akhaltsikhe. On April 14, they captured Sadgeri fortress, where Tottleben left 6 cannons and 600 soldiers despite Erekle's resistance. From there, the Russian and Georgian units went to Atskuri in different ways and met up again near the village of Sakire.

On April 17, the Atskuri fortress was besieged, and Erekle and Tottleben came into conflict. They did not agree on how to continue the campaign: Erekle II demanded a direct attack on Akhaltsikhe, because he thought fighting against the small garrison of the Atskuri fortress, which was difficult to reach, would lead to a loss of time and soldiers. Tottleben found it impossible to leave the fortress behind. The general started preparing offensive measures to capture Atsksuri, but he had made a wrong plan for surrounding the fortress and fighting.

On April 18, Pasha of Akhaltsikhe sent an auxiliary detachment of 2000 soldiers to the Atskuri fortress. On April 19, Tottleben suddenly withdrew his detachment and turned back. Disorder began in the Georgian army. The enemy took advantage of this and organized an escape from the fortress. Erekle II established order in his army and with a quick counterattack repulsed the enemy, who took refuge in the fortress. Then the Georgian army started towards Aspindza. In order to intercept the Georgians, Pasha of Akhaltsikhe took out 1500 warriors from the fortresses of Akhalkalaki and Khertvisi. This enemy detachment was defeated and repulsed by Erekle II. Soon, the main force of the Turkish army appeared near Aspindza. A large part of the enemy's 8,000 soldiers crossed river Mtkvari. Erekle allowed the enemy to cross the river. At night, the bridge supports were cut at the order of the king, and thus the Turks were isolated from their reserves and were left without any possibility to retreat. On April 20, Georgians were deployed in battle formation facing the enemy: the right wing was commanded by David Orbeliani, the left wing by Giorgi Batonishvili (later George XII), the center by Erekle II.

The battle started with the attack of the Georgians. The enemy could not withstand the Georgian horsemen and began to retreat towards the bridge in a disorderly manner. The destroyed bridge collapsed, taking hundreds of enemies with it. The enemy lost around 4,000 soldiers on the battlefield. According to the participants of the battle, Erekle killed Malachila (Kokhta-Beladi), the commander-in-chief of the Turkish corps. Georgians got captives, many flags, horses and weapons. Georgian losses were insignificant.

Literature: მაჭარაძე ვ., ასპინძის ბრძოლა, თბ., 1957; საქართველოს ისტორიის ნარკვევები, ტ. 4, თბ., 1973.

N. Asatiani