Mehmet Vehib Kaçı

Mehmet Vehib Kaçı (also known as Wehib Pasha) (1877 - 1940), was a General in the Army of the Ottoman Empire. He fought in the Balkan Wars and in several theatres of World War I.

Biography

Mehmet Vehip was born in 1877 in Yanya (Ioannina), then located in the Ottoman Empire and now located in Greece. His friends called him "Kaci" as that was where he immigrated from.clarifyme

Vehip was from a prominent family: his family was the city mayor and his brothers likewise grew to become famous. His elder brother Esad Pasha (who later took the name Balkat due to the Family Name Act of the 1930s) defended Gallipoli in 1915, and Kazim Tashkent founded the Turkish bank, Yapi Kredi. Vehip himself graduated from Harbiye (also known as the Turkish Military Academy) in 1899. He graduated as a staff captain and joined the Fourth Army. This army was then stationed in Yemen.

In 1909, after the 31 March Incident, Vehip was called to Istanbul, where he began to work at the Ministry of War. Shortly afterwards Mahmut Sevket Pasha appointed Vehip as the Commander of the Cadet School. he reached the rank of Major.

Balkan wars

During the First Balkan War, Vehip defended the Fortress Yanya with his brother Esad until February 20, 1913. The Turkish forces surrendered to the Greeks under Ioannis Metaxas as a result of a peace treaty.

After his release as a prisoner of war, Vehip was made a Colonel with the 22nd Infantry Division. He was sent to Hejaz in Arabia.

First World War

The Ottoman Empire entered World War I and Vehip participated in the Gallipoli Campaign, commanding the 15th Army Corps, and later the Second Army. His successes lead to his being made commander of the Third Army during the Caucasus Campaign. His army held against attacks by the Russian but was defeated in the battle of Erzinjan. In 1918, Vehip's Third Army regained the offensive and took back Trabzon and Hora on February 24 as well as Batumi on March 26. With the Armistice of Mudros, Vehip returned to Istanbul.

Abyssinia

Vehip participated in the Second Italo-Abyssinian War where he was known as "Wehib Pasha". He served as the Chief-of-Staff to Ras Nasibu, the Ethiopian Commander-in-Chief on the southern front. Wehib Pasha designed a strong defensive line for the Ethiopians which was known as the "Hindenburg Wall", in reference to the famous German defensive line of World War I, the Hindenburg Line. However, once the Italians broke through these defenses during the Battle of the Ogaden in April 1936, Vehip left Ethiopia and returned to Istanbul.

He died 1940 and was buried at Karacaahmet Cemetery in Istanbul.

External links

* [http://www.kimkimdir.gen.tr/kimkimdir.php?id=947 Who is who] tr icon
* [http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?t=118883 Axis History Forum: Mehmet Vehib]