filled by the Ozakom, a four-man committee composed of representatives of Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan. History On 15 November 1917, Ozakom delegates met in Tiflis and agreed to create a unified army of ethnically homogeneous units, Greeks being allotted a division consisting of three regiments. The new units were to protect south Armenia, Georgia and Pontus from the Ottoman Army, the Bolsheviks and Muslim irregulars, while hierarchically belonging to the Army of the Provisional Government. The Greek Caucasus Division was formed out of ethnic Greeks serving in the Caucasus, recruits from among the local population including former insurgents and the incorporation of Greeks serving on the Eastern Front was also planned. Its three regiments were stationed at Tiflis, Kars and Tsalka respectively. Each regiment had three battalions of four companies each. The division included an autonomous battalion stationed at Ardahan and a reserve regiment in Batumi. The unit was commanded by former Russian Army Colonel Michael Ananiadis (Michael Ananiev) and his deputy, former artillery Colonel Demosthenes Pandazidis. Several units were commanded by Russian officers due to a shortage in experienced ethnic Greeks. Equipment was drawn from the 4th Russian Division which was in the middle of demobilization. The Armistice of Erzincan was signed at Erzincan on 18 December, suspending hostilities between Russia and the Ottomans. Fearing that Russia would drop out of the war, the Unified Allied Command issued a declaration supporting the formation of national volunteers units in the Russian Army, on 23 December. France and Britain also divided the Pontus into zones of responsibility, taking over north and south respectively. The Bolsheviks initially supported the retention of areas captured from the Ottomans during World War I and their autonomization, renouncing those claims after the Erzincan truce. Their calls for the immediate cessation of the war attracted many supporters, leading to mass desertions in the disorganized Russian Army. The Greek Caucasus Division, Russian anti-Bolsheviks and a small Georgian unit, were responsible for the protection of all areas between Erzincan and the edge of Russian-held Pontus. Seven hundred soldiers belonging to the division took part in the defense of Trebizond in conjunction with local insurgents and two companies of Russians and Georgians. The defense was hastily organized and the majority of the defenders were poorly trained, resulting in their defeat at the hands of Ottoman Çetes who massacre the Christian population in the city; attacks on Santa and Rodopolis were repulsed. A new recruitment drive was launched on 1 January 1918, when division existed only on paper as many men had defected to the Bolsheviks or served in a tangled web of armed militias. Many members of the Greek community opposed its formation as they feared that it would provoke massacres akin to that in Trebizond. Most recruits originated from villages near army bases or enlisted to defect to the Bolsheviks after stealing weapons and equipment. By early March, the division numbered at most 3,000 men, while suffering shortages in weaponry and experienced officers. It did not engage in any battles, only defensive skirmishes while protecting Greek villages and refugees convoys. In February 1918, having encountered limited resistance, the Ottoman Army captured Trebizond and Sarıkamış. On 24 February, the Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic declared independence, initiating peace talks with the Ottomans on 8 March, to renegotiate the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk that was signed three days earlier. The treaty between the Central Powers and the Bolsheviks had granted Kars, Ardahan, Pontus and Batumi to the Ottomans . Negotiations broke down over a lack of unity inside the Transcaucasian government, caused by territorial disputes between Georgians and Armenians. The Greeks of Kars