were also divided, civilian leaders advocated retreating deeper into the Caucasus and military officials insisted on fighting back against Muslim encroachment. Supplied with information from Turkish intelligence, Kurdish irregulars attacked Giola, Zavod and Ardahan against Greek and Georgian troops. The Kurds signed a truce with the defenders of Ardahan only to break it in a sudden attack, resulting in the disarmament of 200 Greek soldiers and the dissolution of the battalion defending the town. The regiment stationed in Kars prevented the massacre of the local Muslim population by Armenian militia, then dissolved under the influence of local politicians. Greeks fled Pontus en masse, the remnants of the Greek Caucasus Division protecting them from Turkish and Armenian militia. On 25 March, the division fought with the army of the Armenian National Congress after the latter attempted to seize their equipment at Karakilisa. On 14 April, the Ottomans occupied Batumi after overrunning a Greek company. On 25 April, the Ottomans seize Kars from the 2nd Greek Regiment and on 15 May, the 2nd Greek Regiment (down to 750 men) was defeated at Alexandropol. Aftermath Realizing the futility of further resistance, the commander of the 2nd Regiment disbanded it and ordered his men to flee to Tiflis. Remnants of the Greek Caucasus Division continued their resistance at Samtret. The Armenians temporarily halted the Ottoman advance after the battles of Karakilisa and Sardarabad. On 26 May 1918, Georgia declared independence from the Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic. Two days later it signed the Treaty of Poti with Germany, securing its recognition in return for providing the German Caucasus expedition with free movement and bases in its territory. Under the terms of the agreement, all non-Georgian armed units, including the Greek Caucasus Division, were disbanded. A lack of unity in the Caucasus and Pontic Greek communities, in combination with the rising popularity of Bolshevism, led to a failure to organize an independent Greek state in the region. Footnotes References Category:Military units and formations established in 1917 Category:Military units and formations disestablished in 1918 Category:Military units and formations of Russia in World War I Category:Greek genocide Category:Pontic Greeks