Aspindza is a small town in southwestern Georgia with about 2,800 inhabitants today. In 1769 the Russian and Ottoman Empires were at war with each other once again. Tsarina Catherine the (so-called) Great and her advisers thought of opening new fronts against the Turks.
One front was Greece (Orlovika) , where the Russians "sold" the Greek revolutionaries. Another was Georgia. Turks and Russians wanted to integrate Georgia into their territory. Catherine, in order to challenge the Turks in Georgia, came to an agreement with King Heraklion. (or Heracles) II and sent a military force of only 1,200 men under her compatriot German general Gottlieb Totleben.
The Russian force joined the small army of King Heraklion and in March 1770 they all moved together against the Turks. On April 14, they besieged the Turkish fortress of Atshuri. But that's where the problems started. Heraclius wanted to move quickly to capture the city of Akhalchik, the seat of the Turkish administration in the Turkish-occupied Georgian territories. But the German general refused to follow him or even support him and remained with his men in the fortress.
In the meantime, however, the Turkish Pasha of Akhalchik Gola had gathered his forces and was preparing to counterattack. Gola Pasha had about 9,500 men and he could look to the future with optimism as his army outnumbered his opponents by about 3:1. Gola Pasha moved to lift the siege of Atchuri. On hearing the news, Totleben lifted the siege and fled with his men, leaving the Georgians to their fate. Why he did this remains a mystery to this day.
Many historians state that Catherine's purpose was to let the Turks do the "dirty work" of crushing the Georgians so that the Russians would then emerge as liberators (like Stalin in Warsaw in 1944).
Anyway, Heraclius, learning of the Russians' treachery, hastened to retreat. The Turks pursued him trying to cut off his route of retreat. However, Heraklion made an aggressive comeback. Instead of retreating, he counterattacked and crushed the Turkish advance guard numbering 1,500 men. The Georgians took no prisoners...
However the Turks were still overwhelmingly outnumbered. And yet Heraklion did not cower. Let the Turks cross the Kura River and on the evening of the 20th of April a small division of Georgians destroyed the only bridge by which one could cross the flooded river, owing to the melting of the snows in the mountains.
The Turks found themselves with the Georgians in front and the river behind them. At dawn Heraclius, abbot of the center of his faction, charged against them. The few Georgians engaged in fierce hand-to-hand combat with the Turks and many fell.
At one point the Turks seemed to be winning. But then the courage of Heraclius and his generals Giorgi Batonisvili and David Orbeliani, combined with the fanaticism of his men, worked wonders. The Turks were defeated and fled. Gola Pasha was killed and nearly 3,000 of his men were killed or drowned trying to cross the river... It was an amazing victory.
Heraklion B.