In 1901 the harbour was equipped with cranes by Stothert &amp; Pitt of Bath in England. In 1912 the Sümer Opera House was opened on the central Meydan square, being one of the first in the empire. The city lost many young male citizens at the Battle of Sarikamish in the winter of 1914–15. The coastal region between the city and the Russian frontier was the site of key battles between the Ottoman and Russian armies during the Trebizond Campaign, part of the Caucasus Campaign of World War I. A bombardment of the city in 1915 by the Russian navy cost the lives of 1300 citizens.