Mudanya Clashes (1920)

The Mudanya Clashes were a series of military engagements that occured during the Turkish War of Independence in which the Royal Navy carried out a naval bombardment and landed forces to seize the town from defenders from Turkey. The operation resulted in the occupation of the port.

 History 
The British had already seized Mudanya once before, landing about 100 soldiers on 25 June and taking the town after a brief skirmish.

On 5 July, the British attacked Mudanya with a large force. The ships included two big battleships, two destroyers, an aircraft carrier, two lighters and a tug. They landed 834 officers and men. The Turkish defenders could only fire rifles and one machine gun. They still managed to push back the British landing parties on the beach near Mudanya and, for a short time, in the town itself. In the end, heavy fire from naval guns stopped the fighting. Many houses in the town were destroyed by the bombardment. Outside Mudanya, ships fired on the hillsides whenever they saw movement. Villages that were thought to have Nationalist soldiers were also destroyed.

The Turks were forced to retreat, and Mudanya and Karamürsel were given to the Greeks on 10 July. Gemlik was taken on 6 July more easily than Mudanya because fire from two battleships had ended Turkish resistance. The town was handed to a Greek army battalion that marched in on 16 July.
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