Goltz Pasha.

This is coolbert;

"To make war means to attack." - - von der Goltz

NOT in all  circumstances. Thanks here to the tip from Al Nofi and his CIC entry # 453.

Colmar von Der Goltz [Goltz Pasha] while in dual command [?] of Ottoman forces during the Great War [WW1] most momentous victory as a result of siege techniques while fighting simultaneously A DEFENSIVE BATTLE!

"Battles - The Siege of Kut-al-Amara, 1916"

The Battle of Kut-al-Anara [in modern day Iraq] a trapped British force able to thwart Ottoman frontal infantry assault.

Von der Goltz resorting to siege, FIGHTING IN THE MANNER OF A CAESAR AT ALESIA. Having to fight in two directions simultaneously. Overland relief columns of the British Army attempting to lift the siege repelled!!

"Consequently Nur-Ud-Din and von der Goltz attempted to pierce Kut's defences on three separate occasions in December; all however failed.  Thus the Turks set about blockading the town while dispatching forces to prevent British relief operations from succeeding in reaching Kut"

"In due course the first British expedition to raise the blockade was set underway from Basra in January 1916 . . . Their efforts were repeatedly repulsed however with heavy loss, at Sheikh Sa'ad, the Wadi and Hanna in January 1916 and again two months later in March at Dujaila."

"April  [1916] brought a further relief operation, this time led by the sceptical Sir George Gorringe.  Despite meeting von der Goltz and his Turkish Sixth Army, piercing their line some 30km south of Kut, the expedition ran out of steam and was abandoned on 22 April."

British defeat inevitable with catastrophic losses, Colmar at the high point of his military career a great success the man shortly thereafter however succumbing to disease.

coolbert.