Army of Asia Minor
[3][4] Continuing operations led to the further increase of the Greek forces in the region, which by the end of June comprised the 1st, 2nd, 13th, Archipelago and Smyrna divisions.
Between 29 June and 29 July, command of the sweep operations against the Turkish forces was assumed by the Commander-in-chief of the Greek Army, Lt. General Leonidas Paraskevopoulos.
[8][9] With continuing Turkish attacks on and across the "Milne Line", the Greek forces were re-inforced in February by the newly constituted Kydoniai Division.
[10][11] Paraskevopoulos led the Greek Army in its summer offensive of June–August 1920, which advanced as far as Bursa in the north and Alaşehir and Uşak in the south.
[12][13] Despite these successes, and the conclusion of the—greatly favourable to Greece—Treaty of Sèvres, in the November 1920 elections Prime Minister Eleftherios Venizelos lost power to the royalist United Opposition, followed soon after by the return of King Constantine I to the throne.
Despite voices—including Venizelos, who warned of Greece's increasing diplomatic isolation—that advocated a withdrawal to a more defensible line, the Greek Government resolved to resume the offensive.
However, the need to protect the over-extended lines of supply and communication from attacks by Turkish irregulars, especially light cavalry which the Turks possessed in abundance, reduced the effective front-line strength of the Army to just 60,000 men.
[24][25] In the aftermath of the victory, the Army of Asia Minor's high command was divided as to the course to follow: in a staff council on 13 July, the deputy chief of staff, Col. Ptolemaios Sarigiannis, advocated an immediate advance to exploit the Turks' disorganization, while the head of the supply bureau, Col. G. Spyridonos, warned that the Greek army risked outrunning its supply lines.
Despite their misgivings, Papoulas and the Army's chief of staff, Col. Konstantinos Pallis, sided with Sarigiannis, and the decision to resume the offensive was confirmed at a war council under the chairmanship of King Constantine three days later.
Frantic efforts were made to repair railway lines and secure the supply routes through the territories conquered, while a few replacements of senior officers also took place, most notably Prince Andrew's assumption of command of the II Corps.
The Army of Asia Minor began its withdrawal to the line captured during the June–July operations, beating back Turkish attacks around Eskişehir and Afyonkarahisar.
[28][29] Having returned to its original positions, the Army of Asia Minor now began to entrench itself around Eskişehir in the north and Afyonkarahisar in the south, and created rear areas military commands to maintain its supply and communication lines.
[35] According to official reports of the Greek Army, the casualties for the campaign as, 19,362 killed, 4,878 died outside of combat, 48,880 wounded, 18,095 missing and 10,000 prisoners.
According to the analysis of the History Directorate, to a large part this was due to the "extremely centralized" command and control system of the Army of Asia Minor: the high command closely directed operations down to divisional or even regimental level with detailed orders issued almost every day, even though these often were delayed on the way to the front lines due to the poor state of communications and the activity of the Turkish cavalry in the Greek rear.
