The Kuva-yi Milliye movement started after the Greek occupation of the Aegean region and spread as independent local organizations.

[2] Mehmet Vehbi Bolak, after mentioning the persecution after the Occupation of İzmir, continued with the following words; "These tragedies are about to befall Balıkesir.

On this occasion, the 41-member committee and the people gathered in Alaca Mescit founded the Balıkesir Kuvâ-yi Milliye and supported the national struggle led by Mustafa Kemal.

[2] The prominent people of the city, especially Mehmet Vehbi Bolak, gathered at the Reading Dormitory where the Kuvâ-yi Milliye Museum is now located.

At the meeting, it was understood that nothing would help and the following words of Leblebici Raşit Efendi became the decision, the spark was lit with this sentence, and Kuvâ-yi Milliye was ignited; "The force that will turn the enemy back is at the end of the barrel."

From the lists they provided, the people who had served the Kuvâ-yi Milliye, who had not fled but remained in the city, were identified one by one and were rounded up and imprisoned.

Giridîzâde Muhiddin Bey, the president of the Hürriyet ve Îtilâf Party, was appointed as the mayor.

Those who were arrested and imprisoned in the first days of the occupation were released after a month and a half, after local Greeks and Armenians intervened and vouched for them, making them swear that they would never engage in politics again.

Circassian Hasan Bey, one of the pillars of the national movement in Bandirma, was insulted and killed in Harbor Square at the suggestion of the collaborators.

During these days, İbrahim Ethem Bey, who had fled to Ankara after the occupation while working as a lawyer in Balıkesir and was sent to Demirci by the National Government as a District Governor because he knew the region, refused to surrender after the Greeks occupied this place as well and retreated to Sındırgı mountains, taking the gendarmerie unit in the region and the groups of Parti Mehmet Pehlivan and Halil Efe with him.

Upon this news, the people of Balıkesir called the secret "Military Police", or "Ayın-Pe" organization to duty without being noticed by the Greeks.

Tevfik Bey, who also called other Efes he had known during his time as the district director, formed a strong detachment.

7) Bandits who redeemed themselves by joining the War of Independence Küçük Hasan, İsmail Çavuş, Recep Pehlivan in Çatalca; Altıparmak Nuri, Yaşar, İbrahim Çavuş, Bosnian Kara İbrahim, Kürt Hasan, Bacak Hasan around Manyas-Gönen-Bandırma; Çetmi Süleyman, Tatar Mehmet Çavuş in Susurluk; Yağlılarlılı Salih in İvrindi; Ayşebacıılı Recep, Hâfız Hacı Ali of Pabuçcu, Rıfat and their gangs between Balıkesir-Kepsut.

9) National detachments Demirci District Governor İbrahim Ethem Bey formed a group whose forces sometimes reached 150 people.

According to this numbering, the 1st - 2nd - 3rd - 4th and 5th platoons were composed of infantry and cavalry gendarmerie soldiers from Demirci and Gördes regions.

On September 3, the detachments advancing towards Sındırgı encountered wire-mesh trenches dug by the enemy around the town.

At the Balya Gorge, held by Soğanbüklü Bektaş Aga, Avşarlı Cafer Efe, Kırgöz İbrahim, and his friends, the Greeks faced fire and turned back.

While the battles continued in this way, Sarı Efe Edip and Major Hacı Adil Bey arrived with their detachments from Bursa to expel the last remnants of the enemy in Bandırma and Erdek from Anatolia and destroyed the Greek garrison within two hours.

On September 5, an enemy unit in Porsunlar and Tına Meadow was spotted around Söğütcük Village at noon and destroyed in a short time.

The Greeks started to fill the Muslims they found in a place surrounded by reeds and wire fences near the village of Mağmum in Bandirma.

The Turks, who soon numbered three thousand, were brought to Bandırma on September 16 and stuffed into the Haydar Çavuş Mosque in the city center.

On September 17, the Turkish army, arriving near Bandirma and learning that there was no enemy left, headed towards Erdek via Paşabayırı.

Turkish soldiers were ambushed by Greek rearguard forces in front of Akçapınar village and suffered many casualties.

The next day, the Turkish forces continued their offensive and fought another battle with the Greeks on Albayrak Hill near Erdek.