Wikipedia

Battle of Angitis

The Battle of Angista[3] was a battle between Bulgarian and Greek troops near the river and village of the same name, which took place on 23–24 May [O.S. 9–10 May] 1913. It was the largest armed clash between the still formal allies Bulgaria and Greece, immediately before the Second Balkan War. It ended with a strategic failure for the Greeks, who were pushed far from the lines of communication connecting the Bulgarian troops in Macedonia and Thrace. The political result was a further deterioration of relations between Sofia and Athens, which contributed to the rupture of the Balkan League and the outbreak of open war on 16 June of the same year.[7]

Battle of Angitis
Part of Second Balkan War

The area of Angitis, the location of the engagement c. 1900s
Date23–24 May [O.S. 9–10 May] 1913
Location
Angitis, modern day Greece
40°54′08″N 23°48′38″E / 40.9021°N 23.8105°E / 40.9021; 23.8105
Result
Belligerents
Kingdom of Greece Kingdom of Bulgaria
Commanders and leaders
Kingdom of Greece Eleftherios Venizelos Tsardom of Bulgaria (1908–1946) Ivan Geshov
Strength
Greek claims :
7,00[4]–8,00[4]
No artillery support[4]
Bulgarian claims :
1,200[5]–14,00[5]
4,000 militias[5]		 Greek claims :
8,00–900 supported by artillery[4]
Casualties and losses
Bulgarian claims :
300 killed[6]
300 prisoners[6]		 Bulgarian claims :
22 killed[6]
100 prisoners[6]
Battle of Angitis is located in Mediterranean
Battle of Angitis
Location within Mediterranean
Battle of Angitis is located in Greece
Battle of Angitis
Battle of Angitis (Greece)

Background

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In October 1912, during the First Balkan War, Bulgarians and Greeks jointly defeated the Ottoman forces in Eastern Macedonia. The Greek army entered Thessaloniki, while the Bulgarian army remained on its northern and eastern approaches.[8] As early as December, the two sides entered into a dispute over the distribution of the captured territories. Gradually, Greek troops began to push out the small Bulgarian units and seize territories of the established Macedonian Military Governorate.[9]

Prelude

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Bulgarian claims

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First Balkan war bulgarian army captured territoried c. 1913

To consolidate its control over Thessaloniki, the Greek army moved gradually north in early 1913, taking advantage of the fact that most Bulgarian troops had been transferred to fight the Ottoman army on the Gallipoli Peninsula. Sporadic armed incidents escalated on 20 February into a major clash at Nigrita, on the Struma River.[6] In April, Greek units landed near Levtera, east of the Struma, and from there advanced north, forcing the Bulgarians to withdraw from Pravishta. A Bulgarian unit was also attacked near Subotsko.[10] A mixed commission was tasked with drawing a demarcation line between the two countries, but the negotiations were ineffective and clashes increased. Fearing the loss of the port city of Kavala, after the armistice with the Ottomans on the Chataldzha and Bulair fronts, the Bulgarian command transferred reinforcements to the threatened area.[11][12]

In early May, the Bulgarian 2nd Army gradually took up positions between Orfano and Dojran. On 7 May , an order was received in Syar , where the army headquarters was located, from the deputy commander-in-chief, General Mihail Savov. The instructions to the army commander, General Nikola Ivanov, were to avoid provocations from the Greek side, given the uncertain diplomatic situation, but to hold both banks of the Struma firmly. This would greatly facilitate the Bulgarian offensive once the looming war began. In the same telegram, Ivanov was asked to seize the left bank of the Angista (Dramatitsa) River and to cover the nearby section of the Drama –Syar railway.[12][13]

Greek claims

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Greece during the First Balkan War c. 1912

During the negotiations to settle the conflict, the Greek side rejected the accusations that its troops were infiltrating foreign territory and in turn accused the Bulgarians of doing just that with their actions in the towns of Gumendze and Subotsko, north of Enidze Vardar. The Greeks claimed the area of Mount Kushnitsa, located between Orfano and Kavala, until then inhabited mainly by Turks and Greeks[14][15] on the grounds that they were the first to liberate it from the Turks.[16] Convinced that the Bulgarians would attempt to conquer the disputed territory by force and negotiate only afterwards, the Greeks attracted reinforcements to the area. The advance of the Bulgarian posts led to a series of skirmishes at the end of April (the beginning of May according to the new style) 21–22 April at Paleochori near Pravishta, on 25–26 April at the bridge near Valchishta, on 27 April between Tolyan and Levtera, where the Greek side suffered dozens of killed and wounded. These clashes were followed by a temporary truce, but on the night of 6–7 May the Bulgarians crossed the agreed border and advanced towards the village of Valchishta. This led to a decisive clash.[17][7]

Battle

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On May 8, a new skirmish broke out in the area of the Valchishta and Kuchukkyupry bridges south of the Chepelje railway station. After the commander of the Syar Brigade rejected the invitation to withdraw the Bulgarian outpost from the area, early in the morning of the next day, May 9, the Greek troops launched an offensive towards the bridges. On the Bulgarian side, the battle was mainly fought by newly formed and poorly trained units one regiment from the Syar Brigade, the 7th Supplementary Regiment and one detachment from the 7th Slow-Fire Artillery Regiment. The balance of power changed decisively in their favor when the 42nd Infantry Regiment, led by Tillou Kolev, accidentally passing from Kavala through Angista to its destination, joined the battle. The Greek troops (consisting of two regiments, joined by a third during the battle) were flanked and driven back several kilometers to the south.[18] By midnight on 9 May, the Bulgarians reached the line between Mount Isar and Doxambos on Lake Achinos.[19]

Aftermath

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Fearing that the Greeks and Serbs would use the events near Angista as a pretext for an attack, on 10 May the Bulgarian Prime Minister Ivan Evstratiev Geshov ordered General Savov to cease hostilities. According to their preliminary assignment from General Ivanov, the units of the Syar Brigade stopped their advance at advantageous defensive mountain positions. As a result of the battle and the subsequent armistice, the railway line to Syar was permanently secured.[20] The Greek Prime Minister Eleftherios Venizelos used the incident at Angista to present Bulgaria to the major European powers as an aggressor and thus gain a diplomatic advantage in the dispute over Thessaloniki.[12] According to Bulgarian accounts, in the battle at Angista, the Bulgarians suffered 22 killed, 100 captured and 330 wounded, while the Greeks suffered 300 killed and captured and 550 wounded.[12]

See also

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Reference

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  1. ↑ Ivanov 1925, p. 14–18.
  2. ↑ Price 1914, p. 212–217.
  3. 1 2 Terzieva 2019, p. 14.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Price 1914, p. 206.
  5. 1 2 3 Sofia 1941, p. 74.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 Markov, Georgi (1989). "3.2". Bulgaria in the Balkan League against the Ottoman Empire, 1912–1913 (in Bulgarian). Sofia: Nauka i Izkustvo.
  7. 1 2 Hall 2000, p. 99.
  8. ↑ Markov, Georgi (1989). "1.4". Bulgaria in the Balkan Union against the Ottoman Empire, 1912–1913 (in Bulgarian). Sofia: Nauka i Izkustvo.
  9. ↑ Markov, Georgi (1989). "2.4". Bulgaria in the Balkan League against the Ottoman Empire, 1912–1913 (in Bulgarian). Sofia: Nauka i Izkustvo.
  10. ↑ Genov 1969, p. 161.
  11. ↑ Markov, Georgi (1989). "4.3". Bulgaria in the Balkan Union against the Ottoman Empire, 1912–1913 (in Bulgarian). Sofia: Nauka i Izkustvo.
  12. 1 2 3 4 Markov, Georgi (1989). "4.4". Bulgaria in the Balkan League against the Ottoman Empire, 1912–1913 (in Bulgarian). Sofia: Nauka i Izkustvo.
  13. ↑ Ivanov 1925, p. 14–15.
  14. ↑ Kanchov, p. 181.
  15. ↑ Kanchov, p. 200.
  16. ↑ Price 1914, p. 212–215.
  17. ↑ Price 1914, p. 216–217.
  18. ↑ Price 1914, p. 217.
  19. ↑ Ivanov 1925, p. 16–17.
  20. ↑ Ivanov 1925, p. 17–18.

Sources

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