Battle of Pente Pigadia
Battle of Pente Pigadia | |
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Part of the 39°23′N 20°55′E / 39.383°N 20.917°E | |
Result | Greek victory |
222 wounded
The Battle of Pente Pigadia or Battle of Beshpinar (Greek: Μάχη των Πέντε Πηγαδιών; Turkish: Beşpınar Muharebesi), took place on 22–30 October (O.S.), 1912. It was fought between Greek forces under Lieutenant General Konstantinos Sapountzakis and Ottoman forces under General Esad Pasha during the First Balkan War. The battle began when the Ottomans attacked Greek positions at Anogi. Early snowfall prevented the Ottomans from launching a big offensive, while the Greeks managed to hold their ground for six days in the ensuing series of skirmishes.
Background
Following the conclusion of the
The climax of this effort was the invitation in 1911 of a
After being informed of a Serbo-Bulgarian alliance, Venizelos ordered his ambassador in Sofia to prepare a Greco-Bulgarian defense agreement by 14 April 1912. This was due to fears that should Greece fail to participate in a future war against the Ottomans it would be unable to capture the Greek majority areas of Macedonia. The treaty was signed on 15 July 1912, with the two countries agreeing to assist each other in case of a defensive war and to safeguard the rights of Christian populations in Ottoman-held Macedonia, thus joining the loose Balkan League alliance with Serbia, Montenegro and Bulgaria. Fearing a new war in the Balkans, the Ottomans mobilized their armed forces on 14 September and began transferring units to Thrace; the Balkan League responded in kind.[7] On 30 September, the League presented the Ottomans with a list of demands regarding the rights of its Christian population. The Ottoman Empire rebuffed the demands, recalled its ambassadors in Sofia, Belgrade and Athens and expelled the League's negotiators on 4 October. The League declared war against the Ottomans, while Montenegro had already began military operations on 25 September.[8]
Prelude
Greece dispatched the
The Yanya Fortified Area included two major fortresses, those of Bizani and Kastritsa, guarding the main southern approaches, along with five smaller forts in a ring around the city, covering the western and northwestern approaches. The terrain south of Yanya provided excellent defensive ground, as all the roads leading to the city could be observed from Bizani. The Ottomans had augmented their defenses with permanent fortifications, constructed under the guidance of German General Rüdiger von der Goltz. These were equipped with concrete artillery emplacements, bunkers, trenches, barbed wire, searchlights and machine gun positions.[11][12]
The Army of Epirus crossed the bridge of Arta into Ottoman territory at midday 6 October, capturing the Gribovo heights by the end of the day. On 9 October, the Ottomans counterattacked initiating the Battle of Gribovo, on the night of 10–11 October the Greeks were pushed back towards Arta. After regrouping the following day, the Greek army went on the offensive once again finding the Ottoman positions abandoned and capturing Filippiada. On 19 October, the Army of Epirus launched an attack on Preveza in conjunction with the Ionian squadron of the Greek Navy; taking the city on 21 October.[13]
Following the fall of Preveza, Esad Pasha transferred his headquarters to the old
Battle
At 10:30 a.m. on 22 October, Ottoman artillery began bombarding the Greek positions while an Ottoman force consisting of five battalions deployed on the western Greek flank around Anogeio. Fierce clashes followed after a series of Ottoman assaults which reached their peak around midday. Hostilities ceased in the afternoon without any territorial changes, Greek casualties amounted to four killed and two wounded.[15]
At 10:00 a.m. on 23 October, an Ottoman battalion coming from the direction of Aetorachi launched a surprise attack on Height 1495 of Briaskovo aiming to break into the rear of the Army of Epirus. The 1st and 3rd Companies of the 10th Evzone Battalion and the 2nd Company of the 3rd Evzone Battalion managed to hold their ground. They then forced the Ottomans to abandon their dead and wounded after launching a successful counter-attack. Ottoman attacks on Anogeio were likewise repulsed, while the Ottoman push on the eastern Greek flank was halted due to the harsh terrain in the area.[16]
Early snowfall prevented the Ottomans from carrying out a large scale attack, while the Greeks held their ground in a series of clashes that lasted until 30 October.[17] Upon halting their offensive the Ottomans withdrew to the village of Pesta.[18] Greek casualties in the battle of Pente Pigadia numbered 26 dead and 222 wounded.[17]
Aftermath
No major operations took place in the vicinity of Yanya until the Battle of Driskos, on 26 November. This action marked the defeat of the Greek Metsovo Detachment by a numerically superior and better equipped Ottoman force.[13] Following the conclusion of the Greek campaign in Macedonia, the Army of Epirus received considerable reinforcements. This enabled it to capture the Yanya Fortified Area in the aftermath of the Battle of Bizani (19–21 February 1913).[19]
By May 1913, the numerically inferior Ottomans had suffered a series of serious defeats to the League's armies on all fronts. The League had captured most of the Ottoman Empire's European territories and its forces were rapidly approaching
Notes
- Footnotes
- Old Stylewhich is 13 days before New Style.
- Citations
- ^ Klapsis 2009, pp. 127–131.
- ^ Kargakos 2012, pp. 19–21.
- ^ a b Katsikostas 2014, pp. 5–6.
- ^ Hooton 2014, p. 65.
- ^ Katsikostas 2014, p. 12.
- ^ Veremis 1976, p. 115.
- ^ Kargakos 2012, pp. 26–29.
- ^ Kargakos 2012, pp. 35–38.
- ^ Kargakos 2012, pp. 106–108.
- ^ Oikonomou 1977, pp. 302–303.
- ^ Erickson 2003, p. 227.
- ^ Hall 2000, pp. 62–64.
- ^ a b Oikonomou 1977, pp. 304–305.
- ^ Kargakos 2012, p. 114.
- ^ a b Hellenic Army General Staff 1991, p. 31.
- ^ Hellenic Army General Staff 1991, p. 32.
- ^ a b Oikonomou 1977, p. 304.
- ^ Kargakos 2012, p. 115.
- ^ Erickson 2003, p. 304.
- ^ Svolopoulos 1977, pp. 330–332.
References
- Erickson, Edward (2003). Defeat in Detail: The Ottoman Army in the Balkans, 1912-1913. Westport: Praeger. ISBN 978-0-275-97888-4.
- Hall, Richard (2000). The Balkan Wars, 1912–1913: Prelude to the First World War. London: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-22946-3.
- Hellenic Army General Staff (1991). Ιστορία των Βαλκανικών Πολέμων 1912-1913 [History of the Balkan Wars] (in Greek). Vol. 2. Athens: Hellenic Army General Staff, Army History Directorate.
- Hooton, Edward (2014). Prelude to the First World War: The Balkan Wars 1912-1913. Stroud: Fonthill Media. ISBN 978-1781551806.
- Kargakos, Sarandos (2012). Η Ελλάς κατά τους Βαλκανικούς Πολέμους (1912-1913) [Greece in the Balkan Wars (1912-1913)] (in Greek). Athens: Peritechnon. ISBN 978-960-8411-26-5.
- Katsikostas, Dimitrios (2014). "Η αναδιοργάνωση των ενόπλων δυνάμεων και το έργο της γαλλικής στρατιωτικής αποστολής Eydoux" [The Reorganization of the Armed Forces and the Efforts of the French Military Mission of Eydoux] (PDF) (in Greek). Hellenic Army History Directorate. Retrieved 13 November 2019.
- Klapsis, Antonis (2009). "Between the Hammer and the Anvil. The Cyprus Question and the Greek Foreign Policy from the Treaty of Lausanne to the 1931 Revolt". Modern Greek Studies Yearbook. 24: 127–140. Retrieved 9 April 2020.
- Oikonomou, Nikolaos (1977). "Ο Α′ Βαλκανικός Πόλεμος: Οι επιχειρήσεις του ελληνικού στρατού και στόλου" [The First Balkan War: Operations of the Greek army and fleet]. In Christopoulos, Georgios A. & Bastias, Ioannis K. (eds.). Ιστορία του Ελληνικού Έθνους, Τόμος ΙΔ΄: Νεώτερος Ελληνισμός από το 1881 έως το 1913 [History of the Greek Nation, Volume XIV: Modern Hellenism from 1881 to 1913] (in Greek). Athens: Ekdotiki Athinon. pp. 289–326. ISBN 978-960-213-110-7.
- Svolopoulos, Konstantinos (1977). "Η Συνθήκη του Λονδίνου" [The Treaty of London]. In Christopoulos, Georgios A. & Bastias, Ioannis K. (eds.). Ιστορία του Ελληνικού Έθνους, Τόμος ΙΔ΄: Νεώτερος Ελληνισμός από το 1881 έως το 1913 [History of the Greek Nation, Volume XIV: Modern Hellenism from 1881 to 1913] (in Greek). Athens: Ekdotiki Athinon. pp. 330–334. ISBN 978-960-213-110-7.
- Veremis, Thanos (1976). "The Officer Corps in Greece (1912–1936)". Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies. 2 (1). Routledge: 113–133. ISSN 0307-0131.