Harmanli massacre

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Harmanli massacre
Part of the
Adrianople Vilayet, Ottoman Empire
Result Massacre of 2,000-5,000 Muslim civilians
Belligerents Russia Russian Empire Ottoman Empire Ottoman Muslim refugeesCommanders and leaders Russia Mikhail SkobelevStrength Russia 10,000 Ottoman Empire 30,000 armed

Harmanli massacre or Battle of Harmanli (Bulgarian: Битка при Харманли) refers to the battle between Russian and Turkish forces and the ensuing mass death of Muslim civilians near Harmanli in early 1878,[1] during the Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878). Approximately 2,000 to 5,000 Muslim civilians were massacred.[2]

After

Adrianople and encountered this column in the vicinity of Harmanli
.

On 16–17 January 1878,[

which calendar?] a reconnaissance Russian squadron east of Harmanli encountered a large column of Turkish refugees, about 30,000 of them - armed, accompanied by scattered Ottoman army detachments. The front of the column consisted of regular Ottoman army detachments.[4]

On 17 January a Russian squadron entered Harmanli and let through the town's railroad station a train in which Ottoman generals travelled to peace talks with the Russian chief commander Nikolay Nikolayevich. Shortly after the train left Harmanli, Turks from the column set the railway bridge on the

Adrianople. Based on the Russian version of the events, upon approaching the column, the Russian forces were shot at by Turks hiding behind carts. During the Turks' flight, some of them encountered and burnt down the Christian village Devraliy. Based on the Turkish version of the events, the column was attacked by Russian troops. The column broke up and dispersed, the able-bodied portion of the caravan fled toward the mountains, the old, the sick and the very young who were left behind perished in the freezing weather.[3] The old men who remaining in the carts were massacred by the Russians. A group of Muslims were overtaken at Sarambey (present day Septemvri) by Russian troops who seized all of their possessions and carried off the young women.[1] The greater part of the caravan was also plundered by the Bulgarians of neighbouring villages, massacring the remaining refugees who were not strong enough to flee into the mountains.[3]

After the column's dispersing, the Russian commander General

Adrianople
.

See also

  • List of massacres in Bulgaria
  • Accounts and papers of the House of Commons, 1878, page 62
  • The Library magazine, 1880, page 141

References

  1. ^ a b c The Congress of Berlin and after, William Norton Medlicott, page 157
  2. ISBN 978-1-136-24317-2
    .
  3. ^ a b c d The Russian Army and Its Campaigns in Turkey in 1877-1878, F. V. Greene, page 360
  4. ^ http://www.runivers.ru/lib/book8944/479852/%7C "A collection of Materials on the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878 on the Balkans, 74th edition, Actions on the Southern Front 1–19 January 1878 (Advance to Adrianople and Constantinople), 1911"
  5. ^ http://www.runivers.ru/lib/book8944/479852/ | „A collection of Materials on the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878 on the Balkans, 74th edition, Actions on the Southern Front 1–19 January 1878 (Advance to Adrianople and Constantinople), 1911"

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