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The incident at Petrich, named after the Bulgarian border town Petrich, which was shortly occupied by Greek forces, occurred on 22 October 1925. It allegedly started when a Greek soldier ran after his dog, which had strayed across the border from Macedonia; thus, it is some times speculatively referred as the War of the Stray Dog. The border was guarded by Bulgarian sentries, and one of them shot the Greek soldier. Given the tense political climate, escalation was inevitable; in response, the Greek dictatorial government under General Pangalos sent soldiers into Bulgaria and occupied Petrich, only to vacate the area a week later under the pressure of the League of Nations. Bulgaria ordered its troops to provide only token resistance, trusting the League of Nations to settle the dispute.
The League did indeed condemn the Greek invasion, and called for both Greek withdrawal and compensation to Bulgaria. Greece ceded to this demand and was imposed a fine of £45,000. Over 50 people were killed before Greece complied. Greece complained about the disparity between its treatment and that of Italy in the Corfu incident in 1923, when the Italian armed forces occupied the Greek island of Corfu in retaliation for the murder of Italian general Enrico Tellini while surveying the Greek border with Albania.
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