Battle of Adrianople (1913)

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Battle of Odrin
Part of First Balkan War
Siege artillery arriving before Adrianople, 3 November 1912
Date 11–13 March, 1913 Location Odrin, Turkey Result Decisive Serbo-Bulgarian victory
Belligerents
Bulgaria	Ottoman Empire
Commanders
General Nikola Ivanov (2nd Army) General Georgi Vazov (2nd Army,eastern sector) Vojvojda Stepa Stepanović (2 divisions the 2nd Army staff)	Shukri Pasha
Strength
120,000 Bulgarians[1] 40,000 Serbs[1]	75,000[1]
Casualties and losses
Bulgarians: 1298 killed, 6,655 wounded[1] Serbs: 274 killed, 1,173 wounded[1]	ca. 7,000 killed, Captured: 65,000 soldiers, 15 generals, 2,000 officers, 600 cannons, 16 flags [2][1]

v • d • e Battles Sarantaporo - Giannitsa - Kumanovo - Kirk Kilisse - Pente Pigadia - Prilep - Lule-Burgas - Vevi - Bitola - Kaliakra - Elli - Bulair - Şarköy - Adrianople - Lemnos - Bizani - Siege of Shkoder

The Battle of Adrianople, Siege of Adrianople, Bulgarian Battle of Odrin (Битка при Одрин) or Serbian Bitka za Jedrene (Битка за Једрене) during the First Balkan War began in mid-November, 1912 and ended on March 26, 1913 with the capture of Adrianople by the Bulgarian 2nd Army.

The victors were under the overall command of General Nikola Ivanov, and the commander of the Bulgarian forces on the Eastern sector of the fortress was General Georgi Vazov, brother of the famous Bulgarian writer Ivan Vazov and General Vladimir Vazov.

One of the first known uses of an airplane for bombing took place during the siege: the Bulgarians dropped special hand grenades from one or more airplanes in an effort to cause panic among Turkish soldiers.

The final battle consisted of three night attacks. During the first two nights the first and the second belts of external fortifications were captured, and during the third night the fortress itself. Preparations for the battle included covering with tissue of all "shining" parts of the soldiers' uniforms (to reduce visibility of buttons, for example) and of the horses' hooves (to diminish noise). The several armies that took part in the siege were put under joint command, creating a prototype of a front. Some light artillery pieces towed by horses followed the advancing units, playing the role of infantry support guns. Attempts were made to perturb radio communications of the besieged.

Serbian units involved were the 2nd army under command of general (later vojvoda, equivalent to Field Marshal) Stepa Stepanović (two divisions and some support units) and heavy artillery (38 siege cannons and howitzers of 120 and 150mm purchased from French Schneider-Canet factory in 1908) dispatched because the Bulgarians lacked heavy artillery (though they were well supplied with Krupp-designed 75mm field artillery).

[edit] See also

• Zang Tumb Tumb, a poem about the battle

[edit] External links

• David Johnson (August 1997). "Splendid Fellows, Splendidly Led". Military History magazine (vol. 14 issue 3). Archived from the original on 2001-08-22. Retrieved on 2007-06-02.

[edit] Footnotes