Battle of Kirk Kilisse - Misplaced Pages

(Redirected from Battle of Kirk Kelesse) 1912 battle of the First Balkan War

Battle of Kirk Kilise

Date	22–24 October 1912
Location	Kırk Kilise District, Adrianople Vilayet, Ottoman Empire (now Kırklareli, Turkey)41°44′05″N 27°13′31″E / 41.73472°N 27.22528°E / 41.73472; 27.22528
Result	Bulgarian victory

Belligerents

Bulgaria

Ottoman Empire

Commanders and leaders

Radko Dimitriev

Ivan Fichev

Mahmud Muhtar Pasha (WIA)

Abdullah Pasha

Strength

153,745 men

98,326 men

Casualties and losses

887 killed, 4,034 wounded and 824 missing

1,500 killed and wounded,
2,000–3,000 prisoners
58 artillery captured

v t e First Balkan War
Bulgarian Front Kardzhali Kirk Kilisse Lule Burgas Merhamli Kaliakra 1st Çatalca Bulair Şarköy Adrianople 2nd Çatalca Serbian and Montenegrin front Kumanovo Lumë Prilep Monastir Scutari Greek front Lemnos Island Sarantaporo Yenidje Pente Pigadia Sorovich Himara Lesbos Chios Driskos Elli Korytsa Lemnos Bizani

First Balkan War

Bulgarian Front

Serbian and Montenegrin front

Greek front

The Battle of Kirk Kilisse or Battle of Kirklareli or Battle of Lozengrad was part of the First Balkan War between the armies of Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire. It took place on 24 October 1912, when the Bulgarian army defeated an Ottoman army in Eastern Thrace and occupied Kırklareli.

The initial clashes were around several villages to the north of the town. The Bulgarian attacks were irresistible and the Ottoman forces were forced to retreat. On 10 October the Ottoman army threatened to split 1st and 3rd Bulgarian armies but it was quickly stopped by a charge by 1st Sofian and 2nd Preslav brigades. After bloody fighting along the whole town front the Ottomans began to pull back and on the next morning Kırk Kilise (Lozengrad) was in Bulgarian hands. The Muslim Turkish population of the town was expelled and fled eastwards towards Constantinople.

After the victory, the French minister of war Alexandre Millerand stated that the Bulgarian Army was the best in Europe and that he would prefer 100,000 Bulgarians for allies than any other European army.

References

^ Министерство на войната (1928), p. 204
^ Necdet Hayta, Togay S. Birbudak, Balkan Savaşları'nda Edirne, Genelkurmay Basımevi, Ankara, 2010, page 23.
Edward J. Erickson, Defeat in detail: the Ottoman Army in the Balkans, 1912–1913 , Greenwood Publishing Group, 2003, ISBN 978-0-275-97888-4, p. 86, 181.
В. Мир, № 3684, 15. X. 1912.

Sources

Министерство на войната, Щаб на войската (1928). Войната между България и Турция, vol. II. Държавна печатница, София.

v t e Ottoman battles in the 20th century
Italo-Turkish War (1911–1912)	Preveza Tobruk Benghazi Kunfuda Bay Derna Beirut Rhodes Zanzur
Balkan Wars (1912–1913)	Sarantaporo Yenidje Kırcalı (Kardzhali) Beşpınar (Pente Pigadia) Sorovich Kumanovo Kirk Kilise İşkodra (Scutari) Lüleburgaz 1st Edirne (Adrianople) Prilep Himara Monastir 1st Çatalca Varna (Kaliakra) Merhamli İmroz (Elli) Korytsa Lemnos 2nd Edirne (Adrianople) Bolayır Şarköy Bizani 2nd Çatalca
First World War (1914–1918)	Köprüköy (Bergmann) Sarikamish Ardahan Suez Canal Naval operations Katya Seddülbayır (Cape Helles) Kumkale 1st Arıburnu (Anzac Cove) Baby 700 1st Kirte Battle of Dilman 2nd Arıburnu (2nd Anzac Cove) 2nd Kirte No.3 Post 3rd Arıburnu (3rd Anzac Cove) 3rd Kirte Zığındere Manzikert Kara Killisse Kirte Bağları (Krithia Vineyard) Kanlısırt (Lone Pine) Anafartalar Conkbayır Sarıbayır Kılıçbayır (The Nek) Hill 60 Yusufçuktepe (Scimitar Hill) Selman’ı Pak (Ctesiphon) 1st Kut Sağ Sahil Erzurum offensive Wadi Felahiye (Hanna) Sabis Trebizond Mecca Erzincan Aqaba Bitlis Romani Bir el Abd Yanbu Magdhaba Rafa Nekhl Bir el Hassana 2nd Kut Samarrah Jebel Hamlin 1st Gaza 2nd Gaza Istabulat Aqaba Ramadi Wadi Musa Beersheba Khuweilfe 3rd Gaza Baghdad Hareira and Sheria Wadi el Hesi Huj Mughar Ridge Ayun Kara Jerusalem Jaffa Jericho Tell 'Asur Khan Baghdadi Hijla 1st Amman Berukin and 1st Arara 2nd Transjordan Abaran Sardarabad Karakilisa Goychay Aghsu Kurdamir Binagadi Baku Arsuf German Expedition Abu Tellul 2nd Arara Megiddo Tabsor Tulkarm Afulah and Beisan Nazareth Jenin Haifa Samakh Tiberias Irbid Jisr Benat Yakub Kaukab Damascus Kiswe Jisr ed Damieh Sharqat Aleppo Khan Ayash 2nd Amman Haritan
For the battles before 1900 see List of battles involving the Ottoman Empire

v t e Balkan Wars
Background	Nationalism in the Ottoman Empire Albanian Bulgarian Greek Serbian Congress of Berlin Annexation of Eastern Rumelia Serbo-Bulgarian War Greco-Turkish War of 1897 Cretan State IMRO & Ilinden–Preobrazhenie Uprising Macedonian Struggle Young Turk Revolution Bosnian Crisis Bulgarian Independence 31 March Incident Goudi coup Italo-Turkish War Albanian revolt of 1912 Balkan League
First Balkan War
Battles	Sarantaporo Kardzhali Pente Pigadia Sorovich Kumanovo Kirk Kilisse Scutari Lule Burgas Yenidje Adrianople Prilep Himara Monastir First Çatalca Kaliakra Merhamli Driskos Elli Korytsa Lemnos Bulair Şarköy Bizani Second Çatalca
Diplomacy and politics	London Conference Albanian Independence 1913 Ottoman coup d'état Treaty of London
Second Balkan War
Battles	Kilkis–Lachanas Doiran Bregalnica Knjaževac Kalimanci Kresna Gorge Southern Dobruja Romanian landings in Bulgaria Vidin Pirot
Diplomacy and politics	Greek–Serbian Alliance Provisional Government of Western Thrace Treaty of Bucharest Treaty of Constantinople Treaty of Athens
Other	1913 Romanian Army cholera outbreak
General
Aftermath	Autonomy of Northern Epirus Greco-Turkish crisis of 1914 Sarajevo Assassination and World War I Ottoman–Bulgarian alliance Balkans campaign of WWI Serbian campaign Macedonian front
Atrocities	Carnegie Commission Massacres of Albanians Bulgarians deportation program Massacres of Civilians Initial phase of the Greek genocide Places burned down
Participants	Bulgaria Ferdinand I Ivan Geshov Stoyan Danev Mihail Savov Ivan Fichev Vasil Kutinchev Nikola Ivanov Radko Dimitriev Stiliyan Kovachev Georgi Todorov Greece George I Constantine I Eleftherios Venizelos Panagiotis Danglis Pavlos Kountouriotis Konstantinos Sapountzakis Viktor Dousmanis Montenegro Nicholas I Crown Prince Danilo Janko Vukotić Ottoman Empire Mehmed V Nazim Pasha Zeki Pasha Esad Pasha Kölemen Abdullah Pasha Ali Rıza Pasha Hasan Tahsin Pasha Enver Bey Ahmed Izzet Pasha Romania Carol I Crown Prince Ferdinand Alexandru Averescu Serbia Peter I Crown Prince Alexander Radomir Putnik Petar Bojović Stepa Stepanović Božidar Janković Other Balkan states: Albania (Ismail Kemal)
Category

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