The day after Bulgaria, Serbia and Greece declared war, they successively sent out their already prepared troops and crossed the borders to advance towards the Ottoman territory.
Among them, the Bulgarian army consists of three armies as the main group in the direction of Istanbul. The main force of Serbia (three armies) is to deal with the Ottoman army group in Macedonia. The Greek Fusalia Army and the Epirus Army are respectively preparing to deal with Saloni.
The Greek navy is preparing to take action against the Ottoman navy to ensure the Balkan Alliance's sea control in the Mediterranean. The task of the Montenegrin army is to cooperate with the Serbian army to fight in Macedonia. The Balkan Alliance army has formed an encirclement situation against the Ottoman army and is preparing to
Defeat Ottoman armies in Europe before reinforcements could arrive.
For this war, the Balkan Alliance mobilized nearly 700,000 troops from the beginning, of which Bulgaria mobilized 300,000 troops and Serbia mobilized 220,000 troops. Greece mobilized 120,000 troops and Montenegro mobilized 35,000 troops. And the other part of the war
The Ottoman Empire on one side had 350,000 troops in European territories.
In terms of military strength, the Balkan countries basically have two soldiers against one Ottoman Empire soldier, so the idea of the Balkan countries is to quickly rush in, divide and outflank the Ottoman army, without giving him a chance to wait for reinforcements in the European territory.
The first large-scale battle took place near the town of Kumanovo in northern Macedonia in the Ottoman Empire.
On October 19, the Serbian 1st Army crossed the border and advanced southward into the territory of the Ottoman Empire. The Serbian Cavalry Division served as the left wing guard of the Serbian Army. The commander of this war against the Ottoman Army was General Putnik, the Chief of General Staff.
General Putnik was born in Kragujevac, the son of a middle school teacher. He was educated at the Serbian Artillery Academy. He was appointed second lieutenant in 1866 and participated in the 1876 war against Turkey. Although Serbia
Although he was defeated in the Battle of Alexei and the Junis area in October, he became famous for his outstanding performance. After the outbreak of the Tenth Russo-Turkish War in 1877-1878, he participated in the counterattack with the Russian army.
In 1885, he participated in the unfortunate war against Bulgaria as chief of staff of the division, and suffered heavy losses in the battles of Slivnica and Pietro in November. He graduated from the Army Staff College in 1889. He was steadily promoted to general, and in 1903 he was appointed
Chief of Staff, three times Minister of War (1904-1905; 1906-1908; 1912). In order to save Serbia from the trauma experienced in its early years, he worked to improve the professional skills of the Serbian army, improve its weaponry and training
.Under his leadership, the Serbian army became a well-equipped (relative to other Balkan countries), technologically advanced, and highly morale force.
In his army headquarters, General Putnik was looking at the military map and issuing orders to his staff officers.
"Send a message to the Third Army and ask them to speed up their march and get to Mitrossee as soon as possible to cover our flanks."
After receiving the order from General Putnik, the staff officer stood upright with his legs, performed a military salute and said, "I obey, Chief of General Staff."
Seeing the departing staff, General Putnik was quite satisfied with the marching speed of the current First Army. The First Army, composed of 110,000 people, is now the main force of Serbia in this war. On their right is Bulgaria.
The 7th Army has nearly 50,000 troops, and on the left is its own 3rd Army with 50,000 troops. Their goal is to annihilate the Ottoman Empire's garrison in Macedonia. But they did not expect Zeki Pasha's Varda Army to be there.
They were prepared for this, and they were ready in the town of Kumanovo.
Three days later, the 1st Army's forward 4th Division encountered Zeki Pasha's Warda Army, which consisted of Kara-Sayyid Pasha's 5th Army, Dij Pasha's 6th Army, and Foti Pasha's 3rd Army.
It consists of seven armies. Three armies are located east, north and northwest of the Macedonian town of Kumanovo. The Turkish army has a total of about 58,000 people, which is about half of the attacking Serbian army.
"Our forward Fourth Division encountered the main force of the Ottoman Empire's Macedonian Army in the town of Kumanovo."
A major staff officer took a telegram of encountering Ottoman troops in the town of Kumanovo and hurried forward to report to General Putnik.
"Show it to me."
General Putnik received the telegram and read it. In this report, the 2nd Division stated that they were attacked by 50,000 troops of the Ottoman Empire and were now requesting support for defensive operations.
The size of the Ottoman army was a surprise to General Putnik, the Chief of Staff of the Serbian Army. He did not expect to encounter a large Ottoman army so early in this war, nor did he expect that a major battle would be far away in Turkey.
A small town in the north kicked off.
General Putnik quickly found the location of the town of Kumanovo on the military map. Looking at the map, he muttered, "How dare you fight back here? You don't take our Serbian army seriously."
There is a reason why he said this, because on the military map the Ottoman army was fighting near Kumanovo, and the entire Ottoman army was under the threat of the Serbian Third Army and the Bulgarian Second Army, and could easily be cut off and surrounded.
"Now I command."
Following the order from Chief of General Staff Putnik, all staff officers in the headquarters put down their work and quietly listened to his orders.
"The telegram ordered the Fourth Division to stay on the spot and wait for reinforcements. The other divisions of the First Army rushed to the town of Kumanovo at full speed. After arriving at the destination, they quickly entangled their troops. At the same time, power was sent to the Third Army and the Bulgarian Second Army.
Report the situation we encountered in Kumanovo. Ask them to penetrate behind as soon as possible and I will annihilate them all."
After finishing speaking, General Putnik felt that it was not enough, so he punched the military map. The location where he was hit was the town of Kumanovo.
After receiving the telegram from Commander Putnik, all the divisions of the First Army accelerated their march and rushed to Kumanovo. The Serbian Third Army and the Bulgarian Second Army also accelerated their pace, striving to reach the scheduled location as soon as possible to encircle this unit.
The Ottoman army. All units were mobilized for a time.
At the focus of the battlefield, in the headquarters of the Serbian 4th Division, which was being besieged by the Ottoman Empire, the staff were busy, and various maps were hung on the walls of the room. Division Commander Miller Seroch, wearing the uniform of a major general,
In one corner, he was looking at the telegram sent to him by Chief of General Staff Putnik.
"Report."
An orderly soldier whose military uniform still smelled of gunpowder smoke interrupted the division commander's train of thought.
"speak."
Division Commander Mileshevich put down the telegram in his hand and said to the messenger.
"I am Nickelvino, the messenger of the third regiment of the right-wing position. We were attacked by tens of thousands of Ottoman troops. We suffered heavy casualties and the field telephone could not be reached. Our regiment leader Jabik sent me to ask for support."
After hearing the words of the messenger, Division Commander Mileshevich turned his head and looked at a young captain wearing a military uniform with an engineer logo on his epaulettes.
"Captain Velost, why haven't you engineers checked the phone lines yet?"
The company commander of the division's engineer company complained to Division Commander Mileshevich. "We are investigating. The lines of the third regiment have been blown up three times, and we have lost seven maintenance engineers."
Hearing the complaints from his engineer company commander, Commander Mileshevich still said with determination. "I don't care about that. You must ensure that the phone lines are open, even if the engineer company is dead."
After hearing the division commander's resolute order, Captain Velost had no choice but to comply. After paying a military salute to the division commander Mileshevich, he went out and arranged for his subordinates to check the phone line again.
After giving the order to the engineer company commander, Division Commander Mileshevich picked up a field phone and said to the communications staff officer, "Get me to the headquarters of the fourth regiment."
The fourth regiment is the reserve team of their fourth division. Now that the front line is tight, of course the reserve team must be sent for reinforcements.
After a while, the communications staff contacted the Fourth Regiment, and Division Commander Mileshevich said loudly into the phone, "Is this Lieutenant Colonel Badanvik of the Fourth Regiment?"
A voice came from the other end of the phone: "Yes."
I heard that it was Badanvik, the commander of the fourth regiment, and the division commander Mileshevic was giving orders loudly into the phone. "I am the division commander Mileshevic. Now I order you to immediately send a battalion to reinforce the right wing."
Commander Jabik’s third regiment.”
The commander of the Badanvik regiment on the other end of the phone immediately responded. "Yes, division commander, I will immediately send a battalion to reinforce the third left-wing regiment."
After making the phone call, Commander Mileshevich said to the messenger of the third regiment, "You can go back and resume your duties now. I have sent a battalion for reinforcements."
On the position of the third regiment waiting for reinforcements, a wave of offensives by the Ottoman army had just ended. Porosnillo, a soldier of the fifth company of the second battalion, finally relaxed his tense nerves and breathed a long sigh of relief. He put down the Mosin in his hand.
Nagant rifled out a roasted and cold potato from his dirty pocket and ate it. Three months ago, he would not have had any interest in this kind of roasted potato, but now he felt that it was in his hand.
This potato is more delicious than steak.
Porosnillo was born in a good family. His father was a doctor in the town, and his mother was the daughter of a businessman. Because his father was a skilled doctor, his wife and children at home did not have to worry about life, and Porosnillo received a good education since he was a child.
, thanks to the teachings of his mother. Later, he went to middle school in Belgrade, the capital, and planned to enter college in two years. As a result, he was encouraged by his classmates while studying, and joined the army with them, and was sent to the fifth company as a first officer.
A soldier. When he was sent here, because of his better family conditions, he was not used to the life in the military camp. However, seeing that he is eating cold potatoes with relish now, we know that he is used to the life in the military camp.
Just as he finished eating the cold potatoes in his hand, he heard other soldiers shouting, "Shells."
Porosnillo quickly crouched down in the trench and opened his mouth wide to avoid the bombardment.
"Boom~boom~boom~boom."
The Ottoman artillery fired a large number of shells into the Serbian army's position. For a while, dust flew up and the air was filled with a thick smell of gunpowder smoke. Many unlucky people lost their lives in this shelling, but Porosnilo was relatively lucky.
, apart from making myself disfigured, there was not even a small wound.
"Bah~bah~bah."
After a burst of shelling, Porosnillo spat out the dirt in his mouth.
The comrade next to him shouted, "The Ottomans are coming up again."
"Aren't these damn Ottomans tired?" Porosnillo complained, picked up the gun next to him and started to engage in the intense battle.
At the starting position of the Ottoman army, Zeki Pasha, the commander of the Varda Army, was observing the effect of the attack with a telescope. The Ottoman army was seen lining up in skirmish lines to attack, while the Serbian army was launching attacks in the trenches.
Counterattack. In the fierce counterattack of the Serbian army, the Ottoman army also suffered heavy casualties. Perhaps because the commander was observing the situation from behind, the commander of the Ottoman army did not order a retreat, but sent another wave of army reinforcements. After the two waves of Ottoman troops,
With the combined efforts, they finally broke into the third regiment's position, and for a while a fierce hand-to-hand combat took place on the position.
When Zeki Pasha saw this, he praised it and said, "Well done."
Just then a Serbian reinforcement force arrived, and the Ottoman army was driven out of their position without warning.
In the position of the third regiment of the Serb Army, Porosnillo was lying on the ground. He was injured and a medical soldier was bandaging him next to him. He was stabbed in the abdomen by an Ottoman soldier. Fortunately, he reacted quickly and avoided it by turning sideways.
The key point is that he only suffered from flesh and skin pain but not internal organs. He needs to lie down in the hospital for a while to recover. After the medical soldiers bandaged him, he was carried on a stretcher and will be sent to the field hospital behind. The medical soldiers treated his injuries
After that, he was busy treating other wounded people.
This time the Ottoman army's attack caused the third regiment to lose 614 people, but the Ottoman army did not fare well either. Their losses were even greater, reaching 1,153 people.
This time the commander, General Drummonsuk, stepped forward with a gloomy face and said to the commander-in-chief Zeki Pasha who was observing the battle. "I'm sorry, commander-in-chief, I still failed."
Hearing the self-blame of his capable subordinate, Zeki Pasha looked at him with a smile and said. "It doesn't matter, General Drummonsuk. We failed this time. We will find it again next time. No one can always do it on the battlefield."
victory."
Hearing that his boss didn't mean to blame him, Drummonsuk also sighed secretly. He planned to summarize the process of this battle to avoid making mistakes again.
After Zeki Pasha left the front line and returned to his headquarters, he said to his subordinates and staff. "You guys go down, I want to think for myself."
After hearing his order, the staff members left the room one after another. After seeing no one around, Zeki Pasha's face collapsed. He didn't want to do it at all by moving the army to northern Macedonia to attack first. In his opinion,
The purpose of the defense of northern Macedonia is to block the Balkan Alliance troops at the national border. This idea is good but unrealistic. The Balkan countries have twice the military strength of the Ottoman European garrison. Defending at the national border can only be defeated by their superior forces one by one. It is completely
Reinforcements from Asian armies cannot be delayed.
Moreover, the strategy of attacking first has serious flaws, because the army lacks sufficient training, and its subordinate officers also lack the ability to lead troops, and are unable to organize and implement a successful attack. This has been shown in today's battle. This is still a matter of money.
Yes, there is nothing he can do if the military funds are not enough.
In his opinion, the army should be transferred to Bitola in the south for fortification, where they can use the resources of Albania (the only region in Albania that supports the Ottoman Empire) and be able to sustain it for a while, and at least win it from Anna.
It was time for Tolia to bring in reinforcements. However, he had to obey the orders of Nizam Pasha, the commander-in-chief of the Turkish army, so he could only choose a relatively good town of Kumanovo to launch the offensive.
"Fight for another day, and if it still doesn't work, retreat." Zeki Pasha secretly made a decision in his heart.
On the battlefield, the Ottoman soldiers were still fighting with the Serbian soldiers. Every time they fought, many fresh lives were ended. The Ottoman army did not make much progress until dark, and they could only fight again tomorrow. Zeki Pasha
Little did he know that the time he calculated was wrong, and he himself would have to pay for this mistake.
That night, Serbian troops began to arrive one after another. They brought a large number of battlefield artillery to the Fourth Division. Because it was night, the Serbian army did not launch an attack immediately.
Early the next morning, after breakfast, the Ottoman army began to prepare for the attack. The artillery was still the first to fire. However, this time the Serbian position also had a large number of artillery of its own. For a while, the artillery from both sides came and went at each other.
This made Zeki Pasha feel a little strange in his heart.
During the artillery battle between the two sides, the Ottoman Army still launched an attack on the Serbian army's position. For a time, gunpowder smoke filled the air in front of the Serbian position, and soldiers from both sides fought together. Many Ottoman officers felt that Serbia's defense intensity had increased a lot today, and the Serbian army
The number of military counterattacks was also increasing, which surprised them.
Of course, Zeki Pasha, their commander-in-chief, also knew about this situation, but he believed that this was because the Serbian army was arriving one after another. He could only increase the intensity of the attack and invest more troops to suppress the Serbian army's counterattack.
However, after increasing the investment in troops, the Serbian army's counterattack continued, which made Zeki Pasha know that something was wrong. At this time, the Serbian army's artillery relied on more cannons and more sophisticated technology to completely suppress the Ottoman army's artillery.
.
At this time, the Serbian army began to counterattack. The Ottoman army was caught off guard and retreated to the starting position. However, these Serbian troops had no intention of stopping and directly launched a fierce attack on the Ottoman army. The Ottoman position was in danger of being attacked.
.
Zeki Pasha knew that as the commander-in-chief, he had to come up with countermeasures. He ordered the staff around him: "Let the reserve militia go up."
He planned to strengthen the troops on the front line to withstand this wave of attacks first. In fact, this was the worst decision he made in this battle. These militiamen lacked training and were prone to panic, which would shake the morale of the Ottoman army.
Sure enough, with the reinforcement of these militiamen, the Ottoman army's positions were broken through in many places. Seeing this, Zeki Pasha knew that the situation was over, and now he could only retreat first.
"Give the front line an order to retreat in batches and resist steadily. We are also preparing to retreat."
After hearing the words of his commander, the staff put away the important documents one after another and prepared to retreat to the rear in a carriage. Zeki Pasha took a look at his command post and left first under the protection of the guards.
Although the Serbian army repelled the Ottoman army, they came on a hasty march and did not carry much ammunition, so they did not continue the pursuit. However, Zeki Pasha's Varda Army suffered heavy casualties and was unable to stop the Serbian army from advancing towards Macedonia.
advancement of the region.
In this Battle of Kumanovo, the Serbian First Army suffered 687 casualties, 3,208 wounded, and 597 missing. Half of the casualties were in the besieged Fourth Division. The Ottoman Army suffered 12,000 casualties,
About 300 people were captured, three times the number of Serbian troops.
Although initially caught off guard, the Serbian army quickly recovered and its brave counterattack dealt a heavy blow to the Ottoman army in Macedonia. Although the Serbian army did not take advantage of the opportunity to pursue and expand the results. However, with the victory of the Battle of Kumanovo, Serbia still controlled
Northern Macedonia. In the dispute between Serbia and Bulgaria, most of the "disputed area" is occupied by Serbia, giving Serbia a huge advantage.
(Sorry we can’t separate, let’s just make do with it)
