Siege of Ioannina (1912–1913)
| Siege of Ioannina (1912–1913) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of First Balkan War | |||||||
 Image of the liberation of Ioannina, during the First Balkan War c. 1913 | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 Ottoman Empire |
 Kingdom of Greece | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 28,000[4]–30,000[4] | 75,000[4]–75,000[4] | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 26,000 killed[5] | 1,700 killed[6] | ||||||
The Siege of Ioannina[3][7][8] (November 1912 – March 1913) was a series of Greek military operations that culminated in the capture of the city of Ioannina during the Balkan Wars.The fighting for the capture of Ioannina lasted 85 days when the Ottoman forces surrendered to the Crown Prince Constantine, then head of the Greek army. After the liberation of Ioannina, and capture of Ioannina on 6 March 1913. The IV and VI Divisions of the Epirus Army were transferred to Thessaloniki.[9][10]
Background
[edit]As the main war effort of Greece was initially turned towards Macedonia,[11] on the Epirus front the Hellenic Army was outnumbered by the Ottoman Yanya Corps at the outbreak of hostilities in October 1912. After stopping an initial attack by the Ottoman commander Esad Pasha at Gribovo, however, the Greeks succeeded in liberating Preveza (October 21) and pushing north in the direction of Ioannina[8], repulsing an Ottoman attack at Pente Pigadia (Beshpinar).[12] On November 5, a small force from Corfu made a landing and captured the coastal area of Himarë without facing significant resistance,[13] and on December 20 Greek troops improved their positions in Epirus and entered Korçë, north of Ioannina, thus cutting off its last supply route and threatening the city's northeastern flank.[14][15]
Siege
[edit]Greek offensive towards Ioannina
[edit]
According to the plans of the Greek military command, at the beginning of the war the main Greek forces were to advance in Thessaly and towards Thessaloniki, where the main Ottoman units in the area of the Greek border were also concentrated. The military operations in Epirus were led by a detachment under the command of General Konstantinos Sapountzakis, later transformed into the Eighth Division. On 3 November 1912, he captured the port of Preveza and slowly began to move inland towards Ioannina. The detachment reached the approaches to the city on 25 November, but due to its small numbers it was unable to surround it. Even after the capture of Thessaloniki (9 November), the Greek command was unable to transfer reinforcements to Ioannina for a long time. One of the reasons was the resistance of the remnants of the Ottoman troops in Greek Macedonia.[16] An additional reason was the escalating territorial dispute with the Greek ally Bulgaria. Bulgarian claims to Thessaloniki forced the Greek command to retain a large part of its troops in the city and the region.[6]
Attempts to capture Ioannina
[edit]In mid-December, Greek troops, reinforced by one division, launched the first assault on the Ioannina fortress, but failed. The strong Ottoman garrison, led by Mehmet Esat Bülkat, counterattacked and pushed the Greeks south.[17]
In the first days of 1913, significant Greek reinforcements (three divisions) from the captured Thessaloniki and Chios were transferred to the approaches to Ioannina. The overall command passed into the hands of the Crown Prince Constantine.[18] With them, the balance of power changed and, although they suffered another setback, in their second attack on the fortress (on 20 and 22 January) the Greeks managed to push some of the defenders from their positions.[19]
Final takeover of Ioannina
[edit]
By the end of February, the Greek army had reached 75,000 men. The defenders of Ioannina numbered about 30,000 men, half of whom were stationed in the city and the rest north of it. The besieged had very limited ammunition and could not count on significant reinforcements, but they continued to actively defend themselves.[4] Local Albanians and conscripted Aromanians from Ioannina also participated in the defense of the city;[20][21] nevertheless, according to Macedonian Aromanian historian Nikola Minov, most of these Aromanians can be assumed to have quickly deserted and joined the closest Allied troops.[20]
The Greek plan for the capture of Ioannina provided for a main attack on the best-defended western sector, for which a strike group of about 20,000 men was formed. Deceptive maneuvers were carried out in the remaining sectors. After artillery preparation on 3 March, the next morning the strike group attacked the Ottoman positions from the southwest. Misled by the enemy's actions, the Ottoman command had concentrated most of its forces in the southern sector at Bizani and failed to respond to the attack, suffering heavy losses.[citation needed] On 5 March, the city's commandant Esad Pasha capitulated, but a significant number of Ottoman troops managed to withdraw to the northwest and link up with the remnants of the Vardar Army.[22]
See also
[edit]Footnotes
[edit]Reference
[edit]- ↑ Vachkov 2005, p. 148–151.
- ↑ Erickson 2003, p. 293–304.
- 1 2 Eggenberger 2012, p. 200.
- 1 2 3 4 5 Vachkov 2005, p. 148.
- ↑ Erickson 2003, p. 304.
- 1 2 Hall 2000, p. 83–84.
- ↑ Westwell 2013, p. 20.
- 1 2 Spencer 2019, p. 206.
- ↑ "Η Ναυμαχία της Έλλης" ["The Liberation of Ioannina"]. Σαν Σήμερα (SanSimera.gr) (in Greek). Archived from the original on 20 May 2024. Retrieved 30 July 2025.
- ↑ "Η Απελευθέρωση των Ιωαννίνων – Σπάνια φωτογραφικά ντοκουμέντα" [The Liberation of Ioannina – Rare Photographic Documents]. EpirusPost.gr (in Greek). Archived from the original on 23 July 2019. Retrieved 30 July 2025.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - ↑ Erickson (2003), p. 234.
- ↑ Erickson (2003), pp. 228–234.
- ↑ Sakellariou (1997), p. 367.
- ↑ Király (1987), p. 103.
- ↑ Hall (2000), p. 83.
- ↑ Vachkov 2005, p. 148–149.
- ↑ Erickson 2003, p. 293–298.
- ↑ Vachkov 2005, p. 149–150.
- ↑ Erickson 2003, p. 299–304.
- 1 2 Minov 2018, p. 32.
- ↑ Peyfuss 1994, p. 111.
- ↑ Vachkov 2005, p. 150–151.
Sources
[edit]- Vachkov, Alexander (2005). The Balkan War 1912–1913. Wars for the Unification of Bulgaria. Translated by Milena Kotoupova. Sofia: Angela. p. 160. ISBN 9789549058741.
- Erickson, Edward J. (2003). Defeat in Detail: The Ottoman Army in the Balkans, 1912–1913. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 0-275-97888-5.
- Hall, Richard C. (2000). The Balkan Wars, 1912–1913: Prelude to the First World War. London: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-22946-3.
- Király, Béla K.; Djordjevíc, Dimitrije (1987). East Central European Society and the Balkan Wars. New York: Social Science Monographs. ISBN 978-0-88033-099-2.
- Sakellariou, M. V. (1997). Epirus, 4000 Years of Greek History and Civilisation. Athens: Ekdotike Athenon. ISBN 978-960-213-371-2.
- Minov, Nikola (2018). The Vlachs and the Balkan wars 1912-1913 (PDF). XI Balkan tarihi kongresi "Balkanlar: savaş ve bariş". pp. 31–39.
- Peyfuss, Max Demeter (1994). Chestiunea aromânească: evoluția ei de la origini până la pacea de la București (1913) și poziția Austro-Ungariei. Colecția "Biblioteca enciclopedică de istorie a României" (in Romanian). Editura enciclopedică. ISBN 9789734500734.
- Eggenberger, David (2012). An Encyclopedia of Battles: Accounts of Over 1,560 Battles from 1479 B.C. to the Present (Revised ed.). Mineola, New York: Courier Corporation. ISBN 9780486142012.
- Westwell, Ian (2013). Twentieth-Century War and Conflict: A Comprehensive Encyclopedia. London: DK Publishing. ISBN 9781465412546.
- Spencer, Tucker (2019). Middle East Conflicts from Ancient Egypt to the 21st Century: An Encyclopedia and Document Collection. Vol. 1. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO. ISBN 9781440853524.