Chapter 116： Battle of Kumanovo (5,500 words 2 in 1 big

On the second day after the declaration of war, Bulgaria, Serbia, and Greece successively sent their prepared troops across the border and approached Ottoman territory.

Among them, the Bulgarian army consists of three armies in the direction of Istanbul to form the main group. Serbia’s main forces (three armies) dealt with the Ottoman army’s group in Macedonia. The Fasalia Army and the Epirus Army in Greece were prepared to deal with the armies of Thessaloniki and Yanina respectively. The Greek navy is ready to take action against the Ottoman navy to ensure the control of the Balkan Alliance in the Mediterranean. The task of the army of Montenegro is to cooperate with the Serbian army to fight in Macedonia. The Balkan Allies formed a siege to the Ottoman army, preparing to defeat his European army before the arrival of Ottoman reinforcements.

For this war, the Balkan League 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. On the other side of the war, the Ottoman Empire had 350,000 troops in European territory.

In terms of military strength, the Balkan countries basically achieved the level of two soldiers facing one Ottoman soldier, so the idea of ​​the Balkan countries is to quickly break into the division and outflank the Ottoman army. He is not given the opportunity to wait for reinforcements in European territories.

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 south into the territory of the Ottoman Empire. The Serbian Cavalry Division served as the Serbian left wing guard. The commander of the Ottoman war this time was General Putnik, Chief of Staff.

This Admiral Putnik was born in Kragujevac, the son of a secondary school teacher, and was educated at the Serbian Artillery Academy. He was appointed as a second lieutenant in 1866 and participated in the 1876 war against Turkey, even though Serbia was in September He lost in the Battle of Alexis and the Junis region in October, but his reputation was shocked for his outstanding performance. After the outbreak of the Tenth Russian-Turkish War in 1877-1878, he joined the Russian army in counter-offensive operations.

In 1885, he participated in the unfortunate war against Bulgaria as the chief of staff of the division, and suffered a heavy blow at the battles of Slivnica and Pitro in November. Graduated from the Army Staff College in 1889. Steadily promoted to general, served as chief of staff in 1903, and served as secretary of the army for three times (1904-1905; 1906-1908; 1912). In order to save Serbia from the trauma of its early years, he is committed to improving the professional skills of the Serbian army and improving its weaponry and training. Under his leadership, the Serbian army became a well-equipped (compared to other Balkan countries), advanced technology, and high morale.

In his army headquarters. The Putnik admiral was watching his opponent's staff on the military map give orders.

"Send a report to the Third Army, let them speed up the march, and rush to Mitroose as soon as possible to cover our flank."

After receiving the order from Admiral Putnik, the staff officer stood at attention with his legs and gave a military salute. "Yes, Chief of Staff."

Seeing the leaving staff, Admiral Putnik is still quite satisfied with the current marching speed of the First Army. The First Army, composed of 110,000 people, is now the main force in the Serbian war. On their right is Bulgaria. The second army has 54,000 troops, and the third army on the left has 50,000 troops. Their goal is to annihilate the Ottoman Empire’s garrison in Macedonia. It just didn't expect that Zeki Pasha's Varda army would be prepared for this, and they were ready in Kumanovo.

Three days later, the 4th Division of the 1st Army forward encountered Zeki Pasha’s Varda Army, which was composed of Kara-Sayd Pasha’s 5th Army, Dijpasha’s 6th Army and Fiti Pasha’s 4th Army. The Seventh Army is composed. The three armies were placed east, north and northwest of the town of Kumanovo, Macedonia. The Turkish army has a total of about 58,000 people, which is about half of the attacking Serbian army.

"Our forward fourth division was in the town of Kumanovo and encountered the main force of the Ottoman Macedonian army."

A major staff officer took a telegram about the encounter with the Ottoman army in Kumanovo and hurried forward to report to Admiral Putnik.

"Show it to me."

General Putnik received this telegram and read it. In this report, the 2nd Division stated that they had encountered an attack from the 50,000 troops of the Ottoman Empire and were now requesting support for defense operations.

The size of the Ottoman army was beyond the surprise of 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.

Admiral Putnik quickly found the location of Kumanovo on the military map, and he muttered while looking at the map. "To dare to fight back here, I don't take our Serbian army seriously."

He said this for a reason, because the Ottoman army is fighting near Kumanovo on the military map, and the entire Ottoman army is under the threat of the Serbian Third Army and the Bulgarian Second Army and is easily cut off and surrounded.

"Now I order."

Following Putnik’s orders, the various staff in the command put down their work and quietly awaited his orders.

"The electric order, the 4th Division stood on the spot waiting for reinforcements, and the other divisions of the First Army rushed to Kumanovo town at full speed. After reaching the destination, they quickly entangled their troops. At the same time, they gave power to the Third Army and the Bulgarian Second Army. Tell us what happened to us in Kumanovo. Ask them to intersperse behind as soon as possible and I want to wipe them out."

After speaking, General Putnik still felt that it was not enough, so he slammed a punch on the military map, and the place where he was hit was the town of Kumanovo.

All divisions of the First Army that received the telegram from Commander Putnik accelerated their marching speed and rushed to Kumanovo. The Serbian Third Army and the Bulgarian Second Army also speeded up their pace, striving to reach the predetermined location as soon as possible to encircle the Ottoman army. All troops were mobilized for a while.

At the focal point of the battlefield, in the headquarters of the Serbian Fourth Division, which is being besieged by the Ottoman Empire, staff officers are busy, and various maps are hung on the wall of this house. The division commander, Miller Sheloch, dressed in a major general's uniform, was in a corner looking at the telegram sent to him by Chief of Staff Putnik.

"report."

A messenger with the smell of gunpowder on the uniform interrupted the commander's thoughts.

"speak."

Commander Milleshevich put down the telegram in his hand and spoke to the messenger.

"I am Nicolvino, the messenger of the third regiment of the right-wing position. We were attacked by tens of thousands of Ottoman troops. The casualties were large and the telephone line on the battlefield could not be reached. Our regimental commander Jabik sent me to ask for support."

After hearing the messenger's words, Commander Milšević turned his head and looked at a young captain in a military uniform with an engineer's logo on his epaulettes.

"Captain Willost, why haven't you engineers checked the telephone lines."

The company commander of the division's engineering company complained to the commander of Milosevic. "We are investigating. The line of the third regiment has been broken three times. We have lost seven maintenance engineers."

Hearing the grievances of his engineer company commander, Commander Milleshevich still said with a firm expression on his face. "I don't care about it. You must ensure that the telephone line is open, even if the engineer is dead."

Hearing the commander's resolute order, Captain Velost had to follow suit. After giving a military salute to the division commander Milosevic, he went out to arrange for his subordinates to check the telephone line again.

After giving the command to the engineer company commander, Milosevic picked up a field phone and spoke to the communications staff. "Fetch me the 4th Regiment Headquarters."

The fourth regiment is the reserve team of their fourth division. The front line is tight now, and of course they must send a reserve team to support them.

After a while, the communications staff connected to the fourth regiment, and Commander Milleshevich said loudly to the phone. "Is it Lieutenant Colonel Badanvik from the Fourth Regiment?"

There was a voice on the other side of the phone. "Yes it is."

Hearing that it was Batanvik, the commander of the fourth regiment, Commander Milleshevich gave a loud order to the phone. "I am the division commander Milosevic. Now I order you to immediately send a battalion to reinforce the third regiment of the right-wing commander Jabik."

Captain Badanvik on the other end of the phone answered immediately. "Yes, commander, I immediately sent a battalion to reinforce the third left-wing regiment."

After the phone call, the commander of Milosevic told the messenger of the third regiment. "Now you can go back to life, I have sent a battalion reinforcements."

On the position of the third regiment waiting for reinforcements, a wave of offensive by the Ottoman army has just ended. Porosnillo, a soldier of the fifth company of the second battalion, finally relaxed his tight nerves and let out a long sigh of relief. He put down the Mosin Nagan rifle in his hand, pulled out a potato that had been roasted and left cold from his dirty pocket and ate it. He wouldn't have any interest in this kind of baked potato three months ago, but now he thinks the potato in his hand is better than steak.

Porosnillo came from a good family. His father was a doctor in the town and his mother was the daughter of a businessman. Because his father’s medical skills were better, he made his wife and children less worried about life. Porosnillo was well educated since he was a child, thanks to his mother’s teaching. Later, he went to the capital Belgrade to study in middle school, planning to take college entrance examinations in two years. As a result, when he was studying, he was encouraged by his classmates, joined the army with them, and was sent to the fifth company as a soldier. When he was sent here, because of his better family conditions, he was not used to life in the military camp, but seeing him eating cold potatoes with relish now, I also know that he is used to life in the military camp.

When he had just finished eating the cold potatoes in his hand, he heard the shouts of other soldiers. "Shelling."

Porosnillo squatted quickly into the trench, evading the shelling with his mouth wide open.

"Boom~ boom~ boom~ boom."

The Ottoman artillery fired a large number of shells on the Serbian army's position. For a while, the dust was flying, and the air was filled with a strong smell of gunpowder smoke. Many unlucky people lost their lives in this shelling, and Porosnillo was lucky. Apart from making himself ashamed, he didn't even have a small wound.

"Bah~Bah~Bah."

After a burst of shelling, Porosnillo spit out the mud in his mouth.

Shouted the comrade next to him. "The Ottomans are coming up again."

"Aren't these **** Ottomans tired?" Porosnillo complained, picking up the gun next to him and starting to plunge into the intense battle.

On the starting position of the Ottoman army, Zeki Pasha, the commander of the Varda Army, was holding a telescope to observe the effect of the attack. I saw the Ottoman army lined up the skirmish line to launch an attack, while the Serbian army launched a counterattack in the trenches. In the fierce counterattack by the Serbian army, the Ottoman army also suffered heavy casualties. Perhaps the commander was observing the situation behind the scenes. The commander of the Ottoman army did not order the retreat, but another wave of army reinforcements went up. With the combined forces of the two Ottoman troops, they finally broke into the position of the third regiment, and for a while, a fierce hand-to-hand battle took place on the position.

Zeki Pasha saw this and spoke of praise. "well done."

Just then a Serbian reinforcements arrived, and the Ottoman army was driven out of the position without detection.

In the position of the third regiment of the Serbian army, Porosnillo was lying on the ground, and he was bandaged by a medical soldier next to him. He was stabbed in the abdomen by an Ottoman soldier. Fortunately, he reacted quickly and escaped the critical point, but he suffered no damage to his internal organs and needed to lie down in the hospital for a while to recover. After being bandaged by medical soldiers, he was carried on a stretcher and sent to the field hospital behind. After the medical soldiers had dealt with his injuries, they were busy treating the other wounded.

This time the Ottoman army's attack caused the third regiment to lose 614 men, but the Ottoman army did not fall well either. They lost even more to 1,153 men.

This time the commander General Drumensuk came forward with a gloomy face and told Zeki Pasha, who was observing the course of the battle. "Sorry, Commander, I still failed."

Hearing the self-blame of his capable subordinates, Zeki Pasha looked at him with a smile and said. "It doesn't matter, General Drummondsuk, this time we failed, we will get it back next time, no one has been winning on the battlefield."

Hearing that the boss didn't blame him, Drumensuk also sighed secretly. He planned to summarize the course of this battle and avoid making mistakes again.

After Zeki Pasha left the front line and returned to his headquarters, he said to the staff officers beside him. "Go down, I want to think for myself."

After hearing his order, the staff officers left the room one after another. After seeing no one everywhere, Zeki Pasha's complexion collapsed. He didn't want to move the army to northern Macedonia to attack first. In his view, the defense of northern Macedonia was to keep the Balkan Allied forces at the border. This idea is very good but unrealistic. The Balkan countries have twice the strength of the Ottoman European garrison. Defending on the border can only be defeated by their superior forces, and it is completely impossible to drag the reinforcements of the Asian army.

Moreover, the strategy of advance offense has serious shortcomings, because the army lacks sufficient training, and the officers under his own lack the ability to lead troops and cannot organize and implement a successful offensive. This has been demonstrated in today's battle. This is still money, and there is nothing he can do if the army is not funded.

In his opinion, the army should be transferred to Bitola fortification in the south, where they can use Albanian resources (in Albania is the only region that supports the Ottoman Empire), and can support it for a while, at least to win it from Annan Tolia transferred the time for reinforcements. However, the commander-in-chief of the Turkish army Nizam Pasha must obey the order, so he can only choose a fairly good town of Kumanovo to launch the offensive.

"If you fight for another day, you will retreat if you can't." Zeki Pasha made a decision inwardly.

On the battlefield, Ottoman soldiers are still fighting with Serbian soldiers, and many of their lives are ended in every battle. The Ottoman army didn't make much progress until it got dark, and could only fight again tomorrow. Zeki Pasha did not know that the time he calculated was simply wrong, and he himself would pay for this error.

The Serbian army began to arrive one after another that night. They brought a large number of battlefield artillery to the Fourth Division, because it was night, the Serbian army did not immediately launch an offensive.

Early the next morning, after breakfast, the Ottoman army began to prepare for the offensive. The artillery still fired first. However, this time Serbia also has a large number of artillery on the ground. For a time, the artillery of both sides cannot be exchanged between you and me. This made Zeki Pasha feel a little strange in his heart.

In the artillery battle between the two sides, the Ottoman army still launched an attack on the Serbian army's position. In front of the Serbian position, the gunpowder was full of smoke. Soldiers from both sides fought together. Many Ottoman officers felt that the strength of Serbia’s defense has increased a lot today, and the number of Serbian counterattacks has also increased, which surprised them.

Of course, as their commander-in-chief Zeki Pasha also knew about this situation, but he believed that this was because the Serbian army had arrived one after another. He could only increase the attack and put more troops to suppress the Serbian counterattack.

However, after increasing the input of troops, the Serbian army's counterattack continued, which made Zeki Pasha know that something is not good. At this time, the Serbian artillery completely suppressed the Ottoman artillery by relying on more artillery and more exquisite technology.

At this time, the Serbian army began to counterattack, and the Ottoman army was caught off guard for a while, and they retreated to the starting position. And these Serbian troops did not intend to stop, and directly launched a strong onslaught on the Ottoman army. The Ottoman position was perilously beaten.

Zeki Pasha knew that he had to come up with countermeasures as the commander-in-chief, and he ordered the staff around him. "Let the reserve militia go up."

He intends to increase the strength of the front-line position, first to withstand this wave of attacks, in fact, this is the worst decision he has made in this battle. The lack of training of these militiamen is also easy to panic, but it will shake the morale of the Ottoman army.

Sure enough, with the reinforcement of these militias, the position of the Ottoman army was broken in many places. Seeing here, Zeki Pasha knew that the situation was over, and now he can only retreat first.

"Give the front line an order for them to retreat in batches to resist, and we are also ready to retreat."

After hearing the words of their commander in chief, the staff officers collected important documents and prepared to retreat in a carriage. Zeki Pasha glanced at his command post, and UU Kanshu left under the protection of the guards.

Although the Serbian army repelled the Ottoman army, they did not carry too much ammunition and did not continue to pursue it because they were all rushing. However, Zeki Pasha’s Varda Army suffered heavy casualties and was unable to stop the Serbian army from advancing to the Macedonian region.

In the battle of Kumanovo, the Serbian First Army had 687 killed, 3,208 wounded, and 597 missing. Half of the casualties were in the besieged Fourth Division. The Ottoman army had 12,000 casualties and about 300 were captured, which is three times that of the Serbian army.

Although initially caught off guard, the Serbian army quickly recovered. Its brave counterattack dealt a heavy blow to the Ottoman army in Macedonia, even though the Serbian army did not take advantage of the momentum to pursue and expand the results. But 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" was occupied by Serbia, giving Serbia a huge advantage.

(I'm sorry I can't separate, everyone will just watch)

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