Battle of Kirk Kilisse

Infobox Military Conflict


caption=
conflict=Battle of Lozengrad
partof=First Balkan War
date=24 October, 1912
place=Lozengrad, Turkey
result=Decisive Bulgarian victory
combatant1= flagicon|Bulgaria|1878 Bulgaria
combatant2=flag|Ottoman Empire
commander1=flagicon|Bulgaria|1878 General Radko Dimitriev
flagicon|Bulgaria|1878 General Ivan Fichev
commander2=flagicon|Ottoman Empire Mahmud Muhtar Pasha
flagicon|Ottoman Empire Abdullah Pasha
strength1=Unknown
strength2=90,000 [http://www.sl-news.sliven.net/obshtestvo/obshtestvo_11.htm]
casualties1=880 killed, 3000 wounded
casualties2=Heavy, 58 cannons captured, 2 airplanes capturedThe 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.

The initial clashes were around several villages to the north of the town. The Bulgarian attacks were irresistible and the Turks were forced to retreat. On 10 October an enemy army threatened to split 1st and 3th Bulgarian armies but it was quickly stopped by charge by 1st Sofian and 2nd Preslav brigades. After bloody fights along the whole town the enemy began to pull back and on the next morning the Bulgarians liberated Lozengrad.

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. [ В. Мир, № 3684, 15. X. 1912.]

References