Battle of Pente Pigadia

The Battle of Pente Pigadia ("Πέντε Πηγάδια" means "Five Wells" in Greek) was held during the First Balkan War.

The Epirus sector was of a secondary nature to the Greek High Command, which was focused the operations of the "Army of Thessaly" towards Macedonia and Thessaloniki. The initial Greek strength in the area consisted of barely 8,000 men of the 15th Infantry Regiment and five independent battalions, supported by 24 field-guns, under Lieutenant General Konstantinos Sapountzakis. The Ottomans had at their disposal the under-strength 23rd Regular Division, and upon mobilization, formed the 23rd Reserve Division. Both had around 7,000 men each, supported by 32 guns, under Esat Pasha.

The small strength of the Greek forces forbade a direct effort against the city of Ioannina, which was defended by the strong Turkish fortified position at Mt. Bizani, equipped with 112 guns. Therefore, the Greek Army had to limit itself to the liberation of Preveza on October 21, 1912 after a victory at Nicopolis the previous day.

Esat Pasha, having set up his headquarters at Pente Pigadia, began an attack against the Greek positions on October 23 with 5 battalions. Due to bad weather and the early onset of snow, the attack petered out to local actions, which ended with the Turkish withdrawal on the 30th. The Greeks suffered 26 dead and 222 wounded.