Battle of Pente Pigadia

Coordinates: 39°23′10″N 20°54′46″E / 39.38611°N 20.91278°E

Battle of Pente Pigadia
Part of the First Balkan War
Date 21–23 October 1912 (O.S.) Location Beshpinar, Janina Vilayet, Ottoman Empire (now Pente Pigadia, Epirus, Greece) Result Greek victory
Belligerents
Greece	Ottoman Empire
Commanders and leaders
Lt Gen Konstantinos Sapountzakis	Maj Gen Esat Pasha
Units involved
Army of Epirus	Yanya Corps
Strength
8,000 men 24 guns	14,000 men 32 guns
Casualties and losses
26 dead 222 wounded	Unknown

The Battle of Pente Pigadia or Battle of Beshpinar^[1] (Greek: Μάχη των Πέντε Πηγαδιών, Turkish: Beşpınar Muharebesi) was fought during the First Balkan War between the Ottomans and the Kingdom of Greece.

The Epirus sector was of a secondary nature to the Greek High Command, which was focused on the operations of the "Army of Thessaly" under Crown prince Constantine towards Macedonia and Thessaloniki. The initial Greek forces 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 Ottoman commander, Esat Pasha, had at his disposal the Yanya Corps, comprising the under-strength 23rd Regular Division and the 23rd Reserve Division, formed upon mobilization. Both had around 7,000 men each, supported by 32 guns.

The small strength of the Greek forces forbade a direct effort against the city of Ioannina, which was defended by the strong Ottoman fortified positions at Mt. Bizani, equipped with 112 guns. Therefore, the Greek Army had to limit itself to the liberation of Preveza on 2 November [O.S. 21 October] 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 5 November [O.S. 23 October] 1912 with 5 battalions. Due to bad weather and the early onset of snow, the attack petered out to local actions, which ended with the Ottoman withdrawal seven days later. The Greeks suffered 26 dead and 222 wounded.

Sources

1. Edward J. Erickson, Defeat in detail: the Ottoman Army in the Balkans, 1912-1913, Greenwood Publishing Group, 2003, ISBN 978-0-275-97888-4, p. 233.