Order of battle of the Bulgarian Army in the First Balkan War (1913)

Bulgarian military operations during the First Balkan War

The following is the Bulgarian Order of Battle at the beginning of the second phase of the First Balkan War as of January 21, 1913. This order of battle includes all combat units, including engineer and artillery units, but not medical, supply, signal and border guard units.

Background

After the First Battle of Çatalca the Bulgarian and Ottoman governments concluded an armistice on 3 December [O.S. 20 November] 1912 and agreed to attend a peace conference in London. For almost a month the talks at St. James's Palace achieved very little when on 10 January [O.S. 23 January] 1913 the Young Turks, led by Enver Bey staged a coup and seized power in Constantinople.[1] The new government was determined to hold on to Adrianople at all costs, a position which Bulgaria viewed as unacceptable and led to the denouncement of the armistice on 16 of January 1913.[1] With the initiative in their hands and with a renewed sense of confidence in their war leaders and in their ability to successfully fight the Bulgarians, the Ottomans decided to execute an offensive plan that was devised in mid December 1912. Leaving their small remaining forces in Epirus and Albania on their own the Ottomans focused entirely on the Thracian Theater where they planned a full-scale, corps level, amphibious invasion on the western shore of the Sea of Marmara was to be attempted with simultaneous attacks by the provisional corps on the Gallipoli Peninsula and the Çatalca Army, while the Adrianople garrison and conducted diversionary attacks.[2]

Bulgarian preparations

During the armistice the Bulgarians took several important measures to improve their strategic and tactical situation in Thrace. As early as December 1912 they realized that the rear of their Second Army at Adrianople or of their First and Third Armies could have easily been threatened by a large Ottoman offensive using the Gallipoli Peninsula as its staging point. To counter this threat the Bulgarian high command decided to transfer all its forces that were previously fighting on the Western Theater as they had fulfilled their objectives there and on 15 of December 1912 formed the new Fourth Army.[3] It was a powerful force of 93,389 men under the command of Major General Stiliyan Kovachev.[4] Meanwhile at Adrianople the formation of a new 11th Infantry Division and the arrival of two Serbian infantry divisions allowed the Bulgarians to divert additional forces to support the armies on the Chataldzha line. In general the Bulgarians had the capture of Adrianople as their priority while the remaining three field armies of some 284,121 men were to assume a defensive stance and repel the Ottoman offensive.[5]

Chataldzha Line

First Army was commanded by Lieutenant-General Vasil Kutinchev, who was also appointed commander of the combined First and Third armies.

Third Army was commanded by Lieutenant-General Radko Dimitriev.

Gallipoli Peninsula

Fourth Army was commanded by Major-General Stiliyan Kovachev.

Adrianople

Second Army was commanded by lieutenant-general Nikola Ivanov.

Notes

Footnotes
  1. ↑ Quick-firing field artillery regiment (QF FAR), mountain artillery regiment (MAR).
Citations
  1. 1 2 Hall (2000),p. 78-79
  2. ↑ Erickson (2003), p.253.
  3. ↑ Erickson (2003), p.255.
  4. ↑ Министерство на войната (1933),p. 518
  5. ↑ Министерство на войната (1933), p. 171,p. 518

References

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