Battle of Florina

Battle of Doiran
Part of Macedonian front (World War I)
Battle of Lerin (to the south-west)
Date 17 August 1916 - 28 August 1916 Location around Florina, Greece Result The Bulgarians capture Florina, limited Bulgarian gains, Bulgarian advance stopped
Belligerents
Bulgaria	Serbia
Commanders and leaders
Kliment Boyadzhiev	Pavle Jurišić Šturm
Strength
Bulgarian First Army 116,000 men	3 Serbian armies[nb 1] 124,000 men
Casualties and losses
1,079 killed, 4,399 wounded Total: 5,478[1]	657 killed, 2,555 wounded, 706 missing Total: 3,918[1]

The Battle of Lerin or Battle of Florina or Chegan offensive was an offensive operation of the Bulgarian army during the First World War between 17–28 August 1916 in which they conquered the city of Florina (in present-day Greece but in Bulgaria known as Lerin), but failed to take Chegan.

Background

In August 1916 Romania chose to join the war effort on the side of the Entente. The Allies planned a large offensive in the Macedonian Front for the middle of August in order to support Romania's entry in the war and pin down as many Bulgarian forces as possible. The Bulgarian high command suspected an impending offensive and the fighting around Doiran that erupted on 9 August only confirmed these suspicions. On their part the Bulgarians had urged for an offensive in Macedonia since the beginning of the year and now planned a strike with the First Army and Second Army on both Allied flanks.

The Struma operation on the eastern flank by the Bulgarian Second Army under general Todorov was a huge success, mainly because the Greek government ordered their troops not to resist.

Chegan operation

The advance on the right flank was to be undertaken by the Bulgarian First Army which had the following order of battle in July 1916:

The Germans finally agreed that an offensive was needed and on 12 August general Boyadzhiev received his orders from the headquarters of Army Group "Mackensen". The right wing of the army, consisting of the reinforced 8th infantry division (four and half infantry brigades,) was to advance and take Lerin while parts of the 3rd division towards the Chegan mountain range and the village of the same name (today known as Agios Athanasios, to the north-west of Lake Vegoritida, in the Greek regional unit of Pella). General Boyadzhiev agreed to attack but had concerns regarding the final results of the offensive because his army was scattered on a 140 km front and lacked enough mountain and heavy artillery. Facing the Bulgarians were the six infantry and one cavalry divisions of the three Serbian armies.

The offensive began on 17 August 1916 with the Bulgarians taking Lerin and Banitsa. The advance however soon ran into difficulty and slowed down considerably due to the increased Serbian resistance. The fighting was especially heavy on the bare rocky slopes of the Chegan Mountain and the Voras Mountains. The Serbians were constantly reinforced with new artillery and fresh troops thanks to railway that reached the battlefield while the Bulgarians soon began depleting their ammunition stocks. This and the slow advance forced the Bulgarian high command to call off all attacks on 27 August and order the forces to dig in on the occupied positions between Lake Vegoritida, Lake Petron and along the ridges of the Voras Mountains . For the next several days the Bulgarian positions were subjected to heavy artillery fire and few Serbian attacks that were repulsed.

Consequences

The Chegan Offensive also known as the Lerin Offensive had failed. It failed to influence Romania which entered the war on the side of the Allies, but also failed to achieve its final military objective to take the Chegan village and the pass north of Lake Ostrovo.

French General Maurice Sarrail now prepared a counterattack against the First Bulgarian Army that would eventually develop in the Monastir Offensive. Lerin/Florina was retaken by the French on September 23, 1916.

Sources

1. 1 2 Richard C. Hall, "Balkan Breakthrough: The Battle of Dobro Pole 1918" pg. 68

• ^ While each of these units was termed "Army", they were in fact corps sized formations.

See also

• First Army (Bulgaria)

Bulgaria during World War I
Prelude	South-western front Serbian Campaign, Macedonian Front	Romanian front • Outcome • Others	Important persons
Balkan Wars 1912–1913 First Balkan War 1913 Treaty of London Second Balkan War Treaty of Bucharest Treaty of Constantinople Neutrality 1914 Ottoman–Bulgarian alliance 1915 Negotiations of Bulgaria with the Central Powers and the Entente Bulgarian–German treaty Secret Bulgarian–German agreement Military convention between Germany, Austria-Hungary and Bulgaria Bulgarian–Ottoman convention Mobilization	Commanders  Bulgaria Nikola Zhekov • Kliment Boyadzhiev • Dimitar Geshov • Georgi Todorov • Ivan Lukov • Stefan Nerezov • Vladimir Vazov Entente:  Serbia: Radomir Putnik • Živojin Mišić • Stepa Stepanović • Petar Bojović • Pavle Jurišić Šturm;  France: Maurice Sarrail • Adolphe Guillaumat • Louis Franchet d'Espèrey;  United Kingdom: Bryan Mahon • George Milne;  Kingdom of Greece: Panagiotis Danglis Field Armies + Eleventh Army First Army Second Army Fourth Army Battles 1915 Morava Offensive • Ovče Pole Offensive • Kosovo Offensive (1915) • Battle of Krivolak 1916 First battle of Doiran • Battle of Florina (Lerin) • Struma operation • Monastir Offensive 1917 Second battle of Doiran • 2nd Crna Bend • Second battle of Monastir 1918 Battle of Skra-di-Legen • Battle of Dobro Pole • Third battle of Doiran	Commanders  Bulgaria Nikola Zhekov • Panteley Kiselov • Stefan Toshev • Todor Kantardzhiev • Ivan Kolev Entente:  Romania: Constantin Prezan • Alexandru Averescu;  Russia: Andrei Zayonchkovski • Vladimir Sakharov Field Armies Third Army Battles 1916 Battle of Turtucaia • Battle of Dobrich • First Cobadin • Flămânda Offensive • Second Cobadin • Battle of Bucharest Outcome 1918 Treaty of Brest-Litovsk • Armistice of Focșani • Treaty of Bucharest • Protocol of Berlin Outcome Armistice of Salonica Vladaya revolt Treaty of Neuilly-sur-Seine Others Bulgarian administration in Kosovo Anti-military propaganda	Ferdinand Vasil Radoslavov Aleksandar Malinov Aleksandar Stamboliyski Aleksandar Protogerov August von Mackensen Boris Drangov Vladimir Vazov Georgi Todorov (general) Ivan Kolev Kliment Boyadzhiev Dimitar Geshov Ivan Lukov Konstantin Zhostov Krastyu Zlatarev Nikola Zhekov Panteley Kiselov Stefan Toshev Stefan Nerezov Todor Kantardzhiev

Coordinates: 40°47′00″N 21°24′00″E / 40.7833°N 21.4000°E / 40.7833; 21.4000