- For the other Battles of Kosovo, see Battle of Kosovo (disambiguation)
Kosovo Offensive Part of Serbian Campaign (World War I) Date 10 November 1915 - 4 December 1915 Location Kosovo Result Decisive Bulgarian victory,
Serbian Army retreated to Albania and GreeceBelligerents Kingdom of Bulgaria
German Empire
Austria-HungaryKingdom of Serbia Commanders and leaders Nikola Zhekov
Konstantin Zhostov
Kliment Boyadzhiev
Georgi Todorov
August von Mackensen
Max von Gallwitz
Hermann Kövess von KövessházaRadomir Putnik
Živojin Mišić
Stepa Stepanovic
Pavle Jurišić ŠturmStrength First Army;
Northern Operations Group of Second Army
Eleventh Army
Third Army :156,000 men (79,000 combatants, 372 guns and 220 machine guns)[1]150,000 combatants[2] Casualties and losses Light 30,000 killed and wounded, 199 guns lost
The Kosovo Offensive Operation (Bulgarian language: Косовска настъпателна операция ), the third major battle in history to have been fought there, occurred between 10 November 1915 and 4 December 1915.Battle and Serbian defeat[]
The battle began with the forcing of the South Morava by the Bulgarian 1st Army and ended with the total defeat of the Serbian army. The main blow was made by the 1st Army at the direction Niš-Pristina. For 2 days, the Serbian army seized Prokuplje, where they mounted a short-lived resistance. The greatly outnumbered Serbian army retreated, then made a futile stand near the city of Gnjilane. The Serbs then tried a desperate counter-attack towards Vranje and Kumanovo to join the Anglo-French troops but were again defeated. The 6th and 9th Infantry Divisions of 1st Army easily took Priština on 24 November. Then the whole of the Bulgarian army advanced, supported from the north by parts of 11th German Army and the Austro-Hungarian 3rd Army. The battle ended on 4 December when Debar was captured. The Serbs lost 30,000 soldiers, 199 guns, 150 cars and vast quantity of other military equipment. The Serbian army subsequently retreated into Albania, eventually being transported to the Greek island of Corfu.
Footnotes[]
References[]
- Атанас Пейчев и колектив, 1300 години на стража, Военно издателство, София 1984.
- Министерство на войната, Щаб на войската (1946). Българската армия в Световната война 1915 - 1918, Vol. V. Косовската операция. Печатница на щаба навойската, София.
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