Battle of Kalimanci

The Battle of Kalimanci (Bulgarian: Битка при Калиманци, Serbian: Битка код Калиманаца) was a battle fought between the Kingdom of Serbia and the Kingdom of Bulgaria during the Second Balkan War. The battle started on the 18th and ended on the 19th of July 1913.[1] The Bulgarian Army halted the Serbian Army from pushing them out of Macedonia and joining up with the Greek Army at the downstreams of the river Struma. The battle ended in an important Bulgarian defensive victory.[2]

Battle of Kalimanci
Part of the Second Balkan War
Date18-19 July 1913 (N.S.)[1]
(5-6 July in O.S.)
Location
Kalimanci (present-day North Macedonia)
Result Bulgarian victory
Belligerents
 Kingdom of Bulgaria  Kingdom of Serbia
 Kingdom of Montenegro
Commanders and leaders
Mihail Savov[1]
Vicho Dikov		 Božidar Janković
Units involved
4th Army
5th Army[1]		 3rd Army
Strength
2 armies Serbia:
1 army
Montenegro:
1 division[1]
Casualties and losses
2,400 killed
4,620 wounded[2]		 :
2,500 killed
4,850 wounded[1]
:
107 killed
570 wounded[1]

Background

At the Battle of Bregalnica, fought June 30 – July 8, 1913, the Bulgarian army was decisively defeated by the Serbian Army.[3]

Battle

On 13 July 1913, General Mihail Savov assumed control of the 4th and 5th Bulgarian armies.[1] The Bulgarians then entrenched themselves into strong defensive-positions around the village of Kalimanci, near the Bregalnica river in the northeastern part of Macedonia.[1]

On July 18, the Serbian 3rd Army attacked, closing in on the Bulgarian positions.[1] The Serbs threw hand grenades at their enemies in an attempt to dislodge the Bulgarians, who were sheltered 40 feet away.[1] The Bulgarians held firm, and on several occasions they allowed the Serbs to advance, and when they were within 200 yards from their trenches, they charged with fixed bayonets and threw them back.[1] The Bulgarian artillery was also very successful in breaking up the Serb attacks.[1] The Bulgarian lines held, as an invasion against their homeland was repelled, their morale grew considerably.[1]

If the Serbs had broken through the Bulgarian defences, they might have doomed the 2nd Bulgarian Army and driven the Bulgarians entirely out of Macedonia.[1] The defensive victory, along with the successes to the north of the 1st and 3rd armies, protected western Bulgaria from a Serbian invasion.[2] Although this boosted the Bulgarians, the situation was critical in the south, with the Greek Army defeating the Bulgarians in numerous skirmishes.[2]

References
  1. Hall, p. 120
  2. Hall, p. 121
  3. Hall, p. 111

Sources
  • Hall, R. The Balkan Wars 1912-1913. Prelude to the First World War. London and New York, Routledge, 2000. ISBN 0-415-22946-4.

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