The Capture of Korytsa by the Hellenic armed forces, happened on 20 December 1912, during the First Balkan War.

Capture of Korytsa
Part of the First Balkan War

A Greek lithograph of the capture.
Date20 December 1912
Location40°36′50.49″N 20°46′40.00″E / 40.6140250°N 20.7777778°E / 40.6140250; 20.7777778
Result Greek victory
Territorial
changes
Greeks capture Korçë
Belligerents
Greece Greece  Ottoman Empire
Commanders and leaders
Kingdom of Greece Konstantinos Damianos Ottoman Empire Djavit Pasha
Strength
Unknown 24,000
Casualties and losses
Unknown Unknown

Capture

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Hellenic army officers in Korçë.

During the early stages of the war while the Balkan allies were victorious, the Hellenic Army liberated Thessaloniki and continued to advance west in Macedonia to Kastoria and then Korçë.

The Epirus front was also active and the Ottoman forces under Djavid Pasha placed 24,000 Ottoman troops in Korçë in order to protect north of Ioannina, the urban center of the Epirus region. On December 20, three days after peace negotiations started,[1] the Greek forces pushed the Ottomans out of Korçë.[2]

This would give the Greek forces a significant advantage in controlling Ioannina and the entire area in March 1913 at the Battle of Bizani.

After Ioannina was captured, the town was visited on 17 May, 1913, by Prince George (later George II of Greece). Prince George was welcomed by the Muslim mayor of the town and he visited a Dervish monastery nearby.[3]

Citations

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References

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  • Hall, Richard C. (2000). The Balkan Wars, 1912-1913: Prelude to the First World War. Routledge. ISBN 9780415229470.
  • "Le voyage de diadoque en Epire". Gazette de Lausanne. No. 140. 1913-05-24. p. 3. Retrieved 2021-04-21 – via Le Temps Archives.
  • Petsalēs-Diomēdēs, N. (1919). Greece at the Paris Peace Conference. Institute for Balkan Studies.