Siege of Vidin (1913)

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Siege of Vidin
date July 12 jul. / July 25, 1913 greg. until July 18th jul. / July 31, 1913 greg.
place Vidin , Bulgaria
output Bulgarian victory
Parties to the conflict

Serbia Kingdom 1882Kingdom of Serbia Kingdom of Serbia

Bulgaria 1908Bulgaria Tsarist Bulgaria

Commander

Vukoman Aracic

Krastju Marinov

Troop strength
8,500 4,200 men (3,000 volunteers and 1,200 soldiers of the 1st Army )

52 cannons

losses

84 dead

The 1913 Siege of Vidin ( Bulgarian Обсада на Видин ) refers to an attempt by the Serbian army to capture the Bulgarian city ​​of Vidin in the Second Balkan War . The siege took place between July 12 jul. / July 25, 1913 greg. and July 18th jul. / July 31, 1913 greg. instead of.

prehistory

The plan of operations of the Bulgarian Armed Forces for the Second Balkan War envisaged starting the war with an offensive and the advance of the 1st and 3rd Armies towards Old Serbia . This procedure was intended to cut off the communication and supply routes of the Serbian army operating in Macedonia . The conflict began on June 16, jul. / June 29, 1913 greg. first with orders to the 4th and 2nd armies to attack the Serbian and Greek positions in Macedonia.

In the days that followed, there was confusion and the remaining three Bulgarian armies received no orders. Not until the evening of June 21st . / 4th July 1913 greg. the 1st Army was ordered to march against the town of Knjaževac and to occupy it and to split up on it. The 1st Army was to march on one platoon against Zajecar and the second to march south to support the 3rd Army at Pirot . The enemy of the 1st Army was the Serbian Timok Army with 31 companies and 12 artillery batteries under the command of Colonel Vukuman Aračić. The Bulgarians managed to defeat part of these forces and they occupied Knjaževac with the loss of 280 dead and 820 wounded.

In the meantime, Romania declared war on Bulgaria and invaded the northern part of its neighboring country with its armies. This new enemy threatened the rearguard of the 1st Army and forced the Bulgarian High Command to order it to retreat. The ordered withdrawal had a negative impact on the morale of the troops and caused mutiny, for example in the 9th Division, which withdrew completely unorganized. The situation was particularly bad in the 2nd company of the division, which surrendered to the Romanian forces at Montana . The rest of the division moved back to Sofia and later played an important role in the battle in the Kresna Gorge .

However, most of the 1st Army withdrew in the direction of Sofia. A smaller part was called off to the Belogradchik garrison and was supposed to stop an advance of the Serbs there. The much larger part of the 1st Army took positions in the passes of the Balkan Mountains in order to stop the Romanian advance on the Bulgarian capital. With the beginning of the withdrawal of the 1st Army, the Serbs recaptured Knjaževac, invaded Bulgarian soil and captured Belogradchik, where they made contact with the Romanian forces. Thus almost the entire north-east of Bulgaria was occupied by the Serbs. Only Vidin, under Colonel Krastju Marinow, was able to repel the Serbian attacks until the end of the war with some of the defeated companies of Belogradchik and over 3000 volunteers.

siege

On July 8 jul. / July 21, 1913 greg. the garrison of Belogradchik was defeated by the Serbian units of the Timok Army, but parts of them were able to penetrate north to the Danube to Vidin. The next day the Serbs took Belogradchik and their cavalry cut all communication and supply routes between the Danube city and the rest of the country. On the same day, a Serbian vanguard encountered a Bulgarian reconnaissance company near the village of Bela Rada and forced the latter to retreat to Vidin after a fight.

Until July 12 jul. / July 25, 1913 greg. included the Timok Army (with between 16 and 21 battalions with 54 cannons and howitzers ) Vidin from all directions. The enclosed city had about 1200 regular troops and about 3000 volunteers, with a total of 52 mostly outdated cannons. The Bulgarians, especially the militia, were poorly armed and had little ammunition. On July 14 jul. / July 27, 1913 greg. The Serbs took the city walls of the fortress of Vidin and the city itself under artillery fire after the Bulgarian commander Krastju Marinov twice refused to surrender the city. The bombardment lasted three days but was ineffective and resulted in hardly any military or civilian casualties.

In the late afternoon of July 17th, Jul . / July 30, 1913 greg. After prolonged artillery bombardment, a Serbian infantry division attacked the western part of Vidin, between the villages of Novoselzi and Smardan. This and two other attacks were repulsed by the Bulgarians that evening. The next day a general armistice was agreed between the warring parties, of which the Serbian leadership informed the Bulgarian commander. The Bucharest Peace Treaty was signed around ten days later . Then the Serbs withdrew from the region.

Individual evidence

  1. Darvingov, p. 715
  2. Hristov, pp. 190-192; Darvingov, p. 692, p. 696
  3. Hristov, pp. 194-195
  4. Hristov, pp. 194-195; Darvingov, pp. 704, 707, 712-713, 715

literature