Battle of Kaymakchalan

The Battle of Kaymakchalan was a battle that was fought between Serbian and Bulgarian troops on the Macedonian front during World War I.

Battle of Kajmakčalan
Part of the Serbian Campaign of the Balkans Theatre of World War I

A commemorative Serbian chapel at Kajmakčalan
Date12 September – 30 September 1916
Location
Kajmakčalan
Result Tactical Serbian victory[1]
Belligerents
 Serbia  Bulgaria
Commanders and leaders
Živojin Mišić Kliment Boyadzhiev
Strength
1st Army with main effort by Drina Division 1st brigade of 3rd "Balkan" Infantry Division with main effort by 11th "Sliven" Regiment
Casualties and losses
4,643 killed[2][3][4] of which 3/4 belonging to the Drina Division

Dead Soldiers/Officers: 1876/51

Wounded Soldiers/Officers 5941/126

The battle was fought between 12 and 30 September 1916, when the Serbian army managed to capture the peak of Prophet Elijah while pushing the Bulgarians towards the town of Mariovo, where the latter formed new defensive lines. Between 26 and 30 September, the peak changed hands several times until it was decisively captured by the Serbian army on the latter date.

The battle proved to be very costly for both sides. Serbian losses had reached around 10,000 killed and wounded by 23 September.[5] The Bulgarian companies had been reduced to 90 men each and one regiment, the 11th Sliven Regiment, had 73 officers and 3,000 men hors de combat.[6]

By strategic aspect, the battle was not a huge success for the Allies due to the upcoming winter that rendered further military engagements almost impossible.

Today, there is a small church on the peak of Prophet Elijah where the skulls of dead Serbian soldiers are stored, and it is regarded as a cultural site and is a tourist attraction. There is confusion about the name of the church, but it is called Saint Peter's (Sveti Petar in Serbian) which stands on the peak called Prophet Elijah.[7]

  • Commemoration post stamp of Serbia for 100th anniversary (2016)
  • dec 16, Serbian army
  • Kajmakčalan in 1930. (trenches can be easily seen even today)
  • Bell at the St. Peters chapel on the top
  • Urn with heart of Archibald Reiss, original was destroyed by Bulgarians in Second World War
  • Remains of Bulgarian bunker
  • Ossuary of Serbian soldiers (many bones were found later around the mountain)
  • Ossuary of Serbian soldiers
  • Ossuary of Serbian soldiers

Notes
  1. Allcock, John B., and Antonia Young, Black Lambs and Grey Falcons, (Berghahn Books, 2000), 82.
  2. Dusan-T Batakovic, Ljubomir Mihailović, Histoire du peuple serbe, 2005 - p. 259
  3. Andrej Mitrović, Serbia's great war, 1914-1918, 2007 - p. 165
  4. Richard C. Hall, Balkan Breakthrough: The Battle of Dobro Pole 1918, 2010 - p. 75
  5. Gordon-Smith pp.280
  6. Gordon-Smith pp.279
  7. http://www.serbia.com/srpski/o-srbiji/istorija/srbija-u-prvom-svetskom-ratu/osmatracnica-sa-kajmakcalana/

Sources
  • Bataković, Dušan T., ed. (2005). Histoire du peuple serbe. Lausanne: L’Age d’Homme. ISBN 9782825119587.
  • Alan Palmer "The Gardeners of Salonika"
  • Gordon-Smith, Gordon (1920). "From Serbia to Jugoslavia; Serbia's victories, reverses and final triumph, 1914-1918". G.P. Putnam’s Sons – New York.
  • Hall, Richard C (2010). Balkan breakthrough: the battle of Dobro Pole 1918. Bloomington, Ind. [u.a.: Indiana Univ. Press. ISBN 9780253354525. OCLC 699723003.
  • http://www.serbia.com/srpski/o-srbiji/istorija/srbija-u-prvom-svetskom-ratu/osmatracnica-sa-kajmakcalana/

  • , The battle of Kajmakchalan, Η μάχη του Καϊμακτσαλάν
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