Capture of Korytsa

The Capture of Korytsa or Korçë by the Greek armed forces, happened at 20 December 1912, at the first Balkan War.

Hellenic army officers in Korytsa
Capture of Korytsa
Part of the First Balkan War
Date20 December 1912
Location
Korçë, Manastir Vilayet, Ottoman Empire (present-day Albania)
Result Greek victory, capture of Korçë
Belligerents
Greece  Ottoman Empire
Commanders and leaders
Lt. General Konstantinos Damianos Djavit Pasha
Strength
24,000 troops

Capture

The Balkan Wars, a conflict between Balkan countries against the Ottoman Empire broke at July 1912. While the Balkan allies were victorious, and the Hellenic Army liberated Thessaloniki continue to march in direction northwest to Kastoria and then Korçë.

The Epirus front was still active and the Ottoman forces under Djavid Pasha placed 24,000 Ottoman troops in Korçë in order to protect the northeast of Ioannina, the urban center of the region of Epirus. On December 20, 1912, 3 days after peace negotiations started,[1] the Greek forces pushed the Ottomans out of Korçë.[2]

This gave a significant advange to the Greek forces in order to control the entire area and Ioannina, which happened with the Battle of Bizani in March 1913.
After the capture, the town was visited by Prince George (later George II of Greece) on May 17, 1913. He was welcomed by the Muslim mayor of the town, still holding his position, and he visited a Dervish monastery nearby.[3]

References
  1. Greece at the Paris Peace Conference (1919). page 23.
  2. The Balkan Wars 1912-1913: Prelude to the First World War p. 83
  3. Le voyage de diadoque en Epire. Newspaper "Le Temps", 24.05.1913, p. 3

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