Morava Offensive

Morava Offensive
Part of the Serbian Campaign (World War I)
Date 14 October 1915 – 9 November 1915 Location front from Leskovac to Negotin, Serbia Result Bulgarian victory
Belligerents
Bulgaria	Serbia
Commanders and leaders
Kliment Boyadzhiev	Stepa Stepanovic
Strength
First Army: 195,620 men; 116,569 rifleman,108 machine guns, 422 cannons [1]	Second Army – 5 infantry divisions: c.90,000 rifleman, 94 machine guns, 248 cannons [2]
Casualties and losses
1,906 killed, 10,637 wounded, 925 missing[3]	6,000 casualties

The Morava Offensive Operation in Serbian (Bulgarian: Моравска настъпателна операция), (Serbian: Битка на Морави) was undertaken by the Bulgarian First Army between 14 October 1915 and 9 November 1915 as part of the strategic offensive operation of Army Group Mackensen against Serbia in 1915. Under the command of Lieutenant General Kliment Boyadzhiev the Bulgarians seized the fortified areas of Pirot, Niš and the valley of the river Morava. As a result, the Serbian forces were compelled to retreat towards Kosovo and Metohija.

In the beginning due to the harsh weather, strong resistance of the defenders and the tough terrain the Bulgarian advance was slow but because defenders were greatly outnumbered, there was a Bulgarian breakthrough near Pirot in 10 days and the Serbs retreated to the Timok.

The battle continued for 27 days and the Bulgarians penetrated up to 90 km deep into the Serbia's territory. The Serbs lost 6,000 men; 60 guns and a great amount of military equipment.

Footnotes

Sources

• Атанас Пейчев и колектив, 1300 години на стража, Военно издателство, София 1984.

Bulgaria during World War I
Prelude	South-western front Serbian Campaign, Macedonian Front	Romanian front • Outcome • Others	Important persons
Balkan Wars 1912–1913 First Balkan War 1913 Treaty of London Second Balkan War Treaty of Bucharest Treaty of Constantinople Neutrality 1914 Ottoman–Bulgarian alliance 1915 Negotiations of Bulgaria with the Central Powers and the Entente Bulgarian–German treaty Secret Bulgarian–German agreement Military convention between Germany, Austria-Hungary and Bulgaria Bulgarian–Ottoman convention Mobilization	Commanders  Bulgaria Nikola Zhekov • Kliment Boyadzhiev • Dimitar Geshov • Georgi Todorov • Ivan Lukov • Stefan Nerezov • Vladimir Vazov Entente:  Serbia: Radomir Putnik • Živojin Mišić • Stepa Stepanović • Petar Bojović • Pavle Jurišić Šturm;  France: Maurice Sarrail • Adolphe Guillaumat • Louis Franchet d'Espèrey;  United Kingdom: Bryan Mahon • George Milne;  Kingdom of Greece: Panagiotis Danglis Field Armies + Eleventh Army First Army Second Army Fourth Army Battles 1915 Morava Offensive • Ovče Pole Offensive • Kosovo Offensive (1915) • Battle of Krivolak 1916 First battle of Doiran • Battle of Florina (Lerin) • Struma operation • Monastir Offensive 1917 Second battle of Doiran • 2nd Crna Bend • Second battle of Monastir 1918 Battle of Skra-di-Legen • Battle of Dobro Pole • Third battle of Doiran	Commanders  Bulgaria Nikola Zhekov • Panteley Kiselov • Stefan Toshev • Todor Kantardzhiev • Ivan Kolev Entente:  Romania: Constantin Prezan • Alexandru Averescu;  Russia: Andrei Zayonchkovski • Vladimir Sakharov Field Armies Third Army Battles 1916 Battle of Turtucaia • Battle of Dobrich • First Cobadin • Flămânda Offensive • Second Cobadin • Battle of Bucharest Outcome 1918 Treaty of Brest-Litovsk • Armistice of Focșani • Treaty of Bucharest • Protocol of Berlin Outcome Armistice of Salonica Vladaya revolt Treaty of Neuilly-sur-Seine Others Bulgarian administration in Kosovo Anti-military propaganda	Ferdinand Vasil Radoslavov Aleksandar Malinov Aleksandar Stamboliyski Aleksandar Protogerov August von Mackensen Boris Drangov Vladimir Vazov Georgi Todorov (general) Ivan Kolev Kliment Boyadzhiev Dimitar Geshov Ivan Lukov Konstantin Zhostov Krastyu Zlatarev Nikola Zhekov Panteley Kiselov Stefan Toshev Stefan Nerezov Todor Kantardzhiev