Battle of Velestino 1897
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Date | 27 April 1897 – 6 May 1897 | Wikidata |
|---|---|---|
| Year | 1897 | Wikidata P580 (start time) |
| Era | 19th century (1800–1913) | derived from year |
| Location | Greece | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | Europe | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | Greco-Turkish War of 1897 | Wikidata P361 |
| Participants | Kingdom of Greece, Ottoman Empire | Wikidata P710 |
| Coordinates | 39.3817, 22.7450 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The Battle of Velestino (Greek: Μάχη του Βελεστίνου, Turkish: Velestin Muharebesi) comprised two separate engagements, which took place on 27 April [O.S. 15 April] 1897–30 April [O.S. 18 April] 1897 and 5 May [O.S. 23 April] 1897–6 May [O.S. 24 April] 1897, between the Greek and Ottoman armies at Velestino in Thessaly, as part of the Greco-Turkish War of 1897.
The pass of Velestino controlled the road and railway lines linking the port city of Volos with the interior of the Thessalian plain. As the Greek army withdrew from Larissa to Farsala, a reinforced brigade under Colonel Konstantinos Smolenskis was sent to occupy the pass and cover Volos and the right of the new Greek position. At the same time, the Ottoman high command dispatched a mixed force of cavalry and infantry in the same direction to capture Volos. The first Greek detachments arrived in the area in the morning of 27 April, some hours ahead of the Ottomans, and occupied the heights around Velestino. As a result, a first clash developed in the same evening as the first Ottoman forces arrived in the area. The Ottomans were repelled and retreated to Kileler, while the bulk of Smolenskis' command arrived during the night and took up defensive positions on the next day, while the Ottomans remained inactive.
The Ottoman forces resumed their attack on 29 April, chiefly through the arrival of Colonel Mahmud Muhtar as the representative of the Ottoman commander-in-chief Edhem Pasha.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Battle of Velestino (revision 1374721988), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; shortened by selecting paragraphs and trimming at a sentence boundary; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
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