The Liberation of Korytsa by the Hellenic

armed forces A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...

, happened on 20 December 1912, during the

First Balkan War The First Balkan War ( sr, Први балкански рат, ''Prvi balkanski rat''; bg, Балканска война; el, Αʹ Βαλκανικός πόλεμος; tr, Birinci Balkan Savaşı) lasted from October 1912 to May 1913 and invo ...

Capture

During the early stages of the war while the Balkan allies were victorious, the Hellenic Army liberated

Thessaloniki Thessaloniki (; el, Θεσσαλονίκη, , also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece, with over one million inhabitants in its metropolitan area, and the capital of the geographic region of ...

and continued to advance west in Macedonia to

Kastoria Kastoria ( el, Καστοριά, ''Kastoriá'' ) is a city in northern Greece in the region of Western Macedonia. It is the capital of Kastoria regional unit, in the geographic region of Macedonia. It is situated on a promontory on the weste ...

and then Korytsa. The Epirus front was also active and the Ottoman forces under Djavid Pasha placed 24,000 Ottoman troops in Korytsa in order to protect north of

Ioannina Ioannina ( el, Ιωάννινα ' ), often called Yannena ( ' ) within Greece, is the capital and largest city of the Ioannina regional unit and of Epirus, an administrative region in north-western Greece. According to the 2011 census, the c ...

, the urban center of the

Epirus sq, Epiri rup, Epiru , native_name_lang = , settlement_type = Historical region , image_map = Epirus antiquus tabula.jpg , map_alt = , map_caption = Map of ancient Epirus by Heinri ...

region. On December 20, three days after peace negotiations started, the Greek forces pushed the Ottomans out of Korytsa. This would give the Greek forces a significant advantage in controlling Ioannina and the entire area in March 1913 at the

Battle of Bizani The Battle of Bizani (, ''Máchi tou Bizaníou''; tr, Bizani Muharebesi, italic=no) took place in Epirus on . The battle was fought between Greek and Ottoman forces during the last stages of the First Balkan War, and revolved around the forts ...

. After Ioannina was captured, the town was visited on 17 May, 1913, by Prince George (later

George II of Greece George II ( el, Γεώργιος Βʹ, ''Geórgios II''; 19 July Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates">O.S.:_7_July.html" ;"title="Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html" ;"title="nowiki/>O.S.:_7_July">Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html"_;"title="nowiki/ ...

). Prince George was welcomed by the Muslim mayor of the town and he visited a Dervish monastery nearby.

Citations

References

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Korytsa, Capture Battles of the First Balkan War Conflicts in 1912 1912 in the Ottoman Empire 1912 in Albania

Capture Capture may refer to: *Asteroid capture, a phenomenon in which an asteroid enters a stable orbit around another body *Capture, a software for lighting design, documentation and visualisation *"Capture" a song by Simon Townshend *Capture (band), an ...

Battles involving Greece Battles involving the Ottoman Empire Military history of Albania History of Korçë County Modern history of Epirus Manastir vilayet December 1912 events