Battle of Kosovo (1915)

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For the other Battles of Kosovo, see Battle of Kosovo (disambiguation)

Battle of Kosovo
Part of Serbian Campaign (World War I)
Date 10 November 1915 - 4 December 1915 Location Kosovo Result Decisive Bulgarian victory, final defeat of Serbia
Belligerents
Bulgaria	Serbia
Strength
1st Army, Northern Operations Group of 2nd Army	Unknown
Casualties and losses
Unknown	30,000 killed and wounded, 199 guns

The Battle of Kosovo, the third major battle in history to have been fought there, occurred between 10 November 1915 and 4 December 1915.

[edit] The battle, Serbian defeat

The battle began with the forcing of the South Morava by the Bulgarian 1st Army and ended with the total defeat of the Serbian army. The main blow was made by the 1st Army at the direction Niš-Priština. For 2 days, the Serbian army seized Prokuplje, where they mounted a short-lived resistance.

The Serbian army retreated, then made a futile stand near the city of Gnjilane. The Serbs then tried a desperate counter-attack towards Vranje and Kumanovo to join the Anglo-French troops but were again defeated. The 6th and 9th Infantry Divisions of 1st Army easily took Priština on 24 November. Then the whole of the Bulgarian army advanced, supported from the north by parts of 11th German Army. The battle ended on 4 December when Debar was captured. The Serbs lost 30,000 soldiers, 199 guns, 150 cars and vast quantity of other military equipment. The battle ended the Kingdom of Serbia, which would later become Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, and then later Yugoslavia.

v • d • e Bulgaria in 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 Istanbul Neutrality 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-Turkish convention Mobilization	Commanders Bulgaria Nikola Zhekov • Kliment Boyadzhiev • Georgi Todorov • Vladimir Vazov Entente: Serbia: Radomir Putnik • Živojin Mišić • Stepa Stepanović • Petar Bojović; France:Maurice Sarrail • Adolphe Guillaumat • Franchet d'Esperey; United Kingdom: George Milne; Greece: Panagiotis Danglis Battles 1915 Battle of Morava • Battle of Ovche Pole • Battle of Kosovo • Battle of Krivolak 1916 First battle of Doiran • Battle of Lerin • Battle of Struma • Battle of the River Cherna 1917 Second battle of Doiran • Battle of the Red Wall 1918 Battle of Dobro Pole • Third battle of Doiran	Commanders Bulgaria Nikola Zhekov • Panteley Kiselov • Stefan Toshev • Todor Kantardzhiev Entente: Romania: Constantin Prezan • Alexandru Averescu; Russia:Andrei Zaionchkovsky Battles 1916 Battle of Turtucaia • Battle of Dobrich • Battle of Kobadin • Advance to Bucharest Outcome 1918 Treaty of Brest-Litovsk • Armistice of Focşani • Treaty of Bucharest • Protocol of Berlin Outcome Armistice of Solun Vladaya revolt Treaty of Neuilly-sur-Seine Others Bulgarian administration in Kosovo Anti-military propaganda	Ferdinand Aleksandar Protogerov August von Mackensen Boris Draganov Vladimir Vazov Georgi Todorov (general) Ivan Kolev Kliment Boyadzhiev Konstantin Zhostov Krastyu Zlatarev Nikola Zhekov Panteley Kiselov Stefan Toshev Todor Kantardzhiev