| Battle of Pirot | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part ofSerbo-Bulgarian War | |||||||
 Street fighting in Pirot | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 Bulgaria |  Serbia | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Alexander I Danail Nikolaev | Milan I Petar Topalović | ||||||
| Units involved | |||||||
| Western Army | Nišava Army | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 45,000[1] 80 guns | 40,000[1] 84 guns | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 2,500 killed or wounded[1] | 2,000 killed or wounded[1] | ||||||
TheBattle of Pirot (Bulgarian:Битка при ПиротSerbian:Битка код Пирота) took place between 26 and 27 November 1885[a], during theSerbo-Bulgarian War, near the town ofPirot,Serbia. The battle opposed theBulgaria Western Corps to the Serbian Nišava Army. It ended with a Bulgarian victory and the signing of an armistice. The battle led to thetreaty of Bucharest ending theSerbo-Bulgarian War, restoring peace between the two countries.
After the Bulgarian victory at theBattle of Slivnitsa, fought from 17 to 19 November 1885, the Bulgarian Army counter-attacked.[2] The Bulgarian troops defeated the Serbs atGurgulyat (19 November) andDragoman (22 November) and subsequently reached the city ofPirot,[3] where the Serbian Nišava army occupied defensive positions on the hillswest of the town.[2]
On 26 November, the Bulgarians defeated the Serbian cover forces along the border and moved on to Pirot. At around 15:00 on the same day, the Bulgarian advanced guard engaged the enemy adn first achieved success on the left flank of the front, after the detachment of Captain Popov had seized the heights of Divan and Cherni Vrah. On the right flank, the 10th Regiment of the Serbian Šumadija Division retreated followed by the two battalions sent to defend Pirot. During the skirmishes on the left flank, the Bulgarians had suffered 48 killed, 136 wounded and 27 missing, and the Serbians lost 67 soldiers, had 134 wounded and 85 captured. The Serbians were badly equipped and unprepared and used obsolete second-hand obsolete Russian artillery, and the Bulgarian used modern German weaponry.[4]
During the night of 27 November, the Serbs regrouped and at dawn managed to retake Pirot from the Bulgarians.[1] The column of Major Gudzhev attacked the Šumadija Division and the Bulgarians managed to push the Serbs to the river Temska. The retreat of the Šumadija Division forced the Drina Division to pull back as well and the Bulgarians pursued them. On the left flank, the Bulgarians were also successful. The Serbs managed to hold their position in the southern part of Pirot until the night.[1] Later the Bulgarians pushed the Serbs from the city and attacked Serbian army positions west of the town of Pirot.[5] The Serbians continued to hold a position to the south of the town till nightfall.
A day after the victory, the Bulgarian Army prepared to continue its advance to the city ofNiš, which was a target of theGreater Bulgarian national project, but the Austro-Hungarian delegation in the Bulgarian capital made it clear that if the Bulgarian advance continued, Austria-Hungary would intervene in the war on the side of Serbia. As a result, the same day, an armistice was concluded.[1] The treaty of Bucharest on 3 March 1886 brought the brief war to an end and restored the prewar status quo.[6]
1 In theJulian calendar, the battle was on 14 and 15 November.