Battle of Lule Burgas
Part of theFirst Balkan War
Date 28 October – 2 November 1912 Location Burgos, Kirk Kilise District,Adrianople Vilayet,Ottoman Empire (present-dayLüleburgaz-Bunarhisar,Turkey) 41°24′20″N27°21′25″E / 41.40556°N 27.35694°E /41.40556; 27.35694 Result Bulgarian victory[1]
Belligerents
Bulgaria	Ottoman Empire
Commanders and leaders
Gen.Radko Dimitriev Gen.Ivan Fichev Gen.Vasil Kutinchev Gen.Kliment Boyadzhiev Gen. Pavel Hristov Gen. Pravoslav Tenev Gen. Stoyu Bradistilov	Abdullah Pasha Mahmud Muhtar Pasha
Strength
108,000 116 machine guns; 360 guns[2]	130,000 300 guns[3]
Casualties and losses
20,000 killed and wounded[4]	22,000 killed and wounded[5] 2,800 captured[6] 50 guns captured[7]

TheBattle of Lule Burgas (Turkish:Lüleburgaz Muharebesi) orBattle of Luleburgas – Bunarhisar (Bulgarian:Битка при Люлебургас – Бунархисар,Turkish:Lüleburgaz – Pınarhisar Muharebesi) took place between theKingdom of Bulgaria and theOttoman Empire and was the bloodiest battle of theFirst Balkan War. The battle took place from 28 October to 2 November 1912. The outnumbered Bulgarian forces made the Ottomans retreat toÇatalca line, 30 km from the Ottoman capitalConstantinople. In terms of forces engaged it was the largest battle fought inEurope between the end of theFranco-Prussian War and the beginning of theFirst World War.^[8]

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Following the quick Bulgarian victory on the Petra – Seliolu – Geckenli line and the capture of Kirk Kilisse (Kırklareli), the Ottoman forces retreated in disorder to the east and south. TheBulgarian Second Army under the command of gen.Nikola Ivanov besieged Adrianople (Edirne) but theFirst andThird armies failed to chase the retreating Ottoman forces. Thus the Ottomans were allowed to re-group and took new defensive positions along theLule Burgas –Bunar Hisar line. The Bulgarian Third Army under gen.Radko Dimitriev reached the Ottoman lines on 28 October. The attack began the same day by the army's three divisions – 5th Danubian Infantry Division (commander major-gen. Pavel Hristov) on the left flank, 4th Preslav Infantry Division (major-gen. Kliment Boyadzhiev) in the centre and 6th Bdin Infantry Division (major-gen. Pravoslav Tenev) on the right flank. By the end of the day the 6th Division captured the town ofLule Burgas. With the arrival of the First Army on the battlefield the following day, attacks continued along the entire front line but were met with fierce resistance and even limited counter-attacks by the Ottomans. Heavy and bloody battles occurred on the next two days and the casualties were high on both sides. At the cost of heavy losses, the Bulgarian Fourth and 5th Division managed to push the Ottomans back and gained 5 km of land in their respective sectors of the frontline on 30 October.

The Bulgarians continued to push the Ottomans on the entire front. The 6th division managed to breach the Ottoman lines on the right flank. After another two days of fierce combat, the Ottoman defence collapsed and on the night of 2 November the Ottoman forces began a full retreat along the entire frontline. The Bulgarians again didn't immediately follow the retreating Ottoman forces and lost contact with them, which allowed the Ottoman army to take up positions on the Çatalca defence line just 30 km west of Constantinople.

There were a large number ofjournalists who reported on the Battle of Lule Burgas, whose accounts provide rich details about this event.

• Gallery
• 
  Ottoman troops leaving the field during the battle of Lule Burgas
• 
  Ottoman troops in retreat from Lule Burgas across the bridge at Karisdiran

Media related toBattle of Lule Burgas at Wikimedia Commons

• Hall, Richard C. (2000).The Balkan Wars, 1912–1913: Prelude to the First World War. Routledge.ISBN 0-415-22946-4.
• Erickson, Edward J. (2003).Defeat in Detail: The Ottoman Army in the Balkans, 1912–1913. Greenwood Publishing Group.ISBN 0-275-97888-5.

• Battles of the First Balkan War
• Conflicts in 1912
• 1912 in the Ottoman Empire
• Battles involving the Ottoman Empire
• Battles involving Bulgaria
• Adrianople vilayet
• History of Kırklareli Province
• October 1912 in Europe
• November 1912 in Europe

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