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TheArmy of Thessaly (Greek:Στρατιά Θεσσαλίας) was afield army ofGreece, activated inThessaly during theGreco-Turkish War of 1897 and theFirst Balkan War in 1912, both times against theOttoman Empire and commanded by Crown PrinceConstantine.
In preparation for the war, two of the threeinfantry divisions in theHellenic Army,1st Infantry Division under Major GeneralNikolaos Makris and2nd Infantry Division under ColonelGeorgios Mavromichalis were mobilized and moved toLarissa andTrikala respectively. On 25 March, Crown PrinceConstantine was named commander-in-chief of the Army of Thessaly, comprising these two divisions and support units, with ColonelKonstantinos Sapountzakis as hischief of staff. The Army of Thessaly comprised 36,000 men, 500 cavalry and 96 guns.
When hostilities broke out on 18 April, the Army of Thessaly was defeated in successive battles on the border passes, theBattle of Farsala and theBattle of Domokos. By the time of the armistice on 20 May, the Army of Thessaly had been pushed out of Thessaly proper by the Ottoman advance.
As war with the Ottoman Empire increasingly became a possibility in the early autumn of 1912, the bulk of the Hellenic Army was gathered in Thessaly, once again under Crown Prince Constantine, comprising the four peacetime infantry divisions and three newly formed from reservists, a cavalry brigade, and auxiliary units, for a total of some 100,000 men, of which ca. 80,000 effectives.
In the course of theFirst Balkan War, the Army of Thessaly overcame the fortified Ottoman positions along the border in theBattle of Sarantaporo and advanced north. Despite a setback of a detached division in theBattle of Sorovich, the main army broke through the Ottoman defences at theBattle of Yenidje, forcing, after a few days, the surrender ofThessaloniki and its garrison. Having effected the union with the allied Serbian and Bulgarian armies, the Army of Thessaly was deactivated, with some units going to reinforce the Epirus front and others settling along the new demarcation line inMacedonia.
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