page_title: Battle of Velestino
section_title: 30 April
hierarchical_section_title: Battle of Velestino / First Battle of Velestino, 27–30 April / 30 April
caption_attribution_description: English: Scene from the Turkish cavalry charge in the Battle of Velestino, during the Greco-Turkish War of 1897
context_page_description: The Battle of Velestino comprised two separate combats, which took place on 27 April [O.S. 15 April] 1897–30 April [O.S. 18 April] 1897 and 5 May [O.S. 23 April] 1897–6 May [O.S. 24 April] 1897, between the Greek and Ottoman armies at Velestino in Thessaly, as part of the Greco-Turkish War of 1897.
  The pass of Velestino controlled the road and railway lines linking the port city of Volos with the interior of the Thessalian plain. As the Greek army withdrew from Larissa to Farsala, a reinforced brigade under Colonel Konstantinos Smolenskis was sent to occupy the pass and cover Volos and the right of the new Greek position. At the same time, the Ottoman high command dispatched a mixed force of cavalry and infantry in the same direction to capture Volos. The first Greek detachments arrived in the area in the morning of 27 April, some hours ahead of the Ottomans, and occupied the heights around Velestino. As a result, a first clash developed in the same evening as the first Ottoman forces arrived in the area.
context_section_description: The Ottoman attack began at dawn (5:00) on the 30th, with Naim Pasha's column attacking the Ovrias Gala and Pilaf Tepe heights, with support from a battery at Rizomylos. The attacking Ottoman forces, however, were repulsed both at Ovrias Gala and in front of Velestino. The Greeks were aided by the recently arrived field battery, which took position near the railway station at 9:00.
  At Ovrias Gala, the commander of the Greek II/7 Battalion, Major Kopsidas, launched a counterattack with two companies against the Ottoman reserves, throwing them into panic and dispersing them, until an Ottoman battalion and cavalry company came to their rescue, and attacked the Greeks' left. Eventually, the Greek column withdrew back to its trenches before the railway station around noon. The Ottomans then launched an attack on the Megavouni height with a battalion, but the attack was repulsed by 17:00. Likewise, in the centre, the repeated attempts of the Adapazarı battalion and the two companies from the Mihaliç battalion to evict the Greek defenders from the forest north of Velestino, failed. At 11:30 a Greek company attempted to launch a counterattack but was likewise repulsed.
  On the Ottoman right, Mahmud Muhtar left the Bursa battalion with the horse artillery battery to pin down the Greek left, while personally leading six infantry companies from the Orhaneli and Bilecik battalions on a wide outflanking manoeuvre around Mount Karadagh to the rear of the Greek left's positions. Two infantry companies of the Bilecik battalion and seven cavalry companies were kept as a reserve to exploit any success.
  By noon, Mahmud Muhtar's manoeuvring element still had not made sufficient progress, hampered by the hard terrain, and thwarted by the reaction of the III/7 Battalion commander, Major Nikolaos Demestichas, who progressively sent out companies to extend the Greek left flank to the west and occupy crucial heights before the Turks arrived. At the same time, on the Ottoman left, Naim Pasha grew increasingly anxious about the situation of his forces, which were engaged already for seven hours without success, and pleaded with his fellow commanders to apply more pressure on their own front. The bad situation on Naim Pasha's front was exacerbated by the inept disposition of his forces: contrary to the advice of Mahmud Muhtar, he had strung out his entire force on an 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) wide front, without keeping any reserves. As a result, Mahmud Muhtar and Suleiman Pasha decided to launch a frontal attack against the Greek left at Karadagh with the infantry they had held in reserve, and the seven cavalry companies, 300 men under Ibrahim Bey, were instructed to stand by to intervene at the "suitable moment".
  The Ottoman infantry quickly captured the first Greek line, while the Greeks withdrew to their second, main defensive position. Ibrahim Bey had sent an officer to the front line to determine the "suitable moment" and give the signal for the cavalry to attack; the officer did so at that point, when it was clearly premature, as the line of the Greek infantry had not yet been broken.
  Consequently, at 13:00 the Ottoman cavalry began to move into position to attack: a first echelon of two companies under Colonel Mahmud Muhtar were tasked with penetrating the Greek positions at the western slopes of Panagia height; Ibrahim Bey led a second echelon of three companies to the left and rear of the first, to assist it in its breakthrough; and a third echelon of two companies followed to the right and rear as a reserve force. While Mahmud Muhtar's first echelon successfully reached the slopes of Panagia and turned south as planned, the second echelon missed the turn and continued advancing to the east. When Ibrahim Bey realized this, it was too late: if he tried to turn south, his men would suffer heavy casualties to the entrenched Greeks on its flank. Thus he ordered his bugler to signal the retreat north. The third echelon followed suit, returning to the positions it had started from. This left Mahmud Muhtar's first echelon, already charging against th
caption: "A miniature Balaclava charge at Velestino": the failed Ottoman cavalry charge of 30 April, drawn by John Charlton
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