Battle of Adrianople ( 1913 ) The Battle or Siege of Adrianople ( , , ) was fought during the First Balkan War , beginning in mid - November 1912 and ending on 26 March 1913 with the capture of Edirne ( Adrianople ) by the Bulgarian 2nd Army . The victorious end of the siege was considered an enormous military success because the defenses of city were carefully developed by leading German siege experts and were dubbed ' undefeatable ' . The Bulgarian army , after 5 months of siege and two bold night attacks , took the Ottoman stronghold . The victors were under the overall command of General Nikola Ivanov , and the commander of the Bulgarian forces on the Eastern sector of the fortress was General Georgi Vazov , brother of the famous Bulgarian writer Ivan Vazov and General Vladimir Vazov . One early use of an airplane for bombing took place during the siege : the Bulgarians dropped special hand grenades from one or more airplanes in an effort to cause panic among Turkish soldiers . Many young Bulgarian officers and professionals who took part in this decisive battle of the First Balkan War , later played important roles in the politics , culture , commerce and industry of Bulgaria . The final battle consisted of two night attacks . Preparations for the battle included covering all metal parts of the uniforms and weapons with tissue , in order to eliminate any shine or noise . The several armies that took part in the siege were put under joint command , creating a prototype of a front . Some light artillery pieces towed by horses followed the advancing units , playing the role of infantry support guns . Attempts were made to perturb all Ottomans ' radio communications to isolate and demoralize the besieged . Beginning on March 24 , 1913 the external fortifications were captured in one night , and in the next night the fortress itself fell into Bulgarian hands . Early in the morning of March 26 , 1913 the commander of the fortress , Mehmed Şükrü Pasha , surrendered to the Serbian army and thus ended the siege of Adrianople . After the surrender , large parts of the city , especially the houses of Muslims and Jews , were subjected to looting for three days . However , it is disputed who actually carried out the looting ; some accounts accuse the Bulgarian army and other sources accuse the local Greek population . The Turkish prisoners of war were badly treated and some of them killed . According to the Carnegie report there were made two principal charges on the Bulgarians : The Bulgarian achievements up to this point were fairly summarized by a British war correspondent : " A nation with a population of less than five million and a military budget of less than two million pounds per annum placed in the field within fourteen days of mobilization an army of 400 , 000 men , and in the course of four weeks moved that army over 160 miles in hostile territory , captured one fortress and invested another , fought and won two great battles against the available armed strength of a nation of twenty million inhabitants , and stopped only at the gates of the hostile capital . With the exception of the Japan ese and Gurkhas , the Bulgarians alone of all troops go into battle with the fixed intention of killing at least one enemy . " Serbian units involved were the 2nd army under command of general ( later vojvoda , equivalent to Field Marshal ) Stepa Stepanović ( two divisions and some support units ) and heavy artillery ( 38 siege cannons and howitzers of 120 and 150 mm purchased from French Schneider - Canet factory in 1908 ) dispatched because the Bulgarians lacked heavy artillery ( though they were well supplied with Krupp - designed 75 mm field artillery ) . The loss of Edirne delivered the final decisive blow on the Ottoman army and brought to a close the First Balkan War .