"Would you fight Sarantaporo " Topic

The Battle of Sarantaporo (Kirkgechit-Lazarat) in 1912 pitted a severely outnumbered VIII Provisional Corps of the Ottoman Empire against the Greek Army of Thessaly. Hasan Tahsin Pasha, commander of the VIII corps, chose to hold the line at Sarantaporo, the main choke point of the road from Greece to Thessaloniki (Selanik). He and the Ottoman High Command were probably not expecting the Greeks to mass their Army in Thessaly. But even if they where, Sarantaporo might still had been the best place to fight even if outnumbered.

What would you had done?

1) Fight at Sarantaporo even if outnumbered. Still the best ground for defense.

2) Fall back to Yianitsa(Yenice) and collect forces and fight there.

3) Stay put in Thessaloniki and fight in the city.

4) Declare the position untenable and request permission to retreat with the corps to Monastir(Bitola) to unite with the Vardar Army. This means declaring Thessaloniki an open city.

5) Stay put in Thessaloniki but surrender when the Greeks or Bulgarians arrive.

6) Nothing of the above.

7) Submit my resignation, take my back pay and head for the casinos. Ask the local tavern wench if she'd like to go along.

If Sarantaporo was the best place to fight, then I'd fight there, outnumbered or not. Especially if dug in and armed with modern weapons, which the Turks were in 1912.

1. It was the best plan.

Hopefully this will be a incentive for everyone to explore something new. You can also answer after exploring more. I am not holding people to my brief summary of events.

1)

What's the worst that could happen?

Does the place have any political or cultural significance that would compel someone to hold at all cost?

Thessaloniki (Selanik) yes.

3: Stay put as a siege would have issues as long as the Navy could supply by see. Plus the barmaids are prettier

The Greeks had not done well in the previous war, 15 years earlier. Go with 1 and hope they hadn't improved in the intervening years.

Grelber