The second major victory won by the Greek army on the Macedonian front against the Turks, after the battle of Sarantaporos, was the victory in the holy city for the Muslims of Macedonia: Giannitsa. This victorious battle opened the way for the conquest of Thessaloniki. After the aforementioned battle, the command of the Greek troops decided to dedicate three days to the army for rest, and then its advance to the right bank of the Axios River would take place.
At that time, there was information that the morale of the Turkish soldiers had plummeted. This was the reason why the Greek army waited another day to enter Thessaloniki. The commanders of the Greek army now believed that the Turkish army, after its defeat, would be ripe to negotiate its surrender. In the meantime, parts of the Greek army were repairing the bridges on the rivers west of Thessaloniki. The Turks, during their retreat, had completely or partially destroyed the bridges leading to Thessaloniki.
The General Headquarters of the Greek forces, on the night of the 24thth October, he settled in the Topsin mansion. The next morning, two Turkish officers from Taksin Pasha's staff conveyed a document in which they reported to the Greek commanders that a committee of the consuls of the Great Powers in Thessaloniki, together with General Sefik Pasha, would come to the heir Constantine - as it happened - in order to negotiate the terms of the surrender of the Turkish soldiers and officers of Thessaloniki without a fight. The issues that had to be resolved now were what would happen to the weapons that the Turkish conscripts had brought, as well as how their lives would be secured, as well as the status of their captivity.
Taksin Pasha asked the heir Constantine to enter Karabournou with his entire army and all his weapons until the end of the war. However, the heir Constantine did not agree to this Turkish proposal. He asked that the Greek army enter Thessaloniki without a fight, only if the Turks surrendered all their weapons, and only if the Turkish conscripts were surrendered to the Greek army as prisoners of war. Despite this, the officers were allowed to keep their swords and they would all be transported at Greece's expense to a port in Asia Minor. The deadline for the response was six in the morning of the 26th.th October. That same evening, telegrams arrived at the General Headquarters from the Ministries of War and Foreign Affairs. They informed the Crown Prince Constantine of the capture of the city of Serres by the Bulgarian army on October 24. They expressed their fears for the possible simultaneous arrival of the Greek and Bulgarian armies in the city of Thessaloniki.
The dawn of the 26thth On October 11, Sefik Pasha returned to the Greek General Headquarters. He asked the Greek military authorities to allow the Turkish army to retain five thousand weapons in its possession, so that the new recruits could be trained with them. His request was not accepted. The Turkish plenipotentiary was then given a two-hour deadline to convey the final response of the heir Constantine to his commander-in-chief. The deadline passed without a response. The Greek army immediately received the order to head towards the Macedonian capital. At eleven in the morning, the leading units of the 7th division crossed the Gallikos River. This was the third and last water obstacle after the Loudias and Axios Rivers, towards Thessaloniki. By a fortunate coincidence, Thessaloniki was liberated after centuries of slavery on the day of the feast of its patron saint.
photo by RmX86, https://pixabay.com
