Panteley Kiselov
Encyclopedia
Panteley Kiselov (born on 23 October 1863 in Svishtov
Svishtov
Svishtov is a town in northern Bulgaria, located in Veliko Tarnovo Province on the right bank of the Danube river opposite the Romanian town of Zimnicea. It is the administrative centre of the homonymous Svishtov Municipality...

 , died on 14 October 1927 in Sofia
Sofia
Sofia is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria and the 12th largest city in the European Union with a population of 1.27 million people. It is located in western Bulgaria, at the foot of Mount Vitosha and approximately at the centre of the Balkan Peninsula.Prehistoric settlements were excavated...

), was a Bulgarian
Bulgarians
The Bulgarians are a South Slavic nation and ethnic group native to Bulgaria and neighbouring regions. Emigration has resulted in immigrant communities in a number of other countries.-History and ethnogenesis:...

 soldier and general
General
A general officer is an officer of high military rank, usually in the army, and in some nations, the air force. The term is widely used by many nations of the world, and when a country uses a different term, there is an equivalent title given....

 who fought in the Serbo-Bulgarian War
Serbo-Bulgarian War
The Serbo-Bulgarian War was a war between Serbia and Bulgaria that erupted on 14 November 1885 and lasted until 28 November the same year. Final peace was signed on 19 February 1886 in Bucharest...

 of 1885, the Balkan Wars
Balkan Wars
The Balkan Wars were two conflicts that took place in the Balkans in south-eastern Europe in 1912 and 1913.By the early 20th century, Montenegro, Bulgaria, Greece and Serbia, the countries of the Balkan League, had achieved their independence from the Ottoman Empire, but large parts of their ethnic...

 of 1912-1913 and World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

. He is best known as commander of the Fourth Preslav Infantry Division during the Romanian Campaign of 1916 and victor of the Battle of Tutrakan.

Biography

Panteley was the third child born to Georgi Kiselov and his wife Tomitsa Kiselova. His three brothers were named Simeon, Iliya and Angel and his two sisters were named Elena and Eudikia. Georgi was a wealthy merchant who desired his children to succeed him in the family business and accordingly took special care for their education, enrolling them in the local school
School
A school is an institution designed for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is commonly compulsory. In these systems, students progress through a series of schools...

 of Svishtov
Svishtov
Svishtov is a town in northern Bulgaria, located in Veliko Tarnovo Province on the right bank of the Danube river opposite the Romanian town of Zimnicea. It is the administrative centre of the homonymous Svishtov Municipality...

 and even hiring a personal tutor to oversee their progress. Panteley was eager to study foreign languages, especially French, and a special relation with his tutor Georgi Borov who provided the young boy with the various books he was interested in.

On 28 of June 1877 Russian units crossed the Danube
Danube
The Danube is a river in the Central Europe and the Europe's second longest river after the Volga. It is classified as an international waterway....

, liberated Svishtov
Svishtov
Svishtov is a town in northern Bulgaria, located in Veliko Tarnovo Province on the right bank of the Danube river opposite the Romanian town of Zimnicea. It is the administrative centre of the homonymous Svishtov Municipality...

 and established their base of operations in the town. The soldiers were met with euphoria by the local Bulgarian population, including the then fourteen year old Panteley Kiselov. The boy interacted with different Russian officers and soldiers and expressed a desire to serve in the military. After the war he learned that a military school was to be opened in the new Bulgarian capital of Sofia
Sofia
Sofia is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria and the 12th largest city in the European Union with a population of 1.27 million people. It is located in western Bulgaria, at the foot of Mount Vitosha and approximately at the centre of the Balkan Peninsula.Prehistoric settlements were excavated...

 and decided to continue his education there. Georgi Kiselov support the decision of his son but soon after he lost a great part of his fortune in unsuccessful business deals, succumbed to illness and passed away.

In 1880 Panteley was also wounded accidentally by his younger brother Angel who was playing with a Russian revolver without realizing that the gun was loaded. Still he was able to recover from the wound and enter the Sofia
Sofia
Sofia is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria and the 12th largest city in the European Union with a population of 1.27 million people. It is located in western Bulgaria, at the foot of Mount Vitosha and approximately at the centre of the Balkan Peninsula.Prehistoric settlements were excavated...

 Military school in 1880. During the years in the school he learned Russian and once again proved to be an excellent student. On 30 of July 1883 the students celebrated their graduation by parading in honor of Prince Alexander Batenberg, who was celebrating his name day
Name day
A name day is a tradition in many countries in Europe and Latin America that consists of celebrating the day of the year associated with one's given name....

 and from whom the young soldiers received their first promotion to officer rank. Following the graduation Panteley Kiselov was assigned to the 15th Infantry Battalion, which at the time was stationed in his home town of Svishtov
Svishtov
Svishtov is a town in northern Bulgaria, located in Veliko Tarnovo Province on the right bank of the Danube river opposite the Romanian town of Zimnicea. It is the administrative centre of the homonymous Svishtov Municipality...

.

Serbo-Bulgarian War

After the Serbo-Bulgarian War
Serbo-Bulgarian War
The Serbo-Bulgarian War was a war between Serbia and Bulgaria that erupted on 14 November 1885 and lasted until 28 November the same year. Final peace was signed on 19 February 1886 in Bucharest...

 broke out Lieutenant
Lieutenant
A lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer in many nations' armed forces. Typically, the rank of lieutenant in naval usage, while still a junior officer rank, is senior to the army rank...

 Kiselov and his company were sent to defend the fortress of Vidin
Vidin
Vidin is a port town on the southern bank of the Danube in northwestern Bulgaria. It is close to the borders with Serbia and Romania, and is also the administrative centre of Vidin Province, as well as of the Metropolitan of Vidin...

 where he received his first baptism of fire. The town was soon besieged by numerically superior Serbian forces but its garrison remained firm and repulsed all their attacks until the end of the war.

On 1 of January 1888 Kiselov was promoted to captain and assigned commander of the border guards in Svishtov
Svishtov
Svishtov is a town in northern Bulgaria, located in Veliko Tarnovo Province on the right bank of the Danube river opposite the Romanian town of Zimnicea. It is the administrative centre of the homonymous Svishtov Municipality...

. The next decade of his life Panteley spent in his home town where he married and created a family. He and his wife had three children - Georgi, Aleksandar and Tatiana

On 1 of January 1899, while he was serving in Varna
Varna
Varna is the largest city and seaside resort on the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast and third-largest in Bulgaria after Sofia and Plovdiv, with a population of 334,870 inhabitants according to Census 2011...

, he was promoted to the rank of major
Major
Major is a rank of commissioned officer, with corresponding ranks existing in almost every military in the world.When used unhyphenated, in conjunction with no other indicator of rank, the term refers to the rank just senior to that of an Army captain and just below the rank of lieutenant colonel. ...

 and received the command of an infantry battalion. In 1908 he was unexpectedly recalled to Sofia
Sofia
Sofia is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria and the 12th largest city in the European Union with a population of 1.27 million people. It is located in western Bulgaria, at the foot of Mount Vitosha and approximately at the centre of the Balkan Peninsula.Prehistoric settlements were excavated...

 and assigned commandant of the city for several months but was soon dispatched by the Bulgarian General Staff to receive further training in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

. He spent one year serving with the French 82nd Regiment in the town of Montjoi. Upon his return to Bulgaria Kiselov was promoted to colonel
Colonel
Colonel , abbreviated Col or COL, is a military rank of a senior commissioned officer. It or a corresponding rank exists in most armies and in many air forces; the naval equivalent rank is generally "Captain". It is also used in some police forces and other paramilitary rank structures...

 and assigned commander of the 5th Danube regiment in Ruse. On the eve of the First Balkan War
First Balkan War
The First Balkan War, which lasted from October 1912 to May 1913, pitted the Balkan League against the Ottoman Empire. The combined armies of the Balkan states overcame the numerically inferior and strategically disadvantaged Ottoman armies and achieved rapid success...

 he was reassigned to Varna
Varna
Varna is the largest city and seaside resort on the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast and third-largest in Bulgaria after Sofia and Plovdiv, with a population of 334,870 inhabitants according to Census 2011...

 and received the command of the 8th Primorski regiment.

Balkan Wars

On 17 of September 1912 the Bulgarian Tsar Ferdinand declared the general mobilization of the army. The order was relayed to Kiselov and accepted with great joy by him and his soldiers Within 6 days the regiment was fully mobilized and could field 70 officers, 4 clerks and 4716 soldiers in four battalions and armed with 4,476 rifles or carbines, 4 heavy machine guns and 29 sabers. On 4 of October the 8th regiment marched out of Varna
Varna
Varna is the largest city and seaside resort on the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast and third-largest in Bulgaria after Sofia and Plovdiv, with a population of 334,870 inhabitants according to Census 2011...

 towards the assembly area of the 4th Preslav Infantry Division, to which it belonged. The 4th Division was assigned to the Bulgarian Third army under General Radko Dimitriev
Radko Dimitriev
Radko Dimitriev was a Bulgarian General, Head of the General Staff of the Bulgarian Army from 1 January 1904 to 28 March 1907.-Biography:...

 which was tasked with the attack on the fortress of Kirk Kilisse. Colonel Kiselov's regiment was part of the divisions vanguard when it advanced into Ottoman territory and was soon engaged in heavy fighting around the village of Seliolu. The Bulgarians managed to defeat the Ottomans in the Battle of Kirk Kilisse
Battle of Kirk Kilisse
The Battle of Kirk Kilisse or Battle of Kirkkilise or Battle of Lozengrad was part of the First Balkan War between the armies of Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire. It took place on 24 October 1912, when the Bulgarian army defeated an Ottoman army in Eastern Thrace.The initial clashes were around...

 but did not pursue immediately their retreating opponent. Thus the Ottoman were able to entrench on a new defensive further south, around Lule Burgas. Thus the 4th Division and its regiments found itself involved in the thick of the fighting once again. The battle was so ferocious that at some point the determination of the soldiers of the 8th Regiment wavered. Colonel Kiselov understood this and decided to bolster the morale of his troops by making a personal example of bravery. So he rode forward and personally led the soldiers in the attack. The Battle of Lule Burgas once again ended in bulgarian victory but it had inflicted on the victor some 20,000 casualties, so the Bulgarian High Command ordered the troops to reorganize and rest for another several days. Following this battle the fourth division participated in the fighting on the Chataldzha line and remained on that line until the end of the war.

Shortly after the end of the First Balkan war
First Balkan War
The First Balkan War, which lasted from October 1912 to May 1913, pitted the Balkan League against the Ottoman Empire. The combined armies of the Balkan states overcame the numerically inferior and strategically disadvantaged Ottoman armies and achieved rapid success...

 the Bulgarian Army was ordered to engage in a much shorter but an even costlier conflict that was the Second Balkan war
Second Balkan War
The Second Balkan War was a conflict which broke out when Bulgaria, dissatisfied with its share of the spoils of the First Balkan War, attacked its former allies, Serbia and Greece, on 29 June 1913. Bulgaria had a prewar agreement about the division of region of Macedonia...

. The 4th division, including the 8th Regiment, where now part of the Bulgarian Fourth Army which was facing the Serbians in Vardar Macedonia
Vardar Macedonia
Vardar Macedonia is an area in the north of the Macedonia . The borders of the area are those of the Republic of Macedonia. It covers an area of...

.Fllowing the usuccesful Bulgarian attack in the Battle of Bregalnica
Battle of Bregalnica
The Battle of Bregalnica was fought between the Kingdom of Bulgaria army and the Kingdom of Serbia during the Second Balkan War. Serbian forces came out victorious....

 the 4th Army retired on the positions around the village of Kalimantsi. On 24 of June colonel Kiselov was assigned commander of the 7th Division's reagurd which was occupying the defensive line. Here he managed to convince his superiors not to abandon the positions and instead resist the advancing Serbians. This act allowed the 2nd Bulgarian Division to safely withdraw to its new line and ensured Bulgarian success in the Battle of Kalimantsi
Battle of Kalimantsi
The Battle of Kalimanci was fought between Kingdom of Serbia and Kingdom of Bulgaria during the Second Balkan War. The battle started on the 18th and ended on the 19th of July 1913. The Bulgarian Army halted the Serbian Army from pushing them out of Macedonia and joining up the Greek Army at the...

. Nevertheless Bulgaria was forced to ask its enemies for peace and the Second Balkan War
Second Balkan War
The Second Balkan War was a conflict which broke out when Bulgaria, dissatisfied with its share of the spoils of the First Balkan War, attacked its former allies, Serbia and Greece, on 29 June 1913. Bulgaria had a prewar agreement about the division of region of Macedonia...

 officially ended with the humiliating Treaty of Bucharest
Treaty of Bucharest
Five peace treaties were signed in Bucharest:# Treaty of Bucharest - May 28, 1812, at the end of the Russo-Turkish war, Turkey cedes Bessarabia to Russia# Treaty of Bucharest - March 3, 1886, at the end of the Serbo-Bulgarian War...

.

Following the war Panteley Kiselov received the command of the 2nd Brigade of the 4th Infantry division. In April 1914 however he was made commander of the entire division.

First World War

Bulgaria entered the World War o the side of the Central Powers
Central Powers
The Central Powers were one of the two warring factions in World War I , composed of the German Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Bulgaria...

 in 1915. The 4th Division was again part of the Third Army which was tasked with the defense of the Danube
Danube
The Danube is a river in the Central Europe and the Europe's second longest river after the Volga. It is classified as an international waterway....

 against possible Romanian incursions. In late August 1916 Romania declared war on Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...

. In returned Bulgaria fulfilled the obligations to its allies and declared war on Romania on 1 of September 1916. On the same day Kiselov was promoted to major general
Major General
Major general or major-general is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. A major general is a high-ranking officer, normally subordinate to the rank of lieutenant general and senior to the ranks of brigadier and brigadier general...

.

The Bulgarian Third Army unleashed the first major offensive of the Central Powers
Central Powers
The Central Powers were one of the two warring factions in World War I , composed of the German Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Bulgaria...

 against their new enemy. General Kiselov's division had the crucial task of capturing the important fortress of Tutrakan
Tutrakan
Tutrakan is a town in northeastern Bulgaria, an administrative centre of the homonymous municipality, part of Silistra Province. It is situated on the right bank of the Danube opposite the Romanian town of Olteniţa , in the very west of Southern Dobruja, 58 km east of Rousse and 62 km...

 located on the shores of the Danube
Danube
The Danube is a river in the Central Europe and the Europe's second longest river after the Volga. It is classified as an international waterway....

. Within a couple of days the Bulgarians and a small German detachment besieged the town which boasted a large Romanian garrison. On 5 of September General Kiselov gave the order for the attack of the main defensive line of the fortress. The task was completed only after a day of heavy fighting and great losses. The fall of the main defensive line however left the Romanians with only their second line which was incomplete. Thus the Bulgarian attack on 6 of September proved unstoppable and forced the surrender of the remaining Romanian troops. The Battle of Tutrakan ended in a decisive Bulgarian victory which held vital importance for the entire campaign. Some 480 Romanian officers, 28,000 soldiers and 120 artillery guns were captured and even the German Kaiser celebrated the victory with a champagne party for the Bulgarian representatives at the German High Command.

During the battle General Kiselov maintained full command independence and even allowed himself to disobey the orders of field marshal Mackensen, who was the supreme commander of the Bulgarian, German and Ottoman forces for the invasion of Dobrudja. After this engagement he became one of the most well known and respected Bulgarian commanders.

Following the Battle of Tutrakan the Bulgarian Third army continued its advance deeper into Romanian territory. The 4th division and general Kiselov took part in all of the remaining major battles in this theater and achieved great success against Romanian and Russian forces it faced. Thus the campaign ended in success after four months of struggle. The Bulgarian High Command felt free to transfer the 4th division to the Macedonian Front
Macedonian front (World War I)
The Macedonian Front resulted from an attempt by the Allied Powers to aid Serbia, in the autumn of 1915, against the combined attack of Germany, Austria-Hungary and Bulgaria. The expedition came too late and in insufficient force to prevent the fall of Serbia, and was complicated by the internal...

 in early 1917, where the general received his promotion to the rank of lieutenant general
Lieutenant General
Lieutenant General is a military rank used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages where the title of Lieutenant General was held by the second in command on the battlefield, who was normally subordinate to a Captain General....

 and remained until the very end of the war following the Vardar Offensive
Vardar Offensive
The Vardar Offensive that took place between 14 and 29 of September 1918 was the last major military operation on the Macedonian Front during World War I...

 of 1918.

Latter Life

Following the Great War Panteley Kiselov was promoted to General of the Infantry, which was the highest rank in the Bulgarian Army, and moved with his family to Sofia
Sofia
Sofia is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria and the 12th largest city in the European Union with a population of 1.27 million people. It is located in western Bulgaria, at the foot of Mount Vitosha and approximately at the centre of the Balkan Peninsula.Prehistoric settlements were excavated...

 where he passed away following a heart attack on 14 of October 1927.

Awards

  • Order of Bravery
    Order of Bravery
    The Order of Bravery is a Bulgarian order during the Kingdom of Bulgaria and the Republic of Bulgaria. It is the most esteemed Bulgarian order and the second highest in the Kingdom of Bulgaria and forth highest in the Republic of Bulgaria...

     III grade, 1 and 2 class
  • Order of St Alexander
    Order of St Alexander
    The Order of St Alexander was the second highest Bulgarian order during the Kingdom of Bulgaria. It was established by Knyaz Alexander I and named after his patron saint .-History:...

    , III grade with swords and V grade without swords
  • Order of Military Merit
    Order of Military Merit (Bulgaria)
    The Order of Military Merit is a Bulgarian order during the Kingdom of Bulgaria and the Republic of Bulgaria. In is the third highest order in the Republic of Bulgaria along with the Order of Civil Merit and the Order of the Madara Rider.-History:...

    , IV grade
  • German Iron Cross
    Iron Cross
    The Iron Cross is a cross symbol typically in black with a white or silver outline that originated after 1219 when the Kingdom of Jerusalem granted the Teutonic Order the right to combine the Teutonic Black Cross placed above a silver Cross of Jerusalem....

    , I and II class
  • Ottoman War Medal ("Iron Crescent")
    Gallipoli Star (Ottoman Empire)
    The Ottoman War Medal , better known as the Gallipoli Star, or the Iron Crescent was a military decoration of the Ottoman Empire which was instituted by the Sultan Mehmed Reshad V on 1 March 1915 for gallantry in battle...

    ,

Sources

The general who liberated Dobrudzha
  • Казанджиев, Г., Генерал от пехотата Пантелей Киселов — епопея на един живот, Добрич, 2006, Издателство Матадор
  • Glenn E. Torrey, "The Battle of Turtucaia (Tutrakan) (2–6 September 1916): Romania's Grief, Bulgaria's Glory".East European Quarterly, Vol. 37, 2003
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