As a result, the defending Ottoman units from Tsouka to Manoliasa retreated immediately to Ioannina in order to avoid encirclement.[21] Moreover, as these breakthroughs from different axes threatened to collapse the entire defensive perimeter and to cut off his front echelons, Esat Pasha was forced to keep his reserve troops back and engage them in a defensive role.[20] By 18h, the Greek 1st Evzone Regiment, together with the 9th Battalion commanded by Major Ioannis Velissariou, entered the village of Agios Ioannis on the southern outskirts of Ioannina.[21]