Voivode Lazar Delev

Lazar Delev, known as Orevski, was a Bulgarian revolutionary and voivode of the Internal Macedonian-Adrianople Revolutionary Organisation (IMARO). He was born in 1875 in the village of Orehovitsa, which is in present-day Greece. He came from a poor family and was self-taught.

Lazar Delev settled in Thessaloniki and became a worker at the railway station's depot. He joined IMARO and carried out various terrorist and courier assignments. In May 1898, following the murder of Hristo Tsitsov, leader of the pro-Greek party in Gevgelija, in which he had not participated, he was arrested. He spent time in prison in Gevgelija and Thessaloniki but, following intense pressure, was released in August 1899.

After his release, Lazar Delev joined the detachment of the local voivode Ivancho Karasuliyata and participated in the Ilinden-Preobrazhenie Uprising, fighting alongside other revolutionaries in the Gorna Dzhumaya district.

In 1905 Lazar Delev became an independent Gevgelija voivode and, together with Argir Manasiev, repelled incursions by the Greek propaganda movement.

In 1912, during the First Balkan War, Lazar Delev became voivode of Partisan Detachment No. 44 of the Macedonian-Adrianople Volunteer Corps. He fought at Osenovo, Senokos and elsewhere. He later served in the corps' Combined Partisan Company.