Macedonian front
Macedonian front | |||||||
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Part of the Balkans theatre of World War I | |||||||
From left to right: Allied soldiers from Indochina, France, Senegal, Great Britain, Russia, Italy, Serbia, Greece, and India. | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
Central Powers:
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Allied Powers:
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Commanders and leaders | |||||||
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Units involved | |||||||
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Italian XVI Corps | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
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Casualties and losses | |||||||
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The Macedonian front, also known as the Salonica front (after
Background
Following the assassination of the Crown Prince by a Bosnian Serb,
Triple invasion and the fall of Serbia
After the victory of the Serbian army in the Battle of Kolubara in December 1914, the Serbian front saw a lull until the early autumn of 1915. Under the command of Field Marshal August von Mackensen, the Austro-Hungarian Balkan Army, the German 11th Army and river flotillas on the Danube and the Sava began an offensive on 6 October 1915, the largest offensive against Serbia. By September 1915, despite the extreme sacrifice of the Serbian army, the Austro-Hungarian Balkan Army, having crossed the rivers Sava and Drina, and the German 11th army after crossing the Danube, occupied Belgrade, Smederevo, Požarevac and Golubac, creating a vast bridgehead south of the Sava and Danube rivers, and forcing Serbian forces to withdraw to southern Serbia.[14]
On 15 October 1915, two Bulgarian armies attacked, over-running Serbian units and penetrating the valley of the South Morava river near Vranje up to 22 October 1915. The Bulgarian forces occupied Kumanovo, Štip, and Skopje and prevented the withdrawal of the Serbian army to the Greek border and Thessaloniki (Salonika).[15]
The Allies (Britain and France) had repeatedly promised to send military forces to Serbia, but nothing had materialized for a year. However, with Bulgaria's mobilization to its south, the situation for Serbia became desperate. The developments finally forced the French and the British to decide upon sending a small expedition force of two divisions from Gallipoli (
In the event, the lack of Allied support sealed the fate of the Serbian army. Against Serbia, the Central Powers marshalled the Bulgarian Army, a
Marshal Putnik ordered a full
The French and British divisions marched north from Thessaloniki in October 1915 under the joint command of French General Maurice Sarrail and British General Bryan Mahon (Commander, British Salonika Force, 1915). However, the London War Office was reluctant to advance too deep into Serbia. So the French divisions advanced up the Vardar river alone. This advance gave some limited help to the retreating Serbian army, as the Bulgarians had to concentrate larger forces on their southern flank to deal with the threat, which led to the Battle of Krivolak (October–November 1915).[19] By the end of November, General Sarrail had to retreat in the face of massive Bulgarian assaults on his positions. During his retreat, the British at Kosturino were also forced to retreat. By 12 December, all Allied forces were back in Greece. The Germans ordered the Bulgarians not to cross the Greek borders, reluctant to risk a Greek entry into the war in response to a Bulgarian invasion in Macedonia. The Allies took advantage of that, reinforcing and consolidating their positions behind the borders.[20]
Thus there resulted in a clear, albeit incomplete, victory for the Central Powers. They opened the railway line from
Establishment of the Macedonian front
On 5 January 1916, the Austro-Hungarian Army
In the meantime, the political situation in Greece was confusing. Officially, Greece was neutral, but King Constantine I was pro-German, while Prime Minister Eleftherios Venizelos was pro-Allied. Venizelos invited the Entente into Thessaloniki.[25]
With the knowledge that
The unopposed Bulgarian advance into Greek-held eastern Macedonia precipitated a crisis in Greece. Though the royalist government ordered its troops in the area (the demobilized IV Corps) not to resist and to retreat to the port of Kavala for evacuation, naval vessels did not turn up to permit the evacuation to take place. Despite occasional local resistance from a few officers and their nucleus units, most of the troops, including their commander, surrendered to a token German force and were interned for the remainder of the war at Görlitz, Germany. The surrender of territory recently won with difficulty in the Second Balkan War of 1913 was the last straw for many Venizelist army officers. With Allied assistance, they launched a coup which secured Thessaloniki and most of Greek Macedonia for Venizelos. From that point, Greece had two governments: the "official" royal government at Athens, which maintained Greek neutrality, and the "revolutionary" Venizelist "Provisional Government of National Defence" at Thessaloniki. At the same time, the Italians had deployed more forces to Albania, which managed to push the Austrian corps back through very hilly country south of Lake Ostrovo.[30]
1917
By spring 1917, General Sarrail's Allied Army of the Orient had been reinforced to 24 divisions, six French, six Serbian, seven British, one Italian, three Greek and two Russian brigades. An offensive was planned for late April, but the initial attack failed with significant losses, and the offensive was called off on 21 May.[31] To put more pressure on Athens, the Venizelists and the Entente occupied Thessaly and Isthmus of Corinth, dividing the country. After an attempt to occupy Athens by force, which caused the reaction of the local royalist forces and ended in a fiasco in December (see Noemvriana), the Allies established a naval blockade around southern Greece which was still loyal to King Constantine, causing extreme hardship to the people in those areas. Six months later, in June, the Venizelists presented a list of conditions, resulting in the exile of the Greek king (on 14 June, his son Alexander became king) and the reunification of the country under Venizelos. The new government immediately declared war on the Central Powers and created a new army.[32]
1918
Opposing forces in the middle of September
Central Powers
Order of battle: Army Group Scholtz (General of the Artillery Friedrich von Scholtz) | |||||
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Army | Commander | Corps | Commander | Divisions | |
11th German Army | Gen.d.Inf. Kuno von Steuben | LXI. Corps | Lt-Gen. Friedrich Fleck | 1st, 6th & Mixed Bulgarian Division | |
LXII. Corps | Lt-Gen. Karl Suren | 302nd German Division, 4th, 2nd & 3rd Bulgarian Division | |||
1st Bulgarian Army | Lt-Gen. Stefan Nerezov |
5th, Mountain, 9th Bulgarian Infantry Divisions & 1/11 Infantry Brigade |
Order of battle: Bulgarian High Command (Lieutenant General Georgi Todorov) | |||||
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Army | Commander | Corps | Commander | Divisions | |
2nd Bulgarian Army |
Lt-Gen Ivan Lukov |
11th, 7th & 8th Bulgarian Infantry Division | |||
4th Bulgarian Army | Lt-Gen Stefan Toshev |
10th Bulgarian Infantry division & 2nd Bulgarian Cavalry Division |
Entente
Order of battle: Allied Armies of the East (General Louis Franchet d'Espèrey) | |||||
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Army | Commander | Corps | Commander | Division | |
French Army of the Orient |
General Paul Henrys | 30th, 76th, 57th, 156th French Infantry Divisions, 35th Italian Infantry Division, 11th French Colonial Division, 3rd & 4th Greek Infantry Divisions | |||
Serbian Army | Field Marshal Živojin Mišić | I Serbian Corps & One battalion | Field Marshal Petar Bojović | Morava, Dunav & Drina Infantry Divisions, Cavalry Division, Prilep Battalion | |
II Serbian Corps & Two French Divisions | Field Marshal Stepa Stepanović | Šumadija, Yugoslav (renamed Vardar Division) & Timok Infantry Divisions, 122nd & 17th French Infantry Division | |||
1st Group of Divisions | General Philippe d'Anselm | 16th French Colonial Division, Greek Archipelago Division & 27th British Infantry Division | |||
British Salonika Army | General George Milne | XII Corps | Lt-Gen. Henry Wilson |
22nd & 26th British Infantry Division, Greek Serres Division | |
XVI Corps | Lt-Gen. Charles James Briggs | Crete Division
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Greek Army | Lt.-Gen. Panagiotis Danglis | I Greek Corps | Lt.-Gen. Leonidas Paraskevopoulos | 2nd & 13th Greek Infantry Divisions
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II Greek Corps | Lt.-Gen. Konstantinos Miliotis-Komninos | Xanthi & 14th Greek Infantry Divisions
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9th Greek Infantry Division (training)
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Military operations
On 30 May 1918, the Allies launched an offensive on the heavily fortified Skra salient, commencing the battle of Skra-di-Legen. The battle marked the first significant Greek action for the Allied side.[33] Utilizing the cover of heavy artillery, a Franco-Hellenic force made a rapid push into the enemy trenches, conquering Skra and the surrounding system of fortifications. Greek casualties amounted to 434–440 killed in action, 154–164 missing in action and 1,974–2,220 wounded, while France lost approximately 150 men killed or injured. A total of 1,782 soldiers of the Central Powers became prisoners of war, including a small number of German engineers and artillery specialists that served in Bulgarian units; considerable amounts of military equipment also fell into Allied hands. The plan for a Bulgarian counteroffensive against Skra remained unfulfilled as Bulgarian soldiers refused to participate in the operation. Both the Greek and the French press used the opportunity to laud the efforts of the Greek army, favourably influencing the Greek mobilization.[34][35][36]
The fall of Skra prompted Bulgarian prime minister
With the German spring offensive threatening France, Guillaumat was recalled to
The Allied forces were now large, despite the Russian exit from the war due to the
The preparatory artillery bombardment of Bulgarian and Central Powers positions for the Battle of Dobro Pole began on 14 September. The following day, the French and Serbians attacked and captured their objective.[40] On 18 September, the Greeks and the British attacked but were stopped with heavy losses by the Bulgarians in the Battle of Doiran.[41] The Franco-Serbian army continued advancing vigorously, and the next day, some Bulgarian units started surrendering positions without a fight, and the Bulgarian command ordered a retreat.[42]
In the official British government history of the Macedonian campaign, Cyril Falls wrote a detailed analysis of the situation of the Bulgarian forces and the situation of the front. Although a breakthrough was achieved at Dobro Pole and the Allied forces continued their advance, the Bulgarian army was not routed and managed an orderly retreat. By 29 September (a day before Bulgaria exited World War I), Skopje fell, but a Bulgarian and German force had been ordered to try and retake it the next day; the number of Bulgarian prisoners-of-war in allied hands around that day was only 15,000.[43]
Another major factor contributed to the Bulgarian request for an armistice. A mass of retreating Bulgarian mutineers had converged on the railway centre of Radomir in Bulgaria, 30 miles (48 km) from the capital city of Sofia. On 27 September, leaders of the Bulgarian Agrarian National Union took control of these troops and proclaimed the overthrow of the monarchy and a Bulgarian republic. About 4,000–5,000 rebellious troops threatened Sofia the next day. Under those chaotic circumstances, a Bulgarian delegation arrived in Thessaloniki to request an armistice. On 29 September, the Bulgarians were granted the Armistice of Salonica by General d'Espèrey, ending their war. The Macedonian front ended at noon on 30 September 1918 when the ceasefire came into effect. The Soldiers' Uprising was finally put down by 2 October.[44]
German Emperor
The British army headed east towards the European side of the Ottoman Empire as the French and Serbian forces continued north and liberated Serbia, Albania and Montenegro. The British army neared Constantinople, and with no Ottoman forces capable of stopping it, the Ottoman government asked for an armistice (the Armistice of Mudros) on 26 October; Enver Pasha and his partners had fled several days earlier to Berlin. The Serbo-French army recaptured Serbia and overran several weak German divisions that tried to block its advance near Niš. On 3 November, Austria-Hungary was forced to sign an armistice on the Italian front ending the war there. On 10 November, d'Espèrey's army crossed the Danube river and was poised to enter the heartland of Hungary. At the request of the French General, Count Károlyi, leading the Hungarian government, came to Belgrade and signed another armistice, the Armistice of Belgrade.[48]
Memorials
Memorials erected in the area include the Doiran Memorial to the dead of the British Salonika army.[citation needed]
Gallery
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Armies in Thessaloniki, First World War
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Macedonian front, front line
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Military camp near Thessaloniki, First World War
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Trenches, Macedonian front, World War I
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British soldiers in a trench
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Frenchman instructing Serbian in the use of a trench mortar, 1916–1917
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The Monument of the Alliance for the Split of the Macedonian Front, during the 94th anniversary, in Latomeio, Kilkis (constructed in an area donation of Christos Karathodoros)
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Zeitenlik, Allied cemetery in Thessaloniki
Annotations
- ^ The German 11th Army was composed of mostly Bulgarian divisions.[2]
- ^ a b c The Serbian armies were corps sized formations.[3]
- ^ Losses for Bulgaria in the whole war are given as 266,919 (including killed and died 87,500; wounded 152,930; Prisoners and missing 27,029). Bar 30,250 casualties in the Romanian Campaign and 37,000 casualties in the Serbian Campaign losses were all taken on the Salonika front.[6]
- Serbian campaign. Most of the rest were taken on the Macedonian front following the evacuation of the Serbian army.
- ^ Total casualties for Greece were 27,000 (killed and died 5,000; wounded 21,000; prisoners and missing 1,000)[6]
- ^ Breakdown: 2,797 were killed, 1,299 died of wounds, 3,744 died of disease, 2,778 were missing/captured, 16,888 were wounded (minus DOW), 116,190 evacuated sick (34,726 to the UK, 81,428 elsewhere) of whom an unknown proportion returned to duty later. Overall, 481,262 were hospitalized for sickness.[11]
- ^ Losses are given as follows for 1916 to 1918. Macedonia: 8,324, including 2,971 dead or missing and 5,353 injured. Albania: 2,214, including 298 dead, 1,069 wounded, and 847 missing.
References
- ^ Олейников А. Россия-щит Антанты. С предисловием Николая Старикова.-СПб.:Питер, 2016.-336 с.-( серия «Николай Стариков рекомендует прочитать») ISBN 978-5-496-01795-4
- ^ Korsun 1939, p. 95.
- ^ Thomas & Babac 2001, pp. 12–13.
- ^ a b c Richard C. Hall, Balkan Breakthrough: The Battle of Dobro Pole 1918, 2010 – p. 134
- ^ "Campaigns – Macedonia". Turkeyswar.com. Archived from the original on 2013-12-02. Retrieved 2015-05-19.
- ^ a b "Military Casualties-World War-Estimated" Statistics Branch, GS, War Department, 25 February 1924; cited in World War I: People, Politics, and Power, published by Britannica Educational Publishing (2010) p. 219.
- ^ Until the Armistice of 11 November 1918. Max Schiavon. Le Front d'Orient. Des Dardanelles à la victoire finale. Tallandier. 2014. p. 114, 368.
- ^ "Reporters: How the Salonica Front led to victory in WWI". www.france24.com. 9 November 2018.
- ^ Urlanis, Boris (1971). Wars and Population. Moscow: Progress Publishers. pp. 66, 79, 83, 85, 160, 171, 268.
- ^ Statistics of the Military Effort of the British Empire During the Great War 1914–1920. The War Office. p. 353.
- ^ T. J. Mitchell and G.M. Smith. "Medical Services: Casualties and Medical Statistics of the Great War." From the "Official History of the Great War." pp. 190–191.
- ^ Ministero della Difesa: L’Esercito italiano nella Grande Guerra (1915–1918), vol. VII: Le operazioni fuori del territorio nazionale: Albania, Macedonia, Medio Oriente, t. 3° bis: documenti, Rome 1981, Parte Prima, doc. 77, p. 173 and Parte Seconda, doc. 78, p. 351; Mortara, La salute pubblica in Italia 1925, p. 37.
- ^ Falls 1933, pp. 1–22.
- ^ Falls 1933, pp. 22–33.
- ^ Falls 1933, pp. 33–39.
- ^ "De Gallipoli à Salonique". Forum (in French). pp. 14–18. Retrieved 8 September 2020.
transcriptions of primary source documents, listing which units redeployed to Salonika
- ^ Falls 1933, pp. 31–32, 42–50.
- ^ Falls 1933, pp. 33–37.
- ^ Falls 1933, pp. 57–62.
- ^ Falls 1933, pp. 50–84.
- ^ a b Falls 1933, pp. 85–103.
- ^ Falls 1933, pp. 32–36.
- ^ Falls 1933, p. 110.
- ^ Falls 1933, pp. 119–120.
- ^ Falls 1933, pp. 107, 130.
- ^ Falls 1933, pp. 104–111.
- ^ Falls 1933, pp. 152–184.
- ^ "ВОЕННАЯ ЛИТЕРАТУРА --[ Военная история ]-- Корсун Н. Г. Балканский фронт мировой войны 1914–1918 гг". militera.lib.ru. Retrieved May 11, 2023.
- ^ Falls 1933, pp. 172–196, 234–240.
- ^ Falls 1933, pp. 208–230, 348–261.
- ^ Falls 1933, pp. 302–345.
- ^ Falls 1933, pp. 348–362.
- ^ Falls 1935, p. 89.
- ^ Geramanis 1980, p. 89.
- ^ Villari 1922, pp. 196–198.
- ^ Omiridis Skylitzes 1961, pp. 38–44.
- ^ Vaidis 1979, pp. 258–262.
- ^ Falls 1935, pp. 101–112.
- ^ "MetroPostcard Guide to Czechoslovakia in World War One on postcards". www.metropostcard.com.
- ^ Falls 1935, pp. 147–158.
- ^ Falls 1935, pp. 159–192.
- ^ Falls 1935, pp. 193–202.
- ^ Falls 1935, pp. 203–245.
- ^ Falls 1935, pp. 246–253.
- ^ James Lyon (12 October 2020). "The Battle of Dobro Polje – The Forgotten Balkan Skirmish That Ended WW1". Military History Now. Retrieved 2019-11-21.
- ^ Stephanie Schoppert (22 February 2017). "The Germans Could no Longer Keep up the Fight". History Collection. Retrieved 2019-11-21.
- ^ Axelrod 2018, p. 260.
- ^ Falls 1935, pp. 254–279.
Bibliography
- ISBN 978-1493031924.
- ASIN B008VGLK3Q.
- Dieterich, Alfred (1928). Weltkriegsende an der mazedonischen Front [The End of the World War at the Macedonian Front] (in German). Berlin: Gerhard Stalling. OCLC 248900490.
- ISBN 089839242X.
- Falls, C. (1996) [1935]. Military Operations Macedonia: From the Spring of 1917 to the End of the War. History of the Great War Based on Official Documents by Direction of the Historical Section of the Committee of Imperial Defence. Vol. II (Imperial War Museum and Battery Press ed.). Nashville, TN: HMSO. ISBN 0898392438.
- Geramanis, Athanasios (1980). Πολεμική Ιστορία Νεωτέρας Ελλάδος: Επιχειρήσεις εν Μακεδονία κατά τον Α' παγκόσμιον πόλεμον 1915–1918 [Military History of Modern Greece Operations in Macedonia During WWI 1915–1918] (in Greek). Vol. IV. Athens: Kefallinos.
- Korsun, Nikolay (1939). Балканский фронт мировой войны 1914–1918 гг [Balkan Front of the World War 1914–1918] (in Russian). Moscow: Boenizdat. OCLC 7970969.
- Omiridis Skylitzes, Aristeidis (1961). Ο Ελληνικός Στρατός κατά τον Πρώτον Παγκόσμιον Πόλεμον, Τόμος Δεύτερος, Η Συμμετοχή της Ελλάδος εις τον Πόλεμον 1918 [Hellenic Army During the First World War 1914–1918: Hellenic Participation in the War 1918] (in Greek). Vol. II. Athens: Hellenic Army History Department.
- ISBN 978-0571280933.
- Thomas, Nigel; Babac, Dusan (2001). Armies in the Balkans 1914–18. Osprey Publishing. ISBN 184176194X.
- Vaidis, Theodoros (1979). Η Βιβλος του Ελευθεριου Βενιζελου:Ιστορια της Νεωτερας Ελλαδος, 1917–1922 [The Bible of Eleftherios Venizelos: History of Modern Greece, 1917–1922] (in Greek). Vol. IV. Athens: Smyrniotakis.
- OCLC 6388448. Retrieved 13 September 2015.
Further reading
- Azmanov, Dimitar (1935). Урокът от Добро поле [The Lesson of Dobro Pole] (in Bulgarian). Sofia: Knipegraf.
- Richard Harding Davis (2014). With the French in France and Salonika. Read Books Limited. ISBN 978-1-4733-9677-7.
- Leontaritis, Georgios (2005). Ελλάδα στον Πρώτο Παγκόσμιο πόλεμο 1917–1918 [Greece during the First World War 1917–1918] (in Greek). Athens: Hellenic National Bank Educational Institution. ISBN 960-250-195-2.
- Lewis, Jon B (2023). The Forgotten Front: The Macedonian Campaign, 1915-1918. Solihull: Helion. ISBN 978-1-91-511373-3.
- Mitrović, Andrej (2007). Serbia's Great War, 1914–1918. London: Hurst. ISBN 978-1-55753-477-4.
- Nedev, Nikola (1923). Дойранската епопея 1915 – 1918 [The Doiran Epopee 1915–1918] (in Bulgarian). Sofia: Armeiski voenno-izdatelski fond. ISBN 978-954-8247-05-4.
- Saint-Ramond, Francine (2019). Les Désorientés: Expériences des soldats français aux Dardanelles et en Macédoine, 1915-1919 (in French). Presses de l’Inalco. ISBN 978-2-85-831299-3.
- Vittos, Christos (2008). Εθνικός διχασμός και η Γαλλική κατοχή : (1915–1920) [National Schism and the French Occupation: (1915–1920)] (in Greek). ISBN 978-960-8237-30-8.
- Wakefield, Alan; Moody, Simon (2004). Under the Devil's Eye: Britain's Forgotten Army at Salonika 1915–1918. London: The History Press. ISBN 978-0750935371.
- Ethniko Hidryma Ereunōn kai Meletōn "Eleutherios K. Venizelos". (2005). The Salonica theatre of operations and the outcome of the Great War. Institute for Balkan Studies. ISBN 978-960-7387-39-4.
- Hassiotis, Loukianos (2015). "Macedonia in the Great War (1914-1918)". Macedonian Studies Journal. 2 (1).