This year is the centenary of the allied offensive out of Salonika in the Macedonian campaign of 1916. It provides a number of interesting WW1 scenarios, at least compared to the trench stalemate on the Western Front.
To recap, 1915 had been a bad year for the allied cause in the Balkans. Serbia’s defeat and the failed allied attempt to link up with them from Salonika, had left the remainder of the Serbian army refitting in Corfu and the allied forces dug in behind the ‘Birdcage’ line outside Salonika.
The British view was that the campaign should be wound up and the troops deployed elsewhere. The Italian, Serbian and Russian view was that troops at Salonika kept the Greeks neutral and helped to persuade Romania to join the allied cause. As it turned out, it was the success of the Russian Brusilov offence that persuaded Romania, with some territorial incentives, to take up arms.
The British compromised, and a two corps British Salonika Force was created commanded by Sir Bryan Mahon. It consisted of the XII Corps (Wilson), 22nd, 26th and 28th Divisions; and XVI Corps (Milne), 10th and 27th Divisions. The overall allied commander was the French General Sarrail, although any offensive operations involving British troops had to be referred to London.
The Bulgarians with their Austro-Hungarian and German allies has largely halted on the Greek and Serbian border, leaving a large area of no mans land in Greek Macedonia.
In April 1916, the allied war council gave authority for limited advances up to the border to tie down German and Austrian troops, who otherwise might be redeployed to Verdun. The aggressive Sarrail wasted no time and the French 243rd Brigade drove German troops out of Machukovo near the border and a patrol from 1/1 Sherwood Rangers clashed with German Uhlans at Pataros, southeast of Lake Doiran. Mahon was less enthusiastic about the advance, as his forces were desperately short of mule transport, as well as cavalry and artillery. Some additional air support arrived in July (17 and 47 Squadrons RFC) and a balloon section.
By 1 May, four French divisions had advanced up country, as had an advanced British group of a mounted and two infantry brigades commanded by Major-General Gordon. On 9 May, Mahon left for Egypt handing over command to Lt-Gen George Milne, known to his troops as ‘Uncle George’.
The Bulgarians didn’t sit on their gains. They advanced down the Rupel Gorge in Northern Greece and the Greeks abandoned Fort Rupel. This drove the allies to force the demobilisation of the Greek army and agree two zones of control. The British took the line of the River Struma and then west to Yanesh, with the French taking everything west of that. They had four French divisions, an Italian Division, a Russian Brigade and six Serbian divisions. This gave Milne freedom to fight separately from the Sarrail, or more accurately, to avoid being dragged into offensives he was not equipped to undertake.
In August, the French were attacked by the Bulgarian 1st Army moving down from Monastir and the Bulgarian 2nd Army occupied positions above the Struma Valley opposite the British. British troops from the 78th Brigade supported the French west of Lake Doiran with an attack on Horseshoe Hill. The forward Bulgarian trenches were abandoned after heavy shelling, and an attack by the 7th Ox & Bucks captured the hill. A Bulgarian counter-attack was driven off.
The Bulgarian offensive petered out as Sarrail launched a new offensive towards Monastir, with French, Serbian and Russian troops. This started on 12 September and included the impressive capture, by Serbian divisions, of the 7,700ft Kajmakcalan Mountain. Monastir fell on 19 November, by which time winter conditions forced a halt to operations. The campaign was also successful in forcing the Germans to reinforce the Bulgarians with several Jager and other infantry battalions and artillery from the Western Front. By November they had two divisions in the region.
While XII Corps were engaged near Doiran, XVI Corps, now commanded by Lt-Gen Briggs, were fighting a different war in the Struma Valley to the east. This was a war of limited actions, typically involving a brigade. Neither side really wanted to occupy the mosquito infested Struma River valley. The Bulgarian 2nd Army was the main opponent, although the Turkish XX Corps held the line south of Serres to the coast.
Wakefield and Moody (Under the Devil’s Eye) describe one such action against the three villages, Yenikoi, Karajakoi Zir and Bala, between 30 September and 4 Oct 1916. This involved 81 Brigade (27th Division) and was a largely Scottish effort including 2nd Cameron Highlanders, 1st Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders and 1st Royal Scots; as well as 2nd Gloucester’s and Irish units. They captured the villages after fierce fighting and fought off Bulgarian counter attacks.
XVI Corps succeeded in gaining the initiative in the Struma Valley and largely maintained it for the rest of the campaign. However, the Doiran and Vardar sectors were the main focus of attention for the rest of the Salonika campaign.
Further Reading
The best book in print of the campaign is Alan Wakefield and Simon Moody – ‘Under the Devil’s Eye’. Their focus is on the British army in the campaign.
The British official history of the war ‘Military Operations – Macedonia Vol1’ is pretty detailed and gives a broader picture of the campaign.
Graham Nicol’s sympathetic biography of Lord Milne ‘Uncle George’ is well worth a read. His military career before and after Macedonia is interesting as well.
There are others including Alan Palmer’s ‘The Gardeners of Salonika’ and William Wood’s beautifully illustrated ‘The Salonika Front’.
A largely political vindication of the French commander by his secretary Paul Coblentz, is in ‘The Silence of Sarrail’.
For the air war; from the German perspective there is ‘War flying in Macedonia’ (Heydemarck). From the British perspective there is ‘Over the Balkans and South Russia ‘ (Jones).
Uniforms and organisation are covered in the Osprey MAA 356 ‘Armies in the Balkans 1914-18’. In more detail in the General Staff publication ‘Armies of the Balkan States 1914-18’.
To recap, 1915 had been a bad year for the allied cause in the Balkans. Serbia’s defeat and the failed allied attempt to link up with them from Salonika, had left the remainder of the Serbian army refitting in Corfu and the allied forces dug in behind the ‘Birdcage’ line outside Salonika.
The British view was that the campaign should be wound up and the troops deployed elsewhere. The Italian, Serbian and Russian view was that troops at Salonika kept the Greeks neutral and helped to persuade Romania to join the allied cause. As it turned out, it was the success of the Russian Brusilov offence that persuaded Romania, with some territorial incentives, to take up arms.
The British compromised, and a two corps British Salonika Force was created commanded by Sir Bryan Mahon. It consisted of the XII Corps (Wilson), 22nd, 26th and 28th Divisions; and XVI Corps (Milne), 10th and 27th Divisions. The overall allied commander was the French General Sarrail, although any offensive operations involving British troops had to be referred to London.
The Bulgarians with their Austro-Hungarian and German allies has largely halted on the Greek and Serbian border, leaving a large area of no mans land in Greek Macedonia.
In April 1916, the allied war council gave authority for limited advances up to the border to tie down German and Austrian troops, who otherwise might be redeployed to Verdun. The aggressive Sarrail wasted no time and the French 243rd Brigade drove German troops out of Machukovo near the border and a patrol from 1/1 Sherwood Rangers clashed with German Uhlans at Pataros, southeast of Lake Doiran. Mahon was less enthusiastic about the advance, as his forces were desperately short of mule transport, as well as cavalry and artillery. Some additional air support arrived in July (17 and 47 Squadrons RFC) and a balloon section.
By 1 May, four French divisions had advanced up country, as had an advanced British group of a mounted and two infantry brigades commanded by Major-General Gordon. On 9 May, Mahon left for Egypt handing over command to Lt-Gen George Milne, known to his troops as ‘Uncle George’.
The Bulgarians didn’t sit on their gains. They advanced down the Rupel Gorge in Northern Greece and the Greeks abandoned Fort Rupel. This drove the allies to force the demobilisation of the Greek army and agree two zones of control. The British took the line of the River Struma and then west to Yanesh, with the French taking everything west of that. They had four French divisions, an Italian Division, a Russian Brigade and six Serbian divisions. This gave Milne freedom to fight separately from the Sarrail, or more accurately, to avoid being dragged into offensives he was not equipped to undertake.
In August, the French were attacked by the Bulgarian 1st Army moving down from Monastir and the Bulgarian 2nd Army occupied positions above the Struma Valley opposite the British. British troops from the 78th Brigade supported the French west of Lake Doiran with an attack on Horseshoe Hill. The forward Bulgarian trenches were abandoned after heavy shelling, and an attack by the 7th Ox & Bucks captured the hill. A Bulgarian counter-attack was driven off.
The Bulgarian offensive petered out as Sarrail launched a new offensive towards Monastir, with French, Serbian and Russian troops. This started on 12 September and included the impressive capture, by Serbian divisions, of the 7,700ft Kajmakcalan Mountain. Monastir fell on 19 November, by which time winter conditions forced a halt to operations. The campaign was also successful in forcing the Germans to reinforce the Bulgarians with several Jager and other infantry battalions and artillery from the Western Front. By November they had two divisions in the region.
While XII Corps were engaged near Doiran, XVI Corps, now commanded by Lt-Gen Briggs, were fighting a different war in the Struma Valley to the east. This was a war of limited actions, typically involving a brigade. Neither side really wanted to occupy the mosquito infested Struma River valley. The Bulgarian 2nd Army was the main opponent, although the Turkish XX Corps held the line south of Serres to the coast.
Wakefield and Moody (Under the Devil’s Eye) describe one such action against the three villages, Yenikoi, Karajakoi Zir and Bala, between 30 September and 4 Oct 1916. This involved 81 Brigade (27th Division) and was a largely Scottish effort including 2nd Cameron Highlanders, 1st Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders and 1st Royal Scots; as well as 2nd Gloucester’s and Irish units. They captured the villages after fierce fighting and fought off Bulgarian counter attacks.
XVI Corps succeeded in gaining the initiative in the Struma Valley and largely maintained it for the rest of the campaign. However, the Doiran and Vardar sectors were the main focus of attention for the rest of the Salonika campaign.
Further Reading
The best book in print of the campaign is Alan Wakefield and Simon Moody – ‘Under the Devil’s Eye’. Their focus is on the British army in the campaign.
The British official history of the war ‘Military Operations – Macedonia Vol1’ is pretty detailed and gives a broader picture of the campaign.
Graham Nicol’s sympathetic biography of Lord Milne ‘Uncle George’ is well worth a read. His military career before and after Macedonia is interesting as well.
There are others including Alan Palmer’s ‘The Gardeners of Salonika’ and William Wood’s beautifully illustrated ‘The Salonika Front’.
A largely political vindication of the French commander by his secretary Paul Coblentz, is in ‘The Silence of Sarrail’.
For the air war; from the German perspective there is ‘War flying in Macedonia’ (Heydemarck). From the British perspective there is ‘Over the Balkans and South Russia ‘ (Jones).
Uniforms and organisation are covered in the Osprey MAA 356 ‘Armies in the Balkans 1914-18’. In more detail in the General Staff publication ‘Armies of the Balkan States 1914-18’.
Bulgarian Infantry
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British Infantry
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