iliiWilill^^^
OTHER RECORDS OF THE GREAT WAR.
OUR ITALIAN FRONT. Painted by Capt. Martin
Hardie, A.R.E., and described by H. Warner Allen. With 50 full-
page Illustrations in colour and a Sketch Map. Demy 8vo. Cloth.
Price 355. net.
The experiences of the British Expeditionary Force in Italy, from the moment of its arrival
in a country which had never before seen a British Army down to the Victory Offensive, are
described by Mr. H. Warner Allen, who was attached both to Italian and British General
Headquarters as Correspondent to the Morning Post and other London newspapers.
Capt. Martin Hardie, fifty of whose drawings are reproduced in colour, was Head Censor to
the Base and Line of Communication in Italy. His spare time was devoted to the making of
drawings of places and subjects of special interest to the Expeditionary Force, and at the time
of the final "push" in October 1918, he was given special facilities by G.H.Q. for making
records of the battered area on the Piave and beypnd. All lovers of Northern Italy will
appreciate these water-colour drawings : but they are of special value and importance as a
unique historical record of our close association with Italy in the field of war.
BOULOGNE: A WAR BASE IN FRANCE. By
Capt. Martin Hardie. Square demy 8vo. Containing 32 repro-
ductions— 8 in colour and 24 in sepia — from Drawings completed on the
spot. Price 7s. 6d. net.
Some Press Opinions.
" These drawings are of unique interest and value. Each has a quiet dignity of its own :
graceful in outline, bold in treatment, and effective in expression. Those who have known
Boulogne either in peace time or as a base in France will be glad to possess so charming a
souvenir. " — Record.
"A book that we shall all be glad to possess, and that to English women and men will
recall memories grave and gay." — Artny and Navy Gazette.
THE IMMORTAL GAMBLE, and the Part Played in
it by H.M.S. " Cornwallis." By A. T. Stewart, Acting-Commander,
R.N., and the Rev. C. J. E. Peshall, Chaplain, R.N. With 32
Illustrations and a Map. Price 6s. net.
This book, written by two officers of the battleship from whose turret was fired the first
shot of the bombardment, gives an account of happenings of vital interest and importance. It
is absorbing because the truth shines out everywhere, and you feel that for once you are really
getting first-hand information as to what did happen.
In Preparation,
CANADA IN CASQUE AND JERKIN, a Book on
the Canadian Corps at the Front. By Inglis and Ralf Sheldon-
Williams, M.M.
This is the work of two Canadian brothers, sons of the late artist Alfred Sheldon-Williams,
both of whom have fought for the Empire, and it promises that "difference" in manner and
matter so valued by the discriminating reader.
This book is the story of the Canadian Army ; the part played by it in the drama of
Armageddon. It is told by the younger brother, Ralf, and illustrated by Inglis ; the latter
was commissioned by the Canadian Government to assist in immortalising Canada's great
part in the Great War. The paintings for this book have in themselves a luminous truth and
poetry which are unique in illustrations of the battle area.
THE NAVAL FRONT. By Lieut. Gordon S. Maxwell,
R.N.V.R.,and illustrated in colour by Lieut. Donald Maxwell, R.N.V.R.
A book dealing with the world-wide front held by the British Navy throughout the war.
Published by
A. & C. BLACK, Ltd., 4, S, & 6 SOHO SQUARE, LONDON, W. i.
THE SALONIKA FRONT
BALKAN FANCIES
AND OTHER POEMS
BY
Captain A. J. MANN, R.A.F.
S<IUARE FCAP. 8vo,
PRICE 2/6 NET
{By Post 25. M. )
THE IRISH TIMESj in reviewing this book, says :
**Such a spirit never can have known what boredom
means even amid the fever - stricken plains around
Salonika. It is this unconquerable optimism, this zest
of life, which give to these poems their power to stir
some of the deepest chords in the reader's heart."
Published bv A. & C. BLACK, Ltd.
4, 5, & 6 SoHo Square, London, W.i.
America
Australasia
Canada
India
AGENTS
The Macmillan Company
64 & 66 Fifth Avenue, New York
The Oxford University Press
Z05 Flinders Lane, Melbourne
The Macmillan Company or Canada, Ltd.
St. Martin's House, 70 Bond Street, Toronto
Macmillan Sc Company, Ltd.
Macmillan Building, Bombay
309 Bow Bazaar Street, Calcutta
> > >•
• r
• * • •
LAST PHASE OF THE GREAT FIRE AT
SALONIKA, SEEN FROM THE AIR
> 1 > ' >
> , 1» > »
' ' ' ' , , 1 • » » » » »
THE
SALONIKA FRONT
PAINTED BY
WILLIAM T. WOOD, R.W.S.
DESCRIBED BY
A. J. MANN, M.A.
(CAPTAIN } LATE RECORDING OFFICER, 22 BALLOON COMPANY)
WITH PREFATORY NOTE BY
LT.-GEN. SIR GEORGE FRANCIS MILNE
K.C.B., K.C.M.G., D.S.O.
A. & C BLACK, LTD.
4, 5 & 6 SOHO SQUARE, LONDON, W.l
1920
n
sU
?.
w
TO
LIEUTENANT-GENERAL
SIR G. R MILNE, K.C.B., K.C.M.G., D.S.O.
WHOSE UNTIRING VIGILANCE ENABLED THE
BRITISH SALONIKA ARMY TO ASSUME AND
MAINTAIN ITS PART IN THE ALLIES' BALKAN
EFFORT,! AND WITHOUT WHOSE FINAL SYM-
PATHY THIS ATTEMPT TO OUTLINE SOME OF
THE MAIN FEATURES OF THAT EFFORT WOULD
NEVER HAVE BEEN COMPLETED/
528551
PREFATORY NOTE
A PERUSAL of Captain Mann's account of the
doings of the Allied armies in Macedonia will
assist the reader to pierce the supposed veil of
mystery with which popular fancy has enshrouded
these forces, and to form his own opinion as to
their weight in the scale of the military operations
which eventually led to the debacle of the Central
Powers and their allies.
The army of Salonika was an offshoot of the
army in France, hurriedly despatched to stem the
tide of the Serbian retreat, but it unfortunately
arrived too late to be of any immediate use. The
conditions of service in the two theatres of war
were far from similar, as was to be expected in
two countries in such divergent conditions of
civilised development. For the first two years
vii b
viii THE SALONIKA FRONT
of the campaign communications were the main
difficulty, but like the work of the Romans of old,
roads of the British Army in Macedonia will long
remain the best memorial of its presence.
The difficulties and the disappointments, the
tragedies and the glories of the campaign of
British, French, Greek, Italian, Russian, and
Serbian troops are vividly described by the Author,
who, as a member of the Army was able to
appreciate the deeds of the Allies in the Balkans.
GEO. F. MILNE,
Gen.
NOTE
Throughout the book " last year " refers to 1918.
CONTENTS
PAGE
Prefatory Note . . . . . . • . vu
iCHAPTER I
Introductory ' • ^
CHAPTER II
Lines of Communication 2"
CHAPTER III
Historical and Political 42
CHAPTER IV
Operations ......... ^9
CHAPTER V
The French and Russian Effort ..... 79
CHAPTER VI
The Italian Effort 94
ix
X THE SALONIKA FRONT
CHAPTER Vn
PAOB
The Serbian Effort 110
CHAPTER Vm
The Greek Effort .128
CHAPTER IX
The British Effort .143
CHAPTER X
Three Further Factors 162
INDEX 185
LIST OP ILLUSTRATIONS
By WILLIAM T. WOOD, R.W.S.
Owner of Original
1. Last Phase of the Great Fire at Imperial War Museum
Salonika, seen from the Air .... Frontispiece
FACING PAGE
2. Salonika from Petit Karabou . Major Walter Waring,
M.P.. . . 4
S. Burnt-out Shops after the Fire Imperial War Museum 8
4. Ruin and Desolation. Salonika
after the Fire 12
5. From a Minaret of St. Sophia —
Part of the Burnt-out Area . Ministry of Information l6
6. On the Verge of the Fire's
Devastation ....... 20
7. Mount Olympos from Mikra . Lt. - Col. G. Windsor-
Clive ... 24
8. Mount Hortjac from the Gulf
of Therma ........ 28
9. From an Observation Balloon
— Struma Valley, looking
towards Lake Tahinos . . Canadian War
Memorials Fund . 32
10. Doiran Town and Lake . . Major Walter Waiing,
M,P,. . . 42
xi
Xll
THE SALONIKA FRONT
Owner of Original, facing page
11. Across the Struma towards
Demirhissar,from Gumusdere
-All
Maj.'Gen. G. N. Cory,
C.B., D.S.O. .
1 2. Basilica of St. Demetrios-
that the Fire left
13. Turkish Farm, Gorgop .
14. Ruined Turkish Stronghold
at Vergetor ....
15. Gerbasel Church
16. Rupel Pass and Struma Valley
Villages, from Gumusdere .
1 7. Hostile Air Raid on the British
12th Corps Headquarters Col. J. B. Gaskell, C.B.E.
46
Imperial War Museum 48
, . 52
54
56
Imperial War Museum 62
18
and
19.
' Vardar-Doiran Front, from an
Observation Balloon .
Junction of Butkovo and
Struma Valleys, from an
Observation Balloon .
68
76
►and
77
20. Beles Range from Sal Grec
de Popovo ....
21. Vardar River, Lake Ardzan,
and Dragomir Village .
22. British Military Cemetery at
the Cross Roads, Dragos
23. House Interior at Gorgop
24. After the Fire
25 j Seres Town and Bulgarian
andl Positions along the Struma
26. [ Mikra Bay
Imperial War Museum
Imperial War Museum,
Imperial War Museum 80
86
92
98
Imperial War Museiun 1 04
Peter Davidson . • 1 n o
Lt.-Gen. Sir Charles I „„,!
/. B?iggs, K.C.B.A
K.C.M.G. . .J
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS xiii
Owner of OriginaL facing page
27. British-Serbian Hospital and
Serbian Camp, Mikra (Oct.
2, 1916) 120
28. Rupel Pass 128
29. Dreveno. The first Greek
Field Hospital
30. Piton Rocheux, Beles, and
Krusha Balkan
M. Venizelos .
132
31. The "Pip" Ridge .
32. Lake Doiran, Eastern End
33. Vergetor Church
34. Sunset Effect on a Quarry
near Vergetor
55. Scottish Women's Hospital,
Mikra (1916)
56. Headquarters (First Site) of
17 Kite Balloon Section,
R.A.F., Orljak Ravine .
37. British Aerodrome and Air-
craft Park, Mikra Bay .
38 Brought down in Flames
39. Dragomir Village .
40 Kretchovo and Trans-Vardar
Mountains ....
Imperial War Museum 1 S6
Capt. G. Knowlcs . 140
Canadian War
Memorials Fund . 144
Jose A, Gandarillas 148
Capt. A. J, Mann . 152
. 156
160
Canadian War
Memoiials Fund . l64
Imperial War Museum I68
H. Ballantyne . 172
180
Sketch Map at end of Volume.
THE SALONIKA FRONT
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTOKY
/
Mr. William T. Wood's drawings — Origin and scope of this book —
Salonika — Approach to the city in war time — Overland and air
routes — Sea route — The gulf and bay — Morning A. A. guns —
^^M.L.O."— First impressions on landing — Inhabitants — The city,
old and new — Streets, churches, mosques — Before and after the
Fire — After war reconstruction — The Turkish quarter — The Greek
quarter — The Levantine quarter — Quartier General and G.H.Q. —
Social and military clubs — The White Tower music hall — Night
life — Short leave — Returning to the front.
The full significance of England's tribute, for over
three and a half years, to the Balkan Minotaur,
cannot without the help of pictures be thoroughly
appreciated by those who have never been to that
part of Europe. Its pictures are, then, the back-
bone and, as it were, vitalising chord of this book.
Reproduced from drawings by Mr. William T.
Wood, R.W.S., who was not till long after their
execution officially recognised as one of our war
artists, they are, perhaps unfortunately, confined in
2 THE SALONIKA FRONT
their range of subject to that portion of the Allies
front in Macedonia occupied during 1917 by Greek
and British troops.
After midsummer of that year, owing to the
sympathetic efforts of his Commanding Officer,
Mr. Wood, then an acting corporal of the Royal
Flying Corps and on the strength of the Salonika
Balloon Company, was first permitted in his spare
time to paint pictures.^ A late autumn exhibition
of these pictures held at Salonika won him useful
friends. Thanks to them, he was soon afterwards
granted permission to bring his work home to
London, where it was exhibited during June and
July 1918 at the Leicester Galleries.
As the collection was being divided up it was
thought advisable to reproduce a representative
selection of these pictures in the way now seen
in this book ; for, apart from their intrinsic value
as works of art, they record faithfully the scenic
setting of our British Salonika campaign. They
are also, in a broad sense, typical of the main
features of Balkan scenery along the whole of
the Allies' front from Valona to Stavros. As on
1 Until then his time had been taken up by R.F.C. duties, which
included the making from observation baUoons of detailed drawings
of the main enemy sectors ; a work for which he was mentioned in
despatches.
INTRODUCTORY 3
that front occurred last autumn one of the most
complete and surprising victories of the war, it
cannot be altogether futile to attempt, side by side
with this pictorial record, a brief shadowing forth
in words of some of the main facts connected with
our occupation of Macedonia.
Other writers have already several times pointed
out that the physical obstacles to any extensive
advance on that front were almost too great to
be overcome. It is now proposed to show the
manner in which the Allies did overcome them,
not neglecting the contribution of each nation
towards what was at least a very fine example of
successful concerted action. The events themselves
are unfortunately too recent, and too many details
are still lacking for any profound critical judgement
to be passed upon them, but an attempt can at any
rate be made to describe, before they are forgotten,
some of the main aspects of the campaign.
Incomplete a work of this kind must necessarily
be, for to treat at all adequately a subject so vast
demands not one but many volumes. The utmost
that can be hoped is that, by virtue of its pictures,
and its attempt to set down in words a few
personal impressions, this book may interest all
4 THE SALONIKA FRONT
who have been condemned to pass the greater part
of their active w^ar service in the Balkans, as also
those whose cruel fate it has been to lose a near
relative or friend on that front ; enabling them to
form a general idea of the total output of energy
expended by each Ally, the final fusion of which
resulted in the victory of our arms.
Had we but realised at home a little earlier the
importance, in the general strategic plan of the
Central Powers, of this theatre of war much w^aste
of human life might have been avoided. At any
rate the survivors from our long vv^atch in the
Balkans are conscious of having participated in a
campaign as essential to the winning of the war as
w^as the Gallipoli adventure, knowing well that
their perseverance in the face of huge obstacles
finally achieved its full measure of success.
Whoso set out from England during the Great
War for the city of Salonika had before him
several alternative routes. After a not wholly
unadventurous Channel passage he might start by
train across France. Touching (if fortunate
enough to travel by the speedier line) at Paris, he
would embark again at Marseilles. Forewarned
against mine and submarine dangers, he would be
SALONIKA FROM PETIT KARABOU
The modern residential portion of the old walled
city as it appears from the lesser of the two eastern
headlands which form Salonika Bay. To the left
is the famous White Tower, and from there to the
ancient boundary wall on the right, clustering along
the water's edge, are the headquarters and dwellings
of consular and other representatives of the Western
World. As the fire was stayed at the White Tower
this part of Salonika remained unburnt.
INTRODUCTORV 5
then conveyed by a circuitous sea route south of
Italy and through the Aegean. Or again, he
might be permitted, as the majority were later on,
to proceed by slow troop train into Lombardy ;
thence down Italy's east coast ; halting through
long days at picturesque mediaeval townlets and
seemingly interminable rest camps ; being shelled,
on occasions, by Austrian submarines. At Taranto
he would embark once more and sail by night
on a crowded troopship, bound for an unknown
port in the Gulf of Corinth, or, more often
than not, by a very eccentric course, for Salonika
itself.
The few favoured souls who, armed with a
special permit, entered the Italian closed fortress
of Brindisi, and were allowed to brave the Adriatic
on a destroyer, troopship, or much way-worn cattle
steamer till they entered the zealously guarded
harbour of Valona, had before them an adventurous
four days' land journey. Descending at length by
precipitous and sharply looping mountain roads to
the great plains beyond Fiorina, they came to the
arrow -straight Roman highway that led south-
wards from shell-pitted Monastir. Along this, if
in a good car, they sped tranquilly till — covered
from head to foot and lung-lined with the dust of
6 THE SALONIKA FRONT
ages — they entered, by the way Alexander must
have entered it, the city of their dreams.
It was proved possible also, although owing to
war s remorseless requirements no regular service
was instituted, to travel out the whole way from
England by air. Those who attempted the
journey — they were not many — rose from off some
convenient south -coast aerodrome and saw the
white margin of cliff and wave that was England,
with its miniature harbours, fade rapidly away,
giving place to a sea of glass that merged mysteri-
ously on all sides into cloud and haze. With
nothing to guide them but a compass and, below,
a chain of diminutive steamers, or "blimps" and toy
craft intent on submarine spotting, they clove the
wind, the noise of their engine drowning all
speech. In five minutes the grey-green coast of
France appeared ahead, and in ten more they were
circling rapidly towards large camouflaged hangars,
till, suddenly and with ears that sang, they felt
the ground bump rhythmically beneath their
under-carriage, and, slowing down, soon taxied
in between the hangars.
A cigarette and a cup of tea in the mess, a
friendly word or two, and then, at about three-
INTRODUCTORY 7
thirty (assuming they had started after lunch) the
travellers remounted their Pegasus, and climbing
in circles above a thin ground mist reached the
lower strata of cloud, while far beneath northern
France unrolled itself, a tangled mesh of mead and
boscage, white roads and clustered townlets, that
dwindled with but half perceptible gradation to-
wards a horizon of mingled cloud and sea.
Yes, there is Gris Nez and there is Boulogne ;
there too is the mouth of the Somme. Over there
to the left, hidden in a mist of shell bursts, lie the
greatest battlefields of the war. The sight of
them draws like a magnet. It is hard to remember,
whilst journeying onwards, to keep the Somme
estuary constantly in view.
What are those little black dots floating north-
wards ? Like small twigs carried on by a stream
they glide nearer through the translucent ether,
growing larger each instant. They resemble fish
swimming steadily through turbid waters. They
are too rigidly persistent for birds. Suddenly, as
they pass high on the left, it dawns on the mind
that they are aeroplanes in formation flight.
Are not those very like trenches beneath ?
Was not that a shell burst? Yes, for there are
one, two, three^more farther on. That dark streak
8 THE SALONIKA FRONT
far off to the left ? Is it still the Somme estuary ?
Or has their machine got into a wind drift, and,
travelling at the rate of a couple of miles a minute
out of its course, is it already above No Man's Land ?
A sharp bank, a swing round, a steep dive west-
wards and the great guiding highways of France
stand out once more, until a halt for petrol
becomes necessary. They descend, as before,
between camouflaged hangars, are given a similar
kindly greeting and sent on the journey again with
fresh maps and abundant advice. After a flight
of about an hour and a half they see the rising
smoke of Paris and come to earth towards sunset
at a suburban aerodrome.
A whole book could be easily written about
experiences on such journeys, for they vary as
infinitely as do the heavens themselves. Paris
would be but the first stage. There remained, for
the second day, a choice of routes through southern
France and into Italy, skirting or surmounting the
Alps. Then, for the third, if the weather were
still favourable, came an adventurous sea crossing
to Albania, and a halt for lunch at a triangular
aerodrome, the base of which faced a large islet-
bound harbour, its two sides being backed by
barren and precipitous highlands.
BURNT-OUT SHOPS AFTER THE FIRE
The fire, fanned by the Vardar wind, swept on
relentlessly till it had turned prosperous shops and
dwelling-houses into heaps of tangled girders and
debris. After it was extinguished and superfluous
rubble had been cleared away, the former owners
of shops established temporary stalls in the ruins,
endeavouring to carry on trade as before.
INTRODUCTORY 9
Throughout the sweltering afternoon a siesta,
then tea and a flight of over two hours across
mountain, lake, and river until there appeared,
framed off by rich-tinted clouds, what looked like
earth's farthest limit, the tiny, three - tongued
promontory of Chalcidice.
One could scarce believe those miniature splashes
of water between each tongue and the even more
diminutive kink that formed the bay to the north
of them were each at least twelve miles wide and
from thirty to fifty miles long. It seemed laugh-
able, too, to reflect, from such a vantage height,
that a mere pin prick beside that splash of water was
renowned Salonika. To see the splash broaden out
rapidly to a vast land-locked harbour with toy
battleships at anchor in it, and to behold the
ruined city grow orange and then purple as the
sun dropped behind Olympos, then to skim on
above Kalemaria and land at twilight beyond
Mikra was an experience never to be forgotten.
Most Englishmen, however, at the beginning of
the campaign, were sent out by the long sea route
via Gibraltar and Malta. The time taken varied
between ten days and a month according as the
enforced halts in protecting ports were of long or
10 THE SALONIKA FRONT
short duration. Very eccentric were the courses
chosen. Many found themselves conveyed to
Alexandria, and from there, after several days'
rest, started on a zig-zag northern voyage through
the Aegean. The memory of the slowly narrowing
Gulf of Therma, its western coast outlined sky-
wards by glistening, snow-capped mountains, of
the ship threading its way perilously under escort
through anti-submarine nets at nightfall, and ot
the final anchor-dropping beyond Karaburun as
the lights of Salonika, five miles across the bay,
broke forth one by one, must live ever vividly in
the mind of most who approached the city by sea.
To walk on deck the next morning, ere the sun
rose to full strength, and see the gleaming city
spread out on the water like some Levantine
Venice, to distinguish for the first time the White
Tower, the hospitals, the quays and clustering
minarets, produced on any normal western mind
a most startling effect. The yellow tents of the
Allies, the green -brown aerodromes and fields,
with their background of rugged hills that, from
" Gibraltar " to Hortjac, form what has been
called the "Bird-cage" defence line, contributed
an additional note of light and colour to this truly
oriental panorama, while a further note — one of
INTRODUCTORY 11
animation — was struck by the feverish activity of
picket boats and miniature launches that rushed
hither and thither on various errands among the
vessels anchored around.
An element of excitement often entered into
this first arrival, for as the morning advanced it
was almost certain that a hostile aeroplane would
make reconnaissance of the harbour. A.A. guns
on all sides would then at once get busy, and a
series of "bangs" from the ground would be
followed by a series of "burr .... pops" in
the air, which immediately afterwards festooned
the sky with chains of white and black shell-bursts.
Next came the raising of the anchor and the
approach to one of the quays. Soon a tall, blue-
tabbed captain, bearing on his arm the red brassard
of the A.M.L.O.,^ came aboard. What home-
sick Englishman, landing at Salonika for the first
time, has not felt grateful for the kindly welcome
of this officer, who, from his striking personality
and long service in the same capacity, became
perhaps the most familiar figure among British
officers at the Base? Towards late afternoon a
landing for certain favoured ones might be effected.
That is to say, a small boatload would be rowed
^ Assistant Military Landing OflScer.
12 THE SALONIKA FRONT
to the landing stage by the White Tower, or the
ship herself, having waited her turn, might be
moored alongside the so-called " English " quay.
A run down the gangway and, after some jostling
from Musulman porters, a hasty inquiry from a
British military policeman for the office of the
Base Censor. Approached along a street thronging
with the most diversely garbed individuals, and
smelling of all the vilest odours of the East, Base
Headquarters, behind the old Bains Botton, was
at length discovered. After the mystic rite of
censoring had been performed, a hurried rush to
the post office with the proposed cable resulted in
a lengthy conversation in French or Greek with an
official behind a ticket-window. When he assured
the anxious sender that there was no hurry, and
that a letter would probably reach England just as
quickly, the unfortunate one would perhaps resign
himself to the inevitable, and, becoming accustomed
in some measure to the unsavoury smells, might
settle down to enjoy the fine cosmopolitan flavour
of the place. Sampling ices at the most vaunted
cafe, Floca's, or tea with goat s milk in the Winter
Garden at the top of the Olympos Palace Hotel,
had indeed its charms. Both these places, and the
still more pretentious Splendid Palace Hotel, were
RUIN AND DE:S0LATI0N. SALONIKA
AFTER THE FIRE
LNTRODUCTOHY V6
completely gutted by the Great Fire. Only Floea,
the perennial, rose phoenix-like from its ashes and,
though there remained but the charred shell of
the house it once was, continued its existence as a-
rendezvous, starting afresh amidst its ruins almost
the day after the conflagration.
Conveniently situated at the upper end of the
small square that forms the seaward embouchure
of Venizelos Street, this cafe, from seven-thirty in
the morning till late at night, during the Allies'
occupation presented a scene of vivid colour and
animation scarcely ever equalled by other establish-
ments. A traveller had only to sit on one of the
cane-bottomed chairs outside such a cafd to be at
once assailed by a small mob of mendicant children
in rags, and an army of diminutive, wistful-eyed
shoeblacks, two of whom very frequently provided
a lightning "shine" by working at frantic speed
one to each boot of some kindly disposed Allied
officer.
Amidst the mingled costumes that passed be-
fore the observer in ever-changing kaleidoscopic
pageantry were distinguishable first of all the uni-
forms of French, Russian, Italian, Serbian, Greek,
and British officers and men, also members (chiefly
women) of the various Red Cross contingents.
14 THE SALONIKA FRONT
These, and a few over-dressed civilian ladies who
aped the European style, walked, drank, and talked
side by side with a crowd of other races, among
whom many orientals in rich -tinted costumes.
Tsiganes, Vlachs, Albanians, Serbs, Bulgars,
Rumanians, Armenians, Deunmehs, Macedonian
women with their peculiar red and green head-
dress, veiled Turkish ladies passed and repassed, and
with them mingled the veriest dregs of humanity,
men, women, and children for whom begging
seemed to be the primary object in life.
Before the Great Fire the none too wideVenizelos
Street continued straight on from Floca's up a hill
that increased in steepness after it crossed Via
Egnatia, the oldest thoroughfare of the city. Ere
it reached that point its character had changed.
From an open roadway with shops on each side
it became the main promenade of a tortuous and
elaborately covered -in bazaar, which enticed the
visitor to wander in search of curios. On all sides
British officers and men were greeted by cries of,
" Wadie-waan ? " the local variant of the old-time
pedlar's cry, "What d'ye lack?" If the object
of these cries preserved a stony countenance and
chose to continue on up the steeper part of
Venizelos Street, crossing the Via Egnatia, he
INTRODUCTORY 15
once more came out into the open and went on
mounting the hill until he reached the Prefecture.
Thence another road, running parallel to Via
Egnatia, led right and left.
Turning to the right, one could penetrate to
the upper and more purely Turkish portion of the
city and mount the Seven -Towered Acropolis;
from beside the ** Chain-Tower " of which could
be seen a magnificent panoramic view of the whole
city and harbour. To rest in the shadow of this
tower on a hot summer afternoon, in company
with some somnolent skin- clad Macedonian whose
flock of mingled sheep and goats wandered over
the neighbouring hillside, made one realise the
true mediaeval significance of this definite limit to
the ancient city. Within the wall, extending right
down to the sea, stretched a rich profusion of white
minarets and towers, domed edifices, crumbling
habitations, gardens, and green-decked balconies.
Beyond the wall the desolate, parched moorland
looped on from gully to gully towards a distant
background of rugged mountains, fit haunt for
the brigands and barbarians who in former days
constantly harassed the city.
Descending thence by a more direct route that
skirted the old N.E. wall, and turning to the right.
16 THE SALONIKA FRONT
one came to the beginning of the wide thorough-
fare now known as the Boulevard of National
Defence. Along this Boulevard were the main
Venizelist public offices, and between it and the
N.E. wall lies the more purely Greek portion of
the city. It touches the seashore at the point of
junction between Victory Street (which skirts the
harbour) and George I. Avenue. At this point
stands the most typical of all mediaeval monuments
of the city, the White Tower, a construction said
to date from 1431, and known formerly as the
Tower of Blood, because there were massacred,
in 1826, by order of Sultan Mahmoud II., the
Janissaries stationed at Salonika.
On August 18, 1917, an old woman in the
Ilan Mermer quarter, whilst frying an early after-
noon meal, set fire inadvertently to her kitchen
and house, and, thanks to the strong "Vardar"
wind, started the great conflagration that, burning
for a week, despite all attempts to stay it, wiped
out the more densely populated portion of the city.
About one-third of the whole normal population
of 180,000 was rendered temporarily homeless by
this catastrophe. There is no doubt whatever in
the minds of all who dealt officially with it that
the fire was due solely to these natural causes.
FROM A MINARET OF ST. SOPHIA— PART
OF THE BURNT-OUT AREA
INTRODUCTORY 17
It did not, as some have asserted, start at seven
places at once. Lack of adequate water-supply,
together with the general inflammable nature of
the property destroyed, were the only reasons why
it could not be extinguished earlier. A very
heroic fight was put up by representatives of
the Allied troops stationed at the Base, and an
even more praiseworthy effort was made to cope
with the great distress of the populace. Refuge
camps were at once started at convenient places
outside the city, and there, rationed and tended
day and night by the Allies, the poor homeless
wanderers found rest and protection. Throughout
the period of this great emergency, to use the
words of an officer in charge of most of the
arrangements, "every British Tommy behaved
like an ambassador."
Although much that was picturesque was
destroyed by this fire, sufficient of the most
ancient monuments remain to-day to make the
city still a treasure -store of antiquities. For
example, the N.E. wall, the Byzantine Seven-
Towered Acropolis, the White Tower, and Arch
of Galerius. The greatest loss of all is perhaps
the churches, synagogues, and mosques, which
were one of the chief glories of the place ; nearly
18 THE SALONIKA FRONT
all the synagogues were burnt — St. Demetrios, a
basilica of five naves, that dated back at least to
the fifth century, was almost totally destroyed, as
also the famous mosque of Hamza Bey. Very
ambitious plans for reconstruction of the burnt
portions have been drawn up, and if these are
ultimately carried out Salonika will be one of the
most perfectly built cities of modern Greece. The
main idea of the proposed reconstruction is to
have wide roads radiating from all the most ancient
monuments of the city. At present, however,
many of the former denizens of houses in the
burnt quarters sit from morn till eve among the
ruins and offer for sale such merchandise as they
have been able to procure, a pitiful reminder of
their once well-stocked establishments.
The fire burnt only a small portion of the
purely Turkish quarter. The upper and unburnt
portion still retains its picturesque, old-world
aspect. Mounting thither a day or two before
the signing of the Bulgarian convention, three
officers from G.H.Q. visited the house of the
most respected Turk in the whole city. Pro-
ceeding by steep and tortuous cobble - stoned
roadways, and passing through a crowd of curious
children, they entered a shady garden courtyard
INTRODUCTORY 19
which was surrounded by over-hanging, heavily
latticed windows, and a creeper -hung balcony.
Greeted at the garden doorstep by their white-
bearded host, who kissed his principal visitor cere-
moniously on both cheeks, they were escorted up
the steps that led to the balcony and from it entered
a spotlessly clean, white-washed inner chamber.
Having seated themselves on a comfortable divan,
they were served with coffee, sweets, and cigarettes.
After the coffee had been imbibed, the Sheik
produced book after book of ancient lore : treatises
on geometry, alchemy, astronomy, and the casting
of horoscopes. He referred to the earliest known
dwellers on the site of Salonika, fire worshippers,
who, at least 3000 B.C., according to Turkish
chronology, lived there. He spoke of the wall
that formerly surrounded the White Tower, and
of many other things of local interest. Finally,
after introducing his very shy little grand-daughter,
he expounded the pictures on the walls of his
room. They were texts from the Koran, worked
in silk on a brilliantly coloured background in
such a way that the script formed a ship in full
sail, a bird, or a house.
Interiors such as this exist in every Macedonian
Turkish village. In most you find the same
1
jeo THE SALONIKA FRONT
scrupulous cleanliness, the same natural, quiet
courtesy towards British visitors, in whom the
Turks, at least in Macedonia, have implicit faith
as in their natural, hereditary friends.
To leave this Turkish house and visit a Greek
one, m the Greek quarter which lies on the north-
east side of the Boulevard of National Defence,
though it took but twenty minutes, seemed to
transport the visitor to a totally different era of
civilisation. The dwellings in this quarter, as also
those of the so-called Levantine district along
Queen Olga Avenue, are constructed more or
less after Austro-Italian models. Their interiors
are furnished mainly in Austrian style. Unwieldy
stoves in porcelain, with enormous lengths of piping
that disappear through the ceiling, heavy plush
upholstering, Viennese verrerie, with perhaps a
statuette or bust of some notability standing in
a recess. Always in the most prominent wall
space is displayed a portrait of the chief Greek
political luminary of the moment, to-day of course
Mr. Venizelos, yesterday King Constantine.
Charming was the cordiality of reception given
to officers of the Allied forces, many the terms of
flattery bestowed. Yet ever in the background
lurked the feeling that, as a general principle, our
ON THE VERGE OF THE FIRE'S
DEVASTATION
INTRODUCTORY 21
intrusion was resented. In certain extremely
Anglophil households, however, the restraint due
to the presence of this feeling almost altogether
vanished. The visitor was greeted at the door-
step, and being invited in, had one single cigarette
specially chosen and handed to him with ceremony.
The eldest daughter of the family would bring
him a glass of some liqueur or Turkish coffee,
water, and preserves. He might be invited to
stay for the evening meal, at which a Greek
variety of Imam JBaildi,^ a typical Salonikan dish,
consisting of aubergines cooked in oil, might
be served. After the meal a guitar or mandolin
would be produced, and while the household and
their guest enjoyed the cool evening air in a
miniature moonlit garden, popular songs would be
sung, the whole family swaying to the lilt of the
music.
In the Levantine quarter, that is, among the
houses of foreign representatives resident at
Salonika, the manners and customs of course
varied in accordance with the nationality of the
inmates, Salonika being as it were a microcosm
of the whole world. Intermingled with these
^ Translated, this means " The priest faints," several variant versions
of the cause of the disaster being current at Salonika.
«2 THE SALONIKA FRONT
polyglot establishments were many houses which
were temporarily taken over by the Allies as
headquarters or base hospitals. The French
Quartier G6nSral, situated first of all in a street
that ran at right angles to the "English" quay,
was ultimately distributed among several of these
houses. British G.H.Q. started in the former
residence of the Turkish Minister and was
not, until near the end of the war, removed to
more commodious quarters at Papafi. Its first
shelter, when abandoned, developed into the
British Officers' Rest- House, which, towards the
end, vied in popularity with the French Cercle
Militaire. The latter was situated next to the
White Tower restaurant and music hall. It was
cleverly constructed by the French Intendance,
and mainly decorated with odd-and-end wicker
material which had previously served for other
purposes. Upon its cool wave-washed terrace or
in its side arbours officers of all the Allies, on
short leave from their duties up the line or at
the Base, quaffed drinks of every description and
watched the incoming or outgoing ships. Russians
entertained Frenchmen, English fraternised with
Greeks and Serbs ; the whole atmosphere was one
of jubilant cordiality and put up a magnificent
INTRODUCTORY 28
barrage against that terrible home-sickness which,
sooner or later, was bound to afflict all who served
at Salonika. What officers found in these military
clubs and in the quiet, pre-war premises of the
Greek club (unfortunately destroyed by the fire)
the other ranks had, to a lesser degree, in their
Y.M.C.A. and E.F. Canteens. It was on them,
perhaps, far more than on their less restricted
superiors, that the burden of the "ennui" fell.
Their cheerfulness in the face of countless draw-
backs was truly remarkable.
Adjoining the Cercle Militaire, and supplying
a pleasantly distant strain of music to that institu-
tion, was the garden, music hall, and restaurant of
the White Tower. Wishing to cater for all tastes,
the proprietors of this establishment probably ended
by really pleasing none, although the overcrowded
state of Salonika made the money flow into their
tills. About one-third of the garden was reserved
for the overflow from the dining-rooms of the
restaurant, the remainder being crammed each
evening by civilians and representatives of the
Allies, who imbibed inferior beer and other drinks
at exorbitant prices, and listened to whatever band
happened to be playing. After the sun had gone
down behind Olympos this orderly, music-haunted
%4, THE SALONIKA FRONT
garden, thronging with the most diverse types of
humanity, was very interesting to contemplate.
Those whose natures required something more
than mere tranquillity could enter, if they chose,
the adjacent music hall, where bad dancing, bad
singing, bad beer or even worse champagne at an
extortionate price, and a general racket of inter-
ruptions from an audience composed mainly of
officers in a very after-dinner mood, could be
enjoyed or endured for as long as the place kept
open. This, the largest music hall of its kind, was
typical of the Greek estimate of the Allies' taste
in such matters. Certainly it was always full, as
were, before the fire burnt most of them, the
lesser establishments that swarmed along by the
shore -skirting Street of Victory. But to those
who allowed themselves a moment's reflection, the
throng of raucous-voiced women, most of whom
had lost their last vestige of feminine charm, and
the general air of ribaldry that pervaded the place,
while it occasionally disclosed quite an unlooked-
for chameleon trait of adaptability in the British,
could not fail to be distasteful in the extreme. It
was, however, almost the only evening antidote that
Salonika afforded the tired officer who, after a long
spell of service, was sent on short leave to the Base.
MOUNT OLYMPOS FROM MIKRA
Nightfall. The dark line of land in the middle
distance is "Grand Karabou," the promontory
which separates Salonika Bay from the Gulf.
Mount Olympos ie about 60 miles away.
INTRODUCTORY 35
Such a one, if lucky enough to command
a place in a car, might start back late on the
last night of his three days' leave with a light
purse and a satiated soul. For months, amidst
sweltering, rocky ravines and shrapnel -haunted
trenches, he had watched his wounded or fever-
stricken comrades dwindle one by one ; he had
longed for some respite. At last leave had come,
and he had plunged deep into the sights, sounds,
and odours of the Base; had perhaps had the
extreme good luck to meet and speak with a
woman who was not like those mere semblances
of womankind he had just seen at the White
Tower. He would return, refreshed in mind if not
in body, and as he sped onward through the night
his thoughts, diverted maybe by the beauty of a
star, or the rising of the full moon above a rich
oriental landscape, would speed back towards those
lost friends with some of whom he hoped one day
to be reunited, until a small " strafe " of guns along
the distant hills and a Very light or two reminded
him of the duty he was about to resume.
CHAPTER II
LINES OF COMMUNICATION
Transport difficulties — Via Egnatia — Monastir to Seres — To Fiorina
and Koritza — To Tepelen and Valona — To British 12th Corps — To
British 16th Corps — Through the Krusha Balkan — The Independent
Brigade. Topographical Details: Lakes — Mountains — Rivers —
Harbours — Mineral wealth — Flora and fauna — Climate — Towns —
Villages — Population.
Night journeys, such as the one just alluded
to, or less comfortable trips by train, did not give
the traveller much opportunity for studying the
physical features of the country, or the transport
difficulties against which the troops who occupied
each sector of the Allies' front had to contend.
At the outset the one existing highway of any
consequence was that very ancient Greek one
which, under the name of Via Egnatia, had been
developed into a main channel of communication
by the Romans. Starting from modern Durazzo,
it continued on through Monastir, Vodena, and
Salonika ; thence, joining up with Seres, it looped
26
LINES OF COMMUNICATION 27
round to Kavalla and Constantinople. When the
Allies started to adapt the part of this road under
their control to heavy motor transport they found
that it needed almost entire reconstruction ; also
constant subsidence of the soft, underlying strata
made it necessary for repairs to be carried on
throughout the whole period of the campaign.
Always miles of it were lined with Macedonian
men and women workers, or French, Italian,
Serbian, and British labour companies, and at all
places where roads such as this were under repair
traffic was forced to side track right and left, a
very perilous undertaking in the wet season.
% (Any one who left Salonika by car in the morning
with intent to visit the western portion of our
Balkan front passed along this wide, dusty road,
which, bordered at first by slowly dwindling
habitations, transformed itself at length into the
main transport artery between a series of large
** dumps," each of which was interesting as a proof
of the immense amount of reserve stores found
necessary by each Ally. The importance of these
reserves of food and material was not overlooked
by the enemy, as frequent hostile bombing expedi-
tions proved.
Soon after passing Dudular railway station on
28 THE SALONIKA FRONT
the left, a sharp turning branched off to the right
and provided, as it were, the final boundary line
of the last and largest "dump," the British Reserve
Ammunition Depot. From there onwards Via
Egnatia, or Monastir Road, as during the occupa-
tion it was usually called, continued for several
miles in a straight line across the flat plains of the
Vardar, until after crossing that river it reached
what remained of ancient Pella, and from there
looped round to Ostrovo, through the picturesque
Turkish townlets of Yenedze-Vardar and Vodena.
Before Lake Ostrovo was reached the scenery had
gradually altered from a flat alluvial plain to a
country of woods and hills, which afterwards be-
came more and more mountainous. Then followed
a steep descent to Fiorina at the south-west corner
of the Monastir plateau. There, throughout the
latter part of the war, the French established the
headquarters of the western section of their army.
To climb the heights beyond this town by the
magnificent slowly zigzagging road constructed by
French engineers, and to continue round the edge
of precipices and through richly wooded gorges as
far as Biklista or Koritza, brought one to the limits
of French influence and the beginning of Italianised
Albania. It was just possible, by travelling all
MOUNT HORTJAC FROM THE GULF OF
THERMA
The wreck in the foreground represents one of our
enemies' very rare submarine successes in these
waters.
LINES OF COMMUNICATION U'J
day in a good car, to arrive at this place before
nightfall. The journey, if continued the* day
following through the remainder of Albania,
became, with one brief respite, more and more
mountainous, until at last, by way of stately
Agirocastro and rugged Tepelen, the Italian main
headquarters at Valona and Kanina were ultimately
reached.
Seldom did Fortune favour individual travellers
sufficiently to allow of their completing this
journey to Valona in two days, for although the
road was kept in good repair punctures and tyre
bursts were unavoidable. Lucky indeed were they
who had the good chance to break down near
some Italian post-station, where rest and refresh-
ment could be obtained, and whence, if necessary,
the journey could be continued next day by postal
omnibus or ammunition lorry. Otherwise they
would be forced to spend a night or two by the
roadside, in close proximity to all the unknown
perils of the mountains.
The sharp turning which, as has been said,
branched off to the right from the Monastir Road
after passing Dudular, developed into the new
Sarigol-Kukus line of communication, the con-
30 THE SALONIKA FRONT
struction of which, early in 1917, was entirely
carried out by British supervision and enterprise.
This road, which was our main means of access
to the Dou-an front, led to the British 12th Corps
headquarters at Janesh. After running for some
distance along the left bank of the Galico and
skirting *' Gibraltar," the western outstanding pro-
montory of the " Bird-cage " defence line, it crossed
the river and looped round by way of Amberkoj to
Sarigol. Thence, turning sharply again to the right,
it led on to Kukus, the most important town of
the sector, once a main rendezvous of both Bulgarian
and Greek revolutionary activities, and right up
to the beginning of the war an important centre
of the tobacco industry. As is the case with all
these Macedonian towns, more or less pretentious
edifices, their walls plastered with dung cakes (the
chief article of fuel) or hung with festoons of
drying tobacco leaves, intermingled here with the
veriest hovels. Another sharp turn, this time to
the left and in the centre of the town, swung
the main road round northwards again, where it
passed close behind the French convent school,
and finally, with a sort of switch-back railway
effect, wound on across the hills to Janesh, the
headquarters throughout the latter part of the cam-
LINES OF COMMUNICATION 31
paign of the British 12th Corps, the front of which
stretched from the Vardar to Lake Doiran. The
dominating heights of the so-called '* Pip " Ridge,
the seemingly impregnable Bulgarian stronghold on
that front, the taking of which by British troops
was an important episode in the Bulgars' retreat,
were also, on normally clear days, distinctly visible
from this point.
To set out from Salonika for the British 16th
Corps it was necessary to travel by the only other
available road which, being the old caravan route
to Seres, started off from the Vardar Gate of
the city (Piccadilly Circus) and passed through
a cutting in the Derbend or " Bird-cage " ridge.
Leaving Lake Langaza well to the right this
road mounted the highlands towards Likovan
and Lahana, two of the most healthy stations of
this unhealthy campaign, and the centres of main
supply activities for the 16th Corps front. Soon
after passing Lahana one of the most magnificent
Balkan views opened up before the eyes of the
traveller. The whole Struma and Butkovo valleys,
with their picturesque winding rivers terminating
to the right in the great Lake of Tahinos, and
dotted here and there, among richly varied verdure,
with white minaretted towns and villages, stood
SS THE SALONIKA FRONT
forth in marked contrast against the rugged back-
ground of the Beles range. The continuity of
this range, except at one point, was preserved
throughout That point was the famous Rupel
Pass, beyond which could be seen, on clear days,
a glorious vista of snow-capped mountains. To
descend by zigzag and precipitous turnings to the
16th Corps headquarters near Orljak, almost on
the level of the plain, and to slowly realise the
strength of the enemy positions on the other side
of that plain, was an experience that could not fail
to remain very vividly impressed on the minds of
all who visited that portion of the front for the
first time.
A journey north-westwards from Orljak by way
of Gumusdere and Paprat to Snevce, or from
Paprat to Kurkut and thence to Kukus, could
be quite easily effected by car in fine weather,
although the roads for the most part were little
more than tracks improved by British and native
labour. Such a journey opened up an ever-
changing spectacle of gorgeously varied scenery,
and at the same time enlightened the curious
on the main features of that large front occu-
pied by the British Independent Brigade, the head-
quarters of which were at Paprat In this least
FROM AX OBSERVATION BALLOON —
STRUxMA VALLEY, LOOKING TO -
WARDS LAKE TAHINOS
The bridge in the foreground is Gudeli Bridge.
Beyond the wood to the left are the beginnings of
the Bulgarian lines, and Jn the distance to the
right is the extreme southern limit of our British
lines.
LINES OF COMMUNICATION 33
disturbed of all British war areas game was
plentiful, and the numerous villages passed
through thronged with shy yet curious chil-
dren, whose Moslem mothers had run to hide
themselves in an inner chamber on the approach
of strangers.
The country the Allies found themselves forced,
to hold consists of a series of bleak, mountainous
highlands, mainly of crystalline or schistose for-
mation, and vast sedimentary or alluvial plains,
interspersed occasionally by lakes, and everywhere
else cut into by countless intersecting torrential
nullahs, which render wheeled traffic even in fine
weather extremely difficult.
The chief lakes of this region as they lie in
succession across the country from west to east
are : Ochrida, the largest, on the much-disputed
Albano- Serbian borderland, approximately nine
miles wide and twenty miles long ; Prespa and
Mala Prespa, which, it is believed, are connected
with Ochrida by a subterranean channel ; Ostrovo,
due south of the famous Kaimactchalan peak in
the Morichovo range ; Ardzan and Amatovo, to the
east of the Vardar ; Doiran, to the right of the
" Pip " Ridge ; Langaza and Beshik, north of the
34 THE SALONIKA FRONT
Derbend Ridge ; Tahinos, at the south end of the
Struma valley.
The most important rivers are : the Scumbi and
Voyussa, in Albania ; the Vardar (ancient Axius),
which, rising in the Shar Mountains near Kostovo,
flows past Uskub and Veles, through Demir-Kapu,
and then, after a long course over the plain north-
west of Salonika, does its best to silt up the
narrow entrance to Salonika harbour ; the Galico
(ancient Echedorus), of little more than historical
importance, which adds also its tiny quota of
detritus to the harbour ; the Struma (ancient
Strymon), which springs from Mount Vitosha and
runs through narrow gorges into the low-lying
plain south-west of the Belashitza range, where,
turning south, it expands into Lake Tahinos and
through it finds way into the Gulf of Orfano.
Of the harbours which were available for the
Allies' use during the war, the one that proved
of greatest practical importance to the forces based
on Salonika was that on which the city itself is
situated, and which is bounded on the south by
the Vardar Delta and Karaburun headland {Grand
Karabou), In another fifty years, experts have
predicted, this magnificent land-locked harbour
will, if left to itself, be transformed into a lake
LINES OF COMMUNICATION 35
with no navigable outlet to the sea, so great is the
amount of alluvial deposit brought down annually
by the Vardar. To avoid this disaster it will be
necessary to carry out extensive and costly dam-
ming and dredging operations, the object of which
would be to move the main Vardar outlet more to
the south.
There was also from the first Mudros harbour,
and, later on, Volo, Corfu, and Itea ; the last two
being much made use of in conjunction with the
overland route through Italy. In marked contrast
with the Salonika base the harbour at the Italian
main base — Valona — had a wider outlet to the
sea, and had, in consequence, to be protected by a
very elaborate system of mines, which were strung
together in the form of a triple boom. Once inside
this boom there were excellent facilities for
anchorage, the harbour being almost completely
encircled by steep mountains rising straight up
from the water's edge. They scarcely left room
for the dizzy, zigzag windings of a wonderfully
constructed road the Italians cut round them to
link up Valona with Pie di Monte and Santi
Quaranta.
The mineral wealth of this portion of the Balkan
Peninsula, though well known to the ancients,
36 THE SALONIKA FRONT
remains in modern times practically unexplored.
Gold, silver, iron, copper, lead, zinc, nickel, mercury,
manganese, graphite, antimony, arsenic, sulphur,
coal and lignite probably exist locally in consider-
able quantities ; but hitherto, owing to instability
and lack of enterprise on the part of the various
governments concerned, no organised mining of
these deposits has taken place.
The country abounds in wild animals. Prior to
the occupation wolves, deer, boars, bears, badgers,
jackals, foxes, wild cats and; dogs, wild goats,
hares, and rabbits lived and hunted or grazed, each
after its kind, over the moorlands and moun-
tain sides. Cats, dogs, hares, and rabbits are all
that continued to coexist with the occupation.
Tortoises are found everywhere; also lizards,
scorpions, snakes, toads and frogs of various
species. Among birds eagles, vultures, falcons,
owls, crows, jays, magpies, storks, quails, thrushes,
doves, geese, and duck occur in large numbers.
To the insect collector the place is a rich hunting-
ground, swarming with beetles, hornets, bees,
butterflies, moths, grasshoppers, ephippigeras, and
flies generally, including several large species of
horse-fly, and anopheles, the much-dreaded malarial
mosquito.
LINES OF COMMUNICATION 37
The sudden outburst, in early March, of a rich
profusion of spring flowers is very noticeable. From
an uncultivated space of only a few square yards
beside a camp at Vergetor a British soldier collected
in half an hour no less than fifty -two distinct
species of wild flower. It is sad to see this brief
floral glory change within a fortnight to a dull
parched mass of sun-dried herbage, which towards
autumn frequently bursts spontaneously into flame.
Although by far the greater portion of the country
is barren and treeless, in the Krusha Balkan,
between Fiorina and Koritza and frequently in
Albania, you come upon the following trees : oak,
ash, beech, elm, poplar, walnut, plane, cherry,
wild pear, fig, and olive. Vines, wheat, and maize
are grown extensively. Rice and cotton have
been cultivated with success in low-lying districts
such as the Struma valley and tobacco has, in
many places, become the staple product of the soil.
Despite all these proved possibilities, however,
only about 6 per cent of the country is at present
under cultivation.
The climate is fairly uniform throughout this
whole region ; hot from March to October, cold
and wet during the remaining months of the year.
as THE SALONIKA FRONT
The highest thermometer reading recorded withhi
the limits of the Allied occupation was US'* F.
in the shade.
A great contrast during the hotter months is
observable between the temperature of the swelter-
ing low-lying valleys and the wind-swept uplands.
This contrast became exceedingly trying to British
soldiers on the march. Being unaccustomed to
such rapid variations in temperature, they frequently
caught severe chills owing to their neglect to
cover themselves adequately at nightfall and in
cold altitudes. The continuous spell of fine
weather that lasts throughout the summer, with
a heat that makes active military operations or
other work impracticable for three or four hours
in the middle of each day, was also irksome in the
extreme to all, particularly as hardly any natural
shelters existed and there was very little material
for making artificial ones.
The discomforts endured by our men in this
direction were accentuated by the constant presence
of fever and other ills, dissemination of which by
insects was unavoidable in so unhealthy a climate.
Also, the omnipresence of that fine, irritating
Balkan dust, which gets into your eyes, your lungs,
your hair, and the very food you eat, and covers
LINES OF COMMUNICATION 39
your face, hands, and garments with a thick layer
that replaces itself as fast as it is brushed off, was
very annoying, when you had to breathe it con-
tinually through long days of physical activity.
But what was suffered from the heat was nothing in
comparison with what had to be faced throughout
the winter season. The so-called " Vardar " wind
that at intervals throughout the summer blew for
four or five days with unrelenting fury, was followed
towards autumn by torrential rains ; and these
in turn were superseded by a period of bitterly
damp and cold weather, during which, on account
of transport difficulties, active warfare became
altogether out of the question.
The towns and villages dotted about the region
of the Balkans occupied by the Allies are more or
less racial and architectural epitomes of certain
portions of Salonika itself. In each the Greek,
Turk, Slav, or Albanian element predominates.
Frequently, in the case of villages, a wholly Greek
one will exist within a mile of one wholly Turkish.
Those in the vicinity of the main lines of com-
munication lost much of their original old-world
character upon contact with our troops, and,
while exacting exorbitant prices for very inferior
40 THE SALONIKA FRONT
commodities, became more and more dependent
upon commercial intercourse with them. Of the
old territorial provinces or vilayets into which,
under Turkish rule, this country was divided, the
department or sandchak of Salonika comprised, in
addition to all the districts south of Doiran and
Guevgueli as far as the sea, and from east to west
between Verria and Stavros, territory as far north
as Strumnitza, which did not, until the last week
of local hostilities, come under full control of the
Allies. We obtained also, early in the war, the
greater portion of the old sandchak of Monastir
and northern Epirus, the part of Albania south of
the line Mala Kastra — Glava — Koritza.
In this whole region the total indigenous
population, without including Salonika's 180,000,^
was estimated roughly in 1914 at something over
310,000, about 125,000 of which consisted of people
designated as Greek-speaking, 80,000 Turkish-
speaking, and 75,000 Bulgarian-speaking; of the
remaining 30,000 some 12,000 being described as
nomad Vlachs and Tsiganes, 10,000 as Albanians,
6000 as Serbs, and 2000 Jews, Russians, Ruma-
nians, etc. There has been, however, no really
^ In August 1915, the official returns for Salonika were : Greeks 85,000,
Jews (Spanish-speaking) 65,000, Turks 25,500, other races 3500.
LINES OF COMMUNICATION 41
scientific assessment of population, and since 1914
numerical readjustments have taken place owing to
interchange of refugees between different territories
and compulsory evacuation of towns and villages in
localities where military operations were contem-
plated or in progress. Moreover, the language
test is not necessarily a final one in determining
the nationality of the inhabitants of any given area
in this part of the world. Both during and after
Turkish rule the country has been the constant
hunting-ground of unscrupulous propagandists in
the pay of each of the rival peoples who, up to
1914, entertained and very probably still continue
to nourish ambitious schemes for completely domi-
nating the Balkans. These propagandists, working
in conjunction with the schools that each nation
took care to establish in convenient population
centres throughout the country, very often, for
purely political ends, succeeded in making members
of that large class of people who had learnt more
than one language adopt a nationality different
from the avowed nationality of their parents.
CHAPTER III
HISTORICAL AND POLITICAL
Ancient cities — Xerxes — Cassauder founds Salonika — Prosperity of the
city — Rome the conqueror — Religious cults — St. Paul and the
early Christians — Triumph of Christianity — Theodosius and the
Goths — Visigoths, Huns, Avars, Slavs, Saracens — Bulgars, Mag-
yars, Normans — Crusaders, Lombards, Serbs, Catalans — Turks —
Venetians — Spanish Jews and Deunmehs — Greek revolt — Balkan
wars — Political situation in 1914 — Gallipoli and after — Landing
of first Allied contingents.
Although the fire- worshippers, whoever they
were, that, according to Turkish tradition, lived
three thousand years before the beginning of our
era, on the spot where now stands Salonika, must
have been no more than one human wave in the
long succession of primitive settlers, the history of
this part of the world does not begin until its
colonisation by the Greeks. Planted in the first
instance at various points along the coast of
Chalcidice, and afterwards in the main river basins,
the Greek communities prospered rapidly; but even
where particular place-names owe their modern
42
DOIRAN TOWN AND LAKE
HISTORICAL AND POLITICAL 4S
survival to association with famous historical
personages, nothing is known about them beyond
that they were centres of literary, artistic, or
commercial activity, or that some more or less
capable ruler established in them his headquarters.
Of this last category was Aegae (modern Vodena),
which, up to the days of Archelaus, appears to
have been the seat of government of the kings of
Macedon. That monarch, however, transferred
his court to Pella, and constructed there a new
palace, which Zeuxis, the painter, decorated
throughout, and in which the foremost philosophers,
poets, and musicians of the day found constant
welcome. Thus we hear of Euripides passing the
last years of his life at this court ; later on, too,
Aristotle resided at Pella as tutor to Alexander
the Great.
Over a century and a half before the death of
Alexander, Xerxes, " Great King " of Persia, after
immense preparations, had flung his vast army
across the Dardanelles, and with it, in due course,
had marched through the forests of northern Chal-
cidice, where his baggage columns were attacked
by lions. Halting for a while on the slopes of
Mount Hortjac, he may have looked down on the
twin townlets of Halia and Therma, which stood
44 THE SALONIKA FRONT
respectively at the northern and southern ex-
tremities of the area now covered by Salonika.
A French writer has at least pictured him sur-
veying in this way the surrounding country,
and marvelling at its apparent fertility, while he
reflected with pleasure on the probability of easy
conquests farther south. The sun must have set
behind Mount Olympus just as gloriously then as
it does to-day, and its noontide heat was just as
keen. Only the landscape was more wooded, and
its general aspect wilder. The fever raged then as
it does now, and it took its toll of Xerxes' army.
It took toll subsequently of many another invading
horde.
In the year 315 b.c. Salonika (then Thessalonika)
first came into existence. Cassander, son of Anti-
pater, having taken to wife a half-sister of the
deceased Alexander the Great, sought to perpetuate
her memory by naming after her the city he caused
to be constructed, and which he peopled by the
remnant of several neighbouring settlements, de-
vastated by disastrous wars. Well planned and
protected by strong walls, the new city speedily
prospered. It became a centre of great commercial
and some literary activity. Wine and oil were its
HISTORICAL AND POLITICAL 45
chief articles of commerce in those days ; gold and
silver were mined in its vicinity. Sacked by the
Gauls, it nevertheless continued its economic
existence, and when, after the battles of Cyno-
cephalae and Pydna, Macedonia became a Roman
province, the importance and prosperity of this, its
chief commercial emporium, increased so much
that the population is said to have numbered over
250,000, about one-third more than the present
figure. Moreover, by adroit partisanship of the
winning side before the battle of Philippi, the
inhabitants won for it the status of a " free city,"
and thenceforth it became renowned throughout
the antique world for loyalty towards Rome and
as a stronghold of Hellenistic culture.
The old tutelary divinities, whose beneficent
vigilance shielded the first citizens from harm,
appear to have dwindled in importance in men's
minds as their sense of security, derived from
Rome's peaceful sway, gained ground, and the
cult of the deified city of Rome and its deified
emperors almost superseded them. Side by side
with the newer forms of faith and worship, several
older ones, such as that of Dionysus, Apollo,
and Aphrodite, continued to exist. Mithraism
flourished there in the first century. There was
46 THE SALONIKA FRONT
also, even in those early days, a large Jewish eolony
and synagogue.
Into the midst of this colony and that of Beroea
(Verria), about the year 53, came St. Paul, after
lie had evangelised Syria, Asia Minor, and Philippi.
Although his new doctrine aroused a certain
amount of opposition from orthodox Jews, to the
Gentiles who had espoused the main tenets of the
Jewish faith it was from the first readily acceptable,
and he found his warmest adherents among the
large circle of these that existed at Salonika.
Despite all opposition the flame once lit con-
tinued to burn. It burned on steadily, though
oft-times in secret, through the days of the gi eater
persecutions, until after " enduring all things " the
once despised and rejected faith became, under
Constantine the Great, the guiding star of the
Roman world. That emperor is said to have at
first meditated making Salonika the capital city of
the new Eastern Roman Empire; but, following
the dictates of a dream, he chose the site of
Byzantium instead.
The Goths, who from about the year 269
became a constant menace to Salonika, were several
times beaten off, and the Emperor Theodosius,
who lived there for over twelve years, had to
ACROSS THE STRUMA TOWARDS
DEMIRHISSAR, FROM GUMUSDERE
HISTORICAL AND POLITICAL 47
organise an army to repel them. After driving
them back with success he made himself for ever
obnoxious to Christendom by causing his mer-
cenaries to fall upon and massacre, as a reprisal
for disaffection, a large part of the population of
Salonika at the conclusion of a free display in the
Hippodrome, to which they had been specially
invited.
Thenceforward great and grievous calamities
fell in rapid succession on the unhappy city.
Goths, Visigoths, Huns, and Avars devastated,
each in turn, the fertile and inadequately protected
province of Macedonia. They seem to have con-
sidered it an easier prey than Constantinople, but
though they repeatedly laid siege to the city they
were seldom able to sack it. After them, through-
out the centuries, followed still more redoubtable
human scourges. Slavs, at first under Avar chief-
tains, made attempt after attempt against the city,
being repelled almost always by the brave and
well-sustained defence that, under the direction of
Church dignitaries, the inhabitants invariably put
up. Settling at length throughout the Balkans,
their tribes still occasionally attacked the city, and
at times planned to synchronise with the descent
of the Saracen pirate galleys of Crete. Ultimately,
48 THE SALONIKA FRONT
upon contact with the softening influence of
Christianity, their remnant, having spent its force,
settled down to more peaceful pursuits.
There followed the wave of Bulgarian incursions.
This fierce and warlike people first conquered and
then became assimilated linguistically to the subject
race. Converted to Christianity, Bulgars and Slavs
gradually fused into one Bulgarian kingdom, which,
in the days of Tzar Simeon, became almost co-
extensive with the Balkan Peninsula; Durazzo
and Salonika alone being held by the moribund
Eastern Empire. It was but a brief period of
glory, for soon, by help of new frontier assailants
such as the Magyars, imperial Constantinople —
though herself very unstable — contrived to again
get the upper hand.
In 1081 Robert Guiscard, Norman duke of
Calabria, crossed the Adriatic and attacked Durazzo.
Then, preparatory to future conquest, he sent his
son to plant detachments of Normans in various
cities, such as Uskub, Ostrovo, Vodena, and Verria ;
but on the death of their leaders these detachments
became rapidly absorbed by the people they had
momentarily dominated. After them came those
wandering bands of men and women adventurers,
who, calling themselves crusaders, preceded the first
BASILICA OF ST. DEMETRIOS— ALL
THAT THE FIRE LEFT
This church, parts of which were said to date back
to the fourth century, was among the chief of the
architectural glories of Salonika destroyed by the
fire.
HISTORICAL AND POLITICAL 49
organised crusade, everywhere spreading disorder
and discredit for their cause. Then a formidable
land and sea expedition, started by William 11. of
Sicily, ended in the capture and pillage of Salonika
by Normans. Next Boniface of Monferrat and
his Lombards took possession of the city, and he
had himself declared King of Salonika.
Change upon change followed, the supreme
suzerainty of the Balkans passing and repassing
alternately into the hands of the despot of Epirus,
the Tzar of Bulgaria, and the different incumbents
of the imperial throne at Constantinople.
At the expense of Bulgaria, Serbia had mean-
while been growing into a more or less defined
free kingdom, which in 1285 extended northwards
as far as the Danube and southwards to Ochrida
and Prilep. The Serbian monarch of that time,
by name Miloutin, formed powerful alliances
with Epirus, Naples, and Constantinople. Stefan
Douchan in 1334, following up these advantages,
had himself crowned at Uskub " Tzar of the Serbs
and Greeks," shortly afterwards extending his
sway from the Black Sea to the Adriatic, from the
Danube to the south of Thessaly and Epirus and
as far south-east as the environs of Salonika.
But this suzerainty, too, was short-lived, and the
7 .
50 THE SALONIKA FRONT
whole kingdom ultimately became a prey to the
Turks.
Meanwhile, Salonika and the whole of Chaleidice
had been much harassed by the famous Catalan
Company of adventurers who, having been dis-
missed from service by both the Sicilian and
Constantinople Governments, allied themselves
with the Turks and started pillaging various
population centres throughout Greece.
It was not to be wondered at, therefore, that in
1887, after a siege that lasted four years, the city,
much depleted in population, at last fell a prey
to the Turks. At that period, although the new
invaders had overwhelmed the whole surrounding
country, reducing the Eastern Empire to a state
of vassaldom, they had not had time to consolidate
their own internal organisation sufficiently to en-
sure the maintenance of discipline throughout the
lands they subjugated. Allowed full autonomy
of government, Salonika thus became virtually free
immediately after its conquest, and a few years
later sought to shake off altogether the Turkish
yoke by calling in the help of Venice. Readily
accepting the offer, that Republic willingly paid
money for the privilege of annexation. A small
garrison was sent to occupy the city, and the walls
HISTORICAI. AND POLITICAL 51
were repaired. These efforts, however, proved
inadequate to meet the danger of a fresh attack
on the part of the Turks, for in 1428, on the
approach of a large army led by Sultan Murad II.,
the Venetians only made a show of resistance, and
then fled hastily by sea. Recaptured with ease,
the whole city was put to the sword, and after the
greater part of its surviving inhabitants had been
sold as slaves, it was re-stocked by Turks from the
Vardar valley.
Thereafter, in place of the old Byzantine-
Christian edifices and culture, Moslem mosques
(frequently Christian churches transformed) and
Moslem manners pervaded the city. There set
in also that great exodus of Jews from Spain,
compelled by a desire to escape the Inquisition,
and many of those who came to the Levant
obtained special sanction from the Sultan to settle
at Salonika. It was mainly due to their untiring
activity that the city once more became of some
commercial importance. A series of communities,
each self-sufficing and wholly immersed in its
own affairs, grew up within its walls. Orthodox
Jews and Deunmehs (Jews converted to Islam),
Turks, Bulgars, Greeks, had each a separate
quarter of the city allotted them, an arrangement
52 THE SALONIKA FRONT
that in a general sense still persists, and although
Turkish garb was adopted and Turkish rule
prevailed, each separate community lived its own
life and spoke the language of its forbears.
After Crete had been wrested from the Venetians
by the Turks and Venice had ceased to count as
a commercial entity, Salonika's importance again
waned, her main trade having been through
Venetian agency. It was not until the con-
struction of the railways, begun in 1870, that a
renewed impetus was given to commerce by the
opening up once more of adequate trade channels
with the western world.
Meanwhile in 1830, Greece, with the exception
of Macedonia, by sympathetic help of the greater
nations, had after nine years' struggle won freedom
from Turkish rule ; and Greek men of commerce,
even in Macedonia, had slowly and surely gained
control of considerable trade interests, until
towards the end of the last century they had
established an intricate network of commercial
ties with almost all the countries of the world.
Then came a series of propaganda conflicts
between the Bulgars and Greeks, who, by help of
the Orthodox Greek Church, aimed at hellenising
the whole of Macedonia. Bulgaria retaliated by
TURKISH FARM. GORGOP
Musulman or Greek Orthodox inhabitants of the
country districts throughout Macedonia and Albania
are usually housed in picturesque, barn-like structures
of this kind.
>*r. «■
HISTORICAL AND POLITICAL 53
obtaining sanction from Turkey for the establish-
ment of a separate national church organisation,
to be controlled from Constantinople by its own
supreme exarch.
In and after 1903 the results of these and
other skilfully organised propaganda efforts on the
part of Bulgaria were seen throughout Macedonia
in the form of revolutionary risings and bomb
outrages, engineered 4n the main by secret agents
and committees. On several occasions these
disturbances became so acute as to look very like
developing into war between Bulgaria and Turkey,
and it was only by the intervention of Austria and
Russia that war was averted. Also Greece, deter-
mined to fight Bulgaria with weapons as subtly
forged as her own, established secret committee
organisations which aimed at the complete over-
throwal of her rival's unscrupulous revolutionary
tactics.
Despite repeated promises from Constantinople,
throughout European territory still controlled by
the Sublime Porte, administration showed small
signs of improving and lawlessness and brigandage
became more and more prevalent. As concerted
action was needed, a temporary coalition was
effected between Greece, Bulgaria, Serbia, and
64 THE SALONIKA FRONT
Montenegro, and in the late autumn of 1912 this
coalition, known as the ** Balkan League," putting
matters to the test of arms, won a series of
complete victories over different portions of the
cumbersome, though theoretically modernised,
organisation of the Ottoman Army.
In the course of this "First Balkan War"
the Greeks contrived to reach Salonika and assume
supreme control there one day before the arrival,
by forced marches, of the Bulgarian advance-guard,
and this aroused considerable ill-feeling among
the Bulgars. A series of similar petty frictions
between Bulgars and Serbs resulted, early in 1918,
in the splitting up of the League immediately it
had achieved its primary object of an overthrowal
of Ottoman control and before it had taken any
steps towards an amicable repartition of the
conquered territory.
Severance from Bulgaria appearing unavoidable,
Serbia, on June 1, 1913, entered into a new
agreement with Greece, whereby she was to be
allowed free access to the sea through a neutral
zone of territory, each party being pledged to aid
the other in resisting Bulgaria, should that nation
employ military force as a means of obtaining
advantageous terms in the repartition. Almost
RUINED TURKISH STRONGHOLD AT
VERGETOR
A block-house, which stands just off the Vergetor-
Cugenci road, and is a prominent landmark for
miles around. As the adjacent village of Vergetor
was razed to the ground by the Bulgars in the
course of their retreat before the Greeks during the
summer of 1913, the block-house itself was probably
reduced to this state of ruin in the same way.
HISTORICAL AND POLITICAL 55
immediately afterwards Bulgaria attacked both
frontiers, and the two allies, by carrying out in
conjunction with Rumania that succession of
well -planned operations which constituted the
" Second Balkan War," forced on her the terms of
the Treaty of Bucharest. Thus Austria, Bulgaria's
secret ally, was again compelled to postpone the
realisation of her long -cherished idea of check-
mating Serbia and thereby winning control of the
Salonika railway ; and Bulgaria's own hopes of
dominating all other Balkan states were once
again frustrated.
The situation in 1914, then, as regards balance
of power in the Balkans, was a decidedly precarious
one. Each young Balkan nation whose fate was
involved after release from Ottoman control,
desired before all things self - development and
consolidation. Not one, perhaps, was completely
satisfied with the existing state of things, as set
down by the Treaty of Bucharest, or certain as
regards the length of time it would be possible to
persist in any given alliance or policy ; all being
more or less at the mercy of the greater European
powers.
Of these powers Austria and Russia, on account
56 THE SALONIKA FRONT
of geographical proximity, were the most keenly
interested in the future of Balkan affairs, the
former still hankering after an unhindered trade
and strategic outlet through the Aegean and the
reduction of Serbia to a state of subjection, the
latter bound by racial ties to support Slav interests.
Russia, moreover, had her own Pan-Slav ambitions,
and Rumania, dreading encroachment from that
quarter, and anxious before all things to unite in
one single political entity the scattered sections
of her people, was strongly in favour of inter-
nationalising the Bosphorus and Dardanelles coast
lines.
When, after the Serajevo murders, and the out-
burst in Vienna and other places of skilfully fanned
popular indignation, Austria issued that ultimatum
to Serbia which, despite its virtual acceptance
within the prescribed time limit of forty -eight
hours, was followed up by a declaration of war,
French, Italian, Russian, and English diplomatists
had already exerted themselves to the utmost in
vain endeavours to bring about a settlement of the
points at variance by methods of peaceful arbitra-
tion. It was therefore seen by all that the Central
Powers had chosen war as the only possible means
of realising their ideals of expansion, the most
GERBASEL CHURCH
This ruin, another result of the Bulgars' rage during
their 19 13 retreat, stands beside a few charred
stones and a ruined campanile, which are all that
is left of a once prosperous and peaceful Greek
village. It was a strange contrast between old and
new when, at about a mile distant on each side, the
R.A.F. established flights of aeroplanes which daily-
crossed it in all directions.
St"***
HISTORICAL AND POLITICAL 57
probable direction of their advance being by way
of the nearer East.
It thus became imperative for the Allies, as
soon as possible after western dangers had been
met, to turn their attention towards the creation
of some form of check on hostile initiative in the
Balkans. After the failure of two attempts by
an Anglo-French fleet to free the Dardanelles, the
Gallipoli landing was resolved upon and carried
out, despite all efforts made to stay it by a
well -prepared opposing Turkish force. In the
general strategic scheme of the Allies it was
never regarded, in view of the great transport
difficulties involved, as much more than a diversion
planned to gain time for more important operations.
England at any rate soon realised that nothing
short of a decisive victory elsewhere would enable
this small force to win through to Constantinople.
Austria, meanwhile, persevered in her military
attempt to crush Serbia, and it was seen that the
very small assistance hitherto given that supremely
heroic little state was wholly inadequate to achieve
any favourable result. At the eleventh hour,
therefore, and after Bulgaria had fully mobilised,
the Allies resolved to land a small combined
French and British force at Salonika ; which
8
58 THE SALONIKA FRONT
port, although neutral territory, offered the most
convenient base for operations in support of Serbia.
Accordingly (October 3, 1915) the first in-
stalments of this force disembarked there, the
debatable point as to occupying neutral territory
being got over by a formal protest, lodged by
Mr. Venizelos. That statesman had already
suggested to the Allies the advisability of having
a force in readiness to assist Serbia in the event
of Bulgaria breaking neutrality by siding with
the Central Powers ; which would make Greece
obliged, by the terms of her treaty with Serbia,
to participate actively in the general conflict. It
was the worst time in the whole year to start
operations in that part of the world ; for in a very
short while the autumn rains that were already
beginning would be succeeded by the intense cold
of winter, and the absence of metalled roads north-
wards from Salonika would render any organised
advance of heavy transport through the virtual
quagmires into which rain soon transformed the
only existing thoroughfares hazardous in the
extreme.
CHAPTER IV
OPERATIONS
Too small and too late for relief of Serbia, the first Allied force
creates a diversion, advancing and then retreating (October 1915
to January 1916) — Expecting the Bulgars to attack, the Allies con-
solidate the *' Bird-cage " defence line ( — March 1916) — No attack
taking place, they extend their front, and after successful minor en-
gagements on their right and centre and considerable gains on
their left, consolidate a new advanced line ( — February 1917) — They
attack along the centre of this line (April and August 1917) — They
renew the attack successfully (August 1918) — Bulgaria capitulates
(September 30, 1918) — The World War ends where it began.
The force thus landed at Salonika in October
1915 ultimately consisted of about 34,000 French
and 14,000 British troops, the French being under
command of General Sarrail, the British under
General Sir Bryan Mahon. The Greek public and
their local government officials naturally looked
askance at the intrusion of so many belligerents
on neutral soil and did much to thwart our
efforts at mobilising on a war footing such
resources as were to be found in the vicinity
59
60 THE SALONIKA FRONT
of the city. Accommodation adequate for the
establishment of a base headquarters and urgently
needed supplies had to be discovered without
regard to cost and at the shortest notice. Thus,
from the outset, the Allies were compelled to
carry on operations at a very great disadvantage.
All that seemed feasible was to make use of the
only existing railway northwards and push their
comparatively small force rapidly up the Vardar
valley towards the hardly pressed, retreating Serbs,
creating in their favour and against the Bulgarian
flank as formidable a diversion as possible.
Accordingly, the 57th, 122nd, and 156th French
Divisions were sent up by rail and speedily
occupied positions between Gradsko, Krivolak, and
Strumnitza. After about ten davs' unavoidable
delay their supports along the Vardar valley, as
also the protecting force they had thrown out
on their right flank (Kosturino — Doiran), were
relieved by what remained of our 10th (Irish)
Division, still depleted and physically weakened by
its very exacting service at Suvla Bay.
The Bulgars meanwhile continued to press the
already isolated extreme right-hand portion of the
Serbian Army, which, although it fought stubbornly,
was compelled (November 16) to abandon the
OPERATIONS 61
Babuna Pass and fall back on Prilep and Monastir.
This necessitated a corresponding withdrawal of
the French through the Demir-Kapu defile, and,
after failing to keep in touch with the Serbs,
owing to fresh German-Bulgar concentration and
attack over the whole area, the withdrawal of the
Franco-British line to within Greek territory be-
came unavoidable. This withdrawal, an extremely
difficult and perilous undertaking at the time of
the year, was very skilfully carried out, despite
constant pressure by the Bulgars. The French
even succeeded in taking with them the greater
part of those supplies they had collected, for
political reasons, beyond the Macedonian border.
As for our 10th Division, no alternative was
open to it but to hold out on the freezing,
shelterless mountains as long as the French
retirement required protection, and then fall back
within the Greek frontier. The steadfast Irish-
men who composed it were subjected throughout
this very anxious period to both frontal and flank
attacks by comparatively fresh hostile forces,
which outnumbered them by at least four to one
and were supported by far superior mountain
artillery. Finally, at the cost of heavy losses from
fatal wounds, frostbite, and other sickness, and
est THE SALONIKA FRONT
with but small abandonment of guns and materiel,
they made good their retreat.
To render this retreat at least temporarily
secure against rear concentration and attack by
the then very suspect Greek Army, a naval blockade
of Greek ports had meanwhile been carried out
by the Allies. As numerous French and some
British reinforcements were still disembarking at
Salonika and the landing of an Italian Expedi-
tionary Force of 30,000 at Valona in December
constituted a further Balkan menace to the
Central Powers, probably also owing to a secret
undertaking with Greece, the Bulgarian armies,
despite their superior artillery and strong stiffening
of Germans, forbore to cross the Greek frontier.
The Allies thus had ample time to consolidate the
positions nearer Salonika they at length decided
to hold.
These positions constituted the so-called
"Bird-cage" defence line, which stretched for
about 60 miles across country, its nearest point
due northwards from Salonika being about eight
miles from that city. Starting in the western
marsh-lands of the Vardar delta, it crossed the
River Galico, then ran along the northern slopes
of the Derbend ridge to the western shore of the
RUPEL PASS AND STRUMA VALLEY
VILLAGES, FROM GUMUSDERE
OPERATIONS 168
Gulf of Orfano. Protected on the left by a
fifteen -mile depth of impassable morass and on
the right by specially constructed redoubts and
the monitors of our Mediterranean Fleet operating
in the Gulf of Orfano, the greater part of this
line was soon reinforced by elaborate systems of
concealed trenches, concrete gun emplacements,
and wire entanglements. It had also to be
rendered easy of access from Salonika by the
construction of solidly built roads and decauville
tracks. General Sarrail, who from January 1916
was placed in supreme command of all the Allied
contingents on that front, gave the utmost care
and thought to the carrying out of these very
necessary operations ; so that by the beginning
of April 1916 he and other experts pronounced the
whole line to be capable of prolonged resistance
to the still anxiously awaited enemy advance.
Training of all arms had gone on apace, and
when in May Lieut. -General Sir G. F. Milne
took over command of the British Salonika Army,
he had at his disposal five very well-conditioned
divisions, while the total Franco - British forces
numbered over 300,000 effectives, a figure that
was still further augmented by the addition in the
course of the next few months of the newly
64 THE SALONIKA FRONT
reconstituted Serbian Army, already nearly 80,000
strong. These reinforcements, Rumania's demand
of an offensive from the south, the enemy's delay
in attack, and the unexpected handing over by a
Greek garrison to Bulgarian troops of the strategic
point of Fort Rupel (May 26) rendered the
occupation of a more advanced line desirable.
It had been found necessary to take very
definite action with regard to Greek armed
neutrality and veiled hostility towards what the
majority of them were still disposed to consider
our unwarranted intrusion in Macedonia. The
most significant stages of our policy in this
direction were marked by :
(1) Blockade of Greek ports, begun in De-
cember 1915, which warded off the danger of any
large concentration of the Greek Army in our
immediate rear.
(2) Agreement with the Salonika (3rd) Greek
Army Corps Commander, whereby our infantry
and cavalry patrols were allowed free circulation
throughout Macedonian territory.
(3) Expulsion from Salonika of all enemy
consuls immediately after the first hostile air raid
over the city.
(4) Seizure and occupation of the Greek shore
OPERATIONS 65
batteries at Karaburun (Grand Karabou), January
28, 1916.
(5) Seizure of communications (rail and tele-
graph) and proclamation of martial law in the
Salonika district (June 1916).
(6) Forcing of Kjng Constantine to agree to a
strictly neutral attitude and demobilisation of the
Greek Army (June 21).
As regards actual fighting, nothing but desultory
engagements between infantry and cavalry patrols
occurred during the first four months of 1916.
There was also the hostile air bombing attack,
already mentioned, and two Zeppelin reconnais-
sances, the last of which (May 6) resulted in the
bringing down of the intruder by gun-fire from
H.M.S. Agamemnon, then in Salonika harbour.
The handing over of Rupel, altering as it did
the whole strategic situation, was followed up at
once by attempts on the part of the Allies to fore-
stall in some measure the expected offensive. But,
although quite early in the year we established
advanced cavalry patrols with headquarters at
Kukus and, in June, occupied the right bank of
the Struma, while the French, assisted by our
22nd Division, advanced to positions in the Doiran-
Vardar sector, the Bulgars, owing to connivance of
66 THE SALONIKA FRONT
the Greek frontier guards, succeeded in overrunning
Macedonia from the north-east as far south as
Drama, Seres, and Kavalla, and Epirus from the
north-west as far as Koritza.
As the AlHes were pledged to attack eight
days before Rumania declared war, an offensive
demonstration, rendered less hazardous by the
arrival of two Russian brigades (July 30) and the
very strong Italian 35th Division (August 10),
was organised by General Sarrail. It began
(August 10) by a heavy bombardment of
Doiran, and the capture of Tortue by the French
and Horse-shoe Hill by the British (August 18).
At the same time British forces, already in line
along the Struma, crossed it at several places, the
Italians meanwhile taking over a large portion of
the Krusha Balkan sector.
The enemy, however, by an adroit surprise
attack directed against the Serbs, who had been
allotted that large sector of the Allies' line on the
right bank of the Vardar, succeeded in seizing the
initiative so definitely that it became necessary to
transfer there, as rapidly as possible, as many
French troops as could be spared. This attack,
developing over the Lake Prespa-Kaimactchalan
sector, outnumbered and drove back (August 18)
OPERATIONS 67
the few Serbian outposts north of Fiorina, took
Fiorina and Banitza (August 19), and forced the
Serbs to fall back to the highlands north of Lake
Ostrovo (August 20), where, thanks to French and
Russian reinforcements which began to arrive, they
contrived to make a stand. Owing to this transfer
of troops, the attack we were pledged to make could
not be continued. The British became by degrees
solely responsible for the whole front from the
Vardar to the mouth of the Struma, the Italians
being the last to hand over to us their sector in the
Krusha Balkan (November 29, 1916).
The task of consolidating defences, and of keep-
ing up active offensive demonstrations against the
Turks, Bulgars, and Germans who had taken up
strong positions facing this line, was by no means
light. Vigorous attacks across the Struma were
again and again effected at several places on either
side of Lake Tahinos, and the line finally held by us
in the Struma valley ran through Ormanli-Elisan-
Homondos-Ago Mah, with advanced cavalry posts
as far as Kalendra-Kispeki. In the Doiran- Vardar
sector we held up at least 30,000 Bulgars and Ger-
mans by bombardment and successful attack of the
Macucovo salient ; and by a series of well-planned
minor operations and raids, admirably carried out
68 THE SALONIKA FRONT
despite a heavy dysentery and malaria sick-list, suc-
ceeded in keeping the enemy in constant suspense.
After their stand north-west of Ostrovo, the
Serbian First Army, with the French and Russians,
found themselves once more able to advance via
Gornicevo, and across the Mala Reka, towards
Fiorina, which they entered (September 18). The
Serbian Second Army meanwhile, having with
supreme heroism won its way from hill to hill, on
the same day successfully stormed the great Kai-
mactchalan peak, culminating height (8284 feet)
of the Moglena Mountains, and the main strategic
point of the whole sector. As repeated endeavours
to retake this position only cost the Bulgars very
severe losses, they at length retired across the
Serbian frontier to the line they had prepared at
Kenali. They were not long safe there, for the
Serbs continued to press them via Petalano and
the Tcherna bend, while the French and Russians,
assisted by part of the Serbian First Army, ad-
vanced north through Vrbeni (October 2), north-
west through Buv to Kisovo, and through Pisoderi
to Popli and Jermano, at the north-east extremity
of Lake Mala Prespa (October 3).
With superb dash and courage the Serbs pushed
right and left along the Tcherna, and, crossing it
HOSTILE AIR RAID ON THE BRITISH
I2TH CORPS HEADQUARTERS
This, the most formidable hostile air raid that
visited the 12th Corps front, is here very vividly
portrayed by the artist, who saw it from the most
convenient vantage-point, about two miles away.
The bursts on the ground are all bomb bursts ; the
brown, white and black dots in the air being our
own anti-aircraft shell-bursts.
Mi
OPERATIONS 69
in two places, entered Brod (October 8), en-
deavouring to turn the Bulgar's line. Ten days'
stubborn fighting enabled them to win this much-
disputed Tcherna bend corner of Serbia ; then,
while th:.r left wing pushed on in the direction of
Tepavci, on their right they stormed the southern
promontory of the Selechka Mountains, and
captured, round about Polog and Iven, a large
quantity of stores and many guns, together with
several hundred prisoners ; they also took Chegal,
Negochani, and Jarashok. Porodin and Velushina
being won by the French, the enemy was obliged
to withdraw behind the Bistrica stream (November
14), and though offering desperate resistance, was
I finally driven to evacuate Monastir (November 19).
General Sarrail was wont to say that if only
reserves had been available, the long period of
deadlock on our Balkan front which followed these
1916 operations need never have been endured.
The intense fighting of the preceding weeks, and
the continual bad weather in which it had been
carried on, had so exhausted all arms that it was
impossible to push the attack farther north, and
the enemy succeeded in digging into positions
sufficiently near Monastir to keep it under constant
70 THE SALONIKA FRONT
shell-fire. Thus, although it had great political
significance, the capture of Monastir had scarcely
any strategic value. British troops in the Struma
valley had meanwhile gained a local success, which
culminated in the capture of Jenikoj (Oct. 1916).
Both sides spent the winter months in consoli-
dating their new lines, and when, in March 1917,
hostilities again started, they tended to take the
form of sanguinary though very indecisive engage-
ments, which did little more than test the endurance
and defensive strength of different portions of the
enemy's entrenched lines. It is worth while bearing
in mind that as the initiative of these engagements
was, except as regards air raids, almost always on
our side, their total strategic effect tended un-
doubtedly towards the advantage of the Allies,
enabling us, at the end of a two years' seeming
hiatus in progressive operations, to achieve a
definite and final success.
During the winter months of 1916-1917 the
Allies worked hard at offensive and defensive
preparation. To give one example of the amount
of engineering work that still remained to be done :
a journey by road from Salonika to the head-
quarters of our 12th Corps at Janesh was, early
in January 1917, so uncertain of duration that.
OPERATIONS 71
although the rectilineal map distance was no more
than 28 miles, it was necessary to start at 8.30 in
the morning to arrive by 3.30 in the afternoon,
even if the conveyance were an R.F.C. Crossley
touring car ; for that car would probably have to
be pulled, no less than three times over, by a
chance team of mules, out of the thigh-deep mire
that, in places, was still the only thoroughfare. A
month later, when the new 12th Corps (Amberkoi-
Kukus) road was finished, it was quite possible,
without too obviously exceeding the speed limit,
to cover the whole distance of 36 miles by this
road in 2^ hours.
Greece, unfortunately, continued to give us
cause for grave anxiety, although the Bulgarian
incursions over the frontier aroused intense popular
resentment in Macedonia. This feeling found
expression in the ''Revolution" (August 30, 1916),
whereby the partisans of Mr. Venizelos at Salonika
definitely threw off allegiance to King Constantine
and joined actively in the war on our side. It
was, nevertheless, deemed advisable to occupy a
five - mile " neutral zone " across the north of
Thessaly, separating royalist from Venizelist spheres
of influence.
The first hostilities of the spring of 1917, with
72 THE SALONIKA FRONT
the exception of a large enemy air raid, took the
form of an attack by the French and Russians over
the sector between Lakes Prespa and Ochrida, and
also by the French and Serbs north of Monastir.
Owing to bad weather little, beyond the capture
of prisoners, was achieved ; though the attempt no
doubt helped, as a prelude, our ambitious British
offensive in the Doiran-Vardar sector.
Begun, after two days' artillery preparation, on
the night of April 24, this last attack aimed, in the
first instance, at winning P. 4f^, a point more than
half way up the '* Pip " Ridge, that great natural
fortress of hills which faced and dominated the
whole of our British positions. By sheer grit and
perseverance our men reached and maintained
possession of this objective, but the two Infantry
brigades who carried out the attack on the right
found almost unsurmountable difficulties in their
way. In front of them lay the boulder-strewn
slopes of Jumeaux Ravine, into which, half an
hour before we were timed to start, the enemy
began to pour a very formidable barrage. Although
we had two balloons on duty their observers could
not see into the deep ravines where the enemy
batteries lay concealed. It was not possible,
therefore, to locate the exact positions of their
OPERATIONS 73
flashes, or for our gunners to reply with sufficient
accuracy to put an end to the barrage. On the
other hand the Bulgarian gunners were assisted by
two very strong searchlights ; in the full glare of
which our men had not only to leave their own
trenches but also, braving the barrage, to run
right to the bottom of the ravine, wade through
a stream, and charge up the steep slope on the
opposite side. They succeeded in many places
in getting a foothold in the enemy's trenches
that ran along the top of this slope, but
were unable to stay there, as the deadly barrage,
while it kept their own supports from arriving,
also followed them into the trenches they had
captured. Next morning as many as were left
alive and able to move back regained their own
lines.
On May 5 the Greeks, who now occupied
the sector on our immediate left, just across the
Vardar, won their first slight success, and on
the following day we recommenced our artillery
preparation in front of Doiran and the "Pip"
Ridge, where the enemy had meanwhile been con-
siderably reinforced by both artillery and infantry.
The attack it preluded was again directed across
Jumeaux Ravine, and again had no lasting result,
10
74 THE SALONIKA FRONT
although individual infantry units achieved some
very remarkable temporary gains.
During this period the French, Italians, Serbs,
and Greeks were almost equally baffled in their
endeavours to advance by the natural and strongly
fortified resources of the ground occupied by the
Bulgars. German experts, by construction of
very deep reinforced emplacements and concrete
dugouts or trenches cut from the solid rock, had
developed to their utmost all these natural ad-
vantages. In the concrete emplacements machine-
guns w^ere planted ready at a moment's notice
to sweep their deadly hail of bullets along the
deep and heavily wired ravines through which
all our attacking parties had to make their
way.
In order to minimise malarial casualties on
the Struma during the summer of 1917, a general
withdrawal of our British line to the foot-hills
was carried out under cover of a small offensive
demonstration. The Bulgars did likewise, and
nothing but chance encounters between patrols in
a very vaguely defined No Man's Land varying
between twelve and twenty miles in width,
occurred throughout the length and breadth of the
Struma valley ; while, along the remaining sectors
OPERATIONS 75
of the Balkan front, activity was confined to a few
raids of merely local importance.
In the autumn a third attempt to take a
portion of the "Pip" Ridge was again made by
the British 12th Corps, an attempt that proved
even less successful still and cost us heavy casual-
ties. These dominant heights became at length
recognised as an almost impregnable natural
fortress, strengthened as they were by the latest
German improvements in defensive warfare.
Similar local engagements along the sectors
occupied by our Allies met with very little success,
and, by the end of 1917, it was universally felt at
Salonika that with the comparatively small force
available nothing in the way of a definite, crushing
blow could be dealt, unless some great western
victory brought about the sudden withdrawal from
the Balkans of the stiffening of German troops
Russia's collapse had provided, or the Bulgars
themselves ultimately grew weary of the war.
Events of 1918 bore out in the main the truth
of this opinion. Many German troops were with-
drawn, and the Bulgars did, it is thought, to some
extent, begin to lose heart. It remained for the
Allies to take advantage of the most favourable
point and moment for attack.
76 , THE SALONIKA FRONT
During the spring and early summer of 1918,
considerable redistribution of the various Allied
contingents took place, and to compensate for
transfer of over one quarter of our British Salonika
Army to other fronts, General Guillaumat, who,
in March, succeeded General Sarrail in command
of the Allied Armies, placed the 1st Hellenic
Corps of the Greek Army under General Milne.
General Franchet D'Esperey, who succeeded Gen-
eral Guillaumat early in June, outlined a scheme
for an offensive in September, to coincide with the
big offensive in France. Our British 12th Corps,
which still occupied the Doiran-Vardar sector, was
reinforced by many more Greek troops, and the
length of front for which General Milne was re-
sponsible was extended from 90 to 135 miles,
including as it did the hitherto wholly Greek sector
on the right of the Vardar.
In this sector, after heavy artillery preparation,
a preliminary success was gained by British troops
(September 1), the object being to divert the
enemy's attention from the Allies' main objective.
A terrific bombardment began along the whole
front from Monastir to Doiran (September 14),
and 24 hours afterwards Franco -Serbian troops,
under Voivode Misitch, took the enemy's first
VARDAR-D(
On the west edge of the lake is Doiran town. Before the last push our B
south of Doiran to a point situated about the left-hand corner of this pictur
in the centre (the 'Pip" Ridge) and those beyond, but had also swep
JUNCTION OF BUTKO
The Italian Krusha- Balkan sector, which the British ultimately tc
along the foothills of the Bele
.«ite
;^£
hN FRONT.
li lines stretched along the southern shore of the lake and across the gullies
After the push we had not only gained possession of the dominating heights
jr of enemy the mountains to the extreme north and east of the lake.
AND STRUMA VALLEYS.
ver, began to the left of this picture,
nge, seen in the background.
It was faced by the Bulgars
OPERATIONS 77
and second lines, storming the heights between
Sokol and Vetrenik. General Milne thereupon
issued orders for the British, French, and Greek
troops, under command of Lieutenant-General Sir
H. F. M. Wilson, to attack the " Pip " Ridge, and
for the British and Greek troops under Lieutenant-
General Sir C. J. Briggs to carry out concomitantly
a surprise attack round the eastern shore of Lake
Doiran. Both started before dawn (September
18), but, though many prisoners were taken,
owing to the great difficulties that had to be
encountered, neither attacking force gained more
than a temporary foothold in the enemy's positions.
Next morning at 5 a.m., despite the previous
day's heavy casualties, the attack on the "Pip"
Ridge and Grand Couronne was renewed, it being
necessary to compel the enemy to keep large
reserves in that sector, instead of utilising them
to stem the tide of the Allies' advance elsewhere.
The result was we were able to gain and hold Petit
Couronne, Teton Hill, and Doiran town.
The victorious Serbs and French meanwhile
pressed on from point to point with incredible
rapidity, till (September 21) they had cut the
enemy's communications between Gradsco and
Prilep, and down the Vardar valley. The Bulgars
78 THE SALONIKA FRONT
began a general retreat through the Kosturino
Pass, and their rear-guard was hotly pressed by
the Greek and British advance. Moving forward
by night (September 26), French, Greek, and
British troops stormed the Beles, that rocky and
precipitous mountain range north-east of Lake
Doiran, which is 4000 feet high and which we
had long regarded as impregnable.
Previously, on the morning of that day, an open
car was seen approaching our lines, the occupants
holding aloft a white flag, and the result of the
conference that ensued between them and the
Allies' representatives was the signature, three days
later, of the Military Convention that embodied
Bulgaria's capitulation. When at noon (September
30) hostilities finally ceased, the British 16th
Corps, the Greek Cretan Division, and the 228th
Infantry Brigade had cleared the Strumnitza plain
of the enemy, and the 12th Corps had swept right
along the crest of the Beles range to a point
opposite Rupel, while the French and Serbs had
disappeared northwards beyond Veles and Istib.
It was felt universally at Salonika that the war
was over.
CHAPTER V
THE FRENCH AND RUSSIAN EFFORT
French and Greek alternate languages of commerce in the Southern
Balkans — French the normal medium of culture — French direct-
ness of thought and action a co-ordinating diplomatic influence —
Sarrail's saving celerity — Territorials^ Cavalry, Artillery — ^^ Service
Routier " — " Service des Eaux " — " Intendance " — " Bazar de Lyon "
— '* Mission Antipaludique" — Franco-Greek and Franco-Serbian
Schools — " Bibliotheque Macedonienne " — ' ^ Service Archeologique "
— Industrial and Agricultural experiments — Geological and Carto-
graphical Survey — " (Euvre civilisatrice " — The " Albanian Re-
public " — Impressions of French oflficers — The Russian Contingent
— Its arrival and ultimate fate — Impressions of Russian officers.
This victory, so long hoped for, so long almost
despaired of, was only rendered possible at length
by loyal and whole-hearted co-operation between
the various Allied contingents, each of which con-
tributed its individual quota to the total effort we
were able to make on that front. It is proposed,
therefore, in the course of the few remaining
chapters of this book, to indicate briefly some of
the most salient features of the social and military
contribution made towards this effort by each of
79
80 THE SALONIKA FRONT
the six Allied peoples ; only one of whom, owing
to revolutionary upheaval, ceased to count as a
definite military entity before the final phases of
the campaign.
First in importance, as the locally predominant
power throughout, the one possible unifying
element of the whole adventure, France stands
forth. French troops from the very outset were
by far the most numerous, and theirs was the
largest share in the operations. As their tongue
was spoken with more or less facility by each of
the Allies it naturally tended to become a bond of
union between all.
Prior to the war French and Greek had been
generally recognised as alternate languages of
commerce in the Southern Balkans, and to a
practical knowledge of these the indigenous trader
had to add, besides his own particular dialect, some
acquaintance with "Ladino" or Levantine Spanish,
as spoken by the numerous Salonikan descendants
of the Jews who left Spain to escape being
persecuted under the Inquisition.
Since Greece became a free state many wealthy
Greeks had sent their children to be educated in
France. Although not a few of them being
naturally gifted as regards languages acquired
BELES RANGE FROM SAL GREC DE
POPOVO
This seemingly impregnable natural barrier was
nevertheless at last successfully stormed by Greek
and British troops.
THE FRENCH AND RUSSIAN EFFORT 81
German with almost equal fluency, French, on
account perhaps of certain analogies of mentality
and temperament between the southern French-
man and the Greek, had become universally re-
cognised as the most useful extraneous linguistic
medium of culture.
French directness of thought, therefore, assisted
us in our military and diplomatic relations with
Greece, co-ordinating the individual views and
efforts of all the Allies. Thus and thus only
was General Sarrail, with characteristically French
celerity, enabled to meet subterfuge with subter-
fuge, political expediency with expediency, fulfilling
with success the twofold function of a General-
in-Chief at Salonika and a local mouthpiece of the
Supreme War Council.
From the very outset the inhabitants of
Salonika understood instinctively that they had to
deal with the whole force and weight of Gallic
political genius, that the intellectual weapons of
the Allies would be at least as subtly forged as
their own. Their estimate of the English was a
confused and distorted one, based mainly upon
past experiences in dealing with our comparatively
few Levantine trading organisations and upon
a vague feeling of gratitude towards certain
11
82 THE SALONIKA FRONT
individual Englishmen such as Gladstone and
Byron. They were therefore fully prepared, when
the Franco-British contingents arrived, to have to
face that subtle French diplomacy which conceals
itself admirably beneath a mask of social geniality ;
but alike on the French and on the all too credulous
representatives of Great Britain as a military
power, they looked with a curiosity which was not
wholly untinged by hope of commercial gain.
Perhaps the majority of them were not a little
surprised at the very abrupt and business-like
treatment they at once received at the hands of
the French. It is not to be wondered at that
occasional outbursts of individual resentment
occurred, and that statements derogatory to the
French appeared in certain anti-Venizelist Athens
newspapers.
The first French troops to land at Salonika
consisted mainly of Infantry, with some units of
Field Artillery and a few machine-guns. Soon
after came some Heavy Artillery, Cavalry, and
"Territorial" contingents. The Cavalry proved
indispensable in scouring the country at the
various moments of the Allies' advance, and when
the vast tracks of temporary No Man's Land
THE FRENCH AND RUSSIAN EFFORT 83
between our positions and the Macedonian border
had to be patrolled. The Territorials were at once
made use of along the Lines of Communication,
and the Artillery, throughout the whole campaign,
by skilful counter battery work and co-operation
with other arms, seem to have kept the enemy in
a state of constant apprehension. Later on, too,
several contingents of white and black colonial
troops from North and West Africa arrived and
were found to be invaluable in the course of
subsequent offensive operations, being well able to
stand the hottest weather. Certain of their officers
rendered great assistance in dealing with the
Turkish-speaking Musulman population of Mace-
donia. The excellent work of the French Air
Service will be referred to in a later chapter of
this book.
The most indispensable work of all achieved by
the French was that carried out under supervision
of their corps of Engineers. Throughout the whole
period of the occupation, by means of an organisa-
tion known as the '^Service Boutier'' (which was
mainly recruited locally by civil labour and pro-
vided work for over 25,000 French soldiers and
Macedonian civilian men, women, and children),
hundreds of bridges and over 600 miles of roadway
84 THE SALONIKA FRONT
were constructed and kept in good repair. In
addition the ''Service des Eaucc" had to clarify
and supervise the main source of water-supply
throughout the region occupied by the French
Army. This meant the keeping in serviceable
order of over 600 natural springs, the piercing of
240 wells, both ordinary and Artesian, and the
construction or reconstruction of over 1000 reser-
voirs. In this connection should be mentioned the
building of the Hortjac aqueduct, whereby Salonika
itself was provided with an abundant supply of
fresh water. What the " Intendance " (the nearest
equivalent in the French Army to our R.A.S.C.)
achieved in the way of supply and transport was
also very admirable.
Nothing perhaps struck the chance guest at a
French officers' mess so forcibly as did the excellence,
in the roughest circumstances up the line, of French
field cooking; while the table kept up at some
Divisional Headquarters and the daily fare at the
'' Cercle Militaire,'' Salonika, left nothing to be
desired. The French canteen supply system, de-
veloped under the auspices of the ''Bazar de
LyoUj' was most efficiently conducted, and for
those British officers who obtained permission to
buy there provided a pleasant change as regards
THE FRENCH AND RUSSIAN EFFORT 85
comestibles from those purchased from our own
canteens.
Their Medical Service, and in particular the
'^Mission Antipaludique,'' deserves more than the
passing mention it can be given here. Not only
did the French establish and control a large number
of most efficient base and field hospitals, but they
also furnished equipment for the Greek hospitals
that were started soon after the Venizelists came
into the war on the side of the Allies.
The benefit derived by all the Salonika armies
from the anti- malarial propaganda the French
Medical Service initiated was most satisfactory.
Carried out in an equally thorough way by the
other Allies' Medical Services, the practical methods
employed by the "Mission Antipaludique' included
the draining of marsh -lands, the straightening of
water-courses that tended to stagnate, the destruc-
tion of mosquito larvae, and the inspection and
compulsory covering of all reserve supplies of
water in camps and houses; with a view to
reducing to a minimum the reproductive powers
of the malarial mosquito. The '^ Mission^' also
drew up statistical tables and maps showing
the worst malarial districts, and regulated the
supply of quinine, emphasising its beneficial effects
86 THE SALONIKA FRONT
as a preventive by means of humorous pictorial
propaganda.
The losses from wounds, fever, and sickness
suffered by the French throughout this campaign
and the hardships they endured in the various
sectors of their front being wholly as severe as our
own, the way in which they stood the long strain of
the three years' campaign in so uncongenial a foreign
climate was most remarkable and praiseworthy.
The French founded several Franco- Serb and
Franco-Greek schools of instruction at Salonika,
Fiorina, Vodena, and Monastir. They were
primarily responsible as well for all the details
connected with the reformation of the Serbian
Army at Corfu. At the French Lycee in Salonika
they started a library of works on Macedonia, they
also originated a Franco -Macedonian Historical
and Archaeological Review entitled ," Cahiers
d'Orient"
Their '^ Service Archeologique"" conducted many
excavations of prehistoric sites at Gona, Sedes,
Zeitenlick, Petit Karabou, Hortjac ; drew up maps ;
collected pottery, ancient mosaics, and Turkish
tombstones ; made a detailed study of the ramparts
and churches of Salonika and the historical treasures
of Mount Athos. It also collaborated actively
VARDAR RIVER, LAKE ARDZAN, AND
DRAGOMIR VILLAGE
In the distance, beyond the river, was the point of
junction between the French and the first Greek
Army of National Defence. In the final offensive
General Milne's command extended across the
\''ardar to that point.
THE FRENCH AND RUSSIAN EFFORT 87
with British and Greek authorities in the drawing
up of plans for the proposed reconstruction of the
burnt portions of Salonika and the general modern-
ising of the city thoroughfares.
Somewhat ambitious industrial experiments were
carried out at Salonika and Fiorina. Undertaken
for the most part in the French Army workshops,
they ranged between the construction of army
furniture, spare parts, portable huts, and aeroplanes.
Several brick-fields, a soap factory, a brush factory,
a tobacco factory were set working with success.
Three lignite mines and a salt factory yielded a
considerable output when systematically worked.
As regards agriculture they did their utmost
by organised supervision to instil sound modern
principles into the native Macedonian ; they im-
ported modern metal ploughs to replace the
antiquated wooden ones hitherto used, also thresh-
ing and reaping machines. They gave demonstra-
tions in the utilisation of fallow and marsh lands,
and in scientific vine-growing, supervising in the
areas occupied by their army some 250,000 acres
of productive soil.
A very essential part of the French military
achievement was the map-making and map-revising
carried out by their Cartographical Survey, and a
88 THE SALONIKA FRONT
considerable amount of geological exploration was
made throughout Macedonia with a view to possible
after- war mining ventures.
All these very useful attempts to test and develop
to the utmost the natural resources of this hitherto
undeveloped country and its long-suffering popula-
tion were referred to by their originators as the
" CEuvre civilisatrice'' of the French Army. France
was thus able to acquire almost exclusive control
of a large proportion of the educational and
financial interests of Macedonia, and the results
of these undertakings are likely to prove far-
reaching when the Balkan States settle down to
after- war consolidation and reconstruction.
When they first occupied the south-eastern
corner of Albania and reached Koritza, they pro-
claimed a free Albanian Republic there, working
out a detailed scheme of government and police
control by the help of a specially created chamber
of 14 deputies (7 Christian and 7 Musulman, under
supervision of a French Staff Officer) and the
formation of a corps of Albanian gendarmerie. By
such measures and by constant military patrols
they were able to keep down brigandage in the
immediate vicinity of Koritza and as far as their
THE FRENCH AND RUSSIAN EFFORT 89
sphere of influence extended. Essad Pasha, how-
ever, whom the Entente still recognised as President
of Albania, meanwhile remained in residence at
Salonika and voluntarily paid for the upkeep of his
bodyguard of 500, who were actively participating
in the French offensive operations.
Unless engaged on special liaison work, the
ordinary duties of British officers and men did not
bring them much in contact with individual
Frenchmen. Their impressions of things Gallic
were therefore generally gleaned from chance
encounters in the lines of communication areas,
whilst journeying to and from Salonika by land
and sea, or when a spell of leave brought them
in touch with Frenchmen similarly situated, bent
on getting as much amusement as possible out of
sight-seeing and changed diet at the base.
These encounters, whether in shops, cafes,
trains, transports, house or club interiors, were
always most agreeable. At the slightest provocation
Englishmen did their best to shed that insularity of
manner of which they have been accused in the past,
and the process was much assisted by the partaking
of some form of refreshment with their new ac-
quaintances. There was almost as much enticing
12
90 THE SALONIKA FRONT
mystery about these speedily made friendships as
in some Arabian Nights adventure. A chance
meeting in a Salonika curio shop or some dis-
agreeably dirty railway carriage might lead to
three days' delightful companionship.
Scarcely one of the daily crowd of British
officers who waited their turn for admission to the
dining-room of the '' Cercle Militaire'' knew what
that evening might bring forth in the way of social
experiences. In the course of the excellent dinner
they were about to enjoy, they might meet and
exchange cards with the most diverse types of
Frenchmen on leave from the various sectors,
officers of their Pay Service, their Motor Transport,
Artillery, Infantry, or Medical Services ; and each,
with remarkable cordiality and good humour,
would have his tale to tell of how things were
going on his particular portion of the front, of
fevers and other sicknesses endured or avoided, of
dead comrades, of home and after- war projects.
Nothing seemed more agreeably surprising at
first, and yet nothing was more natural than these
unreserved outbursts of genuine sympathy and
good feeling. Up the lines of communication,
too, whenever any French road station had to be
passed, a most kindly hospitality was offered. The
THE FRENCH AND RUSSIAN EFFORT 91
officers in charge of such isolated posts were ever
ready for an excuse to open a bottle of champagne.
Even the French Colonial Infantry officer of
the most hide-bound conventional type imaginable
warmed to comradeship over a glass of " Pinard "
however bad in quality.
To travel through Greece and across the
Adriatic with a party of home-coming Frenchmen
was an unforgettable experience for a mere
Englishman. Like Charles Reade's immortal
Burgundian each had an eye and a gay word for
every peasant woman they passed ; despite fever
and inadequate food-supply, throughout the long
train journey along Tempe and past Pharsala and
Larissa, and during the constant jolting that
followed on that half- day's perilous lorry journey
from Bralo to Itea, they kept up a round of gay
raillery and humorous remarks. How kindly, too,
were their doctors to any of our poor compatriots
who fell ill of fever en route. Countless instances
of their true-hearted and self-abnegating charity
must live in the minds of many of our returning
officers and men.
The two Russian brigades which, having jour-
neyed more than half-way round Europe (July 30,
92 THE SALONIKA FRONT
1916), added their contribution to the cause of the
Allies on this front, were from the first day of their
arrival grouped with the French reserves, and
although their fighting effort as regards duration
was to be short-lived, they threw themselves into a
course of three months' training at Zeitenlick with
great vigour. Their help before Fiorina and at the
advance on Monastir was most valuable, but after
the winter lull had just been followed up by the
Allies' general spring offensive demonstration of
1917, they had to be withdrawn from the line
owing to serious breaches of discipline among
them consequent upon the outbreak of the Russian
Revolution. Here again decisive action on the
part of the French saved the situation. Three
alternatives were at once offered the residue of
these two brigades. They could either join in
non-combatant duties on the Salonika Front or in
North Africa, or be sent to fight on the Western
Front. It is significant of their fine sense of
loyalty to the Allies' cause that many of them
chose the latter alternative.
Up till the close of our summer operations in
1917, the dining-room of the " Cercle Militaire"
besides its throng of French and other Allies,
generally contained a table or two of Russian
BRITISH MILITARY CEMETERY AT THE
CROSS ROADS, DRAGOS
THE FRENCH AND RUSSIAN EFFORT 93
officers, who, after their country's overthrow
having no particular occupation, seemed to spend
all their time and money in trying to stifle
repeated bouts of Balkan "ennui" by lavish
entertaining. Any solitary Englishman, should
he chance to find a vacant place at tables where
such were seated, would be first of all regaled,
in almost antique style, with specially prepared
hors-d'oeuvres and strong brandy — vodka being
then unprocurable — after which, in conjunction
with other courses, many bottles of champagne
would have to be drunk and many almost in-
terminable speeches listened to in mingled French
and Russian, the end of the discourse being either
acutely political, desperately melancholic, or excess-
ively Anglophil. There were not lacking among
them several thoughtful, sensitive souls whose
sheer despair at the appalling uncertainty of the
Russian situation moved any sympathiser to
feelings of the deepest regret for the vanished
glory of their once splendid army.
CHAPTER VI
THE ITALIAN EFFORT
Its twofold aspect — Participation with Salonika forces and penetra-
tion of Albania — Arrival of 35tli Division at Salonika (August
1916) — Occupation and subsequent relinquishment of the Krusha
Balkan sector — The " Sicilia" Brigade sent to Verria — ITie
" Cagliari" Brigade joins in the attack to left of Monastir —
Occupation of the western half of the Tcherna Bend — Hospitals,
schools, police — Subsequent operations. Albania and its people —
Historical vicissitudes — Italians land at Valona (December 1915)
— Stages in the penetration — Consolidating their positions —
Engineering feats — Roads, bridges, telegraph, telephone — Carto-
graphy— '^ Comando di tappa " — Albanian militia — Medical Service
— Education and pro-Italian propaganda — Agriculture — Mining
projects — Orderly state of the occupied portion in September 1918
— Urban councils — Palaces and statues — Hospitality at Kanina —
— General Ferrero and his staff.
The contribution made by our Italian allies to
Balkan operations had a twofold aspect. Not
only did a strong expeditionary division take part
with us in our general advance from Salonika, but
the Italians also sent a formidable force to carry
out an almost wholly peaceful penetration and
occupation of a small part of Albania.
94
THE ITALIAN EFFORT 95
The 35th Division, commanded by Major-
General Petitti di Roreto, when it landed at
Salonika (August 11, 1916), was considerably larger
than an ordinary Italian division. It was com-
posed of two infantry brigades (the "Ca^/mn" and
the " Sicilia " ), a regiment of mountain artillery,
two squadrons of cavalry, a trench-mortar group,
and several auxiliary service units. Later on
in the autumn it was augmented by a third
infantry brigade (the ^'Ivrea'), These troops first
took over the defence of a portion of our front
in the Krusha Balkan. They were in action and
suffered slight losses in the vicinity of Gornoi
Poroi in September, where one of their detach-
ments was surrounded and taken prisoner by the
Bulgars. Having handed over the sector to
British troops, all, with the exception of the '^ Sicilia'
Brigade, were transferred via Salonika to a sector
on the immediate left of the French and Serbian
troops who were attacking Monastir. The ''Sicilia'
Brigade, in conjunction with other French and
British troops, temporarily occupied Verria, but
was soon sent up to reinforce the other two
brigades.
While the Serbs were capturing Kaimactchalan
and the mountains farther north, the " Cagliari "
96 THE SALONIKA FRONT
Brigade, to left of the French, though they met
with considerable resistance and were much im-
peded by the late autumn snows, pushed forward
along the Peristeri ridges. This movement on the
left corresponded with the Serbian outflanking
movement on the right, and contributed towards
making the enemy's line through Kenali untenable.
It thus assisted the capture of Monastir. General
Petitti and several other officers were wounded by
a hostile shell which fell in Monastir soon after the
joint occupation of the town had taken place.
In December 1916 the Italian force took over
the defence of a fresh sector, that of the western
half of the Tcherna Bend. This desolate region,
which had been conquered by the Serbs, consisted
mainly of a flat marshy plain rising rapidly towards
the rocky heights known as Hill 1050, which the
Germans and Bulgars had recaptured. The Italian
front lines were about eight miles in length. By
keeping one brigade in reserve and two in the
front trenches, which were strengthened as much as
possible, they succeeded in maintaining their stand
against a much larger enemy force in possession
of all the stronger and more dominating positions.
In May 1917 General Pennella took over from
General Petitti, but was succeeded after three
THE ITALIAN EFFORT 97
weeks by General Mombelli, who had previously-
held the position of Italian Military Attach^ at
Athens. When the Allies' spring offensive of
1917 began, the Italians stormed Hill 1050 on two
successive days, but, owing to the enemy's formid-
able barrage, which was undoubtedly as severe
here as that the British had to face when they
attacked the " Pip " Ridge, they had to return to
their original line.
From then onwards, as on other sectors of
the front, nothing but raids and small offensive
demonstrations took place until the final offensive
of 1918. Meanwhile the Italian troops were kept
busy making their own defensive works still
stronger, and in the captured villages and lines of
communication area constructing many useful
buildings which served as hospitals and store-
houses. At Brod, by help of the Serbian Relief
Fund and the American Red Cross, village schools
were started ; excellently appointed hospitals were
also created at Salonika, Fiorina, Banica, Ekhisu,
etc. Italian troops assisted in military police
duties at Salonika, and Italian engineers on the
strength of the 35th Division were responsible for
a portion of the road constructed from Fiorina to
Santi Quaranta, the opening up of which by the
13
98 THE SALONIKA FRONT
summer of 1917 afforded an alternative route back
to Italy.
When (September 15, 1918) the Franco-Serb
attack began, the Italians had orders to delay
offensive operations. They were thus saved un-
necessary losses, such as they had suffered in the
past and would probably again have incurred from
a premature attack on Hill 1050. The rapid ad-
vance of the Serbs to the north-east, outflanking
as it did Hill 1050, brought about a partial retire-
ment of the enemy. The Italians then advanced
(September 22), and, overcoming a very feeble
defence, took possession of this strong position.
They then endeavoured to catch up with the
French and Serbs, who by that time had pushed far
ahead. Ordered by the French Higher Command
to leave Prilep on their left, by occupying the
Monastir-Kicevo road, they prevented a Bulgarian
retreat via Kicevo-Kalkandelen. Thereafter they
overcame enemy resistance on the Baba Planina,
and in conjunction with French troops rounded up,
on the heights of Sop, eight Bulgarian regiments
and much Bulgarian and German artillery. At
dawn next day (September 30) operations were
suspended ; news having been received of the
signing of the military convention. For two days
HOUSE INTERIOR AT GORGOP
This house was long occupied as a mess by the
N.C.O. pilots and observers of the French aeroplane
squadrons stationed at Gorgop. Being without the
usual plaster completion, it shows the normal type
of house structure in Macedonia.
THE ITALIAN EFFORT 99
afterwards, however, the Bulgarian troops thus
cut off, having been abandoned by their German
colleagues and having no telegraph or telephone
communication with the rest of the Bulgarian
forces, refused to surrender. The first news they
had of the terms of the Bulgarian Convention was
conveyed to them by aeroplane from Sophia on
October 2. They thereupon laid down their
arms, 9000 surrendering to the Italian and about
11,000 to the adjoining French divisions. After
the collapse of Bulgaria, the 35th Division remained
for a few days at Krushevo, then moved to Prilep.
It was later on despatched farther north to take
part in operations against the German and Austrian
troops still remaining in the Balkans.
Interesting politically, and highly beneficial even
in a military sense to the Allies' Balkan effort, was
the almost wholly peaceful penetration of a part of
Albania by an Italian force of 30,000, which landed
at Valona in November and December 1915. That
country had naturally afforded Greece a direct
though somewhat precarious communicating link
with the Central Powers. The avowed object of
the penetration was, in the first place, to put a
stop to such possibilities, and it was mainly by
100 THE SALONIKA FRONT
fulfilling that object that it rendered great assist-
ance to the Allies' cause.
Albania was then a country of no very precise
geographical, ethnological, or political limits. It
consists mainly of mountainous highlands which
are drained through deep gorges by rivers that
are far too choked by detritus to be navigable.
Seawards this detritus has contributed towards
the formation along the crumbling coast-line of
a cultivable low-lying shore-belt which varies be-
tween ten and eighteen miles in depth. The
inhabitants of this region, as also those of the
interior valleys and mountains, had, up to the time
of the Great War, made no attempt at organised
agriculture or industry. The whole country was
in a very backward and unprogressive condition,
despite repeated efforts on the part of the Powers
to give it a stable form of government. The
roads, moreover, were in a more deplorable and
primitive state than anywhere else in Europe.
Descendants of the ancient Pelasgian settlers,
who preceded the first wave of Greeks in the
Balkans, the Albanians had defended their moun-
tain fastnesses against invasion from time im-
memorial, but had hitherto been far too turbulent
to submit to a really settled form of government.
THE ITALIAN EFFORT 101
Dialectically they consist of two distinct stocks :
Gheghs, who live north of the River Skumbi
and are almost wholly of Catholic persuasion, and
Tosks, who live south of that river and are either
Musulman or Greek orthodox. These are in turn
subdivided into many clans. Among them dwell
Serb, Bulgarian, Vlach, and Turkish settlers, the
residue of successive invasions or forerunners of
commercial exploitation.
Under Turkish rule Albania included the three
vilayets of Scutari, Monastir, and Janina. During
the First Balkan War (1912) the Greeks seized
Janina, Agirocastro, and Koritza and menaced
Valona. Despite the decision of the London
Conference, Greek troops continued to occupy
the sandchaks of Agirocastro and Koritza, but
when (March 7, 1914) Prince William of Wied,
nominated by the Powers King of Albania,
disembarked at Valona, the majority of these
Greek troops were withdrawn. A provisional,
independent, and autonomous " Northern Epirus "
government, with headquarters at Agirocastro,
was, however, established under Greek patronage.
Though Prince William's Albanian gendarmes
seized Koritza, his unwise conduct set the greater
part of the Albanians against him, and, when the
102 THE SALONIKA FRONT
Great War began, he was forced to escape by sea,
Essad Pasha s provisional Albanian Republic being
set up at Durazzo in place of the Prince's purely
nominal authority. In friendly relationship with
the former, and, as the Serbian retreat had started,
with the avowed objects of defeating Austro-
Hungarian encroachments in Albania and stopping
contraband between Greece and the Central
Powers, Italy established a naval base on the
Island of Saseno, in Valona Harbour ; and soon
after, Italian troops, landing at Valona, seized the
surrounding hills. The occupation (November
1915) had extended north and east as far as the
Voyussa, and south as far as Dukati and Logara.
Contemporaneously an Italian contingent pushed
northwards along the coast-line to Durazzo, with
the avowed object of linking up with Essad Pasha
and the retreating Serbs. Afterwards Durazzo
was abandoned and the Italians retired behind the
Voyussa, Essad Pasha sailing for Salonika.
During the summer of 1916, continuing their
peaceful conciliatory measures among the Alban-
ians, they occupied successively, without firing a
shot, Tepelen, Chimara, Santi Quaranta, Agiro-
castro, Premeti, and Lescovici. By February
1917 they were in touch with the French at Ersek.
THE ITALIAN EFFORT 103
Lieut. - General Ferrero proclaimed (June 8) at
Agirocastro the unity and independence of the
whole of Albania under Italian protection, and the
Italians also participated with the French and
British in the occupation of Thessaly, by sending
troops southwards to Janina and Pindus. These
were withdrawn after King Constantine's abdication.
Meanwhile they consolidated and strengthened
their defensive line northwards against the
Austrians, who, however, did not show much
disposition to attack. This line, in 1918, ran
along the Mala Kastra ridge to Glava, and thence,
north of Sirak, kept fairly well in touch with the
French, who were advancing on the Italians' right
in the direction of Porocani and Elbasan. The
advance was not pushed to any extent on the side
of the Italians until after the Bulgarian Convention
of 1918 had been signed. Then, in conjunction
with naval forces, and with the general Allied
advance elsewhere, Durazzo was captured and the
retreating Austrians were pursued northwards.
Throughout the war the Italian force based
on Valona chose the more prudent part of holding
on to the strong defensive positions it had been
able to consolidate. At any rate it created a
formidable barrier between Greece and that part
104 THE SALONIKA FRONT
of Albania occupied by Austrian and German
troops, while it did its utmost to improve the
communications and resources of the regions
occupied. A total lack of material and of
experience on the part of the native population
as regards manual labour, frequent storms of a
violent nature, and a three months' continual frost
prevented them from making headway in engineer-
ing construction during the winter of 1915-1916.
Towards the end of March 1916 the work began
in earnest. First of all, Valona Harbour and its
shore approaches had to be put in order. Landing-
stages and a hydroplane station were constructed.
A five-mile-long aqueduct was made in order to
supply Valona with drinking water. Metalled
roads leading off in convenient directions over
specially built stone causeways and bridges by
degrees provided the country with reliable com-
munication arteries.
The three main directions of these roads were :
northwards towards the line they decided to hold ;
eastwards to Tepelen on the Voyussa ; and, lastly,
the wonderful zigzagged hill-climbing shore road to
Santi Quaranta, the completion of which triumph
of engineering was not possible until the spring
of 1918. Each of these roads had to be carried
ABTER THE FIRE
THE ITALIAN EFFORT 105
through deep river gorges and along precipitous
mountain sides. They were interlaced with numer-
ous subsidiary tracks which enabled an effective
supply service to feed the different detached units.
Telegraph and telephone systems were established
and a fairly complete cartographical survey made.
South of Valona, at Pie di Monte, two aerodromes
were prepared, one of which was used, in 1918, by
a British squadron of Camel Scouts, the other
being reserved for Italian Capronis.
The interior administration of the occupied
country was based on a system of road stations
which were situated at convenient points along
the main arteries of communication. Each of
these, known as a " Comando di tappa,'' provided
a halting-place for the traffic that passed through,
and, at the same time, was used as a means of
maintaining order, a sufficient number of officers
and men being stationed at each point. After
a day's jolt along a tortuous and precipitous
mountain roadway it was pleasant to be welcomed,
as all travellers (and particularly Englishmen)
were, by the officer in command of one of these
road stations. Though accommodation was often
extremely primitive, one felt that the very best
14
106 THE SALONIKA FRONT
was done to make Italian army rations palatable
and to alleviate the discomfort of a night passed
in a half-ruined, unsanitary Albanian inn. Such
a wanderer on entering the station mess was always
ceremoniously offered the place of honour next to
the senior Italian officer present, and, comforted
by good cheer, retired to a pallet of fresh straw,
where, if the howling of Albanian wolf-dogs
permitted, he might sleep uninterruptedly, and
without fear of the brigands who were said to
still infest the neighbouring mountain heights.
Next morning after a kindly farewell from his
host, the station commandant, he would resume
his journey by ^^ autobus'' in company with such
fellow-travellers as happened to be going the same
way. All of these, amidst the excitement of
precipice dodging, would have interesting tales
to tell, and most of them would, like him, be
fascinated by the many batches of not over- clean
though picturesque Albanian men and women they
met on the road. The older women particularly
attracted attention, for many of them carried dis-
taffs of antique pattern, which they manipulated
deftly as they walked, resembling in this and in
their garb some old vase painting of the Parcae.
Policing of the vast area occupied was greatly
THE ITALIAN EFFORT 107
facilitated by the formation of an Albanian Militia
with headquarters at Agirocastro. Organised on
lines similar to the French Albanian Militia at
Koritza, this force had as its emblem the double-
headed eagle of Scanderbeg, one of the most
popular Albanian national heroes.
Much had to be done in the way of improving
the sanitary condition of the country, and much
still naturally remains to be done. The very
efficient Italian Medical Service had its hands full.
Cholera, typhus, dysentery, malaria had to be
combated as vigorously as malaria and dysentery
in other parts of the Balkans. The civilian popu-
lation had also to be looked after and hospital
treatment provided for them.
Schools were started in all the main population
centres of the occupied area, and the children
were everywhere taught to speak Italian. They
undoubtedly provided one of the chief weapons
of the general pro-Italian propaganda campaign,
which aimed at impressing the Albanians with a
sense of the beneficent effects of Italian protection.
Another means of fostering these ideas was the
introduction of as many modern improvements as
possible into the agricultural activities of the
country, which hitherto had naturally been very
108 THE SALONIKA FRONT
feeble. Some exploration of mineral resources
with a view to after- war mining projects were
made by individual Italians.
In September 1918 a chance visitor to this
portion of Albania found the country in a very
orderly condition under Italian rule. The main
roads were better kept up than any in the whole
of the occupied Balkan territory. With the ex-
ception of certain well-nigh inaccessible mountain
heights all the main strongholds of brigandage had
been annihilated. In every population centre well-
ordered urban councils took the place of the former
confusion caused by family feuds. In Valona and
at Kanina, General Ferrero's seat of government
during the summer months, offices that were
veritable palaces had been built, and artistic bas-
reliefs had been set up above public fountains.
To reach Kanina from Valona Harbour it was
necessary to climb several hundred feet above sea-
level, but although the height was very noticeable,
the ascent was quite easy in a car, owing to the
remarkably well-built roadway. Once arrived on
a level with the Commander-in-Chiefs headquarters
a magnificent view of the whole harbour was
obtained.
THE ITALIAN EFFORT 109
General Ferrero, Governor and Commander-in-
Chief, kept open table for all chance comers. Were
it not for the busy air of the officers around him,
such a visitor might almost believe himself at
the court of some pre-war potentate, so splendidly
served and admirably cooked was the meal. But
if after partaking of it he followed Colonel La
Racine, the Chief of Staff, to his private office, the
constant telephone calls and mass of maps and
documents visible there convinced him of the
strenuous life that was in reality being led.
Should permission be asked to visit the front, a
journey northwards by car for three hours carried
the observer along roads that showed evidence of
great military preparedness, until, perhaps, the
positions on the Mala Kastra ridge, overlooking
Firei, were reached and a glimpse of some Austrians,
three miles away on the plains beyond, might be
obtained. A shoot conducted against these by a
neighbouring battery, and the excellent general
condition of the defences, showed at least that,
besides her great care for the civilised future of
Albania, Italy was, here as elsewhere, fully mindful
of her role as a belligerent, and but awaited, like
her Allies, the ripe occasion for making an offensive
effort of her own.
CHAPTER VII
THE SERBIAN EFFORT
Serbia's firm stand saves the whole Balkan Peninsula — Austrian
advance stemmed by Serbian victory of Jador Valley and Tcer
Ridge (August 1914) — Serbian oflFensive move met by over-
whelming Austrian counter-oiFensive (October 1914) — Yielding
and recapture of Belgrade — Second severe Austrian defeat
(November 1914) — A long vigil — The Bulgarian menace — Macken-
sen and his guns — Greece refuses help — Delay of the Allies — Its
natural consequences — A people's agony — King Peter and his men
— The retreat across Albania (November-December 1915) — State
in which the remnant reached Scutari, Durazzo, and Valona —
Corfu and after — The reorganised army lands at Mikra — the Bulgars
stayed and thrust back ; Kaimactchalan and the Tcherna — Mental
strain of two years' vigil — Admiral Troubridge — The Prince Regent
and his Generals — Unquenchable spirit and irresistible bravery
achieves victory at last (September 1918) — Monastir and Prilep —
the Yugo-Slav panacea.
Although the " Salonika Front " was, in the
active military sense, non-existent at the time, no
account however cursory of the individual Balkan
efforts of our Allies can afford to ignore the supreme
heroism of the Serbian Army and people through-
out the first fourteen months of the Great War.
no
THE SERBIAN EFFORT 111
So engrossed were France, Russia, and England
during that period with their very strenuous war
activities on other and perhaps momentarily more
important fronts, that they felt compelled to leave
little Serbia to wrestle alone with Austria's vast
armament and resources, though the daily menace
of Bulgaria's Army, 350,000 strong, must have
convinced the Serbian General Staff of the utter
hopelessness of the situation. Face to face, north-
wards, with one active, superior-forced enemy and,
eastwards, with a second obvious though still
nominally neutral enemy, the Serbian Army,
hardly more than 280,000 strong, stood firm.
Sacrificing itself to the cause of patriotic recti-
tude, it thus saved the whole Balkan Peninsula
from becoming a chief outlet for Pan- German
expansion.
The Austrians, during their first 1914 advance on
this front, had at their disposal some 183 fighting
and landsturm battalions, 78 squadrons of cavalry,
144 batteries of field-guns and mountain howitzers.
The Serbian Army's total effectives barely included
180 infantry battalions, 41 squadrons of cavalry,
and 108 batteries, most of them of inferior calibre.
This force, divided into three armies, was con-
centrated (August 10) in the region between
112 THE SALONIKA FRONT
Palanka-Arandjelovac-Lazarevac and Valjevo. It
proceeded to take up positions as follows :
(1) First Army : defending Palanka.
(2) Second Army : defending Arandjelovae.
(3) Third Army : defending Valjevo.
Nowhere was the ground chosen favourable to
defensive operations. It was bounded to north
and west respectively by the rivers Save and
Drina. Numerous torrent-bed ravines intersected
it, frequent hill spurs offered artillery vantage posts
for the attacking Austrians, and the total absence
of reliable roads not overlooked by the enemy made
it impossible for the Serbs, in the event of their
being forced to retire, to carry out the manoeuvre
with ease or despatch. No such general retirement,
however, proved necessary ; for the Austrians,
although they crossed the Danube, the Save, and
the Drina (August 12) and, in the vicinity of the
two last, developed a superior -forced attack, a
skilful surprise counter-attack, on the left flank of
their columns advancing down the Jador Valley
(achieved by means of forced marches), enabled the
Serbs to turn the scales of fortune in their own
favour and, by their fine fighting qualities, to drive
the invader back over the borders, leaving behind a
great quantity of guns, stores, provisions, and dead.
THE TOWN OF SERES AND BULGAl
MIK
The French developed the resources of this shelter behind the natu
to right are the clustered white encampments of many French, Si
Grand Karabou is th
N POSITIONS ALONG THE STRUMA.
BAY.
lole of Grand Karabou, landing supplies and men there. From left
n and British contingents. Immediately beneath the extremity of
itish Serbian Hospital.
THE SERBIAN EFFORT 118
Throughout September and October local en-
gagements, mainly of a trench warfare character,
took place along the whole Drina, Save, and
Danube fronts. Although they were extremely
sanguinary they did not modify the general situa-
tion. At the end of October the Central Powers,
having again collected far superior forces, under-
took a second general offensive against Serbia with
the object of assuring Rumanian neutrality and of
inducing Bulgaria to join in the conflict on their
side. This time they had at their disposal 265
infantry battalions, with abundant equipment and
munitions, besides far superior strength as regards
heavy and mountain artillery. The Serbs had no
more than 100 batteries of relatively smaller calibre
and only 200 battalions of infantry, not at full
strength. They were moreover deplorably deficient
in equipment and munitions, and having for over
two months been engaged in continual trench war-
fare amid very trying climatic conditions they were
already fatigued.
The Austrians attacked first of all the main
concentration of the Serbian Army, at the moment
facing the sector of their front north of Chabatz,
grouping their forces north of the main south-
is
114 THE SALONIKA FRONT
eastern spur of the Bosnian mountains and making
use of the Save and three adjacent railway lines as
their artery of transport. The Serbs had only a
single railway line of narrow gauge, completed as
far as Valjevo ; whence they had to convey their
supplies northwards over roads that had already
become quagmires, and which had scarcely ever
been worthy of their name. The enemy (October
15) began an intense bombardment of all the
fronts. This was followed by an advance towards
Valjevo to positions in front of which the Serbs
had deemed prudent to withdraw.
The strategic object of the Serbian General
Staff appears to have been : to entice the enemy as
far as possible away from the excellent base and
communication lines they had prepared and to
entrap them a second time in the treacherous hill,
wood, and marsh country south of the Tcer Ridge.
Chabatz was therefore abandoned, and all bridges
and communications were destroyed as they retired
(October 26-30). This retreat had a very un-
favourable effect on the spirit of the Serbian
soldiers. Their feelings of despair were augmented
by the knowledge of their almost total lack of
munitions.
Meanwhile the Austrian heavy guns, several of
THE SERBIAN EFFORT 115
them of the largest calibre, carried on a constant
bombardment. The Serbs lost heavily from this
alone and they had no reserves. When new
recruits arrived from the base it only caused
additional confusion, and as all the new rifles
that could be issued were of old-fashioned Russian
pattern the soldiers lost confidence even in their
own weapons. Incidents of the retreat of a heart-
rending nature (such as the discovery of members
of their own family destitute by the roadside)
caused many of the Serbian soldiers to abandon
their units in order to endeavour to alleviate the
sufferings of their own flesh and blood. The
General Staff felt that the only remedy for this
diminishing morale was a renewal of offensive
operations, but dared not attempt this owing to
the shortage of munitions. The stores at Valjevo
were evacuated, while the retreat continued
down the right bank of the Kolubara (November
1-3). On account of the difficult country the
Austrians did not advance very speedily, and a
temporary defence line was constructed south of
the Kolubara, while on the Drina front Serbian
forces based on Oujitse remained firm. The
enemy, however, eventually took Valjevo, the
communication centre of the whole of North-
116 THE SALONIKA FRONT
West Serbia (November 4). In the course of
the next few days a renewed attack was met
effectively by a Serbian counter-attack and the
enemy suffered considerably, the Serbs meanwhile
having received a fresh supply of munitions from
the Allies. It had been deemed advisable (Nov-
ember 16) to evacuate Belgrade and to withdraw
the whole right-hand portion of the Serbian line
from the Danube to positions south of Valjevo
and Palanka.
Despite their apparent successes the enemy were
wearing themselves out, and although tliey tended
to become over -confident were not physically
capable of much more sustained effort. Discipline
among them had become very lax and rations
were growing more and more scanty. The Serbs
therefore (November 20) began a fresh counter-
attack along the left bank of the River Morava,
from Tchatchak towards Oujitse, their confidence
being heightened by a knowledge of the enemy's
enfeebled condition ; they also attacked the same
day, though less violently, along the remainder of
the front.
On November 22 and 23 the offensive developed
with that surprising vigour and activity of which
the Serbs alone in our Balkan operations have
THE SERBIAN EFFORT 117
shown themselves supremely capable. In the centre
and on the left wing they broke the enemy's
line, and in the neighbourhood of Oujitse, though
they met with a more stubborn resistance, inflicted
heavy loss on the enemy.
From the direction of Belgrade a far superior
enemy force began to attack. As Oujitse was
recaptured and the Kolubara lines regained (Nov-
ember 26) this Belgrade offensive was abandoned
and a general Austrian retreat followed.
Thus, a second time, little Serbia inflicted a
defeat on her far more powerful enemy, and
thirteen days after they had abandoned Belgrade
the Serbs re-entered their capital (November 30) ;
the enemy being by then in precipitous flight
across the Save and the Danube. They had lost
50,000 prisoners, 200 guns, and immense quantities
of war material.
The Serbian lines having been again made
conterminous with the normal peace-time frontier,
a long vigil followed. Decimated by typhus and
typhoid, besides the usual ravages of dysentery and
malaria, they still (March-September) contrived to
ward off Austrian minor offensive demonstrations.
There was, in addition, the ever-present menace of
118 THE SALONIKA FRONT
the fully prepared though still nominally neutral
Bulgarian Army, the existence of which further
complicated the problem of defence the Serbs
had to face. Never in good spirits except when
engaged in an offensive of their own, the Serbs
still talked of taking the initiative and hoped
on from month to month for the arrival of
substantial reinforcements from the Allies.
Meanwhile Germano- Austrian troops were con-
centrating (September 1915) at various points along
the frontier, and they began to realise that the only
immediate Allied help they were likely to receive
was that given by the heroic little band of French
and British men and women medical volunteers
who were already doing their utmost to combat
the sickness still rife throughout the Serbian
Army. They therefore, as soon as the Bulgars
had completely mobilised (September 10), called
upon the Allies to sanction their making an
immediate attack across the Bulgarian frontier,
but although both Serbia and Rumania had
furnished official proof of Bulgaria's convention
with Austria-Hungary (whereby even the date
was fixed for Bulgaria's declaration of war) this
sanction was withheld. They thus had no alter-
native but to organise as strong a defence as
THE SERBIAN EFFORT 119
possible along the whole of the Austrian and
Bulgarian frontiers. In anticipation of an
Austrian attack down the Morava Valley the
Serbian Armies, from west to east, were grouped
as follows :
(1) First Army (commanded by Voivode Misitch)
along a line : Vichigrad-Drina embouchure-Ostrus-
nitza.
(2) Belgrade Defence Army from Ostrusnitza
along the Danube to east of Grotzka.
(3) Third Army from Grotzka to Golubats.
(4) Kraina Detachment, Golubats to Timok
embouchure.
(5) Timok Detachment, Timok to north-east
of Nich.
(6) Second Army, east of Nich to east of Vrania.
(7) Uskub Defence Force from Vrania through
Egri Palanka to Ishtib.
Mackensen's operations began (September 23)
with several hours' intense artillery preparation
followed by a general attack of Germans and
Austrians across the Save, Danube, and Drina.
On this front alone the enemy outnumbered the
Serbs by one -half and, although not all were
troops of the finest quality, they were everywhere
supported by overwhelmingly superior artillery.
120 THE SALONIKA FRONT
It is surprising that the Serbs held out as long
as they did. Not till ten days continual bombard-
ment and repeated attacks over the Morava,
Kolubara, and Belgrade sectors were they forced
to yield ground appreciably. In face of the deadly
bombardment, as intense as any on the Western
Front, it is doubtful whether their total military
resources could have coped with the situation,
even were the Bulgarian menace non-existent.
By the time Bulgaria threw aside all pretence at
neutrality, and without declaring war attacked
across their frontier line (September 29), the
^'bejania,'' the great retreat, though not yet in
full career, had become inevitable.
To trace the stages of this retreat would
involve the enumeration of a long series of names
unfamiliar to the majority of English readers.
Suffice it to say that when Bulgaria actually
declared war (October 12) the abandonment of
Nich and Kragoyevats had become inevitable.
Tchatchak, and afterwards Kraljevo, then became
the main headquarters of the Serbian Army, while
the seat of government was transferred partly to
Monastir and partly to Prishtina. Both Oujitse
and Tchatchak were abandoned in the last days of
October, and as early as the end of the second
BRITISH-SERBIAN HOSPITAL AND
SERBIAN CAMP, MIKRA (OCTOBER 2, 1916)
Re-equipped by the British and French, the Serbian
contingents, on arrival, were usually sent into camp
at that general dumping-ground for new-comers
which lay along the eastern shore of Salonika
Bay, between Kalemaria and Mikra. The vacant
premises of the Greek Agricultural College, beneath
the hill on the right, were taken over by us and
converted into a hospital for Serbian sick and
wounded.
THE SERBIAN EFFORT 121
week, on the very day when General Sarrail began
to move troops up the Vardar towards Krivolak,
rail and telegraph communication with Salonika
had been severed by the natural course of the
Bulgarian advance. Thus, as Greece, or rather a
Greek government that was at the time a mere
tool of King Constantine, had flatly refused to
carry out the terms of the treaty with Serbia, and
the Allies had sent their help too late, Serbia was
isolated and hopelessly outnumbered.
Nothing in the whole history of the war, not
even the overwhelming of Belgium, is comparable
with the mental and physical sufferings of the
Serbs during their march across Albania. Rations
were of the scantiest, boots and equipment
completely worn out, spirits exhausted. Every-
where along the line of retirement old men,
women, and children, all destitute and all mad-
dened by fear of the invader, clinging to a few rain-
sodden and mud -soiled belongings, were jumbled
together with cattle and wounded in the most
unsanitary conditions imaginable ; while the pro-
tecting residue of the Serbian Army continued to
swell their ranks by sending down ever-increasing
contingents of unguarded prisoners and sick.
Barefooted and covered with mud, through
16
122 THE SALONIKA FRONT
long weeks of rain and intense cold, the stream of
mingled refugees and soldiers continued its flight.
The heroism of King Peter, himself grievously
sick, and the personal devotion it inspired in all
ranks did not succeed in overcoming the natural
tendency towards desertion of soldiers who before
the war had been simple peasants in localities passed
through by the retreating army.
Though many died by the way, the majority
at any rate remained steadfast and plodded on
through snow and bitter cold across the Albanian
highlands. A straggling remnant of little more
than 130,000 men, 40,000 horses, and 10,000 oxen,
with 310 machine and 81 field guns, finally reached
the Adriatic shore in three main batches, all the
men being utterly worn out and most of them clad
in the scantiest residue of clothing. The largest
batch made straight for Durazzo ; the two smaller
first touched the coast, the one at Scutari, the
other at Valona.
Meanwhile the Bulgars were advancing towards
Elbasan and Montenegro was being hard pressed
by Mackensen's victorious armies (December 1915).
Essad Pasha had only 5000 Albanian gendarmes,
and the exhausted Serbs could not be expected to
THE SERBIAN EFFORT 123
make a stand without time to re-equip and re-
organise their depleted units. Concentrating,
therefore, at Durazzo, they and the refugees were
embarked, both there and at Valona, as speedily
as possible on such transport as could be provided
by the Allies. Thanks to the efficiency of the
precautions taken by Allied naval authorities not
one of the vessels was attacked by submarines.
Towards the end of March 1916 the whole
remainder of the Serbian Army and material had
been safely landed at Corfu, and were well on with
the work of re-equipment and reorganisation under
joint control of the different Military Missions
sent out by the Allies. By April 1 the first
contingents were ready for shipment to Salonika,
whither King Peter and the Prince Regent had
already gone. With very praiseworthy despatch
they were conveyed by French vessels to a
specially prepared landing-place at Mikra, 6 miles
south of Salonika, where all came ashore in safety
during May. The summer was spent in further
training at Mikra and in taking over the sector
west of the Vardar that had been allotted them.
Hardly had they done this when the Bulgars
began their attack (August 18). Forced to retreat
on Ostrovo, the new Serbian Army soon proved
124 THE SALONIKA FRONT
itself to be not inferior to the old army in defensive
warfare and, by the superb dash and courage it
displayed throughout subsequent operations, won
for itself lasting glory. In the whole history of
the war on all its fronts it would be hard to find
a storming achievement to match the taking of
Kaimactchalan and the subsequent rapid advance
over the Tcherna area. It was only the Serbs'
combined dash and staying power that enabled the
Allies' counter-offensive to succeed in winning as
far as Monastir.
Throughout the two years' hiatus in progress
that followed the Allies' entry into Monastir, no
soldiers of the armies based on Salonika could
have felt a tithe of the mental anguish each Serb
must have daily endured. Their country, on the
map, had ceased to exist, their wives and children
were at the mercy of the Austrian or Bulgarian
invader. They had for long ceased to receive any
news of them. They, who were now called upon
to play what then seemed a very inglorious, minor
part in the direction of operations, had sacrificed
all they possessed in the cause of liberty and found
thepiselves compelled to wait the good pleasure of
the greater Powers. It was but natural that,
occasionally, blank despair seized on many of them
THE SERBIAN EFFORT 125
in this, perhaps, the darkest of all their periods of
trial.
During that time, as also from the outset of
the defence of Belgrade, to which he and the
international naval brigade he then commanded
gave no small assistance. Admiral Sir E. C. T.
Troubridge, British naval officer and diplomatist,
did more to smooth over difficulties of mutual com-
prehension between the Serbs and the Allies than
did any other man. When after the '^bejania"
the naval brigade ceased to exist, he stayed on
as British liaison officer attached to the Prince
Regent's headquarters. He was thus enabled to
obtain first-hand knowledge of any grievances or
misunderstandings that arose, and frequently to set
matters right before they took too grave a turn.
Till the end of the war he carried on these most
delicate and indispensable functions, being quar-
tered, when up country, at Monastir and later on
at Vrbeni, and having also his house at Salonika,
where he lived when the Prince Regent was at
the Base. The Serbs regarded him as their best
friend among the Allies, and his genial and pic-
turesque personality was perhaps the most familiar
among those of all British officers on the Salonika
Front. After King Peter and the Prince Regent
126 THE SALONIKA FRONT
the stalwart and stately forms of Voivode Misitch
and General Vassitch, who commanded at Ostrovo
and Kaimactehalan, were constantly in evidence at
Salonika and travelling to and fro to the battle-fronts.
With such chiefs spared them the Serbs could not
fail to be " a people still," and thanks to their efforts
the men's spirits were kept throughout at concert
pitch, ready for the final, glorious part they were to
play.
All who are familiar with the course of events
on this front must admit that it was to the irresist-
ible dash and courage of the Serbs we owed the
complete and rapid final victory achieved last
autumn. Their marvellous mobility, and the un-
quenchable spirit of patriotism that inspired them,
combined with that unique power they seemed to
possess of existing for whole fortnights without
regular rations of any kind, enabled the sword-
thrust provided by their first onset to be driven
to the heart of their own invaded country,
and thus to cut irretrievably the Bulgarian
communications.
On the morning after their advance had got
fully under way the inhabitants of Monastir, for
the first time during nearly two years, had the
THE SERBIAN EFFORT 127
almost unhoped-for joy of coming out of their
cellars by day without fear of shell-fire.
Those who followed close in the wake of the
Serbs' great advance, for example from Monastir
to Prilep, found first of all about a couple of miles
of shell-pitted roadway, and then, as that improved,
saw evidence on all sides of the Bulgars' retreat.
Valuable stores, with equipment and munitions of
all descriptions, lay scattered about in the utmost
confusion and disorder. Here and there hurried
attempts seemed to have been made by the enemy
to set fire to a building or a haystack, though
frequently with only partial success. All proved
that the retreat had been precipitate in the ex-
treme, and it was not surprising that it developed
later on into a complete rout.
Whatever be the final result of that Yugo-Slav
panacea which, as its enthusiasts predict, is to
provide the cure for all political ills in the Balkans,
the Serbs have at any rate won a right to an
honourable place among Balkan peoples, if only
by their sheer bravery and unfaltering devotion to
the Allies' cause.
CHAPTER VIII
THE GREEK EFFORT
Political difficulties in 1914 — King Constantine's autocratic policy —
His predilection, our Dardanelles failure and our offers to Bulgaria
momentarily turn Greek partiality towards the Central Powers —
The Bulgarian advance causes a rapid change in Greek public
opinion — Salonika Revolution — Army of National Defence occupies
the Guevgueli sector (April 1917) — King Constantine abdicates —
United Greece's new army — Equipment, training, and transport
difficulties — The full army takes the field (April 1918) — Greek
participation in the general offensive against Bulgaria and in
subsequent operations — The Muleteer Corps, Macedonian road
makers — A Greek regiment on the march — Hardships endured —
Sick and wounded — M. Venizelos and his adherents — Debt of
gratitude owed them by the Allies — Hellenistic aspirations — The
Greek point of view.
The problem of partisanship which all Balkan
peoples found themselves obliged to face at the
beginning of the Great War was, in the case of
Greece, a decidedly difficult one to resolve. Serbia
was her ally ; Bulgaria did not hide her intention
of finding a favourable moment to occupy certain
parts of Macedonia. Turkey, moreover, laid claim
to all the islands captured in 1912 by the Greek
128
RUPEL PASS
THE GREEK EFFORT 129
Army and Fleet. Also, while the aims and
resources of the Entente were not clearly under-
stood, the military efficiency of the Central Powers
was at least thoroughly appreciated and not a little
feared.
To Greek statesmen therefore the only safe
attitude at the outset seemed to be that of a
watchful and very perilous neutrality. As soon
as both Bulgaria and Turkey showed their hands
they would probably have to take sides with one
or other of the belligerents, but, until Bulgaria
attacked Serbia, Greece was not bound to enter
the conflict at all.
When Turkey did at length make her choice,
M. Venizelos, foreseeing very clearly what course
Bulgaria would ultimately pursue, suggested to
King Constantine the advisability of a Greek force
being sent to take part in the Franco-British
attack on the Dardanelles, but the king refused his
consent.
Then began that period of absolute autocratic
control by King Constantine which ultimately
brought about his own downfall. Modelling him-
self on his brother-in-law, the Kaiser, and relying
on the confidence his past successes as supreme
Commander of the Army inspired in all loyal
17
130 THE SALONIKA FRONT
Greeks, he completely ignored the Greek Constitu-
tion and sent personal assurances to Bulgaria and
the Central Powers, promising both to persist in
neutrality even though Bulgaria attacked Serbia.
Meanwhile our failure to force the Dardanelles
did not tend to heighten the Greek estimate of the
Allies' military and naval resources ; and, in addition
to their own sovereign's marked predilection for
and belief in the Central Powers, they heard with
consternation of our offer to cede large portions
of their own territory to Bulgaria as an induce-
ment to participate in the conflict on our side
(June 1915).
King Constantine had been obliged to recall
M. Venizelos to power, and the latter, as soon as
Bulgaria mobilised (Sept. 1915), ordered a general
mobilisation of the Greek Army. In a formal
declaration made before the Greek Chamber he
then defined the object of this mobilisation as
being, by virtue of the alliance with Serbia, against
both Bulgaria and the Central Powers. As the
majority of the Chamber approved of these views
it was at once dissolved by the king, who dis-
missed M. Venizelos and substituted a new
ministry entirely subservient to his own wishes.
This ministry refused point blank to carry out
THE GREEK EFFORT 131
the terms of the alliance with Serbia, kept up
the general mobilisation, and, under the cloak of
neutrality, held themselves in readiness for active
co-operation with the Central Powers.
Although plans in this direction were frustrated
by the arrival of the Franco - British forces at
Salonika, King Constantine's pronounced partiality
for his German relatives, influencing as it did all
his own loyal subjects, continued to be for several
months a formidable menace. Had not energetic
measures been taken by the Allies immediately
after the handing over to the Bulgars of Fort
Rupel, the king's policy might have still had very
disastrous effects.
When the Bulgars occupied eastern Macedonia,
winning control over Rupel, Drama, Seres, and
Kavalla, great indignation was aroused among
Macedonian Greeks ; which, as we have already
seen, eventually brought about the Salonika
Revolution. Although the Athens Government
still continued to exist, Greece had thenceforth
its provisional government established at Salonika
under the direction of M. Venizelos, and volunteers
for a new Army of National Defence speedily
collected. The first battalion of this army was
sent to assist the British in the Struma sector
132 THE SALONIKA FRONT
(Sept. 1916), and in a few months four divisions of
volunteers were fully equipped and ready for
service. Being allotted the Guevgueli sector on
the right bank of the Vardar, these soon proved
their sterling military qualities, and their work in
the field was admirably supported by certain heroic
Greek ladies who, at grave risk to their own
health, gave all their energies to helping at the
Greek field hospital established at Dreveno.
Upon the enforced abdication of King Con-
stantine (June 1917) the whole of Greece became
at least nominally unified under the Venizelist
government ; but as the royalist section of the
Greek Army had long been demobilised, and its
members had become disheartened by the in-
glorious part they had been compelled to play in
the war, there was considerable spade work to
be done before this army could take the field.
Besides the necessary training of the men and
of several thousand new officers, there were also
countless requirements in the way of munitions
and equipment, very difficult things for the Allies
to provide at short notice, and, in view of the
submarine menace, still more difficult to transport.
This work of reorganisation and training was
completed by the beginning of the following
DREVENO, THE FIRST GREEK FIELD
HOSPITAL
On the right bank of the Vardar south of Guevgueli,
this hospital, controlled by Greek doctors and with
a nursing staff composed mainly of Greek ladies,
was the means of saving many lives. Here as
almost everywhere malaria was rife and several of
the most devoted voluntary workers fell victims to
the disease.
THE GREEK EFFORT 133
spring (1918), and the new army at once took up
positions in the line. It soon proved itself to be
in no way inferior to the first volunteer Venizelist
divisions, and, in conjunction with what remained
of them, captured over 2000 Bulgars, completely
annihilating the 49th Bulgarian regiment (May 30).
By September 1918 the Greeks had in the field
divisions which, under command of General
Paraskevopoulos, were disposed as follows :
13th Division : Orfano to Jenimah.
1st Division : Jenimah to Jenikoi.
2nd Division : Jenikoi to Butkovo.
Cretan Division : in line east of Lake Doiran.
Seres Division : in line west of Lake Doiran.
Archipelago Division : in line along Mala Rupa.
3rd Division (2 Regiments) : in line on the Serbian left.
3rd Division (1 Regiment) : in line between lakes
Prespa and Ochrida.
When the final offensive started, the Greeks
were solely responsible for the Struma front
demonstration which, like our own "Pip" Ridge
attacks, held up considerable Bulgarian forces.
They took a large part with us in the fight along
the sectors contiguous to Lake Doiran, and, being
used to mountain warfare, were of incalculable
assistance throughout the whole period of our
subsequent advance.
134 THE SALONIKA FRONT
On the right bank of the Vardar, too, in
conjunction with the French, they pursued the
retreating Bulgars as far as Demir-Kapu and
acted as a protecting screen to the Serbian right
flank ; also, after the capitulation of Bulgaria, they
took their full share in all manoeuvres and opera-
tions connected with the occupation of parts of
Asia Minor and of the territory south of the
Danube.
In short, the advent on the different sectors of
the front of this total force of about 400,000
Greeks insured for us the numerical superiority
necessary for final victory, and their achievement
was, in many respects, analogous to the service
rendered by the American Expeditionary Force
in France.
As far back as the first year's operations a
khaki-clad Greek Muleteer Corps had been formed
on the civilian contract basis and mainly under
British control. Their teams continued to act as
supply columns to several of the more inaccessible
parts of the front, until, on the formation of the
new army, most were absorbed in other Greek
units.
The mixed civilian population also provided
THE GREEK EFFORT 135
abundant labour material, and throughout the
lines of communication area were to be seen
breaking stones and mending roads. This being
among the most essential of services rendered to
the Allies in Macedonia, it must also be included
in the sum of Greece's total effort, although the
workers were all paid at far higher rates than they
had ever before received for such labour.
A Greek regiment on the march, whether on
its way to the front through the flag-decked streets
of Salonika or winding snake-like along mountain
roads, was always an interesting sight. Clad in
French blue or British khaki, these extremely
tough and wiry brown- skinned warriors, generally
of small stature, seemed more than any others
made for mountain warfare. Always sprightly
and cheerful, they stood the climate variations far
more easily than did the Allies, and although many
succumbed to malaria they did not seem to suffer
so severely as did our own men.
To see the Greek wounded, at advanced points
in the line, cheerfully waiting their turn for
attention, and, especially after the last attacks,
accepting with equanimity what scanty rations
and treatment could be meted out to them,
huddled together the while in hard-floored and
186 THE SALONIKA FRONT
painfully jolting lorries, with only a few handfuls
of straw to lie on, was a heart-rending and, at the
same time, inspiring spectacle.
Such at any rate knew what war meant, their
country having only recently come successfully
through two national struggles to be forcibly
dragged anew into this European conflict. The
consciousness of their past achievements must have
stood them in good stead, and assisted them as
nothing else could in keeping up that concert pitch
of efficiency which was necessary throughout the
final advance.
Over and above other facts worthy of note by
any one who considers Greece's contribution to the
Allies' cause was the pre-eminent, all -pervading
personality of the greatest statesman the Balkans
ever produced, M. Venizelos. Were it not for his
firm stand and for the effect it had upon the
majority of Greeks, none of whom would other-
wise have dared commit themselves, Greece
would at least have remained coldly neutral
throughout the war, and even perhaps become
bitterly hostile to our cause.
Nor should the untiring energy and ceaseless
vigilance of his many distinguished civilian and
military assistants be left out of account. What
PITON ROCHEUX, BELES AND KRUSHA
BALKAN
The junction between our Independent Brigade in
the Krusha Balkan and the right wing of our 12th
Corps front, at the extreme south of Lake Doiran.
The lake is just beyond the first line of hills, the
small peak of which to the extreme left is Piton
Rocheux. The relative height of the Bulgars' Beles
stronghold, seen along the horizon, is clearly shown.
THE GREEK EFFORT 137
men like Generals Danglis and Paraskevopoulos
achieved in a military sense was at least equalled,
on the civilian side, by indefatigable workers such
as M. Adossides, who alternately held office as
Prefect of Salonika and Governor of Macedonia.
At a time when the health, safety, and success
of the Allied armies in the Balkans depended upon
the rapid solution of countless very pressing
problems connected with the organised control of
the mixed civilian population throughout the war
areas, it was mainly due to his untiring personal
efforts that such difficulties were met and overcome
with the necessary despatch.
That very natural feeling of distrust and
animosity against Greece, which in the early stages
of the war was rife among most of the Allies, long
before our operations developed, ceased to have
any reasonable foundation in the domain of facts.
No state that was a member of the Allies' combine
threw itself more whole-heartedly and with more
singleness of purpose into the overcoming of all
obstacles that hindered the furtherance of our
cause than did Greece, as soon as she won free
from the toils of Germanophil court influence.
As the task of overcoming the Germano-
Bulgarian deadlock with our forces would have
18
138 THE SALONIKA FRONT
been insurmountable without this additional moral
and military weight, the debt of gratitude the
Allies owe to M. Venizelos and, after him, to all
participant Greeks cannot be adequately expressed
in mere words.
Although Greece and her Serbian allies have
thus, a third time within the past seven years, won
successfully through the vortex of a Balkan war
tempest, much in the way of consolidation and
almost everything on the side of industrial develop-
ment remains to be done by both before they can
show full moral justification for their territorial
claims.
" England never won true greatness as a
nation until she learnt to do without autocratic
sovereignty." This remark made by M. Venizelos
at a private lunch in Salonika immediately after
the formal signing of the Bulgarian Convention
last year, although it was not intended for
publication, lingers in the memory of the few
who heard it. Surely Greece, in the hands of such
a statesman, will at least have every opportunity
of starting her peace-time career upon broad and
sound principles of government. Yet, although
no student of Greece's past greatness can fail to
sympathise with even the widest-ranged Hellenistic
THE GREEK EFFORT 139
aspirations, whatever territorial advantages may be
accorded her at the outset she will have an
uphill task of many years' duration before winning
free from the relics of stagnation that, being a
legacy of centuries of Turkish misrule, still remain
a severe handicap to the development of the
Balkan peoples.
Somewhat has already been said about Greece's
political difficulties, but those who have not
studied on the spot the countless problems with
which this young nation is faced find it almost
impossible to grasp the relative values, as far as
Greece is concerned, of present day influences at
work in the Balkans. A Greek who, although he
formerly acted as head of a secret committee
organised to frustrate the insidious methods em-
ployed by Bulgarian propagandist societies, long
since retired from political life, being asked to set
down his views in writing last autumn, made many
interesting remarks concerning public opinion in
Greece, and of some of these the following is a
translation :
" War conditions have produced among Greeks
a temporarily abnormal psychological state, which
has not tended towards any adequate mutual
understanding between individual Greeks and the
140 THE SALONIKA FRONT
various representatives of the Allies whose duties
brought them to Salonika.
"French ways of thought and French financial
interests had made such progress in Greece prior
to the war that it would have been compara-
tively easy, at one time, for France to establish
almost colonial suzerainty in Greece. She chose
instead to be content with posing as the pro-
tector of Levantine Catholics, and left Russia
the part of protecting members of the Greek
Church.
*' Greece thus, while developing a strong religious
tie with Russia, being anti-Catholic, learnt to mis-
trust the Catholic missions, which were rather more
international than purely national in character,
and tended to become centres of anti- Greek
intrigue, offering shelter at times to Bulgarian
propagandists. Knowing well that Russia was
Bulgarophil and aimed at winning control of
Constantinople, the Greeks lost faith by degrees
both in France and Russia. Italy, too, was sus-
pected of designs on Epirus and certain parts of
Asia Minor. England's point of view was un-
known ; she was thought to be mainly Bulgarophil.
Austria and Germany were gaining control of
Greek and Turkish markets by flooding the
THE "PIP," RIDGE
THE GREEK EFFORT 141
Balkans with cheap goods, and were therefore not
trusted at all.
"When the Allies landed at Salonika they
naturally ran against hotel-keepers, shop-keepers,
carriage drivers, etc., all intent on making money,
and they gleaned from this momentarily venal
keenness of one class an impression that was not a
true one of the whole Greek people. The Greeks
resented the rigid treatment meted out to them
by the Allies' military measures, and this helped
the anti-ally current of feeling that belief in King
Constantine's policy of Germanophil neutrality
had already fanned into flame.
" The French, on arrival, did not consider them-
selves among friends, and adopted, perhaps, an
unnecessarily harsh demeanour towards all Greeks.
The Serbs did likewise, because they thought
Greece had betrayed them. The British, ignorant
of other tongues than their own, remained aloof
and apart, but as they paid whatever they were
asked, no matter how exorbitant, and as they
treated women with courteous restraint, they
produced a remarkably good impression, an im-
pression which was greatly enhanced by the way
in which the R.A.M.C. lavished their attention on
all poor people, no matter of what race or creed.
142 THE SALONIKA FRONT
and also by the obviously unselfish part they were
playing, i.e. they did not appear to have come to
Macedonia to benefit themselves.
"Thus, while this, his first contact with the
British in any considerable numbers, has had a
good effect on the Greek, he still fears a recru-
descence of British Bulgarophil policy, yet still
desires the support of what seems to him the most
altruistic of the Greater Powers, as far as Balkan
politics are concerned."
CHAPTER IX
THE BRITISH EFFORT
Sea and land communications — Transport difficulties — Inadequacy of
numbers — Achievement of the 10th Division — The ^' Birdcage '' and
after — R.E. Works — The expected Bulgarian attack — Consolida-
tion of a new line — The deadly climate — Tlie unhealthy Struma
Valley — Heat stroke — Dysentery — Malarial debility — Nostalgia —
Shell-swept trenches — Dwindling friends — Influenza — Facing an
impregnable stronghold — The "Pips" and what they mean to
Britons who served long years in front of them — How British grit
and perseverance wore out the Bulgars' watchfulness — Final
winning of Grand Couronne and the Beles — Kosturino Pass and
Strumnitza — Advance to the Danube — Advance against Turkey —
Supply and Transport — R.E. Survey — Ordnance Stores — E.F.
Canteen — Corps Headquarters — ^^C.H.A. " — Indian and Greek
Transport — Group Headquarters — Anti- Aircraft — A Mountain
*' O.P. " — Yeoman Cavalry — With the Infantry — Festive occasions
— After the ^^Pips" were taken — Medical Service — Sanitary and
Anti-Malarial measures — The "Scottish Women" — Feminine
heroism — British Serbian hospitals.
What can be added to that which has already
been said regarding our own British effort? At
the outset, our lines of communication with home
bases, excepting those of the so speedily dis-
membered Russian contingent, were by far the
longest and the most beset with transport diffi-
143
144 THE SALONIKA FRONT
culties. It was not until well on in the campaign
that we were able to make use of overland routes
through France and Italy. We had, moreover,
no certainty of being able to keep up the strength
of the comparatively small body of troops with
which we started to join battle on this remote and,
in the opinion of England's political magnates, least
important of all fronts.
Mention has been made of the splendid and for
ever memorable achievement, immediately it landed,
of the already fatigued and depleted 10th Division.
The marvel was that, although they provided a
flank screen under cover of which the whole of the
French forces up the Vardar were able to with-
draw in safety, those staunch Irishmen, hard
pressed and far outnumbered by the Bulgars,
weakened by cold, hunger, and sickness, were yet
able to withdraw with but slight battle casualties.
Throughout the period of defensive preparation
within the " Birdcage " our men had very important
tasks to fulfil. The R.E. Works had not only to
make use of every available member of the Corps
but also to call upon all other units that could be
spared to help carry out the protracted and very
onerous engineering operations which the consolida-
tion of the line demanded.
LAKE DOIRAN, EASTERN END
THE BRITISH EFFORT 145
For several months the whole British Salonika
force worked night and day at the strengthening
of our positions along the right-hand sector of the
'* Birdcaore." Then came the tentative advance,
during the early months of 1916, to positions
farther up-country, positions that had first to be
reconnoitred by our infantry and cavalry patrols.
As soon as it was decided to occupy the Vardar-
Doiran, Krusha-Balkan, and Struma Valley fronts,
the whole of the constructive engineering work,
beset with countless fresh difficulties, had to be
undertaken anew on a far larger scale. All this
was done in daily, almost hourly dread of a
formidable attack.
Working at feverish heat throughout the
oppressive summer months, our men, although
considerably reinforced, did not fail to suffer from
their first experience of the debilitating effects of
the Balkan climate. During this first summer
over 3000 malaria-stricken British soldiers were
admitted to the Casualty Clearing Stations in one
day from two divisions on the Struma front.
Doubtless the Bulgars of this region, sprinkled
in more or less formidable detachments along the
base of the opposing Beles Range, suffered
considerably also during this first summer. At any
19
146 THE SALONIKA FRONT
rate, both they and ourselves, having learnt a
severe lesson, throughout subsequent summers
took care to w^ithdraw to the foothills on either
side of the Struma Valley ; so that, when the
malarial season was at its height, a low-lying
and fever-haunted No Man's Land of from twelve
to twenty miles in width had to be constantly
patrolled. Nor was the sickness by any means
confined to this portion of the front, heat-stroke,
dysentery, and malaria being everywhere more or
less prevalent.
Out of the trying nature of the climate, the
feeling of sheer hopelessness inspired by the
strongly fortified mountain barrier that faced them
on the whole front, and the despondency that is
one result of the weakening effects of repeated
bouts of malaria or dysentery, developed that
nostalgic "ennui" of the Balkans to which most
British soldiers who served there sooner or later
succumbed. It is a marvel to those who saw,
on the spot, the countless individual manifestations
of this unhealthy mental condition among all
ranks that we ever won through the long and most
trying period of semi-quiescence which preceded
the development of our final victorious advance.
Disease casualties increased, and, wounds from
THE BRITISH EFFORT 147
shell-fire being not infrequent, the survivors saw
their friends dwindle one by one. After malaria
and dysentery came that most insidious of all
disease foes, Influenza. Yet, when circumstances
at length enabled us to sweep over the whole
country of the " Pip " Ridge, even this last scourge
had no power to daunt the inherent courage of
our men, several of whom, finding nothing better
to do than to " go sick " with " influenza " the day
previous to the advance, begged to be allowed
to rejoin their units as soon as they realised the
advance had indeed begun.
All who participated in the long vigil that
preceded the final offensive felt they were up
against an impregnable mountain barrier, that the
home folk could not be brought to understand the
stupendous nature of the problem they were facing,
and that, unless something little short of a miracle
occurred, those among them who survived would
go on sitting there for ever in dead-lock with the
enemy.
Such thoughts as these preyed constantly on
the minds of those who served opposite that most
formidable of Bulgarian natural fortresses of which
the "Pip" Ridge formed the central stronghold
and " Grand Couronne " the main bastion towards
148 THE SALONIKA FRONT
the east. Strengthened by all the arts of modern
German warfare, studded everywhere with ex-
ceedingly deep, reinforced concrete dug-outs and
gun emplacements, this gaunt cluster of rugged
peaks, which dominates the whole surrounding
country, could have been easily held against far
larger opposing infantry contingents without any
artificial fortification.
Even after the enemy's withdrawal a very stiff
climb was necessary to scale these peaks success-
fully. We must therefore count as one of the
chief individual achievements of the war the fact
that certain Welsh and Scottish soldiers really did,
in face of the enemy's intense machine-gun and
trench-mortar fire, rush the summits of both Grand
Couronn^ and the "Pip" Ridge. Although only
their dead bodies were found, their desperate
attack, combined with the imminent outflanking
peril brought about by the rapid Allied advance
on our left, no doubt provided the final pressure
which caused the precipitate abandonment of these
heights by the Bulgars.
Captured plans and maps show they had very
accurate information regarding the disposition of
our forces and the exact situation of our batteries,
but they did not appear to exhibit a skill equal to
VERGETOR CHURCH.
Its congregation of faithful having long sought other
regions (the remains of their village consist of
a few stones), this church became successively,
after accumulated dirt had been cleaned away, a
Brigade Headquarters, a mess and chart room, and
a banquet hall, in which prominent members of the
Allied forces were entertained. It was subsequently
used for Church of England services.
I?
THE BRITISH EFFORT 149
that of our own artillery groups in counter-battery
work. They seem to have relied mainly upon
machine-guns and trench -mortars for repelling
attacks, and to have kept their own guns intact
under cover of their solid concrete dug-outs,
bringing them out for use whenever the occasion
required. This was, perhaps, the best method of
defence for a force in possession of the dominating
heights in a country made up of steep-sided ravines
and narrow, precipitous nullahs which intersect
one another in all directions, and in which, owing
to their depth, opposing batteries very easily found
shelter. As compared with the problem British
troops had to face on the western front, the
difficulties of organising an attack in the Balkans
were further augmented by the impossibility of
making a creeping barrage effective round the
sharp turns and tortuous windings of these deep
and narrow ravines which almost everywhere
impeded our progress.
Following up the retreating Bulgars through
Kosturino to the Strumnitza plateau was by no
means an easy task. Although they fled in
disorder, leaving behind them vast stores, they
everywhere contrived to destroy bridges and leave
roads in an unsafe condition. Besides wilful
J 50 THE SALONIKA FRONT
damage to these roads, they left, sprinkled about
in profusion among the thick dust, a quantity of
unexploded shells and hand-grenades, and this
rendered our own progress perilous in the extreme.
That we so speedily won through to Strumnitza
and far beyond it speaks volumes for the efficiency
of all arms, and especially of our transport services ;
for the problem of how to get adequate rations up
to our rapidly advancing positions became daily
more and more acute, particularly as the roads,
which, here as elsewhere in the Balkans, led round
the edge of precipices, were already becoming
sticky owing to the beginning of the autumn rains.
After the signing of the Bulgarian Convention,
General Milne received orders to move, by way of
Petritch and Radomir, through Bulgaria to Widin
on the Danube, in co-operation with the French
and Serbs and against Austria- Hungary. Soon
after this move had got under way he was placed
in command of the Allied troops operating against
Turkey (October 10) and ordered to transfer his
forces eastwards. When news of the armistice
with Turkey reached General Headquarters
(October 30), two British and one French divi-
sion had already moved towards the river Maritza,
and were on the point of seizing the bridges as a
THE BRITISH EFFORT 151
first step towards occupying Adrianople, while the
1st Hellenic Division had advanced between
Kavalla and Drama, preparatory to furthering the
general move against Constantinople. For this
rapid advance of over 250 miles it was necessary
to re-base our troops on small ports in the Aegean,
and, although malaria and influenza had consider-
ably reduced our strength, those officers and men
who were still left, to use General Milne's own
words, "remained in the ranks until often they
dropped from sheer exhaustion."
Everything throughout the whole period of our
Balkan operations hinged primarily upon our
systems of supply and transport and upon the
wonderfully efficient work carried out by the
Royal Engineers. Not only did the stability of
our positions and the possibility of subsequent
advance depend upon the services of these most
essential adjuncts to all warfare, but as no locally
reliable maps of the country existed, a very im-
portant contribution to our success was made by
the R.E. Survey Section, who had to face the task
of editing the old Austrian military maps, which
teemed with inaccuracies.
The efficiency with which our Ordnance Stores
were administered cannot receive too high com-
152 THE SALONIKA FRONT
mendation, and the way in which, despite all
transport difficulties, the organisers of our Ex-
peditionary Force canteen supply system contrived
to meet all emergencies was most praiseworthy.
As the main purpose of this book is to recall,
however imperfectly, a few of the many things
seen on our Balkan front, it may not be unprofit-
able to outline some of the exterior aspects of
British conditions of service in the Corps areas
both before and after the final advance.
Before that advance, a visitor, for example, to the
12th Corps Headquarters at Janesh, if he came from
up the line, saw an hour or two before he reached it,
across what seemed like a perfectly flat stretch of
moorland, the white tents and huts that were
his ultimate destination. He could not see the
dozens of deep gullies that intersected that moor
in all directions, and were bound, if he travelled by
horse or car, to delay his progress considerably.
He might, however, jump up behind some
ambulance truck on the decauville railway, and,
with sick and wounded, journey somewhat joltily
across miniature mountain torrents and gorges
until he reached the main Railhead station of
Janesh. From there it was but a short walk
among tents and hutments to the various offices
, SUNSET EFFECT ON A QUARRY NEAR
VERGETOR
The track winding off on the right led to the 12th
Corps Headquarters at Janesh, where General Milne
first received the Bulgarian delegates.
THE BRITISH EFFORT 153
of the Corps Staff, which, at the time of the big
air raids, were no very safe places of work and
residence.
Noticeable as he passed, on rising ground to the
left, was the 31st C.C.S., the 12th Corps Railhead
Casualty Clearing Station, and also, over to the
right, the Corps cemetery and the Corps vegetable
garden. As he mounted the slightly rising ground
he passed a medley of neatly constructed hutments,
which served either as officers' messes, offices, or
orderly rooms used by the various Headquarters
units. There was also the native labourers' deten-
tion camp, surrounded by barbed wire, and the
locally famous Janesh fountain of natural aerated
water, which, although it was for some reason
condemned by the Sanitary Section, was neverthe-
less prized by many as a beverage, and was never
known to do any one harm.
He saw a number of horses and a good many
flies. If mounted himself, there was a spot where
he would dismount and tether his horse under
shade of the trees. He would then cross a foot-
bridge over a dried -up brook and enter the
hutment to which his business brought him.
Inside he would see genial-faced, perspiring staff
officers in shirt sleeves, busy over papers or maps.
20
154 THE SALONIKA FRONT
His business done, he would remount and ride
back ere nightfall, passing through many a roadside
camp, and crossing stream after stream as his way
wound on through seemingly interminable gullies.
He might on his return journey visit the C.H.A.
(Corps Heavy Artillery) Headquarters, which was
situated just off the main road to Cugunci, and
housed unpretentiously in camouflaged tents and
dug-outs with rush-covered tin roofs on a level
with the soil.
. After that he would journey along the road for
a mile or two, passing the main ration dump,
which used to be regularly shelled at distributing
time each afternoon by a hostile long-range gun.
He would continue on towards Cugunci, at the
base of the ridge of hills south of Doiran along the
northern side of which our own trenches lay. Far
above these hills towered the "Pip" Ridge and
Grand Couronn^, both of which, in addition to the
vast wall of the still higher Beles on the right,
conveyed a very vivid impression of the enemy's
advantages of position.
Perhaps he would suddenly, at the base of the
hills behind Cugunci, come upon a quantity of
Greek or Indian horse transport, and be saluted by
the turbaned members of the latter with punctilious
THE BRITISH EFFORT 155
precision. If his way led among the hills he
eventually came past a path that led to a gully
concealing one of our long-range guns, or even
to an Artillery Group Headquarters. If a random
enemy shell-burst or two did not impede him, he
might surprise the group mess at their tea. This
mess often consisted of a small camouflaged bell-
tent gingerly adhering to the steep boulder-strewn
slopes of a rocky ravine.
With a telephone receiver hanging from the
central pole and a packing-case spread with fly-
haunted delicacies in tins, a Macedonian sheep-dog
for a playfellow, and a horse in the gully beneath,
what more could a British gunner officer ask ? He
could crave for the excitement of a "strafe," and
this indeed, on the 12th Corps front, he had quite
often enough. Frequently, also, he had above him
what he did not ask for, several bursts of shrapnel
or a hostile aeroplane making reconnaissance.
Generally about tea-time did the latter occur. The
remedy for the revellers was for one to seize the
telephone and get on to the neighbouring A. A.
battery, transmitting the remarks which, above
the ** burr . . . pop " of the shells, his companions
shouted to him from outside the tent. These
remarks, at one historic tea at least, so successfully
156 THE SALONIKA FRONT
corrected "Archie" as to bring down an enemy
machine.
Not far from the Group Headquarters, and
towards the top of a small mountain on the side
of which it was perched, began a path that, after
skirting a lesser summit, suddenly developed into
a, skilfully constructed subterranean gallery. Cut
out of the solid rock, and camouflaged above its
wooden roofing by replanted gorse bushes (a work
that could only be carried out by night), this
wonderful gallery, which was the only means of
access to the neighbouring Artillery Observation-
Post, led at length through mazy windings to a
small dug-out chamber. With conveniently
arranged chairs, and resembling in shape and size
a box in some theatre auditorium, this chamber
had a slit about two yards long and six inches
wide, through which observers could watch the
activities of the enemy across a twenty or thirty
mile front. Nothing short of a direct hit, and
perhaps not even that, could annihilate the officers
concealed there. They sat on amid the roar of
guns, noted flashes and the effect of our own shell-
bursts, then transmitted their observations by
telephone to the neighbouring batteries.
What our mounted yeomanry patrols achieved
SCOTTISH WOMEN'S HOSPITAL,
MIKRA (1916)
THE BRITISH EFFORT 157
in the way of preparing our advance over wide
stretches of country will, it is hoped, be one day
placed on record by those who lived with them.
Our infantry, who in this very "inhospitable" climate
suffered and yet accomplished most, are far beyond
all praise.
When visiting an infantry brigade headquarters
it was easy to see how intense a life was led by all.
After a far longer mountain journey than that
necessary to travel from Corps Headquarters to an
artillery group the visitor, or it might be wanderer
returning to his own unit, came suddenly, in some
deep gully, on a camouflaged tent or two, inhabited
by the Brigade Staff. On the farther side of the
northern limit of that gully lay the narrow stretch
of No Man's Land which spread towards the
enemy's trenches in front of Doiran, and on the
nearer side was the very exposed entrance to our
own frontier line trenches.
Here, as in France, men lived like moles
throughout winter and summer. Though frequently
strafed and suffering intensely from the climate
changes, they nevertheless kept adequate watch and
ward. When their turn for rest came they were
relieved, and moved back to camp in one of the
numerous gullies near Divisional Headquarters.
158 THE SALONIKA FRONT
There they had some respite, and some jollity too,
on festive occasions, which often took the form of
a visit from the Corps or Divisional Concert Party.
Admirable entertainments in costume and very
clever renderings of favourite music - hall songs
were organised by these parties, whose efforts kept
up the spirits of the men better than anything else
could.
After we took possession of the " Pip " Ridge
all these conditions changed. The 12th Corps
Headquarters at Janesh became the Advanced Army
Headquarters, and there General Milne received
the Bulgarian envoys when they came with their
white flag to sue for peace. The 12th Corps had
meanwhile moved up to temporary and very
primitive headquarters near Cerniste, and the
ordered aspect of the old familiar localities was
completely changed.
To see men who had waited long seasons in
front of Doiran marching in column and in broad
daylight through the ruins of the town itself and
right along the dust-laden road that skirted the
lake, to clamber upon the very summit of Grand
Couronne and peer cautiously into the depths of
the huge concrete dug-outs with which its surface
was studded, and which were still well stocked with
THE BRITISH EFFORT 169
abandoned munitions, was a moving and unforget-
table experience. But how many of the original
watchers lived to see that day ? It is sad to reflect
on the amount of human life and energy that had
to be expended before possession of those heights
was obtained.
The efforts of our Medical Service and particu-
larly their organised sanitary and anti - malarial
campaign alone enabled these few British officers
and men who remained to retain sufficient health
to carry on duty to the end. The devotion to
duty of certain British men and women doctors
and nurses up-country, ending fatally for them-
selves in many instances, is among the most out-
standing of individual efforts of the whole
campaign.
To all who saw the excellent work done by
women in Macedonia, the "Scottish Women's
Hospital," the only British unit out there controlled
entirely by women, cannot fail to recall vivid
memories of an efficiently managed and very nobly
conducted organisation. Nor should the self-
sacrifice of those women who, here as elsewhere,
volunteered as motor drivers and nurses up-country,
be omitted from any account of woman's effort in
the war. A few of these ladies served for long
160 THE SALONIKA FRONT
years attached to the Serbian Army, and their efforts
were only equalled by the famous Serbian women
volunteers.
It was decided in May 1916 that the War
Office would supply hospital accommodation up to
a total of 7000 beds for the treatment of sick and
wounded belonging to the reconstituted Serbian
Army. The French Government agreed to provide
a similar number of beds, and in fulfilment of the
British undertaking four General Hospitals and one
Stationary Hospital were sent to Macedonia. Nos.
36 and 37 General Hospitals arrived at Salonika
in June 1916, No. 38 General Hospital in July,
No. 41 General Hospital in August, and No. 33
Stationary Hospital in October of the same year.
These were distributed as follows : Nos. 36 and
87 General Hospitals at Vertekop at about kilo-
metre 70 on the Monastir Road, No. 38 General
at Mikra, No. 41 General at Samlis (both these
within a few miles of Salonika), and No. 33
Stationary at Sorovitch, not far behind the then
Monastir front.
It was originally intended that the stores and
personnel of these hospitals should be provided by
the British, but that the hospitals should be entirely
under French administration. This arrangement
HEADQUARTERS (FIRST SITE) OF 17
KITE BALLOON SECTION, R.A.F.,
ORLJAK RAVINE
Ravines such as this, the natural result of a long^
succession of winter torrents, eat at very varying
angles into the soft bases of the hills and mountains
surrounding the Struma Valley. They afforded ver}'
convenient shelter during the summer months to our
units, but became more or less impassable quagmires
in winter.
THE BRITISH EFFORT 161
proved difficult to work, and after a series of
conferences between the heads of different depart-
ments it was finally agreed that the hospitals should
be under French control as regards their location
and in respect of the admission and discharge of
patients. Engineering services, including water-
supply and the transport of patients, were to be
provided by the French Army, while the British
controlled the distribution and discipline of per-
sonnel and provided renewals of tentage and other
hospital material, as well as all supplies and general
transport. The Serbian Army provided the pay
of the patients while in hospital, and uniforms,
boots, etc., for them on discharge. This arrange-
ment was found to work satisfactorily, and to meet
the tastes of the Serbian patients a diet differing
slightly from that of British hospitals was provided,
for instance there was an increased bread ration
and curdled milk was supplied. Large numbers of
Serbian officers and soldiers, including some Serbian
women soldiers, were treated in these hospitals.
They were found to be good patients, docile and
well-disciplined, and very grateful for all attentions.
21
CHAPTER X
THREE FURTHER FACTORS
The Rumanian Effort : A sentinel against the Turks — Commercial ties
with Germany — The Russian peril — Uncertain attitude of France
and England — Desire for political unity — Need for stores and
equipment — The Dardanelles to be freed — Delays, promises,
recriminations — Joining the Allies — Effect on other fronts — An
enforced peace. Naval Co-operation : Most indispensable of
services. Air Work of the Allies : France's pre-eminence —
Overcoming difficulties — An aeroplane factory — Serbian and Greek
pilots trained — The French Base Park — Base and Group Head-
quarters— Gorgop, Monastir, and Koritza squadrons — Combats
and reconnaissance — Contact patrols — Bombing raids — Artillery
co-operation — Photography — R.N.A.S. and R.A.F. — R.F.C. Wing
Headquarters — Aircraft Park — 17, 47j and 150 squadrons — 66
squadron — Life up country — 22 Balloon Company — Sea ballooning
— R.A.F. pursue the retreating enemy — Our total effort ends in
defeat of Bulgaria — Farewell from the air — A vision of the future.
Among important factors in the Allies' Balkan
achievement was the deliberate self-immolation, for
the sake of national ideals, of the whole Rumanian
Army and people. If, at the beginning of the
European conflict, Greece had good reasons to
hesitate before choosing sides — vital reasons of
self-preservation that perhaps none but an in-
162
THREE FURTHER FACTORS 163
habitant of the Balkans can fully appreciate —
geographical proximity to Russia and Austria,
dread of the former's Pan- Slav aspirations and
absolute political, financial, and commercial sub-
servience to the Central Powers, made whatever
course Rumania decided on fraught with dangers
that threatened her very existence.
Having acted in the past as Europe's south-
eastern sentinel against the Turks, Rumania had
succeeded in retarding for many centuries their
advance across the Danube, until the full tide
of that advance had spent its force. Sub-
sequently, Russian armies had overrun her whole
territory and Russia's predatory policy had taught
her many a bitter lesson. Almost wholly an
agricultural country and a comparatively new
political entity, at the outbreak of hostilities she
possessed a very small reserve of army material
and munitions, in which respect Russia also was
notably deficient. Yet Russia was the only
member of the Entente territorially contiguous
to Rumania, while the Central Powers, at the
shortest notice and by the surest routes, could
provide both men and munitions sufficient to
guarantee her successful entry into the conflict
on their side. It was known, too, that France
164 THE SALONIKA FRONT
and England had acquiesced in the annexing of
Constantinople and the Dardanelles by Russia,
thereby blocking Rumania's commercial access
to the Mediterranean, and although as early as
September 1914 many of Rumania's statesmen
admitted the desirability of their country's par-
ticipation in the war on the side of the Entente,
the majority of them deemed it imperative to
remain neutral.
Rumania's reply to our first overtures was
typical of this attitude of mind. If communica-
tion by sea were opened up she would throw
off the mask of strict neutrality already assumed
and, by help of what munitions and supplies the
Allies could send her through the Dardanelles,
would undertake to begin active military operations
against the Central Powers.
Then began that long controversy between the
military and political magnates of France and
England upon the relative importance of strategic
operations in the East and West. Although the
Central Powers sought to maintain superiority of
men and guns in the East, in order to distract our
attention and minimise the possibility of a strong
Allied counter-offensive via the Dardanelles or
northwards through the Balkans, a type of attack
BRITISH AERODROME AND AIRCRAFT
PARK, MIKRA BAY
^ Dominated by Mount Hortjac (in the distance) this,
the base depot of the Royal Air Force at Salonika,
kept the various squadrons and balloon sections up
country supplied with all necessaries. It was also
the chief landing ground for British machines flying
to and from Salonika.
THREE FURTHER FACTORSJ 165
they had most reason to dread, they kept up the
appearance of making their main thrust in the
West. Perhaps unfortunately for the speedier
prosecution of the war this strategic ruse worked
on the French and English popular imagination to
such an extent that the " Easterners " hardly got a
fair hearing in the Allies' war councils, and as, owing
to insufficiency of ships and rise of the submarine
peril, sea transport through the Mediterranean
became more and more hazardous, such expeditions
as were sent eastwards were delayed in despatch
and frequently stinted of men and munitions.
Our repeated failures to force the Dardanelles
passage and the too tardy landing of the Salonika
force are cases in point. Hypnotised, as it were,
by those aspects of the struggle that were nearer
home, France and England seemed to postpone
indefinitely the adoption of a Balkan offensive,
losing chance after chance of bringing matters to
a head in that quarter. Promises and counter-
promises were made and somewhat clumsy methods
of conciliation adopted by the Allies towards the
different Balkan states, methods which constantly
gave rise to misunderstandings, made the most of
at the expense of the Allies by Pro-German pro-
pagandists in Bucharest.
166 THE SALONIKA FRONT
Intent on the ultimate political unity of her
people, scattered throughout Bessarabia, Bukovina,
Transylvania, and the Banat of Temesvar, Rumania
finally resolved to throw prudence aside and
join the conflict, in spite of our failure to open
up the Dardanelles. Accordingly a military con-
vention, ratified on August 17, 1916, provided for
her active participation in the war on our side, the
following being the three chief terms :
(1) That neither Rumania nor the Allies would
make a separate peace ;
(2) That Rumania would attack the Central
Powers; and
(3) That eight days before the beginning of
Rumania's military operations a powerful offensive
action would be developed and pressed home both
on the Russian Front, by General Brusiloff, and
on the Salonika Front, by General Sarrail.
Although Rumania began operations to date as
agreed. General Brusiloff did not carry out an
attack, the Russian force sent to the Dobrudja
front was very inadequate, and General Sarrail's
offensive, as has been seen, was frustrated by the
Bulgarian counter-move via Koritza and Fiorina.
Also, immediately Rumania showed her hand,
Germany ceased to attack Verdun and, shifting
THREE FURTHER FACTORS 167
every available unit to Transylvania and Bulgaria,
organised an overwhelming concentration against
Rumania, even withdrawing certain Turkish and
Austrian units from positions facing the Salonika
Front, and flinging these and others with all
possible despatch against the Rumanian Front
in the Dobrudja.
The Salonika force was thus saved from what
at one time threatened to be an overwhelming
disaster, but the strategic possibility of profitable
offensive action was indefinitely postponed. Mean-
while the great attack in France had ceased, and
the French, towards the end of the year, retook
some of their lost positions. Winter was setting
in and there had been no general attack on the
Russian Front.
It is not within the scope of this book to describe
the operations carried out by the Rumanian armies,
but merely to point out that Rumania's part in
Balkan events so successfully lightened the Allies'
burden on the Salonika Front that they were able
to gain time and, during the two years' wait that
ensued, take adequate defensive precautions. It
should be remembered also that, notwithstanding
the humiliating enforced peace she had temporarily
to accept, Rumania's long struggle against over-
168 THE SALONIKA FRONT
whelming odds and the indomitable courage and
self-sacrifice of her people had undoubtedly a
marked moral effect in the Balkans, and perhaps
also, by its example, retarded during 1917 the
disorganisation of crumbling Russia's armies.
Another and perhaps the most essential factor
of all in the Allies' Balkan adventure was the
remarkably efficient work carried out by the
French, Italian, and British naval services. Only
by their constant vigilance and co-operation were
we able to keep down to a minimum those count-
less hostile mine and submarine dangers that,
despite due wariness, recurred throughout the
Mediterranean, Aegean, and Adriatic. Many
minor engagements and individual acts of self-
sacrifice and heroism in this service never received
even the smallest passing notice in the press.
These men, who contributed so much towards
the Allies' final success, can never have justice
done them by any verbal tribute ; nor do they
expect it, being truly satisfied with the knowledge
of having performed their duty.
The air work of the Allies, directly interrelated
as it was with military operations, demands a less
BROUGHT DOWN IN FLAMES
Two observers in the basket of a kite balloon have
seen their balloon set on fire by the ' ' tracer ' ' bullets
of an enemy airman. They are now parachuting,
while their balloon, almost burnt out, but with the
basket still depending from it, rushes with a fiery
trail to earth.
THREE FURTHER FACTORS 169
cursory notice. Here, too, France's effort stands
pre-eminent. Not only was the strength of the
French Aviation on the Salonika Front more than
double that of our corresponding British con-
tingents, but also the actual machines used by
the French were on the whole of a more powerful
type than those sent out by the British War Office
and Air Ministry. In other words, such transport
difficulties as had to be faced were more easily
and, in consequence, more thoroughly overcome
by France than by England. Ultimately the
French even established a local factory for the
construction of aeroplanes, and as early as 1916
they had organised a flying school at the Base,
for training members of the Greek or Serbian
armies. The French Aviation Base Supply Park
at Mikra, too, was a notable achievement in
organisation, and was very considerably extended
during the latter part of the war. All who visited
it must retain a vivid memory of those ingenious
miniature chalets, entirely constructed out of dis-
carded petrol tins and packing-cases, which provided
its resident personnel with recreation rooms and
night shelter.
Orderliness, refinement, and comfort prevailed
in the precincts of the Aviatio7i Base Headquarters
22
170 THE SALONIKA FRONT
and the various Group Headquarters up country.
The officers' mess at the Fiorina Group Head-
quarters, situated in a large house towards the
centre of the town, was perhaps the most note-
worthy of all in this respect. Yet staff work pro-
ceeded strenuously here, as elsewhere, all reports
from the various squadrons along the line having
to be checked and important matters of informa-
tion circulated to the various army commands and
units.
Everywhere along the French line from Gorgop
to Koritza, in the Squadron Headquarters (which
were conveniently placed, near but not too near
their respective aerodromes), friendly companionship
between those who had daily to share the same
risks gave rise to many pleasant passages of wit
and playful trials of strength. All who visited the
messes of these headquarters could not fail to take
away the vividest recollection of the wonderfully
ingenious cooking achieved by the squadron chefs,
several of whom in pre-vvrar days had officiated at
Paris hotels.
During flying weather combats were of daily
occurrence on this by no means inactive air front.
When, towards the latter part of the war, long-
distance machines became available, air reconnais-
THREE FURTHER FACTORS 171
sances and bombing raids were continually made.
Contact patrols do not appear to have had so
much attention given them on this as on the
Western Front, owing mainly to an inadequate
surplus of machines available for this purpose.
Everywhere artillery co-operation was practised,
and proved of the greatest assistance. Photo-
graphy for intelligence purposes was carried out
over a vast area and found exceedingly useful.
The foregoing remarks apply equally, in a general
way, to the work of the British Royal Air
Force.
When the R.N.A.S. (Aegean Group) had
established their aerodrome at Mudros they under-
took patrol work of the N.E. Aegean and the
Dardanelles area. The subsequent formation of
the R.A.F. Southern Italy Group of squadrons,
with headquarters at Brindisi, achieved a like
service in the Adriatic, and the former's bombing
of Constantinople was equalled if not surpassed
by the repeated expeditions made in 1918 across
the Adriatic against Durazzo and Cattaro. To
travel there and back, a distance of 340 miles, and
when there to drop bombs on certain specified
points of the harbour defences, crossing mountains
of from six to eight thousand feet high, all the
172 THE SALONIKA FRONT
time a mark for the Austrian Anti- Aircraft guns,
provided a severe test for both pilot and machine.
When it is called to mind that the machines used
had to be long-distance land bombing ones the
achievement cannot fail to be considered truly
memorable.
The R.F.C. units arrived at Salonika in the
following order. First, No. 17 squadron, with a
section of Aircraft Park, landed (July 27, 1916)
and proceeded to construct an aerodrome at Mikra.
No. 47 squadron then landed (September 20, 1916)
and a Wing H.Q. was formed, taking up its
abode down a side street off Queen Olga Avenue,
Salonika. Each of these squadrons was first of
all composed of two reconnaissance and artillery
flights and one scout flight. The machines used
for the former and for bombing were B.E. 2e,
A.W., 90 h.p. R.A.F., and B.E. 12, and for the
scout flights, D.H. 2 scouts. These were later
on replaced by A.W. Beardmores, D.H. 9's and
more modern scout machines. Aircraft Park
gradually increased in dimension until it became
the largest of its kind in the Royal Air Force.
No. 150 squadron was formed from surplus
personnel in the country and the scout flights of
Nos. 17 and 47 squadrons, and was entirely a scout
DRAGOMIR VILLAGE
THREE FURTHER FACTORS 173
squadron, the machines used being S.E. 5a, Sop-
with Camels and Bristol Monoplanes. No. 66
squadron (Camels) established in 1918 at an aero-
drome adjoining the Italian Caproni aerodrome
by Pie di Monte, south of Valona, Albania, formed
part of the Southern Italian Group, and did most
memorable work in co-operation with the Italian
forces operating on that front. ;
All who served with these squadrons in the
field cannot fail to be reminded forcibly, upon the
mere mention of their names, of vanished friends ;
boys who the night before their disappearance over
the lines, had been laughing, drinking, and singing
cheerily in the Squadron mess. Those gorgeous
sunsets over Janesh and above the aerodrome at
Lahana, or the even more glorious evening light
effects of Salonika Bay, depicted as they are in the
pages of this book, cannot fail to recall incidents of
the saddest personal significance to all who have
survived service with the British Royal Air Force
at Salonika. As it is with us, so it must be with
the French, whose losses certainly tallied with our
own. Yet all these losses compared with those
reported to have been suffered by the enemy are
extremely small. For example, during the period
November 1917-October 1918, the figures for our
174 THE SALONIKA FRONT
scout squadron were : enemy aircraft crashed, 49 ;
out of control, 82 ; our machines lost, 10.
Contemporaneously with No. 47 Squadron had
arrived the advance section of 22 Balloon Company,
No. 17 K.B.S., in which, from its very beginning,
served the artist whose pictures are here reproduced.
Remaining parts of the Company arrived on
Jan. 1 and Feb. 1, 1917, but it was not until March
that the two new sections were able to take up
positions in the line. Even then the weather
proved inclement, as appears from the following
extracts from the diary of one of them, given here
merely as a first-hand account of the conditions
that had to be faced by this least essential and
least sorely tried branch of the R.F.C. on the
Salonika Front :
Extracts from No. 27 K.B. Section's Diary
Moving up country: inconveniences of the ground. March
15, 1917.— The Section left Mikra Bay at 7 a.m. on the 12th
inst. and at 1.45 p.m. reached 12th Corps Headquarters,
Janesh, where at 6 p.m., in a hostile bombing raid, it suffered
one casualty. At 2.15 p.m. next day an advance party went
up to the position chosen, and the rest of the Section followed
with the remaining Transport at 8.30 p.m. Rain had just
set in and the roads were bad, while lights had to be reduced
to a minimum. Owing to enforced delays the position was
THREE FURTHER FACTORS 176
not reached until about 3 a.m. on Wednesday, March 14.
At daybreak unloading and camp-making commenced and
were continued throughout the day. A party began making
up the balloon bed, and all went well until, at about 6 p.m.,
heavy rain set in, and work had perforce to be abandoned.
The tents, which had been struck during the day, were
pitched, and the Section prepared for a wet night. Ex-
pectations in this direction were fully realised, and by 9 p.m.,
although everything possible had been done with ground-
sheets and bivouacs, the men's tents were most undesirable
dwellings. . . . Rain dripped steadily through almost every
part of the roof, and the ceiling of the only native habitation
left standing sagged in a most disconcerting manner, while
ominous rumblings and falling pieces of wall testified to the
wearing qualities of unlimited water. As the night proceeded,
matters went from bad to worse. The stream running down
the ravine by the camp, normally a few inches deep, became
a raging torrent, travelling at a speed variously estimated
from forty to a hundred miles an hour, while it rose to a depth
of some six feet. . . . The three lowest -lying tents were
completely flooded, the water being literally feet high inside
them before the men could escape with their belongings. As
it was, one of the tents and a considerable amount of kit were
washed down the stream. Some twenty of the men managed
to find refuge at the field hospital on the far side, and the
remainder watched the night out from the clefts and sodden
funk-holes in the sides of the hills that protect our position.
March 16. — The rain had ceased by the morning, and the
stream had subsided almost to its former level, but the camp
presented a dismal spectacle. All the men were drenched to
the skin, some had lost their kit, and one tent had completely
disappeared. . . .
About 10 A.M. the rain stopped, and in its place a
tremendous gale of wind sprang up. The stores, guard, etc.,
176 THE SALONIKA FRONT
had been housed under ground-sheets lashed across broken
walls, and these were in imminent danger of being blown
away. With great difficulty a marquee was pitched in a
sheltered spot, and most of the stores were transferred thither.
The guard-house roof was lashed down as tightly as possible
and everything in the camp made as secure as could be.
At 5 P.M. the gale was varied by a blinding snowstorm,
which was hurled upon us after a preliminary bombardment
of hail. The snow continued during the entire night, but
the whole Section had managed to arrange dry sleeping
places, and except for the cold, everybody was comfort-
able. . . . Near our transport, however, a man of the London
Scottish fell dead from exposure, and another died as he was
being taken to a Field Hospital close by. More than a dozen
horses and mules lay dead between the camp and Cugunci.
Air inconveniences: March 30. — K and B
went up at 7 a.m. In addition to getting a battery on
the gun spotted yesterday, they saw troops and transport
moving along a road in enemy country, and brought the
battery's fire to bear on these, with good results as far as
could be observed. A hostile plane came over very soon
after this, with an obviously evil design and a machine gun,
which he pooped off at the balloon. Nothing doing for him
this time, however, and he went off" to get some tracer
ammunition — at least, so it would appear by the context,
for after observers had been changed and Captain
and Major had gone up and just finished a shoot,
back came the gentleman from Germany with tracer bullets,
and this time he hit the balloon.^ Both observers dropped
just as she burst into flames and, both parachutes opening
beautifully, they landed safely, though the Major fell up side
down. He came down in the middle of the R.A.M.C. camp
1 The incident here recorded provided the subject of the picture
** Brought down in Flames."
THREE FURTHER FACTORS 177
and was up-ended so promptly that he was of opinion the
medical people, taking him for a corpse, were going through
his pockets. . . .
Bringing down the enemy : May 1. — The angel of death
has been in our midst to no ordinary extent to-day. To
begin at the beginning, the balloon was carefully examined
before the early flight, and three more bullet holes were
discovered as souvenirs of yesterday, in the starboard fin. So
we stuck all the holes up and went heavenward as usual, but
it was evident that we weren''t supposed to have much peace
to-day. K had a perfectly beastly time sitting on the
edge of the basket for over ten minutes, while two of the foe,
quite low, tried to get at the balloon. Eventually they were
driven off; one of them being pursued by an English plane,
who gave the invader a very warm time and, we are officially
informed, killed his observer. Next, just after observers had
been changed, the air became thick with planes and Archie
bursts, and for over an hour there was something unfriendly
knocking about. . . . Shortly before 5 o''clock there they were
again — two of them — with machine guns and tracer bullets,
having apparently come down against the sun from a great
height with engines off. Our own machine gun was the first
to start on the work of repelling the foe, and then the Archies
weighed in. Three times did the first plane assault the
balloon, each time unsuccessfully, and then he sheered off
and stood by while the other plane continued the attack.
Along he came, spitting out death and destruction, till he
was about fifty yards from the balloon. Then all of a sudden
his tail and part of one main plane flew off, while the rest of
the machine just crumpled up, and down he came like a stone.
Apparently two of our A. A. had simultaneously scored direct
hits — one on the tail, the other on the wing. As the machine
hit the ground it burst into flames, and continued blazing
while there was anything combustible about it. The pilot
23
178 THE SALONIKA FRONT
was of course dead, and was almost certainly hit by one of
the shells.
Summer sicJcness: June 24. — Naught of import falling this
last sennight, the Diary hath of necessity suffered grievous
neglect by reason of great lack of material worthy of record.
The sand-fly fever is still upon us, and many men are in the
hands of the physicians and chirurgeons. As one is healed,
so fall two more sick. . . . Each man looketh upon his
neighbour, wagering with him who shall be next. The air
balloon hath not yet come apart, and we do hope will not
now fail us in our hour of need. By reason of the great heat is
it inexpedient to do aught between the hours of ten in the
forenoon and five after mid-day save gasp and imbibe much
liquid, the which men do say exudes itself on the instant
through the pores of the skin. By which means shall a man
always be ready for another drink and much profit accrue to
the makers of strong waters. And the astrologer doth fore-
tell a yet greater heat, with many curious fevers and other
ills, the which foreboding hath thrown us in a pretty twitter.
As to the Great War, naught cometh to us but rumours
the most various. One man will swear you that the Germans
are for peace within a month, and that we shall eat our
Christmas in England. Not so, says another, but the
seventh year of the war shall be the worst, and after that,
peradventure, every tenth. Nathless, no man knoweth aught
worth the telling, and all that may be truly said is that the
war is not yet at an end. The undersea-boats do work much
ill amongst our shipping and it seemeth not to avail over-
much to say that Britannia ruleth the waves. These sinkings
do serve to bring the war before one's mind more plainly
than aught else, the more so as of a surety it befalleth that
the mails do in this wise perish ; which doth make us mad.
The foregoing are typical, unaltered entries in
THREE FURTHER FACTORS 179
the diary of a single small R.A.F. unit, and, as
they were written on the spot with no thought
of publication, portray faithfully what had to be
endured in the way of weather, fever and other
ills at different seasons of the year. They also
show how, throughout, that good humour which
jests at all misfortunes was preserved. What is
true of one unit applies equally to them all.
Although far differently situated, the R.A.F.
sea -going balloon section stationed in 1918 at
Brindisi had scarcely a less strenuous time than
the land balloons. The work of this section
consisted in submarine spotting from a ship in
mid- Adriatic, its duty being to watch the furthest
western sea extremity of the Allies' Balkan Front.
Throughout the whole length of that front French
and British aeroplanes patrolled, and in the final
defeat of the Bulgars and Austrians their rear-
guards were harassed by our low-flying machines,
whose gun fire in many places turned their retreat
into a rout.
When the time comes for historians to estimate
the political and strategic importance of the Allies'
combined sea, land, and air action on the Salonika
Front, it cannot fail to be admitted that, had not
180 THE SALONIKA FRONT
such action been taken, Greece would have un-
doubtedly joined hands with the Central Powers and
Italy and our Eastern Empire would have been ex-
posed to very grave land and sea dangers. The land
and air forces based on Salonika at no time reached
an effective total of more than 600,000 men, and
sickness frequently depleted them to less than half
this strength. Insufficient in numbers and severely
handicapped from the start, they had to face a task
the difficulties of which proved unsurmountable
until the Greek Army pulled its full weight. Yet
for sheer " grit " and perseverance against superior
forces and huge natural and artificial obstacles, for
the absolute co-operation and efficiency of all
ranks and contingents, above all for the dramatic
completeness of the final victory that followed
inevitably from their skilfully planned offensive,
the work of the Allies' armies on this front
compares most favourably with their activities
elsewhere. To wait for the right moment and,
when that moment came, to thrust rapidly at the
heart of the enemy, instead of nibbling constantly
at his feet, was a sounder and far less costly method
of warfare than that employed on our other Eastern
fronts. It also had, in the end, far more definite
results ; for Turkey found herself isolated and the
KRETCHOVO AND TRANS-VARDAR
MOUNTAINS
Kretchovo^
Hail, Kretchovo ; a wanderer o'er the waste
Of moor and gully, ere the distant hum
Of battle fadeth, unto thee I come
And find thee, as of old, silent and chaste,
Alone in lofty glory. I that paced
Erstwhile the dim ravines where Death descends
From out the clouds and Man's brief journey ends,
Salute thy hoary might, still uneffaced.
For Time, who conquers all things, a long while
Hath left thee naked midst the wind and rain
And sunshine of the seasons, like a fane
Of antique ritual in some desert isle.
Was thy lot ever thus, thou mighty pile.
Or did the forest once encompass thee ?
Didst thou once rise from out the central sea
Fresh as some newly-born Aegean isle ?
What grim vicissitudes must thou have known.
What human aims have come within thy ken,
Magyars and Bulgars, Slavs and ancient men
Who fought around thee, won thee for their own.
Perchance in ancient times thou wast a-throne
Or altar, lit with sacrificial fires,
Like those that burn round thee ere day expires
Now that the year takes on autumnal tone.
I that have tramped from out yon distant dell
Thy hoary beauty once again to see.
Admit the measure of my debt to thee,
Old Landmark, no mere rhymed words can tell.
Yet, wheresoever the stern fates compel
These fleeting thoughts, thy memory shall go.
What I by thee have felt no man can know ;
Farewell, thou ancient, craggy height, farewell.
1 This gaunt landmark of the British 12th Corps Area
cannot fail to remain in the memory of all survivors from the
British Salonika Army.
THREE FURTHER FACTORS 181
Eastern plans of the Central Powers were per-
manently thwarted, by Bulgaria's defeat.
It is, indeed, important not to lose sight of the
complete nature of the Bulgarian capitulation. If
ever any army was utterly surprised by a sudden
and rapid advance assuredly it was the Bulgarian
Army. How hopeless their situation became after
our few days' final ojfFensive may be judged from
the terms of the Military Convention, the full text
of which was as follows :
Military Convention regulating the Conditions of the
Suspension of Hostilities between the Allied Powers
and Bulgaria, which came into force at 12.00 hours
ON September 30, 1918.
(1) Immediate evacuation, in accordance with a scheme to
be evolved, of all the occupied territories in Greece and
Serbia. From this territory neither cattle, grain nor supplies
of any sort will be removed. No damage will be caused
upon evacuation. The Bulgarian authorities will continue
to administer those parts of Bulgaria actually in the
occupation of the Allies.
(2) Immediate demobilisation of the whole Bulgarian
Army except for a group of all arms, which will be
maintained in a fit condition for action and will comprise
3 divisions, each of 16 battalions, and 4 cavalry regiments,
which will be employed as follows :
Two divisions for the defence of the eastern frontier of
Bulgaria and the Dobrudja, and one division to guard the
railways.
(3) Depots will be established at points to be indicated
182 THE SALONIKA FRONT
by the High Command of the Armee d'Orient, of arms,
munitions and military vehicles belonging to the demobilised
units, which material will afterwards be put into store by the
Bulgarian authorities under the supervision of the Allies.
The horses will also be handed over to the Allies.
(4) Return to Greece of the material of the 4th Greek
Army Corps taken from the Greek Army on the occupation
of Eastern Macedonia in so far as it has not been sent to
Germany.
(5) The Bulgarian troops which are now west of the
longitude of Uskub and belong to the 11th German Army
will lay down their arms and will be considered until further
orders as prisoners of war. Officers will retain their arms.
(6) The employment until the conclusion of peace of
Bulgarian prisoners of war in the East without the reciprocal
rights as regards prisoners of war belonging to the Allied
forces. These latter will be handed over without delay
to the Allied authorities, and deported civilians will be
absolutely free to return to their homes.
(7) Germany and Austria- Hungary will be given a period
of four weeks in which to withdraw their troops and military
authorities from Bulgaria. Within the same period the
diplomatic and consular representatives of the Central
Powers and their nationals will quit the territory of the
Bulgarian kingdom. The orders for the cessation of
hostilities will be given by the signatories of this Convention.
Signed
rfeanchet d'esperey.
Andre Liaptcheff.
.General Loukoff.
Great was the joy of the airman in Macedonia
who, after this Convention had been signed, ex-
THREE FURTHER FACTORS 183
changed for ground noises and war's horrors the
whirr of an engine well-fed with petrol. Mounting
aloft by its aid from some Allied aerodrome, he
circled at will towards Lakes Doiran, Prespa or
Ostrovo, while the hills and crumbling gully cliffs
beneath became as it were mere sand ripples, and
cloud-capped Kaimactchalan itself nothing more
than a fair-sized boulder in a garden rockery. As
he called to mind the long and uphill task the
Allied armies (and, in no small measure, his own
branch of the service) had endured, he could reflect
that, although begun tardily, their united war effort
on the Salonika Front had not been made in vain,
that the " ideal of perfection " for which the Latin
peoples had been striving was no longer in danger
of being, as a French philosopher has said, over-
whelmed by the " ideal of might."
If of an imaginative turn his thoughts might
wander far afield. Whether he sped eastwards or
westwards, beneath him stretched a fair and fertile
country, a country capable of almost unlimited
development. Means of transport could be devised,
he knew, systems of air communication invented,
which would put a stop for ever to the present
pitifully backward condition of that country.
With improved communications and a stable
184 THE SALONIKA FRONT
government, Macedonia and even her wilder sister,
Albania, could be at last harnessed to the yoke of
civilisation. Much of the spade work necessary to
effect this has been begun already in a tentative
way, under the auspices of the Allied armies, but
who can tell how many years will have to pass
before the regeneration of this long-suffering area
of the Balkans is complete ?
INDEX
Acropolis of Salonika, the, 15
Adossides, M. , Prefect of Salonika,
137
Adrianople, 151
Advance from Monastir to Prilep,
Allied, 127
of the Serbs, rapid, 98
retarding Turks', across the
Danube, 163
towards Valjevo, 114
Aegae (modern Vodena), 48
Aegean, zig-zag voyage through
the, 10
Aeroplanes, 172
Agirocastro, 29, 101, 102, 107
sandchaks of, and Koritza, 101
Ago Mah, 67
Air work of the Allies, 168
Albania, Italianised, 28
Lieut. - General Ferrero pro-
claimed the unity and in-
dependence of, 103
sea crossing to, 8
Albania's backward condition, 100
Albanian gendarmerie, corps of,
88
gendarmes, 122
men and women, picturesque,
106
Militia, 107
Republic, 88
wolf-dogs, 106
Albanians, 14
Alexander the Great, 6, 43
Allied contingents, co-operation
between the, 79
counter-oflFensive via the Dar-
danelles, plan for, 165
Allies, advance of, 127
air work of the, 168
landing of, 57, 59
Amatovo Lake, 33
American Red Cross, 97
Amkberkoj, 30
Anopheles, 36
Anti-malarial propaganda, 85
Antimony, 36
Aphrodite, 45
Apollo, 45
Arandjelovac, 112
Ardzan, 33
Aristotle, 43
Armenians, 14
Army of National Defence,
volunteers for, 131
Arsenic, 36
Artesian wells, 84
Artillery, Italian Mountain, 95,
Artillery co-operation, 171
Group Headquarters, 155
Observation Post, 156
preparation in front of Doiran
and the " Pip " Ridge, 73
Ash, 37
Aspect of Italian effort, twofold,
94
Assistant Military Landing Officer,
11
186
24
186
THE SALONIKA FRONT
Athens newspapers, statements
derogatory to the French in,
82
Athos, Mount, 86
Attack across Jumeaux Ravine, 78
by the French and Russians
between Lakes Prespa and
Ochrida, 72
Austrian submarines, 5
Austrians attacked the Serbian
Army, 113
Avars, 47
Aviation Base Supply Park, 169
A.W. Beardmores, 172
Baba Planiua, 98
Babuna Pass, 61
Badgers, 36
" Bains Botton" 12
Balkan dust, 38
" ennui," 23, 93
views, magnificent, 31
war, second, 55
"Balkan League" in 1912, 64
Banat of Temesvar, 166
Base Censor, 12
Headquarters, 12
''Bazar de LyoUj' 84
Bears, 36
Beech, 37
Belashitza or Beles Range, 32, 34
Belgium, overwhelming of, com-
pared with sufferings of Serbs,
121
Belgrade, evacuation of, 116
Beroea (Verria), 46
Beshik Lake, 33
Bessarabia, 166
B.E. 2e., 172
B.E., 12, 172
Biklista, 28
" Bird-cage " defence line, 10, 30
Bistrica, 69
Blockade of Greek ports, 64
Bombardment along Monastir to
Doiran front, 76 ; of Doiran,
m
Boniface of Monferrat and hi?"
Lombards, 49
Boulevard of National Defence,
16
Boulogne, 6
Bralo, 91
Brick-fields, 87
Brigades, the two Russian, QQj 91
Briggs, Lieut. -General Sir C. J.,
Brindisi, 5
Bristol Monoplanes, 173
British Front, length of, 76
G.H.Q. atPapafi, 22
Independent Brigade, 82
Medical Service, 159
naval services, efficient work of
the, 168
Officers' Rest-House, 22
Reserve Ammunition Depot,
28
Salonika Army, transfer of over
one quarter of our, to other
fronts, 76
Serbian Hospitals, 160
16th Corps, 31
squadron of Camel Scouts, 105
12th Corps Headquarters,
Janesh, 30, 70, 152
Brod, 69
Brush factory, 87
Bukovina, 166
Bulgaria, Germany shifted every
available unit to Transylvania
and, 167
mobilised, 130
Bulgaria's Army (350,000), 111
Bulgarian Convention, 150 ; news
of the, conveyed by aeroplane
from Sophia, 99
exarchate, the, 53
incursions over frontier, 71
prisoners of war, employment
until the conclusion of peace
of, 182
retreat via Kiveco-Kalkandelen,
98
INDEX
187
Bulgars, 14
capture of 2000^ IHS
following- up retreating, 149
lose heart, 75
pressed by Serbs via Petalano
and Tcherna bend, 68
retreat through the Kosturino
Pass, 78
Bulgars and Germans, 80,000 held
up, 67
Bulgars and Greeks, propaganda
conflicts between, 62
Butkovo valleys, 31
Buv, 68
Byron, Greek gratitude to Glad-
stone and, 82
'^ Cagliari" and ''Sicilia" Brigades,
95,96
" Cahiers d'Orient" 86
Camel Scouts, British squadron of,
105
Camps, refuge, 17
Cassander, son of Antipater, 44
Casualty Clearing Station, 31st,
153
Catalan Company of adventurers,
Salonika harassed by, 50
Cats, 36
Cattaro, expeditions against
Durazzo and, 171
Cavalry, French, 82
Cavalry patrols, 65
Censor, Base, 12
" Cercle Militaire" 22, 23, 84
Cerniste, 12th Corps advanced
headquarters to near, 158
Chabatz, 113
Chalcidice, 9, 42
Chegal, 69
Cherry, 37
Chimara, 102
Cholera, 107
Climate, 37
Coal, 36
Colonial Infantry, French, 91
'* Comando di tappa" 105
Commerce, French and Greek as
alternate languages of, 80
Consequences of our failure to
force the Dardanelles, 130
Constantine, King, autocratic
control of, 129
Constantine the Great, 46
Constantinople, 27
Contact patrols, l7l
Controversy upon the relative
importance of strategic opera-
tions in the East and West,
164
Convention, Bulgarian, 150
Co-operation between the Allied
contingents, 79
Copper, 36
Corfu, 35
Corinth, Gulf of, 5
Corps Heavy Artillery, 154
Cotton, 37
Counter-defensive, plan for Allied,
via the Dardanelles, 165
Crete, Saracen pirates of, 47
Crows, 36
Cugunci, 154
Cultivation, country under, 37
Cynocephalae, 45
Danglis, General, 137
Danube, Rumania retarding Turks'
advance across the, 163
Dardanelles, attempts by an
Anglo-French fleet to free
the, 57
consequences of our failure to
force the, 129
our failures to force the, 165
plan for Allied counter-offensive
via the, 165
Deer, 86
Defence line, " Bird-cage," 10
Demir-Kapu defile, 34, 61, 134
Derbend ridge, 31, 63
D'Esperey, General Franchet, 76
Deunmehs, 14, 51
D.H. 2 scouts, 172
24 A
188
THE SALONIKA FRONT
Diary, No. 27 K.B. Section's,
174
Dionysus, 45
Dogs, 36
Doiran and Guevgueli, districts
south of, 40
and the " Pip " Ridge, artillery
preparation in front of, 73
heavy bombardment of (18th
August), 60
to Monastir front, bombardment
along, 76
Doiran town, we gain Petit Cou-
ronne, Teton Hill and, 77
Doves, 36
Drina, 112
Duck, 36
Dudular, 29
railway station, 27
Dugouts, German construction of
reinforced emplacements and
concrete, 74
Dukati, 102
Dung cakes, 30
Durazzo, 26, 48, 102, 103
expeditions against Cattaro and,
171
Dysentery, 107, 146
Eagles, 86
Eastern Empire, moribund, 48
Elisan, 67
Elm, 37
Emplacements and concrete dug-
outs, German construction of
reinforced, 74
Enemy's communications cut
between Gradsco and Prilep,
77
Engagements, local, 75
Ephippigeras, 36
Ersek, 102
Essad Pasha, 122
Evacuation of towns and villages,
compulsory, 41
of Belgrade, 116
E.F. Canteens, 23
Expeditions against Durazzo and
Cattaro, 171
Exploration, geological, 88
Falcons, 36
Ferrero, Lieut. - General, pro-
claimed the unity and inde-
pendence of Albania, 103
Fever, 107
sand-fly, 178
Fifty -seventh French Division,
60
Fig, 37
Fire worshippers, 19
" First Balkan War," 54
First Hellenic Corps, 76
Floca's, ices at, 12
Flora, 37
Fiorina, 5, 28
industrial experiments at
Salonika and, 87
Russian help before, 92
Fiorina Group Headquarters, 170
to Santi Quaranta, 97
Foot-hills, withdrawal to the, 74
Foreign representatives resident
at Salonika, 21
Fort Rupel, handing over by a
Greek garrison of, 64
Forty-first General Hospital, 160
Foxes, 36
France, protector of Levantine
Catholics, 140
Franco-British forces at Salonika,
arrival of the, 131
Franco-Macedonian Historical Re-
view, 86
-Serb and Franco-Greek Schools,
86
French naval services, efficient
work of the, 168
statements derogatory to the,
in Athens newspapers, 82
French and Greek as alternate
languages of commerce, 80
INDEX
189
French and Russians between
Lakes Prespa and Ochrida,
attack by the, 72
Army Workshops, 87
Aviation J 169
cavalry, 82
Colonial Infantry, 91
convent school at Kukus, 30
Medical Service, 85
Quartier General, 22
recognised in Greece as most
useful medium of culture,
81
territorials, 83
troops land at Salonika, 82
Frontier, Bulgarian incursions
over Greek, 71
Fronts, transfer of over one
quarter of our British Salonika
Army to other, 76
Frostbite, 61
Galerius, Arch of, 17
Galico (ancient Echedorus) River,
34, 62
Gauls, the, 45
Geese, 36
Gendarmerie, corps of Albanian,
88, 122
Geological exploration, 88
German construction of reinforced
emplacements and concrete
dugouts, 74
Germans and Bulgars, 30,000
held up, 67
Germany ceased to attack Verdun,
167
shifted every available unit to
Transylvania and Bulgaria,
167
Gheghs, 101
"Gibraltar," 10
and Malta, sea route via, 9
Gladstone and Byron, Greek
gratitude to, 82
Glava, 40
Goats, wild, 86
Gold, 36, 45
Gona, 86
Gornicevo, 68
Gornoi Poroi, 95
Goths, the, 46, 47
Gradsco, enemy's communications
cut between Prilep and, 77
Gradsko, 60
Grand Couronne, 154
Grand Karabou, 34
Graphite, 36
Grass fires, 37
Grasshoppers, 36
Greece, in 1830, won freedom from
Turkish rule, 52
problem of partisanship of, 128
secret undertaking with, 62
Greek and French, as alternate
languages of commerce, 80
Greek armed neutrality, definite
action with regard to, 64
Army Corps, return to Greece
of the material of the 4th,
182
army, demobilisation of, 65
Club, 23
communities, 42
frontier guards, connivance of,
66
gratitude to Gladstone and
Byron, 82
ladies risk their own health, 132
Muleteer Corps, 134
quarter, the, 20
Greeks responsible for the Struma
front, the, 133
temporary abnormal psycho-
logical state of, 139
Greeks and Bulgars, propaganda
conflicts between, 62
Gris Nez, 7
Guevgueli, districts south of
Doiran and, 40
Guillaumat, General, 76
Guiscard, Robert, Norman duke
of Calabria, 48
Gumusdere, 32
190
THE SALONIKA FRONT
Halia, 43
Hamza Bey, mosque of, 18
Hares, 36
Headquarters, Base, 12
Heat, 38
Heat-stroke, 146
Hellenic Corps, 1st, 76
Hellenistic culture, 45
Hill 1050, 96
H.M.S. Agamemnon, Zeppelin
brought down by gun-fire
from, 65
Homondos, 67
Hortjac, 10, 86
aqueduct, 84
Mount, 43
Horse-fly, 36
Horse-Shoe Hill, 66
Hospitals, 36th, 37th, 38th and
41st General, 160
Huns, 47
Ices at Floca's, 12
" Ideal of might," 183
'' Ideal of perfection," 183
Han Mermer Quarter, 16
" Imam Baildi," 21
Independence of Albania, Lieut. -
General Ferrero proclaimed
the unity and, 103
Industrial experiments at Salonika
and Fiorina, 87
Infantry, French Colonial, 91
Infantry patrols, 66 *
Influenza, 147
Initiative on our side, 70
Insularity of Englishmen, 89
Intendance, 22, 84
Iron, 36
Italian naval services, efficient
work of the, 168
Italian '^ autobus" 106
Caproni aeroplanes, 105
efi'ort, twofold aspect of, 94
Expeditionary Force, 61
Force at Valona, 99
Medical Service, 107
Italian mountain artillery, 95
35th Division, 66, 95
Italianised Albania, 28
Italians hand over their sector in
the Krusha Balkan, 67
Itea, 35, 91
Iven, 69
" Ivrea" 95
Jackals, 36
Jador, 112
Janesh, 173
British 12th Corps Head-
quarters, 30
Janina, 101
Janissaries, the, 16
Jarashok, 69
Jays, 36
Jenikoj, capture of, 70
Jewish colony, large, 46
Jews, orthodox, 51
Jumeaux Ravine, 72
attack across, 73
Kaimactchalan, 33, 68
storming of, 124
Kalemaria, 9
Kalendra, 67
Kanina, 29, 108
Karaburun, 34
occupation of Greek shore
batteries at, 66
Kavalla, 26
Kenali, 68, 96
Kicevo - Kalkandelen, Bulgarian
retreat via, 98
King Constantine, autocratic
control by, 129
King Peter, heroism of, 122
Kisovo, 68
Kispeki, 67
Kolubara, retreat down the right
bank of the, 115
Koritza, 28, 40, 88, 101, 170
sandchaks of Agirocastro and,
101
INDEX
191
Kosturino Pass, Bulgars retreat
through the, 78
Kragoyevats, abandonment of,
by Serbs, 120
Krivolak, 60, 121
Krusha Balkan, Italians hand over
their sector in the, 67
Kukus, a centre of the tobacco
industry, 30
French convent school at, 30
headquarters at, 65
rendezvous of both Bulgarian
and Greek revolutionary
activities, 30
" Ladino," 80
Lahana, 31, 173
Landing of Allies, 57, 59
Langaza, 33
Lake, 31
Languages of commerce, French
and Greek as alternate, 80
La Racine, Colonel, 109
Larissa, 91
Leicester Galleries, pictures ex-
hibited at, 2
Lescovici, 102
Levantine Catholics, France the
protector of, 140
Venice, 10
Lignite, 36
Likovan, 31
Logara, 102
Lombards, 49
Lombardy, 5
Macedon, kings of, 43
Macedonia, 45
. roadsoftheBritish Army in, viii
Turkish - speaking Musulman
population of, 83
Macedonian Front, physical
obstacles on, 3
labour companies, 27
sheep-dog, 155
workers, 27
Mackensen's operations, 119
Macucovo salient, attack of the, 67
Magpies, 36
Magyars, 48
Mahmoud II., Sultan, 16
Mahon, General Sir B., 59
Mala Kastra, 40, 103
Mala Prespa, Lake, 33, 68
Mala Reka, 68
Malaria, 107
Malta, sea route via Gibraltar and,
9
Manganese, 36
Marseilles, 4
Martial law, proclamation of, in
the Salonika district, 65
Medical Service, French, 85
Italian, 107
Mediterranean, Rumania's need
for access to, 164
Mercury, 36
Mikra, 9
Serbian Army at, 123
38th General Hospital at, 160
Military Landing Officer, Assist-
ant, 11
Milne, Lieut. -General Sir G. F.,63
Miloutin, 49
Mineral resources with a view to
after- war mining projects, 108
Mining ventures, 88
Misitch, Voivode, 126
''' Mission Antipaludique " 85
Mithraism, 45
Moglena Mountains, 68
Monastir, 26, 61, 69, 101
capture of, 70
Serbs' advance from, to Prilep,
127
to Doiran front, bombardment
along, 76
Monastir plateau, 28
Monferrat, Boniface of, 49
Mosque of Hamza Bey, 18
Mosquito, 36
larvae, destruction of, 85
Mount Athos, 86
Mudros harbour, 85
192
THE SALONIKA FRONT
Muleteer Corps, Greek, 134
Murad II., Sultan, 51
Music halls, 24
Musulman population of Mace-
donia, Turkish-speaking, 83
National Defence, Army of,
volunteers for, 131 ; Boulevard
of, 16
Naval services, efficient work
of the French, Italian, and
British, 168
Negochani, 69
Newspapers, statements derogatory
to the French in Athens, 82
Nich, abandonment of, by Serbs,
120
Nickel, 36
No Man's Land, vaguely defined,
74
Normans pillage Salonika, 49
'* Northern Epims" autonomous,
101
Oak, 37
Ochrida, 33, 49
attack by the French and
Russians between Lakes
Prespa and, 72
CEuvre civilisatrice, 88
Offensive, by Central Powers,
against Serbia, second general,
113
an, to coincide with big offensive
in France, 76
Officers, Russian, 93
Oil, 44
Olive, 37
Olympos, 9, 23
One - hundred - and - fifty - sixth
French Division, 60
One-hundred- and- twenty-second
French Division, 60
Operations, Mackensen's, 119
raids and minor, 67
Orfano, Gulf of, 34, 63
Orljak, 32
Ormanli, 67
Ostrovo, 28, 48
Lake, 28
Owls, 36
Palanka, 112
Papafi, British G.H.Q. at, 22
Paprat, 32
Paraskevopoulos, General, 137
Patrols, contact, 171
Pear, wild, 37
Pella, 28, 43
Pennella, General, took over from
General Petitti, 96
Peristeri, 96
Petalano and Tcherna bend,
Bulgars pressed by Serbs via,
68
Peter, King, heroism of, 122
Petit Couronne, we gain Teton
Hill, Doiran Town and, 77
Petit Karabou, 86
Petitti di Roreto, Major-General,
95 ; wounded, 96
P. ^, 72
Pharsala, 91
Philippi, battle of, 46
Photography, 171
Pie di Monte, 35, 105, 173
" Pinard/' 91
"Pip" Ridge, 31, 147, 154
artillery preparation in front of
Doiran and the, 73
third attempt to take the, 75
Pisoderi, 68
Plan for Allied counter-offensive
via the Dardanelles, 165
Plane, 37
Polog, 69
Poplar, 37
Population, 40
of Macedonia, Turkish-speaking
Musulman, 83
Porocani, 103
Prefecture, the, 15
Premeti, 102
Prespa, Lake, 33
INDEX
193
Prespa, attack by the French
aud Russians between Lakes
Ochrida and, 72
Prespa - Kaimactchalan, attack
developed over the, Q6
Prilep, 49, 61
enemy's communications cut
between Gradsco and, 77
Serbs' advance from Monastir
to, 127
Prisoners of war, Bulgarian, em-
ployment until the conclusion
of peace of, 182
Propaganda conflicts between
Bulgars and Greeks, 52
Propagandists, unscrupulous, in
the pay of rival peoples, 41
Pydna, 45
Quails, 36
Quartier General, French, 22
Rabbits, 36
Raids, minor operations and, 67
Rains, torrential, 39
Ravines, heavily wired, 74
Red Cross, 13
American, 97
Refuge camps, 17
Relief Fund, Serbian, 97
Representatives, foreign, resident
at Salonika, 21
Republic, Albanian, 88
Retreat, Bulgars', through the
Kosturino Pass, 78
Serbian, down the right bank
of the Kolubara, 115
" Revolution," 71
Rice, 37
Roads of the British Army in
Macedonia, viii
Roman province, 45
Romans, the, 26
R.A.F. sea-going balloon section,
179
Southern Italy Group, formation
of, 171
R.A.M.C, work of, 141
R.E. Survey Section, 151
Works, 144
R.F.C., 22 Balloon Company, 174
17 Squadron, 172
47 Squadron, 172
66 Squadron (Camels), 173
150 Squadron, 172
R.N.A.S. at Mudros, 171
Rumania, 57
retarding advance of Turks
across the Danube, 163
Rumania's existence threatened,
163
need for commercial access to
the Mediterranean, 164
part in Balkan events, 167
struggle retarded disorganisa-
tion of Russia's armies, 168
Rumanian dream of political unity,
166
Rumanians, 14
Rupel, handing over of, 65
Rupel Pass, 32
Russian brigades, two, 66, 91 ;
help before Fiorina, 92
Officers, 93
Russians, attack between Lakes
Prespa and Ochrida by the
French and, 72
St. Demetrios, 18
St. Paul, 46
Salonika, acropolis of, 15
arrival of the F'ranco - British
forces at, 131
district, proclamation of martial
law in, 65
expulsion of enemy consuls
from, 64
Foreign representatives resident
at, 21
French troops land at, 82
George I. Avenue, 16
harassed by Catalan Company
of adventurers, 50
in 1387, fell a prey to the Turks,
50
194
THE SALONIKA FRONT
Salonika^ local engagements, 75
Olympos Palace Hotel, 12
•^ pillaged by Normans, 49
Queen Olga Avenue, 20, 172
reconstruction of, 87
* restocked by Turks, 51
Venizelos Street, 14
Victory Street, 16
Salonika and Fiorina, industrial
experiments at, 87
Salonika Bay, 173
(3rd) Greek Army Corps Com-
mander, agreement with, 64
Samlis, 41st General Hospital at,
160
Sandchakj 40
Sandchaks of Agirocastro and
Koritza, 101
Sand-fly fever, 178
Santi Quaranta, 35, 102
wonderful road to, 104
Saracen pirates of Crete, 47
Sarigol, 30
-Kukus, 29
Sarrail, General, 59, 63, 69
Saseno, 102
Save, 112
" Scottish Women's Hospital,"
159
Scumbi, 33
Scutari, 101
Sea crossing to Albania, 8
Sea route via Gibraltar and
Malta, 9
"Second Balkan War," 66
Secret undertaking with Greece,
62
Sedes, 86
S.E. 5a, Sopwith Camels, 173
Selechka Mountains, 69
Serajevo, bQ
Serbia, in 1913, entered into new
agreement with Greece, 54
extension northwards to Danube
in 1285, 49
second general offensive against,
by Central Powers, 113
Serbian Army at Mikra, 123;
Austrians attacked the, 113
effectives. 111
General Staff, strategic object
of, 114
Relief Fund, 97
retreat down the right bank of
the Kolubara, 115
Second Army, 08
women soldiers, 161
Serbs, 14
abandonment of Nich, 120
advance from Monastir to
Prilep, 127
" bejania," the, 120
Bulgars pressed by, via Peta-
lano and Tcherna bend, 68
decimated by typhus and
typhoid, 117
mental anguish of the, 124
rapid advance of the, 98
re-enter their capital, 117
Seres, 26
" Service Archeologique" 86
" des Eauoc" 84
" Boutier" 83
Seventeen K.B.S., 174
Shar Mountains, 34
" Sicilia " brigades, ^' Cagliari
and, 95
Sicily, William II. of, 49
Silver, 36, 45
Sirak, 103
Snevce, 32
Soap Factory, 87
Sokol and Vetrenik, storming of
heights between, 77
Somme, estuary of the, 7
mouth of the, 7
Sophia, news of the Bulgarian
Convention conveyed by aero-
plane from, 99
Sorovitch, 33rd Stationary Hos-
pital at, 160
Spring flowers at Vergetor, 37
Squadron of Camel Scouts, British
(66th Squad. R.A.F.), 105
INDEX
195
Statements derogatory to the
French in Athens newspapers,
82
Stefan Douchan in 1334, crowned
at Uskub (Tzar of the Serbs
and Greeks), 49
Storks, 36
Strategic object of the Serbian
General Staff, 114
operations in the East and West,
controversy upon the relative
importance of, 164
Struma (ancient Strymon), 31,
34
attacks across the, 67
front, Greeks responsible for, 133
valley, 84
Strumnitza, 40, 60
plain, 228th Infantry Brigade
clear the, 78
Submarines, Austrian, 5
Sulphur, 36
Sultan Mahmoud II., 16
Murad 11. , 51
Summer sickness, 178
Suvla Bay, 60
Tahinos, 34
Lake, 31, 34, 67
Tcherna, 68
Tcherna bend, Bulgars pressed by
Serbs via Petalano and, 68
Tempo, 91
Tenth Division, 61, 144
Tepavci, 69
Tepelen, 29, 102
Territorials, French, 83
Teton Hill, we gain Petit Cou-
ronne, Doiran town and, 77
Theodosius, Emperor, 46
Therma, 43
Gulf of, 10
Thessalonika, 44
Thirty-first C.C.S., 153
Thirty-sixth, thirty-seventh, and
thirty-eighth General Hos-
pitals, 160
Thirty-third Stationary Hospital,
160
Thrushes, 36
Tobacco, 37
Tobacco factory, 87
Torrential rains, 39
Tortoises, 36
Tortue, capture of, 66
Tosks, 101
Transfer of over one-quarter of
our British Salonika Army
to other fronts, 76
Transylvania, 166
Transylvania and Bulgaria, Ger-
many shifted every available
unit to, 167
Treaty of Bucharest, 55
Troops, French, land at Salonika,
82
Troubridge, Admiral Sir E. C. T.,
125
Tsiganes, 14, 40
Turkish quarter, the, 18
rule, Greece, in 1830, won jfree-
dom from, 52
Turkish-speaking Musulman popu-
lation of Macedonia, 83
Turkish units facing British on
Struma and Doiran fronts, 67
Turks, Salonika, in 1387, fell a
prey to the, 50
Twelfth Corps advanced head-
quarters to near Cerniste,
158
Twenty - two Balloon Company,
174
Two- hundred - and-twenty-eighth
Infantry Brigade clear the
Strumnitza plain, 78
Typhus, 107
Tzar Simeon, 48
Uskub, 34, 48
Valjevo, 112
advance towards, 114
taken by the enemy, 115
196
THE SALONIKA FRONT
Valona, 6, 29
Valona, Italian force at, 99
the Italian main base, 36
Valona Harbour, 104
Vardar (ancient Axius), 34
Vardar, the, 28
Delta, 34, 62
Gate (Piccadilly Circus), 31
wind, 16, 39
Vassitch, General, 126
Veles, 34
Venice, help of, called in, 50
Levantine, 10
Venizelist divisions, 133
Venizelos, M., 136
dismissed, 130
formal protest by, 67
Verdun, Germany ceased to attack,
167
Vergetor, spring flowers at, 37
Verria, 48
Vertekop, 86th and 37th General
Hospitals at, 160
Vetrenik, storming of heights
between Sokol and, 77
Via Egnatia, 26, 28
Vienna, 56
Viennese verrerie, 20
Vilayets, 40
Visigoths, 47
Vitosha, Mount, 84
Vlachs, 14, 40
Vodena, 26, 28, 48
Volo, 35
Volunteers for Army of National
Defence, 131
Voyussa, 33
Vrbeni, 68
Vultures, 36
Walnut, 37
Wells, artesian, 84
White Tower, the, 16, 22, 23
Wild pear, 37
William 11. of Sicily, 49
Wilson, Lieut. -Gen. Sir H. F. M.,
77
Wine, 44
Wolf-dogs, Albanian, 106
Wolves, 36
Women soldiers, Serbian, 161
Workshops, French Army, 87
Worshippers, fire, 19
Xerxes, 43
Yenedze- Vardar, 28
Y.M.C.A., 23
Yugo-Slav panacea, the, 127
Zeitenlick, 86
Zeppelin brought down by gun-fire
from H.M.S. Agamemnon, 66
Zeuxis, 43
Zig-zag voyage through the
Aegean, 10
Zinc. 36
THE END
Printed in Great Britain by R. & R. Clark, Limited, Edinburgh.
o
^ HER'ZE&pVIIViA J
\/vn
V
■^
<^
"^o^Gravosa \
.^Novi BazaroV\\/
v^.~
-^«?
v^'
^r^Cattard
ADRIATIC
loGusinie ^. rx
\
■~.y%
Jtari
^/V/7
tS
Pnzrt
S E A
Durazzt
'ft
I..' \
\
/03
C3\
Kicevi
RScumbh
Ich
Ichrida
Faranto
iBrindisi
R.VQyussa\
Sasena ^
5ef"f/7/
fiart
^•••*
Koritzai
o
Gulf
of
T a r a n to
jOtranto
IC.S.Maria
di Leuca
feOukati
Lo^
Tedeieti
Chimar^ '^^^^
^irocastrb.^
>^ahti;%iaranta ^
m:
Land over 6000 Feet.
3000 to 6000 Feet.
600 to 5000 Feet.
Land und^r 600 Feet.
English Miles
10 0 10 30 50
- Approximate position of Allies '
• line. (Sept.ftl6 -Sept. 1918).
CORfUc
Corfu'
Janmc
RUS
Railways
Main Arteries
of Transport
SKETCH MAP ACCOMPANYING "THE SALONIKA FRONT" By W. T. WOOD
iReka
list
\ v..
■"N
Plevna
VlitrovJtsa>
^Pristina
#
Vrania
^!!5
>
CO
Uskub ;
n^
^.^ B(/U L G
AInkai
G
'\ i if
d.
ftff^^^fl'
^••>
(Istib
-%.
%,
&
•* ,•
'*''^,
*N
[Gradskd
Krivoiak ..A^ctrumnttza ^. . , „
[ikra ■ ^ ~ ^ ) ■
;Gdes -^
'^^^^ ^
v..
'■.Osirovo ^ -^
Beroei
(Verrial
Thasas
SEiand Karabou
r
X^..fe.£^
/£■ ^ £ W /l^
5 £ y?
Norths OJ' "^
^/>0/>
^<7:
^s-
Skopelos
Sk^'fvjs
AND CAPTAIN A. J. MANN (A. & C. BLACK, Ltd., LONDON).
THIS BOOK IS DUE ON THE LAST DATE
STAMPED BELOW
AN INITIAL FINE OF 25 CENTS
WILL BE ASSESSED FOR FAILURE TO RETURN
THIS BOOK ON THE DATE DUE. THE PENALTY
WILL INCREASE TO 50 CENTS ON THE FOURTH
DAY AND TO $1.00 ON THE SEVENTH DAY
OVERDUE.
NOV 6 1932
LIBFiARY USE
MAR 9 1956
muQm
MAY 01 2000
LD 21-50m-8,.32
U. C. BERKELEY LIBRARIES
cotl3^^aaQ
52855!
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY