The Macedonian Front

The Macedonian front was an attempt by the Allied powers to help Serbia in the autumn season in the year 1915. This aid was provided to Serbia in opposition to the joint attack of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Bulgaria in October 1915 and remained stable until 1918.

The other name of the Macedonian front is the Salonika front. This front was a military theatre of World War 1, a global war that started in Europe on 28 July 1914 and lasted till 11 November 1918.

This front describes the story of how the Serbian lost in WW1 and the hour of the need came when the expedition came too late and limited force to obstruct the descend of Serbia and was toughened by the internal political catastrophe in Greece (the "National Schism"). 

On this page, we will understand Serbian and Macedonian fronts along with the story of how the Serbian lost in WW1, along with the story of the Italian front in WW1. We will also go through the interesting facts on World War 1.

What Happened Next After the Political Crisis in Greece?

From the above text, we understand that due to limited force and the descend of Serbia, a stable condition has to be brought as soon as possible. 

Ultimately, a stable front was formed, initiating from the Albanian Adriatic coast toward the Struma River, set against a multinational Allied force in opposition to the Bulgarian Arm that was at several times strengthened with minute units from the other Central Powers. The Macedonian Front remained stable, instead of local actions, until the great Allied offensive in September 1918, which emerged in the submission of Bulgaria and the freedom of Serbia.

Background of the War

Following the murder of the Crown Prince by a Bosnian Serb, Austria-Hungary had attacked Serbia in August 1914. However, it had failed to triumph over Serbian resistance. After the accession of the Ottoman Empire into the conflict at the aspect of the Central Powers (November 1914), the decisive aspect in the Balkans became the mindset of Bulgaria. Bulgaria occupied a strategically essential role at the Serbian flank and its intervention on both aspects of the belligerents might be decisive. 

Bulgaria and Serbia had fought each other twice in the preceding thirty years: in the Serbo-Bulgarian War of 1885 and in the Second Balkan War of 1913. Bulgaria had suffered defeat in 1913 and the Bulgarian authorities and those commonly felt that Serbia had stolen land which rightfully belonged to Bulgaria. While the Allies could only provide Bulgaria small territorial concessions from Serbia and impartial Greece, the Central Powers' guarantees appeared far greater enticing, as they presented to cede most of the land which Bulgaria claimed. 

With the Allied defeats at the Battle of Gallipoli (April 1915 to January 1916) and the Russian defeat at Gorlice-Tarnów (May to September 1915) demonstrating the Central Powers' strength, King Ferdinand signed a treaty with Germany and on 21 September 1915, Bulgaria commenced mobilising for conflict.

Triple Invasion and the Fall of Serbia - Serbian Campaign of World War I

The Serbian campaign was the collection of campaigns released in opposition to Serbia at the start of the First World War. The first campaign commenced after Austria-Hungary declared conflict on Serbia on 28 July 1914. 

Further, the campaign to "punish" Serbia, under the command of Austrian Oskar Potiorek, ended after 3 unsuccessful Austro-Hungarian invasion attempts were repelled through the Serbians and their Montenegrin allies. Serbia's defeat of the Austro-Hungarian invasion of 1914 ranks as one of the excellent upsets of contemporary military history.

The 2nd campaign was launched under German command, nearly a year later, on 6 October 1915, when Bulgarian, Austrian, and German forces, led through Field Marshal August von Mackensen, invaded Serbia from three sides, pre-empting the Allied advance from Salonica to assist Serbia. This resulted in the Great Retreat via Montenegro and Albania, the evacuation to Greece, and the establishment of the Macedonian front.

Now, let us understand the establishment of the Macedonian front and the regiments in Salonika.

A century ago, closer to the cease of World War I, Allied soldiers were engaged in fighting at the Salonika Front, close to the Greek city now referred to as Thessaloniki. Those key battles fought in the most awful conditions, hastened the cease of the struggle by numerous months. Notwithstanding the decisive victory, the story of the Salonika Front is essentially unremembered today. Now, let us retrace the steps of the soldiers who fought there, among the south of present-day Macedonia and northern Greece.

Effect of the World War 1

On September 15, 1918, the Allies launched a key offensive at the Salonika Front in the mountainous vicinity of ​​Dobro Pole (present-day Macedonia). It was the primary Allied military breakthrough since the start of World War I. The offensive induced a complete rout of the Bulgarian army, mainly to the defeat of the Central Powers and the signing of the armistice.

Meanwhile, this theatre of operations was infamous in Allied capitals, as it was deemed too far away and not symbolic enough. The soldiers had to pass their journey by sea in Salonica (now Thessaloniki), where they rested.

On the front, the French and their Serbian allies, however additionally the British, Italians, Russians, and Greeks, fought in dreadful conditions. They needed to face severe cold and heat, ailment, and difficult terrain, it was all far from home. Historians estimate that more than 350,000 French soldiers - lots of them from Africa - fought at the Salonika Front, far from the better-known trenches in the north and east of France. Some 70,000 of them by no means returned.

Serbian and Macedonian Fronts

On 5 January 1916, the Austro-Hungarian Army attacked Serbia's ally Montenegro. The small Montenegrin army offered robust resistance withinside the Battle of Mojkovac, which substantially helped the withdrawal of the Serbian Army, however quickly confronted impossible odds and was forced to surrender on 25 January. 

Further, the Austro-Hungarians advanced down the coast of the Adriatic Sea into Italian-controlled Albania. By the termination of the winter, the small Italian army in Albania had been forced out of nearly the entire country.

With this factor, with the battle in the Balkans nearly lost, the British General Staff desired to withdraw all British troops from Greece, however, the French authorities protested strongly and the troops remained. The Allied armies fixed around Thessaloniki, which became a big fortified camp, earned themselves the mocking nickname "the Gardeners of Salonika". 

Hence, the Serbian Army (now under the command of General Petar Bojović), after rest and refit on Corfu, was shifted through the French to the Macedonian front.

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At that moment, the political situation in Greece turned confusing. Officially, Greece was neutral, however, King Constantine I was pro-German, even as Prime Minister Eleftherios Venizelos was pro-Allied. Venizelos invited the Entente into Thessaloniki.

With the knowledge that Romania was about to join the Allied side, General Sarrail started arrangements for an attack on the Bulgarian armies dealing with his forces.

The Germans made plans on their very own for a "spoiling attack". 

The German offensive was released on 17 August, just 3 days earlier than the French offensive was scheduled to start. In reality, this was a Bulgarian offensive, because the Austro-Hungarian Army was in Albania and the only one German division was at the Greek border. 

Further, the Bulgarians attacked fronts. In the east, they effortlessly conquered all Greek territory east of the river Struma (see Struma Offensive), for the reason that the Greek Army was ordered not to resist by the pro-German King Constantine. In the west, the attack executed early success, but the Allied forces held a defensive line after weeks. 

Having halted the Bulgarian offensive, the Allies staged a counter-attack beginning on 12 September (Battle of Kaymakchalan). The terrain turned difficult and the Bulgarians were on the defensive but the Allied forces made consistent gains. Slow advances through the Allies persevered at some point in October and on into November, even as the weather turned very cold and snow fell on the hills. The Germans dispatched greater divisions to assist strengthen the Bulgarian Army however through 19 November the French and Serbian Army captured Kaymakchalan, the very best top of Nidže mountain, and forced the Central powers to abandon Bitola to the Entente; c. 60,000 Bulgarians and Germans were killed, wounded or captured. The Allies suffered c. 50,000 conflict casualties however any other 80,000 men died or were evacuated due to sickness. The front moved approximately 25 miles (40 km).

The unopposed Bulgarian advance into Greek-held eastern Macedonia evoked a crisis in Greece. The royalist authorities ordered its armies in the area (the demobilised IV Corps) not to obstruct and to retreat to the port of Kavala for evacuation, however, no naval vessels turned up to allow the evacuation to take place. 

Despite occasional local resistance from some officials and their nucleus units, maximum of the troops, together with their commander, surrendered to a token German force and were interned for the rest of the war at Görlitz, Germany. 

Therefore, the surrender of the territory just conquered with difficulty in the Second Balkan War of 1913 was the last straw for plenty of Venizelist military officers. With Allied assistance, they launched a coup that secured Thessaloniki and the maximum of Greek Macedonia for Venizelos. 

From that factor, Greece had governments: the "official" majestic government at Athens, which sustained Greek neutrality, and the "revolutionary" Venizelist "Provisional Government of National Defence" at Thessaloniki. Simultaneously, the Italians had deployed greater forces to Albania and these new troops managed to push the Austrian corps back via a very hilly country south of Lake Ostrovo.

Regiments in Salonika

Below are the regiments of Salonika:

• 7th Mounted Brigade

• 8th Mounted Brigade

• 16th Wing, Royal Flying Corps

Facts on World War 1

• Italian Front in WW1 - the Italian front is also known as the Alpine front that involved a series of battles at the border between Austria-Hungary and Italy which was fought between 1915 and 1918 in the duration of World War I.

• During WW1, tanks had genders. Chemical weapons were used and the sound of the explosion was heard in London.

• During the war, 65 million troops were mobilised, 8 million army men died and 21 million troops were wounded. 

• Around 58,000 British soldiers lost their lives on the first day at the Battle of the Somme. 

So, we conclude that World War I, additionally called the Great War, commenced in 1914 after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria. His homicide catapulted right into a war throughout Europe that lasted till 1918. 

During the conflict, Central Powers including Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, and the Ottoman Empire fought against the following countries:

• Great Britain, 

• France, 

• Russia, 

• Italy, 

• Romania, 

• Japan, and 

• The United States (the Allied Powers). 

However, all thanks to new military technologies and the horrors of trench warfare, World War I noticed exceptional ranges of carnage and destruction. By the time the war terminated and the Allied Powers claimed victory, over 16 million people - soldiers and civilians alike - were dead.