Salonika Campaigns of 1915–18

Salonika Campaigns of 1915–18 

combat operations by troops of the Entente in the vicinity of Salonika (Thessalo-niki), Greece, during World War I.

The Salonika front was formed in October-November 1915 after an Anglo-French expeditionary corps commanded by the French general M. Sarrail was landed, with the consent of the Greek government, in the Salonika area on October 5. The purpose of the landing was to help Serbia resist an attack by Austrian-German-Bulgarian forces. Disagreements between Great Britain and France, however, had delayed the landing and had made it ineffective. The expeditionary corps, having advanced along the Salonika-Skopje railroad to cover the right flank of the Serbian Army, withdrew to the Salonika region in late 1915 after the defeat of Serbia.

In January 1916, Anglo-French forces from the Gallipoli Peninsula were transferred to the Salonika front after the failure of the Gallipoli Expedition (Dardanelles Operation) of 1915. They were later joined by Italian troops, Serbian troops from the island of Kerkira (Corfu), and two Russian brigades from France. These troops became the Eastern Army under the command of General M. Sarrail, General L. Guillaumat from December 1917, and General L. F. Franchet d’Esperey from June 1918. The army occupied a front from Rentina Bay (east of Salonika) through Lake Doiran and Lake Ostrovon to southern Albania, which was occupied by Italian forces. After Rumania entered the war in August 1916, the Allies conducted an offensive from September to November, which resulted only in the taking of the Monastir (Bitola) region.

A new offensive in April 1917 on the Cerna River ended unsuccessfully. In 1917 the Eastern Army was reinforced with Greek troops, and by 1918 its forces had reached 29 divisions. On Sept. 15, 1918, the Allied forces went over to a determined attack along the Vardar River valley toward Skopje and inflicted a crushing defeat on the Bulgarian-German forces. Bulgaria capitulated and the German Eleventh Army surrendered on September 29, which meant the collapse of the Central Powers’ front in the Balkans.