Armies in the Balkans 1914 1918

[geofffox]

Dear All

I’m researching the armies that were engaged in the Balkans between 1914 and 1918. In particular, I am trying to locate any sources that provide detailed Orders of Battle for the following nations’ armies: Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania, Russia, Austria-Hungary, Germany, Greece, France, Montenegro, The Ottoman Empire, and Italy.

At present, I have the following books:

1. Armies of the Balkan States 1914 – 1918, compiled by the General Staff in 1915

2. Armies in the Balkans 1914 – 1918, published by Osprey.

The first of these provides excellent detailed information, but mainly for the pre-war composition and distribution of the armies; while the Osprey book gives only a brief overview of the armies with very little analysis of the army below divisional or brigade level.

I’m also looking for any books that examine the following campaigns:

1. The Serbian Campaigns 1914 – 1916

2. The Romanian Campaigns 1916 -1918

Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

As the level of traffic on the Salonika and Balkans thread is relatively low, I thought I'd try my luck here.

Regards

Geoff

[Ron Clifton]

Hello Geoff

For the British orbats, they are given in these files at Kew:

WO 95/5473 Mediterranean Expeditionary Force 1915 Apr.-Dec. (i.e. Gallipoli)

WO 95/5474 Egypt 1914 Dec. - 1918 Apr.

WO 95/5475 Egypt 1918 May - 1921 Oct.

WO 95/5476 Salonika 1915 Nov. - 1919 Jan.

WO 95/5477 Black Sea, Caucasus 1919 Mar. - 1920 Dec.

WO 95/5478 Turkey 1922 July - 1923 June

Simplified versions, together with skeleton orbats of other nations, are given as appendices in the Official History, Military Operations, Macedonia (two volumes).

Information for France is given in Tome X of "Les Armees Francaises dans la Grande Guerre" which is available online: http://toaw.free.fr/afgg/ but it is by armies, corps and divisions rather than by theatre, so you may have a long trawl: Start with "Armee d'Orient" under Armies, and the adjacent entries, and you should be able to filter down to the divisions you want.

Ron

[geofffox]

Hi Ron

Thanks for the reply to my post regarding Orbats for the armies which fought on the Balkans Front; the website was exactly what I was looking for. I'll look at the Official History, Military Operations, Macedonia, as soon as possible, However, when you mentioned that they were skeloton orbats, would this mean that they don't offer details below divisional level? As I'm specifically looking for orbats that examine the armies at battlion level, especially for the Russian, Serbian, Italian, and Bulgarian armies.

Kind Regards

Geoff

[Ron Clifton]

Hello Geoff

Yes, the orbats in the British OH for Macedonia generally only go down to divisional level, although the composition of Greek divisions with the British (the Seres and Crete Divisions) is given down to infantry regiments in Vol II Appendix 3, and the breakdown of Bulgarian forces (and their allies) as at the Armistice on 30 September 1918 is given in Appendix 4 of Vol II for infantry regiments only.

In all cases, I think that only forces directly opposed to, or fighting alongside, the British are covered. However, there are some details of the composition in general, rather than by specific units, of the divisions of the other powers.

Ron

[MartinWills]

A French ORBAT for the Salonika campaign has been published in the Salonika Campaign Society magazine - "The New Mosquito"