The Balkan Battles of Krivolak 1915 and Skopje 1918

[bushfighter]

I walked around Skopje, Macedonia today looking for the Military Museum.

Eventually I was told that there is one but with only one chap in the building - the Director.

But he has no exhibits and there appears little interest in developing the Museum.

(Probably the best artefacts are now in other more modern museums in Skopje.)

Also I could not find a Great War Memorial. One must be somewhere but all the prominent memorials were to characters from the Balkan Wars.

However I did find this graphic picture of the Battle of Krivolak in 1915:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Krivolak

[bushfighter]

This is taken from Tvrdina Fortress, Skopje looking towards the Karsjak Ridge on the skyline - the vital ground that commands the town.

General Jouinot-Gambetta made a very bold attack on Skopje on 29th September 1918 with his 'Brigade Jouinot-Gambetta.

(Official History Part II pages 243-246.)

The French Moroccan Spahis drove the Bulgarian defenders of the ridge whilst the French 1st & 4th Chasseurs d'Afrique had a tougher time in the town where an armoured train held them up.

But the Spahis left a squadron on the ridge and the main body rode into the northern part of the town causing the defenders to retreat up the railway line, having blown the railway bridge over the Vardar River.

The French position in the captured town was precarious as German commanders concentrated to re-take Skopje, but the next day's news of the Bulgarian Armistice caused the Germans to withdraw northwards.