100 Years ago this week in the Balkans

[JulianR]

Yes, but it is a locally built tractor at least two of which were built in Salonika, I have seen somewhere this photo as being attributed to the Canadians

[Gardenerbill]

This entry for June 1917 in the 801st MT Coy diary records a test of a petrol tractor built by the company:

 

 

To LIKOVAN in the petrol tractor on Decauville Rly, made by Lt Waithman with 10 H.P. Austin w’shop engine

& Ford axle with a view to seeing if petrol tractors could be made to supersede rail traction

pulled 22 men & large bogie truck but came off road several times as railway very badly ballasted

[JulianR]

Are you sure that is rail traction and not mule traction, mules are known to have been used in Salonika before the Decauville lines were brought up to standard.  By the way on what line were 801 Coy at the time?

[JulianR]

I know that 117 Railway Construction Coy RE built at least 2 Decauville Tractors in their Workshops train

[JulianR]

273 Railway Construction Coy began upgrading the Likovan Line for loco transport in August 1917, previously it had been mule transport

[Gardenerbill]

During February 1918 exchanges with the enemy in the British sector of the line was reduced to patrol contacts. However behind the line work was stepped up on second line defences between LAHANA and KURKUT with extensive use of local labour. At the base depots there was increased use of Mediterranean Labour.

[Gardenerbill]

General Guillaumat requested the British take over the line as far as the river Vardar and placed the 1st (Larissa) Division of the Royal Greek Army, who were finishing training at NARESH, at General Milnes disposal.

[JulianR]

Acting Capt. Kendal joined 19 Railway Operating Company from 33 ROC to take command of 19^th Coy on 6^th February, 1918 vice Temp Capt. Brierley posted to H.Q. Rly Troops as Superintendent Light Railways.  That had been with effect from 21^st January, 1918.  117 Railway Construction Company were busy building the Sarakli-Stravos Light Railway, as was 267 Railway Construction Company, as were 273 Coy

[Gardenerbill]

In February 1917, as part of the defensive improvements, 18 Concrete machine gun emplacements were constructed on the 27^th Division front in the Struma valley. The 320th, 322nd and 345th Siege Batteries returned from Egypt.

[Gardenerbill]

At 11 p.m. on the night of the 26th, “B” Squadron of the Derbyshire Yeomanry marched out to Beglimah in the Struma valley to await the arrival of enemy patrols in the morning.  About 8 a.m. the next day a mounted patrol turned up and was heavily fired on at close range, with the result that five horses were seen to fall and none of their riders were seen to rise.

 

In February 1917 Sir Henry Wilson took over from Sir William Robertson as Chief of the Imperial General Staff. Robertson had been a strong advocate of British withdrawal from the Balkans.

 

Also in February 1917, men no longer fit for front line duty began to be replaced by fit men from the A.S.C. and the R.A.M.C.

[Gardenerbill]

In early March 1918 General Guillaumat submitted a report to General Foch on limited offensive action in Macedonia and at the same time drew up new defensive requirements for the Balkan front. Until this point there hadn’t been a co-ordinated defensive strategy and there was concern that the enemy now had the capability to go on the offensive on any of the European fronts.

[Gardenerbill]

12th March British aeroplanes attacked a train near PORNA causing it to derail.

 

General Guillaumats overall defensive plan was for each of the three Army groups to draw up plans for three lines of withdrawal; in the west the Armee Francais d’Orient plus the Italian 35th Division commanded by General Henrys, in the centre the Serbian Army commanded by General Bojovic and in the east the British and the Greeks commanded by General Milne.

 

13th March General Guillaumat asked General Milne for an outline of his defensive plans. Milne’s plans incorporated defensive positions already in place; the first line would run from the Gulf of Orfano along the heights of the Beshik Dagh then through Kukus to Lake Arjan, the second and third lines were already in place around the entrenched camp at Salonika.

[Gardenerbill]

On the 21st March 1918 Germany launched a major offensive on the western front. The British war cabinet discussed the possibility of moving divisions from Macedonia to the western front, they came to the conclusion that the Salonika divisions were too sick with malaria to move to France.

 

On the 22nd there was a successful air raid on the enemy aerodrome at Drama.

[Gardenerbill]

On the 29th there was a successful raid by the 2nd Glocesters (82nd Bde) near the mouth of the Struma.

In March 1918 the Greek Army dispositions were as follows; Seres, Crete and Archipelago Divisions were in the line on the right bank of the river Vardar, the 1st Division were established in the Struma Valley, the 13th Division training at Naresh, the 2nd and 9th Divisions had been mobilised.

[Gardenerbill]

In April 1918 the German offensive on the western front continued to have an impact in Macedonia.

General Foch the Allied Commander in Chief requested plans from General Guillaumat for holding enemy forces in Macedonia to stop Bulgarian units from being moved to the western front.

The British war cabinet looked again at forces in Macedonia and suggested a reduction per division from 12 Battalions down to 9. General Guillaumat was resistant to any reduction in his forces.

Edited 1 April , 2018 by Gardenerbill

[2ndCMR]

On 12/27/2016 at 04:06, Gardenerbill said:

 

Do the serbians (sic) have an orthodox church similar to the Greeks and Russians?

 

Was this some sort of joke?   What intelligent comment can one make on a war in such a region without some acquaintance with the obvious and important facts of the region?

 

If you want to know why Bosnians and Serbs and Albanians, for example so often hate each other consider the conditions under which they lived during the Turkish yoke.  Christians of course paid the "infidel tax", but worse than that, every five years they paid a "blood tax": the Turks would simply take the best Christian children from their parents.  Parents and children would probably never see each other again as the children were forcibly converted to islam and either enrolled in the Janissaries, sold as slaves, put in the harems (male and female) of the various Turkish officials etc.   Of course, if you wished to avoid this, why you had only to convert to islam and become a "Bosnian"!  

 

I suppose an armchair agnostic can hardly understand the misery and horror of such a choice, but some people can even today.  Of course when you are effectively nothing more than an infidel slave every day of your life, rape and brutality became merely commonplace.  Read about the Bashi-Bazouks during the Balkan War of 1912 if you're curious.

 

And here is some parallel information on the activities of the poor, oppressed co-religionists of the Turks farther east.

 

You can thank the Serbs that you are not an overt German colony today; their heroic resistance in 1941 fatally delayed the beginning of Barbarossa.  Financially you largely are one, but that is entirely your own affair.

[Gardenerbill]

That question certainly was not a joke. I am aware that the Serbs were christians my question was do they have an orthodox church like the Greeks and Russians. The Serbs, Greeks, Romanians, Bulgarians, and Albanians fought the Turkish oppressor and won in the first Balkan war. In the Great war however the Serbs were defeated by the Bulgarians and Austrians, fellow christians and let's not forget it was the British and French who rested, and re-equipped the Serbian Army so that it could fight again. To suggest that the Serbs single handedly saved Europe in two world wars is patently nonsense.

[Steven Broomfield]

Bill, I suspect this "History, and the lessons that can be learned from it by those who do not prefer comforting delusions" from the poster's profile might inform your reaction. He obviously sees himself as a bit of an iconoclast. You, on the other hand, suffer from the comforting delusion that it wasn't the Serbs what won it..

[2ndCMR]

On 4/2/2018 at 12:37, Gardenerbill said:

That question certainly was not a joke. I am aware that the Serbs were christians my question was do they have an orthodox church like the Greeks and Russians. The Serbs, Greeks, Romanians, Bulgarians, and Albanians fought the Turkish oppressor and won in the first Balkan war. In the Great war however the Serbs were defeated by the Bulgarians and Austrians, fellow christians and let's not forget it was the British and French who rested, and re-equipped the Serbian Army so that it could fight again. To suggest that the Serbs single handedly saved Europe in two world wars is patently nonsense.

 

Oh, did I say that?   

 

On 4/3/2018 at 06:38, Steven Broomfield said:

Bill, I suspect this "History, and the lessons that can be learned from it by those who do not prefer comforting delusions" from the poster's profile might inform your reaction. He obviously sees himself as a bit of an iconoclast. You, on the other hand, suffer from the comforting delusion that it wasn't the Serbs what won it..

 

Well old chap, I certainly appreciate your attempt at irony, but I suspect one who doubts the assertion that humans tend to prefer comforting delusions would be the sort of person W.S.C. had in mind when he remarked that ,"the only thing we learn from the study of history is that man learns nothing from the study of history."   Looking for those lessons does not an inconclast make, at least not in my dictionary.

[Gardenerbill]

Back on topic, the Salonika front suddenly sprang to life in April 1918. 

 

11^th April 1918 General Guillaumat asked General Milne for offensive options on the British front; Milne favours attack on Bulgarian flank at the mouth of the Struma, Guillaumat favours the Doiran – Vardar sector.

 

Operations were launched in the Struma valley to convince the Bulgars that a general offensive had begun. Greek 1^st Division achieved its objective of capturing the line from BEGLIK to OSMAN almost unopposed. 81^st Brigade (27th Division) occupied the line from the Greek left at OSMAN to the SERES road, advance and occupation were uneventful. 80^th Brigade occupied the outskirts of PROSENIK, KALENDRA woods and TOPOLOVA.

 

14^th April; the 28^th Division were to push forward to KYUPRI and BAIRAKLI, send out fighting patrols who would conspicuously withdraw in daylight, to try and lure enemy into an ambush.  The KYUPRI patrol were caught in the open suffered heavy losses and the ambush failed.

The 83^rd Brigade operation south of BAIRAKLI JUMA encountered no enemy, however the Gypsy village was found to be strongly held. The enemy attacked the 83rd Brigades outposts forcing them back before they were eventually re-established.

 

15^th April; the Bulgarians attacked PROSENIK in large numbers driving out the 4^th KRRC and inflicting heavy casualties.

 

16^th April; on the XII Corps front, 4 off and 23 ORs embarked near Doiran Sta in small boats and raided Doiran town but found no Bulgars.

[Gardenerbill]

18th April General Briggs ordered the Greek 1st Division to stay in position until the 20th after British divisions withdraw from the outpost line, to gain experience.

Casualties in the Struma valley 14th to 19th April; 349 including 199 missing. General Briggs ordered court of enquiry into the failures.

 

On the XII Corps front the artillery opened fire on 0.4, 0.5 & 0.6 on the Petite Couronne.

20th April the 9th Kings Own raided the enemy works on Petite Couronne, bombing dugouts and taking 2 prisoners.

2 Companies of the 12th Lancs Fusiliers raided 0.2 fierce fighting broke out and 1 Company raided 0.3 successfully.

Losses on the raids 61.

[Gardenerbill]

Here is a summary of the findings of the court of enquiry into the mishaps of the 4th Rifle Brigade and the 2nd Cheshires in April 1918 from the official history:

 

'In both cases the court found that, insistence in the instructions upon camouflage and concealment had so influenced the minds of company commanders that they had entirely neglected protection. Both battalions had dug their trenches deeply, so that the sentries could hardly see out of them, and long grass in any case limited their field of vision to a few yards. At Prosenik there was an observation post at the church, but it seems to have been captured at an early stage. In fact, the two companies here were separated by a large village which gave the enemy a covered approach, and no posts were put out to watch this approach. "C" company's ambush became nothing more than a trap for the defenders, since they could neither observe nor fight from it.’

[Gardenerbill]

In early May General Guillaumat planned for a limited offensive using the Italians west of lake Ochnid at the western end of the line in Albania and offensive action to test the Greek troops in their sector west of the river Vardar.

 

On the 5th May General Guillaumat informed General Milne that the 13th CHALKIS Division of the Royal Greek Army was ready for front line duty.

 

On the 6th May the 11th Royal Welsh Fusiliers raided 0.2, their main objective, a concrete pill box, was successfully blown up.

[Gardenerbill]

During May 1918 the RAF stepped up their bombing raids, for example on the 8th May there was 72 machine air raid on the enemy aerodrome at HUDOVA.

 

Also in May, a British and a French staff General were sent to Salonika to discuss with General Guillaumat, the sending of re-enforcements to France. The British staff officer Lieut. General Sir C.L. Woolacombe obtained agreement to allow 12 British Battalions to be withdrawn. In the spring of 1918 10,000 French troops went on leave but did not return to Salonika. The Greek Government was 'seriously perturbed' by the prospect of withdrawal of British and French forces.

[Gardenerbill]

On the 15th May the Bulgarians attacked the village of PROSENIK in the Struma valley in large numbers driving out 4th KRRC and inflicting heavy casualties.

 

Plans for the Greek Archipelago and Crete divisions offensive action along the river Ljumnica are finalised. To confuse the enemy the French, Serbians and British will carry out artillery bombardments and raids all along the front.