Bulgarian Soldiers, many of them wounded, on the Salonica Front. Bandages on hands, arms, heads, eye, a number with canes, one with crutches.

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On the Balkan Front that ran roughly along the northern border of Greece, French General Franchet d’Esperey, commanded Allied forces — Serbian, French, British, Italian, and Greek — facing three Bulgarian armies. Having received approval from the British, French, and Italian governments, d’Esperey launched an offensive across the entire front on September 15, 1918 after a one-day bombardment. The Serbs, moving through the mountains west of the Vardar River, advanced 20 miles in two days. They took Gradsko, a communication hub, on the 24th as French cavalry (Moroccan Spahis) reached Prilep. The Bulgarian right collapsed.

General Stefan Nerezov commanded the Bulgarian First Army holding the Lake Doiran sector in the east. There the British attacked on the 18th and 19th, but were repulsed with heavy casualties in both assaults. With the collapse of his right wing, and agreeing with the Germans that the Allies' supply problems would only increase as they advanced, Bulgarian General Georgi Todorov, who had replaced Nicola Zhekov as Commander-in-Chief of the Bulgarian Army ten days earlier, concluded that the best action was an orderly retreat and ordered on the 20th the withdrawal of his army holding steadfast against the British. Nerezov and his staff, prepared for further British attacks, were stunned.

The orderly retreat envisaged by Todorov and the Germans was not to be. Two RAF De Havilland 9s observed the Bulgarians streaming north through rocky valleys. Strafed and bombed by the British, the initially orderly withdrawal turned into a rout.

On September 23 and 24, Bulgaria socialists formed soviets in Pechaev, Berovo, and Tsarevo Selo.

Defeated, Bulgaria signed an armistice on September 29, the same day the British breached the Hindenburg Line on the Western Front.

Date: 1918-09-29