Salonica (Thessaloniki), a base of Allied operations in the Balkans, suffered enormous damage in the fire of August 18, 19, and 20, 1917. In the postcard, the Quay: Olympos-Palace.
Salonique - Incendie des 18-19-20 Août 1917 - Les Quais Olympos-PalaceSalonica - Fire of 18-19-20 August 1917 - the Quay: Olympus-PalaceReverse:[É]dition Parisiana, ParisImp. Photo. des l'Ablissements Cm Collas & Cie, Cognac (Chte)
"The Great Fire [of Salonica] began in the middle of the afternoon siesta on August 18 [1917] up in the oldest quarter, where jutting stories jostled each other so closely that the narrow street became a wood-roofed arcade. After four rainless months every balcony was tinder dry, and with a fierce northwest wind blowing, the city had as little hope of escaping destruction as Chicago in 1871 or London in 1666. The two oval watering tanks, which formed the municipal fire brigade, were hurriedly pulled up the steep alleys by a noisy and confused crowd of men and boys. But this was little more than a pathetic gesture. Soon people were pouring out of their houses, loading possessions onto donkeys or into carts or dragging beds and clothes and household utensils after them in a panic flight toward the waterfront. With virtually no water in the upper town, the walls in street after street began to crash as though they were trees in a flaming forest."
The Great Fire of Salonica broke out on August 18, 1917, apparently ignited by a small cooking fire. People who fled to the waterfront for safety found themselves threatened from land and sea when petrol from a burning ship set the surface of the harbor near them ablaze. The port of Salonica, Greece, was the primary port for the Allied armies — French, British, Serbian, Russian, and Greek — on the Salonica Front.
The Gardeners of Salonika by Alan Palmer, page 152, copyright © 1965 by A. W. Palmer, publisher: Simon and Schuster, publication date: 1965
1917-08-18, 1917, August, Great Fire of Salonica, Salonica Fire, Salonica, , Great Fire of Salonika, Salonika Fire, Salonika
