French General Maurice Sarrail decorating officers near the frame of German Zeppelin shot down on May 5, 1916 by naval gunners in view of the citizens of Salonica, Greece. General Sarrail commanded the Allied troops at the front that included French, British, Serbian, Russian, and Italian troops, as well as a battalion of Montenegrin soldiers. The Zeppelin's frame is in the background, and civilians are among the observers of the ceremony.
Reverse:Salonicco — Il Gen. Sarrail distribuisce decorazioni nei pressi della carcassa dello ZeppelinSalonique — Remise de décorations à des officiers devant la carcasse du Zeppelin par le Gen. SarrailSalonica — Gen. Sarrail decorating officers before the Carcass of a ZeppelinEditeur Hananel Naar — SaloniqueProprieté réservéeHandwritten:Orient — Vive la (?) VictorEast — Long live the Victor!
"On Thursday morning [May 10, 1917] there was a disastrous breakdown in the Allied system of command. Sarrail had ordered a resumption of the attack at eight in the morning. And, at that hour, an Italian regiment and three companies of French infantry valiantly rushed forward and seized the German trenches. But nobody supported them. At 7:30 the attack had been canceled because not all the French units were in position. French headquarters failed to inform the Italians and were apparently unable to reach one of their own colonial battalions, as the enemy bombardment had shot away the telephone wires. It was a ghastly shambles and an error for which the Italians, already fretting about Sarrail's exercise of authority, never forgave the French command."
French General Maurice Sarrail commanded an Allied Army that included French, British, Serbian, Russian, and Italian units on the Salonica Front extending across northern Greece and into Serbia. They faced a Bulgarian army supported by German troops. On May 8, British troops attacked on the eastern end of the Allied line in the first action of Sarrail's 1917 spring offensive. The other national forces attacked on the ninth, but made little progress. Sarrail tried again on the 11th with no success.
The Gardeners of Salonika by Alan Palmer, page 128, copyright © 1965 by A. W. Palmer, publisher: Simon and Schuster, publication date: 1965
1917-05-10, 1917, May, Salonica Front, Sarrail, Maurice Sarrail
