Map of the German, Austro-Hungarian, and Bulgarian advance into Serbia in October and November, 1915, with the Central Power offensive along the Greek border in August 1916 and the Allied counteroffensive the following month. Map from the Reichsarchiv Herbstschlacht in Macedonien (Autumn battle in Macedonia).

Vormarsch durch Serbien 1915 und Augmarsch an der griechischen Grenze.

Skizze 2

Erläuterung.

Vormarsch im Oktober u. November 1915

Stellung Ende Oktober 1915

Dauerstellung an der griechischen Grenze und Offensive August 1916

Feindlicher Gegenangriff September 1916

1: 2 250 000

'Schlachten des Weltkrieges'

Druck und Verlag von Gerhard Stalling, Oldenburg i. O.



Advance through Serbia 1915 and March on the Greek Border.



Sketch 2



Legend.

Advance in October and November 1915

Position end of October 1915

Stable position on the Greek border and offensive August 1916

Enemy counterattack of September 1916

1:2,250,000



Battles of the World War'



Printing and Publishing Gerhard Stalling, Oldenburg im Osten

Other views: Larger, Larger

Tuesday, September 24, 1918

"Next morning the brigade resumed their march into the hills toward the Babuna Pass. More than twenty miles northeast of them the 17th Colonial Division of General Pruneau and the Yugoslav Division were also moving toward Skopje up the Vardar River, and that same day (September 24) they succeeded in entering the vital town of Gradsko. . . . 'the most important center of all communications in the Macedonian theater of war.'

As the armies wavered in the face of the Allied offensive and the onslaught from the air turned the retreat into a rout, the latent unrest in the country broke into open acts of defiance. On September 23 and 24 left-wing Socialists organized soviets in Pechaev, Berovo, and Tsarevo Selo."

Quotation Context

'The brigade' that 'resumed their march' on September 24, 1918 was a French Moroccan one of the 1st and 4th Chausseur d'Afrique working its way through the mountains west of the Allied advance up the Vardar River valley on the Balkan Front. To the east, what had been intended to be an orderly retreat before the advancing British had turned into a rout when the Royal Air Force strafed and bombed the defenceless Bulgarian First Army moving north through mountain passes. As the Allies continued advancing into occupied Serbia, the Bulgarian home front threatened imminent collapse. The embedded quotation in the first paragraph is by German Commander Paul von Hindenburg.

Source

The Gardeners of Salonika by Alan Palmer, pp. 219 and 225, copyright © 1965 by A. W. Palmer, publisher: Simon and Schuster, publication date: 1965

Tags

1918-09-24, 1918, September, Skopje, Vardar, Vardar River, Gradsko