A Zeppelin shot down in Salonica, Greece, on May 5, 1916. Of the incident, Alan Palmer in 'The Gardeners of Salonika' wrote, 'The destruction of a Zeppelin by naval gunners on May 5 in full view of the people of Salonika also raised the spirits of the troops, especially among the British contingent, for their families at home had already been subjected to raids of this type and it was to be another four months before the first Zeppelin was shot down on English soil.' (page 62)
Salonique — Les restes du Zeppelin abattu à l'embouchure du VardarSalonica - The remains of the Zeppelin shot down at the mouth of the Vardar RiverPropriété réservéeAll rights reserved.Logo: IPA CT AutocromoProduzione Italiana
"By the end of January 1916 the entrenched camp already contained a remarkable concentration of Allied military and naval power. Rather more than 160,000 men were confined in an area about twice the size of the Isle of Wight, four-fifths of the force within a twenty-mile radius of the port. The nearest Bulgarian posts were twenty-five miles from the fortified line, along the old Greco-Serbian frontier. Beyond the Bulgars and the Allies lay a no man's land which, apart from the Vardar valley and the wooded slopes around Lake Doiran, was bare and mountainous. Occasionally there would be cavalry skirmish between reconnaissance groups or an exchange of artillery fire, but for days on end there was no contact with the enemy—only the monotony of digging and filling sandbags or the tedium of training exercises."
The Entente Allies had been too late in their attempt to save Serbia from being overrun by the German-Austro-Hungarian-Bulgarian invasion in October and November, 1915. France and Britain had landed troops at Salonica, Greece and moved north, but had been prevented from providing any relief by Bulgarian forces. Having failed, the British were eager to abandon the new front, as they were soon to evacuate Gallipoli, the French argued for staying, getting the better of the argument. By late January 1916, Gallipoli had been abandoned, and Salonica reinforced.
The Gardeners of Salonika by Alan Palmer, page 52, copyright © 1965 by A. W. Palmer, publisher: Simon and Schuster, publication date: 1965
1916-02-03, 1916, January, February, Salonica, Salonika,