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Germany and King Ferdinand of Bulgaria squeeze pincers on Serbia at the city of Nisch. Germany and Austria-Hungary began their joint invasion across Serbia's norther border on October 6, 1915. Bulgaria entered the war on the side of the Central Powers on October 14, and invaded Serbia from the east. Nisch fell to the invaders on November 5.The Serbia capital of Belgrade on the Danube and the city of Monastir on the Greek border are marked with initials.Handmade postcard map dated November 12, 1915.
A Senussi column near the site of an attack on the British in Egypt. The Senussi first rebelled against Italian forces in Libya after Italy seized the territory from the Ottoman Empire. Supported by Turkey in Libya and later by Germany, the Senussi began a guerrilla campaign against the British in Egypt in late 1915, tying down 20,000 troops for over a year.
Postcard of a German soldier guarding French POWs, most of them colonial troops, the colorful uniforms of a Zouave, Spahi, Senegalese, and metropolitan French soldier contrasting with the field gray German uniform. A 1915 postcard by Emil Huber.
Map showing the territorial gains (darker shades) of Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia, Montenegro, and Greece, primarily at the expense of Turkey, agreed in the Treaty of Bucharest following the Second Balkan War. Despite its gains, Bulgaria also lost territory to both Romania and Turkey.
Illustration of Turkish quarters in the Dardanelles from 'Ambassador Morgenthau's Story' by Henry Morgenthau, American Ambassador to Turkey, 1913 to 1916.
"Friday, November 12, 1915Under the double pressure of the Austro-Germans on the north, and the Bulgarians on the east, the unfortunate Serbians have been crushed, despite a heroic resistance.On November 7, the town of Nish, Serbia's ancient metropolis and the birthplace of Constantine the Great, fell into the hands of the Bulgarians. Between Kralievo and Krujevatz, the Austro-Germans have crossed the Western Morava, capturing masses of booty at every step.Yesterday the Anglo-French advance guard established contact with the Bulgarians in the Vardar valley, near Karasu. But the intervention of the Allies in Macedonia has come to late. Before long there will be no more Serbia!" ((1), more)
"The main Serbian forces, by this time, had been rolled back upon the great Kossove Plain, 40 miles long, where they were joined by a hundred thousand Serbian refugees. Here they decided to risk all upon a final decisive battle at Pristina, on the same battleground that saw the defeat of the Serbian Czar Lazar by the Turks in 1389.The battle of Pristina was fought November 13th amidst a ceaseless downpour of rain, with thunder reverberating and lightning flashing. It was reciprocal slaughter, not warfare. Whole regiments were blotted out in a trice. Along that battle line of 40 miles, quarter was neither asked nor given....The Serbians were overwhelmed by the numbers of their enemy and retreated toward Prisrend, leaving 50,000 dead and 50,000 prisoners behind them." ((2), more)
"On November 14 a new war zone was opened, one of the least remembered of the war. On that day, in the deserts of Italian Libya, which before 1912 had been part of the Ottoman Empire, the Senussi tribesmen rose up in revolt against the Allies. Supported by the Turks, the Senussi opened fire at a British-Egyptian border post at Sollum. Two days later, three hundred tribesmen occupied the Zaura monastery at Sidi Barrani. British troops were sent into action, but the tribesmen, with the desert as their hiding place, continued to cause considerable aggravation." ((3), more)
"To improve our routine in the trenches a little bit, they gave us hardly anything to eat, back in the rear. Try working or marching all night, and keeping your spirits up, on an empty stomach!And meanwhile, nice and warm, with full bellies, our officers drank, sang, enjoyed themselves in the village. It was revolting—and it ended up leading the men to revolt.. . .Refusing to work, now that was serious. Prison for sure; perhaps a court-martial. Only one, Private X, persisted in claiming to be ill, and went to bed. The rest left, but in a sign of protest they crossed the village singing the 'Internationale,' which will always be the hymn of the oppressed, the unfortunate ones for whom it is an expression of discontent and of hope." ((4), more)
". . . Kitchener left London to see for himself what was happening at the Dardanelles and in the Aegean. By now his colleagues had come to regard Kitchener as an empty legend, an old warhorse needing the peace of green pastures. But as this frail Bucephalus scented battle some of his former energy returned. A couple of days on Gallipoli, a hurried trip to Salonika to consult Sarrail and Mahon, across to Mudros to umpire a contest in policy between the naval and military authorities, and down to the Piraeus to seek out King Constantine in his palace in Athens . . ." ((5), more)
(1) Entry for November 12, 1915 from the memoirs of Maurice Paléologue, French Ambassador to Russia. The Allied (primarily French) troops under General Maurice Sarrail that had landed at Salonika, Greece at the beginning of October, 1915 were not able to break through the Bulgarian forces barring their route to Serbia. The Serbian army's only route of retreat was westward, out of the country through Albania.
An Ambassador's Memoirs Vol. II by Maurice Paléologue, page 103, publisher: George H. Doran Company
(2) Isolated, cut off from potential Allied reinforcements in Greece, Serbia's army had only one route of retreat, westward, out of the country through Albania to the Adriatic Sea. They fought a final pitched battle against the combined invasion force of German, Austro-Hungarian, and Bulgarian troops.
King's Complete History of the World War by W.C. King, page 191, copyright © 1922, by W.C. King, publisher: The History Associates, publication date: 1922
(3) Italy had seized Libya in the Italo-Turkish War of 1911-12. Encouraged by the defeated Turks, the Senussi rebelled against the Italians, and later attacked the British forces in Egypt. The Senussi attack on Sollum failed, but the British evacuated it on November 23. After having strengthened their position, the British re-occupied Sollum in March, 1916. The Senussi managed to tie down as many as 20,000 British Empire troops for much of 1916.
The First World War, a Complete History by Martin Gilbert, page 210, copyright © 1994 by Martin Gilbert, publisher: Henry Holt and Company, publication date: 1994
(4) Extract from the notebooks of French Corporal Louis Barthas, a socialist whose unit was stationed in Artois in November 1915. In Barthas writings, many of the officers are indifferent to their men, and some of the medical officers are among the worst. On the day, to protest their treatment, the men claim to be sick. Furious that his supper has been interrupted, the medical officer found all of the men fit for duty. Fearful of a court-martial and a punishment that could be death, the men return to their posts, singing in protest.
Poilu: The World War I Notebooks of Corporal Louis Barthas, Barrelmaker, 1914-1918 by Louis Barthas, pp. 134, 135, copyright © 2014 by Yale University, publisher: Yale University Press, publication date: 2014
(5) The Allied invasion of the Gallipoli Peninsula was a costly failure for the Allies, and had come to a stalemate after the August invasion at Suvla Bay that only added a third failed front to those opened in April, 1915. Secretary of State for War Lord Kitchener toured the Aegean front in November, the Dardanelles and the newly opened Salonica front in Greece. Greek King Constantine favored Germany, viewed the Allied landing at Salonica as an invasion of his neutral country, and threatened to inter the Allied troops. Maurice Sarrail commanded the French troops trying to break through the Bulgarians to aid Serbia. Bucephalus was the horse of Alexander the Great.
The Gardeners of Salonika by Alan Palmer, page 47, copyright © 1965 by A. W. Palmer, publisher: Simon and Schuster, publication date: 1965
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