Battles, Birdcages, and Boredom in the Balkans: The Salonika Campaign

Did you know British troops served in Greece during World War One? Join us on a journey to Macedonia for an overview of the often-overlooked Salonika Campaign.

The Salonika Campaign

What was the Salonika Campaign?

Image: The 219th Battalion, London Regiment, at rest on the Macedonia Front, 1916 (IWM (Q 32638))

The Salonika Campaign, also known as the Macedonian Front, was a First World War campaign fought in Greece between October 1915 and September 1918. It gets its name from the old name of Thessaloniki in Northern Greece.

The Salonika Theatre covered parts of modern-day Greece, Northern Macedonia, and Albania, with some later actions taking place in Bulgaria. Fighting covered a 250-mile front, with the British controlling a 90-mile stretch, ranging from Albania to the mouth of the River Sturma in Greece.

Men fought and fell across wide open valleys and plains, amidst tangled masses of hills and rocky escarpments, and up and down plunging ravines. Several lakes dotted the area, providing a haven for teeming malaria-carrying mosquitoes.

Who fought on the Macedonia Front in World War One?

Image: The multinational men of the Allied Army of the Orient (IWM)

Several powers sent armies to fight in Salonika, creating one of the most varied multinational forces of the Great War.

The Allied coalition included France, Great Britain, Greece, Italy, Russia, and Serbia. Facing them was a coalition of Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, and Imperial Germany.

By 1917, over 600,000 Allied soldiers from six member nations were stationed on the Macedonian Front.

The British Salonika Force (BSF), under the command of Lieutenant General Sir George Milne, numbered over 225,000. This included six infantry divisions, split into two corps, featuring regiments and battalions from England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales.

Indian army labour and transport units, such as the Mule Corps, joined the force, as did Maltese labourers, and Australian, Canadian, and New Zealand medical personnel.

The overall force assembled for action in Macedonia was called the Allied Army of the Orient. It was commanded by French general Maurice Sarraill.

Why did British and Commonwealth troops fight in Salonika?

Image: Battered, freezing Serb soldiers navigate a snow-covered mountain pass on their retreat (Wikimedia Commons)

The complex web of Balkan politics led to several regional conflicts in the buildup to World War I and influenced Allied decisions to send troops there as the war progressed.

However, the main catalyst was the defeat of Serbia in October 1915. Britain and France had promised Serbia military aid earlier in the war, but this was massively delayed until the situation became too dire to ignore.

The first Allied troops arrived in Salonika on 5 October 1915. They were amazed by the cosmopolitan look and feel of the port city, still retaining its Ottoman flavour, with scents, smells, and languages from every corner of the globe greeting the disembarking Allied soldiers.

The following day, the Central Powers launched a massive attack on the Serbian army. Overwhelmed, the Serbs retreated over the mountains through Montenegro into Albania. On 13 October, Bulgaria declared war on Serbia and joined the attack.

Sick, hungry, exhausted, and running low on ammunition and supplies, the Serbs were overwhelmed.

Along with the king, prime minister, diplomats and more civilians, the Serbian Army was forced into a headlong retreat, suffering many depredations as it traversed through the mountains of Montenegro for the Albanian Coast.

The Serbs remained hemmed in until mid-1916, when the remnants of the Serbian Army were evacuated by Italian troopships to Corfu in Greece and later to Salonika.

The Allies respond

Image: A snow-covered British HQ, showing the savage winters facing the troops in Macedonia (IWM)

Allied forces went forward to attempt to relieve pressure on the beleaguered Serbs. French troops engaged Bulgarian forces at the Battle of Krivolak. The French fought back until the French War Office ordered General Sarraill to cease offensive operations and pull back into Greece.

During all this, Greece was still officially neutral. The build-up of Allied troops was allowed by the country’s pro-Allied prime minister, Eleutherios Venizelos, much to the chagrin of King Constantine, who happened to be German Emperor Kaiser Wilhelm’s brother-in-law.

With the French’s rear flank potentially exposed to Greek attacks, Sarraill was hamstrung.

By now, winter was beginning to set in. Winter clothing was in very short supply. Proper shelter was lacking. Men at the front suffered greatly from exposure, frostbite, and windchill, battered by blizzards, hailstorms, and driving, freezing rain.

In his diary for 28 November 1915, Captain Noel Drury of the Royal Dublin Fusiliers, wrote:

"The snow kept on falling yesterday evening and part of the night, and then changed to a most intense frost.

"This morning everything is frozen hard and every track is too slippery to walk on… Our overcoats are frozen hard, and when some of the men tried to beat theirs to make them pliable to lie down in they split like matchwood. The men can hardly hold their rifles as their hands freeze to the cold metal.

We had an enormous sick parade this morning nearly 150 men reporting. There are many bad cases of frostbite in hands and feet."

The Battle of Kosturino

Image: HQ bivouac of the 5th Connaught Rifles amid the hills of Kosturino (© The rights holder (Q 55130))

The first British battle of the Salonika Campaign was the Battle of Kosturino, fought in December 1915.

The 10th (Irish Division) took over a front-line ridge at Kosturino close to the Greek border at Lake Doiran on 20 November. Its goal was to halt the Bulgarian advance and prevent enemy forces from cutting off Allied lines of retreat.

Kosturino’s rocky terrain made digging in difficult, with the deepest trenches measuring around two feet. They offered little protection from Bulgarian gunfire, nor the sub-zero temperatures creeping in.

The main British force was dug in on a craggy hill called Rocky Peak. A Bulgarian artillery bombardment on the British positions began on 4 December, two days before the main infantry attack.

Men of the Connaught Rifles held the first wave back a short distance from their line, but they were eventually overwhelmed. Rocky Peak was recaptured in hand-to-hand combat by the Royal Fusiliers until they were driven off on the 7th.

On 11 December, a Bulgarian breakthrough occurred with the capture of an important ammunition dump and communications hub at Bodganci. The Allies continued to evacuate towards Salonika, crossing the Greek Border later that evening.

During the retreat, the 9th King’s Own Royal Regiment was cut off from its comrades, starting to fall back in the early morning of 12 December. On their way, the men encountered a group of fellow soldiers resting by the road.

Realising too late that these were Bulgarian troops, the regiment was caught in a bayonet charge with the loss of over 120 British soldiers killed or wounded.

Kosturino had cost the British over 1,200 casualties, including 99 dead, more than 380 wounded, and over 720 missing. What’s more, the harsh winter conditions forced the evacuation of over 1,600 sick and wounded soldiers.

Building the Birdcage: Life on the Macedonian Front

Image: A British bivouac camp integrated into the Birdcage defences (IWM (Q 31843))

With the retreat into Greece, the Allies had established a clearly defensible line, much easier to fortify and patrol than the old Serbian front – albeit one over the territory of a nominally neutral nation.

Allied troops began reinforcing their position, building a network of barbed wire-lined trenches known as “The Birdcage”.

Captain Noel Drury described the men’s handiwork in an 8 January 1916 diary entry:

“We have now started digging a new defensive line. It is very different work from Gallipoli. There we had to dig in anywhere we happened to be, whether it was well sited or not, but here we can site our trenches and redoubts so as to give the best field of fire…

"The work on the trenches, MG [machine-gun] emplacements and redoubts goes on fast. We have done an enormous amount of revetting trenches with brush wood so that they won’t fall in…

"The wire entanglements are wonderful and I hear that we have used no less than 1,000 miles of wire per mile of front."

The Birdcage extended for 20 miles or so around Salonika port. By placing it as far forward as possible, the defences could also double as a staging point for any potential invasion of Bulgaria. Likewise, they protected the British line of retreat, should evacuation be required.

With supply bases now being established, and engineers and labourers constructing better roads and rail links, the men and the front could be better supplied with appropriate clothing, food, and medical supplies.

That said, getting supplies to frontline troops was no easy task. Even as transport links were improved, the humble mule still proved the best way to move materiel around the front. Indian Army and Maltese transport and labour troops were instrumental in this role at Salonika.

Image: Troops enjoy a Christmas football match to alleviate the boredom, Salonika (IWM (Q 31576))

Because of the terrain and conditions, the fighting in Macedonia was more sporadic than in places like the Western Front. The soldiers had more downtime, outside of patrolling, leading to the formation of sporting societies. Football was very popular among the British Salonika Force, with inter-regimental and divisional games taking place.

The men lived in essentially camp-like conditions when not at the front, with living quarters, messes, and medical sites built under tents, bivouacs, and dugouts.

In 1916, the British were holding positions in the area east of the Vardar River, trenches west of Lake Doiran, and were on active patrol in the Sturma Valley to the east. Cavalry and bicycles were used for scouting patrols and to reinforce local villages to deny them to the Bulgarians.

Such was the inactivity of the Macedonian Front, and the amount of time men spent digging and reinforcing positions, that they earned the nickname “The Gardeners of Salonika”, after an outburst from French Premier Georges Clemenceau.

Heat & disease

Image: A British bicycle patrol combes the Macedonian countryside (National Army Museum)

It wasn’t just enemy forces or biting cold these men had to deal with: come the summer, the twin scourges of Salonika arose.

Macedonia’s lakes are a breeding ground for mosquitoes. Hundreds of millions of tiny disease carriers lurked over the region’s waterways, bearing that most deadly of cargoes: malaria.

Malaria was a huge problem for the British Salonika Force and was its main source of illness. As many as 160,000 men came down with the disease while campaigning in Greece, greatly stretching the BSF’s combat and medical capabilities. Over 400,000 servicemen were hospitalised with illness on the Salonika front in total.

At the peak of summer, both sides were forced to withdraw from the Sturma Valley, at that time one of the most malarial places in the world, to avoid more losses.

As well as sickness, the Greek summer brought intense heat. Temperatures could reach as high as 44ºC in the summer months. Troops succumbed to heatstroke, and any movement usually took place at night.

Because of the wild extremes of heat and cold, fighting in Salonika generally took place between April and June and September-October, although major operations did take place in August, weather permitting.

Otherwise, the conditions simply made it too difficult to even move reliably, let alone fight.

Morale was low among the men of the BSF. If they weren’t in the cut and thrust and white-eyed terror of combat or recovering from wounds or illness in a hospital bed, or not sheltering from the weather, they were often bored. For vast swathes of their time in Salonika, the line was static.

In Salonika itself, 18 general and stationary hospitals were set up to treat the sick and wounded, including three Canadian hospitals, although no Canadian troops took part in the fighting.

The Battles of Lake Doiran

Image: British troops dig in at Doiran (IWM (HU 81087))

For the British Salonika Force, the key battles were situated around Lake Doiran.

In April 1917, the British 22nd, 26th, and 60th Divisions launched attacks on Bulgarian defences around Lake Doiran and on the River Vardar. A Franco-Serb offensive was taking place simultaneously to the west, with the British acting as a diversionary force.

A joint Anglo-French attack had been put in on the same part of the line in August 1916 and repulsed. In the downtime, the Bulgarians bolstered their defences and reinforced. A deep trench system, barbed wire nests, and artillery positions perched atop commanding heights awaited the oncoming Brits.

To make matters worse, the British soldiers would have to advance up steep ridges and ravines over difficult, uneven ground, making for hard going.

The attacks began on the night of April 24/25, 1917, following a four-day artillery barrage. Some of the outer Bulgarian strongpoints were destroyed by the British guns, but incessant counter-battery fire and machine gun fire held up the attacks.

Successive waves of British soldiers enjoyed some early success, but the determined Bulgarian resistance through them back. By April 27, the first phase of the battle was over. The British attacked again on May 8, but the assault was finally called off the following day.

The British lost some 12,000 killed, captured or wounded at Doiran in April 1917, of whom more than 2,250 were buried by the Bulgarians.

The Third Battle of Doiran commenced on 18 September 1918. Several important changes had coloured the campaign’s final stages.

At home, the Bulgarian population was starving from the effects of a protracted war while its manpower reserves dwindled. General Sarraill was replaced by General Louis Franchet d’Espèrey, known as “Desperate Frankie” to the Brits. D’Espèrey aimed at breaking the Central Powers’ lines once and for all.

Another seismic shift was Greece’s entry into the war on the side of the Western Allies. The pro-Allied faction, fronted by Prime Minister Venizelos and prominent Greek generals, essentially exiled their pro-German king after the loss of territory previously won at hard cost in the Balkan Wars.

Not only did this secure the Allies’ rear flank, but it also meant Greek troops were allowed to go on the offensive.

D’Espèrey’s plan called for the BSF and Greek allies would attack Bulgarian defences at Lake Doiran while French and Serb forces would attack the Vardar Valley.

Image: A rare night view of a British bombardment at Doiran viewed from British positions in the hills close to the southern shore of Lake Doiran.

On September 18, the British 22nd Division, supported by the Greek Serres Division, went into battle to the left of the line. Their objective was a piece of high ground called Pip Ridge.

The first attacks passed through the first Bulgarian trenches, with some Greek units reaching the second line, but a fierce Bulgarian counterattack halted momentum. By the end of the day, the Allied attackers had been thrown back with heavy losses.

Elsewhere, Greek and British attacks went in on Lake Doiran’s northern shore. The Greek Cretan Division attacked hard over a wide, flat, exposed area to reach Bulgarian positions nestled in the nearby hills. Despite making several small, repeated breakthroughs, the Greeks found themselves repulsed each time.

The following day, on the 19th, the Greeks and British attacked again with similar results: halted and turned back by relentless Bulgarian firepower. No advance was made in the north of the sector after the heavier losses sustained the day before.

Over the two days, the Greek and British forces had lost up to 7,820 servicemen killed, missing, or wounded.

End of the Salonika Campaign

A few days after the final clash at Doiran, British patrols noticed the Bulgarian positions were unusually quiet. Venturing cautiously forward, they noticed the defences had been abandoned; the Bulgarian army had quietly retreated.

While the BSF was engaged at Lake Doira, the Franco-Serb offensive in the Vardar Valley had been a complete success. The force was on route to Doira with the Bulgarian First Army pulling back.

Tired, battered British troops gave chase but followed slowly while RAF aircraft harried the retreating Bulgarians.

By 30 September, the long Salonika Campaign was over. The Bulgarians, to avoid their country being occupied, travelled to Salonika, where the Allies accepted their surrender.

While fighting remained on the Western Front, the Salonika Campaign was wrapped up some two months before the Armistice was signed in November 1918.

Was the Salonika Campaign a success?

The Salonika Campaign was an Allied victory, but a controversial one.

Despite this, Salonika generates debate among historians:

• Too late – By the time the Allies had arrived in Greece in force, they were too late to stop the defeat of the Serbian Army. The French and British presence also did not prevent Bulgaria from joining the war.
• Costly – Salonika tied down a large number of Allied troops, who some historians believe could have been used more effectively in other theatres, i.e., the Western Front
• Static – The Salonika Campaign dragged on for three years with very little actual combat for reasons we’ve touched on earlier. Men’s morale plummeted due to boredom and disease, and the loss of men to sickness for small territorial gains had some questioning the validity of the Macedonian Front.
• Influenced by politics – The ongoing political instability of Greece hampered the war effort until it entered into the war in 1917 on the Allies’ side. Likewise political pressure from France and a clash of personalities among Allied personnel harmed the Salonika Campaign.,

However, there were some plus points.

Bulgaria was the first of the Central Powers to capitulate. This left the Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian Empires vulnerable and exposed to attack, marking the beginning of the unravelling of the Central Powers and the end of the war in Europe.

Even so, the Salonika Front remains a relatively little-known theatre of the Great War, demonstrating the global commitment of Great Britain and her empire during wartime.

Casualties of the Salonika Campaign

British and Commonwealth forces lost around 8,000 men in combat during the Salonika Campaign. Of those, around 2,675 are casualties with no known grave or whose final resting places are inaccessible or lost.

More than 4,000 men succumbed to sickness in Macedonia. In fact, just 5% of the BSF’s losses came from combat. While the majority of those who fell ill did not die, they were still off the line for weeks and months, greatly reducing the British Salonika Force’s combat capabilities.

Where are the Commonwealth servicemen of Salonika commemorated?

You will find Commonwealth War Graves cemeteries and war memorials across the former Salonika Front as well as in Thessaloniki itself.

Salonika Campaign casualty stories

Private Ben Vinge

Image: Private Ben Vinge

Before World War I, Ben Vinge, son of George Edward and Sarah Emma Vinge of 1 Cedar Street, Accrington, Lancashire, was employed as a calico bleacher. Ben was born on the 17th April 1892, the second of five children, to George and Sarah (née Hankinson) in Oldham. The family later moved to Haslingden and then to Accrington.

Ben served in the 13th Battalion, Manchester Regiment. The battalion formed part of the 22nd Division that crossed to France in early September 1915; however, the Division was soon moved to the eastern front, arriving in Salonika, Greece by November.

In the following year, 1916, the Manchesters may have been involved in the battles of Horseshoe Hill (August) and Machukovo (September); however, the fiercest fighting took place in April and May 1917 in the Battles of Doiran during which the Manchesters suffered their heaviest casualties, including Ben Vinge who was killed in the first battle just a week after celebrating his 25th birthday.

Ben Vinge was awarded the 1914-15 Star, the British War Medal and the Victory medal. His death is commemorated on the Doiran Memorial, Greece.

Volunteer Marjory Elizabeth (Elma) Gordon

Image: Elizabeth "Elma" Gordon

Elizabeth Marjory Gordon was the second child of William Gordon and Harriet Elizabeth Steuart who married on 9 August 1871 at Cairnfield House, Kenzie, Banffshire. Widower William was the son of the 9th Laird of Cornfield and a General in the Indian Army. Elizabeth was born in Simla, Bengal on 14 March 1874 and taken for baptism on 15 April.

Elizabeth, known as Elma in the family, was educated by private governesses, completing her education in Dusseldorf, Germany. Harriet had seven more children after Elizabeth was born, before moving back to England and in 1891 most of the family was living at York Road in Bideford.

William, aged 67 described himself as Lieutenant General, H.M. Army, Bengal (Staff Corps). Elizabeth wasn’t at home, aged 17, she was likely still in Dusseldorf. By 1901 the Gordons had moved to Tavistock Road, Croydon, which became the family home.

William had achieved the rank of General and Elizabeth, then aged 27, was the eldest of the four offspring still at home. A cook, table maid and housemaid supported the household. Elizabeth’s mother died in 1908 and when the 1911 census return was made Elizabeth and younger brother Edward, on leave from his post as Consul in Japan, were the only family left at home with their father.

It appears that Elizabeth may have taken over the running of the household after her mother’s death, probably supervising the three live-in servants. In April 1917 Elizabeth’s father died at home aged 93. Just a few weeks later Elizabeth volunteered her services to the Red Cross. She was engaged as a volunteer nurse and gave her address c/o Miss Tooney, 59 Friend’s Road, Croydon.

Elizabeth served from 16 -24 July 1917 at the Auxiliary Military Hospital Henham Hall, Wangford, Suffolk before sailing to Salonkia on 28 July. Elizabeth worked at the Military Hospital in Salonika, but sadly contracted malaria and died at 43rd General Hospital Salonika 11 September 1917 aged 43. Her matron wrote ‘She was a good worker, and I thought highly of her.’

Elizabeth was buried in Mikra British Cemetery, Kalamaria and when the Commonwealth War Graves Commission took over responsibility for the proper remembrance of those lost during the war, her sister Aymee paid for the inscription to be added to Elizabeth’s headstone. ‘Blessed are all they that fear the Lord and walk in His ways. Psalm 128.v1’.

Got a story from the Salonika Campaign? Share it on For Evermore

For Evermore: Stories of the Fallen is our online resource for sharing the memories of the Commonwealth’s war dead.

It’s open to the public to share their family histories and the tales of the service people commemorated by Commonwealth War Graves so that we may preserve their legacies beyond just a name on a headstone or a memorial

If you have a story to tell of a casualty we care for who fell in Salonika, we’d love to hear it! Head to For Evermore to upload and share it for all the world to see.