Macedonian front

Macedonian front
Part of the Balkans theatre of World War I

From left to right: Allied soldiers from Indochina, France, Senegal, Great Britain, Russia, Italy, Serbia, Greece, and India.
Date21 October 1915 – 30 September 1918
(2 years, 11 months, 1 week and 2 days)
Location
Macedonia
Result
  • Allied victory
Belligerents
Central Powers:
Allied Powers:
Commanders and leaders
Units involved

Army Group Scholtz

Allied Army of the Orient

Italian XVI Corps
Strength
  • Tsardom of Bulgaria (1908–1946) 550,000 men[4]
  • German Empire 18,000 men[4]
  • 1,217 artillery pieces
  • 2,710 machine guns
  • 30 aeroplanes
  • Austria-Hungary Unknown
  • Ottoman Empire 29,000 men (Dec 1916 – May 1917), afterwards 4,300 (until May 1918).[5]
  • 717,000 men[4]
  • 2,609 artillery pieces
  • 2,682 machine guns
  • 6,434 automatic rifles
  • 200 aeroplanes
Casualties and losses
  • Tsardom of Bulgaria (1908–1946) 200,000 casualties[c] Austria-Hungary German Empire Ottoman Empire Unknown
  • French Third Republic 6,700 killed, 15,600 missing and 16,200 wounded[7][8]
  • Kingdom of Serbia 40,000 casualties[d]
  • Kingdom of Greece 27,000 casualties[e]
  • United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland 26,207 casualties[f]
  • Kingdom of Italy 10,538 casualties[12][g]
  • Russian Empire Unknown

The Macedonian front, also known as the Salonica front (after Thessaloniki), was a military theatre of World War I formed as a result of an attempt by the Allied Powers to aid Serbia, in the autumn of 1915, against the combined attack of Germany, Austria-Hungary and Bulgaria. The expedition came too late and with insufficient force to prevent the fall of Serbia and was complicated by the internal political crisis in Greece (the National Schism). Eventually, a stable front was established, running from the Albanian Adriatic coast to the Struma River, pitting a multinational Allied force against the Bulgarian army, which was at various times bolstered with smaller units from the other Central Powers. The Macedonian front remained stable, despite local actions, until the Allied offensive in September 1918 resulted in Bulgaria capitulating and the liberation of Serbia.

  1. ^ Олейников А. Россия-щит Антанты. С предисловием Николая Старикова.-СПб.:Питер, 2016. – 336 с.-( серия «Николай Стариков рекомендует прочитать») ISBN 978-5-496-01795-4
  2. ^ Korsun 1939, p. 95.
  3. ^ Thomas & Babac 2001, pp. 12–13.
  4. ^ a b c Richard C. Hall, Balkan Breakthrough: The Battle of Dobro Pole 1918, 2010 – p. 134
  5. ^ "Campaigns – Macedonia". Turkeyswar.com. Archived from the original on 2013-12-02. Retrieved 2015-05-19.
  6. ^ a b "Military Casualties-World War-Estimated" Statistics Branch, GS, War Department, 25 February 1924; cited in World War I: People, Politics, and Power, published by Britannica Educational Publishing (2010) p. 219.
  7. ^ Until the Armistice of 11 November 1918. Max Schiavon. Le Front d'Orient. Des Dardanelles à la victoire finale. Tallandier. 2014. p. 114, 368.
  8. ^ "Reporters: How the Salonica Front led to victory in WWI". www.france24.com. 9 November 2018.
  9. ^ Urlanis, Boris (1971). Wars and Population. Moscow: Progress Publishers. pp. 66, 79, 83, 85, 160, 171, 268.
  10. ^ Statistics of the Military Effort of the British Empire During the Great War 1914–1920. The War Office. p. 353.
  11. ^ T. J. Mitchell and G.M. Smith. "Medical Services: Casualties and Medical Statistics of the Great War." From the "Official History of the Great War." pp. 190–191.
  12. ^ Ministero della Difesa: L’Esercito italiano nella Grande Guerra (1915–1918), vol. VII: Le operazioni fuori del territorio nazionale: Albania, Macedonia, Medio Oriente, t. 3° bis: documenti, Rome 1981, Parte Prima, doc. 77, p. 173 and Parte Seconda, doc. 78, p. 351; Mortara, La salute pubblica in Italia 1925, p. 37.


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