Vardar offensive

Vardar offensive
Part of the Macedonian front and Balkans Theatre of World War I

A Bulgarian telephone station at Lake Doiran, March 1917
Date15–29 September 1918
Location
Result
  • Allied victory
Belligerents
Commanders and leaders
Units involved

German Empire Army Group Scholtz

Allied Army of the Orient

Strength
  • Tsardom of Bulgaria (1908–1946) 2 armies
  • 500 artillery pieces
  • French Third Republic 3 divisions
  • 822 artillery pieces
  • Kingdom of Serbia 2 corps
  • Kingdom of Greece 6 divisions
  • United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland 4 divisions
  • Kingdom of Italy 1 division
Casualties and losses
  • Tsardom of Bulgaria (1908–1946) Unknown dead and wounded
  • 77,000 captured
  • 500 artillery pieces lost
  • French Third Republic 3,449
  • Kingdom of Serbia 3,215
  • United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland 4,589
  • Kingdom of Greece 5,295
  • Kingdom of Italy 747
  • Total: 17,295 casualties[3]

The Vardar offensive (Bulgarian: Офанзива при Вардар) was a World War I military operation, fought between 15 and 29 September 1918. The operation took place during the final stage of the Balkans Campaign. On 15 September, a combined force of Serbian, French, and Greek troops attacked the Bulgarian-held trenches in Dobro Pole ("Good Field"), at the time part of Serbia (present-day North Macedonia). The assault and the preceding artillery preparation had devastating effects on Bulgarian morale, eventually leading to mass desertions.

On 18 September, a second Entente formation assaulted the Bulgarian positions in the vicinity of Lake Doiran. Effectively employing machine gun and artillery fire the Bulgarians managed to stall the Allied advance on the Doiran sector. However the collapse of the front at Dobro Pole forced the Bulgarians to withdraw from Doiran. The Allies pursued the German 11th Army and the Bulgarian 1st Army, while pushing deeper into Vardar Macedonia. By 29 September, the Allies had captured the former HQ of Skopje, thus endangering the remnants of the 11th Army.

The parallel development of the anti-monarchist Radomir Rebellion forced Bulgaria to sign the Armistice of Salonica and withdraw from the war. The treaty included the full capitulation of the 11th Army, bringing the final tally of Bulgarian and German prisoners to 77,000 and granting the Allies 500 artillery pieces. The Bulgarian downfall turned the strategic and operational balance of the war against the Central Powers. The Macedonian Front was brought to an end at noon on 30 September, when the ceasefire came into effect.

  1. ^ Korsun 1939, p. 95.
  2. ^ Thomas & Babac 2001, pp. 12–13.
  3. ^ Omiridis Skylitzes 1961, p. 224.


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