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Royal United Services Institution. Journal ISSN: 0035-9289 (Print) (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rusi19 The Battle of Sokol-Dobropolgie: 15Th and 16Th September, 1918 Major T. E. Compton To cite this article: Major T. E. Compton (1922) The Battle of Sokol-Dobropolgie: 15Th and 16Th September, 1918, Royal United Services Institution. Journal, 67:468, 642-651, DOI: 10.1080/03071842209420221 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03071842209420221 Published online: 11 Sep 2009. Submit your article to this journal Article views: 4 View related articles Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=rusi19 Download by: [University of Exeter] Date: 20 May 2016, At: 05:19 THE BATTLE OF SOHOL-DOBROPOLGIE : 15th AND 16th SEPTEMBER, 1918. APART from its results in bringing about the complete surrender of the Bulgarian Government in less than a fortnight after the opening of the battle, this Allied victory deserves to be known in some detail for its tactical and strategical lessons, of which two in particular are of the first importance-@) The Battle of Sokol-Dobropolgie is an example of victory gained by breaking a fortified front in a sector deemed by its defenders to be impregnable; and (2) the strategic pursuit that followed was perhaps the most effective since Jena. The battle was part of a greater one, just as the Battle of Flanders in the following October was part of the great combined offensive of the Allies in France. It was the prelude of the general issault of French, Italians, British and Greeks, which began on 18th September and lasted to the 24th,l during which time the Serbs with Allied cavalry pushed their advantage towards the Vardar at Krivolak and Demir Kapu on the one side, and towards the Monastir-Veles road, at Prilep, on the other, with the object of effecting beyond repair the strategic fracture of the enemy's front. The part taken by British troops in the offensive of the 18th-qth September could not in the nature of things-their strength having been reduced to less than four divisions-be of the same predominance as in Lord Allenby's victory of 19th September in Palestine, which, occurring as it did at the same time, overshadowed whatever interest there was, from a national point of view, in the doings of the British contingent in Macedonia; and the decisive attack of the 15th-16th had been delivered by Serbs and French. But British tenacity in attack- Downloaded by [University of Exeter] at 05:19 20 May 2016 ing with the utmost determination, on the 18th, and'again on the Igth, a fortified position west of Lake Doiran which had hitherto resisted all attempts to take it, facilitated in no small measure General Franchet d'Esperey's operations west of the Vardar. The combat of Lake Doiran was in fact a holding attack which retained the 1st Bulgarian Army f6r six days.longer+ght days altogether-on a front which had previously been broken, and rendered possible the total dislocation of the enemy's dispositions in this quarter, leading up to the astounding success of the strategic pursuit already referred to. As a French General held the supreme command of the Allied Forces in the Balkans, the French is presumably the' official name for the l Called by the French The BaUIe of Mo?raslir-Doira,t. THE BATTLE OF SOKOL-DOBROPOLGIE 643 victory of the 1gth-16th September, 1918-Sokol-Dobropolgie. But the Serbs call it the Battle of the hloglenitza, because the river of this name, a tributary of the Vardar, has its sources in the mountainous region of which the Sokol, the Dobropolgic, Vetrenik, Dzena, &c., are the principal heights, averaging about 6,000 ft. above the level of the sea. Since the capture of RIonastir by the Allies in 1917, the Germano- Bulgarian front ran from the Okhrida Lake to the Gulf of Orfano; that is to say, from Albania to the Egean Sea, through hIala Rapa, Guevgueli, Lake Doiran (north of) to the mouth of the Struma. About the Sokol-Dobropolgie, the line coincided more or less with the Serbo- Greek frontier; about Lake Doiran it was just south of the Bulgarian frontier. Although, owing to events in France, the German units had nearly all been withdrawn, a German, General von Scholtz, still commanded in chief the Bulgarian armies, with headquarters at Uskub. Mackensen was at Bucarest. From December, 1917, to June, 1918, General Guillaumat \vas in command of the Allied forces, when, having been appointed Military Governor of Paris (including the entrenched camp) he was relieved of his command in the Balkans by General Franchet d‘Esperey. During his six months of command, General Guillaumat had succeeded in reconciling differences between the staffs of the various contingents, thus raising the moral value of the Salonica Army at the very time when, on account of the scarcity of food, the enemy’s morale was becoming affected by a spirit of discontent. In the spring of 1918, there had been food riots at Sofia, Philipponopoli, Tirnova and other places, while at Nish (Serbia) in June an extraordinary affair of indiscipline occurred, prompted, no doubt, by want of bread stuffs, A flour train of closed wagons marked heavy artillery,” from Sofia for Germany, was stopped at Nish by Bulgarian soldiers, who killed the engine-driver and the station-master (both Germans) and pillaged the train. Before giving over his command, General Guillaumat had advanced the front south-weest of Guevgueli in the direction of a hill called Skra Downloaded by [University of Exeter] at 05:19 20 May 2016 di Legen (taken and abandoned in May, 1917) by an action in which the Greek Volunteer Divisions took part \yith the French 16th (Colonial) Division. This advance no doubt had the effect of causing the enemy to reinforce this sector, and may have assisted General Yranchet d’Esperey in his plan to surprise the enemy by an attack in a quarter where he least expected it. THE OPPOSINGFORCES. General Franchet d’Esperey had under, his command at the end of June the following contingents, taking them from left to right :-- i. Tbe principal part of the French Contingent (eight divisions in all) plus thc 35th Italian Division and the 3rd Greek Division, under General Henrys. This force was known as L’Aymtfe YY VOL LXVII. 644 THE BATTLE OF SOKOL-DOBROPOLGIE Franyaise d'Ouient, and had its left flank covered by the Italian Corps of Occupation in .Albania, an independent body under General Ferrero, which had Austrians opposcd to it. ii. Next came the six Serbian Divisions - 122,000 strong when brought up from Corfu-organised into the 1st and IInd Serbian Armies, of three divisions each, and taking post along the front (left to right) in the order named. Prince Alexander was their Commander-in-Chicf, with the Voivode blichitch as Chief of Staff. iii. A Grorrpement of French divisions, plus the IVth Greek Division, undcr General Ansclme, carried on the line to the Vardar, west of Lake Doiran. iv. The British Contingent of four divisions with six Greek divisions attached, forming what was known as the Amde Bvitannique, was responsible for the front from the Vardar to the mouth of the Struma. The British, with two Greek Volunteer Divisions1 (Seres and Crete) held the lcft of this part of the front about Lake Doiran and east of it, the remainder watched the line of the Struma to the Gulf of Orfano. At this time there were z8'divisions on the front, made up of eight French, four British, one Italian, six Serb, and nine Greek. But beforc Septcmbcr, 50,000 men, including non-combatants, half French and half British, had been withdrawn for service in France, leaving about 300,000 fighting men, it has been estimated, under General Franchet d'Esperey in this secondary but nevertheless important theatre of operations. This number, with good leading, was just sufficient in the circum- stances to carry out and completc a glorious offensive, which, with that of Lord Allenby in Palcstine, had a marked effect on the general situation in the theatre of war. It was just one of thosc exceptional cases men- tioned by Clausewitz of an offensive in a secondary theatre which was justified by peculiarly favourable circumstances, and as regards numbers, also following his reasoning, the operation mas given the exact importance it deserved. It is evident that the six newly formed Greek divisions Downloaded by [University of Exeter] at 05:19 20 May 2016 could be better employcd on the spot than in bcing sent to reinforce the main theatre, even if transport could have been made available for them. French aviation was strong. THEENEMY. In Albania, the Austrian 19th Corps d'Arm6e faced the Italian Corps of Occupation under Ferrero. 1 When M. Venizelos broke with IGng Constantine and proceeded to Salonica, he raised three divisions of volunteers for service with the Allies : the Scrcs, Crete and Archipelago. A reconstituted Greek Regular Army of 8ix divisions joined General Franchet d'Eaperey in June, 19x8. THE BATTLE OF SOKOL-DOBROPOLGIE 645 From Lake Okhrida to the sea coast of Thrace, the Bulgarians held the front divided into four armies, posted in the following order from the right :- i. The (so-called) German XIth Army of 120 battalions, commanded by General von Steuben, comprising the 1st. and, 3rd, 4th and 6th Bulgarian Divisions and one hIixed Division, in which mere two battalions of Germans (possibly reinforced in September by five morel from Rumania).

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