EASTERN FRONT  

THE BALKAN WARS:  1912/1913

BULGARIA ENTERS WAR IN SUPPORT OF CENTRAL POWERS: OCT 1915

SERBIA ATTACKED AND OVERWHELMED

Acknowledgements

The Balkans (map): d-maps.com Invasion of Bulgaria (map): mentalfloss.com The Flags of Central Powers: facebook.com Invasion of Serbia (map): historical.fandom.com Great Retreat: en.wikipedia.com King Peter I of Serbia: Wikimedia Commons Plaque: iainwalks.com. Division of Serbia (map): en.wikipedia.org

    ThexFirst Balkan War (1912), and the Second (1913), were two sharp conflicts that, in effect, heralded the onset of the First World War. In September 1912, a loose alliance of Baltic States, called the Balkan League, was set up to overpower the Ottoman Empire – then in a state of collapse – and share out the land on offer. Understandably, all four members of the league – Bulgaria, Greece, Montenegro and Serbia – were desperately anxious to set up viable national states and, where possible, gain extra territory for development. In a matter of months (in the First Balkan War), they had driven the Ottomans from all but a small part of Europe, but just how the spoils of war were to be divided among the victors proved a much more difficult task. The League came up with a settlement, but it did not meet the approval of all. Indeed, the Bulgarians, anxious to gain control over the neighbouring territory of Macedonia – a pre-requisite, in their judgement, of any settlement – saw fit to resort to arms (the Second Balkan War) and attack its former allies. It was a step which the Bulgarians quickly came to regret. Over estimating their own military strength and with no support coming from their erstwhile ally Russia, in June 1913 they began local attacks upon Greece and Serbia and quickly found themselves in trouble. Both countries counter-attacked and invaded Bulgaria (see map), and they were soon joined by Romania (hoping to seize the fertile region of Dobruja) and the Ottoman Empire, advancing from the south. Overwhelmed and suffering huge losses, particularly at the Battles of Bregalnica and Kilkis (see map), the Bulgarians were forced to sue for peace. By the Treaty of Bucharest, held on the 10th August 1913, Bulgaria retained much of its former territory, but virtually all of Macedonia was allocated to Greece and Serbia.

    It was a serious and humiliating defeat for the Bulgarians, and when the First World War broke out the following year, they chose to remain neutral, giving themselves time to recover from their military and economic disasters, and give thought to their position. As it so happened, all was not lost. The conflict between and Allied Powers and the Central Powers provided an opportunity to right the wrong. Both Pacts engaged in secret diplomacy, offering territorial concessions to win over Bulgarian support, but the Allies were at a disadvantage amid the political turbulence of Balkan politics. They had Serbia as an ally, and hoped to win over the support of Romania and Greece, but all three were recent and potential enemies as far as the Bulgarians were concerned. On the other hand, Germany, via a secret treaty of the 17th July 1915, was quite prepared to offer Bulgaria all of Serbian Macedonia, along with the Greek regions of Salonika and Epirus. There was really no contest. On the 11th October, Bulgaria entered the war on the side of the Central Powers. It was the means by which, Prime Minister Radoslavov explained, his country could defend itself against the aggression of Serbia, their “greatest foe”. And, in addition, Bulgaria’s interests and economic life were “inseparably linked” with Turkey, Germany and Austria-Hungary. The die had been cast.

    Notxsurprisingly, Bulgaria’s contribution to Austria-Hungary’s eventual defeat of Serbia, was swift in coming and significant in size. As noted earlier, Austria-Hungary had declared war on Serbia in July 1914, soon after the assassination of their heir to the throne, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, but their defeat and occupation of this hostile state had not materialized. The Austro-Hungarian army had invaded the country three times between August and December 1914, but, to their shame, had gained no ground, had lost 220,000 men, and had been soundly defeated by “the peasant regiments of a small Balkan kingdom”. Now, at last, given Bulgarian support, the murder of Archduke Ferdinand could be avenged (see map on right). In the north, Austro-Hungarian and German forces invaded Serbia on two fronts early in October. The 1st Army, having crossed the Rivers Danube and Sava, took the city of Valdevo and then advanced towards the Montenegro border, whilst the 11th Army struck through the centre of Serbia, capturing the capital city of Belgrade on the 14th and advancing as far as Pristina in Kosovo. Meanwhile, the Bulgarian 1st and 2nd Armies had invaded Serbian Macedonia from the east and by October 22nd had captured Kumanova (severing the railway that served the southern region of the country) and the important city of Skopje. Not surprisingly, the power, speed and width of these attacks completely overwhelmed the Serbian forces. Heavily out-numbered and defending a line some 750 miles long, they were forced to retreat on both fronts despite showing strong resistance.

     In thexmeantime, at the invitation of the Greek prime minister (despite his being sacked by the pro-German King Constantine!), an Anglo-French force of four divisions had arrived at the port of Salonika at the beginning of October and had advanced northwards to assist the beleaguered Serbs. A French contingent of two divisions reached Doiran, but by then the Bulgarian 2nd Army had launched a third invasion, further south, and the Allies, attacked on both sides of the Vardar River, were forced to pull back to the Greek border (see map above). On the 6th November the Bulgarian 1st Army met up with the German 11th Army in the vicinity of Nis. The Serbs, now with no hope of linking up with the Anglo-French force, and confronted with the combined forces of three nations on the plain of Kosovo, had no alternative but to cut and run. On the 23rd November they began an historic retreat through the rugged, treacherous mountains of Montenegro and Albania in order to reach the Adriatic and make their escape.

    The “GreatxRetreat” (known more appropriately by the Serbs as the “Albanian Golgatha”) was made up of the remnants of the Serbian army and thousands of civilian refugees, a journey that took them across some of the toughest terrain in Europe and amid the harshest of winter conditions. It came to be regarded as one of the most tragic episodes of the Great War. From mid-November to January 1916 over 70,000 soldiers and more than 140,000 civilians (together with thousands of prisoners of war) perished in their bid for freedom. Vast numbers were literally frozen to death or died of starvation, whilst others succumbed to disease or were killed by enemy air attacks or local tribesmen. It is known that Austrian pilots dropped bombs on the retreating columns, an event which has been seen as “the first aerial bombardment of civilians”.

     Out of the 400,00 who set out, it is estimated that only 130,000 soldiers and 60,000 civilians reached the Adriatic coast, though some arrived later. From here – mainly via the ports of San Giovanni de Medua, Durazzo and Valona (see map above) – eighty Allied transport ships from Italy, France and Britain took soldiers and citizens to places of safety, including Bizerta in French Tunisia. Most of the Serbian troops (put at 160,000) were taken to the French-held Greek island of Corfu. Here they were reorganized and prepared to fight another day. Members of the Serbian government were settled at Brindisi in southern Italy. The Austrian naval commander, Admiral Anton Haus, from his naval base at Cattaro on the Adriatic coast, did make some effort to harass and attack the Allied evacuation. He had some success in sinking a number of small supply ships, but, after losing two of his modern destroyers, he tended to keep his distance. However, he did send a task force of battleships and cruisers to bombard Montenegro, thereby assisting in the country’s surrender.

     Incidentally, determinedxto stay with his people, King Peter I of Serbia, (1844-1921), then aged 71 and almost blind, joined the retreat, travelling in an oxen-drawn buggy. He took refuge on the Island of Corfu. ……

     …… ThexBritish suffragette and aid-worker Mabel Stobart (1862-1954) took part in the retreat, leading a small party of women doctors and nurses. In 1916 she wrote of her experience in an illustrated work entitled The Flaming Sword in Serbia and Elsewhere. ……

     …… In order to ensure the survival of the Serbian race, thousands of young boys and girls were taken on the retreat. Sadly and not surprisingly, many did not survive the journey. Those that did were sent to schools in France and Britain. ……

    …… OnxCorfu, the stony nature of the terrain made it difficult to cope with the burial of the large number of Serb soldiers who died on the island, many still suffering from the trauma of the retreat. Consequently, some 5,000 of the dead were buried at sea near the Greek island of Vido. The sea around Vido came to be known as the “Blue Graveyard”, and the name has lived on in poem written by Milutin Bojić, a young Serb poet who survived the retreat and wrote The Blue Sea Tomb – commemorated today on a memorial plaque on Vido Island. “Now our chuch bells toll the dead,” he wrote, “instead of the hours”. One stanza reads:

Here on the seabed, among the sleepy shells,

Where algae covered by peat moss burrow,

Lays a graveyard of heroes, lays brother beside brother,

The Prometheuses of hope, the Apostles of sorrow.

     For the Bulgarians, their assistance in the invasion of Serbia was a diplomatic and military triumph. It was the unfinished business of the two Baltic Wars of 1912/13. Serbia had been defeated and humilated; they had gained control of Macedonia, their causus belli (see map on right); the ambitious Romanians had been kept within their borders (for the time being!); and the Central Powers now had the opportunity to establish a valuable rail link – the “Via Militaire” – between Germany and Istanbul. And for their part, Austria-Hungary had secured its southern flank and was now able (as it seemed at the time!) to concentrate its forces on the Russian and Italian fronts. In contrast – for the present – Serbia was a broken nation, its army soundly defeated and (what was left of it), confined to a small island in the Eastern Mediterranean.

     However, despite some Greek opposition, an Allied force remained at Salonika throughout the “Great Retreat”, and, later, more troops were added to give support, including Serbs who had made their escape, and a number of Italian contingents. There were those who argued that a force of that size – eventually some 500,000 strong – would have been of far greater value serving on the Western Front. However, Greece officially joined the Allied cause in July 1917, following the abdication of King Constantine, and it was via this front (sometimes known as the Macedonian Front) that in September 1918 the Allies embarked on their Vardar Offensive. It proved a launch pad for the rebirth of Serbia as a nation state, and for a rapid overthrow of the Bulgarians, forced to the peace table at the Treaty of Neuilly a year later.

     In the meantime, however, the Balkan States, true to form, were to provide the backcloth to yet another period of bitter conflict come the summer of 1916, this time centred around Romania. In the meantime, however, action moved to the Russian front, where, aiming to divert German resources away from the ferocious battle being waged around Verdun, the Russians launched a sizeable attack in the north, some 200 miles south of Riga. As we shall see, the Battle of Lake Naroch ended in complete disaster for the Russian army and – it must be said – for their supreme commander, Czar Nicholas himself. It was to prove another nail in his coffin and that of the state over which he presided.

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