Battle of Doiran

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Battle of Doiran

1914-1918 British Military Cemetery in Policastron (formerly Karasouli) near Doiran

Date	1918
Location	Lake Doiran, Macedonia
Result	Decisive Bulgarian victory

Combatants

Great Britain,
Greece

Bulgaria

Commanders

George Milne

Vladimir Vazov

Strength

- English: 4 divisions, Greeks: 2 divisions

- 9-th Infantry division, with parts of 11-th Infantry division and the Mountain Division (Total: 34,500)

Casualties

English: 47,000 Greeks: 12,000

494

The Battle of Doiran was fought from the 18 September to the 19 September 1918, with the Greeks and the British assaulting Bulgarian positions near Lake Doiran. The battle was part of World War I and took place in the Balkan Theatre. The battle ended with Bulgarians repulsing all attacks, but then retreating.

1 Prelude
2 The Battle
3 Casualties
4 Retreat
5 Aftermath
6 See also
7 Sources
8 External links

[edit] Prelude

The Greeks and the British set off from their base at Thessaloniki at the same time and Serbians and the French. The Greeks and the British under George Milne set off the attack the Bulgarian positions at Doiran while the Serbians and the French under the command of Franchet d'Esperey went to penetrate the Bulgarian defences in the Vardar Valley. The Greeks and the British were aiming to capture the Bulgarian positions in the hills above Lake Doiran.

This wasn't the first time the allies had attacked Doiran, with the British failing to capture it twice the 1917. The fortifactions were well built with the Bulgarians spending the first months of 1916 and early 1917 strengthing the positions. The terrain around the area was rough, with the fortifactions being surrounded with 3 miles of scrub and rocks. Part of the defences were the dangerous 'Pip Ridge' and the 'Grand Couronné'.

[edit] The Battle

The first assault on the hills was by the 22nd and the 26th Divisions of the British army with support from the a Cretan Division of the Greek army. As they were advancing up the hills they were caught in a crossfire coming from the slopes and were driven back with heavy losses. They then assaulted the 'Pip Ridge' with the 12th Cheshires leading the attack. The bunkers on the hills that machine guns in them opened fire and a horrific effect on the allies (only 20-30 % of their soldiers reached the trenches) but those that remained continued on and captured the first two Bulgarian trenches. But by this stage the attack had become a massacre and those that remained alive were going amost certain death.

While this was happening a Greek regiment was knocked back on the right. The South Wales Borders had reached 'Grand Couronné' which was the last line of defence. The bravery of the Welsh was extreme, they recharged up the hill trying to the get over the defences of the 'Grand Couronné' only to cut down. Of the whole battalion only one officer and eighteen men made it back to the camp. The Bulgarians showed great bravery against the enemy who had 6 times larger force than theirs.

[edit] Casualties

The Allies' losses were enormous: they lost around 59,000 soldiers, while the Bulgarians suffered only 494. The reason for this was: in the night of 16th September the allies bombarded the Bulgarian positions with heavy artillery fire (the total wieght of the bomb is estimated to 30, 000t). They supposed that there would be a few survivors but due to the perfect bunkers the Bulgarians lost only 9 killed and 40 injured. As the enemy general did not know that, the Allied attack proved to be a complete disaster, as the Greek and the English soldiers were easy targets for the hiding Bulgarians.

[edit] Retreat

After a day of fighting all the allies had accomplished was a small gain on the right by the Greek forces. The next day the 65th Brigade attacked the "Pip Ridge'. The assault was another defeat with only half of the men returning alive. But the assault gained the town of Doiran and a few hlls above it. All these meant nothing to the Bulgarian who only had a small garrison there. After a while the Bulgarian fortifaction went quiet and the Greek and British armies advance only to find the Bulgarian positions abandoned. The Serbian and French armies had defeated the Austro-Hungarian and Bulgarian army in the Vardar valley and were advancing towards Doiran. When the Bulgarians German advisors heard of this they ordered the Bulgarian army to retreat so that their retreat is not cut off from the rear.

[edit] Aftermath

The allies continued to advance deeper into Bulgarian territory and some the army had mutinied and were threatening Sofia. On the 30 September, the Bulgarians surrendered to the allies in Solun, but due to the victory there was a condition that the country should not be occupied by Allied troops. The war was costly for Bulgaria because the lost 87,500 soldiers and they also lost 275,000 civilians. The Bulgarians also lost all their land on the Aegean Sea to Greece and they also lost some territory in the north west to Serbia.

When General Vazov arrived in London in 1935 to meet veterans from the war he was welcome with great respect from his hosts, with the flags of all their regiments who participated in the battle bowed down in his honour in the Victoria Railway Station.