Talk:Battle of Dobro Pole
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Aha - another idiot article. And pray, where do the casualty figures come from? Certainly not from the sources mentioned. I hope this was written by a first grade student - because thinking about Dobro Pole like a single battle between 10,000 british and 4,000 Bulgarians is as simplistic as you could get. This is wikipedia - and anyone incompetent in history can write as they please. But if anyone cares - what actually happened in this battle was a break in the Bulgarian fortification system by British troops, which were able to advance north and into Monastir. There was no capture of a Bulgarian army. The Bulgarians were outmanned and outgunned and retreated - there were subsequent battles, which the advance of the French and British was halted. But the breach of the fortifications, meant that the Bulgarian position had become untenable, and the surrender came shortly after. To portray this a resounding Anglo-French victory is nonsensical - if you had real casualty figures you would know why. Common sense also helps - an army charging a machine-gun fortified position rarely had "minimal casualties" in WW1. If anyone has sources that support otherwise - please share. I don't mind reading alternative history. - Mladen
- Well, feel free to improve it. Carom 04:28, 4 April 2007 (UTC)
I've no time right now - as I will need to dig out and reference all sources, and do it in a semi-professional academic manner. But I encourage anyone unfamiliar with history not to try to write articles like this stupidity over here. I mean - you don't have to trust me on this - but just read the article on the Battle of Doiran in Wikipedia, a battle which happened 4 days after this one. It pretty much explains why this article here has nothing to do with history, and puts in perspective just how ridiculous it is. -Mladen
Mladen, Monastir (or Bitolj, or Bitola) was abandoned by the Bulgarian army and captured by the Allies in the Gornichevo battle in 1916. after a fierce battle between the Serbs and Bulgarians for Kaymakchalan - the highest peak of the Nije Mountain on the present-day Greco-Macedonian border. The decisive breakthroug in the battle of Dobro Pole in 1918. of the Bulgarian front was carried out by the Serbian army (7 divisions) strenghtened with 2 French divisions (122. and 17.th colonial) and much artillery near the Koziak mountain on September the 15th after a daylong artillery barage that greatly damaged the Bulgarian fortifications. The 2 Bulgarian divisions (the 2nd and the 3rd) + at least a brigade sized reinforcements were routed by Sep the 17th. The Serbian army then penetrated quickly and deeply in a nearly reckless blitzkrieg-like drive along with the French cavalry (other Allied contigents either advanced much more slowly or were beaten back like the British and the Greeks at the battle of Doiran) crushing all (now much less organised) opposition on the way and by the time it reached Bregalnitsa river the morale of the Bulgarian army began to collapse. The Allies captured aprox. 15.000 mostly Bulgarian soldiers + around 400 guns since the beginning of the offensive until the armistice effective at noon of the 30th September - by which time the Serbian Army had captured the town of Shtip near the Bulgarian border. However it should be noted that the battle of Dobro Pole is generally referring only to the 14-17th September period.
Veljko Stevanovich 23. 7. 2007. 23:35 UTC+1
I do not know many things about this battle, only that Bulgarians were defeated in it, although they put a very stubborn resistance. Both of these are described well in the article. I am very satisfied with the tone of the article, it is neutral and academic, as it should be. Very pleasant impression for this one, congratulations to the author. Lantonov 09:03, 17 August 2007 (UTC)