Battle of Dobro Pole

Battle of Dobro Pole
Part of the Balkans Theatre (World War I)
Two Pronged Allied Offensive
Date 15 September 1918 Location Dobro Pole, Republic of Macedonia Result Decisive Entente victory[1]
Belligerents
Bulgaria  German Empire	France  Serbia
Commanders and leaders
Georgi Todorov Friedrich von Scholtz Kuno von Steuben	Louis Franchet d'Esperey Živojin Mišić
Strength
26 battalions 11,600 rifleman with 245 machine guns, 146 artillery pieces and 24 airplanes	75 battalions 36,500 rifleman with 756 machine guns, 580 artillery pieces and 81 airplanes

Macedonian Front Krivolak 1st Doiran Lerin Struma Monastir (Malka Nidzhe Kajmakchalan Cerna Bend) 2nd Doiran 2nd Cerna Bend Red Wall Skra-di-Legen Vardar (Dobro Pole 3rd Doiran)

The Battle of Dobro Pole was a World War I battle, fought on 15 September 1918. The battle resulted in a decisive Entente victory, with a defeated Bulgaria left to sign an armistice, which removed it from World War I.

The battle was fought at Dobro Pole, in present day Republic of Macedonia, which was claimed by Bulgaria and had been under Bulgarian occupation since 1915.

Contents 1 The battle 2 Revolt 3 Aftermath 4 Notes 5 References 6 See also

The battle

The Bulgarian forces met a more powerful and larger army at Dobro Pole. The large majority of the Allied Powers consisted of 122nd French Infantry Division, 17th French Infantry Colonial Division and the Serb Shumadia Division in the first echelon and two Serbian divisions in the second echelon (Timok and Yugoslav). The battle started on 14 September with heavy artillery bombardment. Until then, the Bulgarians prided themselves at not having lost during the war, and Ferdinand I decided to keep the troops there and fight. The machine gun companies, the 2nd and 3rd Bulgarian Infantry Divisions dug in. From 15 September to 19 September, the Bulgarians were surrounded. Outmanned and strategically inert, the Bulgarians were unable to stop the Allied advance. Even when asked to surrender, as victory was hopeless, the Bulgarians refused to give up, ignoring the Allied requests.

Revolt

After the defeat at Dobro Pole, other Bulgarian soldiers began to revolt, and the Bulgarian front lines were abandoned. The rebels headed towards Sofia in order to negotiate with the government. When the rebels reached Sofia, they were crushed by Bulgarian loyalists and German troops.

Aftermath

The battle was lost because the morale of the troops was low and they were significantly outnumbered. After this victory, the Entente army continued to Bulgaria. On 19 September, the French, British and Greek armies were defeated at Doiran and Bulgarians avoided occupation. In November 1919 the Treaty of Neuilly-sur-Seine awarded Thrace to Greece, depriving Bulgaria of access to the Aegean Sea. The newly formed Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes took Vardarska Macedonia. Southern Dobruja was again occupied by Romania. Severe limitations were placed on the size of the Bulgarian Army and enormous war reparations in goods and money were to be paid to the Allies.

Notes

References

• Richard Hall, Balkan Breakthrough: The Battle of Dobro Pole 1918, Indiana University Press, 2010, ISBN 9780253354525
• Hayles, John (13 December 2001). "Republic of Bulgaria National History". http://www.aeroflight.co.uk/waf/bulgaria/bulg-national-history.htm. Retrieved 20 January 2007. 
• Savo Skoko, "Vojvoda Stepa Stepanović", Belgrade 1985.

See also

• Armistice with Bulgaria
• Serbian Campaign (World War I)

Prelude	South-western front: Serbian Campaign, Macedonian front	Romanian front • Outcome • Others	Important persons
Balkan Wars 1912–1913 First Balkan War 1913 Treaty of London Second Balkan War Treaty of Bucharest Treaty of Istanbul Neutrality 1915 Negotiations of Bulgaria with the Central Powers and the Entente Bulgarian-German treaty Secret Bulgarian-German agreement Military convention between Germany, Austria-Hungary and Bulgaria Bulgarian-Turkish convention Mobilization	Commanders  Bulgaria Nikola Zhekov • Kliment Boyadzhiev • Georgi Todorov• Stefan Nerezov • Vladimir Vazov Entente:  Serbia: Radomir Putnik • Živojin Mišić • Stepa Stepanović • Petar Bojović;  France: Maurice Sarrail • Adolphe Guillaumat • Franchet d'Esperey;  United Kingdom: George Milne;  Greece: Panagiotis Danglis Field Armies First Army Second Army Fourth Army Battles 1915 Morava Offensive • Ovche Pole Offensive • Kosovo Offensive (1915) • Battle of Krivolak 1916 First battle of Doiran • Battle of Lerin • Battle of Struma • Monastir Offensive 1917 Second battle of Doiran • 2nd Cerna Bend • Battle of the Red Wall 1918 Battle of Skra-di-Legen • Battle of Dobro Pole • Third battle of Doiran	Commanders  Bulgaria Nikola Zhekov • Panteley Kiselov • Stefan Toshev • Todor Kantardzhiev • Ivan Kolev Entente:  Romania: Constantin Prezan • Alexandru Averescu;  Russia: Andrei Zaionchkovsky Field Armies Third Army Battles 1916 Battle of Turtucaia • Battle of Dobrich • First Cobadin • Flămânda Offensive • Second Cobadin • Battle of Bucharest Outcome 1918 Treaty of Brest-Litovsk • Armistice of Focşani • Treaty of Bucharest • Protocol of Berlin Outcome Armistice of Salonica Vladaya revolt Treaty of Neuilly-sur-Seine Others Bulgarian administration in Kosovo Anti-military propaganda	Ferdinand Aleksandar Protogerov August von Mackensen Boris Drangov Vladimir Vazov Georgi Todorov (general) Ivan Kolev Kliment Boyadzhiev Konstantin Zhostov Krastyu Zlatarev Nikola Zhekov Panteley Kiselov Stefan Toshev Stefan Nerezov Todor Kantardzhiev