The Macedonian campaign

by Luigi Villari

The engagement on the Srka di Legen was the last on the Macedonian front before the great offensive, with the exception of a few small raids on many sectors. The British were particularly active during this period, both as regards raids in the Struma and in aerial bombardments. Whereas, until about the middle of 1917, the enemy were decidedly stronger than the Allies in the air, they had since then been steadily losing their superiority and finally found themselves in a state of absolute inferiority. The British were so constantly bringing down German machines that the enemy hardly dared any longer to appear in the air beyond their own lines.

There was now considerable activity in Albania in the sector where the Armée d’Orient co-operated with the Italian 16th Corps, and on May 15, a French column, commanded by Colonel Caré, composed of the 58th Battalion of Chasseurs à pied, 10 platoons of Albanian Gendarmerie, a battalion of the 372nd Infantry Regiment, 3 mountain batteries, and a regiment of Moroccan Spahis, plus a reserve of 7 Colonial companies, took the offensive between the junction of the Kelizoni and the Devoli and the height of Mali Korori (south-west of Moschopolje); an Italian column was to deliver an attack at the same time from the line of the Osum, near Cerevoda. The object of the Allies was to reduce the strong enemy salient formed as a result of the French attack at Pogradetz, which penetrated wedge-like between the positions then captured and the Italian positions to the north and north-west of the Ersek road, menacing the Santi Quaranta road between Ersek and Koritza. The two attacks met with vigorous resistance, especially at the extreme left of the Italians and the extreme right of the French; both the Italians and the French captured some positions, lost them, and recaptured them definitely. Towards the centre the resistance was weaker. On the 17th the liaison between the two forces was realized at Backa, according to plan. Mount Lesetz alone (east of Protopapa and south of the Devoli) could not be captured by the French. A definite result was the elimination of the enemy salient, the reduction of the French and Italian front by about 40 kilometres, and the occupation of the numerous villages contained in the salient itself. The new lines went from the junction of the Devoli and the Kelizoni, passing by Tchafa Becit, Maya Frenkut, Backa to Cerevoda. Thus the Santi Quaranta road was now safe. The enemy made no attempt at a counter-offensive, save for artillery fire, and the Italians and French were able to reinforce the new lines unmolested.

On June 10 the French resumed the offensive, but this time without Italian co-operation, as the advance was not in that sector. Various positions were occupied, including Mount Lesetz, which they had been unable to capture in the preceding operation; a new line was constituted, reducing the enemy salient on Mount Kamia from Lungi to the old line near Tchafa Becit, passing along Hill 1900, Sinapremte, Gopes and Mount Tembet. The operation ended on the 14th; 400 prisoners, 10 guns and some machine guns having been captured.

The French and Italians resumed the offensive on a larger scale on July 6. The French objective was to advance along the valley of the Devoli as far as its great loop at a short distance from the valley of the Skumbi, whereas ours was to turn the Malakastra—the best defended position in the whole of Albania—occupy Fieri and Berat and then push on towards the Skumbi. Both corps were to try to reach the Durazzo-Elbasan road, but the latter town was to be reserved for Italian occupation. The general objective was not so much territorial occupation as the weakening of the enemy, so as to prevent Austrian forces in Albania from coming to the assistance of the Bulgarians in Macedonia during the Allied offensive which was about to take place in the latter territory.

The French force, commanded by Colonel Foulon, comprised the 372nd Infantry Regiment, the 58th Battalion of Chasseurs à pied, the Spahis and three mountain batteries. The positions between the old line of the junction of the Devoli and the Tomoritza were occupied without resistance, and so was the whole of the triangle formed by these two rivers and the chain of the Bofnia and Kosnitza mountains. The French pushed forward still further between the Devoli and Holta, occupied Gramsi, an important base of supplies for the enemy, on the 13th, and the Austrians withdrew to the heights east of Chekina, Strori and Kruya, to the south-west of the Tomoritza where the Italians were operating, and the French and Italian liaison was being constantly advanced northwards. On the 15th, Lubin was taken, a little to the east of the confluence of the Devoli and the Tomoritza.

But the Italians were also advancing towards Berat and Fieri. The latter town was captured as the result of a brilliant operation by the cavalry, which turned the extreme north-west spur of the Malakastra, while infantry detachments forced a passage between Levani and Fieri. Thus the whole enemy defensive organization of the Malakastra, the only one, it may be said, which the Austrians had created in Albania, fell. Beyond Fieri the Italians pressed on to the river Semeni, which they forced at the Metali bridge. Another column occupied Berat, the H.Q. of an Austrian brigade, and reached the southern loop of the Devoli.

During these operations a misunderstanding arose between the Italian and French Commands, due probably to the imperfect liaison, communications being indeed very difficult, on account of the broken nature of the ground. Our Command wished to push forward in a northerly direction, as far as the apex of the loop of the Devoli, so as to occupy the whole of the mountain range of the Mali Siloves, which dominates the left bank of the river, while the French, in view of their weak effectives in Albania, were opposed to this advance which seemed to them too risky. The advance, however, was effected, and a part of the above mountain range was occupied, but the Austrian Supreme Command, alarmed by the rapid success of the various French and Italian offensives in Albania, the result of which had been not only an important strategic loss for them, but also a serious danger of insurrection on the part of the untrustworthy natives on account of the weakened Austrian prestige, and represented a menace in the direction of Montenegro, changed the Commander-in-Chief and sent out important reinforcements. General Pflanzer-Baltin flew by aeroplane to Albania, where he took command. At the same time the Italians were suffering terribly from malaria. The coastal zone of Albania is very unhealthy; as long as the troops remained in their camps or were making no great effort, they held out fairly well, but as soon as they began the advance and had to sleep in the open, often in marshy places, they were mown down by fever, especially the detachments operating along the lower Semeni. To give one instance, in a whole regiment of cavalry only 70 men were not on the sick list. From Italy no reinforcements arrived, because preparations in course made for the great offensive on the Italian front, which had originally been intended to take place in the month of August. Thus, when the enemy, in the second half of July, strengthened by large reinforcements arriving from healthy places and not yet infected by malaria, launched a counter-offensive, the Italian troops were forced to withdraw to some extent. This they did in good order and without serious losses in prisoners or material, and if the evacuation of Fieri and Berat were regrettable episodes, our situation still remained far better than it had been before the offensive, as we maintained our positions on the heights to the south of those towns, and especially on the important lines of the Malakastra. Enemy pressure made itself felt also in the Mali Siloves area, where our column had to withdraw so as not to remain with its left flank uncovered. The French now opposed this withdrawal, as they did not believe in the existence of Austrian reinforcements, simply because the latter had not been seen in the French sector. This led to a disagreement between the two Commands, which, however, was soon settled, and the French column also withdrew a little further back. Our line was then stabilized as follows: Sinya (south-west of Berat)-Barguliasi-Tchafa Glunaka-Oyanik, where the French line began. The latter had abandoned a part of the triangle formed by the Tomoritza and the Devoli, but held the heights of Mount Kosnitza. Their line then followed the direction of Lungi and the Gora Top.[38] Towards the middle of August the operations in Albania were suspended. We were in positions easy to defend and the Austrians, exhausted by their advance, also began to feel the full effects of the climate in that season. Now they were no longer receiving any reinforcements, partly because the Italian Navy rendered transport from Dalmatia by sea almost impossible, while General Ferrero had been reinforced by two brigades and some other detachments from Italy.

In the second half of June there was a general détente in the European military situation. After the great German push in May, the operations in France had been suspended, and on the 15th of June the Austrians launched their offensive on the Piave. It failed completely, and the enemy did not succeed in retaining any part of the ground conquered in the first attack—in fact on the Lower Piave, they lost some which they had held since the previous November. This event had a repercussion on all fronts, and encouraged all the Allies, because it was the first great Allied victory in 1918, and also the first time that a vast offensive, launched with all the apparatus of modern warfare, was held up at once without achieving even the smallest lasting advantage. On the Macedonian front, too, the effect of it was felt in the shape of signs of exhaustion on the part of the enemy. Deserters were ever more numerous, and they were unanimous in stating that the causes of their desertion were the difficulty of supply due by the continuous requisitions of foodstuffs by Germany in Bulgaria to be sent to Germany, the fact that the Bulgarians, having obtained all the territories they wanted, were not anxious to go fighting simply for the convenience of Germany, and the general lack of confidence in the victory of the latter. This corresponded with the information obtained from the interior of Bulgaria, where the pro-German policy of King Ferdinand and the Radoslavoff Ministry were becoming every day more unpopular. The Cabinet fell in June and was succeeded by that of M. Malinoff, who was of pacifist tendencies. There was also a party in the country more or less in favour of the Entente, and now it was working hard to convince public opinion that it was possible, if peace were made with the Allies, to obtain recognition of Bulgaria’s right to the conquered territory as a reward.

In Great Britain there had been since the early days of Bulgaria’s intervention, a party in favour of making concessions to Bulgaria with the object of inducing her to abandon the Central Empires. Apart from the Bulgarophil movement, the Buxton brothers had always supported Bulgarian claims as a sentimental memory of the struggle of the Bulgarians against the Turks, when the latter dominated Macedonia and Thrace, and even in Government spheres this tendency had its supporters. As early as August, 1917, a British officer of high rank, who expressed the ideas of Government circles in his country and in Paris, told me that both in France and Britain people were convinced of the advisability of offering very advantageous concessions to Bulgaria, and there was talk of granting to her the Serbian part of Eastern Macedonia as far as the Vardar, excluding Uskub, but, perhaps, including Monastir, the Greek part of Eastern Macedonia as far as the Struma, the Dobrugia up to the frontiers existing before the Balkan War, and further generous pecuniary compensation in addition; the Serbians would be indemnified by means of other territories at the expense of Austro-Hungary. In any case the Serbian population, according to this officer, were so weakened and reduced by five years of uninterrupted warfare, that it would not have been in a position to govern Southern Macedonia, where the population is mostly Bulgarian in feeling and opposed to Serbian rule. According to him, it only remained to convince the Italian Government of the possibility and advisability of this policy.

On the other hand, there were also pro-Serbian tendencies amongst the British, which strongly opposed any idea of conferring favours on the Bulgarians. Another British officer, occupying an important position in connexion with Serbia, told me that the attitude of those who wished to make such concessions at the expense of Serbia was the cause of very injurious consequences in Serbian circles, where such a tendency was regarded as nothing less than treachery against those who had fought from the beginning on the side of the Allies, and had suffered terribly, especially at the hands of those very Bulgarians whom it was now proposed to reward.