The Macedonian campaign

by Luigi Villari

THE PRILEP-KRUSHEVO AREA.

To face p. 236.

But the Division at once set to work to execute this new plan, and after effecting a conversion of 90 degrees in a westerly direction, it set forth on an exhausting march, after the long and arduous fighting advance of the previous days. The troops, however, gave no signs of fatigue, and reached the line between Cepik and the bridge over the Belavitza. On the 24th our right wing (Sicilia Brigade with 6 mountain batteries), which was advancing towards Zapolchani, was temporarily held up by the enemy artillery, firing from the heights of Novo Selani, while the centre and the left (Cagliari Brigade with 2 mountain batteries, 9 French field batteries, 1 heavy French battery, and 2 squadrons of the Lucca cavalry) reached the Vodiani-Krivogastani line, and found itself confronted by the enemy infantry in strong positions on the edge of the heights of Krushevo (Hill 1176), and of the Draghisetz (Hills 1150 and 1291), and in the gorge of the Cerna, near the Buchin bridge and Vodiani. The Ivrea Brigade, which was in reserve, followed towards the left.

On the 25th the Sicilia Brigade, strengthened by detachments of the 11th French Colonial Division, which had just come up, reached the heights of Godivla, north-east of Krushevo; the centre halted on the edge of the heights of Krushevo, rising precipitously 550 m. above the plain, while the left began the attack on Buchin, where it became engaged in a vigorous combat. On the 26th the whole Division, having overcome the enemy resistance, crossed the great barrier of the Baba Planina and Draghisetz mountains, its right pushed forward to the foot of Mount Cesma, the centre at Krushevo and Ostreltze, and its left along the line Sveta-Hill 1150-Hill 1291 of the Draghisetz. Thus the Bulgarians, in retiring from the Monastir area, could no longer fall back on Prilep, but were forced to try to reach the Kichevo-Kalkandelen gorge, which was becoming more crowded every hour. The same evening we pushed a strong column westward from Krushevo in the direction of Karaul Kruska and Sop, while another, which had also started from Krushevo, advanced through Ostreltze towards Tzer.

On the 27th, our positions were as follows. The right wing occupied the greater part of Mount Cesma, and, together with the French troops, drove back the enemy from the Harilovo-Diviak area. The main column of the centre, having advanced beyond Pustareka, had reached Karaul Kruska, and the flanking column on the left, which, after having passed through Kochista, reached the neighbourhood of Tzer; the left, after occupying Priblitzi, pushed forward through Dolentzi to Sop, along the Monastir-Kichevo road. On the 28th, the right column completed the occupation of Mount Cesma, and advanced towards the Stramol and Baba mountains, north-east of Sop; the principal column and the centre, after overcoming the enemy’s vigorous resistance, occupied a line of heights 3 km. to the east of that village, while its left flanking column co-operated in the action from Tzer. The left reached Hill 932 to the south of Sop, in support of the action of the centre.

The Bulgarians here were in very strong positions. With numerous forces of infantry, a great many machine guns, and several field and heavy batteries withdrawn from the Monastir front, they had entrenched themselves on formidable lines in the Sop gorge, where they were prepared to offer a desperate resistance. The following day the Sicilia Brigade succeeded in driving the enemy from Mounts Stramol and Baba, and after occupying these positions pushed on towards Plasnitza to co-operate with the 11th Colonial Division, which was attacking the enemy entrenched on the heights of Izitza to the north of the Yelika valley. In the centre our battalions renewed the attack on Sop from the south-east and east so as to pin down the enemy, while those of the right column executed a turning movement from Karaul Kruska towards the north-east to cut off their retreat. The fighting during those days was very fierce, and cost us 500 casualties. The Bulgars had been strengthened on the night of the 28th-29th by two more regiments and several machine-gun companies, which had fallen back from Monastir, but had been recalled. The behaviour of our troops in all these very stiff engagements against an enemy superior in numbers, in dominating positions, and supplied with great abundance of artillery of all calibres and machine-guns, had been admirable, and it must be remembered that they were exhausted by the long and tiring marches over very rough country. If the Serbs had advanced further, they had, however, after the first two days found an enemy that resisted far less vigorously than was the case in our sector. Furthermore, the enemy opposed to us was directly under German Command—Army Command, Corps Command, and partly Divisional Command—and was stiffened by the presence of several German detachments.

The French divisions of the A.F.O. (30th, 57th, 76th, 156th) came into action almost at the same moment as the Italians. General Henrys wished to cut off the enemy’s retreat by the Kichevo-Kalkandelen road, the only one which still remained open, but in the sector of Hill 1248 the Bulgarians still resisted tenaciously and held up the advance. To the west, the 302nd German Division had begun to fall back, the 6th and 1st Bulgarian Divisions were forced to follow suit, and this enabled the French to deploy along the Dihovo-Dragarina line to the north-west of Monastir, finally liberating that unfortunate city from a bombardment that had lasted nearly two years. On the 23rd the French occupied Berantzi and Topolchani, and on the evening of that day, while the Italians were advancing towards Krushevo to the north-west, they reached the line Kukurechani-Novo Selani-Prilep, cutting across the line of our advance, and the French cavalry entered Prilep, followed on the 24th by the 11th Colonial Division. On the 25th the Bulgars still held out to the west of Monastir, and with the help of three regiments, which had retired but had been subsequently recalled, repulsed the attacks of the 76th Division; the 156th was at Stari Srptzi, and beyond the sector occupied by the 35th, the 3rd Greek Division (attached to the 11th Colonial) was deployed across the Prilep-Brod road.[42] It was then suspected by the C.A.A. that a new defensive plan had been evolved by the enemy—and its existence has been subsequently confirmed by Marshal von Hindenburg’s Memoirs—to withdraw the centre and right, making a pivot of the Doiran sector, and resisting at Uskub, until the arrival of the Bulgarians retreating from the Monastir area, via Kichevo-Kalkandelen, and of the reinforcements expected from Germany and Austria. The Bulgarians, as we have seen, tried to delay the advance of the French and Italians, calling back regiments that had begun to retire but this decision proved fatal. The troops that had withdrawn on the 25th found their line of retreat cut to the north by Allied detachments. On the same day the 30th Division reached Prevaletz (Hill 912), on the road from Monastir to Resna, and on the 26th it reached the latter place; the 76th crossed the Semnitza river, and the 156th occupied Hill 1493 on the Drvenik, to the south of Vodiani. In the meanwhile General Franchet d’Espérey had created a new unit, called the Groupement Tranié, composed of the 42nd and 44th Regiments of the 11th Colonial Division, the 58th Battalion of Chasseurs à pied, the Cavalry Brigade, a group of 75 mm. batteries and one of 65 mm., with orders to push on towards Uskub. Later the 76th Division rapidly left the Babuna road from Prilep towards Veles and Uskub, and along the heights to the north-west of it. On the 26th the line held by the A.F.O. (the 35th Division included) was the following: Resna-Sveti Petar-Murgas-west of Krushevo-Belushin-Yakrenovo-Ropotovo (on the Prilep-Kichevo road). On the 28th, with the occupation of Ochrida by the 57th, the line passed by Hill 975, Demir Hissar (on the Monastir-Kichevo road), and Brod on the Prilep-Kichevo road. The French reached Trebuniste, to the north of Ochrida on the 29th, and advancing along the west shore of the lake, cut the Elbasan-Ochrida road at Lin, and thus the last line of escape across Albania which remained to the XI German Army was closed.

The I Serbian Army pushed on down Cerna valley to the west of the river, and advanced in a north-westerly direction, reaching the Leniste-Pletvar-Troyatzi-Toplitza-Drenovo (to the north-west of the Prilep-Gradsko road) line. Along this road the Serbs captured a great deal of booty and many vehicles. The Bulgarians, urged by the German Command, made every effort to defend Gradsko, a vital centre of their communications, full of large military depots, against the Franco-Serbs (Yugoslav Division and 17th Colonial Division), but on the 23rd, after the 11th Colonial Division had captured the monastery and the village of Chichevo, Gradsko fell into the hands of the Serbs. Once Gradsko was lost, the enemy tried to defend Veles, but the Tranié Group was, as we have seen, on the Babuna road, and on the same day the Serbian Army reached the same road beyond Izvor. On the 25th the Serbian cavalry entered Istip, and on the 26th the II Army, after a fairly brisk engagement, occupied Veles, and pushed on towards the north-west. Immediately afterwards the Serbian cavalry reached Kochana, Grlena and Tzarevo Selo, this latter an important point whence the upper valley of the Struma, which is in Bulgaria, could be menaced. The cavalry was followed by the infantry, conveyed in British and French lorries, and entered Kochana. On the 29th the French cavalry, commanded by General Jouinot-Gambetta, to which a part of the Serbian Cavalry was attached, after a forced march, entered Uskub, the chief city of Northern Macedonia, and erstwhile German G.H.Q. in the Balkans, a junction of four railways and of numerous roads. Thus the enemy’s hope of resisting, by effecting a junction between the detachments of the XI German Army, arriving from Kalkandelen (which, according to Von Hindenburg, was in excellent condition), and the Austrian and German reinforcements from the north, was rendered vain. Soon afterwards the remainder of the Tranié Group arrived, while the Serbian Yugoslav and Timok Divisions pushed eastwards towards the Bulgarian frontier. The Bulgarians still held out on the Tzrni Kamen and in the Tzarevo Selo, Bogdanovatz, and Chavka area, and protected the retreat of the remnants of the I Army towards Djumaya. The Yugoslav Division and the cavalry occupied Tzar Vrh (Hill 2104), Tzrkvenetz, and Ostretz, and spread out to Tzarevo Selo, thus dominating the approaches to Kustendil. Contemporaneously with these operations, the I Group of Divisions (from which the 27th British Division had been detached to rejoin the rest of the British Army) had cleaned up the whole of the area to the north-west of Ghevgheli and to the north-east of the Vardar on the Gradetz mountains. On the 29th it occupied Radovista, and effected a junction with the Serbs.