The great Battle of Doiran
The third '''Battle of Doiran''' was fought from [[18 September]] to [[19 September]], [[1918]], with the [[Greece|Greeks]] and the [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|British]] assaulting [[Bulgaria]]n positions near [[Dojran Lake|Lake Doiran]]. The battle was part of [[World War I]] and took place in the [[Balkans Campaign (World War I)|Balkan Theatre]]. The battle ended with Bulgarians repulsing all attacks, but then retreating.
==Prelude==
The Greeks and the British set off from their base at [[Thessaloniki]] at the same time as the [[Serbia]]ns and the [[France|French]]. The Greeks and the British under [[George Milne]] set off the attack on 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 [[Dojran Lake|Doiran]].
This wasn't the first time the Allies had attacked Doiran - in 1916 an Anglo-French attempt [[battle of Doiran (1916)|was repulsed]] by the Second Thracian Infantry Division; the British had twice [[battle of Doiran (1917)|failed to capture]] it in 1917. The [[fortification]]s were well built (by German engineers), the Bulgarians having spent the first months of 1916 and early 1917 strengthening the positions. The terrain around the area was rough, the fortifications being surrounded with three miles of scrub and rocks. Part of the defences were the dangerous Pip Ridge and the Grand Couronné.
==The Battle==
The first assault on the hills was by the [[British 22nd Division|22nd]] and the [[British 26th Division|26th Divisions]] of the British army with support from the 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 [[Cheshire Regiment|Cheshires]] leading the attack. The bunkers on the hills that had machine guns in them opened fire and had 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.
While this was happening a Greek regiment was knocked back on the right. The [[South Wales Borderers]] had reached Grand Couronné, the last line of defence. The bravery of the Welsh was extreme; they charged up the hill trying to get over the defences of the Grand Couronné, only to be 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, whose forces were 6 times larger than theirs.
==Casualties==
The Allies' losses totalled about 7,000 soldiers, while the [[Bulgarians]] suffered only 3,000.The reason for this was that in the night of September 16th the allies bombarded the Bulgarian positions with heavy artillery fire (the total weight of the bombs is estimated to have been 30,000 t). The Allies believed that there would be few survivors, but due to the well-constructed bunkers the Bulgarians lost only 9 killed and 40 injured. Thus the Allied attack proved to be a complete disaster, as the Greek and the British soldiers were easy targets for the hidden Bulgarians.
==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 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 hills above it. All these meant nothing to the Bulgarians, however, who only had a small garrison there. After a while the Bulgarian fortifications went quiet and the Greek and British armies advanced 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 they would not be cut off from the rear.
==Aftermath==
The Allies continued to advance deeper into Bulgarian territory and some said the Bulgarian army had mutinied and were threatening [[Sofia]]. On [[September 30]], the Bulgarians surrendered to the allies in [[Thessaloniki]].
The war was costly for Bulgaria, which lost 87,500 soldiers killed and 275,000 civilians. The Bulgarians also lost all their land on the [[Aegean Sea]] to Greece and some territory in the northwest to Serbia.
When General [[Vladimir Vazov]] arrived in [[London]] to meet veterans from the war he was welcomed with great respect by his hosts, with the flags of all their regiments who participated in the battle lowered in his honour in [[London Victoria station|Victoria Station]].
The Bulgarian cemeteries in the region have been destroied.
This post was edited by Thrace on Mar 26 2009 01:33pm