First Battle of Doiran : unwelcome intelligence

From Alan Palmer’s The Gardeners of Salonika, published in 1965 by Andre Deutsch Limited, London (p. 119):

On the morning of April 24th [1917], with only twelve hours to go before the attack, disturbing news reached Yanesh [also known as Janes, now Metallikon; HQ of Lt-Gen. Sir Henry Maitland Wilson, commander of XII Corps]. A prisoner had been brought in by a wire-cutting patrol in the small hours and had volunteered the information that the Bulgars had received reinforcements and, what was more serious, that his regiment had been told to stand on the alert that evening at eight as a British attack was expected after dusk. General Wilson hurried off to consult Milne, who had driven up to Yanesh to await the battle : should the plan be changed? Milne thought not : there had never been much chance of surprise; but it was, none the less, disturbing to find that the enemy was expecting an attack at night rather than at dawn.

Lieutenant General Sir Henry Fuller Maitland Wilson, G.O.C. XII Corps, attending a Gymkhana arranged by two Scottish Battalions, Salonika, 12 February 1916. THE MACEDONIAN CAMPAIGN, 1915-1918 © IWM (Q 31732)

Find out more

• Falls, Captain Cyril (1935, republished 2011), OFFICIAL HISTORY OF THE GREAT WAR OTHER THEATRES: MILITARY OPERATIONS MACEDONIA VOL II. From the Spring of 1917 to the end of the war; Naval & Military Press
• Palmer, Alan (1965), The Gardeners of Salonika; Andre Deutsch Limited
• Wakefield, Alan and Simon Moody (2010), Under the Devil’s Eye: The British Military Experience in Macedonia 1915-18; Pen & Sword Military