One hundred years ago today, French General Franchet d’Espèrey wrote in his diary:
Tuesday, September 10th. I receive from Clemenceau authority to commence operations when I judge it suitable. Artillery fire to open September 14th. D. Day (‘Jour j’): 15th September.
What this laconic diary entry fails to convey is the frantic lobbying by his predecessor, General Guillaumat, to persuade his own government, 10 Downing Street and the Italians to approve his planned offensive. As Alan Palmer puts it in The Gardeners of Salonika (p196):
He [Franchet d’Espèrey] had won the battle against the Westerners: now there remained only the enemy.
