Category: Meetings and events

Meetings and events of the ‘Salonika Campaign Society, 1915-1918’. This exists to remember and research this neglected campaign of the First World War.

Salonika Campaign Society Battlefield Tour – September 2026

There are just a few places still available on the Salonika Campaign Society Battlefield Tour this coming September. So, if you have never explored the old haunts of the British Salonika Force or fancy making a return, here’s your chance!

Led by Alan Wakefield, the Salonika Campaign Society is offering a chance to visit key sites associated with British efforts during the Salonika Campaign, 1915-1918. The overall theme of the tour will be the role of the Royal Engineers with the British Salonika Force. Locations will include the Doiran battlefield, where the BSF suffered 35% of its total battle casualties, the Struma Valley, where XVI Corps faced the threat of endemic malaria as well as their Bulgarian adversaries and Kosturino Ridge, where 10th (Irish) Division made a stand in the Winter of 1915. Time will also be spent on the Birdcage Line, built to defend the city and port of Salonika from Bulgarian attack in 1915-1916. We will also attend commemorations to remember all those who served and died during the campaign.

Proposed itinerary

Salonika Campaign Society Battlefield Tour
20 – 29 September 2026
The ‘Sappers in Salonika’ Tour

Sunday 20 September
• Tour begins late morning with meeting at Thessaloniki airport
• Ceremony of Remembrance at CWGC Kirechkoi-Hortakoi Military Cemetery
• Overnight in Doiran

Monday 21 September
• Visits to La Tortue; Petit Couronne; Hill 340 – to include RE involvement in raids and major operations against Petit Couronne
• Overnight in Doiran

Tuesday 22 September
• A Day on Kosturino Ridge
– Rocky Peak and Ormanli village
– Memesli village
– Site of Kajali village
– Crete Rivet and Crete Simonet
– 10th (Irish) Division Memorial
• Overnight in Doiran

Wednesday 23 September
• Visit the 22nd Division Memorial
• Visit to the ‘Devil’s Eye’ Observation Post on Grand Couronne
• Visit to The Hilt – key position in Bulgarian second line
• Overnight in Doiran

Thursday 24 September
• Doiran Memorial & Cemetery
• Dova Tepe Fort in Krusha Balkan Hills
• Triada – British artillery position (Struma campaign overview)
• Outpost Line – Between villages of Anagennisi (Cuculuk) / Vamvakia (Nevolyen) / Neo Tyroloi (Topolova)
• Overnight in Serres

Friday 25 September
• Komarjan Bridge – a study of RE bridging & river crossing methods
• Kilo 70 old Serres Road – RE work on Line of Communication
• CWGC Struma Cemetery & XVI Corps HQ
• Visit to Strimoniko (formerly Orliak) to discuss RE role in signals and lines of communications
• Overnight in Kilkis

Saturday 26 September
• Horseshoe Hill (7th Ox & Bucks action 17-18 August 1916)
• Pip Ridge (from the Greek side)
• Bowls Barrow [time allowing]
• Overnight in Kilkis

Sunday 27 September
• Attend Official Commemorations at the Five Nations Memorial, Polykastro
• CWGC Karasouli Cemetery
• Kilindir (now Kilindria) railway station – to discuss RE role in railway operating
• Overnight in Thessaloniki

Monday 28 September
• Birdcage line – including 99th Field Coy. bridge position
• Lembet Road Allied Military Cemetery
• Thessaloniki Port
• Overnight in Thessaloniki

Tuesday 29 September
• End of tour

If you are interested in joining the tour please contact SCS Chair, Alan Wakefield, for further details: aj.wakefield[at]talktalk.net or via our contact page.

Britain’s Support to Serbia During the First World War

Available to attend either in person or online, SCS member—and former Army officer and UK Defence Attaché—Nick Ilić will be delivering a presentation at the National Army Museum which “will bring to life the little-known but truly heroic and inspirational story of the British contribution. Their efforts, as part of a coalition of nations, played a significant role in Serbia’s survival and liberation, and in the defeat of the Central Powers in 1918. More than a century later, their sacrifice is not forgotten within Serbia.”

Nick’s presentation is on April 17 at 12:00pm and is free to attend or watch online – full details here.

Nick Ilić lecture on the ‘Serbian Golgotha’

Apologies for the late notice…

Tonight (Monday 9th February) at 7pm, Nick Ilić will be giving a free online talk (as part of the Serbian Council of Great Britain Serbian Month programme of events).

Nick says on ‘X’, “The talk is about the ‘Second Serbian Campaign’ that was taking place 110 years ago during the Great War. The events culminated in what became called the ‘Serbian Golgotha’ – where rather than surrender to the advancing German, Austro-Hungarian and Bulgarian Armies, the Serbs decided to retreat over the Albanian and Montenegrin mountains to the Adriatic Coast. Thousands perished.
The Serbs did not march on their own over the mountains – with them went the international military and medical missions that had deployed to Serbia in 1914 and 1915.
It is a most remarkable, heroic, tragic and little known story.
The events also witnessed the deployment of the French and British Salonika Armies to come to the rescue of the Serbs – but to no avail.”

To access the talk:
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/88643782272?pwd=NMRfjni3cQdTiGy3bLvMDeNAgzYxeb.1
Meeting ID: 886 4378 2272
Passcode: 443996 from this page.

The Second Serbian Campaign of 1915: A Talk by Nick Ilić

Colonel Nick Ilić MBE QGM, and former British Defence Attaché in the Embassy in Belgrade, will give a talk on the Second Serbian Campaign of 1915 at the National Army Museum, London, SW3 4HT, on Thursday, 20 November, at 2pm.

The talk will cover the arrival of the British and other international missions in Serbia, the Typhus epidemic, and the October 1915 invasion of Serbia that led to the Serbian Army’s epic retreat across the mountains to the Adriatic.

Serbian soldiers and pack animals crossing the Rugova Canyon near Ipek during the Great Retreat.
Image source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Retreat_%28Serbia%29

The talk will last about an hour. If you have attended a talk given by Nick in the past, you will know how informed, informative and interesting the talk is going to be.

Admission is free, but please let Nick know by 18 November if you plan to attend.

Nick presenting at the Salonika Study Day, Great War Huts, August 2024

SCS AGM Online

Members of the Society may well be aware, from the notice in the New Mosquito No.51 earlier this year, that the Society’s AGM will be held online via Zoom at 7.30pm on Monday 27 October. 

All members have today been sent an email with details of how to enter the online AGM. If you haven’t received this, please check your Junk/Spam email folder. Failing that, please send us a message and we will get the details to you.

We look forward to seeing you in the meeting on Monday.

Screening in London: ‘By Far Kaymakchalan’ – A Documentary by Bojan Pajic

Those in London, or able to visit, on Saturday 18 October are warmly invited to attend the screening of By Far Kaymakchalan, a newly completed documentary by Australian writer and historian Bojan Pajic. The one-hour film will be shown from 3:00 to 5:00 pm in Room KIN 204, King’s College London, King’s Building, Strand Campus, WC2R 2LS.

Bojan Pajic is the author of two books examining the experiences of Australians and New Zealanders who served with Serbian forces during the First World War. By Far Kaymakchalan builds on his previous work and combines archival material, personal testimonies, and historical analysis to illuminate the shared history of these Allied nations. The event, hosted by Dr Stephen Morgan, Lecturer in Film Studies at King’s College London, will be followed by a discussion with Bojan Pajić.

Filmed in Australia, Serbia, Greece, and North Macedonia over a period of eighteen months, By Far Kaymakchalan is based on Pajić’s research that has revealed that more than 1,500 Australian and New Zealand volunteer doctors, nurses, ambulance drivers, soldiers, sailors, and aircrew served alongside Serbian forces during the war.

Full details of the event are available via this link.

NB For security reasons, King’s College London requires a list of attendees to be submitted 24 hours in advance. If you are thinking of attending, please don’t forget to register beforehand.

This screening offers a rare opportunity to engage with a significant and often overlooked chapter of First World War history, and to hear directly from the researcher and filmmaker who has dedicated much of his work to bringing these stories to light.

I’m very grateful to Jon Lewis, author of the excellent The Forgotten Front; the Macedonian Campaign 1915 – 1918, for bringing this to the attention of the Society – thanks Jon!

See also: https://salonikacampaignsociety.org.uk/2020/09/26/australians-and-new-zealanders/

SCS Annual Meeting 2025 – a reminder

Just a quick reminder that the SCS Annual Meeting takes place at the Civil Service Club, London on Saturday, 11th October 2025. Prior to the meeting, we will be gathering at The Cenotaph, Whitehall at 11:30 for a short commemorative ceremony.

October 2024: Patron of the Society, the Hon. Ann Straker, lays the poppy wreath at the Cenotaph (photo by Vernon Creek).

There then follows the opportunity for lunch at the club before the meeting starts at 12:30 with a series of talks:

  • Dr. Jake Gasson, Salonika: The Battle Against Boredom.
  • Chris Loader, 10th Battalion The Hampshire Regiment: The OG Salonika Battalion.
  • Alan Wakefield, Balkan Gunners: Some Aspects of the Artillery War in the Salonika Campaign.

The cost of the annual meeting is £10.00 per person, excluding lunch. Please note, advance booking is required (by September 20th 2025) as availability of seats is strictly limited.

Full details of the meeting and how you can reserve your place can be found here.

Podcast: “Lost in the Balkans: The Salonika Campaign of World War I with Chris Loader”

SCS Secretary Chris Loader recently recorded (on July 28th) a new podcast as part of the History Rage series in which he shares his personal connection to the Salonika Campaign, through his family history, and discusses the background and complexities of the war in Greece.

You can listen to the podcast here (or via the image below):

The podcast is also available via these other podcast channels:

New Balkan News – July 2025

The Society’s occasional email-newsletter, The New Balkan News* has recently been sent out to subscribers. The July issue contains news about the SCS Annual Meeting in October and also includes a number of interesting articles:

  • Archaeology in the Struma Valley
  • Botany & Salonika 
  • Request for Information
  • Help needed in identifying a Salonika combatant
  • Mule Musings.

One article (Archaeology in the Struma Valley) reports on archaelogical research on the site of the ancient city of Amphipolis, at the mouth of the River Strimon/Struma.

Officers of the 2nd King’s Shropshire Light Infantry with skulls excavated during the construction of trenches and dugouts at the ancient Greek site of Amphipolis, 1916.
Image Source: Imperial War Museum Q 32521

It was here at Amphipolis in 1916 that British troops discovered human remains and artefacts while digging trenches. To read the article, and the rest of the email newsletter, please click here.

And, if you haven’t, please consider subscribing to the NBN here.

*The New Balkan News is available to Society members and non-members alike. The name was inspired by the newspaper of the British Salonika Force – The Balkan News, published 1915-1919 – and was the idea of founding editor, Martin Wills, when it was launched in 2013. All previous newsletters are freely available here.