Researching Salonika – Salonika Campaign Society, 1915-1918

Salonika Campaign Society Battlefield Tour 2026

20 – 29 September 2026

The ‘Sappers in Salonika’ Tour

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

Sunday 20 September

Tour begins late morning with meeting at Thessaloniki airport
Ceremony of Remembrance at CWGC Kirechkoi-Hortakoi Military Cemetery
Overnight in Serres.

Monday 21 September

A study of a range of operations in the Struma Valley – final locations to be confirmed but to include RE river crossing methods
Visit to Strimoniko (formerly Orliak) to discuss RE role in signals and lines of communications
CWGC Struma Cemetery
Overnight in Serres.

Tuesday 22 September

Dova Tepe Fort in the Krusha Balkan Hills
Doiran Memorial and CWGC Cemetery
Visit to Akritas (formerly Vladaya) to view British positions
Overnight in Doiran.

Wednesday 23 September

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

Thursday 24 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.

Friday 25 September

A Day on Kosturino Ridge
Rocky Peak and Ormanli village
Memesli village
Site of Kajali village
Crete Rivet and Crete Simonet
Tatarli village
10th (Irish) Division Memorial
Overnight in Doiran.

Saturday 26 September

Visits to sites on the Vardar sector and in the Krusha Balkan Hills – to include some of the following:
- Horseshoe Hill
- Bowls Barrow
- Machukovo (now Evzoni)
- Site of Rattray’s Bridges (Krusha Balkan Hills)
- Mavroplagia (formerly Karamudli) village – RE aerial cableway
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 Kilkis.

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, to get your name on the emailing list for further details: aj.wakefield@talktalk.net

This information is also available as a PDF file for easier downloading and printing:

SCS 2026 Battlefield Tour Information at March 2026 Download

Happy National Illustration Day!

I have always loved illustrated books, so couldn’t let National Illustration Day go unnoticed. Obviously, as children, we start off looking at picture books but my love of illustrated books has continued, although I do read the words too – honest!

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!

Campaign Bibliography Version 6 – now available!

Once again, the Society extends its sincere thanks to SCS member Keith Roberts for the compilation and dedicated annual updates of the only comprehensive bibliography of English-language publications related to the Salonika Campaign.

The bibliography is freely available for members and non-members alike. We only ask that, if it is shared with others, credit is given to the Salonika Campaign Society. The bibliography is available in a variety of formats here.

The bibliography is updated and released each year on this significant day – September 29th – which today marks 107 years since the signing of the Armistice of Salonica. The armistice brought Bulgaria’s involvement in World War I to an end.

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:

Another Salonika connection … ?

I don’t think I have ever written here on Gallipoli, except in passing about those troops who went on to Salonika. I mean no disrespect to those of all nations who fought and died in the Gallipoli campaign but, with no family connections to the campaign, as with so many other areas of the First World War, I have had no more than a passing interest. I will admit, too, to a little irritation that with the landings in Gallipoli coming so hard on the heels of the start of the Second Battle of Ypres, this latter battle is so often overlooked (see Tuesday’s post). However, I have now had to revise my opinion.

Two videos that might be of interest…

Awarded the first SCS Philip Barnes Bursary in 2024, Dr Jake Gasson* recently spoke on ‘The Battle Against Boredom‘ at the National Army Museum. The topic was explored in August this year in this YouTube video for Redcoat History.

And earlier in the year, Jake also explained the background to the Salonika Campaign for Redcoat History.

*Dr Jake Gasson is a National Army Museum Fellow based at King’s College London, where he is a postdoctoral researcher. He obtained a DPhil from Pembroke College, Oxford, specialising in the Macedonian front of the First World War.

Join the 2025 Tour of the British Salonika Force Battlefields

The ‘Artillery & Small Operations’ Tour – Sunday 21 to Tuesday 30 September 2025

Explore the key locations of the British Salonika Force during the 2025 battlefield tour, with a special focus on artillery and the small-scale but intense operations that defined the campaign—raids, ambushes, and offensive patrols.

At Doiran, we’ll examine the crucial role of both British and Bulgarian artillery during the First and Second Battles of Doiran. On the Kosturino battlefield, we’ll revisit the desperate December 1915 fighting of the 10th (Irish) Division. In the Struma Valley, we’ll explore the sites of XVI Corps’ limited offensives between 1916 and 1918, as well as the defensive positions held by British forces.

Our journey continues to Bowls Barrow and Smol (now Micro Dassos) in the Vardar sector, where we’ll see firsthand how operations were often designed to divert Bulgarian attention from Doiran. We’ll also visit sections of the Birdcage Line defences and the village of Mavroplagia (formerly Karamudli) in the Krusha Balkan Hills.

The tour will include visits to several Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemeteries, including Doiran (with the Memorial to the Missing), Karasouli, Kirechkoi-Hortakoi, Lembet Road, and Struma.

Running from Sunday 21 to Tuesday 30 September 2025, the tour is timed to coincide with the official commemorations marking the end of the Salonika Campaign, held over the last full weekend of September.

Led by SCS Chair, Alan Wakefield, this is a great opportunity to walk in the footsteps of BSF history.

To register your interest and receive further details, contact Alan Wakefield via email.

‘Salonika Secrets’ – New Episode

SCS Secretary, Chris Loader, has just released a new episode of his podcast Salonika Secrets (mentioned here in April, 2024).

In Episode 4 of the podcast, Chris begins a new series dedicated to sharing the stories of the fallen officers of the 10th Hampshire Regiment during the Salonika Campaign.

The series begins with the story of Lieutenant John Howard Tanner, who was killed on September 15, 1916, and is buried in the Struma Military Cemetery in Greece.

Image source: Lives of the First World War

You can listen to the podcast free on Spotify, Amazon and Apple. Chris also posts updates and extra information on ‘X’ (formerly Twitter) here.

Map cataloguing work continues…

Hats off and three cheers to the valiant SCS members who have just completed their second visit to the National Archives with more maps checked, listed, and photographed. Great work!