1916 – Salonika Campaign Society, 1915-1918

5 May 1916 – A “momentous day”

If you read a timeline of the First World War you could be forgiven for thinking that the only event of note in any theatre that day was the bringing down near Salonika of Zeppelin LZ 85. Several items on this have been published in The New Mosquito, the most recent being Andy Hutt’s account of the death of Doctor Norman Yellowlees (see Issue No 53, p 18-22). However, another event of major importance also took place on that day.

A day earlier, on 4 May, a message had been received at Salonika HQ from Egypt quoting a War Office telegram to Sir Archibald James Murray, Commander-in-Chief of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force. This telegram explained that General Bryan Mahon, then in command of British Forces in Salonika, was to be moved to command the Western Front in Egypt including the defence of the Nile Valley and the Mediterranean coast west of Alexandria. His place in Salonika was to be taken by Lieutenant-General George Milne, then in command of XVI Corps (a post he had only held since January).

While he did not take up his new post until 10 May (Mahon departed on the 9th), the “momentous day” (as Milne described it) was 5 May – it was on this day that George Milne was promoted Major-General in preparation for his new appointment. He was not happy, since he recognised that the commander of XII Corps, General H M Wilson, was senior to him. As quoted by Graham Nicol in his book “Uncle George, Field Marshall Lord Milne of Salonika”, on page 88, Milne wrote in his diary:

A bitter blow as I hate the whole thing and am only too anxious to be out of it. Wilson is the senior. I spend an unhappy evening…Can’t say I feel any too happy. The difficulties ahead are great and there are too many rocks to be rounded.

Whatever General Wilson thought of the event, to his great credit their relationship was a good one, supplemented by the appointment of Lieutenant-General Sir Charles Briggs to the command of XVI Corps in Milne’s place.

The rest, as they say, is history.

With apologies to author Rob Elliott for posting this later than he had planned
Andy Hutt

Remembering …

I doubt that members of the Salonika Campaign Society really need International Women’s Day to remember the service and sacrifice of the women of the Scottish Women’s Hospital who served in the Balkans. The Society has remembered them in books, in talks and presentations, at events and in articles, both printed and online. Even so, it may be helpful to have a reminder of these redoubtable women and their noble enterprise, through the graves of just four of their number. I photographed these on a visit to Thessaloniki ten years ago, at the CWGC Lembet Road Military Cemetery. They are: Sister Mary de Burgh Burt, Sister Florence Missouri Caton, Masseuse Olive Smith and Alice Annie Grey.

2025 Salonika Tour now underway

The Society’s 2025 tour (Sunday 21st to Tuesday 30th September) of the British Salonika Force battlefields is now well underway – with battlefield studies, cemetery visits and acts of commemoration. This year the tour has a special focus on artillery and small-scale operations.

The tour began with a Ceremony of Remembrance at Kirechkoi-Hortkoi cemetery, with a wreath laid by Patron of the Society, the Honourable Ann Straker, before moving on to Triada village for an introduction on the BSF in the Struma Valley and the role of artillery on that part of the front.

You can follow the progress of the tour on Facebook here.

Patron of the Society, the Honourable Ann Straker, lays a wreath at the Ceremony of Remembrance at Kirechkoi-Hortkoi cemetery

Programme for the Ceremony of Remembrance at Kirechkoi-Hortkoi cemetery

Memorial Wreaths at Kirechkoi-Hortkoi cemetery

https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/332563/w-c-hockin/

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:

The Illustrated War News – April, 1916

Photographs from Salonika featured quite strongly in “The Illustrated War News” of April 19th, 1916. Here are a couple of those photos:

More to follow in the next few days.

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.

A Night at the Palace Cinema

Amongst the souvenirs of the campaign collected by Private Herbert Price of the ASC Supply Department is a rather fragile flyer for Salonika’s Palace Cinema for the week beginning Monday 30 October 1916. Two films were on offer, the first a French silent film from the previous year, Strass & Compagnie, described as ‘a grand patriotic and poignant drama … in four long parts’, which doesn’t seem a great choice for men seeking escapism from war. In which case, maybe Herbert’s preference was for the 1912 American short, A Millionaire for A Day. Described by one US paper as ‘a screaming comedy’, this 1912 American silent short – based on a true story – is about a mechanic who goes to New York City and squanders his inheritance in a single day, returning home broke but wiser (Wikipedia). On the coming Friday, the film Pont du Diable (Devil’s Bridge) was promised, although this sounds uncomfortably like a location in the Struma valley!

‘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.

Take Your Partners …

With BBC Radio Three celebrating a ‘Day of Dance’, I thought I would see if I could find a suitable photo in the IWM’s online collection. As I suspected, there are a number showing Serbian troops and British medical staff dancing a kolo – a Serbian circle dance – but, as I have used some of those before, I was keen to find something different. Well, I think this is certainly different …