Events during the year 1915.
In April 2017 a post about the Army Cyclist Corps in Macedonia prompted a response from Kevin MacDermot who was researching his great uncle, 5769 Private Joseph Devine of 16th Corps Cyclist Battalion, Army Cyclists Corps (formerly 10623, Royal Irish Fusiliers).
Continue reading “Remembering 5769 Private Joseph Devine, ACC”
I’m going to take a break from French colonial cavalry to consider what the BSF was doing at this time, using the Official History of Military Operations in Macedonia (Vol. 2 – 1935) by Capt. Cyril Falls.
There was little rest for the Brigade Jouinot-Gambetta and next morning (24th) it resumed its march into the hills towards the Babuna Pass.
I first read Alan Palmer’s The Gardeners of Salonika about 30 years ago, to try to understand what my late grandfather had been doing in Salonika. I have to confess that what really stood out for me in the book, was not the descriptions of the tedious patrolling carried out by the BSF’s XVI Corps in the Struma Valley (which included Fred on his bike), but the dramatic advance of the French colonial cavalry to capture Skopje.
In The Gardeners of Salonika (1965), Alan Palmer describes the optimistic outlook for the allies on 22 September 1918:
Under the Devil’s Eye describes the thoughts of a British officer after the two failed attacks at Doiran:
In the small hours of September 20 all German and Bulgarian troops from the Crna to Dojran were ordered to prepare to fall back to new positions.
A second attack was ordered for September 19. Alan Palmer describes it in stark terms and adds a damning indictment of the British attacks.
A fine depiction of a soldier of 12/Cheshire catching his breath – and probably still suffering from the effects of malaria – in the attack on Pip Ridge. Continue reading “12/Cheshire on Pip Ridge”
Early in the morning of September 18th this apparently inconsequential message was telephoned to each British Divisional HQ. It was the signal that the attack at Doiran was to be launched at eight minutes past five that morning, one and three-quarter hours before sunrise. The offensive opened with…
Continue reading ““508 bottles of beer will be sent to you””
Salonika Campaign Society, 1915-1918 