History of the World War, Volume 3 (of 7) : $b An authentic narrative of the world's greatest warMarch, Francis A., Jr.
History
History of the World War, Volume 3 (of 7) : $b An authentic narrative of the world's greatest war
March, Francis A., Jr.
World War, 1914-1918
The Serbian army had been driven out of Serbia. But the Allies who
had come up from Saloniki were still unbeaten. On October 12th, the
French General Serrail arrived and moved with the French forces, as
has already been said, to the Serbian aid. They met with a number
of successes. On October 19th they seized the Bulgarian town of
Struminitza, and occupied strong positions on the left bank of the
Vardar. On October 27th they occupied Krivolak, with the British Tenth
Division, which had joined them on their right. They then occupied the
summit of Karahodjali, which commanded the whole section of the valley.
This the Bulgarians attacked in force on the 5th of November, but
were badly repulsed. They then attempted to move toward Babuna Pass,
twenty-five miles west of Krivolak, where they hoped to join hands with
the Serbian column at that point.
They were being faced by a Bulgarian army numbering one hundred and
twenty-five thousand men, and found themselves in serious danger. They
were compelled to fall back into what is called the “Entrenched Camp
of Kavodar” without bringing the aid to the Serbian army that they had
hoped. The Allied expedition to aid Serbia had failed. It was hopeless
from the start, and, if anything, had injured Serbia by raising false
expectations which had interfered with their plans.
During the whole of this disastrous campaign a desperate political
struggle was going on in Greece. On November 3rd, the Zaimis Cabinet
tendered its resignation to King Constantine. The trouble was over
a bill for extra pay to army officers, but it led to an elaborate
discussion of the Greek war policy. M. Venizelos made two long speeches
defending his policy, and condemning the policy of his opponents in
regard to the Balkan situation. He said that he deplored the fact that
Serbia was being left to be crushed by Bulgaria, Greece’s hereditary
enemy, who would not scruple later to fall on Greece herself. He spoke
of the King in a friendly way, criticizing, however, his position. He
had been twice removed from the Premiership, although he had a majority
behind him in the Greek Chamber.
“Our State,” he said, “is a democracy, presided over by the King, and
the whole responsibility rests with the Cabinet. I admit that the Crown
has a right to disagree with the responsible Government if he thinks
the latter is not in agreement with the national will. But after the
recent election, non-agreement is out of the question, and now the
Crown has not the right to disagree again on the same question. It is
not a question of patriotism but of constitutional liberty.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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