World War, 1914-1918 -- Campaigns -- Balkan Peninsula
The general distribution was as follows: The A.F.O. (General Henrys)
from the river Tomoritza in Albania to a point between the Cerna
and Gradesnitza; it comprised the 30th, 76th, 57th and 156th French
Divisions and several minor units not forming part of any division,
between the Tomoritza and the western end of the Cerna loop, the 35th
Italian Division from that point to a point a little to the west of
Makovo, while the line from hence to a point just beyond the east end
of the Cerna loop was held by the 11th French Colonial Division and
the 3rd Greek Division. Here began the area of the Franco-Serb group
(Voivod Michich), with the Drina and Morava Divisions of the I Army to
the left and the Yugoslav and Timok Divisions of the II Army to the
left, reinforced by the 122nd and 17th French Divisions, extending as
far as the neighbourhood of Nonte. To the right of the Serbs, was the
area of the I Group of Divisions (General d’Anselme) reaching to the
Vardar and comprising the 16th French Colonial Division, the Greek
Archipelago Division and for a short time the 27th British. East of
the Vardar was the British Army (General Milne), with the XII Corps,
commanded by General Wilson, comprising the 22nd and 26th British
Divisions, the 2nd bis Zouaves Regiment and the Greek Serres Division,
west of Lake Doiran, and the XVI Corps (General Briggs) east of the
lake, comprising the 28th British Division and Greek Cretan Division.
From Lake Butkova to the sea the sector was held by the I Greek Corps
(General Ioannou), under the orders of the British Commander-in-Chief,
comprising the 1st, 2nd and 13th Divisions. The 4th and 14th Greek
Divisions constituted a reserve for the British Army, and the 9th was
still in training near Florina.
In the central sector, where the attack was to be first launched, the
distribution was as follows: The I Serbian Army held a front of 16½
km. from the river Lesnitza to the Sokol, with the Danube and Drina
Divisions in the first line and the Morava behind the centre. The II
Army held a front of 17 km. from the Sokol to the river Sushitza,
with the French 122nd and 17th Colonial to the left, the Shumadia
to the right, the Yugoslav and the Timok in reserve. On the whole
Franco-Serbian front were concentrated 36,000 rifles, 2,000 light
machine guns, 81 aeroplanes and 600 guns--more than a third of the
whole artillery of the Armée d’Orient and almost the whole of its heavy
artillery, so that other sectors were stripped to a dangerous degree.
These 600 guns comprised 8 batteries of short 120 mm., 17 of short
155 mm., 4 of long 105 mm., 3 of long 120 mm., 5 of long 155 mm., 48
of 75 mm. field guns, 35 of 65 mm. mountain guns, 72 trench mortars
of 58 mm., and 12 of 240 mm. Thus the Allies had, on this sector, an
overwhelming artillery superiority over the enemy.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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