The Story of the Great War, Volume 7: American Food and Ships; Palestine; Italy invaded; Great German Offensive; Americans in Picardy; Americans on the Marne; Foch's Counteroffensive.
History
The Story of the Great War, Volume 7: American Food and Ships; Palestine; Italy invaded; Great German Offensive; Americans in Picardy; Americans on the Marne; Foch's Counteroffensive.
World War, 1914-1918
A serious charge, it will be remembered, had been made against Sarrail
in France before his appointment to Saloniki, in July, 1915. This charge
had been made by General Dubail and had been indorsed by General Joffre
and Millerand, then Minister of War in the French Cabinet. It had to do
with certain maneuvers against the German Crown Prince, directed by
Sarrail under the command of Dubail. Subsequently these charges were
dropped, and until his sudden appointment to the Saloniki command
Sarrail dropped from view.
The specific reason for Sarrail's removal has not been officially
stated, but there are rumors throwing doubt on his loyalty and
suggesting his connection with the Caillaux scandal, which would imply
that Sarrail had deliberately made no efforts to proceed seriously
against the Bulgarians and the Austrians, even that he had secretly
connived in the destruction of the Rumanians when he should have created
a diversion by a general attack in Macedonia.
The double part played by Constantine, King of Greece, in the dealings
with the Entente Powers, had always been a matter of grave suspicion, in
spite of his repeated denials and protestations of friendship, published
through his frequent newspaper interviews. Even after his removal from
the throne by the Allies there still remained a doubt in the minds of
many people that he had been justly treated. But then his duplicity has
been conclusively proved beyond all question.
Early in November, 1917, there were discovered in Athens the records of
a number of telegrams which had been exchanged between Constantine and
Queen Sophia on the one hand and her brother, the kaiser, on the other.
These telegrams were in a cipher code unknown to the Greek foreign
office. The key was discovered later and the contents of the telegrams
revealed clearly, exposing a series of plots which had been initiated by
the Greek sovereigns against their supposed friends, the Allies.
Those sent early in 1916, by both the king and the queen, urgently
requested the kaiser to institute an energetic military movement in the
Balkans toward Greece, that Greece might be relieved from the presence
of the Allied troops in the neighborhood. Then came the affair in which
the Greek military authorities surrendered Fort Rupel to the Bulgarians,
showing conclusively that the king had connived in the surrender.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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