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immediate danger as Serbia had capitulated by the time the
British were established on Greek territory.
The Greek king asked the British to leave but his request was
declined, partly due to the lack of shipping, which at that time,
was extracting the Allies from Gallipoli. The situation changed
when the Bulgarians started to threaten Greece, and the British
built strong fortified defensive positions below the Bulgarian
army in the hills above Salonika (now Thessalonika). By mid
1916 the defenders had been joined by Serbs, Russians and
Italians and, on 16th July, the invasion of Greece began. This
was repulsed but battles continued on this front throughout the
rest of the war until September 1918 when Bulgaria capitulated
and Serbia was freed.
George is involved in this front but for a period of three days is
away from the fighting whilst in the guardroom for “disobeying
orders – not being in his bivouac”.
Meanwhile the British faced a graver situation as the Turks
had joined the war on the side of the Germans. Their empire
spread down through the Middle East to the border with British-
dominated Egypt. After some initial skirmishing Viscount Allenby
was sent to sort out the situation, arriving in June 1917. Again,
the campaign in the Middle East is not well known except for the
exploits of Lawrence.
It was in reality one of the few great British, or more correctly,
Commonwealth, successes of the whole war. With Australian,
New Zealand and Indian troops, using flexible, fast-moving
mounted troops, such as the Australia Light Horse, they
eventually drove the Turks out of the region and re-captured the
holy city of Jerusalem.
Allenby’s forces were joined by the local Arabs, and, to get
their co-operation, many promises were made regarding the
autonomy of the Arabs after the war. Most of these promises
were not honoured and Britain and France divided the region
between them, with France taking Syria and Britain Iraq. It
could, indeed, be argued that many of today’s problems in the
area stem from this period at the end of WW1.
231
British were established on Greek territory.
The Greek king asked the British to leave but his request was
declined, partly due to the lack of shipping, which at that time,
was extracting the Allies from Gallipoli. The situation changed
when the Bulgarians started to threaten Greece, and the British
built strong fortified defensive positions below the Bulgarian
army in the hills above Salonika (now Thessalonika). By mid
1916 the defenders had been joined by Serbs, Russians and
Italians and, on 16th July, the invasion of Greece began. This
was repulsed but battles continued on this front throughout the
rest of the war until September 1918 when Bulgaria capitulated
and Serbia was freed.
George is involved in this front but for a period of three days is
away from the fighting whilst in the guardroom for “disobeying
orders – not being in his bivouac”.
Meanwhile the British faced a graver situation as the Turks
had joined the war on the side of the Germans. Their empire
spread down through the Middle East to the border with British-
dominated Egypt. After some initial skirmishing Viscount Allenby
was sent to sort out the situation, arriving in June 1917. Again,
the campaign in the Middle East is not well known except for the
exploits of Lawrence.
It was in reality one of the few great British, or more correctly,
Commonwealth, successes of the whole war. With Australian,
New Zealand and Indian troops, using flexible, fast-moving
mounted troops, such as the Australia Light Horse, they
eventually drove the Turks out of the region and re-captured the
holy city of Jerusalem.
Allenby’s forces were joined by the local Arabs, and, to get
their co-operation, many promises were made regarding the
autonomy of the Arabs after the war. Most of these promises
were not honoured and Britain and France divided the region
between them, with France taking Syria and Britain Iraq. It
could, indeed, be argued that many of today’s problems in the
area stem from this period at the end of WW1.
231
