Monday Dec 31^st, 1917

Wet morning, arrive in Harbour Salonika 9:30am.  Not allowed to disembark.  Raining all day.  Bully & bread for breakfast, bully & biscuits and jam for dinner and tea.  Scots enjoying themselves New Year’s Eve.  Report withdrawal of Turkey from war.  Hope it is true. Warned to leave boat tomorrow – New Year’s Day.  Nowhere to sleep, no hammocks or blankets.

Salonika

Frank must have been relieved to get to Salonika unscathed by U-boat action and to have his attention reclaimed by his unvaried diet.

This image shows the harbour in Salonika during the War.  See the captured enemy plane at the bottom right of the picture: the spoils of war and a big attraction.

Salonika and its harbour were very important to the region. Salonika with southern Macedonia and Epirus had been incorporated into Greece in 1912. They were officially annexed after the second Balkan War in 1913 with the Treaty of Bucharest.

The population of the city before the war is estimated to be between 150,000 and 200,000. The largest sub-section was made up of Sephardi Jews, followed by  Greeks, Turks, Bulgarians and Romas.   From their arrival in 1915, the Allies added about 100,000 to the city’s population, comprising mainly French and British.

 Jerusalem

The reference to Turkey’s withdrawal from the war was probably prompted by General Allenby’s victories in Palestine. These had culminated in the taking of Jerusalem in early December 1917. Unfortunately, it did not signal the Ottoman Empire’s withdrawal from the war.

The victories in the Middle East in the last months of the year were some of the few bright spots for the Allies in 1917.  It was the first time in 400 years that Jerusalem had been under Christian control and was a significant psychological boost.

General Allenby, as a sign of humility and respect,  had walked on foot into an unharmed Jerusalem where he promised to safeguard ‘all institutions holy to Christinas, Jews and Muslims’. TE Lawrence, who witnessed the proceedings, later admitted that, for him, it was “the most memorable event of the war”.¹

References & further reading

¹ ‘Hero: The Life and Legend of Lawrence of Arabia’ by Michael Korda

* image may be subject to copyright

Ottoman Empire/Middle East  Encyclopaedia 1914-1918

Various Articles in The Guardian & The Times newspapers December 1917

Ottoman surrender, Jerusalem by Mike Shuster