Thursday September 19^th, 1918

Battalion Sports. Played afternoon.

On the Move

Today the Programme of Training, that should have run for the rest of the week and culminate in the Brigade Sports over the weekend, has been cancelled.  Instead the 9th Battalion will be preparing to move towards the front lines.

That said, the Battalion Sports seems to be going ahead today and the band is playing along.

Meanwhile in Salonika…

The French and Serbian troops continue to make good progress.  The French official report for today reads:

‘On Tuesday and Wednesday the Allied Eastern armies greatly extended their successes of the two preceding days. The Bulgarian divisions engaged on the front of the attack are retreating in disorder towards the Cerna. ….

In the region of Lake Doiran the Anglo-Greek troops also made an attack, and gained a footing in the front enemy lines in spite of very strong resistance. A large number of prisoners have already fallen into Anglo-Greek hands.‘¹

This map (which appears in the Guardian on September 23rd), shows the scale of the Bulgarian retreat.

The Battle of Dojran, September 18-19, 1918

For the fourth time in the war, the Allies are trying to take Dojran.  British troops have been involved in all three previous attempts and now are joined by the Greeks.

Over the years the Bulgarians have heavily fortified their position in this region. In this they have been aided considerably by the topography – particularly around the high points of Pip Ridge and the Grand Couronné.

Yesterday, the early hours of the battle went well for the Allies and some first and second line trenches were captured.  Presumably this informed yesterday’s French report. However almost immediately a Bulgarian counter-attack recovered all the lost ground. By the end of yesterday, the much-battered army was back where it had started.

Today, fighting will resume.  However the 66th Division (of which Frank and the 13th Manchesters had been part) and the 67th are too weakened to participate.   No ground will be taken today by the Allies and over the two days of fighting, its casualties will be five times those of the enemy. This particular battle is over.³

By tomorrow, the British newspapers are more circumspect in their reporting. ‘The British and Greeks on either side of Lake Dojran have attacked and made some progress and captured 700 prisoners. This attack is regarded as important, because it will compel the Bulgarians to retain troops on our front and prevent them withdrawing reserves to see the main attack by the Serbs.‘²

9^th Battalion War Diary – 19^th September 1918 – Haudricourt

Training cancelled. Operation Order No 1 issued (Appendix No 4). The Battalion will move from L of C area to 1^st Army Area tomorrow 20^th inst, and will march to Formerie station to entrain. 1 OR is struck off the effective strength on evacuation to hospital Rouen 17-9-18. 5 OR are struck off effective strength after 7 days in hospital from various dates.

References & Further Reading

¹ ‘French Official Report, Thursday’ in The Guardian newspaper, September 20th, 1918, page 5

² ‘The Anglo Greek Attack’ in The Guardian, September 21st, 1918, page 7

³ Battle of Dojran (1918) on Wikipedia