Battle of Dobro Pole

Infobox Military Conflict
conflict=Battle of Dobro Pole
partof= the Balkans Theatre (World War I)


caption=Two Pronged Allied Offensive
date=September 15 1918
place=Dobro Pole, Macedonia
result=Decisive Entente Victory, effectively led to Bulgaria signing an armistice and leaving the war
combatant1=flagicon|Bulgaria|1878 Bulgaria
combatant2=flag|France
flagicon|Serbia|1882 Serbia
commander1=flagicon|Bulgaria|1878 Ferdinand I
commander2=flagicon|France Louis Franchet d'Esperey
flagicon|Serbia|1882 Živojin Mišić
strength1=26 battalions
146 artillery guns at the end
strength2=75 battalions
580 artillery guns
casualties1=heavy
casualties2=Unknown

The Battle of Dobro Pole was a World War I battle, fought on September 15, 1918. The battle resulted in a decisive Entente victory, with a defeated Bulgaria left to sign an armistice, which removed it from World War I.

The battle was fought at Dobro Pole, in present day Macedonia, then part of Serbia occupied and claimed by Bulgaria.

Prelude

Once the Bulgarian advance into Romania and Greece had been halted, conditions at the front deteriorated rapidly and political support for the war began to wane. Bulgaria had now achieved all its war aims, but was compelled to continue fighting in order to assist its Central Powers allies. With little manpower available for farming, serious food shortages affected both civilians and soldiers while rampant inflation damaged the economy. In 1917 food riots broke out and opposition to World War I propaganda became widely circulated.

On June 17, 1917, Greece joined the war on the side of the Entente (having issued a declaration of war on 23 November 1916). In September 1918, the Entente forces launched a two-pronged offensive into Bulgarian-occupied Macedonia.

Bulgaria was able to defeat Britain and Greece at the Battle of Doiran decisively, but Serbo-French forces did not halt their advance, and the two forces finally met at Dobro Pole.

The Battle

Bulgarian forces met a more powerful and larger army at Dobro Pole. The large majority of the Allied Powers consisted of 122nd French Infantry Division, 17th French Infantry Colonial Division and the Serb Shumadia Division in the first echelon and two Serbian divisions in the second echelon (Timok and Yugoslav). The battle started on 14th September with great artillery bombardement. Bulgarians prided themselves not losing any battles to this point in the war, and Ferdinand I decided to stay and fight. The machine gun companies, the 2nd and 3rd Bulgarian Infantry Divisions dug in. From 15th September to 21st September, the Bulgarians were surrounded. Being outmanned and strategically inert, the Bulgarians were unable to stop the Allied advance. Even when asked to surrender, as victory was hopeless, the Bulgarians refused to give up, ignoring the Allied requests. The Allies continued to advance, and eventually their flamethrowers inflicted devastating damage upon the Bulgarians, who soon were soundly defeated.

Revolt

After the defeat at Dobro Pole, other Bulgarian soldiers began to revolt, and the Bulgarian front lines were abandoned. The rebels headed towards Sofia in order to negotiate with the government. When the rebels reached Sofia, they were crushed by Bulgarian loyalists and German troops.

Aftermath

10 days after the battle, with the front lines abandoned by the Bulgarian Army, the Entente advance in Bulgaria met little resistance. Bulgaria signed an armistice with the Allied Powers, officially leaving the war. Immediately after, a peasant-led "Agrarian" government took control.

In November 1919 the Treaty of Neuilly-sur-Seine awarded Thrace to Greece, depriving Bulgaria of access to the Aegean Sea. The newly formed Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes took Macedonia and Southern Dobruja was again occupied by Romania. Severe limitations were placed on the size of the Bulgarian Army and enormous war reparations in goods and money were to be paid to the Allies.

ee also

*Armistice with Bulgaria
*Serbian Campaign (World War I)

References

*cite web
last = Hayles
first = John
authorlink = John Hayles
coauthors =
title = Republic of Bulgaria National History
work =
publisher =
date = 2001-12-13
url = http://www.aeroflight.co.uk/waf/bulgaria/bulg-national-history.htm | format =
doi =
accessdate = 2007-01-20
*"Savo Skoko, "Vojvoda Stepa Stepanović", Belgrade 1985.