ABSTRACT
The decisive turn in the First World War in the Balkans came in mid-September 1918, when Allied troops under the command of French General Franchet d’Espèray broke through the Salonica Front, also known as the Macedonian Front. The Entente forces, consisting of British and French units, many of them from Africa and India, as well as the Serbian army and Greek and Italian divisions, proved too powerful for the defensive line of the Central Powers. The Bulgarian forces gave in first, surrendering in late September, while Austro-Hungarian and German troops could not halt the further Allied advance. The 1st Serbian Army of General Bojović entered Vranje on October 5 and Niš several days later. Vojvoda (Field Marshal) Stepa Stepanović’s Second Army, helped by the French, took Priština/Prishtina on October 10, and Peć/Peja/Ipek a week later. By November 1, 1918, Belgrade was liberated. French officers marveled at Serbian peasant-soldiers who sometimes marched up to 17 hours a day, eventually covering 400 miles in a month and a half.
