BULGARIA ENTERS THE WAR
The Bulgarian Government suddenly threw aside all dissimulation and
declared war on Serbia, on the pretext that the Serbians had crossed
the frontier and attacked Bulgarian troops. On October 11, 1915, the
Bulgarian army began operations by attacking the Serbians at
Kadibogas, northwest of Nish, the attack gradually extending up and
down the frontier. This was the fatal blow. To oppose the 300,000 men
that the Bulgarians could easily put into this field, the Serbians had
not over a third as many.
Bulgaria had two large armies against the Serbian frontier. The First
Army, under General Boyadjieff, was fully 200,000 strong and was
concentrated in the north from Vidin to Zaribrod, threatening the
Timok Valley and that part of the Belgrade-Sofia railroad running from
Pirot to Nish.
The Second Army, under the command of General Todoroff, was only half
as large, and directed itself toward Macedonia and especially toward
Uskub, both on account of the strategic importance of that place as a
railroad center and as the best point from which a wedge might be
driven into the side of Serbia, separating the north from the south.
The headquarters of this second force was in Kustendil, its left wing
extending down to Strumitza in Macedonia.
On this eastern front, to oppose the Bulgarians, the Serbian forces
were in three groups. In the north, its left flank touching the forces
operating against the Austro-Germans, lay the Timok group, commanded
by General Zivkovitch, whose headquarters were in Zaichar. South of
this force came the second group--territorial troops--numbering three
divisions of infantry and one of cavalry, altogether about 80,000 men,
and commanded by Marshal Stepanovitch. It was based on Pirot and was
especially charged with the defense of the railroad. Lower down, with
headquarters in Vranya, was the detachment of the Southern Morava.
Farther down in Macedonia, concentrated around Uskub, Veles, and
stretched down along the Vardar toward the Greek frontier at Doiran,
were another 25,000 men under the command of General Bojovitch.
[Illustration: Under fire from the Serbian forces, General Mackensen's
engineers constructed this great bridge across the Danube, and his
army crossed for the invasion of Serbia.]
As a slight offset to the disheartening news that the Bulgarians had
at last definitely joined hands with the Teutonic forces, came the
tidings that France and England had declared war on Bulgaria and that
their forces, which had been landing in Saloniki, were already
advancing up the Vardar with the intention of making a junction with
the southern Serbian forces. Already, on that same day, October 15,
1915, the allied vanguard had advanced as far as Valandova and was
there attacked by the Bulgarians, the latter being beaten back and
heavily defeated. These were the French troops, under command of
General Sarrail; having thrown back the Bulgarians he worked his way
northward along the railroad until he reached Krivolak and Gradsko, a
few miles below Veles. But transporting troops from France and England
was a slow business, and General Sarrail had not then, nor had he
later, enough forces to advance north any farther. Meanwhile the
Bulgarians in the north, under Boyadjieff, began operations against
the Serbians.
The country in this section is extremely rough, being all rocky ridges
and deep ravines, with roads little better than mountain trails.
Boyadjieff succeeded at once in crossing the Lower Timok, then divided
his force into two main divisions. One of these he advanced against
Pirot, the other against Zaichar and Kniashevatz. But now the Serbians
began a strong resistance.
On October 15, 1915, the Bulgarians began three strong assaults, east
and southeast of Zaichar, all of which the Serbians repulsed
successfully. East of Kniashevatz another series of bitterly contested
encounters took place, neither side making any decided gains. On the
following day the fighting extended to Svinski Vis. By this time the
Serbians east of Kniashevatz began giving way slowly and the
Bulgarians pushed forward and on October 19, 1915, they arrived before
Negotin. Toward Pirot they also succeeded in making some advance.
For several days the two fighting lines of men swayed back and forth.
Here artillery played not so important a part. Both Bulgars and Serbs,
primitive, rugged fighters, threw military science to the winds and
plunged into the battle face to face and breast to breast, thrusting
each other with cold steel. In some of the struggles the men lost
their guns; they picked up the bowlders that lay about them thickly
and hurled them at their enemies or they gripped each other with their
hands and fought as animals fight. Quarter was neither asked nor
given.
Witnesses state that in neither of the two Balkan wars was there such
ferocious fighting, such awful slaughter, as during the encounters
between the Serbians and Bulgarians along this section of the
frontier. Both sides lost heavily; whole companies and even battalions
were hemmed in against the rock walls, then exterminated to the last
man.
But finally numbers began to show the advantage, and the Serbians were
obliged to retire from ridge to ridge. Village after village was taken
and burned.
In Macedonia, Todoroff, though his force was much smaller, was having
comparatively easy work. A large part of the vital railroad line
passed through this section and it was Todoroff's first aim to throw
himself astride of it, thus effectually breaking off communication
between the vanguard of the French army and the Serbians. It was this
portion of the country that the Greeks would have defended, had they
joined the Allies.
The first thing that Todoroff did was to detach a strong force from
his main body, with which he struck at the railroad between Vranya and
Zibeftcha and succeeded in cutting it. The detachment of the Southern
Morava was driven back at the first encounter and on October 17, 1915,
the Bulgarians entered Vranya. On the same day the main body of the
Bulgarians advanced down the slopes from Kustendil and took Egri
Palanka, on the road toward Kumanova and Uskub. Farther south they
penetrated the Valley of the Bregalnitza, the scene of the Bulgarian
defeat in the Second Balkan War, where they captured the important
strategic point, Sultan Tepe, and the town of Katshana, taking twelve
field pieces. Passing rapidly on through Ishtip, they occupied that
part of Veles lying east of the Vardar River, where, on October 20,
1915, they again cut the railroad line and so made any further advance
on the part of the French almost impossible. The next day the
Bulgarians captured Kumanova and then, on the day following, drove the
Serbians on through Uskub. The Serbians retired fighting to Katshanik
Pass, north of Uskub, where they made a stand that became one of the
notable achievements, on their part, of the whole campaign. For by the
defense of this pass they made the Bulgarian effort to cut Serbia in
two for some time fruitless.