THE GREEKS ON THE FIRING LINE
It was during these six days' hard fighting that the Greek volunteers
underwent their baptism of fire and the first of them shed their blood
for the cause of the Allies. These constituted the First Regiment of
Greek volunteers commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Gravanis. He was
under the command of the French general at Fiorina, and he and his men
took a prominent part in the capture of the town. During the next few
days the fighting calmed down, except farther eastward above Ostrovo,
where the Serbians had succeeded in driving the Bulgarians from their
important positions along the Kaimakcalan ridges. Here the Bulgarians
counterattacked bitterly and continuously, but apparently with no
success. These assaults were repeated at intervals of several days
during the rest of the month, and though Sofia reported the recapture
of Kaimakcalan Heights and a general triumph along this whole section
of the front, the reports from both sides later indicated that these
dispatches were wholly false, probably issued to satisfy a restless
general public. On the other hand, the Allies made no further advance:
by the first day of the following month they held about the same
ground they had gained during the intensive fighting shortly after the
middle of September, 1916. As is usual after extreme military
activity, there followed a period of calm, during which both sides
were preparing for the next outburst of effort. But the end of
September, 1916, showed plainly that the Bulgarians and Teutons were
entirely on the defensive in Macedonia and were content to hold their
own.
During the month of October, 1916, little of a sensational aspect
occurred on the Macedonian front; the latter half of this period was,
however, one of hard fighting and steady hammering along the Serbian
sector. On the 2d the Serbians reported that they had not only
consolidated the positions they had taken on the important heights of
Kaimakcalan but they had advanced beyond this point three kilometers
and taken Kotchovie. At the end of the week Jermani, a village at the
base of a high ridge on the lower shore of Little Prespa Lake, was
taken by the French. Some days after came a rather detailed dispatch
from Rome, significant in the light of later events. The Italians from
Avlona were obviously making steady progress over a very difficult
territory--difficult on account of the poor communications. On the
10th it was reported that they had taken Klisura, about thirty-five
miles from Avlona, in the direction of Monastir. This was barely a
fourth of the distance; nevertheless they were advancing toward Lake
Ochrida, west of the Prespa Lakes, against which the Bulgarians rested
their right wing. It was evident that they had driven back the
Austrians who were supposed to hold this section.
On the 12th the British made an advance over on the right section of
the front; nothing of any real importance had occurred over here since
the supposed advance had begun, but there had been a great deal of
noise from the artillery on both sides. On this date the British
reached Seres, but were held back by the Bulgarians, who had
previously driven out the Greek garrison and occupied the forts in the
immediate neighborhood. These positions the British now began
hammering with great vigor, with their biggest guns, though without
any immediate result.
At the end of the third week of the month the Serbians, under General
Mischitch, made another drive ahead and succeeded in penetrating the
enemy's lines for a distance of two miles, taking Velyselo, and a day
later Baldentsi. At the beginning of this battle, which lasted two
days, the advantage rested with the Bulgarians. They held the higher
line beyond the Cerna River, whose slopes were so steep that they
could roll huge bowlders down on the attacking parties. After a two
hours' artillery preparation early in the morning, the Serbians
suddenly sprang forward with loud cheers and rushed the heights. From
the rear they could be recognized at a great distance, on account of
the large square of white calico which each man had sewn to the back
of his coat, and the leaders carried white and red flags with which to
indicate the farthest point reached, so that the artillery in the rear
could see and avoid shelling them. While the Serbians stormed one
crest, the artillery pounded the crest just beyond. Finally all the
crests were covered by little fluttering red and white flags, while
the Bulgarians fled headlong down the opposite slopes. On the
following day a period of very bad weather set in and drowned further
operations in a deluge of rain.
On the 21st came another report from Rome of some significance. In the
Iskeria Mountains east of Premeti an Italian detachment occupied
Lyaskoviki, on the road from Janina to Koritza. The latter town marks
the racial boundary between the Bulgarian and Albanian countries. To
the eastward was the rough country of Kastoria in which the Russians
were operating. In other words, the Italians were emerging from
Albania and were getting within reach of the Macedonian field of
operations. In fact, on the 29th it was reported that this Italian
expedition had linked up with the extreme left of the Allied wing, but
this report must have been quite premature; it still had some very
rough country to traverse before this could be accomplished. The end
of the month saw a lull in the operations in the entire Macedonian
theater on account of the bad weather.