Under the Devil’s Eye: Britain’s Forgotten Army at Salonika 1915-1918

The British Salonika Force landed in Greece in October 1915 to deter Bulgaria from joining Germany and Austria-Hungary in attacking Serbia. The campaign was, from the British perspective, always destined to be a “side show.” Britain had no political, commercial, or strategic interests in the region beyond prosecuting World War I to a favorable conclusion, but the demands of coalition warfare made a continued Anglo-French presence necessary. From mid-1917 onward, the War Office plundered the British Salonika Force’s manpower to support offensives in Palestine and on the Western Front. The public at large either forgot about the campaign or joined in its denigration, and the troops who fought in the Balkans quickly became a forgotten army. Along with Gallipoli and campaigns in Italy and Palestine, Salonika is a “missing link” in the British war effort.