Battle of Dobro Pole

Date
15 September 1918
Location
Dobro Pole, Republic of Macedonia
Result
Decisive Entente victory
Date: 15 September 1918
Location: Dobro Pole, Republic of Macedonia
Result: Decisive Entente victory
Belligerents:
: Bulgaria
German Empire
Commanders and leaders:
: Georgi Todorov
Friedrich von Scholtz
Kuno von Steuben
Strength:
: 26 battalions
11,600 rifleman with 245 machine guns, 146 artillery pieces and 24 airplanes

The Battle of Dobro Pole was a World War I battle, fought on 15 September 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 Republic of Macedonia, which was claimed by Bulgaria and had been under Bulgarian occupation since 1915.

The battle

The 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 14 September with heavy artillery bombardment. Until then, the Bulgarians prided themselves at not having lost during the war, and Ferdinand I decided to keep the troops there and fight. The machine gun companies, the 2nd and 3rd Bulgarian Infantry Divisions dug in. From 15 September to 19 September, the Bulgarians were surrounded. 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.

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

The battle was lost because the morale of the troops was low and they were significantly outnumbered. After this victory, the Entente army continued to Bulgaria. On 19 September, the French, British and Greek armies were defeated at Doiran and Bulgarians avoided occupation. 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 Vardarska Macedonia. 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.

Richard Hall, Balkan Breakthrough: The Battle of Dobro Pole 1918, Indiana University Press, 2010, ISBN 9780253354525
Hayles, John (13 December 2001). "Republic of Bulgaria National History". http://www.aeroflight.co.uk/waf/bulgaria/bulg-national-history.htm. Retrieved 20 January 2007.
Savo Skoko, "Vojvoda Stepa Stepanović", Belgrade 1985.

Armistice with Bulgaria
Serbian Campaign (World War I)

1912-1913

First Balkan War

1913

Treaty of London
Second Balkan War
Treaty of Bucharest
Treaty of Istanbul

1915

Negotiations of Bulgaria with the Central Powers and the Entente
Bulgarian-German treaty
Secret Bulgarian-German agreement
Military convention between Germany, Austria-Hungary and Bulgaria
Bulgarian-Turkish convention
Mobilization

Bulgaria

Nikola Zhekov • Kliment Boyadzhiev • Georgi Todorov• Stefan Nerezov • Vladimir Vazov

Entente:

Serbia: Radomir Putnik • Živojin Mišić • Stepa Stepanović • Petar Bojović; France: Maurice Sarrail • Adolphe Guillaumat • Franchet d'Esperey; United Kingdom: George Milne; Greece: Panagiotis Danglis

First Army
Second Army
Fourth Army

1915

Morava Offensive Operation • Ovche Pole Offensive Operation • Kosovo Offensive Operation (1915) • Battle of Krivolak

1916

First battle of Doiran • Battle of Lerin • Battle of Struma • Monastir Offensive

1917

Second battle of Doiran • Battle of the Red Wall

1918

Battle of Skra-di-Legen • Battle of Dobro Pole • Third battle of Doiran

Bulgaria

Nikola Zhekov • Panteley Kiselov • Stefan Toshev • Todor Kantardzhiev • Ivan Kolev

Entente:

Romania: Constantin Prezan • Alexandru Averescu; Russia: Andrei Zaionchkovsky

Third Army

1916

Battle of Turtucaia • Battle of Dobrich • First Cobadin • Flămx¢nda Offensive • Second Cobadin • Battle of Bucharest

1918 Treaty of Brest-Litovsk • Armistice of Focşani • Treaty of Bucharest • Protocol of Berlin

Outcome

Armistice of Salonica
Vladaya revolt
Treaty of Neuilly-sur-Seine

Others

Bulgarian administration in Kosovo
Anti-military propaganda

Ferdinand
Aleksandar Protogerov
August von Mackensen
Boris Drangov
Vladimir Vazov
Georgi Todorov (general)
Ivan Kolev
Kliment Boyadzhiev
Konstantin Zhostov
Krastyu Zlatarev
Nikola Zhekov
Panteley Kiselov
Stefan Toshev
Stefan Nerezov
Todor Kantardzhiev

More aircraft.

Source: WikiPedia