Elated Serbs and French breach the Salonika Front
- 00:09:59
- YouTube
Elated Serbs and French breach the Salonika Front
After repeatedly defeating the Austro-Hungarian army in the first year of the WWI, Serbian Army faced annihilation when simultaneously attacked by Austria-Hungary, Germany and Bulgaria in 1915. With no help from the Allies, Serbian army, Government, the King and tens of thousands of civilians began full retreat south and west through Montenegro and into Albania. Most of the retreating soldiers and civilians didn't make it to the coast, though - they were lost to hunger, disease, attacks by enemy forces and Albanian tribal bands. Survivors who reached the coast of the Adriatic Sea, embarked on French transport ships that carried the army to various Greek islands, mainly Corfu where they recovered and rebuilt the army. The survivors were so weakened that thousands of them died from sheer exhaustion in the weeks after their rescue. They were buried at sea near the island of Vido, known by the Serbian people as the Blue Graveyard. A monument of gratitude to the Greek Nation has been erected at Vido by the grateful Serbs. After recuperation, over 80,000 Serbian troops were sent to Salonika, where the Serbian Army took a great part in the breaching of the Salonika front and glorious return to their home country.
YouTube | March 9, 2007
