This is the location where one of the decisive battles on the Macedonian Front and First World War occurred.
View toward Dobro Pole from Macedonian/Greek Border. The field is in Greek teritory.
Don't miss: Jeep tours to Dobro Pole ...
The Battle of Dobro Pole
With the relocation of most German units on the Western Front in spring 1918, the position of the Central Powers on the Macedonian front was further deteriorated.
In this situation the command of the Entente armies saw a great opportunity to put additional pressure on the Germans, who were already withdrawing on the Western Front, through a strong offensive on the Macedonian Front.
The main attack was planned on the locality called Dobro Pole (Dobro Polje, Добро Поле - literate translation - Good Meadow).
Dobro Pole is a locality between the peaks Sokol (Сокол - Falcon) and Veternik (Ветерник – Windy place) on Nidze Mountain and many Allied generals believed that the attack on this location would be a suicide, since as an open field it is easily defended.
View toward Dobro Pole from Macedonian/Greek Border.
View from Macedonian / Greek border line toward Mariovo / Macedonia.
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View toward Dobro Pole from Macedonian/Greek Border.
View toward Dobro Pole from Macedonian/Greek Border.
View from Macedonian / Greek border line toward Mariovo / Macedonia.
The attack began at the September 14, 1918 with artillery bombardment on several positions. On September 15 at 5:30 pm followed the infantry attacks. According to the testimony of local population which remained in small number in the nearby villages -
"The earth was burning from the heavily bombardment."
On the side of the Allied forces in the front row were 122nd French Infantry Division, 17th French Infantry Colonial Division and Serbian Shumadiska Division, and in the second row were two Serbian divisions - Timochka and Yugoslav.
Bulgarians have endured the heavy bombing, so the flight had to be won by the infantry.
Serbian armies slowly penetrated the steep slopes of Sokol peak and more they approached, more frequent were the Bulgarian counter attacks. Using flamethrowers the Bulgarian machine-gun nests were destroyed and after eight hours of battle, the Bulgarian line was breached.
In two days since the beginning of the attack, defense positions of the Bulgarians and Germans in this area were drilled 25 km wide and 10 km in depth. The commander of the 11th German Army, ordered the withdrawal of German and Bulgarian units on the line near the village Polchishte.
Ten days after the Dobro Pole battle the Allied forces were in Gradsko (Градско) which was then a communication center of the Central armies and thus the communication between the German command and the Bulgarian army on the front line was terminated.
On September 29th, the Allies entered Skopje and were already on the state borders of Bulgaria.
Scared to be occupied by the Allies, a Bulgarian delegation on September 29, 1918 in Thessaloniki signed a truce with which military operations between Bulgaria and the Allies stopped on September 30, 1918.Although the terms of the armistice were very difficult for Bulgaria, their delegation signed the truce.
With the signing of the armistice ceased all hostilities in the region on the Macedonian front. On the other hand, the Serbian Army continued fighting with the German and Austro-Hungarian armies for the liberation of Serbia.
Defeats that suffered German and Austro-Hungarian army, first caused collapse of Austria-Hungary, which on November 4th 1918 signed a capitulation, which lead to decay of the dualistic state and the Hapsburg monarchy.Failures on the Western Front, the events in the Balkans and the internal crisis and unrest forced Germany on November 11, 1918 to sign an armistice with the Allies, with which it recognizes that is defeated.
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