Osprey Men-at-Arms 356 : Armies in the Balkans 1914-1918

Recent history should remind us that it was events in the Balkans which sparked off the Great War, with the assassination of the Austrian heir Prince Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo, and the consequent invasion of Serbia by Austro-Hungarian armies on 2 August 1914. Nevertheless, the subsequent four-year war in that theatre is always overshadowed by the simultaneous campaigns on the Western Front. This book offers a concise account of these complex campaigns, the organisation, orders of battle, and the uniforms and insignia of the armies involved: Austro-Hungarian, German, Ottoman, Serbian, Montenegrin, Albanian, British, French, Italian, Russian, Bulgarian, Greek and Rumanian. It was an important ' second front' cutting the Central Powers in two and preventing direct German/Turkish cooperation. The campaigns in the Balkans in 1915-18 involved the British, French, Russian and Italian armies, together with the local Serbian, Montenegrin, Greek and Rumanian forces, fighting German, Austrian and Bulgarian troops. This concise but comprehensive account identifies, describes and illustrates all these forces. The text is illustrated with rare photographs never before seen in the West, and with full orders-of-battle and insignia charts. Text by Dr. Nigel Thomas with illustrations by Darko Pavlovic.

Contents

• Introduction - The Significance of the Balkan Front
• The Balkan Campaigns
  The Austro-Hungarian Attack on Serbia
  Franco-British Landings in Salonika and Subsequent Operations
  Rumanian Declaration of War
  Allied Attack in Macedonia, and Advance on Belgrade
• Armies in the Balkans - Orders of Battle, Organisation, Deployment
  Austro-Hungarian
  German
  Serbian
  Montenegrin & Albanian
  British
  French
  Italian
  Russian
  Bulgarian
  Greek
  Rumanian
• The Plates - Uniforms, Insignia & Personal Equipment