Part 39 – Macedonian Involvement in WW I

Part 39 – Macedonian Involvement in WW I

Only a few years since their fatherland was snatched out of their hands and torn apart by Greece, Serbia and Bulgaria, the Macedonian people were about to enter into yet another indignant Great Power war. Still suffering from the wounds of the two Balkan Wars and from having their country occupied and partitioned, the Macedonians by now had completely lost confidence in their neighbours to help them gain their independence. The Macedonians however were not the only ones unhappy in this new arrangement. Bulgaria was dissatisfied because it received the smallest part of Macedonia, hardly a prize for its effort and losses. Serbia was not satisfied because, in spite of its great effort and expense, it still did not gain access to the Aegean Sea. Greece too, in spite of the large chunk of Macedonian territory it unexpectedly received, was dissatisfied because it did not gain the Shar Planina Mountain ranges; a natural border of strategic military significance. Germany and Austria-Hungary were also not satisfied because the newly occupied region by Greece, Serbia and Bulgaria fell under British, Russian and French influence, which cut them off from their Asian connections. All this dissatisfaction caused friction between the various parties and laid the foundations for yet another conflict; the Great War. To stem the tide, alliances were broken and new ones forged. Greece and Serbia joined the Entente Powers to safeguard what they had already while Bulgaria joined the Central Powers in hopes of getting more of what it did not get. While Greece, Serbia and Bulgaria became willing pawns in this Great Power struggle, Macedonia, yet again, unwillingly took centre stage in the conflict. And as unwilling participants, the Macedonian people were now mobilized by the Greek, Serbian and Bulgarian armies and forced into a fratricidal war. Greece was one of the last Entente countries to mobilize its forces. By then it was common knowledge that mobilization was imminent so many Macedonians from Greek occupied Macedonia fled their homes and hid in the mountains to avoid the draft. Also, of the ones who were unfortunate enough to have been drafted, in spite of the threat of being executed, many deserted. By the start of the war about 20,000 Macedonians were mobilized into the Greek army, of whom about 8,000 deserted soon afterwards. (Vanche Stojchev. “Military History of Macedonia”. Military academy. Skopje, 2004. Page 512) Macedonian recruits were assigned to large, regular Greek army units to prevent them from deserting and to keep a close eye on them. The situation in Serbia was somewhat different. As soon as Serbia gained control of the Macedonian territories and its people, it began to draft them into its army ranks. In January 1914, the Serbian Minister of War issued orders to have the entire male population, excluding Muslims, ages 20 to 29 drafted into the Serbian army. By March 5, 1914 three Macedonian regiments were created, each consisting of 4,000 recruits, led by Serbian officers. Bulgaria took a similar approach to that of Serbia in the draft of Macedonians into its military. After gaining control of the Macedonian territories it occupied, Bulgaria began drafting Macedonians under the age of 25, as Bulgarian citizens, and those between the age of 25 and 30 were required to pay military tax. Bulgaria also drafted Macedonians who deserted the Greek and Serbian armies. These recruits were given special status and were not dispatched to fight on the front lines, instead they were sent to assist the German army. On October 30, 1916 the Bulgarian Minister of War dispatched orders to his districts to select the best 2,000 Macedonians and send them to assist the 11th German Division. All in all 22,351 Macedonians were recruited into the Bulgarian army. (Vanche Stojchev. “Military History of Macedonia”. Military academy. Skopje, 2004. Page 504) By avoiding the drafts and by the large numbers of desertions, it was evident that the Macedonian people were not happy about fighting in a war that protected the interests of their enemies who occupied them and partitioned their fatherland, so they harshly opposed the recruitments.

This unfortunately did not help their situation and turned what was supposed to be a general draft into a forced mobilization. The Macedonians in Greece received the worst treatment with the escalation of fear and terror campaigns. But it was the Macedonians in Serbian occupied Macedonia who publicly showed their dissatisfaction. This was manifested on April 15, 1914 during a line-up in Bregalnitsa to pledge an oath of loyalty to Serbia and the Serbian king, which the Macedonian recruits refused to take, prompting the Serbian officers to beat them in public, frightening the guests and dignitaries. As a result of their refusal to take the oath, 30 Macedonian recruits, considered the ring leaders, were jailed and the rest were taken away never to be seen again. Their act of loyalty to Macedonia and the Macedonian people however was unfortunately misused by the Bulgarian propaganda machine, which called the oath refusal “a Bulgarian revolt” and used it to create false concerns about the supposed “Bulgarians” (not the Macedonians) being mistreated by Serbia. As is well known however, the only concerns Bulgaria had were its own dissatisfaction that it had not received enough Macedonian territory from the Bucharest Treaty and was now looking for an opportunity to change that. Historians attribute the start of World War I to Francis Ferdinand and his wife Sofia being assassinated on June 28, 1914, in Sarajevo. Being prepared for war, Germany and Austria-Hungary used the assassination as an opportunity to declare war on Serbia. On the pretext that the Serbian government had something to do with the assassination, Austria-Hungary demanded that Serbia allow investigations to be carried out by Austrian personnel on Serbian soil. But after Serbian authorities refused, the Austrian-Hungarian Empire declared war on Serbia. Choosing the option to fight, Serbia, on July 12, 1941, ordered a general mobilization of its entire army. Macedonian recruits who were already inducted into the Serbian army in April 1914 were assigned to various divisions and immediately sent to the front. Macedonians who were called on to join the July 12th mobilization resisted bitterly. About 12,000 Macedonian recruits were assigned to Serbian units during the first phase of the mobilization which lasted from July 31 to August 10, 1914. But because Serbia could not muster enough forces during the first phase, it initiated a second and third phase during which it recruited more and older people ages 20 to 60, from its “newly occupied territories”. Muslims were also recruited. The total number of Macedonians recruited after the second and third phase was 53,048. Besides facing resistance from the Macedonian population, Serbian authorities had to also deal with Bulgarian and Austrian propaganda calling on Macedonians to desert the Serbian army and join the Bulgarians. There were even secret channels organized to transport Macedonian deserters to the Bulgarian camps. Austria was attempting to influence the Macedonians to desert the Serbian army in an attempt to weaken Serbia and at the same time attract Bulgaria to its side. To sweeten the deal, Austria even offered its Macedonian prisoners of war to Bulgaria. If they declared themselves Bulgarians, Austria would release them and dispatch them to Bulgaria through Romania. By January 1915, 1,950 Macedonians left the Austrian camps and arrived in Bulgaria and by the end of February 1915, the number jumped to 3,000. In 1916 the Bulgarian government was informed that Austria had about 6,000 Macedonian prisoners of war remaining in its camps. According to Bulgarian and Serbian sources, about 30,000 people deserted the Serbian army, of whom 21,106 were Macedonians. Many more Macedonians however still fought for Serbia and many sacrificed their lives in doing so. The exact number who died for Serbia is unknown because Serbia refused to recognize them as Macedonians. Some indirect recognition was given by Aleksandar, heir to the Serbian throne, on December 15, 1914 when he said: “In this solemn moment, when the Serbian flag is proudly hoisted over Belgrade, I must fulfill my obligation and express my gratitude to all our brothers, who we liberated from the Turks, and who fought shoulder to shoulder with you in this war.

You are witnesses to their courage and their love for the fatherland. Men from Kosovo and Vardar, Zegligovo and Bregalnica, Bitola and Porece proved to be worthy and equal to their brothers from Sumadija and Morava”. (Vanche Stojchev. “Military History of Macedonia”. Military academy. Skopje, 2004. Page 492) But the Macedonians were neither liberated nor did they love the Serbian fatherland; they only fought because they had to save their own lives and died to save the lives of those for whom they cared. The situation unfortunately was no better in Bulgaria and those attempting to escape the Serbian or Austrian-Hungarian clutches had no idea what they were getting into when they joined the Bulgaria army. Among the few that did know what they were doing and were prepared to do something about it was Yane Sandaski, then living in Melnik. In his frequent travels to Sofia, Sandanski used his influence to convince those whom he trusted that Macedonia would never have a future as long as Ferdinand and Radoslav’s revenge seeking government were in power. Sandanski and his like minded friends decided that in order to avoid disaster, Ferdinand had to be eliminated. With Ferdinand out of the way, Peoples’ rule would be established and Bulgaria would not have to enter the war. A group consisting of Yane Sandanski, Mihail Gerdzikov and Krsto Stanchev was created and given the task of establishing contact with the anti-war political parties. Unfortunately the idea did not have much support and the plan was abandoned, but not unnoticed by Ferdinand’s supporters. Some time later Ferdinand summoned Sandanski, proposing that he work for him and organize Macedonian units to fight for Bulgaria. Sandanski however had ideas of his own and proposed to the king that he would lead Macedonian units only if they fought under the Macedonian flag and for the Macedonian cause. On his return to Melnik, on Apri1 22, 1915, Sandanski was ambushed and murdered. Dissatisfied with the 1913 Treaty of Bucharest, Bulgaria went into a state of desperation and sought alliances with whoever would help her gain the most of Macedonia. Still believing that Austria-Hungary would support Macedonian autonomy, as it did during the Balkan Wars, the Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (MRO) too began to look to Austria-Hungary, hoping that it would support a revision of the 1913 Treaty of Bucharest and reunification of Macedonia. However, as mentioned earlier, Austria-Hungary’s motive for drawing in Bulgaria and the MRO were to weaken Serbia and bring it to its knees. If there was any hope of Austria-Hungary supporting Macedonian autonomy, by the start of the First World War that hope was lost. Unbeknownst to MRO, Austria-Hungary was more interested in placating Bulgaria than it was in supporting the Macedonian question. So the notion of supporting Macedonian autonomy was quickly replaced by the notion of supporting an autonomous Macedonia to be annexed by Bulgaria. Taking Austria-Hungary’s gestures seriously, MRO was able to not only muster its own forces but to create alliances with Albanian and Turkish forces that also looked to Austria-Hungary for support. Their first task was to go behind enemy lines and stir the Macedonian population into initiating an armed uprising against the Serbian regime. The MRO and its allies were also tasked with destroying a crucial bridge near the village Udovo in order to cut off the Entente line from providing the Serbian army with weapons, ammunition and military equipment. MRO and its allies accepted their assigned tasks and continued to operate from January to March 1915, carrying out military and propaganda missions as expected, particularly in the border areas. Unfortunately because of the sense of hopelessness they were feeling, knowing very well that they might, yet again, be fooled by false promises, or because their sons were serving in the Serbian army and would be endangered if the did rise, the Macedonian people in the Serbian occupied part of Macedonia were reluctant to rise.

Regardless however, the MRO and its allies continued with their plan to attack the bridge near the village Udovo and to occupy Valandovo. The attack on the bridge, which lasted through April 1st and 2nd, 1915, was bloody and unsuccessful, but the attack on Valandovo was a success and the town was occupied for one day until Serbian reinforcements arrived and re-occupied it. Unfortunately, it was most unfortunate that Macedonians had to be engaged on both sides of this conflict. Unable to destroy the Udovo bridge in April, a second mission was put together for September, this time supported by the Bulgarian army. Two columns of joint MRO and Bulgarian forces were dispatched from Strumitsa to Udovo on the morning of September 30, 1915. The right column consisted of one company from the 14th Macedonian Infantry Regiment, one company from the 13th Rila Infantry Regiment and one company from the Border Battalion. The left column consisted of one company from the 14th Macedonian Infantry Regiment, one company from the 13th Rila Regiment and 50 MRO fighters. Other units were tasked with providing security for the retreat when the operation was completed. Upon their arrival at the scene, on the evening of September 30, 1915, a battle broke out and despite their great effort the columns were unable to destroy the bridge. After this the job of destroying the bridge fell entirely on the MRO and the Macedonians. Again most of the victims in this battle were Macedonians, since both the Serbian and Bulgarian armies employed Macedonians in their units. Besides that, the Macedonian civilian population also suffered when houses and entire villages were burnt down, especially those in the path of the battle zones. The latest successes in Valandovo and Germany’s victory over Russia in April 1915, boosted Bulgaria’s confidence in the Central powers, prompting Radoslavov’s pro-German government to publicly announce its aspirations towards Macedonia. Because of the Russian defeat, the Entente powers were inclined to offer Bulgaria what it wanted if it joined the Entente. But Bulgaria wanted all of Macedonia. Having Serbia’s agreement to give up the Bulgarian desired Macedonian territory, the Entente gave in to Bulgarian demands. The offer however was not accepted by Bulgaria because by then Bulgaria had secretly negotiated a better deal with the Central powers and had become a member of its coalition. The pro-Entente Greek government followed Bulgarian-German negotiations very closely and was quick to react to Bulgarian threats against Serbia; itself threatening to retaliate to which Wilhelm II, the German chancellor, responded with a threatening telegram to the Greek king Constantine who happened to be the son-in-law of the German king. On March 6, 1915 the Greek Prime minister was replaced with the appointment of a prime minister who was willing to keep Greece neutral. The same Greek Prime Minister was again replaced after winning the elections in Greece but in 1917 the Entente powers forced the Greek king to abdicate and Greece joined the war on the Entente side. The first major attack on Serbia by the Central powers took place on November 6, 1915 with the bombing of Belgrade. Pushed from the northern front by Austrian-Hungarian and German forces, the Serbians had to retreat towards Kosovo in order to continue their withdrawal to Solun. But their path was blocked and they were forced to retreat through the Albanian and Montenegrin mountains towards the Adriatic Sea. Because it was winter, the retreat turned out to be very difficult. The cold weather, hunger, being improperly dressed and unprepared, constantly being attacked on the way by pursuing Bulgarians and killed and robbed by Albanian armed gangs, the retreat took a toll on the Serbians. More than 72,000 Serbian soldiers, among whom were many Macedonians, lost their lives in a very short time. On February 19, 1916, 151,828 Serbian soldiers and approximately 14,470 civilian refugees made it to the Adriatic Sea and were transported to Corfu where they were reorganized.

By the end of May 1916, the entire Serbian army, approximately 150,000 men, was sent to Solun and after a brief training period at the beginning of August, the army was dispatched to the Macedonian front stretching from the River Vardar to Pelagonia along the line Vardar to Kozuf, Veternik and Dobro Pole to Kajmakcalan, to the road Banitsa in Lerin Region. By now new alliances were forged and battle lines drawn, mostly on Macedonian soil. As fronts began to develop deserters were court marshaled, including many Macedonians who refused to fight in other people’s wars. After Bulgaria occupied the Macedonian territories promised to it by the Central powers, it divided them into two districts. Later, when Bulgaria occupied a part of Greek occupied Macedonia, it created a third district. In total the two districts under former Serbian control covered nine regions, which included Skopje, Kumanovo, Tetovo, Shtip, Tikvesh, Bitola, Ohrid, Prizren and Prishtina Region. As soon as these districts were created Bulgaria began to mobilize the population, calling on all men between the ages 30 and 40 to join the draft. By September 1916, the total number of people mobilized was 28,920; 10,773 Christians, 18,101 Muslims, and 46 Jews. (Vanche Stojchev. “Military History of Macedonia”. Military academy. Skopje, 2004. Page 502) These were disappointing numbers for the Bulgarian authorities who, in spite of their strong propaganda calling for Macedonia to be liberated, were not believed by the Macedonian people. In other words, the Macedonian people still remembered what had happened to them after the Balkan Wars. By October 1915, a large front began to develop in Macedonia with the Entente forces concentrating in Solun. By mid-November the French and British had arrived in Solun with a combined force numbering 150,000 soldiers. Commanded by the Frenchman Maurice Sarrail, this force, whose job was to secure rail traffic from Solun to Skopje, was known as the Eastern Army. Stretching from the southern slopes of Belasitsa -the village Tatarli - Demir Kapija –Kavadartsi, this front was created and mandated with the task of preventing Central forces from penetrating into Solun and reaching out towards the Suez Canal, Africa and Asia. This force was also responsible for staging a counter-offensive against German, Austro – Hungarian, Bulgarian and Turkish forces that might venture in that direction. The army’s role also included providing assistance to the British, French and Russian forces, assisting in Serbian restoration and putting pressure on the pro-German Greek king Constantine not to allow Greece to join the Central powers. By December 1915, the Central forces commanded by Friedrich Scholtz, a German, were gathering strength and developing their own front in Macedonia with the Austrian-Hungarians taking positions in Albania and Macedonia, stretching from the Ionian Sea to Lake Ohrid. The Bulgarians and Germans taking positions from Lake Ohrid to Bitola and along the Greek border to Prilep. Behind them, near Veles and Shtip, stood another German and Bulgarian force to protect their rear. A combined force was also placed along the Greek border following the Belasitsa Mountain north of Lake Dojran. The Bulgarians were taking positions along the Strumica -Petric -Nevrokop line, along the Mesta River valley to the Aegean Sea. The Turks took positions in Skopje and Prilep. These front lines remained unchanged until May 1916, when the Central forces occupied the Rupel Gorge, Drama, Seres, Kavala and other cities, and later the eastern region of Greek occupied Macedonia to the Aegean Sea. By May 1916, both sides were well rooted in Macedonia and as they fought they continued to reinforce their strength bringing the Entente numbers to half a million soldiers with the British occupying the sector stretching from the Gulf of Orfano along the valley of Struma to Butkovo Lake, along the Krusha Mountain slopes to the Galik River. A combined force of French, British and Italian soldiers occupied the region from Galik to the Vardar River.

The Serbians occupied the region from the Vardar River to Lake Prespa and a French-Russian force occupied the region south of Lake Ostrovo to Lake Kostur. A combined Italian and French force in the meantime occupied the region west of Lake Ohrid to southern Albania to the Ionian Sea. At the same time the Central forces had formed a front along Bitola Region on Nidze Mountain near Duditsa, the Vardar River valley from Duditsa to Lake Dojran, the Struma River Valley from Lake Dojran to the Gulf of Orfano, and from Lake Ohrid to the Ionian Sea. The Macedonian front extended over many mountain massifs where the height at some places exceeded 2,000 meters above sea level and stretched some 600 km from the Gulf of Orfano to the Ionian Sea. More that 450 km of the front was located inside Macedonia, existed for 3 years from 1915 to 1918 and was constantly active. Sensing that this might be a short war, both the Serbians and Bulgarians tried to take advantage of it and employed every means at their disposal, including taking vicious attacks at each other all on Macedonian soil. And besides turning the Macedonian population into their victims, they both employed Macedonian soldiers on their fronts. One such vicious attack was the battle of Gornichevo, which took place when the Bulgarians attempted to take that region from the Serbians. Bulgaria’s motive for this was to further expand its territory in Macedonia. On August 17, 1916, while one Bulgarian force attacked the British positions in the Struma River Valley, a second Bulgarian force attacked the Serbian forces and gained access to Gornichevo, Banitsa and Sorovichevo. Displease about this, particularly since Bulgaria was now trying to obtain Macedonian territories given to Greece, the Entente ordered a regrouping of its forces and launched a counter attack against the Bulgarians. The battle of the counter attack, initiated by the Serbian army, took place in Gornichevo on September 12, 1916 by a strong artillery barrage. About six hours later the Bulgarian artillery began to fire and no village remained in the vicinity that was not burned down and turned to dust. That entire densely populated area was on fire placing the Macedonian civilian population in peril. The battle continued with the same intensity all through the night and the next day. It was not until Serbia brought reinforcements that the Bulgarians withdrew. This was the first vicious battle between Serbia and Bulgaria on Macedonian soil. Although Serbia succeeded in pushing Bulgaria out of this region it tallied up severe losses with more than 7,200 dead. Of the many battles that took place in various parts of Macedonia, including the ones in the mountains, the next vicious battle was that of Tsrna Reka. After fighting several battles for the dominance of Bitola from October 20 to November 14, 1916, the Entente came to the realization that it would not be able to take it so General Sarrail moved the battle to Tsrna Reka. On October 22, Sarrail reinforced his position with Serbian, French and Colonial troops and began his attack. At the same time the Germans counter-attacked the Serbians but the attack was repulsed and the Serbians began to dig themselves in. Then on November 10, 1916 the Serbians breached the Bulgarian front and occupied Polog, pushing the Bulgarians 4 km south of Bitola and thus allowed the French and Russians to enter Tsrna Reka. On November 18 the Germans attacked the French and Serbian forces on Selechka Mountain. The Serbian, French and Colonial armies retaliated with a strong counter attack pushing the Germans and Bulgarians back. Combat operations in this region continued until the end of November 1916, when Bulgaria sent 40 additional battalions to reinforce its position. In the next three months the combined Central forces penetrated almost 40 km and re-occupied Bitola.

Prior to Bitola’s occupation, the German and Bulgarian armies kept bombing Bitola from their positions in the mountains from March to October 1917, during which time they nearly destroyed the city. On March 4 alone, Bitola was bombed by 2,000 shells, some loaded with poisons from which 50 people died in horrible pain. On March 19, 60 shells were fired and on March 20, another 350, most of which contained poisons killing 47, wounding 20 and destroying 76 buildings. On March 26 and 27 Bitola was bombed by 93 shells which damaged 260 buildings. From May 6 to May 10, 183 shells were fired killing 9 people and damaging 15 buildings. From May 12 to 14, Bitola was bombed with 226 shells, eight people were killed and 40 buildings damaged. On May 18 and 19, 30 shells were fired, nine people killed and eight buildings demolished. On July 7 and 9, 146 shells were fired, four people were killed and nine houses were demolished. The severest was the bombing on August 4, when 2,000 shells were fired and the city was set on fire. Then on August 8, Bitola was attacked with 1,764 shells killing 18 people, wounding 15 and destroying 620 houses. On August 21 and 22, 665 shells were fired, three people were killed, five were wounded and 44 buildings were destroyed. On October 4, 7 and 8, Bitola was attacked again with 1,057 shells, seven people were killed and 37 buildings were destroyed. It was estimated that Bitola suffered the most serious blow of all cities that were involved in the conflict in World War I. (Vanche Stojchev. “Military History of Macedonia”. Military academy. Skopje, 2004. Pages 519 and 520) While this was going on the Bulgarians continued to make gains against the Greeks in Drama and Kavala and extended their sphere of influence from the Gulf of Orfano along the Struma Valley to Krusha Mountain. On December 6, 1916 their defense positions were strengthened and this newly established front line remained intact until it was finally breached in 1918. On June 12, 1917, Greek king Constantine abdicated and the new Greek government, headed by Prime Minister Venizelos, joined Greece to the Entente. By the fall of 1918, Greece dedicated nine divisions to this conflict. In the meantime a trench war and a crisis began to develop in the Bulgarian and Serbian armies which spent the winter of 1916-1917 in disease ridden trenches where many became sick and died. The crisis intensified after Macedonians discovered what Serbia and Bulgaria were up to and then refused to serve in their armies. Macedonians showed their discontent by massive desertion and either joined the French led labour force or hid in the mountains. Between March and August 1918, 2,132 soldiers deserted from the 2nd Bulgarian Army alone. (Vanche Stojchev. “Military History of Macedonia”. Military academy. Skopje, 2004. Page 520) Another major battle that took place on Macedonian soil was the battle at Dobro Pole. This was one of the final battles between the Entente and the Central powers that marked the beginning of the end of World War I. After General Franchet d'Esperey’s appointment to Supreme Commander of the Entente allied forces at the Macedonian front in July 1918, he toured the entire front and recommended an offensive take place. The idea was to breach the Central Power front and invade Kavadartsi, Demir Kapija and Negotino Regions, creating a wedge between the German and Bulgarian armies. When this was to be completed, French, British and Greek forces were to attack enemy positions in the Vardar and Struma River Valleys. After two months of preparations the plan was put into action on September 14, 1918, with an artillery barrage against the enemy which lasted all through the 14th and overnight into the 15th. The next day there was hand to hand combat sometimes involving Macedonians, even among close relatives, on both sides of the front. After severe vicious battles the Bulgarians began to retreat. On September 17, 1918, the Entente allied forces took positions on Topolec peak and from that point forward had the Central Power forces on the run.

On September 21, 1918 the Serbian Army arrived in the Demir Kapija, Kavadartsi and Negotino Regions, constructed a bridge on the Vardar River from Krivolak to Gradsko and from there began its counter offensive in Shtip, Veles and Prilep, thus concluding the Dobro Pole offensive. Taking advantage of the success of this latest offensive and of the low morale of the Bulgarian army, Entente forces continued to widen the gap in the 20 km wide and 12 km deep German-Bulgarian front. Highly motivated by their recent success the Serbians continued their advance, determined to prevent the Germans and Bulgarians from creating a new front. Aware of the situation at the front, the Bulgarian government, on September 26, 1918, sent representatives to Solun to request a time out in the next 48 hours. But Franchet d'Esperey rejected their request and advised them to seek peace. The Bulgarian government accepted and on September 29, 1918, signed a truce which signaled the capitulation to the Bulgarian army. All military operations ended on September 30, 1918, in accordance with the terms of the truce and the Bulgarian units operating west of Skopje were taken captive, while those east of Skopje were disarmed and sent back to Bulgaria. German command however did not recognize the truce, as German units gradually retreated expecting reinforcements. On October 30, 1918, Turkey capitulated followed by Austria-Hungary on November 4th and Germany signed a capitulation agreement on November 11, 1918. Macedonian personnel losses and material damages were never estimated or recognized, even though the Macedonian population was mobilized by force and the brunt of the war took place on Macedonian soil. It was estimated that in total there were about 60,000 Macedonians inducted into the Serbian army, 133,887 into the Bulgarian army and about 20,000 into the Greek army. The total number of Macedonians mobilized in World War I was estimated to be about 213,000. (Vanche Stojchev. “Military History of Macedonia”. Military academy. Skopje, 2004. Page 527) During World War I, military forces from both the Entente and the Central Powers entered Macedonian territory through a violent occupation and established their own administrations. The Bulgarians established their own authority and so did the Entente forces when General Sarrail disregarded existing Greek rule, expelled official Greek authorities from Solun, declared a state of war and established his own authority over the entire territory occupied by Entente forces. Thus the military occupation of Greek occupied Macedonia was publicly declared and lasted until November 1918. After the 1919 Peace Treaty of Versailles, Greece, Serbia and Bulgaria retained the Macedonian territories awarded to them by the August 10, 1913 Treaty of Bucharest with the exception of Strumitsa Region, which previously was given to Bulgaria, was now given to Serbia. Greek, Serbian and Bulgarian authority was quickly reestablished in the respective Macedonian territories and Macedonia once again found itself under the same old occupation. Greek, Serbian and Bulgarian authorities resumed their assimilation and denationalization policies, exposing the Macedonian population to severe measures of repression.