Soldiering with the British Salonika Force 1915-1918

Published on 14 April 2020
Submitted by Alan Wakefield

In this talk by Alan Wakefield of the Imperial War Museums we hear about 'Mountains, Mules and Malaria – Soldiering with the British Salonika Force 1915-1918'.

In a superbly illustrated presentation, Alan explains why the British were in Salonika and what the soldiers there had to put up with.

The Salonika Campaign is very much one of the forgotten episodes of the First World War. Regarded as an unwanted sideshow the British still committed 228,000 soldiers to a multi-national Allied force in the Balkans fighting the Bulgarians. This talk sheds light on the experiences of British soldiers serving in Macedonia between 1915 and 1918. Personal accounts from letters, diaries and memoirs are used to illustrate points in the narrative.

The nature of warfare in Macedonia and the problems posed by extremes of climate and by disease are discussed in detail.

Soldiering with the British Salonika Force 1915-1918
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