Fighting on the Kosturino Ridge - an explanation on 'Rocky Peak'
Following the evacuation of Gallipoli, the 10th (Irish) Division was sent to the Balkans and landed in Salonika in October 1915. Moved inland to support the Serbs against the Bulgarians, the division crossed the border into Serbia.
They dug in on the Kosturino Ridge but found it was dominated by Bulgarian held ground. The weather turned against them: rain turned to snow and then into blizzard conditions.
After the rigors of Gallipoli, the division was once again in unfamiliar lands fighting an unfamiliar enemy. They had to hold the line as long as possible to support a French withdrawal. The fighting was savage.
The British force occupied and was dug in on a hill called Rocky Peak. The Bulgarian artillery bombardment on the British positions began on 4 December. Soldiers of the Connaught Rifles off the first wave, but they were eventually overwhelmed.
In this presentation, Alan Wakefield describes the fighting on Rocky Peak.
Kosturino is now largely forgotten.
The 10th (Irish) Division engaged the Bulgarians, effectively alone, massively outnumbered, with their French allies out of sight over the mountains to their left. The Bulgarians were held off, but a hazardous retreat to Salonika with few rations or pack animals ensued. The 10th Division lost about 300 dead and 800 wounded or taken prisoner in the mountains.
To learn more about the fighting on the Kosturino Ridge, read this article:
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