We Marched Away into Serbia: The 10th (Irish) Division at Kosturino, December 1915

Published on 11 April 2021
Submitted by Alan Wakefield

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 but the Kosturino ridge was dominated by Bulgarian held ground.

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. 

This account of the first Allied military operation in what became the Salonika Campaign by Alan Wakefield of the IWM is supported by accounts from diaries and memoirs as well as contemporary and modern photographs of the battlefield.

We Marched Away into Serbia: The 10th (Irish) Division at Kosturino, December 1915
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