THE BALKAN CAMPAIGN

THE BALKAN BARRIER

Near the head of the Adriatic there rise several small streams whose waters flow almost due eastward through the Save and Danube Rivers, to empty into the Black Sea. South of this west-to-east river trench, and separated by it from the open plains of Hungary and Rumania, lies the rudely triangular mass of complex mountainous country known as the Balkan Peninsula (Fig. 1). Prior to last October the bulk of this difficult terrane stood as an effective barrier between the Central Empires and their Turkish ally.

The northwestern corner of the triangle, comprising Bosnia and Herzegovina, was largely under Austrian control, while in the eastern corner the Turks were effectively resisting all attempts of the Allied armies and navies to dislodge them. But the rest of the territory was either openly hostile to the Teutonic powers, or was maintaining a wavering neutrality which constantly embarrassed communication with the Turks and threatened to become an active menace at any moment. It was to resolve this intolerable situation and to impress the world by a decisive military achievement that the German general staff planned the Balkan campaign of 1915.

THE MORAVA-MARITZA TRENCH

Through the mass of the Balkan mountains rivers have cut two great trenches which constitute the only important lines of communication in the region. One of these passageways or ‘‘ corridors ’’ runs southeastward from Belgrade on the Danube to Constantinople on the Bosporus and consists in large part of the valleys of the Morava and Maritza Rivers. The other connects Belgrade with the harbor of Saloniki on the Aegean Sea and is formed by the Morava and Vardar valleys. From Belgrade as far as Nish the Morava valley is common to both routes. Although possession of the Morava-Vardar trench incidentally became essential to the Teutonic powers for military and political reasons discussed below, it was primarily for control of the Morava-Maritza depression that the campaign was undertaken.