into the
defiles of the Albanian Mountains, the French and British forces,
which had been vainly endeavoring to save Serbia, had no longer any
special object in holding their advanced positions in Macedonia,
especially as they were not strong enough to undertake an offensive
movement, even after the last Serbian defeat, though during November,
1915, large reenforcements had been arriving and disembarking in
Saloniki. As already stated, the rumors of military action on the part
of Russia against Bulgaria had proved unfounded and a second
bombardment of Varna had had no effect on the course of the campaign.
Italy had done nothing in the Balkans as yet, except to fire a few
shells into Dedeagatch on November 11, 1915. A month later she landed
an army on the Albanian coast, at Avlona and elsewhere, but, while
this facilitated the escape of many of the Serbian refugees, it was
too late to have any effect on the military situation.

Throughout the latter part of November, 1915, after the battle between
General Sarrail's army at Mt. Archangel, the British had sent up
considerable forces which were deployed on the French right and were
holding the mountain chain to the north of Lake Doiran, forming a
natural boundary between Greek and Bulgarian territory.

Though Sarrail had repulsed all the Bulgarian attacks, his position
was rendered embarrassing by the fact that the Greek Government had
decided to concentrate a large part of its army in that particular
corner of its frontiers. Obviously, the Greeks had a right to make
whatever movements they wished on their own territory, but the
consequences were singularly unfortunate, both for the French and the
British, for the Greek commander in chief found it necessary to move
troops and stores along the same line of railroad which the British
and the French were using. This meant a curtailment of supplies and
the checking of effective and continuous supports for the fighting
line.

Added to this was the sudden coming of an early winter. While snow was
falling even in Saloniki, up in the hills where the advanced lines
were deployed a furious blizzard was blowing, against which the
soldiers were only prepared with small tents of waterproof sheets for
shelters. Down in the base camps the gale swept down the tents so that
the men were practically unprotected from the fury of the freezing
blasts. At the front the enemy's positions were no longer visible, the
intervening valleys being f