ull of swirling clouds of snow. On November
27, 1915, the French War Office issued an official communique, which
gave the first indication of what was about to happen:

"In view of the present situation of the Serbian armies our troops,
which have been occupying the left bank of the Tcherna, have been
removed to the right bank of the river, the movement being effected
without difficulty."

CHAPTER XXXVII

ALLIES WITHDRAW INTO GREECE--ATTITUDE OF GREEK GOVERNMENT

A general withdrawal into Greece, with Saloniki as base, had been
decided on by General Sarrail, in accordance with instructions from
Paris and London.

This now brought up a very peculiar and delicate situation between the
Allies and Greece. As a neutral, Greece was strongly disposed to take
up the same attitude toward the belligerents as Holland, who during
the early part of the war had been interning great numbers of the
English and Belgian soldiers who had sought refuge inside her
boundaries when the Germans had taken Belgium. The Allies, on the
other hand, were not inclined to accept this point of view, as Greece
was bound to Serbia by a defensive treaty and therefore could not
assume full neutrality without repudiating this treaty. To this Greece
opposed the contention, based on a technicality, that the treaty with
Serbia had in view only a defensive alliance against Bulgaria, whereas
now the Austrians and Germans were attacking, as well as the
Bulgarians. The successes of the Austro-German forces had stiffened
the determination of the Greek King and his Government to stand by
this policy.

However, there was ample room for a diversity of opinion among the
Greeks themselves; on which side Greece's political interests lay was
largely a matter of individual opinion. The chief, and probably the
only, reason why there was any popular feeling in favor of the Allies
was because they were opposed to the Bulgarians, whom the Greeks hate
in season and out.

But on the other hand, Greek ambitions and Italian ambitions clash in
Albania, in the islands of the Archipelago and in Asia Minor. Both
nations hope to acquire territory in those countries. And Italy was
one of the Allies. Had Italy not entered the war it is very probable
that Greece would have aligned herself with the Serbians, French, and
British in the early stages of their operations. But when Italy
declared war on the side of the Allies, there was no doubt in the
minds of the Greek polit