conducted in such order
that they were able to save and withdraw all their stores, while the
total of their casualties did not exceed 3,500, a very moderate loss
under the circumstances. In less skillful hands the retreat might
easily have developed into an irretrievable disaster. In its main
object, saving Serbia from being crushed, the campaign had certainly
been a failure, but this was rather the fault of the allied
governments, and not because of the inefficiency of the leaders in the
field.

The Bulgarians, naturally, felt that they had attained a great
victory, and in a measure they had. On December 14, 1915, they
published their version of the operations as follows:

"December 12, 1915, will remain for the Bulgarian Army and nation a
day of great historical importance. The army on that day occupied the
last three Macedonian towns that still remained in the hands of the
enemy: Doiran, Gevgheli, and Struga. The last fights against the
British, French, and Serbians took place near Doiran and Ochrida
Lakes. The enemy was everywhere beaten. Macedonia is free! Not a
single hostile soldier remains on Macedonian soil.... In the course of
ten days the expeditionary army of General Sarrail was beaten and
thrown back on neutral territory. On December 12, the whole of
Macedonia was freed. The pursuit of the enemy was immediately stopped
when the neutral frontier of Greece was reached."

This communique further pointed out that Serbia had been beaten in
forty, and the British and French in ten, days. An official paper in
Sofia declared that the "victories won over the Franco-British hordes"
was even more glorious than those won over Serbia and declared that
Bulgaria had given a lesson to the so-called Great Powers, Great
Britain and France, showing them at the same time the manner in which
small nations could fight for their independence.

That the Bulgarians did not pursue the allied troops across the Greek
frontier was one of the surprises of the campaign. What the Greeks
would have done had their hereditary enemies invaded their soil, even
though not for the purpose of attacking them, was a question which
perhaps the Greek Government itself had not fully answered. Certainly
the critical character of the situation placed the Greeks in a very
uncomfortable position. It had been at their suggestion that the
Allies had come to Greece, and though a protest had been made against
their landing, that protest was the last word