ber 12, 1915, the Allies, having at last succeeded in compelling
Greece to agree to their plans for a permanent occupation, began
preparations to meet all possible events in the future. As the Greek
troops withdrew, French and British forces took their places, some
being fresh arrivals, for reenforcements were landing daily at the
rate of between 4,000 and 5,000. As there were many rumors of the
enemy's intention to advance and attack before the city should be made
more defensible, the work of making it as formidable as possible was
pushed with fever heat.

Steps were at once taken to establish strong lines of intrenchments.
In the course of a week or ten days this task was sufficiently under
way to settle the alarms of an immediate attack from the enemy; the
lines of the defensive works followed a half circle of hills and
lakes, some fifty miles in extent, reaching on the west from the
Vardar River to the Gulf of Orfano on the east and inclosing a very
considerable area, giving the Allies sufficient freedom of movement.

Yet it was fortunate for the Allies that political considerations
deterred the enemy from making the attack. Had the Bulgarians advanced
in full force, the Allies would have been heavily outnumbered, not
only in men, but in heavy artillery and ordinary field guns as well.
It is doubtful whether they could successfully have resisted a
determined effort to turn their flanks.

The conformation of the coast line around Saloniki is a handicap to a
continuous defensive line. It would demand more men than other
conformations would. Saloniki stands on a gulf, or bay, and this would
necessitate spreading the defending lines around it in almost a
complete circle, so that the adjacent shores would be protected as
well.

There does exist a natural horseshoe of positions from which Saloniki
could be held and which would cover the port from sea to sea, but
their development extends from 120 to 130 miles of country, an area
which could not well be held with less than a force of half a million
men. At the eastern horn of the Gulf of Saloniki runs the Kaloron
Ridge, culminating in a peak some 3,000 feet above sea level. All the
southern slopes of this ridge are exposed to the fire of any fleet of
warships that might lie offshore. This ridge continues toward the
north by two more peaks, each connected with its neighbor by a
saddle-shaped ridge. The positions along this ridge would pass first
over a point about a th