60cm and its part in ending the Great War

Armistice comes from two words – arms and stasis – ie the cessation of armed conflict.

The beginning of the end came for the Central Powers in September 1918. On the western front, they were being pushed back mile by mile, kilometre by kilometre but the retreat was in good order. They had carved themselves out an empire in Rumania and the western wheat-lands of what had been the Russian empire. The Allies, even backed by the AEF, could not knock the Germans out on the Western Front. It was on the forgotten south-eastern front that the greatest break-through of the war occurred.

A Bulgarian prisoner shows French and Serbian officers enemy positions below the beetling massif of Dobropolje on the Front Septmebr 1918. Drawing from Illustration courtesy MD Wright

After the disaster of Gallipolli, the Allies formed a new front in Greece. There was a certain logic. Firstly, there was the Serbian army. It had been crushed by Austria early in the War – the assassination of Franz Ferdinand had been the original cause of war. Their fighting forces had regrouped and would enthusiastically join any attempt to regain Serbian territory.

Secondly, Bulgaria joined the Central Powers, enticed by the prospect of new territory in conquered Serbia. The Allies in turn then persuaded Rumania to join them with the incentive of territory in Austria and Bulgaria. The idea of a front in northern Greece was to crush Bulgaria in a pincer movement – Rumania would attack from the north, the Allies with the Greeks from the south. Greece could be supplied from the Mediterranean. Greece had just fought a territorial war with Bulgaria in 1912/13 – it was bound to want to defend its gains. It was sure to join the Allies … wasn’t it?

As it was, the Greeks were reluctant allies. No doubt their stand was highly principled but they must have been influenced by events. At the time, the Allies seemed to be the losing side. In a few months between August 1916 and January 1917, the Germans and Bulgarians pretty well wiped out Rumania. This was an important gain – one of the few oil-fields of Europe and extensive agrarian lands. If the Greeks did not want to become a new Rumania, who could blame them?

That left a French, Serbian and British forces in north-east Greece. The British were to the east, looking across the marshes of the Struma river at the Bulgarians. They made much use of the port of Stavros on the eastern side of the Chalcedon (Khalkedoniki peninsula. The French and Serbians were based at Salonika (modern Thessaloniki) on the western side of this peninsula. Their front ran along the mountainous country between Greece and occupied Serbia (now the-former-Yugoslavian-republic of ?northern Macedonia). The front ran through Albania to the Adriatic. Though the Austrians were in nominal control of Serbia, Bulgarian troops and German advisers were in effect defenders of the whole of this Front.

Portable 60cm track designed by Prosper Pechot and manuafactured by the Decauville Company for the French Army. It could be laid and re-laid quickly. Illustration courtesyJim Hawkesworth

60cm narrow gauge proved vital. Previous entries in this blog have described the importance of the Péchot system/feldbahn/War Department Light Railways for supply duing World War 1. At the time, there was almost no other way to supply an army when it was at a distance from a standard gauge railway or canalised rivers. It was cruelty to use animals, motor transport was just developing and modern air supply a futuristic dream.  Portable narrow gauge track had been developed; an ‘iron road’ could be quickly laid and used by wagons and locomotives.  In 36 days, a 27 km line was constructed between Salonika and the French front.

A number of narrow gauge lines were laid around the military base at Salonica – 40 km (25 miles) at least on the French side alone. The British had to build a light railway right across the Chalcedon Peninsula to connect the two ports. Railways were built for supply, training, hospitals and repair shops.

In the early months, General Sarrail was C-in-C of French forces but he was gradually sidelined by Franchet-d’Esperey, later made Maréchal de France. 

This photo shows a 60cm railway at work behand British lines. It was the only way to take massive shells to the Front. Photo courtesy Roy Link

Once the armies were ascending the mountains, portable railways proved even more useful. Over the next couple of years, the French and Serbs gained ground from the enemy. As the defenders pulled back, they of course destroyed the railways – vital for communication in these mountainous parts. Standard guage track could be re-laid relatively quickly, but the Bulgermans destroyed all bridges and viaducts – of which there were many. It was hard to supply soldiers, let alone the artillery. In the rough country above 2000m (6000+ feet) a mule could carry 2 shells on a two-day journey between railhead and guns.

If the enemy thought that they could stop the French and Serbs, they were mistaken. A railway was pushed through the Krasradere valley, off the Vardar river, in five months. A single train could carry 25 tonnes of ammunition and the guns roared once more. We should note that, under normal conditions, a 60cm gauge train could carry 40 tonnes of supplies. The Péchot system was very versatile.

Monastir (modern Bitola) was an important objective. The standard gauge line had been thoroughly demolished, not least the Ekchisu viaduct – 360m lone and 30m high at the centre (400 yards by nearly 100’). As a quick fix, a 60cm railway was installed. It descended the ravine then climbed painfully up the other side – but it succeded in supplying the army for several months.

The Monastir front was supplied by other 60cm lines, most important of which was the one running westward, towards the beetling massif of Kukuruz (Kozjak). An offensive was planned for the second week of September 1918. The objective was the small town of Rozden and, if all went well, the valley of the Crna river.

French officers inspect a captured Bulgarian strongpoint (casino) September 1918. Magnificent in his kepi, General Franchet d'Esperey stands to the left of the group.From ' Illustration' courtesy MD Wright

The line was still heavily defended. The Bulgarians had the best of German technology and siege-works at their disposal. On the other hand, the Germans had thinned out this Front to shore up the Western Front.

They attacked on 15^th September, and broke the Bulgarian line. Between the 15^th and 21^st September, the French and Serbian army penetrated the line to a depth of 65 km (40 miles). Even better, they had captured a couple of standard gauge railways. Now they were really motoring (so to speak). By September 30^th, they were into the flatlands, with Bulgaria within reach. At this point, the British finally broke out of the lower Struma valley and pushed into the heart of Bulgaria.

There were exciting and heart-breaking scenes. Overhead, the young French airforce flew sorties. Bulgarian troops were caught in the narrow valleys. Excited Serbs raced at last towards Belgrade and home. The British caught an army at the Rupel pass. German advisers, well aware of the dangers of breaking rank, could be seen urgig the Bulgarians back to defensible positions.

Even more important were the politics. On September 25^th, a representative of Bulgarian commander-in-chief appeared before the parliament in Sofia to put the case for an armistice. It took until the 29^th for a ‘field’ armistice to be signed between the Bulgarians and General Franchet d’Esperey and rather longer for him to rein in his over-enthusiastic allies. On October 4^th, Tsar Ferdinand of Bulgaria abdicated in favour of his son Boris who was left with the task of official peace-making. A few days later, Allied forces occupied strategic points within Bulgaria.

Crown Prince Boris of Bulgaria was given the delicate task of concluding peace with the Allies. He preferred to approach Franchet d'Esperey rather than the British or Serbs. Photo courtesy MD Wright

A huge gap had been made in the Central Power enclave. Turkey was virtually cut off. Allied forces could strike up the Danube valley. Germany and Austria had lost their Ukrainian and Russian breadbaskets. The war was unwinnable.

Until events in Bulgaria, German High Command continued to maintain that ‘there is no ground for doubting our victory.’ As before mentioned, German troops were gradually retreating on the Western Front, but they were far from defeated, even by the might of the AEF. On the afternoon of 28^th September, a grey-faced General Ludendorff made his way to the office of Marshal Hindenburg where he informed him that an armistice should be concluded immediately. (Edmond Taylor, quoting from contemporary diaries The Fossil Monarchies pp 426/7)

On September  29^th, they informed the Kaiser. His reply was reputed to be ‘You could have told me all this a fortnight ago’. Like Tsar Ferdinand of Bulgaria, their aim was to conclude the war a/ by manoeuvring to make someone else to take the blame b/ by appealing to the friendliest person available. The objective of reining in the senseless slaughter seemed to be a distant third.

Prince Max of Baden was therefore summoned and more or less ordered to ‘make no difficulty’ for the German High Command. With commendable haste, he and his new government (which included Socialist leaders) got together a message by 4^th October. This was delivered to President Wilson of the USA, bypassing the other Allies. Wilson’s reply was not delivered until 14^th October and this was more about destruction of arbitrary power than about an armistice. In the end, it was not until November 8^th that a German armistice commission met with Marshal Foch – French – in a railway carriage at Compiègne. There an armistice was signed and 11^th November agreed for the cessation of hostilities.

A series of events triggered by the fall of Bulgaria led to the general armistice. Bulgaria was lost because of a small breach in its defences. This breach was made possible through good communications among the Allies. 

The Pechot-Bourdon locomotive was an emblem of French military 60cm railways. It was under a Pechot Bourdon  badge that Franchet d'Esperey made his 1932 speech. Illustration courtesy Raymond Duton

16mm portable railways were vital to these communications. General Franchet d’Esperey was well aware of this: ‘in a pathless country, we relied on Narrow Gauge for our victuals, munitions, evacuation of the wounded and for all our general needs.’ (Speech given at Toul in 1932)