The Armée d'Orient was formed in September 1915 during theConquest of Serbia by German-Austrian-Bulgarian forces. It was shipped to the Greek port ofSalonika, where its first units arrived on 5 October.Despite several offensives, the front stabilized on the Greek-Serbian border until September 1918, when the Bulgarian army disintegrated after defeat in theBattle of Dobro Pole.
On 11 August 1916, all allied troops on the Salonika front came under a united command, and namedAllied Army of the Orient (AAO). The AAO supreme commander became the French commander of the Armée d'OrientMaurice Sarrail. He was succeeded as commander of the Armée d'Orient byVictor Cordonnier, and the army itself was renamed theArmée française d'Orient (AFO).
AGroupe Léger of six dismounted light cavalry squadrons, which equated to the strength of an infantry battalion.[4][b] (One squadron was from the11th Hussar Regiment (France), the remainder were from the 3rd, 13th, 17th, 18th and 22nd regiments ofChasseurs à cheval.)[6] This formation arrived in 1915 and was disbanded on 15 June 1917, its personnel being transferred to the depot of the 4th Regiment ofChasseurs d'Afrique.[7][8]
4 squadrons ofChasseurs d'Afrique, redeployed fromGallipoli. Disembarked at Salonika on 13 October 1915, the unit was disbanded on 10 December 1917. Its men were absorbed into the three cavalry regiments of the Jouinot-Gambetta brigade.[9]
A provisional regiment ofZouaves attached to the cavalry, with thedivision provisoire Venel[14][15] They were subsequently in the 11th Colonial Division (November 1916 to May 1917), but never fought as a part of that Division.[16]
Under the orders ofGeneral d'Anselme, French and allied elements were transported toOdessa at the end of December as part of theSouthern Russia intervention. In April 1919, they were evacuated from Odessa andSevastopol, and redeployed to occupy a sector next to theDnieper.
It was primarily composed of the 30th, 76th and 156th Infantry Divisions, along with the 16th Colonial Infantry Division. It was supported by26th Division (United Kingdom)[18] until 15 December 1918 and the Greek Archipelago Division.
^GeneralJean César Graziani, asChief of the General Staff of the French Army, was asked to provide statistical information, in respect of in the Gallipoli and Salonika campaigns, to highlight French participation in these theatres of war to the Russians. As at 17 August 1916, French forces comprised 3,075 officers, 113,000 other ranks, 45,593 horses & mules, 6,954 carriages and 1,110 automobiles.[3]
^TheGroupe Léger formation comprised six dismounted cavalry squadrons[5]
^"De Gallipoli à Salonique".Forum pages14-18 (in French). Retrieved8 September 2020.transcriptions of primary source documents, listing which units redeployed to Salonika
^"Foreign Legion in the Balkans: 1915-1919".foreignlegion.info. Retrieved22 June 2021.Here is the detailed history of the French Foreign Legion in the Balkans during the First World War.
^Letter from Graziani to Lavergne dated 15 September 1916. '(Enclosure 2) The French war effort in Salonika.' InAFGG 8,1,1 Annexes (1924) Annexe n° 438, p. 728–734
^"recherches infos sur 13 RCC".Forum pages14-18 (in French). Retrieved29 June 2021.Extract from the war diary, stating the six squadrons, the disbandment date and the fate of the troopers
Franks, Norman; Bailey, Frank (1993).Over the Front: The Complete Record of the Fighter Aces and Units of the United States and French Air Services, 1914–1918. London, UK: Grub Street Publishing.ISBN978-0-948817-54-0.
Goya, Michel (2018) [2004].La chair et l'acier [Flesh and Steel during the Great War - The Transformation of the French Army and the Invention of Modern Warfare]. Translated by Uffindell, Andrew. Pen & Sword Military.ISBN978-1-4738-8696-4.
Dardanelles, Orient, Levant: 1915–1921 Ce que les combattants ont écrit [Dardanelles, Orient, Levant: 1915–1921 A compendium of veterans' eyewitness accounts] (in French). Preface written byMichèle Alliot-Marie. Paris: Association nationale pour le souvenir des Dardanelles et fronts d'Orient. 2005.ISBN2-7475-7905-0.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
Général Bernachot,Les armées françaises en Orient après l’armistice de 1918, Imprimerie nationale, 1970, 3 volumes :
1. L’armée française d’Orient, l’armée de Hongrie (11 novembre 1918 - 10 septembre 1919).
2. L’armée du Danube, l’armée française d’Orient (28 octobre 1918 - 25 janvier 1920).
3. Le corps d’occupation de Constantinople (6 novembre 1920 - 2 octobre 1923).
Schiavon, Max (2014).Le Front d’Orient. Du désastre des Dardanelles à la victoire finale. 1915-1918 (in French). Tallandier.ISBN979-1-02-104699-3.
Saint-Ramond, Francine (2019).Les Désorientés: Expériences des soldats français aux Dardanelles et en Macédoine, 1915-1919 (in French). Presses de l’Inalco.ISBN978-2-85-831299-3.
Thomas, Nigel; Babac, Dusan (2001).Armies in the Balkans 1914–18. Men-at-Arms 356. Osprey Publishing.ISBN1-84176-194-X.
"Le poilu de l'Armée d'Orient".Militaria Magazine (in French) (398). Paris: Histoire & Collections. November 2018.
![Zouaves of the 156th Division[19] in the ravine of Hill 420 in the Cugunci sector, July 1916.](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=https%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aCombats_dans_le_secteur_de_Cugunci_(mai_-_juillet_1916)_-_Cugunci_(anciennement)_%3b_Megali_Sterna_(actuellement)_-_M%25C3%25A9diath%25C3%25A8que_de_l%2527architecture_et_du_patrimoine_-_APOR058741.jpg)
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