Armée d'Orient (1915–1919)

The Armée d'Orient (AO) was a field army of the French Army during World War I who fought on the Macedonian front.

The Armée d'Orient was formed in September 1915 during the Conquest of Serbia by German-Austrian-Bulgarian forces, and shipped to the Greek port of Salonika 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 the Battle of Dobro Pole.

On 11 August 1916, all allied troops on the Salonika front came under a united command, and named Allied Army of the Orient (AAO). The AAO supreme commander became the French commander of the Armée d'Orient Maurice Sarrail. He was succeeded as commander of the Armée d'Orient by Victor Cordonnier, and the army itself was renamed the Armée française d'Orient (AFO).

Commanders

• General Maurice Sarrail (5 October 1915 – 11 August 1916)
• General Victor Cordonnier (11 August 1916 – 19 October 1916)
• General Paul Leblois (19 October 1916 – 1 February 1917)
• General Paul François Grossetti (1 February 1917 – 30 September 1917)
• General Charles Louis Jacques Régnault [fr] (30 September 1917 – 31 December 1917)
• General Paul Prosper Henrys (31 December 1917 – April 1919)

Units

• 156th Infantry Division (France) (since October 1915), was formerly part of the Corps expéditionnaire d'Orient^[1][2]
• 57th Infantry Division (since October–November 1915)
• 122nd Infantry Division (since October–November 1915)
• 17th Colonial Infantry Division (France) (since February 1916), was formerly part of the Corps Expeditionnaire des Dardanelles^[a]
• 30th Infantry Division (France) (fr:30e division d'infanterie (France)) (since September–December 1916)
• fr:76e division d'infanterie (France) (since September–December 1916)
• 11th Colonial Infantry Division (since September–December 1916)
• 16th Colonial Infantry Division (since September–December 1916)
• Cavalry component
  • • A Groupe Léger of six dismounted light cavalry squadrons, which equated to the strength of an infantry battalion.^[4][b] (One squadron was from the 11th Hussar Regiment (France), the remainder were from the 3rd, 13th, 17th, 18th and 22nd regiments of Chasseurs 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 of Chasseurs d'Afrique.^[7][8]
    • 4 squadrons of Chasseurs d'Afrique, redeployed from Gallipoli. 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 cavalry brigade formed in 1917. ^[10] The brigade was commanded by François Léon Jouinot-Gambetta
    • fr:4e régiment de chasseurs d'Afrique disembarked in November 1915.^[11]
    • fr:1er régiment de chasseurs d'Afrique disembarked in February 1916.^[12]
    • régiment de marche de spahis marocains (RMSM) disembarked in March 1917.^[13]
  • A provisional regiment of Zouaves attached to the cavalry, with the division 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]
• Escadrille N.391^[17]

After World War I

After the victory against Bulgaria in the autumn of 1918, the AFO is divided in 3 parts :

Army of the Danube

• Army of the Danube (AD), created on 28 October 1918, operated in Romania and the Crimea. Commanded by :
  • Henri Mathias Berthelot (until 5 May 1919)
  • Jean César Graziani (until January 1920)
    • Under the orders of General d'Anselme, French and allied elements were transported to Odessa at the end of December as part of the Southern Russia intervention. In April 1919, they were evacuated from Odessa and Sevastopol, and redeployed to occupy a sector next to the Dnieper.
    • It was primarily composed of the 30th, 76th and 156th Infantry Divisions, along with the 16th Colonial Infantry Division. It was supported by 26th Division (United Kingdom)^[18] until 15 December 1918 and the Greek Archipelago Division.

Army of Hungary

• Army of Hungary (AH), created on 1 March 1919 and dissolved on 31 August 1919. Commanded by
  • Paul-Joseph de Lobit

Corps for the Occupation of Constantinople

• Expeditionary corps for the Occupation of Constantinople (COC). Commanded by
  • Louis Franchet d'Esperey (November 1918 – January 1919)
  • Albert Defrance (February 1919 – December 1920)
  • Maurice Pellé (1921 – 22 October 1923)

Gallery

• 
  A patrol on the Vardar in September 1916
• 
  French colonial troops from Madagascar resting outside tents in their camp, October 1917, Salonika front.
• 
  Zouaves of the 156th Division^[19] in the ravine of Hill 420 in the Cugunci sector, July 1916.
• 
  Soldiers of the 175th Infantry Regiment at Salonika in 1915
• 
  Fanfare of the band of the 84th Infantry, in from of Livadia, to the west of the Vardar on 20 January 1917.
• 
  Review of Senegalese Tirailleurs by General Guillaumat. Photo taken at the village of Vatokhorion, in the municipality of Florina in Greece, on 7 March 1918.
• 
  Tirailleurs indochinois in January 1917 in the Autonomous Province of Korçë in Albania.

See also

• List of French armies in WWI

Notes

1. General Jean César Graziani, as Chief 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]
2. The Groupe Léger formation comprised six dismounted cavalry squadrons^[5]

Citations

1. "De Gallipoli à Salonique". Forum pages14-18 (in French). Retrieved 8 September 2020. transcriptions of primary source documents, listing which units redeployed to Salonika
2. "Foreign Legion in the Balkans: 1915-1919". foreignlegion.info. Retrieved 22 June 2021. Here is the detailed history of the French Foreign Legion in the Balkans during the First World War.
3. Letter from Graziani to Lavergne dated 15 September 1916. '(Enclosure 2) The French war effort in Salonika.' In AFGG 8,1,1 Annexes (1924) Annexe n° 438, p. 728–734
4. Lepetit et al. 1933, p. 43.
5. Goya 2018, p. 157.
6. "13e régiment de chasseurs à cheval: J.M.O. 24 février 1915-22 février 1916: 26 N 890/16" (JPG). Mémoire des hommes: Journaux des Unites (1914–1918) (in French). Ministere De la Defense. image 19 of 31. Retrieved 29 June 2021. 17 October 1915: The dismounted squadrons of the light brigade are withdrawn ...to form part of the Serbian Expeditionary Force
7. "recherches infos sur 13 RCC". Forum pages14-18 (in French). Retrieved 29 June 2021. Extract from the war diary, stating the six squadrons, the disbandment date and the fate of the troopers
8. "17e régiment de chasseurs à cheval: Escadron à pied J.M.O. 18 octobre 1915-16 juin 1917: 26 N 892/10" (JPG). Mémoire des hommes: Journaux des Unites (1914–1918) (in French). Ministere De la Defense. Retrieved 29 June 2021.
9. Historique du 8e RMCA 1915–1919 1920.
10. Lepetit et al. 1933, p. 476.
11. Historique du 4e RCA 1839–1919 1920.
12. Historique du 1er RCA 1914–1919 1920.
13. "Régiment de marche de spahis marocains: J.M.O. 1er janvier-8 décembre 1917: 26 N 75/10" (JPG). Mémoire des hommes: Journaux des Unites (1914–1918) (in French). Ministere De la Defense. Retrieved 29 June 2021. Embarked the British troopships Cestrian & Nitonian for passage to Salonika
14. Lepetit et al. 1933, p. 486.
15. "Historique du 2e Régiment Bis de Marche de Zouaves". Archived from the original on 15 March 2016. Retrieved 16 March 2014.
16. Pompé 1924, pp. 972–973.
17. Over the Front: The Complete Record of the Fighter Aces and Units of the United States and French Air Services, 1914–1918, p. 221
18. Baker, Chris. "26th Division". The Long, Long Trail. Retrieved 12 November 2018.
19. "156e division d'infanterie: J.M.O. 25 septembre 1915–26 novembre 1916 – 26 N 447/1" (JPG). Mémoire des hommes: Journaux des Unites (1914–1918) (in French). Ministere De la Defense. images 113 to 122 of 235. Retrieved 4 July 2021.

References

• 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. ISBN 978-0-948817-54-0.
• 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. ISBN 978-1-4738-8696-4.
• Lepetit, Vincent; Tournyol du Clos, Alain; Rinieri, Ilario, eds. (1923). Les armées françaises dans la Grande guerre. Tome VIII. La campagne d'Orient (Dardanelles et Salonique) Premier Volume. (février 1915-août 1916) [8,1]. Ministère De la Guerre, Etat-Major de l'Armée - Service Historique (in French). Paris: Imprimerie Nationale. OCLC 491775878.
• Les armées françaises dans la Grande guerre. Tome VIII. Premier volume. La campagne d'Orient jusqu'à l'intervention de la Roumanie (février 1915-août 1916). Annexes - 1er Volume [8,1,1]. Ministère De la Guerre, Etat-Major de l'Armée - Service Historique (in French). Paris: Imprimerie Nationale. 1924. OCLC 163166542.
• Lepetit, Vincent; Tournyol du Clos, Alain; Rinieri, Ilario; Druène, Bernard, eds. (1933). Les armées françaises dans la Grande guerre. Tome VIII. La campagne d'Orient (Dardanelles et Salonique) Deuxième Volume. (août 1916 jusqu'en avril 1918) [8,2]. Ministère De la Guerre, Etat-Major de l'Armée - Service Historique (in French). Paris: Imprimerie Nationale. OCLC 491775909.
• Tournyol du Clos, Alain; Rinieri, Ilario; Druène, Bernard, eds. (1934). Les armées françaises dans la Grande guerre. Tome VIII. La campagne d'Orient (Dardanelles et Salonique) Troisième Volume. (avril 1918 à décembre 1918) [8,3]. Ministère De la Guerre, Etat-Major de l'Armée - Service Historique (in French). Paris: Imprimerie Nationale. OCLC 493568247.
• Pompé, Daniel; et al., eds. (1924). Les armées françaises dans la Grande guerre. Tome X. 2e Volume. Ordres de bataille des grandes unités - Divisions d'Infanterie, Divisions de Cavalerie [10,2]. Ministère De la Guerre, Etat-Major de l'Armée - Service Historique (in French) (1st ed.). Paris: Imprimerie Nationale. Retrieved 6 September 2020.
• En campagne européenne 1914–1919: 1er régiment de chasseurs d'Afrique (in French). Paris: Charles-Lavauzelle. 1920. FRBNF30895930.
• Historique du 4me régiment de chasseurs d'Afrique depuis sa formation 1839 jusqu'à la fin de la Grande Guerre 1919 (in French). Bizerte: Imprimerie française. 1920. FRBNF42717877.
• Historique succinct du 8e régiment de marche de chasseurs d'Afrique: campagne 1915–1919 (in French). Bizerte: Imprimerie française. 1920. FRBNF42718263.

Further reading

• 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 by Michèle Alliot-Marie. Paris: Association nationale pour le souvenir des Dardanelles et fronts d'Orient. 2005. ISBN 2-7475-7905-0.{{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. ISBN 979-1-02-104699-3.
• Saint-Ramond, Francine (2019). Les Désorientés: Expériences des soldats français aux Dardanelles et en Macédoine, 1915-1919 (in French). Presses de l’Inalco. ISBN 978-2-85-831299-3.
• Thomas, Nigel; Babac, Dusan (2001). Armies in the Balkans 1914–18. Men-at-Arms 356. Osprey Publishing. ISBN 1-84176-194-X.
• "Le poilu de l'Armée d'Orient". Militaria Magazine (in French) (398). Paris: Histoire & Collections. November 2018.

External links

• Chanoir, Yohann: Army of the Orient, in: 1914-1918-online. International Encyclopedia of the First World War.