10th (Irish) Division withdraw from Serbia

Bulgarian observation and machine gun post north of Monastir.

On 8 December 1915, there was once again thick fog blanketing the slopes below the 10th (Irish) Division's new defensive positions. The Bulgarians had driven the defenders off Rocky Peak and its flanking positions the day before.

The Bulgarian attack began in the afternoon. This time the British repelled the attack, but later the situation on the right flank became confused when the enemy penetrated 31 Brigade's area between the 5th Battalion The Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers and the 6th Battalion The Royal Irish Fusiliers.

Once more the 10th (Irish) Division withdrew and two days later, having crossed the Serbian frontier, was back on neutral Greek territory in the province of Macedonia. This concluded the Allies' attempt to assist Serbia. Over the following weeks, the Division returned to the area around Salonika with 31 Brigade not arriving until 17 December as they had to march through the constant rain from the border to Salonika.

There the British Salonika Army* spent the next four months constructing defences and strong points to fortify a 170 mile perimeter around Salonika. The German propaganda referred to it as 'the Allied internment camp' and because the British deployed so much wire in constructing these defences, the British and Irish soldiers referred to it as 'the Bird Cage'.
(Above, representation of 10th (Irish) Division's flash)

*
When the British Salonika Army began its retreat from Serbia, it was Lieutenant General Sir Bryan Mahon, born in Belleville, County Galway, and commander of the 10th (Irish) Division, who assumed command of the Army.