The Armée d'Orient (AO) was a field army of the

French Army The French Army, officially known as the Land Army (french: Armée de Terre, ), is the land-based and largest component of the French Armed Forces. It is responsible to the Government of France, along with the other components of the Armed For ...

during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

who fought on the

Macedonian front The Macedonian front, also known as the Salonica front (after Thessaloniki), was a military theatre of World War I formed as a result of an attempt by the Allied Powers to aid Serbia, in the autumn of 1915, against the combined attack of German ...

. 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 Thessaloniki (; el, Θεσσαλονίκη, , also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece, with over one million inhabitants in its metropolitan area, and the capital of the geographic region of ...

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 The Battle of Dobro Pole ( sr, Битка код Доброг Поља, Bitka kod Dobrog Polja; gr, Μάχη του Ντόμπρο Πόλε, Máchi tou Dóbro Póle), also known as the Breakthrough at Dobro Pole ( bg, Пробив при До� ...

. On 11 August 1916, all allied troops on the Salonika front came under a united command, and named

Allied Army of the Orient upright=1.1, Allied collaboration: an Italian captain, a Russian lieutenant, a Serb colonel, a French lieutenant, and a Greek gendarme The Allied Army of the Orient (AAO) (french: Armées alliées en Orient) was the name of the unified command over ...

. Supreme commander became the French commander of the Armée d'Orient

Maurice Sarrail Maurice Paul Emmanuel Sarrail (6 April 1856 – 23 March 1929) was a French general of the First World War. Sarrail's openly socialist political connections made him a rarity amongst the Catholics, conservatism, conservatives and monarchism, mo ...

. He was replaced as commander of the Armée d'Orient by

Victor Cordonnier Victor Louis Émilien Cordonnier (23 March 1858, Surgy, France – 1936) served France during World War I as a general and was called "''one of France's finest generals''" by Geoffrey Blainey.Geoffrey Blainey, ''The Causes of War'', (Simon and Sch ...

, and the army itself was renamed the ''Armée française d'Orient'' (AFO).

Commanders

* General

(5 October 1915 – 11 August 1916) * General

(11 August 1916 – 19 October 1916) * General

Paul Leblois Paul Adolphe Leblois (July 17, 1857 - August 28, 1930) was a divisional general of the French Army who commanded the French 2nd Colonial Infantry Division and later the Armée française d'Orient during World War I. Early life Paul Leblois wa ...

(19 October 1916 – 1 February 1917) * General

Paul François Grossetti Paul François Grossetti (; Paris, 10 September 1861 – Paris, 7 January 1918) was a French Army general during World War I. Early years Grossetti was born in Paris, the son of Paul François Grossetti (born in Grosseto-Prugna). His father was ...

(1 February 1917 – 30 September 1917) * General (30 September 1917 – 31 December 1917) * General

Paul Prosper Henrys Paul Prosper Henrys (or Paul-Prosper) (13 March 1862 – 6 November 1943) was a French general. In his early career, Henrys was stationed in French Algeria. In 1912, he participated in the French conquest of Morocco under general Hubert Lyautey ...

(31 December 1917 – April 1919)

Units

156th Infantry Division (France) 156th Infantry Division was an infantry division of the French Army during the First World War. It was deployed overseas, seeing action during the Gallipoli campaign, and thereafter on the Salonika front, fighting alongside British troops in bo ...

(since October 1915), was formerly part of the

Corps expéditionnaire d'Orient The Corps Expeditionnaire d'Orient (Oriental Expeditionary Force) (CEO) was a French Expeditionary Force raised for service during the Gallipoli Campaign in World War I. The corps initially consisted of a single infantry division, but later grew ...

* 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 * :fr:30e division d%27infanterie (France) (since September–December 1916) * :fr:76e division d%27infanterie (France) (since September–December 1916) *

11th Colonial Infantry Division 11 (eleven) is the natural number following 10 and preceding 12. It is the first repdigit. In English, it is the smallest positive integer whose name has three syllables. Name "Eleven" derives from the Old English ', which is first attested i ...

(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. (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 ''Chasseur'' ( , ), a French term for "hunter", is the designation given to certain regiments of French and Belgian light infantry () or light cavalry () to denote troops trained for rapid action. History This branch of the French Army origi ...

.) 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 The ''Chasseurs d'Afrique'' were a light cavalry corps of chasseurs in the French Armée d'Afrique (Army of Africa). First raised in 1831 from regular French cavalry posted to Algeria, they numbered five regiments by World War II. For most of ...

. *** 4 squadrons of

, redeployed from

Gallipoli The Gallipoli peninsula (; tr, Gelibolu Yarımadası; grc, Χερσόνησος της Καλλίπολης, ) is located in the southern part of East Thrace, the European part of Turkey, with the Aegean Sea to the west and the Dardanelles ...

. 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. ** A cavalry brigade formed in 1917. The brigade was commanded by François Léon Jouinot-Gambetta *** :fr:4e régiment de chasseurs d'Afrique disembarked in November 1915. *** :fr:1er régiment de chasseurs d'Afrique disembarked in February 1916. *** régiment de marche de spahis marocains (RMSM) disembarked in March 1917. ** A provisional regiment of

Zouaves The Zouaves were a class of light infantry regiments of the French Army serving between 1830 and 1962 and linked to French North Africa; as well as some units of other countries modelled upon them. The zouaves were among the most decorated unit ...

attached to the cavalry, with the ''division provisoire Venel''They were subsequently in the 11th Colonial Division (November 1916 to May 1917), but never fought as a part of that Division. * ''Escadrille N.391''''Over the Front: The Complete Record of the Fighter Aces and Units of the United States and French Air Services, 1914–1918'', p. 221

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 Henri Mathias Berthelot (7 December 1861 – 29 January 1931) was a French general during World War I. He held an important staff position under Joseph Joffre, the French commander-in-chief, at the First Battle of the Marne, before later commandi ...

(until May 1919) **

Jean César Graziani Jean César Graziani (; Bastia, Corsica, 15 November 1859 – Paris, 8 February 1932) was a French Army general during World War I. Early years He started his studies at the Ecole Spéciale Militaire de Saint-Cyr in October 1878. He participated ...

(until January 1920) ***Under the orders of General d'Anselme, French and allied elements were transported to

Odessa Odesa (also spelled Odessa) is the third most populous city and municipality in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern shore of the Black Sea. The city is also the administrativ ...

at the end of December as part of the Southern Russia intervention. In April 1919, they were evacuated from Odessa and

Sevastopol Sevastopol (; uk, Севасто́поль, Sevastópolʹ, ; gkm, Σεβαστούπολις, Sevastoúpolis, ; crh, Акъя́р, Aqyár, ), sometimes written Sebastopol, is the largest city in Crimea, and a major port on the Black Sea ...

, and redeployed to occupy a sector next to the

Dnieper } The Dnieper () or Dnipro (); , ; . is one of the major transboundary rivers of Europe, rising in the Valdai Hills near Smolensk, Russia, before flowing through Belarus and Ukraine to the Black Sea. It is the longest river of Ukraine and B ...

. ***It was primarily composed of the 30th, 76th and 156th Infantry Divisions, along with the 16th Colonial Infantry Division. It was supported by a British division 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 The occupation of Istanbul ( tr, İstanbul'un İşgali; 12 November 1918 – 4 October 1923), the capital of the Ottoman Empire, by United Kingdom, British, France, French, Italy, Italian, and Greece, Greek forces, took place in accordance with ...

(COC). Commanded by **

Louis Franchet d'Esperey Louis may refer to: * Louis (coin) * Louis (given name), origin and several individuals with this name * Louis (surname) * Louis (singer), Serbian singer * HMS ''Louis'', two ships of the Royal Navy See also Derived or associated terms * Lewis ( ...

(November 1918 – January 1919) ** Albert Defrance (February 1919 – December 1920) **

Maurice Pellé Maurice César Joseph Pellé (18 April 1863 – 16 March 1924) was a French général de division, leader of the French Military Mission to Czechoslovakia and first Chief of staff of Czechoslovak Army from February 1919 to January 1921. Early ...

(1921 – 22 October 1923)

Notes, citations, and references

Notes Citations 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. . * * * * * * * *

External links

* Chanoir, Yohann
Army of the Orient
in

{{DEFAULTSORT:Armee d'Orient (1914) Field armies of France in World War I Greece in World War I Macedonian front Hungarian–Romanian War Military units and formations established in 1915 Military units and formations disestablished in 1919