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

French Army The French Army, officially known as the Land Army (, , ), is the principal Army, land warfare force of France, and the largest component of the French Armed Forces; it is responsible to the Government of France, alongside the French Navy, Fren ...

during

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

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 Germa ...

. The Armée d'Orient was formed in September 1915 during the Conquest of Serbia by German-Austrian-Bulgarian forces. It was shipped to the Greek port of

Salonika Thessaloniki (; ), also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, Salonika, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece (with slightly over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area) and the capital cit ...

, 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 (; ), also known as the Breakthrough at Dobro Pole (), was a World War I battle fought between 15 and 18 September 1918. The battle was fought in the initial stage of the Vardar Offensive, in the Balkans Theatre. On 15 ...

. 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 (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) (since October 1915), was formerly part of the

Corps expéditionnaire d'Orient The ''Corps Expéditionnaire 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 late ...

* 57th Infantry Division (since October–November 1915) * 122nd Infantry Division (since October–November 1915) *

17th Colonial Infantry Division (France) 17th Colonial Infantry Division was an infantry division (military), 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 alo ...

(since February 1916), was formerly part of the

Corps Expeditionnaire des Dardanelles Corps (; plural ''corps'' ; from French , from the Latin "body") is a term used for several different kinds of organization. A military innovation by Napoleon I, the formation was formally introduced March 1, 1800, when Napoleon ordered Gener ...

* 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. (One squadron was from the

11th Hussar Regiment (France) The 11th Hussar Regiment (''11e régiment de hussards'') was a hussar regiment in the French Army. History The Revolutionary Wars It was raised on 28 July 1793 from personnel of the 24th Mounted Chasseurs Regiment. Also added were two volunteer ...

, 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 o ...

.) 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 ''Chasseur'' ( , ), a French language, French term for "hunter", is the designation given to certain regiments of France, French and Belgium, Belgian light infantry () or light cavalry () to denote troops trained for rapid action. History T ...

. *** 4 squadrons of

, redeployed from

Gallipoli The Gallipoli Peninsula (; ; ) is located in the southern part of East Thrace, the European part of Turkey, with the Aegean Sea to the west and the Dardanelles strait to the east. Gallipoli is the Italian form of the Greek name (), meaning ' ...

. 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 François Léon Jouinot-Gambetta (6 July 1870 – 9 November 1923) was a French army officer. He joined the army as a cavalry trooper in 1888 and was commissioned in 1893. Jouinot-Gambetta initially specialised in geographical surveying and was ...

*** :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 and other units modelled on it, which served between 1830 and 1962, and served in French North Africa. The zouaves were among the most decorated units of the French Army ...

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 commandin ...

(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 ODESSA is an American codename (from the German language, German: ''Organisation der ehemaligen SS-Angehörigen'', meaning: Organization of Former SS Members) coined in 1946 to cover Ratlines (World War II aftermath), Nazi underground escape-pl ...

at the end of December as part of the

Southern Russia intervention The Southern Russia intervention was an Allied military intervention in present-day Ukraine between December 1918 and April 1919 on the Black Sea shores of the former Russian Empire, as part of the Allied intervention in Russia after the Octob ...

. In April 1919, they were evacuated from Odessa and

Sevastopol Sevastopol ( ), sometimes written Sebastopol, is the largest city in Crimea and a major port on the Black Sea. Due to its strategic location and the navigability of the city's harbours, Sevastopol has been an important port and naval base th ...

, and redeployed to occupy a sector next to the

Dnieper The Dnieper or Dnepr ( ), also called 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. Approximately long, with ...

. ***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) The 26th Division was an infantry division of the British Army during World War I. The division was created in September 1914 from men volunteering for Lord Kitchener's New Armies and was the last division to be raised under the K3 enlistment ...

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 () or occupation of Constantinople (12 November 1918 – 4 October 1923), the capital of the Ottoman Empire, by British, French, Italian, and Greek forces, took place in accordance with the Armistice of Mudros, w ...

(COC). Commanded by **

Louis Franchet d'Esperey Louis may refer to: People * Louis (given name), origin and several individuals with this name * Louis (surname) * Louis (singer), Serbian singer Other uses * Louis (coin), a French coin * HMS ''Louis'', two ships of the Royal Navy See also * ...

(November 1918 – January 1919) ** Albert Defrance (February 1919 – December 1920) ** Maurice Pellé (1921 – 22 October 1923)

Gallery

File:M149 1 patrouille sur le Vardar.jpg, A patrol on the

Vardar The Vardar (; , , ) or Axios (, ) is the longest river in North Macedonia and a major river in Greece, where it reaches the Aegean Sea at Thessaloniki. It is long, out of which are in Greece, and drains an area of around . The maximum depth of ...

in September 1916 File:Au camp des tirailleurs malgaches, octobre 1917, Salonique.jpg, French colonial troops from Madagascar resting outside tents in their camp, October 1917, Salonika front. File:Combats dans le secteur de Cugunci (mai - juillet 1916) - Cugunci (anciennement) ; Megali Sterna (actuellement) - Médiathèque de l'architecture et du patrimoine - APOR058741.jpg, Zouaves of the 156th Division in the ravine of Hill 420 in the Cugunci sector, July 1916. File:French_soldiers-salonika-1915.jpg, Soldiers of the 175th Infantry Regiment at Salonika in 1915 File:A l'ouest du Vardar (décembre 1916 - janvier 1917) - Livadi (anciennement) ; Megala Livadia (actuellement) - Médiathèque de l'architecture et du patrimoine - APOR094658.jpg, Fanfare of the band of the 84th Infantry, in from of Livadia, to the west of the Vardar on 20 January 1917. File:Visite du général Guillaumat dans la région des lacs Prespa et Okrida (5-7 mars 1918) - Bresnitsa (anciennement) ; Vatokhorion (actuellement) - Médiathèque de l'architecture et du patrimoine - APOR146269.jpg, Review of

Senegalese Tirailleurs The Senegalese Tirailleurs () were a corps of Troupes coloniales, colonial infantry in the French Army. They were initially recruited from Saint-Louis, Senegal, the initial colonial capital city of French West Africa and subsequently throughout W ...

by General Guillaumat. Photo taken at the village of Vatokhorion, in the municipality of Florina in Greece, on 7 March 1918. File:Koritza_1917_tirailleurs_indochinois_05346.jpg,

Tirailleurs indochinois The ''Tirailleurs indochinois'' (; Chữ Nôm: 𠔦習) were soldiers of several regiments of local ethnic Indochinese infantry organized as Tirailleurs by the French colonial authorities, initially in Vietnam from 15 March 1880. The most notabl ...

from Vietnam in the Autonomous Province of Korçë in

Albania Albania ( ; or ), officially the Republic of Albania (), is a country in Southeast Europe. It is located in the Balkans, on the Adriatic Sea, Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea, and shares land borders with Montenegro to ...

in January 1917.

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) 1915 establishments in France 1919 disestablishments in France 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