The Bulgarian positions which
had yielded so easily were positions which they had been fortifying for
three years, and had been previously thought to be impregnable.
On September 23d it became evident that the retreat of the Bulgarians
had turned into a rout. Notwithstanding reinforcements of Germans and
Bulgars rushed down in a frantic effort to check them, the Allied armies
were advancing on an eighty-five mile front, crushing all resistance.
The Italian army, on the west, was meeting with equal success, and the
news dispatches reported that the first Bulgarian army in the region of
Prilep had been cut off. A dispatch received by the British War Office
reported "As the result of attacks and continual heavy pressure by
British and Greek troops, in conjunction with the French and Serbian
advance farther west, the enemy has evacuated his whole line from Doiran
to the west of the Vardar." As it retreated the Bulgarian army was
burning supplies and destroying ammunition dumps, burning railway
stations and ravaging the country.
By this time it was felt throughout the Allied world that the Bulgarian
defeat would have important political consequences. It was remembered
that a short time before King Ferdinand had paid a visit to Germany, and
after long conferences with the German War Lord, had hastily returned to
Bulgaria.
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