Battle of Skra-di-Legen

Battle of Skra-di-Legen
Part of the Macedonian front of World War I
Lykurgos Kogevinas (1887-1940), 'The Battle of Skra, 1918', oil on canvas, National Gallery, Athens
Date 29–31 May 1918 Location Skra, Kingdom of Greece Result Entente victory
Belligerents
Greece  France  United Kingdom	Bulgaria
Commanders and leaders
Emmanouil Zymvrakakis Adolphe Guillaumat Auguste Gérôme	Ivan Bonchev
Units involved
Greece National Defense Army Corps Archipelago Division 5th Regiment 6th Regiment Cretan Division 7th Regiment 8th Regiment Serres Division 1st Regiment  France 122nd Infantry Division 84th Infantry Regiment  United Kingdom Royal Garrison Artillery 424th Siege Battery 190th Heavy Battery	Bulgaria 5th Division 3rd Brigade
Strength
5 regiments (from 3 divisions) 1 brigade with cannons and flamethrowers 2 Artillery batteries	1 brigade
Casualties and losses
441 killed 2,227 wounded 164 missing[1]	600 killed 2,313 captured (included wounded) 12 artillery pieces and 32 machine guns, as well as other equipment captured

The Battle of Skra-di-Legen (Skora di Legen) was a two-day battle which took place at the Skra fortified position, located northeast of Mount Paiko, which is north-west of Thessaloniki, on May 29–30, 1918, on the Macedonian front of World War I. The battle was the first large-scale employment on the front of Greek troops of the National Defense Army Corps (Greece, united after the National Schism, had joined the war in summer 1917),^[2] and resulted in the elimination of a whole enemy regiment (the 49th)^[3][4] and the capture of the heavily fortified Bulgarian positions.

The Allied force comprised three Greek divisions of the National Defense Army Corps under Lieutenant General Emmanouil Zymvrakakis, plus one French brigade. The three Greek divisions comprised

• The Archipelago Division under Major General Dimitrios Ioannou,
• The Crete Division under Major General Panagiotis Spiliadis,
• The Serres Division under Lieutenant Colonel Epameinondas Zymvrakakis.

The 5th and 6th Regiments from the Archipelago Division were in the center, the 7th and 8th Regiments from the Crete Division were on the right flank, and the 1st Regiment of the Serres Division was on the left.