Another Ally

Monday 2nd July 1917

We have heard this evening that the Kingdom of Greece has declared war on Germany and her allies, adding her strength to the common cause for justice(1).

The 8th Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment is currently in billets at Fouquières-lès-Béthune. A and D Companies have today been training on the ranges This morning B and C Companies disinfected their clothing and had their weapons inspected by the Brigade Armourer Sergeant. This afternoon they have been practising bayonet fighting and doing drill. This evening there is a concert for the whole battalion.

Source: X550/9/1

(1) Greece was deeply divided by the First World War, a state of affairs known as the National Schism, and the king, Constantine I, who was son of a Danish father and Russian mother, was seen as pro-German. In 1916 he had allowed the Central Powers to occupy parts of eastern Macedonia and this was greeted with outrage. Supporters of Eleftherios Venizelos, a former prime minister, launched a coup in August 1916 declaring a Provisional Government of National Defence in Thessaloniki, which was occupied by an Anglo-French force. The king would be driven from Greece on 11th June, though he would be restored, briefly, in 1920.