and the French who attack through the Cherna Loop in May. This offensive, however, proved a big disappointment as the French who took the Yarebichina peak from the Fifth "Danube" Division were driven back by the Bulgarians and the British suffered a heavy defeat in the Second Battle of Dojran. By 23 May the offensive was cancelled and the Allies began fortifying their positions in expectation of a Bulgarian counter-offensive which never came. Then for a period of almost one year there were only a few local actions along the entire front. By 1918 the Bulgarian positions in Macedonia had deteriorated drastically as the morale of the forces decreased due to lack of supplies and ammunition. Then in May the positions of the First Army in the sector of the Fifth Division were attacked by the Greek Army, which had officially joined the Allied forces in 1917. In the ensuing Battle of Skra-di-Legen at the peak of Yarebichina the Bulgarians lost almost their entire 49th Infantry Regiment. This victory was of little strategic value to the Allies but it sapped the morale of the Bulgarian troops in the sector. After the battle general Nikola Zhekov, general Sholtz and crown prince Boris arrived at the headquarters of the Fifth Division to inquire for the causes of the defeat. They reinforced the division with the 80th infantry regiment and planned a demonstrative attack along the Struma by the Second Army in order to retake the heights. The plan, however, never went into action as the morale of the forces in the Fifth Division was so low that an attack was impossible. General Zhekov then sought to remedy the situations by replacing the commander of the First Army general Dimitar Geshov with the former commander of the Ninth "Pleven" Division general Stefan Nerezov. Morale in some parts of the front, however, remained critical as news about German misfortunes in the Western Front reached the troops on the Balkans the few remaining German troops in Macedonia were being pulled out and the deprivations in the Bulgarian Army continued. The new commander of the Allied Salonica forces Franchet d'Espèrey planned to take advantage of this by organizing a new great offensive in Macedonia. For that purpose he gathered a force of 28 divisions or between 670,000 and 717,000 men with over 2,000 artillery pieces, 2609 machine guns and 200 airplanes. The main blow was to