a difficult position facing a possible war on two fronts and in the beginning of August the French and British launched an offensive against the Bulgarian positions at Lake Dojran which convinced the Bulgarian high command that the Allies were preparing a general offensive. To counter these negative developments the Bulgarians planned an offensive of their own with both their flanks aiming to shorten the front line and influence Romania in its decision to enter the war. The advance on the right flank was to be undertaken by the Bulgarian First Army which had the following order of battle in July 1916: The Germans finally agreed that an offensive was needed and on 12 August general Boyadzhiev received his orders from the headquarters of Army Group "Mackensen". The right wing of the army, consisting of the reinforced 8th infantry division (four and half infantry brigades) was to advance and take Florina while parts of the 3rd division towards the Chegan mountain range and the village of the same name. General Boyadzhiev agreed to attack but had concerns regarding the final results of the offensive because his army was scattered on a 140 km front and lacked enough mountain and heavy artillery. Facing the Bulgarians were the six infantry and one cavalry divisions of the three Serbian armies. The offensive began on 17 August 1916 with the Bulgarians taking Florina (Lerin), Banitsa and Kastoria. The advance, however, soon ran into difficulty and slowed down considerably due to the increased Serbian resistance. The fighting was especially heavy on the bare rocky slopes of the Chegan Mountain and the Nidže. The Serbians were constantly reinforced with new artillery and fresh troops thanks to railway that reached the battlefield while the Bulgarians soon began depleting their ammunition stocks. This and the slow advance forced the Bulgarian high command to call off all attacks on 27 August and order the forces to dig in on the occupied positions between Lake Ostrovo, Lake Petrovsko and along the ridges of the Nidže. For the next several days the Bulgarian positions were subjected to heavy artillery fire and few Serbian attacks that were repulsed. The so-called Chegan Offensive, also known as the Lerin Offensive, had failed. It failed to influence Romania, which entered the war on the side of the Allies but also failed to achieve its final military objective to take the Chegan village and the pass