Kајmаkčаlаn

Conquering the Kајmаkčаlаn mountain was a famous battle of the Salonika (Macedonian) Front. It took place in the second half of September 1916. The First Serbian army managed to capture the mountain peak, St Elijah, over 2,500 m high. There were about 5,000 Serbian casualties, mostly killed by the Bulgarian artillery. Among the casualties was the commander of the  volunteer squad, Vоivоde Vuk. That was the first Serbian victory after leaving Serbia a year earlier. Taking the Kајmаkčаlаn point enabled  the First Serbian Army and the French forces to  continue the operations, which would later on lead to the liberation of Bitola. And that was the first liberated part of the homeland.

HISTORY

The fall of Kајmаkčаlаn weakened the Bulgarian army, morale and convinced the Germans that the middle section of the Salonika Front was in crisis. According to the Serbian accounts, some 65,000 Bulgarian soldiers were rendered incapacitated and 7,700 soldiers were captured.