The Defense of the Aegean Coast by the Second Army in the First World War (August 1916–November 1917)

The paper outlines the defense of the Aegean coast by the Second Bulgarian Army in the period from August 1916 until November 1917. 

During that time the headquarters paid special attention to coastal defense by going over all possible variants of the enemy’s naval operations. The construction of a defensive line with uninterrupted trenches was rejected in the end. Group defense was chosen instead. The Aegean coast’s defense built by the Second Army secured reliable protection of the Southern front, whose purpose was not to allow the landing of Entente forces on the left flank. 

The adopted concept for the creation of group defense broke the line defense stereotype imposed by German commanders, and proved that coastal defense could be built with less efforts and resources, but that depended on the  commanders’ skills to organize it by troop training and drills. All this was achieved by the Second Bulgarian Army on the Aegean coast between the summer of 1916 and the autumn of 1917.