With the Serbs in Macedonia

io6 WITH THE SERBS IN MACEDONIA
these things, the Serbs would refit, and rest till
the spring. They asked no longer in spite of all
that they had been through and in spite of the
fact that they had been at war since 1912. By
the spring of 1916, supported by the Allies, they
would be ready to set out to reconquer their
beloved Serbia.
In April the first instalment of this indefatigable
army was landed in Salonica, having come
all the way by sea. Greece, Serbia's ally, still
under Constantine, in a sudden access of
neutral probity, had refused them the use of her
railways, which would have shortened the
journey and reduced its dangers. But in spite
of this, not a man was lost. Just as skilfully
as the Italians had transported them to Corfu,
so now the French brought them to Salonica,
assisted by British torpedo boats and trawlers,
who patrolled and swept the seas before the
transports. By the end of May an army of
ninety thousand fighting men, second to none
for valour and the will to win, had been landed
at Mikra Bay.
Up to then, excepting for the Adriatic Mission
and certain A.S.C. Units and Staff Officers at
Corfu, very few British had come into contact
with the Serbs. But directly they arrived at
Salonica there sprang up a mutual and spontaneous
friendship between the two nations