The Battle Led to Bulgarian Surrender
The Battle of Dobro Polje came at a very tenuous time for the Bulgarian army. They had spent years living in trenches in enemy territory. Morale was already low before the battle began and the soldiers were losing faith in the war and in their own country. Once the artillery shells starting falling and the infantry started advancing upon them, soldiers in the Bulgarian army started to desert en masse. They had poor supplies and were tired of fighting and instead of giving their lives for a cause they did not support and a country that was no supporting them, they chose to leave.
A large group of deserters reached the town of Kyustendil on September 25. They started looting the city and this caused the Bulgarian High Command to flee, fearing an attack by the rampaging soldiers. The rioting soldiers then met up together at the railway center of Radomir which was just 30 miles from the Bulgarian capital of Sofia.
The Bulgarian Agrarian National Union took advantage of the situation, and on September 27 they took over control of the troops that had deserted the army. Now that they suddenly had their own army the Bulgarian Agrarian National Union declared the Bulgarian Republic. The next day between 4,000 and 5,000 soldiers moved on to Sofia and threatened the city.
With their own country in chaos and the fear of an Allied invasion, the Bulgarian delegation traveled to Thessaloniki to ask for an armistice. On September 29, just 15 days after the start of artillery shelling on Dobro Polje, General d’Esperey granted the Armistice of Salonica to the Bulgarians.