Experiencing the many theatres of the War
The 10th would move only a short way away from the Gallipoli campaign, heading to Greece to fight on the Macedonian front. One of the more varied and confusing fronts in the war, the Macedonian front involved the Allies setting up camp in Greece. The only issue was that the King of Greece was a supporter of the Germans while his Prime Minister supported the Allies. The Greek troops were often ordered to stand down despite conflicts raging just miles from their borders.
Almost every European power involved in WWI had troops fight at the Macedonian Front. Austria-Hungary and the Bulgarians pushed into Serbia and even the tiny Montenegro. Fierce defenses caused massive Central Powers losses but territory was still lost. Though it was an established front, the lines here moved as much or more than any other front of the war. Small gains were taken by either side.
The line stretched from Thessaloniki in modern Greece, through the mountains of southern Macedonia and to the Adriatic coast of Albania. The two years Curtis spent here were spent in everything to hot and dry valleys to snow capped mountains. He would have also faced the familiar foe in the Ottomans, but also would have waged war against Austro-Hungarians, Germans and Bulgarians while working with the entire range of European Allies.
Curtis used the opportunity of near-constant and mobile fighting to earn a few promotions and commendations for his bravery. Pulling out from Macedonia in 1917, Curtis and the 10th again took on the Ottomans, this time in Palestine. Curtis would have seen the impressive Alexandria before being shuffled off to the Holy Land They would be quickly thrown into the fire against the Ottomans entrenched in Gaza.
Like Gallipoli, the British faced a determined and dug in Ottoman force, but unlike Gallipoli, the British were able to grind their way through the terrible desert terrain to push the Ottomans from Gaza. Later in the year, just before Christmas on 1917, Curtis and the 10th captured Jerusalem. Though not entirely strategically important, the 10th successful campaigns against the Ottomans spelled the beginning of the end of the war in the east.
With a Jerusalem front established, Curtis saw some shuffling as his division went through changes to incorporate more Indian troops. So, while the 10th remained to win the war in Palestine, Horace Curtis was sent to the heart of the war, landing at Marseilles on the Western Front.