In September 1918, Allied forces launched an offensive under the command of French General Louis Franchet d'Espèrey, an offensive along the valley of the river Vardar against Army Group "Scholtz". The Allies managed to break through the lines of the 11th Army and to force Scholtz to order a retreat in the sector of Dobro Pole, but the Bulgarian First Army had achieved a victory at the Battle of Doiran. So now the Allied forces were advancing up the Vardar, but their flanks were exposed to a possible blow from the right wing of the 11th Army, which was still fighting in good order, and from the 1st Bulgarian Army. General Scholtz however thought that such an attack was not well enough prepared and preferred to order a general retreat of his army group, hoping that the situation would stabilize.