BEF go to Serbia 1914

What if there was no Anglo-French talks prior to the Great War. With no Wilson talks on placing the BEF in France, what would of happened if the following happened:

After observing the Russo-Japanese War in 1905, general Hamiliton on his way back to England, is forced to stop over in Serbia due to his ship having a fault, OTL he stopped at Greece. He spends his few days walking around and falls in love with the place and the people.

In 1912 he volunteers to be a observer in the Balkan wars with the serbian army and is greatly impressed.

In August 1914, with no set plans, he talks to Kitchiner about sending the a part of the BEF to Serbia, while the rest defends Britain.

I believe the BEF would servive longer against Austria compared to the retreat of the mons where it was almost destroyed. Thus having a larger Carda for the New Armies. Also the French would be more defensive due to the UK main effort is in the South, also may bring in Italy, Greece and Bulgaria in earlier due to the Anglo Serbian Victories in the war.
 

Grey Wolf

Gone Fishin'
Donor
It would be very odd to stop over at Serbia on a ship because it didn't have a coastline. I suppose he could have put into Montenegro but IIRC they had one fishing village. It would have to be something else that took him into Serbia proper

Grey Wolf
 
Hmmm, given Hamilton's less than shining record OTL at Gallipoli, how much would his command of the BEF in the Balkans have differed ?
 
Why would the British talk to the Serbs to begin with. They are practical non-entities (tho constant troublemakers) in Britain's Balkan foreign policy - if they had one. As Grey Wolf points out it would be hard to become interested in a country that is entirely landlocked.

The most reasonable outlook would be that the British Expeditionary Force would be just as useful to the Allied cause to be landed in Serbia or Montenegro as it would be if the whole lot was sent to Peru. Doesn't it appear relatively obvious that if would be a waste of time to send troops and material to such a distant front at the opening days of the war? If Britain still gets involved in this 'Franco-German War' because of Germany's invasion of Belgium exactly why ship those troops so far for no reason.

I think you are likely looking at a better than OTL German advance - but no envelopment of Paris. The Germans were overstretched anyway.
 
In a similar vein

In Operation Unicorn I inserted the CANZAC's into Albania on CANZAC Day (Feb 14) with the idea of linking with the Montenegrins and attacking the soft underbelly of the Central Powers.

Tom
 
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