A COMBINATION of long-standing political strife and difficult terrain faced British troops fighting in the Eastern European Balkans during the First World War.

Some of the problems encountered by county soldiers were described in a talk at the Shap Wells Hotel, near Kendal, by Stuart Eastwood, called The Border Regiment in Salonika.

Mr Eastwood is curator of Cumbria's Museum of Military Life within the walls of Carlisle Castle and was speaking at a conference by the Cumbria branch of the Western Front Association.

He said: "It is one of those areas where the problems go back not a hundred years but several hundred years."

Being fought over was part of the old Austro-Hungarian empire - with several countries having to pick sides.

Serbia was a British ally and was threatened by the armies of Turkey and Bulgaria.

Romania and Greece did their best to stay out of the fighting but broadly favaoured Britain and its allies.

Into this chaos went the 9th (Service) Battalion of the Border Regiment - part of the 22nd division of Kitchener's New Army.

The men of the 9th Battalion were fighting infantry but the main task was to remove trees and obstacles and to dig trenches and defences.

He said: "They have to be prepared to fight."

Some of the men were miners from the coalfields of Durham but others were from Lakeland.

The battalion had a foxhound called Harlequin which acted as a mascot during training - its handler was Braithwaite Black, a Lakeland fell runner.

Mr Eastwood said: "Sadly Harlequin didn't make it to France.

"He was run over by a motor car in February 1915."

By autumn in 1915 Germany and its allies were on the move, forcing a Serbian retreat over the mountains into Albania.

He said: "Serbia was facing absolutely overwhelming odds."

British and French troops arrived to support Serbia through the Greek port of Salonika - the 9th Battalion going from Marseilles on the troop ship Egra.

He said: "There are a lot of mountainous areas."

Swamps and lakes proved to be breading grounds for disease-carrying mosquitos, with more than 100,000 casualties blamed on malaria.

The town of Doiran became the base of operations for the British with the 9 th Battalion used for road building and setting up belts of barbed wire.

The men were issued with sun helmets and shorts for the hot weather and had the use of four field mitchens.

He said: "There were problems getting food and water over long distances."

This battle front saw little movement but the 9 th Battalion still had 65 deaths and its soldiers recived 30 gallantry awards.

He said: "It remains an utter and complete stalemate."

To combat malaria, the men were given adaily dose of quinine and soldiers on night sentry duty wore face veils - like those used by bee keepers.

They also had gloves tucked into their jumper sleeves to keep the insects out.

There was an attempted allied offensive from September 1918 in the hills north of Doiran.

He said: "It was a disaster. They took a large number of casualties."

The 9 th Battalion finished its Balkans adventure looking after Bulgarian prisoners and fixing bridges, before being sent to Constantinople - modern Istanbul - as a force of occupation.

You can find out more about the museum on its website at www.cumbriasmuseumofmilitarylife.org

It currently has an exhibition on the British Soldier in India from 1820 to 1947.