Between 1916 and 1919, 464 officers and 6373 soldiers of the Greek Army's IV Army Corps were interned in the German city of Görlitz, officially as "guests" of the German Empire, for the duration of World War I. During August 1916, Bulgarian and German forces invaded the Greek territory of eastern Macedonia, ostensibly in order to confront the Allied troops who had established themselves in and around the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki. The Greek government had given its local forces strict orders not to oppose neither the Allies nor the Central Powers, in an attempt to preserve the country's neutrality during the conflict. However, contrary to German assurances that they would respect Greek sovereignty and civil authorities, the Bulgarians quickly made clear that they aimed to annex t