With French help, Venizelos escaped from Athens on 27 September. After gathering support in Crete he reached Salonika on 9 October, where Sarrail greeted him at the quayside. Venizelos established a Provisional Government of National Defence. He was suspicious of Sarrail and Briand, and keen to keep them at arm's length, instead encouraging closer links with the British. In October 1916 Leblois replaced Cordonnier in command of the French troops. By mid-November the (Venizelist) Greek National Army was 23,000 strong. By 19 November Sarrail's forces took Monastir (over the border in Macedonia, part of Serbia at the time, roughly north of Florina), allowing Sarrail to claim the first French victory (Bitola) since the Marne, 26 months earlier, before winter forced an end to operations.