Description: The Red Cross in Serbia 1915 - 1919 A Personal Diary of Experiences by Elsie Corbett This is the 1964 First Edition “To the memory of the British Red Cross Society’s Hospital Unit in Vrnjatchka Banja, Serbia 1915 — 1916 and of the First Motor Ambulance Column of the Scottish Women’s Hospitals with the Serbian Army 1916 — 1919” Front cover and spine Further images of this book are shown below Publisher and place of publication Dimensions in inches (to the nearest quarter-inch) Banbury, Oxon: Cheney & Sons Ltd 5½ inches wide x 8¾ inches tall Edition Length 1964 First Edition [xiii] + 186 pages Condition of covers Internal condition Original green cloth blocked in gilt on the spine. The covers are rubbed, with some light fading to the edges. The spine has faded and is a little dull, and with a shallow horizontal crease at the head and a much more pronounced horizontal crease at the tail. There is also a shallow vertical crease down the centre. The spine ends and corners are bumped, quite heavily, and slightly frayed, with a small split at the head of the spine. There are no internal markings and the text is very clean throughout. The paper has yellowed with age and the illustrations have acquired a yellowish tinge. The edge of the text block is dust-stained and foxed, particularly the top edge where the foxing is much more noticeable. Dust-jacket present? Other comments No [as issued] This is some minor wear to the covers and a pronounced horizontal crease at the tail of the spine but this is, otherwise, a good clean example of the First Edition. Illustrations, maps, etc Contents Please see below for details, but please note that there is no separate Table of Illustrations (instead, I have listed the illustrations which appear). Please see below for details Post & shipping information Payment options The packed weight is approximately 700 grams. Full shipping/postage information is provided in a panel at the end of this listing. Payment options : UK buyers: cheque (in GBP), debit card, credit card (Visa, MasterCard but not Amex), PayPal International buyers: credit card (Visa, MasterCard but not Amex), PayPal Full payment information is provided in a panel at the end of this listing. The Red Cross in Serbia 1915 - 1919 Contents Foreword One Our voyage to Salonica — work in a Children's Fever Hospital at Vrnjatchka Banja (May to August, 1915) Two Work in a Surgical Hospital for the Serbs — the Serbian retreat — capture by the Austrians — our return to England as Red Cross prisoners-of-war (August, 1915 to February, 1916) Three Back to Serbia — work with the First Scottish Women's Hospitals Motor Ambulance Column, based at Ostrovo (August to November, 1916) Four The Serbian Army's first advance — capture of Hill 1212 opens the way to Monastir — Christmas at Dobroveni — winter and spring on the move, then home on leave — back to Salonica (November, 1916 to August, 1917) Five Based at Yelak for twelve months — Christmas and social events (September, 1917 to September, 1918) Six The advance — the influenza epidemic — the end of the war — marking time, and home again (September, 1918 to March, 1919) Epilogue Index Please note that there is no separate Table of Illustrations; the following appear in this volume: Sketch map Salonica to Belgrade frontispiece facing page Myself and my brother " Billy ", later Chief Scout of the British Commonwealth and Empire, and Governor of Tasmania. vii Peasant women in the Baraques valley, Vrnjatchka Banja. 6 Peasant's cottage, Vrnjatchka Banja. 7 Market women and their wares, Vrnjatchka Banja. 7 A " cheecha ", old man, at the Avala Hospital, Vrnjatchka Banja. 8 Kathleen Dillon and James (Austrian masseur) with patients at the Avala Hospital, Vrnjatchka Banja. 9 A "baba", granny, with her spindle at the Baraques 12 (Left to right) Sisters Mitchell and Houston and myself at the Baraques, with four of the children in our charge. 13 Our tent at Ostrovo. 68 Our four garage men. 68 The Gornechevo Pass om the morning after it was captured 70 Mule transport of the wounded in the Gornechevo area 71 Mule transport of the wounded in the Gornechevo area 71 Watching the battle for Monastir from the top of a knoll. 75 Peasant women at Dobroveni 88 Trenches and individual dug-outs near Dobroveni 89 Trenches and individual dug-outs near Dobroveni 89 Crossing a flooded stream near Dobroveni. 94 (Left to right) Miss McGlade, Flora Sandes and Colonel Pehtich on a visit to us at Yelak 112 Our Yelak road 125 Trying to start a car on a cold snowy morning 125 The first wounded of the Great Advance being loaded on to our ambulances. 140 A rough road on the Advance. 140 Fording the Morava river 155 The Red Cross in Serbia 1915 - 1919 Foreword HAVING had brothers, cousins and friends in two World Wars I know very well how sheltered we in Serbia were from the dangers, discomforts and frustrating boredom that alternated for the men in the fighting forces. Scores of women mountaineers and explorers have endured far more hardships, for fun ; and women ambulance drivers during the blitz on London in 1940 were in far greater danger than we ever were. We were very seldom short of food, or lacking some kind of shelter for the night, even if it was only an ill-pitched tent ; and our surroundings were nearly always supremely beautiful as well as extremely interesting. And such danger and hardship as we did encounter were things that I would not have changed for almost anything else life might have brought me. Long before 1914 a character in one of Rudyard Kipling's books had gone about saying, " There'll be trouble in the Balkans in the Spring." And the war was indeed triggered off by the murder of an Austrian Archduke in the obscure Balkan town of Sarajevo, by a Serbian subject. The Austrians sent an ultimatum to Serbia, which was rejected, and a World War started at the beginning of August 1914. Great Britain and Germany each at once supported their own group of opposing allies, and almost the whole of Europe soon became involved on one side or the other except the Scandinavian countries and Spain and Portugal. And most of the rest of the world was drawn in later. At the time, the aims and objects of the war seemed so clear and important that very few people would not have risked their lives for their own side's victory ; but looking back now I have great difficulty in remembering who was on which side, and why. And one of the things I do remember is the total lack of hatred, or even of mild dislike that there was among the belligerents once they were out of the firing line. The British and Germans certainly hated each other on the Western Front, but there were very few Germans in Serbia, and most Britishers very much preferred the Austrians, who were our enemies, to the Italians, who were on our side. All of them, always, respected the Red Cross and we never experienced anything but the most wonderful helpfulness from friend and foe alike. I was twenty-one when the war broke out. My mother had died when I was nine, and my brothers seven and four years old. They were sent in due course to a good preparatory school and to Eton, but I had only the education supplied by the dreary old governess in whose charge we were after my mother's death, and who remained with us until I was eighteen and had had two terms at a Finishing School in Brussels. My father was an M.P. and a philanthropist, and my upbringing filled me with unconventional ideas and ideals but provided no outlet for them. Several of my mother's friends became militant suffragettes and went to prison, several others were artists, and it was these rather than the conventional wives and mothers who took a continuing interest in us after her death. From very early childhood I had been taken to visit hospitals and to distribute the gifts from the Christmas Trees my father provided for them, and although our doctor ancestors were never stressed or held up to us as examples, a doctor was what I longed to be. And I remember being dismayed by my fear of catching some childish disease for which my prep school brother came home in quarantine, as I felt this reaction would be a serious obstacle to a medical career, apart from my lack of education. I had a toy Red Cross Hospital, with tents and nurses and bandaged wounded, which I set up when my brothers were playing with soldiers ; and I had recurrent dreams, half-sleeping, half-awake, of being shipwrecked on a desert island, and slinging improvised hammocks from one palm tree to the next (no easy matter), in which I busily nursed the injured. When war broke out in 1914 I had had four London Seasons, followed by shooting parties, in England, Scotland and Ireland ; and Highland Gatherings with their Games and Balls. I had been presented at Court ; and was in the Abbey itself for the Coronation of King George V, a most glorious spectacle. I went to a Court Ball that year, as well as to the Caledonian Ball, and " stood in" at the Butes' house for rehearsals of the sixteensome reel that was its highlight. And I had met a number of the gorgeously-robed Indian Princes who came over for the occasion, at the home of their English " bear-leader " who was an old family friend. I had entertained a number of interesting people who spoke at my father's meetings in Glasgow. And I had enormously enjoyed three seasons hunting with the small and friendly field that followed the Eglinton hounds in Ayrshire. I had been to a Cambridge May Week and had gazed with awe and reverence at Agneta Frances Ramsay, the first woman to qualify for a First Class Honours Degree, although she was not allowed to take it. When my cousin Lilian came to stay with me in London we had an orgy of theatres, to which we had not been allowed to go until we were grown up. We saw the sunset radiance of Ellen Terry and we adored Gerald du Maurier and the lovely young Phyllis Neilson Terry. And we sat by my open window far into the night, smoking the cigarettes that were allowed to me but not to her, and dreaming our so different dreams of the future. This probably sounds a good deal more glamorous than it actually was, and although I enjoyed a lot of it, I was far from satisfied, and still desperately gauche and shy. Already, a year before the war, I had arranged to go into the Deaconess' Hospital in Edinburgh for one of the short nursing courses they gave to missionaries and other Church of Scotland workers ; but my father was ill, and I could not leave him. Now, this year — 1914 — in London, with no special foreboding of war, I had been going with two friends to a course of First Aid and Home Nursing classes and had got my certificates. At the end of July we went back to Rowallan as usual. The chairman of one of the big railway companies came to stay, and on August 3rd he was rung up by the German Consul in London to try and arrange for free passes for German reservists recalled to their army, as all the Banks had closed and they could not get any money. Next day, August 4th, England declared war upon Germany. The Eton O.T.C. were sent home from camp, including my two brothers, and Billy joined the Ayrshire Yeomanry at once. A friend reported that " Granny is tearing her hair because Frankie has got this adjutancy and can't go to the front." And I was ashamed to realise that I minded more about my beloved hunters being taken for the army than about anything else — for their sakes, not my own. A week later I went placidly off on a long-arranged visit to Inverness-shire, and on to Thurso Castle where the Baden-Powells were fellow-guests. The next evening one of the party, looking seaward through the telescope said, casually, " That destroyer's the Oak" and I exclaimed excitedly that my cousin was commanding her. A party of us rushed down to the quay and commandeered a fishing boat with a ragged brown sail and made for the destroyer. Douglas came up and eyed us suspiciously, but luckily recognised me and invited us on board, against all rules. It was almost twilight, with a bit of fog on the water and a swell that made it difficult to keep one's feet on the slippery deck " cleared for action," and it was extraordinarily exciting to be on a real man-of-war, really ready to fight, and to see the men's faces, eager and alert. At prayers that night we sang " for those in peril on the sea," with great emotion. My brother Billy went, almost at once, to Anns Muir, near St. Andrews, with his Yeomanry, and I often went to my cousins there for week-ends ; and much adolescent fun was enjoyed, though clumsily by me. However I bought a bearskin rug to add luxury to the bicycle shed in the garden where we young ones met. Meanwhile two friends and I had arranged to go into the Kilmarnock Infirmary, armed with our Nursing Certificates, and on September 6th I was " up at 5 and in the Infirmary by 6 o'clock." We all three went there daily for several weeks, and I learnt as much about the conditions of the poor and the evils of drink as about nursing. The time " flitted away like a dream and had been absolutely fascinating." At the end of October Mrs. Craufurd's house, at Dunlop, was ready as a hospital, or more accurately a Convalescent Home for the Stobhill Military Hospital in Glasgow, and a friend and I went there fairly regularly, learning a lot about soldiers as well as nursing them. We had a number of Belgian wounded and one of them had a sudden visit from his peasant mother and sister. They had crossed the German lines and their own, and tracked their man to Glasgow, and so out to Dunlop. They stayed about a week, perfectly calmly, and then went back the way they had come, despite all the terrific bombardment, and wrote to let us know of their safe arrival. In the early spring of 1915 I went back to London with my father, in the normal way, and attended more Red Cross classes. One day, our old doctor, a friend of my father's from his Warwickshire days, suddenly said to me, " If you're interested in nursing, why not go to Serbia ? My son is running a hospital there ; they've got a typhus epidemic and need nurses desperately." It was as if an archangel had opened the gates of heaven to me. It was also the kind of outrageous proposition that appealed very much to my father. He suggested that I should take a nurse from one of his hospitals with me ; and I gladly acquiesced, having just enough sense to realise that I would be much more welcome thus accompanied. Telegrams were exchanged, the young doctor wiring that it was " too good to be true," which was most encouraging to me. We were just going back to Rowallan, and went. An outraged Marchioness drove over from a considerable distance to have a stop put to the project. A very young midshipman with whom I danced described a typhus epidemic he had seen and urged me not to go ; and the Daily Mail said, though not of me in particular, that no young or untrained nurses should be allowed to go to Serbia. All this acted as a spur to both my father and me. Back in London I went round to the Red Cross H.Q. to get my papers, but when the secretary asked my age there was a ghastly moment. " Oh dear," she said, " nobody under 23 is allowed to go to France." My heart stood still. " But I'm not going to France," I said. " Oh well," she said, " I suppose Serbia is all right if they'll take you." So I grabbed my papers and rushed from the room. Serbia was still a very primitive country when we arrived there in the Spring of 1915. Belgrade, the capital, on its northern frontier was the only town of any size or pretensions. Almost nowhere else were there plate-glass shop windows, or metalled streets, or any large buildings, though there were some rather primitive schools and hospitals in the bigger market towns, as well as the fine Byzantine churches. There were practically no cars ; railways and their trains were few, with rather primitive coaches ; and when these were full, the passengers swarmed onto the roof. It was a mountainous land, much of it covered with forests. Holdings were small, about six acres of arable I was told, which included the plum orchards for making a potent plum brandy, as well as the main crop of maize. The animals were few and small and very tame, often sharing their owner's cottage when young. Their owners were devoted to them and treated them kindly, but eventually killed them with the zest shown by all peasants. When we got there the country was just recovering from a terrible typhus epidemic ; many of the men had died of the fever and almost all the survivors had been taken for the army. But the women were strong and cheerful and seemed to be coping well with their little farms. The Serbs still had a rich store of vivid folk memories, centred round the Battle of Kossovo, a bloody fight against the conquering Turks 600 years ago, in which the leaders on both sides were slain. Now they had only a new and alien Royal Family, for whom the ordinary people had no enthusiasm. But they had their centuries' old Folk Songs and legends, and above all, the kola, a dance in which the performers took hands in a long flexible chain that wove in and out, following a leader, two steps to the right and one to the left. It looked very dull indeed, but was still in enthusiastic use at every feast and festival, with the native gusla and flute providing the music. Superb courage, kindness and a native courtesy were the Serbs' shining virtues ; laziness and lying, their more inconvenient traits. The Red Cross in Serbia 1915 - 1919 Excerpt: CHAPTER FOUR The Serbian Army's first advance — capture of Hill 1212 opens the way to Monastir — Christmas at Dobroveni — winter and spring on the move, then home on leave — back to Salonica (November5 1916 to August, 1917) On November 14th, the ambulances, including the Harleys', went on over the Gornechevo Pass, by a now much improved road, down to Banitsa, and by a moderate track to Krushograd where we camped beside the 3rd Danube Field Ambulance, on a cleanish hillock above the primitive village. It took us five hours to do the thirty odd miles, and the kitchen car did not turn up till very late ; this was the first time it was really used as a kitchen and before it arrived Murray had " struggled with food in the open." There was no hot water for bottles, except what our radiators supplied, and no cold even for washing, but "everybody was superlatively cheerful, except me;" I had a sick headache, and couldn't pitch my tent alone, and missed Kathleen very much. Mrs. Harley took Stewart-Richardson to explore the road to Vrbeni, where the evacuation station was, and came back much depressed by it. We heard that our Division had done magnificently, and there was still a great bombardment going on, with constant flashes over the ridge that just hid Monastir. We were about twelve miles from the trenches but the road forward was said to be impassable. Campbell and Orman, two of the rebels, had gone to Salonica to look for another job, but found nothing to their liking and returned to us. Next day we started at 8, as soon as it was light, did four runs each and got back at 8 p.m. We had an hour for lunch but no other break. It was a ghastly road and one could only say to oneself how much worse off the wounded would be in springless carts or on mules. It was a comfort to start with them when one was fresh in the morning, and have that last journey home in the dark, empty. There were dozens of wounded coming in again that night. We carried them from the Field Ambulance beside which we were camped to a big Evacuation Hospital at Vrbeni, where they lay on straw all round the tents, but were fed and attended to. Even the M.T. Coys didn't do our road ; it was a case of low gear all the way, up and down bumps and into holes, and through rivers up to your hubs, and awful mud. By this time we had dispensed with " attendants," and took a third patient, sitting beside the driver. We had no windscreens, for fear of splintering glass if the cars were hit ; but even so an ambulance was much more comfortable and quicker than a mule. It snowed that night, and the next morning there was a brief gleam of sunshine, and all the white mountain tops flushed to rose colour, a lovely sight. I had three punctures that day ; but could not, anyhow, have got in another journey. Most of us had no spare wheels, but a Ford's tyres were very light and one could change them on the road, though preferably not in a downpour of rain and a sea of liquid mud. Ours were the only cars that struggled over the worst few miles of that road, and at least the wounded were under cover. As we started back after our last run there were dozens of them in every sort of primitive conveyance, strung out along the road to Vrbeni ; from there, after a rest and a meal, the big French ambulances took them on a good road to Sorovitch, where there were several good hospitals now, as well as the railway. Having no windscreen for fear of splintering glass, or hampering side-curtains, meant that the driver had very little shelter from rain or snow, and the only way to dry one's clothes was to go to bed in them ; not nearly so bad as it sounds, if one had a hot water bottle and blankets. Our girl cook always managed to produce enormous quantities of hot water, as well as good hot stews, on a camp fire. The kitchen car was used chiefly for transporting stores as its small stove was quite inadequate for cooking ; it was a slow mover and a frequent breaker-down, but always arrived eventually. When we got back the following night we heard that Flora Sandes had been brought down, badly wounded, to the Field Ambulance beside which we were camped. We had met her several times as she was already a remarkable figure in the Serb army. She was the eighth child of an East Anglian parsonage, and had done some First Aid training before the war broke out. A week later, on August 12th, 1914, while everybody else was still dazed, she had set off for Serbia, with the 26-year-old Mme. Grouitch, the American wife of the Serbian Minister for Foreign Affairs, who was already returning to that country with the money and supplies she had collected in America. Sandes and another English woman of the party got typhus while nursing in the very primitive hospital at Valjevo. She nearly died, but when she recovered she tacked herself onto a Serbian regiment, dressed and fought as a soldier, became a Sergeant and later a Second Lieutenant, and was awarded the Kara George Gold Medal for Courage. She collected a great deal of money from England to buy " comforts " for her regiment after she had accompanied the Serb army on its terrible retreat across Albania. She had returned with her regiment to Salonica ; and it was now just above our camp, attacking " Hill 1212," a very important height deep in snow. In hand to hand fighting Sandes was hit by a grenade thrown at short range, which broke her arm in several places and severely wounded her side. A snow blizzard was raging ; there was no track down from the mountain top ; there were no proper stretchers up there ; and she had to be partly dragged on a ground sheet down the rocky hillside. The bearers lost their way, and it took them five hours to carry and slide her down to the Field Ambulance. I went across there and found her lying on straw in a corner, her wounds already dressed, but with more wounded being carried in and piled more or less on top of her. At first she didn't want to come up to our camp in case it hurt the Serbs' feelings, but in the end the doctor himself persuaded her, and Edith Harley claimed her for her tent. She seemed to be wounded absolutely all over, but said we moved her much better than the Serbs did, which we felt was a tremendous compliment from her. After the war she married her own Sergeant and lived with him very happily in Belgrade until he died ; they ran a taxi service there. Later, she became, rather incongruously, chaperone and wardrobe mistress to the Folies Bergeres in Paris. She died at last as an old lady in the hospital at Ipswich, eight miles from the vicarage home of her childhood. She wrote in her diary once, during that nightmare retreat across Albania, " I lay on my back, looking up at the stars.... When I was old and decrepit and done for, and had to stay in a house and not go about any more, I should remember my first night with the 4th Company on the top of Mount Chukas." And I am glad and grateful that I too have some such memories, though feeble and unremarkable beside hers. She used the convalescence after her wounding by going back to England (once more) to collect " comforts " for her regiment. After " Hill 1212 " was taken, the way to Monastir, in the valley beyond it, was wide open for the Serbs to march in ; but we did not follow the army at once as there was a great deal of ambulance work still to do from our Field Dressing Station. The day after Sandes was brought to our camp, one of our ambulances took her to a British Hospital that had arrived at Sorovitch, and I took three wounded to Vrbeni. Mrs. Harley then chose to be driven down to Ostrovo by me, and was charming to me. Kathleen and Shaw were still not allowed to come back, as they were still having injections. But Mrs. Harley arranged for the station canteen to come up, and told the Serb Relief Canteen at Sorovitch exactly what to do when ours arrived, but found Mrs. Massey unresponsive. I visited Sandes and found her badly, but not dangerously, wounded. Orman had been taken to hospital the day before with jaundice, but hadn't liked it and had walked home in a downpour, cadging occasional lifts, which seemed to have cured her. A few days later, among other journeys, I took a young Serb officer, very badly wounded in the chest, to the R.A.M.C. Hospital at Sorovitch ; four hours over a ghastly road, but they said there was just a chance for him if he could be operated on at once. I told the British stretcher bearers this, so they took him straight in, and he was anaesthetised on my stretcher before they brought it back to me, with no bother about papers or anything. The orderlies moved and carried him beautifully; they came from Glasgow and Ayrshire and wished they were back there. I went to see Sandes in the Serb Relief Hospital and lunched there, and did some shopping from little open booths. Next day I was back at Sorovitch again meeting Kathleen and Shaw and a mountain of luggage at the station. I heard my young officer was going on very well, and felt very rewarded. He was the only survivor of four soldier brothers. Kremyan. I followed the Unit here without going back to Krushograd, but only for one night. They had left all my tent pegs and bedding behind, and were cross and unrepentant. I suppose we had all been through a considerable strain, both physical and emotional, and a reaction had now set in. Three of the unit were going home, having had enough malaria ; three to a canteen, and three to other jobs. But in spite of continuous drenching rain and appalling roads and the bother of moving soaking tents, the remnant of us moved further up the Cerna river valley to Dobroveni. We camped on a level bit of ground near that squalid little village, with the river just beside us and the huge, bare mountains piling up and up, bristling with fantastic grey rocks. We had come in a wide sweep right round Kaimakchalan whose northern side now towered above us. It was just a fortnight since we had left Ostrovo, and we had done quite a lot of work. As long as the road was dry the level track back to Sakulevo was not too bad. The wounded still came down from the mountains, very uncomfortably on mules, or were often carried by hand. Our ambulances took them twelve miles back to a big hospital that had now moved forward towards us ; and the very good French ones took them on the twenty miles to Sorovitch, where the British and Russians had hospitals. Most of our work was in the early mornings as the wounded had a full day's journey before them, with a pause and change of ambulance half way, when they were fed and attended to. So there were, just then, very few afternoon calls for our cars. One or more of them were always ready ; but a good many of us had free afternoons. So one day we got horses after lunch and rode all along the line of the last month's fighting ; there were a heartrending lot of dead horses, killed by overwork, but the trenches were very curious and interesting. Some were quite conventional, though not very deep in that rocky ground, but others were just little individual holes all up the hillside, which each man had scooped out for himself, fired a few rounds, crept forward and scooped another hole. The hill was honey-combed with them for miles, and when we came to a cliff there were four tiers of neat little dug-outs, one above the other, like a city of cave dwellers. We had a fine view of Monastir and the new lines, where a great strafe was going on. Our Dobroveni itself was under a hill and was very little damaged but the surrounding villages were badly ruined, and it was hard to tell where the inhabitants were living. They were a stolid type, quite unlike the real Serbs. My car wasn't needed the next day, so some of us walked up into the hills again to the next dressing station where we were given a very good lunch. Afterwards we were shown some very nasty trenches, with burial parties cleaning them up. We had a wonderful view across the valley to a crest the Bulgars held, where our shells were bursting continuously. We went on to visit a French battery and didn't get back till after dark. Kathleen had not returned from an ambulance run but a search party found her, her car broken down, dining in a ramshackle house with eleven very appreciative French officers. My diary was apt to consist of many, many dreary pages of exactly what was wrong with all the cars, and especially our own Diana (so-called because she jumped like a hunter over any obstacle). Besides our rather boorish English mechanic we had four Serbs who, as well as chopping wood and carrying water for the Unit, soon became much better at dealing with the cars' insides than we were. There never was before and never will be again a car remotely resembling the old Tin Lizzie Ford ; but its idiosyncracies included many shining virtues. They were the only cars that even tried to run on our roads. Besides ourselves there was for a short time a Unit of them driven by fat and solemn young American men ; and for all the later time the French Unit, whose charming Commandant, M. Weibel, was such a very good friend indeed to us. These were all ambulances, and when the British Mechanical Transport people began bringing stores up our road they all had Fords too. But even the Tin Lizzie was only mortal and there were endless struggles to increase our store of spare parts. Petrol, although we used fantastic amounts on our muddy mountains, was not so hard to get, but oil was a constant problem, and I once heard a zealous officer shouting down the field telephone to far-off Salonica : " Our women want oil, and by God they must have it ! " And we always did have it, and everything else we truly needed, just when all seemed hopeless. We were now for the first and only time since Ostrovo camped almost in a village, though a very poverty-stricken one. December 17th. We worked on Diana all yesterday, and got her ready at last ; but I had malaria again so Kathleen took her out that morning, while I worked on a depressing pile of punctures ; our tyres were completely worn out so it was a heart-breaking job, but a Ford's tyres were very thin and light compared to a modern car's, and fairly easy to mend and change. We were rather distracted by a German air raid, eight planes dropping bombs, and four French planes and an A.A. gun trying to frustrate them ; two eagles finally chased us into our funk-hole ; they looked exactly like bombers approaching. The nearest bomb was half a mile away, but they kept on coming back to the road our cars were on. There was a wonderful medley of traffic on that road, British, French, Italian, Russian, Serb, and the little French colonial Annamites . . . ; as well as German, Austrian and Bulgar prisoners ; but when the snows came and they had trouble enough with their own transport, they were all willing almost to carry our ambulances past any obstruction or through any swollen stream. The three liaison officers, two Englishmen and a Serb, added themselves for a few days to our camp for Christmas, and it was very nice having them. Christmas Day, 1916. There weren't many wounded, so we had the day off, the Serbs doing all our work, as we did theirs when their Christmas came thirteen days later. The Greek Church Priest of the village, although it was not his Christmas Day, held a special service for us, which we all attended, but as it was chanted in Greek it did not convey much to us, except his own good will, which we valued. After that some of us and the British liaison officers rode up the river gorge, further than we had been before, into a wild country of jagged rocks, with cliffs and deep ravines and a glimpse of Kaimakchalan's snow crown. We had the dressing station staff to a splendid tea, rather late as they were all in their funk-holes ; and we had several acquaintances to dinner, which was also splendid, in the open air in spite of a bitter frost. We had all dressed up and two Serbs played the gusla, and we all sang and danced round the bonfire. Late that night I got a garbled cable that told me my younger brother had been killed in an air battle, in France. New Year's Eve. Air raids all day and several men killed in the big revitaillement dump a mile off, and a dozen bombs dropped close to our camp in the evening. We all dressed up again, and the eight Bennetts came across the river from the small hospital they had just brought up from Ostrovo. We had to repeat both these celebrations for the Serbs' Christmas and New Year, thirteen days later, but the Dressing Station's party lasted from 6.30 p.m. till 7 a.m., so we left even before the ceremony of chasing a roast pig round the fire at midnight. Many of the Dressing Stations and H.Q's were having a similar double dose of parties ; oddly enough the Italian H.Q. had not only the most luxurious mess tent and sumptuous furnishings and delicious food, but they were the only ones who became at all unpleasantly drunk . . . Please note: to avoid opening the book out, with the risk of damaging the spine, some of the pages were slightly raised on the inner edge when being scanned, which has resulted in some blurring to the text and a shadow on the inside edge of the final images. Colour reproduction is shown as accurately as possible but please be aware that some colours are difficult to scan and may result in a slight variation from the colour shown below to the actual colour. In line with eBay guidelines on picture sizes, some of the illustrations may be shown enlarged for greater detail and clarity. U.K. buyers: To estimate the “packed weight” each book is first weighed and then an additional amount of 150 grams is added to allow for the packaging material (all books are securely wrapped and posted in a cardboard book-mailer). The weight of the book and packaging is then rounded up to the nearest hundred grams to arrive at the postage figure. I make no charge for packaging materials and do not seek to profit from postage and packaging. Postage can be combined for multiple purchases. Packed weight of this item : approximately 700 grams Postage and payment options to U.K. addresses: Details of the various postage options can be obtained by selecting the “Postage and payments” option at the head of this listing (above). Payment can be made by: debit card, credit card (Visa or MasterCard, but not Amex), cheque (payable to "G Miller", please), or PayPal. Please contact me with name, address and payment details within seven days of the end of the listing; otherwise I reserve the right to cancel the sale and re-list the item. Finally, this should be an enjoyable experience for both the buyer and seller and I hope you will find me very easy to deal with. If you have a question or query about any aspect (postage, payment, delivery options and so on), please do not hesitate to contact me. International buyers: To estimate the “packed weight” each book is first weighed and then an additional amount of 150 grams is added to allow for the packaging material (all books are securely wrapped and posted in a cardboard book-mailer). The weight of the book and packaging is then rounded up to the nearest hundred grams to arrive at the shipping figure. I make no charge for packaging materials and do not seek to profit from shipping and handling. Shipping can usually be combined for multiple purchases (to a maximum of 5 kilograms in any one parcel with the exception of Canada, where the limit is 2 kilograms). Packed weight of this item : approximately 700 grams International Shipping options: Details of the postage options to various countries (via Air Mail) can be obtained by selecting the “Postage and payments” option at the head of this listing (above) and then selecting your country of residence from the drop-down list. For destinations not shown or other requirements, please contact me before buying. Due to the extreme length of time now taken for deliveries, surface mail is no longer a viable option and I am unable to offer it even in the case of heavy items. I am afraid that I cannot make any exceptions to this rule. Payment options for international buyers: Payment can be made by: credit card (Visa or MasterCard, but not Amex) or PayPal. I can also accept a cheque in GBP [British Pounds Sterling] but only if drawn on a major British bank. Regretfully, due to extremely high conversion charges, I CANNOT accept foreign currency : all payments must be made in GBP [British Pounds Sterling]. This can be accomplished easily using a credit card, which I am able to accept as I have a separate, well-established business, or PayPal. Please contact me with your name and address and payment details within seven days of the end of the listing; otherwise I reserve the right to cancel the sale and re-list the item. Finally, this should be an enjoyable experience for both the buyer and seller and I hope you will find me very easy to deal with. If you have a question or query about any aspect (shipping, payment, delivery options and so on), please do not hesitate to contact me. Prospective international buyers should ensure that they are able to provide credit card details or pay by PayPal within 7 days from the end of the listing (or inform me that they will be sending a cheque in GBP drawn on a major British bank). Thank you. (please note that the book shown is for illustrative purposes only and forms no part of this listing) Book dimensions are given in inches, to the nearest quarter-inch, in the format width x height. Please note that, to differentiate them from soft-covers and paperbacks, modern hardbacks are still invariably described as being ‘cloth’ when they are, in fact, predominantly bound in paper-covered boards pressed to resemble cloth. Fine Books for Fine Minds I value your custom (and my feedback rating) but I am also a bibliophile : I want books to arrive in the same condition in which they were dispatched. For this reason, all books are securely wrapped in tissue and a protective covering and are then posted in a cardboard container. If any book is significantly not as described, I will offer a full refund. Unless the size of the book precludes this, hardback books with a dust-jacket are usually provided with a clear film protective cover, while hardback books without a dust-jacket are usually provided with a rigid clear cover. The Royal Mail, in my experience, offers an excellent service, but things can occasionally go wrong. However, I believe it is my responsibility to guarantee delivery. If any book is lost or damaged in transit, I will offer a full refund. Thank you for looking. Please also view my other listings for a range of interesting books and feel free to contact me if you require any additional information Design and content © Geoffrey Miller
Price: 125 GBP
Location: Flamborough, Bridlington
End Time: 2024-12-15T10:48:40.000Z
Shipping Cost: 26.46 GBP
Product Images
Item Specifics
Return postage will be paid by: Buyer
Returns Accepted: Returns Accepted
After receiving the item, your buyer should cancel the purchase within: 30 days
Return policy details: If any book is significantly not as described, I will offer a full refund, including return postage. All books are securely wrapped and posted in a cardboard container.
Non-Fiction Subject: History & Military
Year Printed: 1964
Country/Region of Manufacture: Serbia
Binding: Hardback
Author: Elsie Corbett
Language: English
Publisher: Cheney & Sons Ltd
Place of Publication: Banbury, Oxon
Special Attributes: 1st Edition, Illustrated
