zoritsam Posted 24 January , 2010 Share Posted 24 January , 2010 I am currently researching for my grandfather's biography who served in the Royal Serbian Army during the 1st and 2nd Balkan Wars as well as during the WW1. He was wounded on May 7th, 1917 at Obla C(h)uka near the Kaimakchalan and was transported to the 36th General Field Hospital in Vertekop. I have an article from the Weekly Illustrator, titled Best Friends from 1937 in which he is portrayed as a young officer, good looking, with piercing blue eyes. Colonel (Stevan) Savic(h) was of strong character and serious nature. He was nursed by two young nurses – English Peggy (prettier of the two) and the Scottish Mckenlly or McKinley. Both nurses, according to the story, fell in love with the young officer but in avail - before leaving for the battlefields, he and his best friend, Bogoljub S(h)umarac pledged to eternal friendship – the one who was to survive the war was to take care of the other's spouse. His friend was killed in the 1912's and he having survived a severe wound to the chest after the death of his first wife, re-married the widow of his best friend, my grand mother. Incidentally, my grandfather's faith was sealed few days before the end of the WW2. On Dec. 15, 1944 he was among the four prominent citizens who were executed on the same day by the partisans for unknown reasons. Several days later he, the dead man, was charged as national enemy. Subsequently, 62 years later, in 2006 his name was formally cleared and his reputation restored – Such was the end of a war hero with numerous Army medals and the St. Sava Cross, highest decoration for bravery. Much of the material to complete his bio is available but little is about the work of the nurses and none about the two mentioned in the story. Any photos, maps, location etc., anything would be welcome. Many thanks in advance for any assistance. Zoritsa Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kate Wills Posted 24 January , 2010 Share Posted 24 January , 2010 Welcome to the Forum Zoritsa, Several members of this Forum are also members of the Salonika Camapign Society, and would be very interested to read and help with your research. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zoritsam Posted 24 January , 2010 Author Share Posted 24 January , 2010 Welcome to the Forum Zoritsa, Several members of this Forum are also members of the Salonika Camapign Society, and would be very interested to read and help with your research. Thanks Kate. Since I am new to the Forum, please suggest how to get the SCS involved. Cheers Zoritsa Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kate Wills Posted 24 January , 2010 Share Posted 24 January , 2010 Zoritsa, Take a look at the Salonika Campaign Society website http://www.salonika.talktalk.net/ and also this wesite http://www.salonikabattlefieldtour.com/ which is run by fellow Forum member Romeo Dobarov. 36 & 37 General Hospitals at Vertekop, and 38 General Hospital at Kapudzilar were both attached to the Serbian forces. It may mentioned in a book called 'The Quality of Mercy - Women at War Serbia 1915-18' by Monica Krippner (David & Charles 1980) which I have here, and will look through tonight for you. Another possible source is 'Little Grey Partridge': First World War Diary of Ishobel Ross Who Served With the Scottish Women's Hospitals Unit in Serbia Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zoritsam Posted 25 January , 2010 Author Share Posted 25 January , 2010 Much grateful, Kate. Will let you know how it all went. Cheers Zoritsa Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
apwright Posted 27 January , 2010 Share Posted 27 January , 2010 Zdravo Zoritsa, and welcome to the Forum, Here are a few photos of 36 General Hospital at Vertekop/Skydra, probably taken in late 1918. I don't have a map of the precise location, but I guess it is north of Vertekop where the village of Mavrovounio now stands (40.7831 22.1518 on Google Earth). This is where the main road from Thessaloniki to Edessa/Vodena crosses the railway (there are rail trucks on a siding inside the hospital compound). Incidentally, Mavrovounio means "Black Mountain" and is the same word as the Greek name for Montenegro/Crna Gora. I wonder if that's the old Serbian influence! The old Ottoman name for the hill in the background was Bozandzi Burnu. Adrian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zoritsam Posted 27 January , 2010 Author Share Posted 27 January , 2010 Hi Adrian, Very, very grateful for these. I really got so sentimental. If you are able to help with anything else to make the writing more colourful, by this, I mean both in facts and pictures, I could send you a more elaborate outlines for the book. Here, I mean in Serbia, there is little about the sufferings of the Allied forces and humanitarians; ordinary people – medics and volunteers during the wars. Having lived in Australia for many years I developed great sympathies to the ANZACs and their involvement in this far land for them. Therefore, writing a biography about my grandfather who was killed by the partisans in 1944 at 65 and then 62 years later politically resurrected allows me, through this love story (mentioned in the initial post) to write the history with a different view to it. Of course, there are numerous writings mostly in English - Archibald Reiss, The Kingdom of Serbia (“… at the request of the Royal Serbian Government, and since the beginning of the world war I have been engaged in recording, as far as possible, all the infringements of the laws and conventions of war and of humanity committed by the enemies of the countries of the venerable King Peter.”); work of Lady Padgett; Rebecca West; The Black Lamb and Gray Falcon; Johnston Abraham’s The Balkan Log, Serbia Crucified by Lt. Milutin Krunitch; The Englishwoman sergeant in the Serbian Army by Flora Sandes; The Guardiens of the Gate, Laffan etc. but school children do not read old history books these days, therefore I am aiming for a modern presentation of the modern history of Serbia both in print and on the internet. A little romance to a history book does not hurt, on the contrary makes it more readable to many. So, it is all about a different angle to understanding the Great War. Cheers Zoritsa Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rickus Posted 3 April , 2010 Share Posted 3 April , 2010 Hi Zoritsa, You may be interested in this link I came across which in part describes a love story between a VAD and a Serbian officer. http://cas.awm.gov.au/item/REL/18755.007/ I noticed you spent time in Australia. Coincidently my Australian grandmother, Ethel Gillingham, was a British Red Cross nurse in Vrnjacka Banja in 1915 (getting captured there). I am interested in the progress of your book. Richard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zoritsam Posted 26 April , 2014 Author Share Posted 26 April , 2014 Dear Richard, it's never too late to reply :-). I got sidetracked with a project larger than life - In the name of the People, exhibition on repression in Serbia 1944-153 just opened in Belgrade this 16th April. I am back to may other interest and beginning research on life of Olive King for the exhibition on the Great War. I hope to complete a documentary on her life ... any information on her family and friends that I can interview. Many thanks.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zoritsam Posted 26 April , 2014 Author Share Posted 26 April , 2014 Adrian, Are you still in Salonika... I am currently researching life of Olive King, an Australian nurse/ambulance driver who served in the Serbian Army. Do you have anything on her...? Many thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kjharris Posted 26 April , 2014 Share Posted 26 April , 2014 Hi there, Presume you have a copy of One Woman At War: Letters Of Olive King, 1915 1920 by Hazel King, Olive King Also, there is an entry on Wikipedia, an entry in the Australian Dictionary of Biography and it looks like Susanna de Vries has written about her too. cheers Kirsty Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oxlade134 Posted 19 October , 2014 Share Posted 19 October , 2014 Francis Isabel Blencowe was a Commandant at a RFC Hospital (not in France) and during this time seemingly was attached to caring for Serbian forces, Francis was Awarded Serbian Cross of Mercy in recognition of her humanitarian care of wounded Serbian soldiers this was presented to her by the Crown Prince of Serbia. Do you think could have been 38 Gen hospital at Kapudzilar? See Records attached Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
royalredcross Posted 22 October , 2014 Share Posted 22 October , 2014 I believe this should be "now in France". Blencowe received her Serbian decoration for service with Admiral Troubridge's Danube expedition in 1915 which withdrew after the fall of Belgrade. The issue is confirmed in the Foreign Office records under FO 372. Norman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oxlade134 Posted 22 October , 2014 Share Posted 22 October , 2014 Norman I agree and thanks for the information about Admiral Troubridge's Danube expedition. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skoyen89 Posted 15 April , 2016 Share Posted 15 April , 2016 I am researching Lilian Griffin from the TFNS who was from Tetsworth, Oxfordshire and I understand serving with 36th General Hospital when it was bombed from 14 to 19 August 1916. It seems she was a victim and was being evacuated on HMHS Llandovery Castle when she died from shock and was buried at sea. I would be interested in learning more about this event or about her and her war service. Does anyone have a copy of WO 95/4933 which is the War Diary for the hospital for 1916? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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