Looking for information about an officer who was treated at 36th/37th General Hospitals (Salonika front)

[salavat]

Greetings!

 

I have been researching the memoir of a Bulgarian officer who was wounded and captured during the battle of Florina/Lerin on the 24th of August 1916.

He mentions in his book being admitted to an “English hospital” located at Vertekop (Skydra) and that he was the first Bulgarian officer who was treated there. I found out that the 36th and 37th General Hospitals were located there.

The name of the officer is Manol Gotscheff, lieutenant. He mentions that he was admitted on the 27th of August 1916.

I wanted to find out if the War Diaries of these hospitals contain any records of treating the Bulgarian officer? What was his diagnosis? When was he released from the hospital? Are there any interesting diaries/memoirs of staff members who worked at these hospitals? 

 

Any help would be appreciated!

[Guest]

This may take some time:

 

1)  He appears to be the officer of the rank of Lieutenant for whom there is a card with the International Red Cross-which has its own "Prisoners" website. Alas, it does not add much.

 

 

2)  He may be mentioned in the War Diaries of the 2 hospitals concerned, both of which have survived. That is the good news. The bad news is that they have not been digitised by The National Archives so we will have to wait it out until TNA re-opens when COVID eases. The relevant diaries are:

 

 

 

 

3)  The situation with regard to Prisoners of War and Bulgaria is complex.  I have a local casualty who was a POW in Bulgaria and shot trying to escape from a POW camp at Phillipopolis/Plovdiv in 1918.  Although there is a Red Cross card for him (I think), most traffic between Bulgaria and the Brits went through other channels.  The British used the US Consul in Bulgaria-Bulgaria was quite careful to stay onside with the Allies as much as possible in the circumstances.  Whether it worked the other way I do not know.

    There is likely to be material in The National Archives here from the UK Foreign Office that may mention him. There is/was a card index to Foreign Office correspondence for the wartime years that has been digitised but I cannot see my reference to it but will dig it out tomorrow. [Tomorrow- Not found in Foreign Office series FO111)

 

      2 questions:

 

1) There were proposals in 1918 for a POW exchange and repatriation-was your man involved in this at all?

 

2)   Could you post his memoirs in English here on GWF as you get through them?   Anything from "the other side of the wire" would be most welcome

 

 

Edited 18 February , 2021 by Guest

[salavat]

On 17/02/2021 at 17:10, salavat said:

 

Thank you for the detailed reply, 

 

Regarding to your questions:

1) Lieutenant Gotscheff spent only a couple of weeks in the 36/37th hospital.  After that he was sent to a French POW camp on the island of Corsica. He was there from November 1916 until January 1920. 

 

2) The title of his memoir, released in 1921, is "The prisoner on the island of Corsica". I will try to translate the pages where he describes his stay in the 36/37th hospital but it will take some time! His overall impression of the staff members was positive. He does not mention any names though. I only remember him referring to the hospital chief as "The old Colonel". 

[apwright]

There are more records at the ICRC site, although nothing that refers to his time at the British hospitals.

 

This shows (I think) that he was admitted to the naval hospital in Toulon (?from the hospital ship Tchad?) on 21.9.16, with a chest wound. The list is dated 4.11.16.

(Filed under "GOTSCHEF Manol", ref. Bul.F.48)

Then there's this... 

(filed under "GOTCHEFF Petr. Manoil", ref. Bul.S.403)
Which adds that he was captured at Čegan (now Palaios Agios Athanasios) on 23.8.16, having been shot through the left lung. He arrived at the POW depot at Corte on Cοrsica on 9.11.16.

 

I hope this helps!

Поздрави от Солун!

Adrian

[salavat]

Thank you for your contribution to the topic, apwright!

 

After leaving the hospital at Vertekop, Gotcheff spent some time in Thessaloniki. After that he traveled 4 days on the Naval Hospital Ship "Tchad" (Navire hôpital) bound for Toulon. Maybe, according to the ICRC documents, he boarded the ship on 21.09.16?  A couple of days later he was admitted to the "complementary hospital № 41" (l'hôpital complémentaire № 41) in Avignon, which he left on 1.11.16. 

 

Поздрави!

 

 

[apwright]

6 hours ago, salavat said:

Maybe, according to the ICRC documents, he boarded the ship on 21.09.16? 

 

I just checked some of the logbooks of French warships on duty in the Bay of Salonika. According to the battleship Charlemagne, the Hospital Ship Tchad departed from Salonika at 0615 on 15 September, so 21.9.16 is most likely the date of arrival at Toulon.

 

Adrian