1st Canadien Hospital, Salonika

[Guest jim1965]

Can anyone give me any info regarding the 1st Canadien Hospital in Salonika? My Great-Grand father spent some time there in the beginning of 1916 with Malaria but i can't seem to find any information about the Hospital anywhere:

[Broznitsky]

Number One Canadian Stationary Hospital transferred to Salonika in March 1916.

You could go here for some incomplete war diaries. Use hospital as your search term. Have fun.

[Canadawwi]

I've posted an account written by a medical student who was at No. 4 Canadian General Hospital in Salonika. It should give you a general idea of the environment. Link to full article below.

Keep in mind that the account was written just after the war - he tends to go on about the landscape, etc. It still does give an impression of the work involved and the dedication of the staff.

Here's a sample:

"The Salonica Expedition which began to land in Macedonia in September, 1915, was at first regarded as a diplomatic bluff, then as a colossal mistake, and finally as a costly failure, only to be vindicated at the end of the war, when the Salonica army advanced northwards and brought Turkey and Bulgaria to terms. It was diplomatic to land an army at Salonica, it was colossal and costly, but it proved to be neither a bluff, nor a mistake, nor a failure, and the efforts of Tommy Atkins among the hills of Macedonia, while not chronicled by the contemporary writers, is a page of British history full of the characteristics of the bull dog breed, and in this Canada took a small share. Among the first British troops to land were three Canadian Hospitals, No. 4 and No. 5 General, and No. 1 Stationary; the first from the University of Toronto, the second from Vancouver, and the third from Montreal and Quebec. These three units were privileged to render continuous service to the British forces in Macedonia for the first two years of the expedition. They cared for thousands of wounded and sick, and were recalled to England only after their personnel had been thinned out by malaria and dysentery. It was necessary to reorganize for service to the Canadian Corps on the Western Front." (Marlow, 1921)

Canadians in Salonika - article

[MartinWills]

The Toronto University Roll of Honour provides much useful info on Canadian Field Hospitals in Salonica.