I have always loved illustrated books, so couldn’t let National Illustration Day go unnoticed. Obviously, as children, we start off looking at picture books but my love of illustrated books has continued, although I do read the words too – honest!
Continue reading “Happy National Illustration Day!”Blog
The Second Serbian Campaign of 1915: A Talk by Nick Ilić
Colonel Nick Ilić MBE QGM, and former British Defence Attaché in the Embassy in Belgrade, will give a talk on the Second Serbian Campaign of 1915 at the National Army Museum, London, SW3 4HT, on Thursday, 20 November, at 2pm.
The talk will cover the arrival of the British and other international missions in Serbia, the Typhus epidemic, and the October 1915 invasion of Serbia that led to the Serbian Army’s epic retreat across the mountains to the Adriatic.
Image source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Retreat_%28Serbia%29
The talk will last about an hour. If you have attended a talk given by Nick in the past, you will know how informed, informative and interesting the talk is going to be.
Admission is free, but please let Nick know by 18 November if you plan to attend.
Remembrance in Wartime
The following account of the 1944 Annual Muster of the Salonika Reunion Association is taken from The Mosquito, issue 68, December 1944.
Lord Milne talking to his ‘old comrades’ on the occasion of the 20th Annual Muster in London, on Sunday, October 1st, told them this story: One of your members went to the wrong place this morning and asked a sentry where the Salonika Reunion Association was meeting. The sentry replied “I don’t know; I don’t think there is any meeting. There are none left alive.” This caused a lot of laughter.
“Well we are very much alive!” commented “Uncle George,” ” and this is the best parade we have had since the commencement of the war.” He said he thought it a wonderful turn-out after five years of war, and it was typical of the high state of morale of the nation. It was a great pleasure for him to see them again, and if they did not think him rude, he congratulated them on their personal appearance.
… Stating that he hoped this would be our last meeting in war-time, at least during the European war, he looked forward to a real Victory Reunion next year. “Au revoir! Good luck to you! …”
… With the S.R.A. standard and escort in the lead, we marched – a long line of threes, twisting amongst the held-up traffic – until we arrived at the Cenotaph in Whitehall. When we had halted and turned towards the national war memorial we were standing six deep. In the centre, facing the south side of the Cenotaph, stood Lord Milne with our head officials, and they were flanked on their right by a single line of women – our nursing sisters, V.A.D.s, etc..
Then, receiving from our hon. secretary and hon. treasurer, the large wreath of gilded laurels, inscribed “To the Honoured Memory of Our Fallen Comrades. From the Members of the Salonika Reunion Association,” Lord Milne, bareheaded, advanced with Colonel W.R.D. Robertson (president of the S.R.A.) and placed our tribute on the base of the Cenotaph. Colonel Robertson, who was in army uniform, saluted, they turned and resumed their positions. The parade, closely scrutinised by onlookers on the pavement, then did a smart left-turn and marched away. We had paid tribute to those whom we left on the rugged hillsides and the open plains of Macedonia, in city cemetery or in lonely unidentified graves – heroes all! For twenty years we have kept faith with them in this simple ceremony at the Cenotaph. “they shall grow not old . . . . we will remember them” – always!
“… the rugged hillsides …
… and the open plains of Macedonia.”
Photographs taken by the author in March 2016: a view from Castle Hill to La Tortue on the Doiran front (top) and across the Struma valley from the Bulgarian lines (bottom).
‘The New Mosquito’ – September Edition Update
As many members will already be aware, the Society’s journal, The New Mosquito, has not yet arrived on doorsteps as expected. We sincerely apologise for this delay and wish to assure you that every effort is being made to complete dispatch at the earliest opportunity. We thank all members for their patience and continued support.
We will remember them
They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.
The Sinking of the Marquette, 1915
A little over 110 years ago, on Saturday 23 October 1915, the British transport ship Marquette was torpedoed by the German submarine U-35 as it entered the Gulf of Salonika. The ship sank within ten minutes. Of the 741 people on board, 167 died, including 32 New Zealanders – ten of whom were nurses.
The New Zealand Nurses
Most of the New Zealanders aboard were members of the 1st New Zealand Stationary Hospital. They had been serving in Egypt, treating casualties from Gallipoli, and were being transferred to support Allied operations in the Balkans. Among them was Staff Nurse Margaret Rogers, who had enlisted only months earlier in July. Indeed, The New Zealand Army Nursing Service was itself new and only established early in 1915.
Image source: Nurse Margaret Rogers, URL: https://nzhistory.govt.nz/media/photo/nurse-margaret-rogers, (Manatū Taonga — Ministry for Culture and Heritage), updated 28-May-2024
The Marquette, originally a cargo vessel, had been adapted for wartime transport.
Image source: https://ww100.govt.nz/no-ordinary-transport-the-sinking-of-the-marquette
When it departed from Alexandria on 19 October, it carried medical personnel, British troops, over 500 mules, and ammunition. Although accompanied by a French destroyer during part of the journey, the escort departed the day before the attack.
At approximately 9:15 a.m., witnesses reported sighting a torpedo shortly before it struck the starboard side of the ship. The impact caused the vessel to list sharply. Despite the suddenness of the event, many accounts describe those on board as remaining orderly.
Efforts to launch lifeboats were largely unsuccessful. Inexperienced personnel, the angle of the sinking ship, and mechanical difficulties led to lifeboats capsizing or being damaged. Several nurses and soldiers were killed during these attempts. It is believed that Margaret Rogers lost her life in this phase of the evacuation.
Ten New Zealand nurses and 22 men from the New Zealand Medical Corps and No. 1 Stationary Hospital died.
Survivors spent several hours in the water, exposed to cold conditions and exhaustion. Some clung to wreckage; others assisted colleagues unable to swim. Rescue vessels, including British and French destroyers, arrived later in the day. Six days later,on the 29th October, all surviving nurses and some medical officers returned to Alexandria on the hospital ship, the Grantully Castle.
Image source: https://ww100.govt.nz/no-ordinary-transport-the-sinking-of-the-marquette
Aftermath
The sinking of the Marquette led to outrage about the decision to transport medical personnel on a vessel carrying ammunition and troops rather than on a hospital ship. Marked with a red cross, hospital ships could sail with a much greater degree of safety with the protection of the Geneva Convention. The troopship was, for German submarines, a valid target.
One can only imagine the emotions of the survivors as they undertook the journey to Salonika again later in the year in order to establish a tented hospital at Lembet Camp. The hospital was in operation until March 1916, when it left for France.
Image source: https://nzhistory.govt.nz/media/photo/1st-new-zealand-stationary-hospital
In Memory
Margaret Rogers is buried at the Mikra British Cemetery at Kalamaria where there is a memorial to the loss of the Marquette.
Margaret is also listed on the war memorial at Akaroa where her father lived.
Image source: https://nzhistory.govt.nz/memorial/akaroa-war-memorial
Margaret and the other nine nurses lost in the Marquette sinking are remembered at the Nurses’ Memorial Chapel at Christchurch Hospital and at the Marquette Nurses’ Memorial at Waimate.
The events of 23 October 1915 are also dramatised in the Australian TV series, ANZAC Girls, which until December 31st, 2025 is freely available to view here.
Image Source: Episode 3, https://player.stv.tv/summary/all3-anzac
Footnote
Wreckage of the Marquette was found in May 2009 by a Greek dive team. It rests in 87 metres of water of the Thermaikos Gulf in the North Aegean Sea. A protection order for the wreck has been sought by The British Embassy in Greece.
Reference Links
- https://www.armymuseum.co.nz/2023-today-in-history-marquette-sinking/
- https://ww100.govt.nz/no-ordinary-transport-the-sinking-of-the-marquette
- https://nzhistory.govt.nz/media/video/marquette-great-war-story
- https://ww100.govt.nz/no-ordinary-transport-the-sinking-of-the-marquette
- https://www.cnmc.org.nz/the-marquette/
- https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/287792/%27all-of-a-sudden-there-was-this-bang%27
- https://www.cnmc.org.nz/resources/museum/prentice-papers/
SCS AGM Online
Members of the Society may well be aware, from the notice in the New Mosquito No.51 earlier this year, that the Society’s AGM will be held online via Zoom at 7.30pm on Monday 27 October.
All members have today been sent an email with details of how to enter the online AGM. If you haven’t received this, please check your Junk/Spam email folder. Failing that, please send us a message and we will get the details to you.
We look forward to seeing you in the meeting on Monday.
Screening in London: ‘By Far Kaymakchalan’ – A Documentary by Bojan Pajic
Those in London, or able to visit, on Saturday 18 October are warmly invited to attend the screening of By Far Kaymakchalan, a newly completed documentary by Australian writer and historian Bojan Pajic. The one-hour film will be shown from 3:00 to 5:00 pm in Room KIN 204, King’s College London, King’s Building, Strand Campus, WC2R 2LS.
Bojan Pajic is the author of two books examining the experiences of Australians and New Zealanders who served with Serbian forces during the First World War. By Far Kaymakchalan builds on his previous work and combines archival material, personal testimonies, and historical analysis to illuminate the shared history of these Allied nations. The event, hosted by Dr Stephen Morgan, Lecturer in Film Studies at King’s College London, will be followed by a discussion with Bojan Pajić.
Filmed in Australia, Serbia, Greece, and North Macedonia over a period of eighteen months, By Far Kaymakchalan is based on Pajić’s research that has revealed that more than 1,500 Australian and New Zealand volunteer doctors, nurses, ambulance drivers, soldiers, sailors, and aircrew served alongside Serbian forces during the war.
Full details of the event are available via this link.
NB For security reasons, King’s College London requires a list of attendees to be submitted 24 hours in advance. If you are thinking of attending, please don’t forget to register beforehand.
This screening offers a rare opportunity to engage with a significant and often overlooked chapter of First World War history, and to hear directly from the researcher and filmmaker who has dedicated much of his work to bringing these stories to light.
I’m very grateful to Jon Lewis, author of the excellent The Forgotten Front; the Macedonian Campaign 1915 – 1918, for bringing this to the attention of the Society – thanks Jon!
See also: https://salonikacampaignsociety.org.uk/2020/09/26/australians-and-new-zealanders/
Animals in War
The news, yesterday, of the death of Dame Jilly Cooper had me searching my bookshelves for the only book of her’s that I own. No, not one of the infamous ‘bonkbusters’, but “Animals in War”, first published in 1983. My copy is the 2000 Corgi reprint, published as part of the campaign for a memorial to ‘Animals in War’. More of that in a moment.
Continue reading “Animals in War”Campaign Bibliography Version 6 – now available!
Once again, the Society extends its sincere thanks to SCS member Keith Roberts for the compilation and dedicated annual updates of the only comprehensive bibliography of English-language publications related to the Salonika Campaign.
The bibliography is freely available for members and non-members alike. We only ask that, if it is shared with others, credit is given to the Salonika Campaign Society. The bibliography is available in a variety of formats here.
The bibliography is updated and released each year on this significant day – September 29th – which today marks 107 years since the signing of the Armistice of Salonica. The armistice brought Bulgaria’s involvement in World War I to an end.
