The ‘Away from the Western Front’ project has been running since early 2017 and will continue until the start of 2019. It uses the stories of individual men and women to highlight the First World War campaigns in the Middle East, Italy, Africa and the Balkans. Continue reading “Away from the Western Front : latest news”
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Not about Salonika!
If it’s not about Salonika why am I including it here? Well it’s a fascinating first-hand account with great drawings, presented in a very neat website and is connected to my adopted home of Norfolk! Continue reading “Not about Salonika!”
Faces of Salonika : Somerset Miners
This rather small and tatty picture – another eBay purchase – shows a group of men sitting on a quayside, which may be Salonika. The mixture of service dress (as worn in the UK and on the Western Front) with a sun helmet would certainly be appropriate for men of the BSF after about mid-1916. The extremes of the Macedonian climate make all sorts of combinations of dress possible which, for me, is one of the fascinations of the campaign. Continue reading “Faces of Salonika : Somerset Miners”
The Great Fire of 1917 : an eyewitness account
My thanks go to David Shillito for providing the transcript of a letter written by his father – Second Lieutenant John Ewart Shillito of 2nd East Yorkshire Regiment (83 Brigade, 28 Division) – to his family describing the fire of August 1917. Continue reading “The Great Fire of 1917 : an eyewitness account”
Mule Lines : Cypriot Muleteers
My thanks go to Richard Devereux, once again, for alerting me to an article on Cypriot muleteers in the Macedonian campaign. This is a reminder – if one were needed – of what a multinational venture the campaign was (beyond the ‘official’ Allied Nations). Continue reading “Mule Lines : Cypriot Muleteers”
The New Mosquito #16 : September 2007
On the centenary of Salonika’s Great Fire, it seems appropriate to provide details of an issue which contained a major 90th anniversary article on the fire by Nigel Crompton, SCS member and a member of the Fire Brigade Society.
Mule Lines : Working Mules
We talk quite a lot about mules in Salonika (or is it just me?), but I wonder how many of us have actually seen mules at work. There are mules in the UK – there is a British Mule Society after all – but until I met our adopted mule, Muffin, last year, I’m not sure that I had ever knowingly seen one. Whilst Muffin has worked hard for Redwings Horse Sanctuary for nearly thirty, it’s been in a fundraising and public relations, rather than a draught or pack role! Continue reading “Mule Lines : Working Mules”
Death of an airman 100 years ago
My thanks go to Keith Edmonds for bringing this article to my attention. I am pleased to be able to remember British pilot, Joe Bamford, who went missing from the skies over Salonika 100 years ago today: Continue reading “Death of an airman 100 years ago”
The Great Fire remembered by the SRA in 1929
In 1929 the Salonika Reunion Association remembered the great fire of August 1917 with a photograph on the front cover of its publication, The Mosquito.
Continue reading “The Great Fire remembered by the SRA in 1929”
Faces of Salonika : Bill Devereux and the Great Fire
My thanks go to Richard Devereux who provided this photo of his grandfather, Bill, enjoying a cigarette in the ruins of Salonika in the aftermath of the Great Fire, having done his bit to help.
Continue reading “Faces of Salonika : Bill Devereux and the Great Fire”
Salonika Campaign Society, 1915-1918 