Available to attend either in person or online, SCS member—and former Army officer and UK Defence Attaché—Nick Ilić will be delivering a presentation at the National Army Museum which “will bring to life the little-known but truly heroic and inspirational story of the British contribution. Their efforts, as part of a coalition of nations, played a significant role in Serbia’s survival and liberation, and in the defeat of the Central Powers in 1918. More than a century later, their sacrifice is not forgotten within Serbia.”
Nick’s presentation is on April 17 at 12:00pm and is free to attend or watch online – full details here.
On 30 March a new series of programmes began on Radio 4, and is available on BBC Sounds. Part of the long-running The Invention of… set of programmes by Misha Glenny and Miles Warde, and made on location, this new series looks at the history of the Balkans. The first episode deals with the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife. While this was not the cause of the Great War, it provided Austria-Hungary with the opportunity to suppress the rise of its southern neighbour and triggered the presentation of its 10-point ultimatum to Serbia.
The second episode (on Monday 6 April at 11.00) considers the Balkan Wars that preceded the events of 1914, including the Austro-Serbian Pig War. If you are not familiar with this interesting slice of culinary history, it was a customs war that took place between 1906 and 1908. It was an unsuccessful attempt to impose a customs blockade on Serbian Pork. It failed because Serbia was able to find other markets in Europe. The series promises to be an interesting listen.
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.
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.
Nick presenting at the Salonika Study Day, Great War Huts, August 2024
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 aircrewserved 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.
On this, the 110th anniversary of the Britain’s entry into the Great War, it seems appropriate to look at a connection between the British Salonika Force and the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand in Sarajevo. This is to be found in issue 45 of The Mosquito – ‘The Official Journal of the Salonika Re-Union Association’ – published in March 1939, not very long before Britain’s entry into the next world war!
No, this isn’t a sudden cri de couer after twenty years of reading about and studying the Salonika campaign, but rather an acknowledgment of the tedium experienced by many of those who served in Macedonia between 1915 and 1919. This was the subject of a fascinating podcast I recently came across.
The ‘Ninth Annual Memorial Service for Women in Foreign Medical Missions in the Great War’ takes place on Saturday 18th February 2023.
The event takes from 11:00 -14:30 at the Serbian Orthodox Church of St Sava 89 Lancaster Rd, London W11 1QQ with speakers Colonel Nick Ilic, the former British Defence Attaché in the Embassy in Belgrade, and Zvezdana Popovic.
11.00 – Memorial Service in The Serbian Orthodox Church of St Sava
13.00 -14.30 – Refreshments and Talk in the Bishop Nikolaj Community Centre
The occasion will also feature a talk about the legacy of Dr Elsie Inglis, Scottish Women’s Hospitals and women in other foreign medical missions in Serbia, Corfu, Vido and the Salonika Front after the death of Dr Inglis.
If you would like to attend, RSVP via: info@serbiancouncil.org.uk
Salonika Campaign Society, 1915-1918 