"THE ANGELS OF THE BALKANS.""These are the good angels who bring us to Paradise!" said a wounded poilu, smiling at the woman chauffeur who threaded her way among shell-holes and rival vehicles on the road to the Scottish Women's Hospitals.
Angels in Heaven and Hell—angels disguised with mud and grease—angels with haggard, tired facts, and their hands stained with blood—angels with needles and thread among the poor, battered uniforms—angels even among the cesspools and filth of the building that at last be came hygienic and habitable as a hospital—angels limping along the road with Serbian refugees—angels themselves passing to Paradise, as they laid down their lives during the Serbian typhus epidemic.
Hence the title at the head of this paragraph—the title by which the staff of the Scottish Women's Hospitals are known throughout the Balkans.
In November, 1914, the first unit of the S.W.H. was established in Calais, under Dr. Alice Hutchinson, for the purpose of fighting the typhus outbreak there.
A few weeks later a hospital with 100 beds was established in the vast old Abbaye of Royaumont, twenty miles from Paris. This hospital was at that time the only one equipped with a travelling X-ray vehicle.
Within three months, at the request of the French Medical and Military Authorities, the accomodation was increased to 200 beds.
Before the "push" on the Somme, the accommodation was further increased to 400 beds.
Recently a 200 bed hospital was opened at Villers-Cotteret in the French firing-line.
The S.W.H. also have three canteens near the French front, at which they care for worn-out "poilus," who have walked some fourteen or twenty miles, maybe in rain, or snow, on the way back to the trenches.
Soon after New Year, 1915, the first unit of women doctors, nurses, women chauffeurs, women orderlies, and women stretcher-bearers, arrived at Kragueje-vatz. At this time the country was in a condition of appalling misery, and the S.W.H. was decimated by typhus. When the S.W.H. unit arrived, two thirds of the Serbian doctors and nurses had been themselves attacked by typhus, and many had died with their patients. Three women of the first unit died at their posts, from typhus.
This work was continued, until at last four units were established, with over 1,000 beds, in their charge.
Towards the-end of 1916 a large camp hospital and motor transport column, staffed entirely by women, was established near Monastir, under the charge of three Australian ladies—Dr. Agnes Bennett of Sydney, and Dr. Lillian Cooper and Miss Bedford of Brisbane.
In September, 1916, two field hospitals and motor transport columns, staffed entirely by women, were sent, via Arch angel, to the assistance of the Serbian division an Roumania.
Since 1915 the S.W.H. have had a model camp hospital of 300 beds in Salonica, officially attached to the French Expeditionary Force.
This year the activities of this hospital have been considerably increased; 200 further beds have been provided, and a special centre created for the supply of artificial limbs and eyes, full dental treatment, and special curative treatment for nervous cases.
There is a main hospital in Ajaccio, especially for the care of sick Serbian refugees. There is also a branch isolation hospital, and a tubercular lazaret. There are out-patient dispensaries at the main hospital, and also at Chiavari and St. Antoine. Thousands of refugees are cared for in this way.
So much for the bare facts. But behind those facts lies a story of women's heroism worthy to rank with the bravest deeds of an era in which brave deeds have become commonplace. In every branch of the work, the S.W.H. have had to contend with difficulties, hardships, and dangers calculated to daunt the bravest, but they have never flinched. Not only did these women provide and staff the hospitals, but many of them were continuously in personal danger from from the enemy, more particularly during the German occupation of Serbia, and the Dobrudja retreat in Roumania. One party, indeed, under Dr. Alice Hutchinson, was taken prisoner by the Austrians, sent into Southern Hungary, and there treated as common prisoners of war for six weeks. Yet another unit, under Dr. Elsie Inglis (who has since laid down her life), remained at Krague jevaltz during the German occupation, turning what was a charnel house for the dying into a hygienic hospital, and saving many Serbian soldiers. Yet another party, caught at Salonica, and unable to go forward, cared for the train loads of refugees, passed them on to the ships, and finally conveyed some thousands of them to Corsica, where they are still caring for the homeless and destitute men, women, and children taking refuge there.
The women of the S.W.H. accompanied the crowds of starving, dying Serbians in their tragic retreat over the Montenegrian mountains. Their last wraps were spread over the wounded, their last coins given to the penniless, their service given to all who needed it. They bore silently all the hardships, and, scarcely able to walk sometimes, they would stop with a joke on their lips, that they might cheer others. Each member of that company tried to outdo the others in self-sacrifice.
The field hospitals and motor trans port columns which went to the assistance of the Serbian division in Roumiania suffered all the privations and horrors of the Dobrudja retreat, and have since been working on the Russo-Roumania frontier in a position of difficulty and danger.
To this wonderful work of mercy, the women of our Empire have faced danger, dirt, disease, and death. The latest cabled news concerning them is that the founder of the movement, Dr. Elsie Inglis, has given up her life in the cause.
Image source:
THE RED CROSS BUGLERETTE. (1916, December 16). The World's News (Sydney, NSW : 1901 - 1955), p. 10. Retrieved February 26, 2022, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article130584545
Text source:
"THE ANGELS OF THE BALKANS." (1917, December 14). The Land (Sydney, NSW : 1911 - 1954), p. 10. Retrieved February 26, 2022, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article102893950
