Serbian High Command requisited upper floors of Srbija beer house from Blagojević brothers as well as of Hotel Sekulić, with 30 rooms and 43 beds in the city of Valjevo on December 14th 1914. Epidemic of Typhus fever was now official. How and why? Serbia entered into the Great War totally unprepared. Not only that country, Army and resources were drained during two bloody Balkan wars against Turks and Bulgarians in which Serbia lost 70 000 men (including more than 25 000 dead), but health and hygiene were very poor, too. Serbia had only 450 doctors for more than 4 500 000 people! Being situated on the front-lines during the early days of the Great War, Valjevo was the place where both armies, Serbian and Austro-Hungarian tended their wounded. In the case of war, Serbian High Command predicted 11 city buildings for requisition with more than 2210 beds. However, that prediction was way too optimistic, so on October 2nd Serbian Army requisited caffe Venecija from Antonije Purić, grocery store from Vukajlo Lazović and the hall of the bar Bulevar (still exists under the same name after all these years, decades, centuries!). However, that wasnt enough, so Russian field hospital was opened, too. After Kolubara battle, two more hospitals opened, Fifth Reserve Military Hospital in Municipality Court Building and Sixth Military Hospital in Drina Division Warehouse Building. Also, it is important to know that prior to Balkan Wars, typhus was unknown to Serbian population. The very first case of typhus fever appeared during Serbian excursion into Albania, in winter 1912-13, when some Serbian detachments reached towns of Drač, Skadar, Lješ and Sveti Jovan Medovanski. However, since the number of cases were small, doctors were able to cure disease till the summer of 1913. But, autumn and winter of 1914 was a different story. After three offensives, Serbia was already destroyed country, especially its northern and northwestern parts. Country infrastructure was non-existent, morale, both civilian and military was on all time low. Austria left their dead unburied, which only helped to spread disease through the country. Only now we can hear some different tones in the international community, that this was a deliberate plot to bring a biological warfare into enemys population (reiss-institute.org/articles/1915-typhus-bio-warfare/) Was it? It is worth of discussion, for sure. When we add poor Serbian hygiene habits (not only Serbian, but all Southern Slavs, and they lasted well into XX century, see Lj. Dimić: Kulturna politika Kraljevine Jugoslavije I-III), and those Serbian peasant girls who were more than properly friendly with (mostly) Hungarian POW, nothing but the disaster of epic proportion could happen. To fight the epidemics (unknown to the public, btw), Serbian Government cried for help to its Allies. English, Scottish, French, Russians, Greeks, Canadians and many others volunteers rushed to help Serbia. Exact number of these brave men and women is unknown, but we know that there were more than 2000 of them. With their help, and with the help of Serbian volunteers, the epidemics is finally beaten by the summer of 1915. But the results of the epidemics were catastrophic. Between 500 000 and 600 000 civilians were sick with disease, of whom 135 000 died. 150 000 Serbian soldiers contracted typhus, 35 000 died. Also, another 30 000 POW died from disease while treated in Valjevo and other Serbian cities and towns. Valjevo itself (city of 8 832 from the census of 1910, 5 698 from A-H census of july 1916) saw burial of more than 4000 citizens and more than 3500 soldiers on the Old City Cemetery on the Bair Hill (istorijskiarhiv.rs/sites/default/files/PODACI/materijali/Glasnik%20clanci%202005/Milca%20Madic%20groblja%20Glasnik%2039%202005.pdf). These numbers include 124 doctors that died while trying to save patients (97 Serbs, 20 foreigners and 7 POWs). Only in Valjevo, from 25 doctors, 21 of them died, not including 5 POWs, who also died while helping patients. To all of them we own our most solemn gratitude. And while the epidemics was raging through Serbia, for Serbian newspapers that epidemics never happened. Not a single Serbian newspapers of that time ever mentioned in what kind of grave danger our Fatherland was facing. While we can understand why Srpske novine who were official Governments daily, or Politika, unofficial Governments daily didnt want to talk about situation in Serbia, it is hard to understand why the others dailies, critical toward Pašićs Government didnt seize perfect opportunity to attack him. Only through some obituaries we can, maybe, to sense that something was wrong, that too many deaths were connected with typhus. But, in official, unpaid parts of newspapers, there were no news of typhus in Serbia at all. Pašić, feeling politically secure at home, will lead his nation from one disaster to another. vaza.co.rs/images/naslovna/2012_05_10/05.jpg
Posted on: Sun, 14 Dec 2014 18:30:59 +0000
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