Voices of the First World War - Episode 19 - Salonika
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- Опубликовано: 29 сен 2024
- Dan Snow brings together recollections by soldiers of the conditions they endured in Salonika, where they considered themselves a forgotten army, and the main threats were malaria and dysentery.
My grand grand father Atanas is Hero in Good field battle.he is losing his hearing he is injured 😢 from a projectile faling nex to nim .Bu Survivor.Living to 98 years death in 1988.knight to German and Bulgarian crosses for Bravery.He was talking abaut the war.Glory for all heroes in ww1 and R.I.P.
My Grandfather, Sir Wilfrid Joseph Sim was a lance corporal in the New Zealand Expeditionary Force, which in 1914 occupied German Samoa. In 1915 he then took commissioned rank with a regular Scottish regiment, the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, with whom he spent 18 months in Macedonia during the Salonika campaign. He received the Military Cross and the Médaille d’honneur (from the French government) for gallantry in action. He was discharged in 1919. As I was only very young when he died I really had no idea what he had been involved in & to see the British flag on his coffin blew my mind. Finding out he was decorated for Gallantry also ble3w me away. Over the years I have researched him & now I finally find video footage & voice recordings of the men involved in this campaign. It was a battle to survive the conditions & disease let alone the fighting when it occurred. Sir Wilfrid survived & returned to New Zealand & was involved in Law & Politics where he gained his Knighthood.
My great uncle was killed age 18,Edward luckett, on a cold wet Monday October 11th 1917,from Oxford just like his older brother, my great grandfather, who was in Oxford _Buckingham light infantry who made it back, my great uncle who fought with 15th battalion Durham light infantry obviously didn't, I believe it was end of Passchendaele and they was told that the Germans had left that area. Always remembered 🌹
My Grandfather was in Salonica part of the Buckinghamshire troops.
bulgars? its bulgarians not fair to call them that:D. sad some of these men had no idia of ho they where fighting with(some germans and mostly bulgarians really) . just ask the ones that where lucky enoth to survive doiran what happend to them? there high command really did them dirty not just leaving them there to get hit by Holera(a horrible painful and easy to spread disease trust me even bulgarias know the pain of it when they got it in 1 balkan war). and last they had to fight bulgarians in there home lands witch was a bad thing them. look at this-1 medic treating bulgarians="You have a strange feeling when you look after these brave Bulgarian soldiers, some of whom say," Heal me fast to get back to the battlefield, write me off doctor, my wound is insignificant, and I want to go back to my post ". They are calm, impassable, often too resistant to suffering, many refuse to be put to sleep, and prefer to suffer painful operations without sedatives. "
1 freach officer wrote in his notes=October 14, 1916
Realize them, Lord, they want us to attack! They have already given away wine to make our heads smile - there will be an attack today ...
... God, God, I have very little hope to see France once again ... to die at least in France or for France, instead for those of these savages ... His Serb and Bulgarians, and all their east ...What kind of Germans did you say (to make the soldiers calm, the French command decided to tell them that Germans were fighting against them)! They were Bulgarians - bearded, scary, black-skinned. I saw them with my eyes, though from a distance - all covered with hairs, with eyes eyed. We got rid of it, but how, I know myself, and for others one God knows. Attack
you! They did not understand anything Bulgarians from modern trench warfare a? Pointing to the unmistakable power of our artillery, Lieutenant Shortard roared, "They're all slaughtered by our drum fire. Go straight to the trenches, no resistance, no living soul you will meet and tonight you are in Bitola - there is the rest, there is the deliverance. and last= I've been in other fights at both Somma and Verdun, but I have not seen such a fright and such a frenzy. = the awkward moment when you prefer Verdun over the solonika front :D
The more I look into WW1 the more I realise how the conditions were so appalling. The way the commanders sent young vibrant men over the top to be cut down by machine gun fire by the thousands, it's inconceivable to know what it was really like. We think about those we knew were there & how they might have survived which is truly amazing, I wouldn't be here if my Grandfather didn't survive. To even think of those that my Grandfather were fighting didn't cross my mind. They too had the same conditions to endure & the loss of lives on their side were high too. The Great War is a piece of history that I'm sure every person on the planet can say they had a family member involved in it in some way. Least we forget, we must remember them.
@@Pixelmotivator yes we shoud remember them. i'm curious where exactly did you Grandfather fight exactly? when it comes to the french the british and some russians were there(bulgarians did not have anything against them and did not want to fight,but they had a home to defend so they had to kill and a lot of entente soldiers died in that front witch is sad sense ppl forget it the most(salonika is like the forgotten front for that war) and trust me it was hell for all there.
@@talridisblagoev242 My Grandfather was a New Zealander in the British Army that fought in the Salonika Campaign. I believe he was in the Battle of Doiran against the Bulgarians. Yes it was the forgotten front. The conditions were appalling on both sides with many dying from diseases or infections of their wounds. The whole style of this warfare was such a hard fight with both sides loosing high numbers of men for no gain, a stalemate situation.
@@Pixelmotivator doiran? o no of all the fighting and places they had to put him in they chose the one where is a it was a massacre(only other worse battle i think if is the battle of the red wall as we call it Battle of Monastir (1917).its a miracle for me at least that he survived its estimated in my history that 42000-47000 entant soldiers died. or 70000 dead+wonded+captured if i remember correct Genral Miln had a at least 210000-240000 soldiers in all the 3 years fight at doiran. bulgarians just had 1 divison(one of the strongest heroes of bulgarians in that war that where all gona die but they wont let the enemy breach them 34000 only and belive it or not they survive only estemeted for 2 years fight only 498 dead and some wonded(around 1200 but they survived) but over all 32000 soldiers come back home. as for the the allies i dont know how many come back home after doiran was a massacre like i said i dont know how he surrvived did he ever tell you?
@@talridisblagoev242 Yes The Bulgarians forces were very brave & had good positions to repel the British. They managed to fortify their positions with concrete bunkers which gave them good protection. The casualties on the British side were far higher. My Grandfather was there for 18 months & in 1918 was wounded after a fierce battle. Like I said before a lot of them died from infections of their wounds or Malaria, Influenza or other diseases. How those that survived was truly a miracle. In saying that the massive loss of life on all fronts was so horrific like at the Somme or Paschendale where 6,000-10,000 men died in one day. As we mentioned before Macedonia Front was the forgotten front & very little is written in the history books. Thank You Talridis Blagoev for sharing your history with me
My grandfather served with the 10 (Service) Btn., the Black Watch in Salonika.
My Granfather Percy Soley (Royal Berkshires) was there!
Here now after finding out my great great grandad Alfred Cutts was a sergeant in the royal engineers stationed in Greece in 1918.
My great great grandfather was there a driver for the engineers