My Diary in Serbia: April 1, 1915-Nov. 1, 1915Stanley, Monica M.
History
My Diary in Serbia: April 1, 1915-Nov. 1, 1915
Stanley, Monica M.
World War, 1914-1918 -- Hospitals; World War, 1914-1918 -- Personal narratives
We arrived at Salonika at 8.30 p.m. We found the station full of Greek
soldiers; many of them were on the ground asleep. We had to leave our
large luggage for the night, then we took a carriage and went to the
hotel _Olympus_, where we had wired for rooms. We saw many of our
English and French troops as we drove down; this of course cheered us
up. We heard there were 25,000 French and 11,000 English, and that
they had been detained by the Greeks, as they were expected in Serbia
some days before.
On arriving at the hotel we made ourselves tidy, went down to dinner,
found the room full of English and French; several of them gave us a
hearty welcome as there were no English women in Salonika. One officer
told us that an American, sitting at their table had insisted on it
that we were Americans, and what a great deal the Americans had been
doing in Serbia, and the point had been argued, so there was great
excitement to know what nationality we were, and the English officers
were delighted to find they were right.
We are all hoping that the Greeks will join us, and that they will all
be going up to Serbia in a day or so.
Tuesday, _October 12, 1915._
Two English officers invited us out to tea to the cafe near, and were
much interested in hearing all our experiences in Serbia. In the
evening we went to a cinema.
Wednesday, _October 13, 1915._
We had to go and have our passports inspected by the English, French,
and Italian consuls; we got some money changed and did some shopping.
The Turkish markets are very interesting and the salesmen very
amusing, and bargaining is very necessary as they begin by asking
often more than double the amount they are prepared to take.
The Greek shops are very fine, full of beautiful things, and the
fashions quite up to date. We have a nice little Greek lady staying
here from Athens; she told us it was a known fact that the Germans had
lost over three million men. She also told us that seven French
officers had escaped from Stuttgart; they were let out of prison as
they bribed the man who was looking after them. They walked all the
way from Stuttgart through Switzerland to France, having been given
sufficient food for their journey, a compass and a map, and advised
not to speak to any one on the way. They said they never met a man all
the way through Germany; women were armed outside forts, railways and
along roads; every man had gone to fight.
Thursday, _October 14, 1915._
There are eight battleships in the harbour, French and English. The
Greeks are mobilized, and are ready to join whichever side they think
the best. They have copied the English in their uniform.
A Turkish aeroplane passed over to-day. Our boat, the _Sydney_, has
arrived in the harbour, so we went to choose our berths.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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