Page 48 - Stradanje i humanizam
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also made sure that all the wounded are served while evacuating and provided tea and other necessities. September 1914, Lazar Genčić states there were already close to 40,000 wounded in Serbia, that the
Тhey also managed to procure tobacco in crates and packages and gave it out to the wounded during assistance of foreign Red Cross societies and foreign doctors fell completely short and that some
evacuation and in hospitals on Sundays and Mondays. regiments had no doctor at all. Therefore, he asked that doctors and medical supplies be urgently
The difficult task of attending to the wounded was performed with utmost efforts during the Battle brought from abroad.
of Cer. Those who were not severely wounded recuperated and were returned to the front, others either Appreciating the magnitude of the tragedy of the Serbian peoples and the need to overcome it,
stayed in Valjevo or were evacuated in small medical trains to Мladenovac and then to Kragujevac and numerous activities started in the friendly countries to extend the help needed. The Russian Red Cross,
Niš. At the beginning there was only one train with adapted coaches where the severely wounded could the Slovenian and Russian voluntary societies, Circles of Charitable Sisters and many other
be accommodated and several coaches for those with less complex wounds. The train travelled four to associations and individuals (the wives of the former and the then Russian envoy in Serbia Ms Hartvig
six hours and could transport some 400 wounded. Each train was accompanied by a doctor, 12 nurses and Countess Trubeckoj, in particular), collected huge assistance and dispatched several surgical and
and one non-commissioned officer. When the situation on the battlefield deteriorated after the crossing epidemiological hospitals. The mission of the Peterborough Slavic Society arrived in Valjevo with full
of the Serbian army across the river Sava and the new crossing of the Austro-Hungarian army over the equipment for a surgical hospital. It became operational in the building of the District Court on 27
river Drina, the number of the wounded multiplied many times over. The non stop bloody battles on September 1914. ”The Russian Mission“, as it was dubbed, was fantastically equipped and fully funded
Gučevo, Boranja and Mačkov kamen in particular resulted in terrifying number of deaths each day and by the Peterborough Slavic Society. It had 30 staff – 3 doctors, 8 nurses, 4 medical technicians, 2 social
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multiplied the number of the wounded. It was then that two additional trains were engaged, but these too work nurses and other staff. It had its own X-ray ward and a small, mobile church. It was housed in the
proved insufficient. The numbers and the names of the wounded could not be recorded; they were taken building of the court where it put up 100 hospital beds and since the main doctor N. I. Sičev was a very
care of as they arrived for examination. They were referred to the hospitals or to the train, where experienced surgeon, a considerable part of the most difficult patients – mostly those who needed
transport was organised. Those with less severe wounds had to find their own way to their destination. urgent surgery - was referred to him. The Mission began to work in a very dramatic period, after the
More and more wounded arrived each day. At first there were 2,000, 5,000, and then 7,000 and more bloodbaths in Gučevo and Mačkov Kamen when there were 8,000–10,000 wounded in Valjevo time
of them. Valjevo then became a city completely dedicated to accommodation and care of the wounded and again. The assistance it provided until the retreat of the Serbian army and the fall of Valjevo was
and the ill. The hospitals and the pertaining buildings expanded continuously, and so the entire city valuable. The experienced doctor Sičev managed to evacuate the remaining 75 patients and save all the
turned into a huge, singular hospital. All hospital beds were full, the wounded and the ill were put up in equipment and staff. The hospital continued to work temporarily in Zaječar but was later moved to
the hallways, vacant wards. After that, cafes were turned into hospitals: ”Jadar“, ”Grozd“, ”At Kragujevac. From there, it retreated with the people and the army across Albania. There were several
Topalović“, ”At Blagojević“, ”Brothers Grozdanović“, ”Brothers Marković“, ”Russia“, ”Belgrade“, Russian doctors sometime around 10 September 1914 before the arrival of the Russian Mission. They
”Balkans“, ”Peterburgh“, ”Posavina“. Next came hotels: ”Sekulić“, ”Takovo“ and ”Grand“, a primary were helping treat the patients but the locations they were sent to remain unknown. They were most
school... Even the smallest of spaces were occupied. The head of the Serbian medical staff Lazar Genčić probably deployed in field hospitals or dressing stations in the vicinity of the frontlines.
described it: ”Numerous wounded were lying on floors, on hay pads here and there, or on hay or straw One of the organisations most relevant for assisting the Serbian people, that started its activities in
only and without any covering. Those with lesser wounds flooded the streets of Valjevo and gathered those times, on 23 September 1914 exactly, was The Serbian Relief Fund. During the seven years of its
around the centre for dressing wounds and at noon and in the evenings around food stalls. Those with operation, this Fund collected substantial aid in money, medical supplies; it equipped surgical and
severe wounds were desperately waiting for their turn for examination, dressing wounds, better epidemiological hospitals, assisted refugees, the population in the occupied country and then
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accommodation and evacuation“. The girls and women from Valjevo took an enormous part of the job summoned strength to take part in reconstruction of the destroyed country after liberation. All the
onto their shoulders. Since tragedy and total collapse of medical assistance hung in the air every day, assistance that arrived from the USA and Canada, arrived through the organisations in which the
only individual heroic acts gave certain hope. It was more the sacrifice of individuals and the full, greatest role was that of Mihailo Pupin our renowned scientist already then. Serbia probably never had a
unselfish dedication of doctors and other staff that helped save numerous lives and avoid total collapse person so dedicated to work and the idea and with such leverage, a person who spread the truth about the
than the state organisation. The girls and women took care of the wounded, assisted in surgeries, made Serbs. As the chairman of the Serbian-American Committee of the Red Cross, he and Jelena Lozanić
gypsum bandages even for the complicated fractures. When the medical supplies were depleted, initiated numerous activities and managed to engage various humanitarian organisations and
requisition was conducted in Valjevo pharmacies owned by Tadić and Priklmeyer. In his report dated 13 individuals. Part of the assistance collected reached Valjevo and its hospitals.
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