THE “SLAVA DAY” OF THE SECOND REGIMENT
The companies used to take turns at working at the ports for about
three weeks, and when our turn came the men were very pleased, as they
much preferred it to doing drill, and they were able to occasionally
get into the town also. We were camped about a mile and a half outside
the town, but I thought it was the nastiest camp that I had ever been
in--a very small crowded piece of ground with no shade, so that when
the weather was hot we were perfectly roasted, and when it was wet,
when you tried to climb up the narrow steep path to it, you slipped
back two steps for one you went up, in the thick slippery mud.
I gave up my room in town, as our camp was close enough to walk to. I
could make myself understood pretty well in Serbian by now, though,
of course, I made awful mistakes, as it is by far the most difficult
language I have ever come across to learn, there being no books to
help one. One can only pick it up by ear; so it is no wonder if I was
occasionally misunderstood.
One day I told my orderly to go and fetch my thick coat, which he
would find on a chair in my room, and bring it to me in camp. He duly
arrived back about an hour afterwards with the coat _and_ the chair,
which he had carried all through the town, and was much discomfited
at the howls of laughter with which we all greeted him. I asked him
what the land-lady had said to his removing her furniture like that,
and he confessed that she had made a few remarks, but, as she spoke
nothing but Italian and he nothing but Serbian, they passed lightly
over his head, and he triumphantly carried out what he had taken to be
my orders. He was a capital orderly, always cheerful and willing. One
day he told me, in answer to some remark of mine, that as my orderly
he would not have to fight. “Will you fight with us going back to
Serbia, like you did in Albania?” he asked. “Why, of course I shall,
Dragoutini,” I said. His face beamed. “Then I shall go with you and
fight beside you,” he declared emphatically.
We went back to our camp in the hills when our three weeks were up, and
to our great joy we heard that we were to embark almost immediately for
Salonica.
They let us stay a day longer than was intended in order to celebrate
the regimental “Slava day,” which is a great festival, and the whole
regiment was _en fête_ for the whole day. The Crown Prince Alexander
himself came, and a great many French and English officers and a few
ladies.
It was held in a beautiful big, flat glade, just below the camp, with
huge big spreading trees. There was a large marquee decorated with all
the different flags of the Allies, and everybody had been busy for
the last week making paths and generally beautifying the place, and
practising for the big march past of the regiment.
We had a variety of talent in our regiment; among others a young
student of sculpture. Building four high pillars of clayey mud flanking
the path leading to the marquee, he carved on each a beautiful
bas-relief. The first one represented a haggard, weary, beaten Serbian
soldier going into exile; the next a Serbian soldier re-equipped,
holding his new rifle in his hand, his expression full of fierce
determination, standing in a striking attitude with his face to the foe
again; while on a third was the head of a woman with a look of patient
expectancy on her beautiful face, representing the women who were
waiting in Serbia for the return of their sons and husbands to deliver
them from the bondage of the hated Austrian-Bulgarian oppressors. They
were most striking figures, and some day that young Serbian soldier
will become known as a very great sculptor.
It was an ideal spot for a _fête_, and we hoped anxiously that the
weather, which had looked rather threatening, would hold up. The whole
regiment was astir very early, and we were all drawn up under the trees
before the guests arrived.
I was talking to the Colonel, when he suddenly asked me where my
company was drawn up.
“Just behind the Third,” I replied, pointing over in that direction.
“Well, come over there with me, I want to speak to them,” he said,
and we went over, I wondering what he was going to say, and was more
than astonished when I found the surprise in store for me. They all
sprang to attention, and then, with me standing by his side, he made
them a long speech, which all the other companies round could hear
also, and said that he was promoting me to sergeant on that their
great regimental “Slava day.” Generally you are just promoted, and it
is entered in the books in the ordinary way, and it was a very great
honour to have a public sort of ceremony like that, especially on
such a day. They all shouted “Jivio” three times for me when he had
finished, and, though I felt extremely shy and embarrassed, I was very
much pleased.
All the officers in the regiment and a great many of the men came up
and shook hands with me afterwards, and congratulated me, and the
Commander of the battalion sent his orderly off for some spare stars
which he had, and fixed my second ones on my shoulders there and then.
Later on the General of the First Army, who was one of the guests, when
he heard I was one of his soldiers, also added his congratulations; in
fact, I have never in my life had so much handshaking and patting on
the back.
Presently the Crown Prince arrived and the rest of the guests. The
whole regiment, headed by the band and the regimental flag, marched
past him and saluted, and to see these fine healthy-looking fellows,
with their swinging stride, you would never have guessed they were the
same men who had gone through that terrible retreat in the Albanian
mountains and arrived at Corfu in such a deplorable condition two
months before.
The guests all sat down to lunch in the big marquee, and after that
there were songs, dancing, etc. The Crown Prince had to leave early,
but said he would come back again later on.
I had invited two of my friends from the English hospital, and they
enjoyed themselves immensely, and we all--guests, officers and
men--danced the “Kolo” and all the other Serbian national dances
together until evening.
Later on there was another big lunch and a great many speeches from the
representatives of the English, French and Italian Allies. True to his
promise Prince Alexander came back later in the afternoon, specially to
chat with the soldiers, among whom he walked about in the friendliest
manner, enquiring after their families, how they had been wounded,
etc., etc. It was easy to see how popular he is with his Army, and how
pleased and proud the men were as they crowded round him.
We kept it up the whole day and late that night after all the guests
had gone, in spite of the fact that we should have to be astir very
early next morning, as we were to embark for Salonica.
We had a very hot, dusty tramp down to the embarking stage, and I had
very bad luck, as I lost my dog “Mali,” who was a most faithful little
brute, though it would be hard to describe his breed. He was a stray
who had attached himself to an officer and afterwards been handed over
to me, and he was always at my heels, never quitting me for a moment
and sleeping in my tent. Even when I was dancing the previous day he
had nearly upset several people in his anxiety to keep close to me.
It was only about half an hour before the boat sailed that I missed
him. In the immense crowd of soldiers he had lost sight of me for a
moment, and then could not trace me, and someone eventually told me
that they had seen him starting back along the hot, dusty road to camp
looking for me, and, as I dared not miss the boat on his account, I had
reluctantly to give up the search.
The boat was a fine French Transatlantic boat, but the first day out
at sea was very rough, and the men, who are anything but good sailors,
lay about prostrate, declaring that they would rather have ten days’
continuous battle on land than one day on board ship.
However, Easter Sunday was very fine, and we all landed next day quite
fit at Salonica. Our camp was up on the hills about seventeen miles
from the town. It was a lovely place, and had the further advantage of
having a spring of very good mineral water, which was a great luxury,
as the drinking water around Salonica is not good as a rule.
The transportation of the Serbian Army from Corfu to Salonica was going
on apace, and within a few weeks the whole force was safely landed
without a single casualty.
The men were fully equipped down to the very last button--new English
khaki uniforms, belts, rifles, water-bottles, absolutely everything.
I went home on a couple of months’ leave, leaving them full of spirits,
and eagerly looking forward to the time when we could get another whack
at the enemy, and march victoriously back into Serbia; and with any
luck I hope some day to be able to describe how we accomplished it, and
the triumphal entry into Nish which we are always talking about.
Printed in England by W. H. SMITH & SON, The Arden Press,
Stamford Street London, S.E.