FLORA SANDES

(1876-1956)

The daughter of a Scottish clergyman who deeply regretted not having beena boy. Flora Sandes volunteered for service with an ambulance unit on theSerbian front in 1914, when she was almost forty years old. As the frontcollapsed, Sandes gradually transformed herself into a soldier, remaining withthe Serbian army on its retreat through the mountains of Albania to thesea. In part because of her valor, in part because of her symbolic value asa representative of England, Sandes remained with the army, eventually beingcommissioned as a lieutenant and after the war, a captain. She married aSerbian sergeant, and lived in Yugoslavia where she was briefly called up,despite her age and the lingering effects of a severe war wound, as amember of the reserves in 1939. Her An English Woman-Sergeant in the SerbianArmy (1916) aided in her successful fund-raising for the Serbian forces and made her an instant celebrity.

We rode all that morning, and as the Commander of the battalion,Captain Stoyadinovitch, did not speak anything but Serbian nor didany other of the officers or men, it looked as if I should soon pick itup. The staff had also shifted their quarters at the same time, and whilewe were riding up a very steep hill where Captain S. had to go fororders Diana's saddle slipped round, and by the time some of thesoldiers had fixed it again for me I found he had got his orders anddisappeared. I asked some of the soldiers which way he had gone,and they pointed across some fields; so I went after him as fast as Dianacould gallop. I met three officers that I knew, also running in the samedirection, and all the men seemed to be going the same way too. Theofficers hesitated about letting me come, and said, 'Certainly not onDiana,' who was white and would make an easy mark for the enemy;so I jumped off and threw my reins to a soldier.
'Well, can you run fast?'
'What, away from the Bulgars!' I exclaimed in surprise.
'No, towards them.'
'Yes, of course I can.'

An English Woman-Sergeant in the Serbian Army      41

'Well, come on then,' and off we went for a regular steeplechase,down one side of a steep hill, splashing and scrambling through atorrent at the bottom of it and up another one equally steep, a sturdylieutenant leading us over all obstacles, at a pace which left even allof them gasping, and I was thankful that I was wearing riding breechesand not skirts, which would certainly have been a handicap throughthe bushes. I wondered how fast we could go if occasion should arisethat we ever had to run away from the Bulgarians, if we went at thatpace towards them. Though no one had breath to tell me where wewere going, it was plain enough, as we could hear the firing moreclearly every moment. We finally came to anchor in a ruined Albanianhut in the middle of a bare plateau on the top of a hill, where we foundthe Commander of the battalion there before us, he having riddenanother way. The Fourth Company, whom we had already met oncethat morning, were holding some natural trenches a short way fartheron, and we were not allowed to go any farther. The Bulgarians seemedto have got their artillery fairly close, and the shrapnel was burstingpretty thickly all around. We sat under the shelter of the wall andwatched it, though, as it was the only building standing up all by itself,it seemed to make a pretty good mark, supposing they discoveredwe were there, which they did very shortly. An ancient old crone, anAlbanian woman, barefooted and in rags, was wandering aboutamong the ruins, and she looked such a poor old thing that I gaveher a few coppers. She called down what I took at the time to beblessings on my head, but which afterwards I had reason to supposewere curses. The shells were beginning to fall pretty thickly in ourneighbourhood, and our Battalion Commander finally said it was timeto move on. He proved to be right, as three minutes after we left itthe wall under which we were sitting was blown to atoms by a shell.My old crone had disappeared in the meantime to a couple of woodenhouses on the edge of the wood. We had to cross a piece of openground, which we did in single file, to reach this wood, and beforewe got to it we got a whole fusillade of bullets whistling round ourears from the friends and relations of the old lady upon whom I hadexpended my misplaced sympathy and coppers. These were the sortof tricks the Albanians were constantly playing on us from thewindows of houses, whenever they got a chance.

We got down through the wood to where we left our horses, waitedfor the Fourth Company to join us, which they presently did, and then rode on, halting for a time, not far from where some of our artillery were shelling the enemy down below in the valley. The officer in

42                        Flora Sandes

charge showed me how to fire off one of the guns when he gave the word, and let me take the place of the man who had been doing it as long as we stayed there.

It was dark when we got to our camping ground that night, closeto where the Colonel and his staff were settled, so I sent for myblankets and tent, which I had left with them, and camped with thebattalion. After a light supper of bowls of soup we sat in a circle roundthe camp fire till late, smoking and chatting. The whole battalion wascamped there, including the Fourth Company, with whom I hadpreviously spent an evening at their camp in the snow, and I thoughtit very jolly being with them again. It did not seem quite so jolly,however, the next morning, when we were aroused at 3 a.m. in pitchdark and pouring rain, everything extremely cold and horribly wet,to climb into soaking saddles, without any breakfast, and ride offgoodness knows where to take up some new position.

It was so thick that we could literally not see our horses' ears; I keptas close as I could behind Captain S„ and he called out every nowand again to know if I was still there. We jostled our way throughcrowds of soldiers, all going in the same direction up a steep pathturned into a mountain torrent from the rain, with a precipitous rockon the near side, which I was told to keep close to, as there was aprecipice on the other. A figure wrapped up in a waterproof cloakloomed up beside me in the darkness and proved to be theCommander of the Fourth Company. He presented me with firstly apull from his flask of cognac, which was very grateful and comforting,and secondly a pair of warm woollen gloves, which he had in reserve,as my hands were wet and frozen. * * *

We rode like this till after daylight, and then sat on the wet grassunder some trees and had a plate of beans; they tasted very good then,but I've eaten them so often since that now I simply can't look a beanin the face. The asked me if I was going to tackle the mountain on footwith them or if I would rather stay there with the transport. I went with them, of course.

* * *

Later on the next day the sun put in an appearance, as did also tBulgarians. The other side of the mountain was very steep, and cposition dominated a flat wooded sort of plateau below, where the enemy were. One of our sentries, who was posted behind a rock reported the first sight of them, and I went up to see where they were, with two of the officers. I could not see them plainly at first, but they

An English Woman-Sergeant in the Serbian Army

could evidently see our three heads very plainly. The companieswere quickly posted in their various positions, and I made my wayover to the Fourth which was in the first line; we did not need anytrenches as there were heaps of rocks for cover, and we laid behindthem firing by volley. I had only a revolver and no rifle of my ownat that time, but one of my comrades was quite satisfied to lend mehis and curl himself up and smoke. We all talked in whispers, as ifwe were stalking rabbits, though I could not see that it matteredmuch if the Bulgarians did hear us, as they knew exactly where wewere, as the bullets that came singing round one's head directly onestood up proved, but they did not seem awfully good shots. It is afunny thing about rifle fire, that a person's instinct always seems tobe to hunch up his shoulders or turn up his coat collar when he iswalking about, as if it were rain, though the bullet you hear whistlepast your ears is not the one that is going to hit you. I have seen heapsof men do this who have been through dozens of battles and are notafraid of any mortal thing.

We lay there and fired at them all that day, and I took a lot ofphotographs which I wanted very much to turn out well; but alas!during the journey through Albania the films, together with nearlyall the others that I took, got wet and spoilt. The firing died down atdark, and we left the firing line and made innumerable camp firesand sat round them. Lieut. Jovitch, the Commander, took me into hiscompany, and I was enrolled on its books, and he seemed to think Imight be made a corporal pretty soon if I behaved myself. We were221 in the Fourth and were the largest, and, we flattered ourselves,the smartest company of the smartest regiment, the first to be readyin marching order in the mornings, and the quickest to have ourtents properly pitched and our camp fires going at night. OurCompany Commander was a hustler, very proud of his men, and theywere devoted to him and would do anything for him, and well theymight. He was a martinet for discipline, but the comfort of his menwas always his first consideration; they came to him for everything,and he would have given anyone the coat off his back if they hadwanted it. A good commander makes a good company, and he couldmake a dead man get up and follow him.

That evening was very different to the previous one. Lieut. Jovitchhad a roaring fire of pine logs built in a little hollow, just below what had been our firing line, and he and I and the other two officers ofthe company sat round it and had our supper of bread and beans, andafter that we spread our blankets on spruce boughs round the fire and

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rolled up in them. It was a most glorious moonlight night, with thelground covered with white hoar frost, and it looked perfectly lovely: with all the camp fires twinkling every few yards over the hillside among the pine trees. I lay on my back looking up at the stars, and, when one of them asked me what I was thinking about, I told him that when I was old and decrepit and done for, and had to stay in a house and not go about any more, I should remember my first night with the fourth Company on the top of Mount Chukus.