A. Čukić
Pristina
The Swiss Paul di Boche, a journalist, war reporter and publicist, lived in Serbia during the First World War and withdrew with the Serbian army through Albania, about which he wrote a series of travelogues published in the Journal de Geneve in July 1915. until May 1916. The texts we publish in this series were collected by Zivko Markovic, MA, a well-known Serbian historian living in Switzerland, and translator Miomir Lj. Marinkovic.
Pristina, in the center of a long Kosovo chain, has been the heart of the Serbian resistance for almost two weeks, writes Paul di Boshe. In his text published by the Swiss press on March 11, 1916, a few months after the events described by the special correspondent, Di Boshe says that the Serbian General Staff counted on the intervention of the allies and believed in the imminent possibility of a general offensive.
Faith in the offensive
“The General Staff simply worked hard, counting firmly on the energetic intervention of the allies and believing – unfortunately! – in the near future the possibility of a general counter-offensive in which he was ready to take on the difficult and glorious task of throwing Mackenzie’s army into the Danube, to slow down the enemy’s advance and the moment of unification of Bulgarians and Germans and thus prevent the establishment of broken ties between Berlin and Constantinople.
Fulfilling the strictly obtained instructions, he gradually withdrew his troops, avoiding full engagement. The loud announcements of the emperor, guarantees and promises, constantly repeated about the landing of troops in Thessaloniki, announced at the big bells, all that, in spite of everything, restored his confidence.
But time passed, and Russia did not take any action “, writes the Swiss reporter.
Last hour
Left to their own devices, several French divisions engaged in the Vardar Valley had their hands full resisting the fierce attacks of the Bulgarians.
“It became clearer every day that no help from the side should be counted on anymore. And, finally, after bravely resisting the alliance of its three enemies for six weeks, defeated more by hunger, scarcity and fatigue than by weapons and numbers, the Serbian army felt exhausted. She realized that after so many victories, her last hour had come. But she wanted to at least have an end worthy of her and her glorious past. And she made the final effort, the last and grandiose maneuver, in which the military and war spirit of that people was confirmed in a great way “, he states.
All forces that were not absolutely necessary were withdrawn from the western, northern and northeastern fronts and concentrated towards the Bulgarians, from the side of Skopje. Since the resumption of military operations, victories and defeats have alternated in battles there.
Painful scenes
The Swiss states with admiration that despite the lack of material resources, clogged communications, the deplorable condition of humanity, everything went in perfect order.
“This time it was a breakthrough at any cost. “Breakthrough”, that magic word, for several days, strongly delighted people. Breakthrough, it was finally the reconquest of Skopje, a free road to the south, connecting with the French near Veles. Failure, on the contrary, it was a definite environment, a retreat towards the mountains of Albania, after all, maybe capitulation…
All the troops sent there passed through Pristina. I found myself, therefore, in the heart of the fire. For three days and three nights the columns passed uninterruptedly. The muddy and dark streets were full of starving soldiers and wounded. They camped on the sidewalks in the evening, lighting large fires on the road… Shooting was constantly heard. Then the German planes arrived… I wandered through that crowd for days. But why describe those painful scenes. All I saw there was just a repetition, even worse, of what I had already seen in Skopje, then in Paracin, in Krusevac, in all those cities where the coincidence of the withdrawal led me. “
Pillory
Paul di Boshe writes that guards were set up at all intersections in Pristina due to doubts about the loyalty of Albanians who lived isolated in their hermetically sealed houses, and a pillar of shame was placed in front of the police station, to which thieves were tied and punished with beatings.
“During those days of deep concern and insanity, executions were frequent and we saw convicts passing in old carriages surrounded by gendarmes on horses, with one priest sitting opposite them. They all had the same immobile posture, fists between their knees, bowed heads, wide eyes from cruel and animal fear. “
Two glasses of bran
Retreating with the Serbian army, the Swiss journalist shared the fate of the Serbian warriors, spent the nights in any camp, on the bare floor of an ambulance or a bad Albanian room, and ate what he could get his hands on. He was constantly ready to flee, because at any moment, the last time he could be withdrawn, he could be cut off. While he was expecting the outcome of the crisis, he also described the situation in which he found himself.
“I lost everything. But a Cossack doctor gave me an overcoat, and the captain of the machine gunners gave me shoes. In the military warehouses, where nothing was left but two buckets of oil, a few pairs of moldy shoes, taken from the dead and wounded in the hospital, and two bags of bread, I received, as a sign of special affection, two glasses of bran. Compared to thousands of others, I was happy and rich. And then, there were always soldiers calling on me to share a slice of some decaying corpse baked on top of a bayonet. ”
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