01.11.2014
Book Fair promotions of the books about Serbian military history
At the booth of Odbrana Media Center, tonight, final fair promotions were held for three new books of the military publishing house.
The books “Serbian military ambulance in the Great War” by Aleksandar Nedok, PhD and retired Generals Branislav Popovic and Veljko Todorovic, “Retreat of the Serbian Army towards the Albanian coast and its evacuation to Corfu 1915-1916” by Aleksandar Nedok, PhD and “The Great War of Serbia” by project coordinator academic Vlado Strugar and editor Milic Petrovic were presented by the authors.
By the end of 1915 and in the beginning of 1916, the Albanian Golgotha took place, the drama that has remained in the collective memory of the Serbian people for its tragic and great victory of human spirit over cruel conditions. There are many publications that are focused on this subject. However, the noblest efforts of the Serbian military ambulance remained in the shadow of the events, even though without their dedication the number of victims would have been a lot greater.The author of the book “Retreat of the Serbian Army towards the Albanian coast and its evacuation to Corfu 1915-1916”, whose second edition was presented at the Fair, spoke about the book as a “book of sorrow and pain”, enriching his address with his experience during his work on the book about the ambulance.
- A father, an uncle and a grandfather have gone through the Albanian Golgotha, the unfortunate times when the gems of the Serbian people were killed – the youth. As the author of another book about the ambulance, I have learnt a lot about its work by reading documents acquired in the Military Archive. I have dedicated the book to my colleagues in medical practice and those who had collected their force from their love for their country and marched to that devastation. This work will remain as an eternal testimony of what the Serbian ambulance did during the Great War – Nedok said, adding that our military doctors did a lot for Serbian and other soldiers as well.
The book about the military ambulance was also commented on by Popovic and Todorovic, who stressed that the Collection gathered a group of significant authors, some of whom are members of the Academy of Medical Sciences of the Serbian Medical Association, who have researched the past of the Serbian ambulance for many years.
- The book is dedicated to the military ambulance and Serbian heroes from Cer, Kolubara, Thessaloniki Front and national liberators in 1918, on the occasion of 100 years since the beginning of the Great War and first allied victories won by the Serbian Army – Popovic said.
According to Todorovic, after the Great War, a comprehensive analysis about the work of the ambulance was conducted, which was no easy task, concerning the fact that a large number of documents had been lost or destroyed.
- The motive of working in this project was to take a lesson from of the ambulance’s work with impartial analysis and to assess everything. The conclusion was that the Serbian military ambulance had conducted their work in the best way possible, and had stood out in several fields. Firstly, it had the best military surgery at the time, was the first one to perform blood transfusion, the first to evacuate the wounded by air, and produced its own vaccines during the war. The shortcoming of the ambulance is that it did not stop the typhus epidemics in time, because many people had died of the disease – Todorovic said.
The documents published in the 32nd and 33rd book from the Edition: The Great War of Serbia for liberation and unification of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (1914-1918) were created during the work of the Serbian – Yugoslav Chief Command between June 1, 1919 and May 5, 1920. Daily reports have been published, dispatches, telegrams and news, issued orders and sent reports, with a total of 342 daily documents.Editor Milic Petrovic said that he had felt responsible to publish its 32nd issue and complement the edition on the occasion of marking the centenary of the beginning of the Great War.
- The material for this book has been prepared for two decades. It is important to note that the 31st book of this edition was published in 1939, and I am glad to say that the next book is available to the public. Also, I hope that the next, 33rd book of the edition will be published next year – Petrovic said.
Director of Odbrana Media Center Colonel Stevica S Karapandzin stressed that it is a great honor for this military publishing house to have the two presented books, highly important for the Serbian history, among its publications.
