SERBIAN WAR LOSSES

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 91, 11 January 1919, Page 11

SERBIAN WAR LOSSES

• A TEE-BIBLE; BECOftD. According to' official information from' .the Serbian Ministry for "War, Serbia, from. July 25,' MM, to July 11, 1916,. placed 707,343 men in the -field. During the wliolo of • this - period, Serbia maintained a -force', of -500,000 effectives.. The number of men mobilised amounted 1 to 21 .per cunt, of- the entire population within the-old frontiers of Serbia.' Only ■ about 100,000 men wore drawn from -,|l»e new., provinces, -because in • tho- iiowlj liberated' (Macedonian) . territories the military - organisation -was • not yet. complete. In the.:t\vo-great. Austrian offensive in 1911', the number of men killed in battle was .'15,861,- and the number oi' deaths from irotinds and sickness 69.022.; In 1915, tlie number of deaths from sickness was 56,812.. TJio total number of deaths from all. causes was 171,725, At tho time of-the retreat, , 139,000 wounded wci'o left behind on tho,battlefields and in hospitals,-or sent honio disabled or for convalescence,- air of.-, whom wero -taken' prisoners by. the cnomy. -During the ter.riblo retreat across Albania there perished in the! fighting and fr.om cold, sicltncss, and hunger, 150.000 men. The last call-up (old men) and part of the third call-up amounted together to 100,1)00 men, who were only, employed on garrison v duty, remained in .Serbi;i, and wero taken .prisbnor. by tho.,enemy. •-The'number of •nien •brought to' Corfu, -Bizertn, and France—the- Teninant- of tho Serbian armies—amounted to 150,000 men.

•According to the official returns, the -number of those fallen in battle and dead in captivity, up to tho last Serbian offensive, amounted to 322,000, which is as much as to say that one-half of Serbia's male;population had-x>erislied outright in tluvEuropeanwar.

i, There are no data to hand as yet to show how- many survive of those who wero prisoners in Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, Turkey, and Germany. Similarly, the statistics have not yet been compiled which will enable us to ascertain how many of the civil population (male and female) of Serbia have died of hunger and sickness during the three-'years'i occupation by the enemy/'. ' '