AN ENGLISHWOMAN IN SERBIA.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume III, Issue 883, 8 December 1916, Page 4

AN ENGLISHWOMAN IN SERBIA.

THE GREAT RETREAT. Mrs Flora Sandes, an Englishwoman, who has worked in Siberia for the past 18 months asa voluntary nurse, was with one of the regiments when it, fell back into Albania, and ultimately reached Durazzo and Corfu. Finding her occupation gone, she became a soldier, and within a very short time was promoted to the rank of corporal, and later on to the rank of sergeant. In a book just published, Mrs Sandes describes many of her adventures, and as she wields a vividly descriptive pen, there are many little cameos in her book. As for instance: —• Pathos of the Great Retreat. "The soldiers were all retreating across the snow, and I never saw such a depressing sight. The grey November twilight, the endless white expanse of snow, lit up every moment by the (lashes of the guns, and the long column of men trailing away into the dusk wailing a sort of dismal dirge— I don 't know what it was they were singing, something between a song and a sob; it sounded like the cry of a Banshee. I have never heard it, before or since, but it was a most heart-break-ing sound.'' The troops were fighting a rearguard action practically for six weeks —a mere handful of troops, worn out by weeks of incessant fighting, hungry, siik, and with no big forces to back them up, retreating slowly and in good order before.overwhelming forces of an enemy who was fresh and well equipped with every arm. The only thought that buoyed them up, Sergr. Sandes remarks, was that England would never forsake them, and she modestly adds: "I believe the fact that I went through with them did perhaps sometimes help to encourage the soldiers." Her first service as an active-com-batant came when the Serbians were holding Mount Chukus. At Bay Behind Rocks. "The companies wen; quickly posted in their various positions, and 1 made my way over to the Fourth, which was in the first line; we did not need any trenches, as there were heaps of rocks for cover, and we lay behind them firing

by volley. I had only a revolver, and no rifle of my own at that time, but one of my comrades was quite satisfied to lend me his and curl himself up and smoke. We all talked in "whispers, as if we were stalking rabbits, though T could not see that it mattered much if the Bulgarians did hear us, as they knew exactly where we were, as the bullets that came singing round one's head directly one stood up proved, but they did not seem awfully good shots.

"It is a funny thing about rifle fire, that a person's instinct always seems to be to hunch up his shoulders or turn up his coat collar when he is walking about, as if it were rain, though the bullet you hear whistle past your cars is not the one that is going to hit you. T have seen heaps of men do this who have been through dozens of battles, and arc not afraid of any mortal thing." "When the remnants of the regiment got to T)urn7.zo, Miss Sandes was promoted to the rank of corporal, and was sworn in, with a number of other recruits to the accompaniment of the impressive religious ceremony which the Serbians follow on these occasions. Thence she went with her regiment to Corfu, where the Serbian army was rested and refitted for further service, and on "Slewa Day," which is a great festival, Corporal Sandes became a sergeant amid universal congratulations, among which an address from the soldiers of the company to which she was attached wns not least esteemed. Miss Sandes ends her volume with the announcement that she is "eagerly looking forward to the time when we can get another whac.L 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."