Posted on 08/30/2013 12:22:31 PM PDT by Ravnagora
Monument to the Battle of Tser victory of 1914 in Serbia. Author of photo unknown at this time.
Aleksandra's Note: The following comments were posted on Free Republic by “Blogger DTA on the Free Republic forum”. The points DTA makes are well worth noting as we near the Centennial of the Great War.
Sincerely,
Aleksandra Rebic
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"Austro-Hungarian POWs brought typhus fever to Serbia. By the end of 1914, 200,000 Serbs were dead. The typhus fever tragedy continued into 1915. It was Austro-Hungarian WMD [Weapons of Mass Destruction] of the time.
"The Battle of Tser was the first Allied victory in WW1. It is interesting to note that no Allies are paying any attention to it.
"Perhaps it's because all the allies EXCEPT Serbia declared armistice with Germany and KUK.
"The WW1 victory was a pyrrhic victory for Serbia - 56% of the male population perished, and the industry and land were ravaged by Germany and Austria. Serbia never recovered.
"I could only imagine what kind of garbage and historical revisionism we will have to endure next year. The history of WW1 and its aftermath are reshuffled beyond recognition. It all started around 1976. By then, French books stopped mentioning the role of Serbia among the allies and gradually, the German/Austrian/Nazi view got a foothold. IMHO [In my humble opinion], it is not only an insult to the memory of the Serbs who perished, it is an insult to the memory of all Allied soldiers and seamen who fought in the Great War. The Germans and Austrians, precursors of the Nazis, won WW1 in the historical revisionism rematch."
“Blogger DTA on the Free Republic forum”
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3057274/posts
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Ping.
The reason for this is that in Western Europe and North America, people focus exclusively on the what happened on the Western Front. They ignore the fighting and the millions casualties on the Southern front, the Balkans, the Austro-Hungarian/Russian border, the middle east, the Caucasus, Asia and East Africa.
Austro-Hungarian POWs brought typhus fever to Serbia. By the end of 1914, 200,000 Serbs were dead. The typhus fever tragedy continued into 1915. It was Austro-Hungarian WMD [Weapons of Mass Destruction] of the time.
Seriously? So the the POW’s were infected in advance of their being captured so as to infect and decimate the Serbs? Hyperbole much? And if you want to find the the roots of the Nazis, and despicable they were, you need look no further than Woodrow Wilson and the League of Nations.
She was twice awarded the Serbian Order of the Star of Karađorđe with Swords (military version), French Légion d’Honneur (twice), the Russian Cross of St. George, the British medal of the Most Distinguished Order of St. Michael, and the Serbian Medal of Milos Obilić. In addition, she is the only female recipient of the French Croix de Guerre with Gold Palm Leaf for service during the First World War.
Aye, my high school AP US History course was focussed on the Western front; and since the teacher was a WWII vet he was (rightly) most concerned with teaching how the flawed Treaty of Paris sowed the seeds that led to [i]his[/i] war.
So true, so true. My guess is that the worst and most persistent revisionism will come form the EU - we will hear how evil nationalism caused the Great War, and be told that if all of Europe had been ruled from the centre (Berlin or Brussels) such a catastrophe would not ever have come to be.
Nationalism did of course play a role, but remember that the EU is partly modelled on the Austro-Hungarian empire, who of course started it all.
I did not say what you misconstrued. Austro-Hungarian POWs were the source of typhoid fever, not Austro-Hungarian fighting force. Fighting force was not infected in advance, because they could not fight. Typhoid has short onset. The first week there is mailaise, second week fever and delirium.
Austro-Hugarian agents operating behind enemy lines did spread typhoid, it is known historical fact. Any Army doctor anywhere in the world could confirm it. it is part of military medicine curriculum.
It is known as Serbian barrel although it is Scottish.
Ridiculing these facts and attempting to turn them upside down is historical revisionism.
Officially, the only British woman - combat soldier in WWI.
I agree, plus the US was not in the war when this battle was fought.
I recently learned, however that the US had a small participation in the Second (Naval) Battle of Durazzo in 1918, which took out an Austrian/German naval base. We contributed some sub chasers. The bulk of the fleet was Italian, with some British ships.
You are confused. Typhus and typhoid are very different diseases.
Typhus is spread by lice, the results of unclean living conditions, which are of course very difficult to maintain in wartime. The logistics of using it as a weapon of war are obvious.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typhus
Typhoid is a water/food borne disease, spread by these things contaminated with the feces of an infected person. It would also be difficult to use as a weapon of war.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typhoid_fever
Bitter enemies are often accused of spreading such diseases via spies or agents, but doing so isn’t particularly practical.
http://entomology.montana.edu/historybug/wwi/tef.htm
In reading this it appears that the typhoid epidemic, something that was not a new occurrence in Serbia had more to do with a lack of Doctors, medicine and facilities to deal with the masses of Serbian refugees and prisoners of war than a deliberate act of germ warfare. And I still argue that the prisoners of war being infected not the fighting force makes no sense. So someone had the Typhoid virus ready and just waiting to infect the soldiers just as they were to be taken as prisoner?
Just an FYI - “Typhoid fever” and “Typhus”, though they have some similar qualities, are “distinct diseases and are caused by different species of bacteria”.
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The fact that bitter enemies accuse each other does not mean that it is not true, nor that both accusations are accurate.
Take for example recent Sarin attack in Syria. Perpetrated by the British mercs and AQ against Syrian civilians.
UKUSA blame Syrian goverment, although they have the hard facts, like the rest of the world. Syria blames AQ terrorists affiliated with UKUSA but has no 00 to blame UKUSA.
One could say they are blaming each other, which is not true, one side is making false accusation to protect it's actions, another is pointing in the right direction.
Ditto for Halabja when Iran was accused although having nothing to do with it.
The Austro-Hungarian prisoners of war WERE part of the Austro-Hungarian fighting force. They weren't two separate entities.
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This is an allegation, not a fact. Unless you've seen evidence I haven't.
I wouldn't be surprised if AQ were involved, but I hope the Brits wouldn't do this.
Typhus, not typhoid. Bacteria, not virus.
The only way to spread typhus is by lice, so possibly one could put together a “lice bomb” and drop it on the refugees. Seems pretty advanced for 1914.
“Austro-Hungarian POWs were the source of typhoid fever, not Austro-Hungarian fighting force. Fighting force was not infected in advance, because they could not fight. Typhoid has short onset. The first week there is mailaise, second week fever and delirium.”
Quote from DTA, can’t have it both ways. Either they were infected while still an “effective” fighting force or they were infected after loss of battle prior to being taken as POW’s. Either way does not make sense.
I can find more books on the East African Campaign than I can the Balkans, and it was merely a sideshow in comparison.
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