Easter greetings from your uncle, April 13, 1916. A whimsical Austrian pencil sketch from Cetinje, capital of Montenegro, then occupied by Austro-Hungarian forces. Easter was on April 23 in 1916.
Cetinje 13.4.16Oster Grüße sendet Euch alle Euer klein Onkerl (?)Easter greetings to you send all your little uncle
"Overnight in Corfu the cold wet winter surrendered to a brilliant spring of clear skies and lush green vegetation, with a leaden sea transformed to startling blue—a new season that heralded renewed hope. Most of the Serbs had made a remarkable recovery. Regular food, routine medical treatment and a couple of months' rest, had restored over 100,000 starving, battered soldiers to a disciplined army of fit and healthy men. British uniforms and French rifles had been issued, regular army training and exercises had become routine, and they were now ready to go, 'to resume their endless task of war once more', as Laffan puts it. By mid-April 1916 the first units were standing by ready to embark for Salonika."
After being defeated by the combined forces of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Bulgaria, Serbia's army, government, and many civilians retreated through the mountains of Albania to the Adriatic coast. Having failed to aid Serbia with troops that had been landed in Salonica, Greece, her allies struggled to provide food, shelter, and transport to the Serbians who had survived the winter crossing, but eventually delivered the Serbs to the island of Corfu. R.G.D. Laffan, an historian quoted by our author, was attached to a British ambulance unit in Salonica.
The Quality of Mercy: Women at War, Serbia 1915-18 by Monica Krippner, page 179, copyright © Monica Krippner 1980, publisher: David and Charles, publication date: 1980
1916-04-16, 1916, April, Serbia, Serbian, Salonica, Salonika, Corfu
