CWGC

One of the lesser-known World War II UK and Dominion Forces unit types was the Graves Registration and Enquiries Unit (GREU), or the Graves Registration Unit (GRU). These units were located behind the lines and were responsible for curating the war dead between their burial—theoretically by front line troops but not infrequently by GRUs themselves—and their concentration into permanent war cemeteries. This volume presents the wartime diaries of Walter (Wally) von Schramm, the Officer in Command of one such unit, the New Zealand Graves Registration and Enquiries Unit (NZGREU), during and immediately after the war's North African campaign. The diaries run from January 1941 to July 1943 and cover his journey from the UK to Egypt, his initial service in Egypt with a training battalion based at Maadi Camp outside Cairo, his service in Libya and Egypt with the NZGREU, and his return to New Zealand. Also included are a short essay on the work of GRUs in the Middle East and Africa, possibly written by him for the NZEF Times, a free newspaper produced for Second New Zealand Expeditionary Force (2NZEF) personnel, a series of excerpts from his official unit War Diary, and an unattributed and undated protocol, apparently issued to him as Officer in Command of the NZGREU, outlining the duties of a GRU. Collectively, these forgotten and till now unstudied documents provide a unique insight into both the role of, and everyday life in, a GRU during and immediately after the campaign, revealing to us their attendant routines, frustrations, dangers, stresses and—at times—disgust and horror. In this way they add significantly to our knowledge and understanding of the campaign, and also of these essential, but lesser-known units. The present chapter considers the post war and possible future trajectory of the region's war cemeteries, including several of those on which Wally and his unit worked. The complete volume was published on ANZAC day 2024.

There are today (2022) four British military cemeteries in the Kilkis area: those of Sarigol (at Kristoni), Doirani, Karasouli (at Polykastro) and Lahana; also nearby are the Struma Cemetery at Kalokastro, Serres, and the two Greek military cemeteries of Doirani and Axioupoli. The four British cemeteries reflect the disposition of the British forces on the Macedonian Front or Salonika Front from west of the Vardar (Axios) River to the river Struma. They are the last resting-place of 4,778 soldiers from the British Salonika Force. Another 2,170 whose bodies were not recovered are commemorated on the Memorial on Colonial Hill at Doirani, while 4,671 British Army casualties and prisoners are buried in the Commonwealth military cemeteries in Thessaloniki, and another 500, mainly lost at sea, are commemorated on the Mikra Memorial. In the two Greek cemeteries repose the fallen from the Greek forces operating in conjunction with the British on the Vardar-Doirani line; in addition to the 171 individual graves there are also monuments commemorating those whose bodies could not be recovered or remained unidentified. Finally, scattered throughout the area there were at one time a number of cemeteries for the fallen of the French army, but these no longer exist.

The present paper aims to present the status of the military cemeteries of the First World War in Macedonia region, in the Balkans, as a sample of common cultural heritage in this very area. In the introduction, there are certain points raised concerning mainly: the historical knowledge and report on the present condition of military cemeteries (as far as spatial organization, architecture and sculpture are concerned), the status of their contemporary function, as well as the relation between these monuments and both the local communities and the greater area. In addition, the framework of a corporate planning for the launching of the cemeteries in the countries of this area is also presented along with their incorporation in the contemporary urban environment, the promotion of scenarios and actions towards the cooperation of the two countries – where the monuments are traced– in order to facilitate and methodize the visitors' transportation there. Sommario

The First World War was a landmark in modern Balkan history since it created the largest battlefront seen until then in the region, destroyed the Ottoman Empire, strengthened nation states and created millions of refugees. One of the least recognized geno cides worldwide, the Armenian genocide, took place during this war. Ιt was not only a destructive war, but also a creative one since the forces that took part in it (the Entente and the Central Powers) created road and rail networks, improved provision of health care, drained marshland, introduced new methods of production, etc. For the first time, official military cemeteries were created in the Balkan region, in order to pay tribute to the dead of the war. The purpose of this paper is to present the work of the British regarding the care for their dead soldiers, namely the crea tion, the creation and the conservation of permanent military monuments and cemeteries of the First World War in Greece.

We will learn in this article about a man who´s grandfather came to India in the late 18th century, who´s son and later grandchild, who´s descendants would serve in the military till Indian Independence in 1947. Alexander Bertram Lindsay had a unusual military career, serving in the North Western Frontier, the North Eastern Frontier, Russia and in London. He served in the South Wales Borderers, 2nd Prince of Wales´s Own Gurkha Rifles, Indian Army HQ, Secretariat of Imperial Defence, Personal Staff of the Commander in Chief, Army Staff HQ, India Office and the War Office during his 22 years in service. He made a name for himself as a translator and Interpreter of Russian, in a time when the Great Game was reaching its height, until World War1.

MEMOIRS OF THE HUNGARIAN DIPLOMAT SÁNDOR KISS-NEMESKÉRI OF BULGARIA AND THE BULGARIANS

P. Peykovska

(Summary)

The Hungarian diplomat S. Kiss-Nemeskéri is one the forgotten personalities of the interwar period who had left a significant mark although he had not been able to play a decisive role in the international politics. He had worked in Bulgária for more than 10 years: with a short interruption from 1912 when he was appointed an economy expert in Sofia, to 1929 when he had already the Statute of a Hungárián royal diplomatic agent. From that time on till 1937 he had been a diplomatic agent first in Stockholm, then in Helsinki being accredited at the same time to the three Baltic countries of Estonia, Lithuania and Lat Via. Being unusually colourful and all-round man, S. Kiss published at the end of the 1930-es and at the beginning of the 1940-es his memoirs of his diplomatic service in several volumes where his impressions of Bulgária occupied a considerable place. His book of memoirs titled “In a hurry. From the Memoirs of a Hungárian Diplomat” and published in Budapest in 1940, is the most interesting one from a historical point of view. A part of those memoirs is published here, although in a concise form, with a view to its importance for the Bulgárián history. The memoirs reveal the history of Austro-Hungarian-Bulgarian diplomatic relations as well as the Hungarian-Bulgarian ones of the pe¬riod from 1912 to 1929. They reflect his impressions of the meetings with Alexander Stamboliiski and King Boris, of the public life in Bulgária in the 1920-es and particularly of the Reparations’ committees, of the assault at the „Sveta Nedelya” Cathedral, of the presence of the Russian emigrants in Bulgária, of some episodes of the Macedonian movement. The  memoirs are being published in Bulgárián for the first time.

ВОСПОМИНАНИЯ ВЕНГЕРСКОГО ДИПЛОМАТА ШАНДОРА КИША-НЕМЕШКЕЙРИ О БОЛГАРИИ И О БОЛГАРАХ

П. Пейковска

(Резюме)

Венгерский дипломат Шандор Киш-Немешкейри является одной из забытых личностей межвоенного периода, которые хотя и не имевшие решающую роль в международной политике, оставили свой значительный след. Он работал в Болга¬рии более десятилетия: с 1912 г., когда был назначен экономическим экспертом в Софии, с небольшими перерывами до 1929 г., когда уже пользовался статутом вен¬герского королевского дипломатического агента. После этого, до 1937 г. работал дипломатическим агентом сначала в Стокгольме, потом в Хельзинки, где являлся одновременно аккредитованным при трех балтийских странах Естонин, Литвы и Латвии. Чрезвычайно колоритный и всесторонне развитый человек, в конце 30-х и начале 40-х годов века Шандор Киш издает в нескольких книгах свои мемуары о времени дипломатической работы, где значительное место находят его впечатле¬ния о Болгарии. С исторической точки зрения наибольший интерес представляет его мемуарная книга „Наспех. Из воспоминаний одного венгерского дипло-мата”, вышедшая в Будапеште в 1940 г.
В настоящей публикации предлагаем в сокращенном виде часть этих воспо¬минаний ввиду их исторической значимости дли болгарской истории. Они являются своеобразной историей австро-венгерско-болгарских и венгерско-болгарских диплома¬тических взаимоотношений за период 1912-1929 гг. В частности мемуары отражают впечатления Ш. Киша со встречи с Александром Стамболийским и царем Борисом, об общественной жизни у нас в 20-х годах века - комиссии по репарациям, поку¬шение в церкви Св. Недели, присутствие русских иммигрантов, моменты македон¬ского  движения. Мемуары выходят в свет впервые на болгарском языке.
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