When the Ottoman Empire entered the war on October 28, 1914, both the Central Powers and the Entente recognised the strategic importance of Bulgaria. The price of Bulgaria’s participation on either side was Macedonia. As Serbia had secured most of Macedonia as a result of the Balkan Wars, the Central Powers held a distinct advantage. Serbian unwillingness to surrender any part of Macedonia was an obstacle for the Entente’s efforts to attract Bulgaria.
Triple Entente defeats in Galicia and Gallipoli persuaded Tsar Ferdinand I and Prime Minister Vasil Radoslavov that the time was right for Bulgaria to join the Central Powers. On September 6, 1915, at German military headquarters at Pless, the Bulgarian representatives signed an alliance with Germany and Austria-Hungary. This agreement provided for a German-Austrian-Bulgarian attack on Serbia.
On October 14, 1915, Bulgaria declared war on Serbia. Two days later, Bulgaria troops joined the ongoing Austro-Hungarian and German invasion of that country. This invasion soon overwhelmed the Serbs, who retreated across the Albanian mountains to the Adriatic Sea. The Bulgarians overran Macedonia.
On October 5, 1915, a combined Anglo-French force of some two large brigades started landing at the Greek port of Salonika (nowadays Thessalonika) at the request of the Greek Prime Minister. The troops were sent to provide military assistance to the Serbs who had been attacked by combined German-Austro-Hungarian-Bulgarian armies. But the expedition arrived too late, the Serbs having been beaten before they landed.
Hospital beds and convalescent depot accommodation was gradually increased to 25,570 by adding tentage to the hospitals
In December, Bulgarian forces repulsed an Entente attempt launched from Salonika to assist the Serbs. However, their failure to expel the British and French allowed the Entente forces to regroup and maintain themselves along a front north of Salonika, where they posed a threat to the Central Powers’ southeastern flank. This Macedonian front endured until almost the end of the war.
At one point the British advised that the troops be withdrawn. However, the French – with Russian, Italian and Serbian backing – still believed something of strategic importance could be gained in the Balkans. The outcome of the Gallipoli campaign was in the balance and most shipping in the area was at risk. In December 1915 the British element fought a battle at Kosturino, north of Lake Doiran, after withdrawing from Serbia. After this there was little action except for occasional air raids on Salonika.
The campaign in Gallipoli came to an end in early January 1916. Thus, the number of casualties arriving at Malta decreased so that by the end of March 1916, there were 20,000 beds but only 4,000 patients.
There were two main phases in the expansion of the hospitals. The first took place in March 1915 when beds had to be found for venereal cases arriving from Egypt; the second phase saw a massive increase in the number of beds to treat the casualties from the Gallipoli landings of April 25, 1915. The actual number of available beds varied greatly.
In March 1916, when the needs of the Gallipoli campaign had been met, it had amounted to 13,500 and was reduced to 12,000. In July 1916, an outbreak of malaria among the troops in Macedonia brought more sick to Malta. Weekly convoys arrived with a number of sick increasing from 718 to 2,587 in successive weeks. To accommodate them the hospital beds and convalescent depot accommodation was gradually increased to 25,570 by adding tentage to the hospitals set up in 1915.
The highest figures were reached in October 1916, when the demands of the Salonika Force made it necessary to increase the number of beds to 24,570 beds. However, thereafter, the numbers began to fall until by September 1917, there remained only 5,943 patients, many of whom were convalescent. By the end of August 1917, the total number of men who had been treated in Malta was about 125,000. Of these, approximately equal numbers came from Gallipoli and from Salonika, the greater majority of serious surgical cases coming from Gallipoli.
The mildness of the Maltese climate allowed many of the wounded to be treated in the open air
The mildness of the Maltese climate allowed many of the wounded to be treated in the open air. Balconies and verandahs became extensions to the main wards. No intact medical or surgical units were sent to Malta and the hospitals were organised using local resources.
The Ospizio Depot Stores of the Army Ordnance Department manufactured not only bedheads and bedside tables but also special splints, crutches, diet trays and disinfecting tubs. On May 17, 1915, a large quantity of timber was purchased by the Ordnance to meet the demand for hospital furniture.
The hospitals, of which there were 24 at one time, were variously located and varied also in the extent of their accommodation. In August 1915, the Station Hospital in Cottonera had 374 beds and that of Valletta 400 beds; 685 beds were in civil buildings such as schools and auberges; 3,589 were in stone-built barracks; and 1,996 under canvas.
Most of these hospitals were provided with operating theatres, and as far as possible surgical cases were kept in stone buildings or transferred there for their surgery. X-ray apparatus was provided in all the more important buildings.
There were also naval medical services in Malta that ran in co-operation with the military services. The military offered temporary loan of personnel and the use of the military hospitals for sick naval ratings. In May 1915, all existing naval and military beds were pooled and made available for either service, depending on need. The Royal Naval Hospital Bighi was thus able to release 200 beds for the first influx of patients from Gallipoli.
A substantial number of Anzac soldiers who died in Malta during their treatment in Maltese hospitals and a total of 220 Australian and 72 New Zealand soldiers are buried in Malta.
On April 15, 1916, the first Anzac Day was commemorated in Malta at Pietà Military Cemetery, possibly the first Anzac ceremony in the world. At that time there were 107 Anzacs laid to rest in the cemetery. Since 1979 the Anzac Day service has been held on April 25 at Pietà Military Cemetery as it contains the highest number of Anzac war graves in Malta.
Total number of sick and wounded soldiers treated in Malta between May 1915 and February 1919
Mediterranean Expeditionary Force:
Officers: 2,538
Nursing sisters: 14
Other ranks: 55,439
Total: 57,991
Salonika Expeditionary Force:
Officers: 2,930
Nursing sisters: 467
Other ranks: 74,733
Total: 78,130
Highest number of patients treated on one day: 20,994
Average number of soldiers arriving every week from Gallipoli: 2,000
Number of hospitals in Malta at the peak of January 1916: 27
Number of hospital beds at the peak of April 1917: 25,000
Number of hospital personnel at the peak of January 1916:
Medical officers: 334
Number of nurses: 913
Other ranks: 2,032
(To be concluded)
Clarification
With reference to last Sunday’s article ‘Gallipoli: beginning of the end’, Captain Alfred J. Gatt, Royal Malta Artillery (RMA), was awarded the Military Cross for distinguished conduct in the field while attached to the Royal Army Ordnance Corps (RAOC), not with the Maltese Labour Corps at Gallipoli. I wish to thank his son, Major Henry Gatt, for this clarification.
Charles Debono is curator at the National War Museum.