While women like Dr. Inglis, Bowhill, and Dr. Hutton put themselves in harm’s way often serving alongside the military, one woman did even more: Captain Flora Sandes. A British woman who was not content to sit on the sidelines, Sandes wanted to be in the fray.
But Sandes wanted to keep serving and asked the regiment’s commander, Colonel Milić, if she could stay on as a private in the Serbian army. The colonel agreed, and Sandes became a beloved part of the regiment. The men called her “Nashi Engleskinja,” or “Our Englishwoman,” and sometimes even called her “brother.”
In late 1915, Sandes fought alongside the Serbians during the Great Retreat across Albania. Once they reached the coast of Albania, Sandes began relief efforts for the remaining Serbs, and she was promoted to sergeant. After making a brief trip to England, Sandes returned to Serbia near the end of World War I to join the Serbian advance that pushed the Austrians, Bulgarians, and Germans out of Serbia in 1918.
Sandes had always been inspired by the charge of the British cavalry against the Russians during the Battle of Balaklava, commemorated by Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s “The Charge of the Light Brigade.” When World War I broke out, Sandes was 38 years old, but she still wanted to serve. She applied to serve with the Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD) but was turned down due to her connection to the suffrage movement. Sandes decided to try the Serbian Red Cross where she was more successful. She not only served as a nurse but also came back to England to raise money for the Serbian war effort in late 1914 and early 1915.
When the typhus epidemic broke out, Sandes was there just like Dr. Inglis. In the fall of 1915, Sandes joined a medical unit attached to the Serbian army in order to continue to work in Serbia. After the Bulgarians pushed the Serbian regiment to which Sandes and the medical unit was attached to an area without roads, the medical team could no longer follow in the ox wagons.