Norwich bulletin., 1916-03-03
RICHARD scHELLENs TO
 SPEAK IN NORWICH
N. F. A. Graduate Will Tell of His
 War Experiences.

Richard Schellens, Of Groton. who 1 was graduated from Norwich Free Academy in 1905, Is to give a public | next, that his Norwich friends may hear his stirring experiences while a member of Lady Pasett's relief party in Serbia.
 After his graduation from the Acad- emy, Mir. Schellens spent three years at the University of Pennsylvania and while there had the signal honor of winning a Rhodes scholarship, which took him to Oxford for three years. He was graduated from that famous university and had gone into business in Manchester, England, when the war broke out.
 Regarding his experiences in Serbia and Serbian Macedonia since the bonn bardment and occupation of Belgrade in October, 1915, MT. Schellens says:
 Both the central empires and Bull garia wished to crush out a rival that had become extremely dangerous to them because of it's marvellous VictO- ries over the Turks in 1912, the Bull gars in 1913. and over the Austrians themselves in November December, 1914.
 The fall of Belgrade is another very long story. During the bombardment I was at Admiral Trowbridge's English hospital at the Illd gymnasium. where we SAAL "CLhGu AOI lLlL SC hdyS anu nights, practically without interruption, leaving the city on Friday night, Sept. 25th Gold style), at o'clock. These three days and nights seemed an age |, to us. and were fearful to the very last degree. The English hospital, I heard medals ga hrabrost' (for bravery), by the Serbian government, but this award of course, does not include those of us who were temporarily att tached to the staff.
 At TsChOupria we rejoined Admiral | TrOwbridge, who ordered us to take J over a temporary hospital somewhere | in the south. We decided on Skopje 1 (Cskub), where we arranged with Lady | Paget and General Popovic to take | over part of the Iadia, a fine old Tur- ! kish building. that was then being or | ganized as a military hospital with | 1000 beds. Barely had the arrange | ments beed made when the Bulgars | attacked and cut the railway line at | Ristovatz, between Uskub and Nish so we were in for another evacuation Our hospital scheme had to be aban- | dOned and, as there was no room for our staff at Lady Pagets hospital they took the next train for Salonika and returned to England. The near future was full of uncertainty for Lady Paget and her staff, and it was thought ad- visable to collect as many neutrals as possible. I therefore stayed behind
 The City Evacuated.
 The city was evacuated and we final ly decided to stay in a body with oul Serbian wounded. It is difficult fol people at home to realize what a. ter. rible thing an evacuation is-it is full of dramatic and soul-stirring but aw' ful incidents. All, of course, canno
 go. and there are many sad partings I shall never forget the mental agon!
 written on the faces of the civilians who had taken refuge in our cellar a
 the Third in Belgrade when we tolC
 them that we had to go. Having beer present at two evacuations, I can imag
 inc what the retreat of the Russian armies last summer mean, when who'll
 governments (any one as large as Ser
 bia or Bulgaria) had to be evacuateS
 at time.
 We had to wait for the Bulgars fo
 nearly a week, and the waiting wa
 the worst part of it. We were in
 state of nervous apprehension as VI
 had heard many blood urdling storie
 of the Bulgars. We were also tolt
 repeatedly that if we stayed we shoult
 have our throats cut, but we though
 that we knew better, and did, as i
 finally turned out. The women a
 Lady Paget's had the most remark
 able confidence in their chief and il
 very brave. But the waiting and wait
 ing was terrible, especially the lonl ) nights. I slept with my clothes on
 ready for instant flight.
 The actual taking of Uskub was comparatively tame affair, after Bel
 grade, though there was an interestini little engagement in the hills to tn } north of the city in the direction O Koumanovo. which we could see yer,
 well with glasses from the windows O
 our hospital. The occupation of tn : city was not without its humorous sid but shall not go into details. It woul
 take too long.
 F Distribution of Food and Clothes. For two months after the Bulgarial occupation I helped Lady PaSet or ganize the distribution of food an
 clothes among the refugees who ha
 stayed behind. They were abSolutel
 dependent on us, and do not like t think of what might have happene : to them if we had not been there. Dur
 ing this time I managed to get an in sight into the objects of the Bulgar
 in their treatment of the Serbia
 civilian population in those parts c y Macedonia. These can be summed u y in the phrase "forcible reparatfon, :. that is to say, all Serbs who had move q | into Serbian Macedonia after the au = tumn of 1912 were being forced to re @ turn to the north. to the old kingdoI 8 of Serbia, whether they had home 8 there or not, whether the homes the e had were still standing or were de
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