Belgrade – Starting on Thursday March 21st until Sunday 31st, at the headquarters of the Cika Ljubina cultural centre, there will be a photographic exhibition curated by the historian Mila Mihajlovic, commemorating a war event in the First World War. “In the midst of the winter of 1915-1916, the Serbian army, surrounded by the armies of the central empires, was forced to retreat through the mountains, followed en masse by civilians. Once it had reached the Adriatic coasts, the army was rescued thanks to an exceptional humanitarian and military operation led by the Italian navy, with the help of French and English units, which ensured the transfer of the entire Serbian army to the other Adriatic shore. From December 12th, 1915 to February 29, 1916, 260,895 Serbian refugees and soldiers, 24,000 Austrian soldiers prisoners of the Serbian army, 10,153 horses, 68 pieces of Serbian artillery and 300,000 tons of war material were transported on Italian ships escorted by the Navy” according to a statement by the Italian Institute of Culture of Belgrade. The intervention of the Italian Navy, a true “humanitarian” ante litteram operation, represents up to the present day, the most extensive and articulated aid and relief operation among the two peoples of all times. (9Colonne)
