Corfu Island during WWI

 

Serbian officer’s official passport.

 

Much has been written about the events that lead to the outbreak of World War One and of the battles and experiences that soldiers, from all sides, went through. A modern war that ushered in the 20^th Century and with such profound dire consequences that some would later say led to the outbreak of another world war 20 years later.

 

1914 to 1918 was the war that saw borders changing, empires crumbling and new orders rising. The old romantic world as it was known up to that point of time was gone forever.

 

The passport in this article will relate to a specific location during that Great War. The Island of Corfu , located at the western side of Greece.

 

During  the First World War the island served as a refuge for the Serbian army that fled the continent.

Many soldiers, from all ranks, managed to find refuge in the island on board allied ships.

In 1923 there was a diplomatic dispute concerning this island, known as the Corfu incident.

 

Passport number 3874 was issued to infantry army officer Sretchko Panditch aged 35. Paging inside the passport we can find various official visas issued to him for the trip to Paris, via Bari and Gallipoli. French, Serbian, Italian visas were issued during 1918 and upon his return in 1919.

 

One of the other subjects that I find very interesting when I look for old passports are those relating to allied issued samples from World War One. This example here falls into this category.

 

I have added images of this late war allied issued official passport.

 

 

Thank you for reading “Our Passports”.