Original article (in Serbian) was published on 10/10/2019
For years, in some media and on social networks, it has been circulating as a historical fact that in 1928 the Orient Express train was delayed for the only time in its history, in Belgrade. As it is stated, the train was waiting at the Belgrade station for the boarding of passengers, mostly soldiers who went to Paris to mark the tenth anniversary of the end of the First World War. The delay was allegedly caused by the fact that the gathered citizens collected money at the station, and the French embassy issued documents for Milunka Savic, who told the French ambassador that she did not have the money for the trip.
However, as we found, there is no evidence that events unfolded in this way. The media cited the wrong year, the wrong reason for the trip to France, and they made up that Milunka Savic should not have been on the train. The fact that the Orient Express was late only once in its history was also made up. The only thing that is supported with evidence is that the money was collected for Milunka Savic, but on the train, as a gesture of goodwill of her war comrades, and not as the charity of the gathered citizens and the French ambassador.
In the media, the train “Orient Express” is presented as a train “famous for its punctuality”, which was delayed only once in its history. However, as the Serbian Railways confirmed to FN Tragac, “although it is a train of the highest rank, the delay could certainly have been due to force majeure such as weather conditions, failures on traction equipment, failures on the railway”.
For example, in 1929, the Simplon Orient Express was completely stuck in the snow in Turkey for a few days, which was reported by the media at the time, including the French weekly newspaper “L’illustration”, which dedicated its front page to this event. The local press reported that train delays were a normal occurrence at that time. Thus, the newspaper “Pravda” in the issue from February 25, 1929, writes: “international trains are still experiencing long delays, especially the Simplon Express”, while the issue from February 16, states that “the express arrived yesterday at 5 o’clock in the afternoon. It was therefore 40 hours late”.
The text does not specify which train is in question since at that time there were three “express” trains – Orient Express, Simplon Orient Express and Arlberg Orient Express. However, we learn from the press at the time that it was not a regular train, but a special one, specially prepared for this occasion, which went through Austria and Switzerland to France, and in that case, it probably went on the Arlberg Orient Express route, which started in 1931. The journey lasted 15 days (they returned on June 17), and our soldiers went to other French places besides Paris, thus visiting French battlefields and the graves of soldiers from the First World War.
Apparently, the described event did not happen in 1928, but in 1931. Since the action takes place at the Belgrade railway station – the train is going to France, that gathered citizens are accompanying war comrades, and that the ambassador of France and Milunka Savic were present – this is the scenario that corresponds to June 3, 1931. The reason for the trip to France was, therefore, not the tenth anniversary of the end of the First World War, but the return of the visit, because the representatives of the French association of soldiers Poali d’Orian had visited Yugoslavia two years earlier – in 1929.
Apparently, this train was either not late at all, or it was only ten minutes late. The Serbian Railways replied that there was no direct evidence in the documentation of the Railway Museum that would support the claim that the Orient Express was late because of Milunka Savic. Not only was the train not late because of her, but, judging by the writings of the press at the time, it was quite punctual.
The newspapers Pravda and Vreme state the same time of departure – June 3, 1931, at 8.20 in the morning. In Pravda from that day, it is stated: “At exactly 8.20, the train left with loud cheers and greetings”. In Ratnicki glasnik, a newspaper of associations of reserve officers and warriors, in the issue from July 1931, which is entirely dedicated to this visit of Yugoslav military delegates to France, a slightly different time is stated: the special train left at 8.10 am, followed by loud cheers for France, and accompanied with military music and waving flags”. From the previous issue of Ratnicki glasnik, we learn that this is the time that was already planned. The issue contains a record from the session held on April 22, 1931, and where, among other things, the Ministry of Transport is asked for a special train for 250 people that will depart on June 3, at 8.10.
The same record from the session lists the warriors who applied for a trip to France. The first name mentioned is Sergeant Milunka Savic. In a report written about the trip by Mladen St. Djuricic, it is stated that she was the happiest on the train. Apart from the wife of Luj Lovric, a soldier blinded in the war, the only woman on the trip was Milunka. “She goes as a comrade-in-arms, our brave Milunka Savic, a Chetnik and a fighter, in a sergeant’s uniform, which was specially prepared for her by our Association”. So, not only did Milunka Savic sign up for this trip and was planned for the trip, a special white sergeant’s uniform was prepared for her in which she would later appear in France. There is no mention that she “stood in front of the train and looked at her war comrades”.
We cannot claim, but we can assume what was the basis for the origin of this myth. Mladen St. Djuricic, in the special edition of Ratnicki glasnik, presented a detail from the train to France. He will repeat the same in the 1983 documentary about Milunka Savic:
“Well, how do you live now, Milunka?” We ask her.
“Thank God – now I’m good! For two months now, I have a job at the Mortgage Bank and – a thousand dinars a month.” We look at each other.
“Rich, Milunka, tell us the truth, how much money did you take for the cost?” – Journalist Mr. Ivanic is touching her.
She fidgeted a little and admitted that she did not have more than 40 dinars. “They told me it would be enough!”
We are already excited. Mr. Ivanic jumps and goes from one person to another, and collects a nice sum. And as she recounts her war stories, we hand her a hat full of banknotes. But she is an old warrior, who is used to rude jokes, so she doesn’t even look at the money, but continues to tell her story. We tell her to take the money, and she responds that she would be satisfied even with a hundred-dollar bill. We hardly convince her that this is our friendly help that she deserves before anyone. And we asked her to receive it. With blurred eyes, she looked at us once more and finally received 1,280 dinars, which we counted, and said:
“Well, I couldn’t even imagine that my children would get presents from Paris.”
Suppose this story served as the basis for the creation of a distorted version. In that case, the image of Milunka Savic is also distorted because the cheerful and proud woman from the train turned into a shy and somewhat forgotten woman standing next to the train.
As far as we were able to investigate, this misinformation, besides appearing on the Internet, has appeared in the last few years in several books which dealt with Milunka Savic’s life. We had an insight into two of those books – “Spomenar – famous Serbian women” written by Ljiljana Cubric and published by the Institute for textbooks in 2012 and “Milunka Savić – decorations and scars” by Milan Bogojevic from 2018. In the last month, Blic, Istorijski zabavnik, Alo and Srbin info have written about this.