An English Woman-Sergeant in the Serbian Army. With an introduction by Slavko Y. Grouitch, Secretaire-General of the Serbian Ministry of Foreign Affairs

London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1916. Hard Cover. Half title, frontispiece, illustrated with photographs. Publisher's original pale orange-brown cloth, lettered in black. Foxing to the page block edges which has crept into the text in places and quite heavy foxing to the early/late pages of the book; fraying at the head and tail of the spine; soling in places to the spine, boards a little dust-soiled. Interestingly this book was not issued with either a front or rear end-paper. Overall a VG copy. No D/W. Flora Sandes (born 1876) was a volunteer with the St. John Ambulance who travelled to Serbia with a small unit during the early phases of the Great War, where she was seconded to the Serbian Red Cross. Compelled to divert her efforts to soldiering, she eventually enrolled as a private in the Royal Serbian Army, rising, incredibly, to the rank of Sergeant major. She occupied a unique position within the ranks, as not only a female but a British officer and she was the only female to serve as an active soldier in WW1. Flora was an idol within the Serbian army and was admired as an embodiment of the English pledge to help its friend Serbia. Because of her cheerful and courageous personality she was referred to as Serbia's 'Joan of Arc'. She was wounded in hand-to-hand combat in 1916, and subsequently received Serbia’s highest military honour, the Order of Karadorde’s Star. She remained in Serbia after hostilities ceased, only returning to Britain during WW2. She died in Suffolk in 1956. She is still highly regarded in her adopted country, where she has been commemorated on stamps, and had a street named for her in Belgrade. This uncommon work is regarded as a great rarity and was published to raise funds for the Serbian war effort. A bibliographical note: the first edition of this title should be dated on the title page: MCMXVI as this copy is. Photographs/scans available upon request.