Description
WAR BRINGS strange fates to many men but to none more than Lindsay Rogers, a New Zealand surgeon who had been serving with the Eighth Army in the desert. He volunteered for special service in S.O.E. and then found himself set down on one dark night on the Isle of Vis, off the Dalmation coast.
His job was to work as a surgeon among Yugoslav partisans; to fight with them, to tend the wounded and to act as an unofficial liaison officer between them and the Allied troops. For many months to come, in caves and deep in forests, up mountains, he brought all his skill as a surgeon, his staunch-ness and bravery as a serving soldier to his strange job.
He was soon attached to the British Mission under Fitzroy Maclean, and was interviewed by Tito, who held him in the highest regard. In Guerilla Surgeon he tells his story−it is an inspiring and intensely exciting one -a story of sudden flights, of attacks by night, a story of incredibly brave men and, perhaps particularly, women. Above all it is the story of a man whose job it was to save life, not destroy it. And this job Lindsay Rogers performed under the most fantastic conditions, in makeshift shelters, with little or no equipment, sometimes with untrained assistants, and with the barriers of a different language and a different ideology between him and those amongst whom he work.
Among many first hand stories of the war Guerilla Surgeon will stand out for its compassion and understanding of an alien people fighting for their freedom; for the integrity of a man who refused to compromise and whose name became a legend among those whom he served; and for the quiet modesty with which his story is told.
Author: Major Lindsay Rogers
MBE, FRCS.
Order of Bravery of Yuogoslavia
Order of Merit of Yuogoslavia
rainbowdev –
Review by Captain Jeremy Seed.
Guerilla Surgeon
By Major Lindsay Rogers MBE
Lindsay Rogers was a New Zealand Army Surgeon with 2NZEF, who following service in the
Western Desert volunteered to work with the SOE in support of partisan resistance fighters
in Nazi occupied Yugoslavia.
Originally published in 1957, this book was widely read and acknowledged at the time as a
great account of unconventional service. Over subsequent years it faded into obscurity but
now this book has been republished for a new generation of readers. This new edition is an
exact reprint (with a new cover) of the original which included a foreword by Lord Freyberg
who is fulsome in his praise of Rogers.
The partisans had established a number of small hospitals in secret locations which they
kept very well hidden. there was no shortage of patients but there was a shortage of
qualified medical personnel. Rogers travelled from hospital to hospital within the partisan
AO performing surgeries, and helping establish medical facilities. He clearly enjoyed his
work and was well regarded by the Partisans and even got to meet with Tito himself to
discuss medical support.
It was clearly very dangerous work and the Nazis were a ruthless enemy. Equally, the
partisans were hard, tough men and women prepared to make any sacrifice required to rid
their homeland of the invader. The Balkans, as anyone who has deployed there knows, is
riven by factionalism, the origins of which go back centuries, and on a number of occasions,
this presented obstacles which Rogers had to carefully negotiate to avoid becoming tainted
by perceived favouritism for one group over another.
The longer he spent in Yugoslavia, the more frustrated Rogers became with the partisans
and their politics. Only Britain and America provided logistic support to Tito’s partisans who
were heavily indoctrinated communists with a strong loyalty to “Mother Russia”. The
Partisan s fervently believed that any and all logistic and material support came from Russia.
They were fulsome in their praise of Russia, and much to Rogers annoyance, ignored the
allies who were arming, clothing and equipping them.
Despite the dangers and the politics, Rogers enjoyed his work and time amongst the
fighters, he was decorated by the Yugoslavs and the British for his work. Guerilla Surgeon is
a very well written and engaging story, it is well written, very readable and provides a great
insight into one New Zealanders contribution to the fight against the Nazis.