Vido ( el, Βίδο) is an

island An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An isla ...

of the Ionian Islands group of

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders wi ...

. It is a small island (less than a kilometer in diameter) at the mouth of the port of

Corfu Corfu (, ) or Kerkyra ( el, Κέρκυρα, Kérkyra, , ; ; la, Corcyra.) is a Greek island in the Ionian Sea, of the Ionian Islands, and, including its small satellite islands, forms the margin of the northwestern frontier of Greece. The isl ...

History

The island was known to the ancients as Ptychia ( grc, Πτυχία). At some point, during the

Peloponnesian war The Peloponnesian War (431–404 BC) was an ancient Greek war fought between Athens and Sparta and their respective allies for the hegemony of the Greek world. The war remained undecided for a long time until the decisive intervention of ...

Athenian Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates a ...

generals used Ptychia in order to keep in custody some prisoners.Thucydides, Peloponnesian War, §4.46
/ref> Island was involved in Siege of Corfu (1798–99), Russo-Ottoman allies captured it from French on 28 February 1799. During the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

, the island of

served as an island hospital and quarantine for sick

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia ( Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hu ...

n soldiers following the epic retreat of the Serbian army and part of the civilian population through Montenegro and Albania in 1915 following the Austro-German-Bulgarian invasion of Serbia (see Serbian Campaign). While the main camps of the recuperating army were on Corfu itself (a contingent was sent to

Bizerte Bizerte or Bizerta ( ar, بنزرت, translit=Binzart , it, Biserta, french: link=no, Bizérte) the classical Hippo, is a city of Bizerte Governorate in Tunisia. It is the northernmost city in Africa, located 65 km (40mil) north of the cap ...

as well, and many of the civilian refugees were accepted by France), the sick and near-dying, mostly soldiers, were treated on Vido to prevent epidemics. In spite of Allied material help, the conditions of both the improvised medical facilities and many of the patients on the island resulted in a high fatality rate. Due to small area of the island and its rocky soil, it soon became necessary to bury the dead in the sea (by weighting the corpses with rocks to prevent them from floating). Over 5,000 people were buried at sea near the island of Vido. A monument of gratitude to the Greek nation was erected at Vido by Serbs in the 1930s. Wildlife on the island include peacocks,

pheasant Pheasants ( ) are birds of several genera within the family Phasianidae in the order Galliformes. Although they can be found all over the world in introduced (and captive) populations, the pheasant genera native range is restricted to Eurasia ...

s and

rabbit Rabbits, also known as bunnies or bunny rabbits, are small mammals in the family Leporidae (which also contains the hares) of the order Lagomorpha (which also contains the pikas). ''Oryctolagus cuniculus'' includes the European rabbit sp ...

s. The waters around Vido island are sometimes referred to as the '' Blue Sea Tomb'' (Serbian: ''Plava Grobnica''), after a poem written by Milutin Bojić after World War I. File:VidoSerbianMausoleum.jpg, Serbian World War I soldiers' mausoleum File:Vido-Mauzolej-Unutrasnjost.jpg, Interior of mausoleum File:Vido-PlavaGrobnica-ploca.jpg, Blue Graveyard memorial plaque

References

{{Landmarks of Corfu Corfu Islands of the Ionian Islands (region) Monuments and memorials in Greece Serbia in World War I Landforms of Corfu (regional unit)

History

See also

References