1922 Bitola Explosion -- Over 1000 Dead

[vicsinad]

Wow, I live in Macedonia and really haven't heard about this at all...

I was hoping you would know haha

For all we know, these news reports may be inaccurate, especially the way news traveled in the early 20th century. Perhaps the number of deaths and homeless was speculation, or exaggerated, or maybe it was accurate.

[Amphipolis]

[DraganOfStip]

Wow, I live in Macedonia and really haven't heard about this at all...

[vicsinad]

Yeah, there are quite a few news articles on the topic. I'm wondering if there is anything more detailed (a source in a book, for an example). I saw on a FB thread in Macedonian that someone had asked a similar question, and the only noteworthy response was that someone had seen a documentary about Bitola that mentioned the explosion.

[Amphipolis]

MONASTIR EXPLOSION. HUGE DEATH TOLL. 30,000 PEOPLE HOMELESS.

Further details have been received in London regarding the recent explosion of war material stowed near the rail-way station at Monastir (Jugoslavia).

There was a huge death-roll. Hundreds of children were buried in a church where a shell exploded, and it is believed that 1800 soldiers are buried in the ruins of the barracks, where the troops were at lunch at the time of the explosion. Fires broke out at several points in the town causing a panic among the inhabitants who flcd, as the entire town was in danger.

Authentic figures of the casualties cannot be ascertained, but a message from Belgrade, states that 30,000 people are homeless and have taken refuge in the woods

[vicsinad]

Anybody have more information on this? There seems to be scant information on probably what was likely one of Macedonia's largest man-made disaster. Several hundred dead, tens of thousands homeless, half the city destroyed, etc. On the scale of destruction, it's almost comparable to the 1963 Skopje earthquake. There were some rumors that Macedonian rebels caused it, but it seems like it was an accident. I've run across this many times in research, but haven't been able to find much more about it.

https://newspapers.library.in.gov/cgi-bin/indiana?a=d&d=GH19220421-01.1.1

BELGRADE, April 20.—Four hun
dred car loads of ammunition and
high explosives stored near the railroad
station at Monastir, southern
Servia, exploded Tuesday at noon,
killing several hundred persons,
wounding thousands and virtually des
troying the heart of the city. Onehalf
of the city’s population was rendered
homeless.

The victims were mostly children
and soldiers. A church in which the
children were worshipping Collapsed
under the detonation, while the barracks
in which 1,800 soldiers were
having lunch was destroyed.
Immediately after the explosion,
fire broke out in various parts of the
city. The panic-stricken inhabitants
fled to the nearby woods and mountains,
from which they watched their
homes burn. All telegraphic communication
from Monastir with the
outside world was cut off.

Relief Units Go to Scene
The first news of the disaster
reached Belgrade, from refugees who
managed to reach Prilep, 30 miles to
the northwest of Monastir. Several
Serbian relief units were immediately
organized and started for Monastir.
Six American women doctors of
the American Woman’s hospital at
Veles left there for Monastir as soon
as news of the explosion was received.
They were headed by Dr. Esther
Lovejoy of Richmond, Va. They expected
to negotiate the fifty miles
of had roads over the mountains to
Monastir and reach the stricken city
by this evening.