Category Archives: Diary – Beresford Mundy

The Comdt was very harsh

TCD MS 3416 page 77

TCD MS 3416 page 77

[August 1916]

parti-coloured notes that at that time represented the currency of the Ottoman Exchequer; & viewing the situation with suspicion & seeing little likelyhood of ever being paid – like a wise man – cleared out. He was, however, never fully paid until Nov 1916.

The Comdt refused to help us to obtain milk for our serious cases of dysentry, in spite of the fact that cows abound in Yozgad, that conduct was in keeping with the open hostility and animosity which he always showed towards us. We were obliged to buy our necessaries through the Interpreter at fancy rates, knowing full well that we could obtain the same articles in the bazaar at 50 to 80% cheaper, for example a small reading lamp was sold to us by the Comdt for 12 piastres, a few days afterwards we obtained the identical article in the bazaar for 7 piastres – 5 piastres in this case was high!
I saw that unless we had a visit from the American Consul we stood no chance of redress. The Comdt was very harsh and gratuitously impertinent to us, up to Aug 16th he had only been near us once, and on that occasion the interview was unsatisfactory. On Aug 17th the lieutenants

We were getting short of money

TCD MS 3416 page 76

TCD MS 3416 page 76

[August 1916]

laughter, to the amusement of the Interpreter and the Mulazim. The lane was closed except for two hours of the hottest part of the day namely between 3 & 5 o’clock in the afternoon. This lane was exactly 58 yards long by 3 broad. About Aug 5th we were living at 6 pts per diem against the Contractors rates of 15 pts we were living well, but we were getting very short of money and unless we received some pay or contribution from the American Consul by the 21st of the month we would have been bankrupt and that would have meant no food. On Aug 6th the lane was opened to all, all day, and the following day the Senior Officers were taken out for a walk after 10 days close confinement. The reason given by the Comdt for dismissing the Contractor was, to say the least of it, amusing “I have dismissed the contractor” said he “because you are dissatisfied with him”, but the truth was that the Turks having kept us for 3 months without pay, we were therefore unable to pay the contractor who had gone to considerable expence in his outlay of necessities etc. He evidently knew his Government better than we did, as did he know the value of those

What a revelation!

TCD MS 3416 page 75

TCD MS 3416 page 75

[August 1916]

perhaps!, however all went smoothly until Aug 1st when the contractor was dismissed, and we were told that we were in future to cater for ourselves, and that one officer was to go daily to the bazaar to purchase. What a revelation! we found that we could buy 8 eggs for a piastre (2d) firewood at 1pr for 5 kilos, honey at 25 p3 per oke (2.7lbs), whereas the contractors prices for the above articles had been – eggs 4 for 1pr firewood 1pr for 1 kilo, and honey at 40pt per oke – Where did all the profits go?

We found difficulties however in this new system of purchasing, for a Turk is as shy of his own paper money as a Jew is of pork; & the Comdt would do nothing to compel them to take them. We were at that time 8 months in arrears of pay, & had practically no money at all – We were all at that time undergoing close confinement.

For some reason unknown, the Interpreter and the Mulazim Tassin Bey came into our house (Captains) and told us that the Comdt would let us go for a walk “As he was pleased with us, and angry with the Senior Officers because they had been troublesome” (as they had objected to being robbed & so badly treated). This remark, I may say, was greeted with an uproar of

Our food was always dirty and almost uneatable

TCD MS 3416 page 74

TCD MS 3416 page 74

[July 1916]

at that time not forthcoming from the Turkish Government – Our food was always dirty and almost uneatable, plates, knives and forks were also dirty so hardly “in accordance with hygene” – We were never given a list of prices fixed by the Commandant. From the above the reader can form some sort of idea of the difficulties with which we had to contend. On our refusing to sign the “orders”, the Comdt threatened us with the stopping of all outdoor exercise. The Comdt still refused to come near us and so all communication with him had to be done through the medium of an interpreter, a few, Moyes by name, who spoke very indifferent English, & who I fear often mistranslated our messages to the Comdt. We never, however, ever signed the “orders.”

On July 29th at 11 p.m., without any warning the Comdt closed the Restaurant, the result of this was that we had no food the following day. At 1 p.m. July 30th one of our number was allowed to go out and buy food for the day. When the food arrived it was cooked by the contractor who had had in the meantime orders to stay on! This extraordinary event, however, proved to be some “difference of opinion” between the Comdt and the Contractor – Thieves divided

The houses were very draughty, many windows were broken

TCD MS 3416 page 73

TCD MS 3416 page 73

[July 1916]

“Officers of all ranks shall pay for their wants, eg. food, drinks, clothes and rent of houses occupied, oil, wood for the winter months coal and stoves. The Turkish Government chooses only habitable houses, & puts them at the disposal of prisoners of war who must buy furniture for themselves. As to soldiers the Government feeds & clothes them the same as the Turkish soldier is clothed and fed. Meals will be properly prepared, and the cooking properly and well done by the engaging of a cook who has served in several houses at Constantinople…. The food shall be in accordance to hygenic rules…. Prices will be fixed by the Commandant in accordance with market prices”- I will now add a few comments to the above “orders”: – How could we pay for our wants when at that time we were 3 months in arrears of pay, & even if we had been paid the prices of all necessities were so prohibitive that we never could have been able to afford such necessary articles as Stoves – The houses were very draughty, many windows were broken, and no arrangements for washing existed at all – Our orderlies had not been clothed, and we were obliged to pay for their messing as the money due to them in lieu of rations was

We started a “hunger strike”

TCD MS 3416 page 72

TCD MS 3416 page 72

On July 23rd, by way of protesting against this wholesale robbery, and of cutting down the illgotten gains of the contractor, we started a “hunger strike” which meant that we bought no extras & merely existed on bread and one course of meat. The effect of this was interesting for we received a message from the Comdt to the effect that “we must not cut down the meals as it would ruin the contractor”! The following day Col. Chitty received a summary of so called “orders” from the Comdt through the interpreter with directions that we should sign & return them. This we unanimously refused to do as they were contradictory in themselves, ridiculous, & calculated to enrich the contractor at our expense; & furthermore they were so worded that had we signed them it would have signified to the Turkish authorities that we were content & that our treatment was very satisfactory which was far from being the case.

Amongst other things which were written in these orders were a few of particular interest & by which I will explain what I mean by saying that had we signed them it would have inferred that we were contented, and that we were receiving our due. –

The food gradually became almost uneatable

TCD MS 3416 page 71

TCD MS 3416 page 71

[July 1916]

or attention. The food gradually became almost uneatable and insufficient; insufficient in as much as we were obliged to cut down the number of dishes owing to the fact that the Turks refused to pay us up to date & we simply had not the money to pay. Time after time, Col. W. Chitty, our senior officer wrote invoking the aid of the Commandant, but his letters were never answered & neither did he come down and see Col Chitty. From this extraordinary behaviour we could but only deduct one solution, namely that the Commandant was in company with his subordinates to make whatever profits they could out of us unfortunate prisoners, which practice is by no means uncommon in Turkey. The Commandant refused to inform us of our contract price of our daily messing; the prices of “extras” which we were obliged to buy from the contractor since we were not allowed out, where known to us to be excessive and an extensive robbery, & since the Commandant would not inform us of the correct prices of these stores, it became nothing else than licenced robbery. We were informed that we would go out for walks once a week, but in practice this worked out to be one walk in ten days, if that.

We were treated abominably

TCD MS 3416 page 70

TCD MS 3416 page 70

[July 1916]

Being cooped up, as we were, like criminals was a dreadful experience; we had to content ourselves with walking up and down the landing, which was in area only 8 yards by 5, and doing Swedish drill to keep ourselves in health. Our commandant Bimbashi Kaizim Bey never came near us to attend to our comforts or to exchange compliments; on one occasion, however, I saw him in the back yard inspecting the locks which he had had fixed on the outside doors. We were in fact treated abominably, our guards were continually pushing & hustling us about, and on several occasions they offered violence, and actually struck officers with the butts of their rifles by way of explaining that it was forbidden to look out of the front gate into the street. Our contractor, Ali Effendi, robbed us right and left in many instances charging us 100% to 150% over & above the local prices in the bazaar; he refused also to accept notes & thus we were obliged to part with our poor supply of cash, we being prisoners were absolutely powerless to look after our own interests, it was a question of cash or no food. We continually appealed to the Commandant, but we never received any satisfaction

The food was good and we sat down to a table.

TCD MS 3416 page 69

TCD MS 3416 page 69

[June 1916]

Chapter V

Life at YOZGAD.

On our arrival at Yozgad, June 30th 1916, we were placed in two Armenian houses, which at first sight appeared to be moderately clean. We were very shortly provided with a meal in the smaller of the two houses, the food was good and we sat down to a table. Mattresses & quilts were given out to us and we began to settle ourselves into the rooms. The average room was 6 x 5 paces in area and into which we were obliged to crowd 6 or 7 persons.

On the whole things looked favourable, and I thought there was every possibility of making ourselves comfortable. I soon found, however that we were not destined to have such a comfortable time as I had anticipated, for during the next 18 days we were kept in close confinement in our houses, & were not even allowed to walk even for a few minutes daily in the lane that separated the two houses; it was not until July 18th that we were marched out under a heavy guard which consisted of infantry and mounted gendarmes for an hours exercise. We were halted on an open space outside the town and told to “Play”!

The dogs were as good thieves as their masters

TCD MS 3416 page 68

TCD MS 3416 page 68

[June 1916]

Travelling hard all the <night of the> 28th we arrived at a pretty wayside village called Serai on the 29th; here again we had to witness more sorrow: a wretched Armenian woman from whom one of our number bought some eggs, pointed piteously to some of her husbands clothes, it appeared that he had had his throat cut.

We passed the night at Serai, and I found out that the dogs were as good thieves as their masters,- 2 loaves of bread disappeared from my pillow. The next day we, arrived at YOZGAD where we were destined to remain for months as the “Honoured Guests of Turkey.”