Fit as Fiddles and as Hard as Nails

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European before: they crowded to the windows and looked out of their doors and recognising us as Christians said “Armeen – Armeen” and made the sign of the Cross; in their unknown tongue one could catch here and there the words “Inglis” “Russe” and one understood their meaning – “When are they coming to save us”. Powerless to help them, and disgusted at the sight, we returned to the little market-square. An Armenian railway official told me that if England had forced the Dardanelles in the early part of the war, the lives of some 800,000 Christians would have been saved, for the Turks elated by their tempory success in Gallipoli over a christian nation, proceeded to exterminate the christians in their own country. A certain amount of provisions were procurable at MARDEN – under the usual conditions! – so we dined pretty well that night, and left over a cold leg of mutton for the next days ration; this unfortunately was commandeered by a cat during the night! To my surprise I found a chemists shop, but everything in it was very expensive – all the drugs, like every thing else, came from Europe and further supplies were not forthcoming.

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left Angora and started into the country on our 5 day treck eastward to YOZGAD, but the reader will read later on how we were really “jumping out of the frying pan into the fire”
Our road lay through very hilly country and we travelled over this continuously: the roads were very rough and the springless carts shook the very life out of ones body. The drivers got sleepy from time to time, and on one occasion one cart completely upset and fell to pieces – it was a wonder it’s occupants were not seriously hurt. MARDEN was reached on the morning the 27th and we rested there till 4 p.m. on the following day. At this place we put up in various inns and where allowed to go about anywhere in the town. In a certain portion of this town the Turks had collected a large number of Armenian women and children, but not a single man could be seen among them: they all looked very miserable and terrified, expecting, no doubt, to share the same fate as hundreds of thousands of other Christians. They were either not allowed or they were too terrified to leave their houses. The sight of white officers in that far off town was not a daily occurrence, in fact I doubt if many of them had seen a

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as fuel. I wondered if the Turkish officers captured by us were subjected to such insults; there was no need for this rough treatment since we were in a large town where every comfort was procurable and miles from the front. But our experiences are a type of Turkish courtesy, and one knew what to expect in the future. Next afternoon 25th we left Angora in carts for YOZGAD, every 4 officers being allowed one orderly: instead of getting those men asked for, however, 21 men were chosen by the Turks at random to go with us.

To sum up our stay at Angora we were kept in close confinement for 3 ¾ days, went without food for periods of 19 and 22 ½ hours consequetively, without washing facilities for 2 ½ days, and were subjected the whole time to the care of undisciplined and unprincipled soldiers, before whom we officers were obliged to do dirty menial work. There were several sick officers amongst us, but no doctor came near us till the second day to see us, and our own medical officers had no opportunity of obtaining diet for the sick.

It was therefore with a sigh of relief that we

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After this we received no more food of any description till 2.30 p.m. the next day 23rd, and only the same allowance of water, and when we complained of the prices, were told we could have that or nothing. That night we got bread only and a little fruit at exhorbitant prices.

On the morning of the 24th, a junior Turkish officer who had arrived with the other echelon of officers from Kut, prevailed upon the sergeant to allow us to wash, so we were marched to a stream where we washed ourselves our clothes and cooking pots in the presence of numerous interested spectators: this was the first opportunity for washing we had for 2 ½ days, although a stream was handy. We got no regular meals and lived on what we could buy off the soldiers and on the remains of the bread and cheese left over overnight. A line of sentries was placed 150 yards from the door of our house and we were allowed to light fires so that those who were fortunate enough to possess such luxuries as soup squares or tea were able to cook them. There was no wood, so we had to collect refuse and cattle dung to serve

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officers being pushed about, entirely at the mercy of these savages. From the time we arrived to the time we left, there was no Turkish officer in charge of us, and not a single officer with authority came near the place. The sanitary arrangements were awful.

The next morning the 22nd we received no food and all hawkers were driven away with their bread so that we had no means of getting food, a few of us, however, had some tea and a few crusts to carry on with, but we were not allowed to light a fire or to go outside the door. At about 10 a.m one 56 gallon cask of drinking water was brought for us and this had to go round 80 officers. We were not allowed to wash or smoke in our room. At 3 p.m a meal at last arrived which consisted of a little meat, bread avermercelli, for which we were asked to pay piastres we hung out against this ridiculous as the contractor, who explained that he was once a Turkish officer!, consented to charge.

This meal was put on the gravel and we were made to sit down on the stones while the soldiers helped us out of a large dish with their fingers, & treated the whole thing like a joke.

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orderlies and some of their kit with us, and asked when we should see our orderlies again. We also asked him if he would have the courtesy to allow our servants to go with us, as otherwise officers would have to do menial work – The answer was an abrupt – “No.” We were then marched under a heavy guard with fixed bayonets into an eating house, where we were supplied with food at exhorbitant rates, namely piastres for a small portion of meat in oil, some vegetables fruit bread & a little rice, 50/ piastres is in English money equivalent to 8/s4; we ate it as we were hungry eventually paying 12ps for the meat. We were then photographed, the Commandant seating himself with much gusto in the centre. At 7.30 p.m., we were marched 3 miles to an Empty Agricultural College where 68 of us were put into a room 60 feet long by 40 wide, and a sergeants guard was mounted over us: we were given no opportunity for washing and were without our luggage. We were allowed to leave this room one at a time, under a double sentry, and our remonstrances against this treatment were received with roars of laughter,

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and taking with them their orderly officers; we enveyed them, for they had a better chance than we of eventually residing amongst the more civilised of our hosts. We dined before leaving Eskichehir at a little eating house where we met a young German doctor who said that he had hoped for peace but that the Russians had now upset the apple cart by assuming the offensive on a large scale and taking Cernowitz.

At 11 am on the 21st June we reached ANGORA. I am going to give a more detailed account of our experiences at this place than I have done hitherto, for it will give the reader a good idea of the treatment meated out to British Officers by the “Unspeakable Turks.” We were not met at the station by the Commandant de la Place, a supercilious and conceited person, full of his own importance; this person made a short speech in which he mentioned something about “Honoured Guests”; then, evidently to impress the crowd, he made us all fall in in line, and our orderlies carrying our small kits and food were at once swept away in one direction and our luggage in another.

We remonstrated, explaining that our kits were with our

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their rations are bad, and everything is ‘kutcha.” He then commented on the financial condition of the country. “There lira notes are useless – the people are afraid of them. In Baghdad our Sinkar’s notes were more valuable. The Sinkar’s name is great; we are prisoners but that is fate – in the end we shall win – Salaam Sahib” and I left him. He had spoken with emphasis and disgust of the massacres of Christians women and children by his co-religionists, proceedings which are not in accordance with the teaching of Mohamet in India. I can count on my fingers the number of times that I have seen Turks by the way-side saying their prayers thrice a day, before the multitude or wherever they may have been at the appointed time, as is the custom in India. The Turk has a lot to learn from his Indian co-religionists, amongst other things – charity and morality.

The pessimists were wrong, for, our baggage turned up an hour before our departure that night. The Generals left us here, bound for Broussa near Constantinople

Note: kutcha = rotten, bad. Sinkar = (British) Government.

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Late that evening we reached Eskischehir, and were immediately taken to some deserted Armenian houses where we got beds; the neat kitchens and the remains of wood fires in these houses brought to my mind the happy home of some mother who had gone – God alone knows where. After a battle with the insect hosts, we turned in, Captain Tomlinson RE choosing the floor as the safest place against further onslaughts: shortly afterwards a Turkish Cadet Officer, who had apparently been detailed to look after us and had been very civil and obliging, looked in and expressed surprise that one of us was sleeping on the floor, and enquired if he was ill? Not wishing to hurt his feelings, I explained that he was not ill, and that sleeping on the floor was a peculiar fad of his – a mutual salute and he retired! The next day saw us still without our baggage. We refused to go on further without it, and General Delamain represented our case very strongly to the Commandant, who, evidently fearing the possibility of being reported to the authorities at Constantinople, gave in. The Turk is the oppressor of the defenceless and weak, and if once

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lady whose husband was fighting in France. It would be difficult to describe our joy at finding at this hotel a large wash hand basin with taps labelled “Hot” “Cold”; these I turned on and off – on and off like a child with a new toy! In the Sal a’ manger we were served with a French omelette, mutton chops, and potatoes and beer on a spotlessly clean table cloth – I revelled, in the cleanest and most wholesome meal I had ever had in Turkey. Our only difficulty was in persuading Madame to accept payment. Those of us in the dining room succeeded in the end, while those in other rooms were not only defeated but were obliged to carry away bottles of beer as presents! After dinner an excited Turk gendarme rushed in and told us that the train was waiting, so we hurried across to the station.

The early morning of the 19th found us travelling through large poppy fields, the poppies being presumably grown for opium; it was pleasant to see such a mass of colour. I have never seen cultivated flowers of any kind in Turkey, however, except occasionally a few semi-wild flowers on the way-side or in gardens – True indeed is the saying “What beauty is there in a flower.”