GERMANS IN TURKEY

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2944, 2 December 1916, Page 6

GERMANS IN TURKEY

ACTIVITY IN ASIA

THE BAGDAD RAILWAY ■ TUNNEL The London "Times" recently printed an article by a neutral who speaks from personal observation.of the great preparations which tile Germans are making in Syria. These preparations havo' such features of permanency that it would appear that the Germans havn made up their minds to keep their hold upon the Ottoman Empire. At the sauio time, this visitor to Turkey was immensely struck with the discord that existed between the German and tho Ottoman troops. There has never been any sympathy between the two .armies, or oven their higher military commands, but how, niter mouths of campaigning, there is actual friction. Tiic traveller, who knows Syria and indeed, all Turkey very well gives his impressions as follows;— Aleppo was filled with German officers. There seems no doubt that many more of these were returning to Germany than going to Syria. Here were many of tho sanitary commissions bringing distilling- apparatus to light the cholera which appeared among the Turks, both civilians and soldiers, in Aleppo, "Damascus, and the Lebanon. Djemal J'aslia was in Damascus. He said at that timo that all the trains moving eastward would be crowded. Troops were moving south and east, and at the railhead about six hours' journey away (about 60 miles north of Aleppo) at a place named Islahio, in the plain which slopes towards Adana and Alexandretta. • On the first foothills west of Aleppo was a large camp on the high ground. This was plentifully supplied with water, and there were great (stretches of pasture, a T.ve thing anywhere in Syria, and a combination which makes it an ideal halt-mg-placo on the road. Oliolera was raging at Islahie, and the deaths amongst the Turkish soldiers averaged 30 a day. As cases occurred they were quarantined, and as fast as each regiment had passed its quarantine period it was entrained towards Aleppo. There were not less than .1000 quarantined troops at thai, place. At Islahie there is a network of tracks and railway sidings capable of holding a dozen trains. Thousands of'tons of oak wood wero being brought im from the mountains' for fuel, for all the. trains running south and east of Aleppo were using this instead of coal. Croat Stores of Supplies. There is a small wooden barrack at Islahio entirely separated from the Turkish quarters. Here the Germans had installed water distilling apparatus, and near by there were largo spaces marked out where all sorts of ammunition and supplies wero being brought by the motor-trucks over the break in the Bagdad Railway which occurs at this point. One huge heap of stores was labelled "Rations" in large letters. There were other' heaps of rubber tires and ammunition, and a very large supply of petrol came in as we were leaving. The road over the Amanus Mountains from this point is new and has all been built within six months or a year: It is not fully metalled, there are no guarding walls or finished culverts, and it is apparently only a temporary road, to he used until the tunnel is completed nt that point. It is 26 miles in length and a grado steeper than any seen in any other country: The grado was apparently fixed by tho power of tho motor-trucks which had to-be cmployed, which vary between 40 and GO- - power. The. torrential; rains cf the autumn and winter would easily and quickly ruin tho road as it now stands incomplete. ••• German military motors carry men and stores over the break from railhead to railhead, and tho journey- is one of tho most thrilling-to imagine. In tho motor-truck there are no seats, and only our baggage to rest upon. Tho road crosses tho Amanus.. and climbs in long spirals, and after live hours enters German headquarters at Mamoura, alongside- tho railway station. -Hero aro all the signs of rapidly increasing German activity, and a carefully fenced enclosure of more than an acre, ill which aro the headquarters of tlie German Military Mission. Tho Commander occupies a good two-story house of 10 or .12 rooms, and there-aro other houses for the men. Water is laid in, and there is every sign of permanent occupation. Beyond the railway'station tho Germans arc erecting a model hospital on the slope in a compound of from six to eight acres. There wero some time ago 400 or 500 iron bedsteads, cots, and stretchcis, condensing machines, and medical supplies for camp and hospital. A little ilistanco beyond, lying alongside the railway, was a largo collection of aeroplane wings, and other stores. 't'hero were ulso big quantities of. petrol. Observers saw six or eight aeroplanes being brought over the Cihcian Gates, The whole impression'gained was one of immense preparation. New Road at Clliclan Gates. The break in the Bagdad railway over tho Taurus Mountains is fortyfive miles, and at present is covered by motor service. Tlie route followed by this servico has been famous since tho days of tho Phoenicians, and has been mentioned in every great- campaign since. From 15,000 to 20,000 Turkish peasants are at present employed in completely rebuilding this road. Tlioy aro widening it at all points, straightening all curves, lowering and equalising grades, making it ready for the heaviest' possible motor traffic, all with the appearance of the greatest haste. It ends in a beautiful alpino valley at a place called Bozanti, on the main lino, from whence starts the train for Haidar Pasha. This route can be covered in two and a half clays, or about sixty hours, without changing of cars. It is along this section of the Bagdad Railway that the greatest signs of warlike preparation appear. The tunnel at Bozanti is at least three miles long, and, according to the most recent news from the Swiss engineers in charge, it will reqniro at least two years more to complete. One observer saw a sketch by the engineer and-notes which fully bore out this opinion. It is true that the Taurus is actually pierced by a tunnel which has a small, narrow track running through it, hut the opening is only the vault of the tunnel proper. It is as though you drew a lino across half way up an inverted U; the top part is the tunnel as it is now and the square below is the part yet to-be excavated. There is a small narrowgauge track, and this is being used to hurry ammunition through. This naturally interferes with the excavation, and, besides, it is a slow business. .The engineers state that by the timo the Taurus tunnel ia completed all tho other smaller tunnels of the approaches on the north and south will havo been completed also. Tho long Bozanti tunnel is holding up the great work. A Gorman Camp. On the top of the Taurus Mountains, looking south towards the Mediterranean in a superb position fro;n a scenic and strategical point of view, is a largo German camp. This camp is a model in its way, and there are certainly over 6000 soldiers already stationed there, perhaps as many as 10,000. It is land out in streets, has fences, buildings, tents, and hospitals, and all tho paraphernalia of a permanent camp. It lias, a post-office, wireless

and ordinary telegraphy, and a complete system of local telephones. Several miles below, and in strange contrast, is the Turkish military camp of tho old-fashioned kind, where there have been cases of cholera, and where there is now a quarantine station. Lying about there were several of the old galvanised pontoons, apparently some of those which arrived too late for tho first attack on tho Canal. There is said to bo little appearance in this camp of that pleiititude of stores and ammunition that is 'noticeable in the small German town above. From some of the motor-drivers it was learned that the German camp has 100 large 40-50 horse-power motors, eacn capable of carrying Irom 10 to 20 tons. Crossing tho Cilician Gates in a motortruck-, an observer saw and actually counted . 147 new .German lorries, most of them 60 horsb-power, and all of them loaded with stores. On each of them was a German driver, and in some cases two other men. There were also four armoured cars and the bodies of the aeroplanes mentioned before. The driver of tho post car said they were bound for Bagdad, and had been purchased by the Ottoman Government. There wero no signs of Ottoman command or control to he scon anywhere with his caravan. They wero observed in groups of ten or twenty at con : venient places along tho narrower portions of the road, which is now in the process of rebuilding under German engineers. Valley of Munitions, At BozauTi, the end of the Bagdad railway, was the greatest sight of all in the way of munitions and war supplies. The whole narrow valley for a mile all round the railhead station was being rebuilt,, graded, and bridged, according to a comprehensive plan, which showed every sign of permanency. The work was being carried out on a very large scale, and stores disposed of in an orderly way alongside tho sidings and switches, which arc fully provided. There were also aeroplanes and huge piles of ammunition and provisions. There seems no doubt that those in chargo wero pushing matters forward during the dry months before the winter rains make the haltcompleted road impassable. During the two full days of daylight from Bopauti to Haidar Pass our train passed at least forty military trains carrying Turkish"'.'soldiers going east. By a rough calculation based on tho number of the trains, consisting of more .than twenty ears each, they must havo contained about forty Turkish regiments. All the men looked like hardened troops. On other trains thero were small guns, but no appear- | ance of ammunition. These remarks | only, apply to the trains, which passed in the day time, no attempt having been made to estimate any trains which we passed in the night. Theso forces, travelled to Aleppo, and from that point could havo been sent either to the Caucasian front along tho Bagdad railway to Kas-01-Ain south of Diarbekr, or, if deflected at Aleppo southwards, they might havo readied the war zone by the Canal for the recentattack. All down the Bagdad railway, as well as in - Serbia and Bulgaria, thero are reported thousands of freight cars with the Belgian-marks still upon them.