PRISONER OF TURKS

Evening Post, Volume CXXII, Issue 68, 17 September 1936, Page 24

PRISONER OF TURKS

VISITING EXAMINER

AN 1100-MILE WALK

To walk 1100 miles, hungry, thirsty, and exhausted, as, a, prisoner of the Turks in Mesopotamia, was part of/ the war-time experience of-Mr. Paul Edmonds, who is visiting New Zealand as an examiner in elocution for Trin- j ity College of Music, London (states the Christchurch "Press"). Mr. Edmonds was .one. of those who went through the siege of1 Kut el Amara. Mr. Edmonds was in British Columbia at the outbreak of hostilities, and immediately enlisted in the first Canadian contingent, later transferring to the Canadian Field Artillery. After spending his first winter in camp on Salisbury•■ Plains.' Mr. Esmonds received a commission in the Imperial Army and was sent to India in July of 1915. With five "other officers he was next sent to Mesopotamia to replace casualties sustained by the 6th Division commanded by General Townsend. ,?.■' ■ . ' f-While travelling to Azizeah, on the .Tigris, the'division encountered barge loads of'wounded, from whom they gleaned tidings of the retreat from Ctesiphon. By pushing on to give aid the 6th Division were involved in a series of rearguard actions with the pursuing Turkish army. This retreat was as full of horror and quite as terrible as the retreat from Mons, according to one of Mr. Edmonds's colleagues ~who had the misfortune to be in both. ■When at: last the troops had reached' the final j stages of exhaustion General Townsend decided to make a stand at Kut. Here they entrenched themselves and were ready to withstand the attacks of the Turks. SURRENDER OF KUT. For five terrible months, in spite of repeated attempts by the 13th Division under General Maude to effect a rescue; the Turks remained around the walls of Kut, while the defenders were reduced to starvation rations of horse flesh and s minute portions of black bread. When the garrison became : too weak to/hold their rifles, General; Townsend,had. no option but to surrender. ... ~j^ ■ Separating the officers from the. men, after promising General .! Townsend that they would be interned, in ahealthy seaside town, ■ -.the- Turks started them off .on the long heartbreaking trek to Bagdad,: a journey lasting two months, •..'■which seemed to be almost interminable- to the" weary men. Staggering along the hot' roads with very little food= and weakened by the effects of malnutrition, drinking from wells that were befouled by the corpses of murdered Armenians, they at last arrived at Tekrit, where the accommodation was horrible. Travelling on once again, the journey to Mosul, a distance of about 320 miles from Kut, was a repetition of the horrors of their walk from Kut to Tekrit. Here Mr. Edmonds had the doubtful pleasure of meeting Enver Pasha. After a few days' spell in horrible barracks the westward trek to Aleppo was commenced, the men now being in a pitiable state of exhaustion. The Turkish guards on this part of. the journey were very humane, and Mr. Edmonds .considers that he owes his life to a Turkish transport driver, who gave him a lift for part of the way. s i ACTIVITIES OF PRISONERS. When their destination, Yozgad, was reached they found that instead of a healthy seaport they were incarcerated in a poverty-stricken town in the wilds of Anatolia. Here they were bivouacked in an empty house, and as soon as their strength returned they set about manufacturing furniture from packing cases. As time went on all kinds of pursuits were followed by the men to keep their minds occupied, and Mr. Edmonds wrote songs, plays, and stories, and soon set about training a choir. Others set about planning means ot escape, and from time to time small parties managed to get past the guards by dressing in .Turkish costumes and carrying sacks of provisions over their backs.' Unfortunately, these attempts were not successful, and the fugitives' spell of liberty was shorty lived, as brigands who infested the surrounding country. captured them and handed them over to the, police. The one successful attempt was that; of eight officers'whp crept through 450 miles of enemy country and, reaching the Mediterranean Sea, took a motor-, boat which was.owned by the Turkish authorities and ■ eventually arrived safely in Crete.;. .: " ■, :• ' .. . The prisoners formed a hunt ciuo, with hares for quarry and Persian greyhounds taking the place of the English foxhounds. Picnics and walks, under guard, helped to pass away the time until, after two and a half years, the captives returned to England. 1