A TURKISH DIARY

Evening Star, Issue 16822, 26 August 1918, Page 7

A TURKISH DIARY

ILLUMINATING EXTRACTS.

Tli© following extracts Si-om tho diary of a Turkish officer in the army of Mesopotamia will bo read with interest. It was sent to a Dun«din xesid-ent by his brother, a New Zealand soldier in Mesopotamia: Near Chaman Kupri, 24-1-18. This morning we marched out for training, and began by giving tho troops instruction in physical drill. Although the weather was very cold, tlio men were still in. their summer clothes—viz., a thin coat, with no shirt underneath it, and torn trousers without drawers. Nearly naked, hungry, and exhausted—What a dreadful sight they were! How unlucky to be the officer of such miserable troops, who shiver with cold, are nothing but skin and bones, pale as death, with their moustaches drooping down to their beards. 1 began by inspecting their clothes. They were so patched that I could not recognise their original color. Wo aro now in the first line and still training. Just imagine it: these Soldiers, who aro said to be the bravest and tho pick of the -\vliole division, <io not ©veil know their preliminary physical drill. How can they bo trained when they are so exhausted, and how can they be expected to jump 'and run when tlicy have not got the strength even to walk? I say with perfect truth that even without their arms and equipment they cannot jump a foot. They cannot move their arms, and when they kneel down they cannot get up again, having no control over their legs. I was deeply moved, and thought of what will bsfall tliese poor skeletons who are being wriven to death. I am fighting for my home, but I am sorry to be doing so. I "am sorry for this country and, this Government, who recruits her sons and orders them to face the horrors of battle, naked, bare-footed, and so hungry that they try to satisfy themselves with burnt grain. They have not oven got boots or warm clothes to protect them from the fearful cold. A soldier must be strong and must have sufficient food ■■•m<\ clothes ; he must be smart and able to move quickly.

i I thought for a whole of this wretched ! state of affairs, which will lead to the I ruin and utter destruction of tbo whole nation. What dreadful tyranny! They expect these troops to earn- on the wai and learn how to jump, nm, and attack ; when they are weary and half-starved. O God, what a state of things ! I wonder ; whether the 'commander of this miserable. 1 army could l •exist for a single week under : the same conditions as our wretched troops. j Wo aTO hungry and miserable, and I ' wonder what our fata will be. I cannot find among my comrades a single friend v.iio can cheer roe, as they are all, like myself, powerless and disappointed, so that . I can only spend my time in bitter thought | till God sends relief.