THE TURKO-ITALIAN WAR.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XXXXVI, Issue 13500, 9 October 1911, Page 5

THE TURKO-ITALIAN WAR.

ITALY’S FIRM STAND. DETERMINED TO OVERCOME THE TURKS. A LULL IN OPERATIONS.

Press Association.—Telegraph.-Copyright. . ROME, October 7. warn the public that the time is not ripe Admiral _ Arbry has occupied Tobruk, f or intervention, but that they will welon the Gulf of Bomba. v come it when the Turks in Tripoli are Italy, has recalled the cruisers from completely overcome. Albania in consequence of the Artiglier is asser t e d that complete agreement incident. exists between Italy and the Powers on ■ : the subject, ITALY AND THE POWERS.

Her Intentions Communicated Weeks Ago.

THE ITALIAN FLEET. Patrolling tho Aegean. ROME, October 8. The Duke of the Abruzzi is manoeuvring in the Aegean Sea to enable him to capture the Turkish fleet if it comes into the open. THE REFUGEES AT MALTA. Want Compensation from Britain. LONDON, October 8. The Tripolitan refugees in Malta are memorialising Britain to secure compensation. THE TURKO-RUSSIAN WAR. New Zealand Surgeon’s Experiences. The Endurance of' the Turks.

Received October 9, 8.45 a.m. LONDON, October 8. The Telegraph’s Sicily correspondent states that Italy informed all the European Powers many weeks’ advance of her taking action of her intentions, but kept the information from the newspapers to avoid an outbreak in the Balkans.

THE TRIPOLITAN TURKS. Camped Five Miles From The Town. ROME, October 8. Some of the Turkish garrison are camped in forts in the hills, five miles from Tripoli. A RED SEA INCIDENT. Italian Gunboat Fired On. Tho Attack Repelled. ROME, October 8. Semi-official messages from Massowah state that the forts at Hokeidah, on tho Arabian coast, and a Turkish gun on a launch, fired several shots at the gunboat Artusa. The latter replied, and sunk the launch. BOMBARDMENT OF TRIPOLI. Women and Children Killed. CONSTANTINOPLE, October 8. The Tripolitan authorities report that numerous houses were : destroyed, and a great number of the inhabitants, including’ several wonifin and 1 children, were killed, by the bombardment. A QUESTION TO BRITAIN. Another Moslem Protests Received October 9, 9.45 a.m. CONSTANTINOPLE, October 8. A meeting of Moslems in the Mosque of St.. Sophia’ addressed a telegram to King George, asking how England, ruling as ft does ninety millions of Mohammedans, regards with complaisance Italy’s action. The promoter of the meeting was the same man who convened the meeting which appealed to the Kaiser in protest against Englancl’s action in Persia last year. THE ARABIAN REBELS. Anxious To Bury The Hatchet. CONSTAN'FINOPLE, October 8. Tho leader of the Yemen rebels offers an armistice, and will provide 100,000 men to aid Turkey in Tripoli. TURKEY AND GREECE. Significant Signs. CONSTANTINOPLE, October 8. There is’ increasing military activity in Salonika, where it is rumoured Turkey is about to invade Greece. RUMOURED INVASION OF GREECE. ATHENS, October 8. It is semi-officially stated that the Turks have landed 500 soldiers in Greece, in violation of the Self-Government Statute of 1832, guaranteed by Britain,. France, and Russia. TURKISH STEAMERS DETAINED. For Breach of Neutrality. , CAIRO, October 8. , Two small Turkish steamers which were unable to leave Suez are being dismantled. INDIAN MOSLEMS EXCITED. A Condemnatory Resolution. CALCUTTA, October 8. The Council of the Moslems ot All Indifl met at Lucknow and passed resolutions condemning Italy’s action, advising the boycotting of Italian goods, and appealing for British intervention. ITALIANS EXPELLED FROM TURKEY. PARIS, October 8. A telegram from Constantinople says that the Turkish Cabinet lias decided .to expel all Italians from Turkey. STATEMENT BY ITALY. Turks to bo Overcome. ROME, October 8. Official quarters, recognising the anxiety of the Powers to seo tho conflict cease.

Dr. E. Jennings, ot Christchurch, who had some experiences of tire Turko-Rus-sian war as a ipeinbcr of an ambulance on. the losing side, gave an interesting description of the Turkish soldier in an interview the other day. “I was given a good insight into at least one phase of the Turk’s character,” he said, “when the ambulance was well on its,way.to the front. On that occasion we met a series of waggons bringing the wounded from Plevna. The road has just been opened up, and thousands of wounded men were being sent back to the hospitaus. As many of them had been weeks without attention, and as the weather was very hot, I shall not try to desenue their terrible condition. For three days and, three nights the procession of pain and, death filed sadly past, and for three days and three nights at.the ambulances, ten in number, worked witnont intermission. One or the other would go away for a few minutes for a breath of fresh air or a pint of food, but the work was never stopped until the wounded had been attended to. They were roughly classified, hirst, there were those who were well enough to go on, their wounds were carefully dressed, and everything possible, was done for their comfort. In the second class were those whose only chance of recovery was immediate removal to our temporary hospitals. In the third class wore those so near death that it seemed to be useless cruelty to disturb them. To those wo gave opium, the gift of togods, in the hope that it would smooth thoir passing away. The patience of those Turks and. their endurance of suffering wa 3 marvellous. I saw them as they lay in native hospitals, very often on the hare floor without even a blanket, still dressed, in their uniforms, and absolutely uncared for. The Government ration was served to all alike, regardless of the extent of injuries You can imagine what it would be with three bard biscuits and one pint of water night and morning, and morning, and nobody to give any assistance. I saw a man with a badly shattered jaw hungrily eyeing the biscuits he could by no possibility oat. There were scores of scenes of that character, but never did I hear a complaint. It was kismet, and that was sufficient to account for everything. I could see at onco why tire Turks, brave, kind, patient, hospitable, moral and intelligent,,are a doomed race. They have ceased to struggle against fate. Kismet, the glorious word, . talisman that led them so often to k ; ad3 i - tllem now to national apathy and extinction. “Several months later, when Plovna was SSS hf :i ca " Ulcd , aud the two armies laced each other on the heights,” Dr. Jennings continued, “skirmishes were of daily occurrence, and the ambulance had much hard work to do. Sometimes the English while dressing the wounded Turks, -were left between the combatants, to the great admiration of the Turkish soldiers, whose doctors kept modestly in the base hospitals. The weather was intensely cold, with heavy falls of snow. In our tents, with a fire always alight, the brandy froze The roadside was strewn with the bodies of men frozen to death. Up on the hills, 700 ft above us, where the armies .stood facing each other, the sentries were changed as frequently as every lo minutes, yet as many as 40 men would bo frozen to death at their stations every night. Ihe Egyptian troops suffered terribly, as might be expected. In their anxiety to got away from this awful cold they were willing to take almost any risk. One plan was self-mutilation. A hand would be placed on the muzzle of the rifle, the trigger would be pulled with the foot, and two or more fingers would be blown into space. These men were at first sent to the rear, but the evil grew to such an extent that one morning six of them were shot, and then the practice ceased. It .was not that the men were cowards or that they would not hear pain, for they would stand and have their hands attended to an dendurc.amputations without flinching. The poor'follows probably had been taken from the equatorial districts and sent .straight to that polar region. after operations of that character I sometimes seriously wondered if those Egyptians were not to bo envied, because they had two or three fingers leas with which to feel the cold.”