by Russian Cossacks at Gez village, just west of Erzurum
city.//
//Ed. Note: the 'Gez' listed at number 11 above is different
from the 'Gez' where Fuad Bey was captured, which was
just west of Erzurum city. Coincidenally, though, Fuad
Bey's last days before capture were spent in the area of
the Gez listed at number 11 on the chart above.//
15 February
1916 Tuesday
Sunrise and the weather was fine but there
was a bitter coldness
in the air.
We sat in the earthwork for quite a while. With my
wounded leg I went to the top of the hill to reconnoiter
and observe
the enemy. I waited for a bit but there was nothing, I
didn’t see
anything so I returned. As I was coming back my foot caught on a
rock.
Once again I fell on my aching foot. Again it started to hurt
badly. It
was noon. Enemy cannons began to bombard our trenches with full
force. We lost 40 dead and a number were wounded. Toward late
afternoon
an estimated force of 10,000 Russian infantry were
advancing
across the plain and toward Uzun Ahmed. We waited a
while. The vanguard and
flank guard were advancing straight for
Kayili village and our trenches and on the order of
the commander
I came to the Yıkılgan.
Unfortunately, our fortress cannons did not
affect the enemy at all. Especially the ones near
us. At this time
Doctor Ahmed Nuri, Reserve Hamdi, Second Battalion Commader
Captain Ahmed Hamdi remained up above.
Per today’s order, if the
army withdraws and if we come under enemy pressure and our
trenches are taken
we were to retreat via the Erzurum-Yarımca-
Sakalıkesik road.
It was
just about sunset. Leaving veterinarian Nafiz at Yıkılgan,
I took the muler Salih
and the stoker Tahir with me and set out. The
old broken-down horse I was
riding puttered along. A bit after,
we were passing by Topalak redoubt. The
heavy cannons were here.
The ammunition was being burned and the cannons
destroyed. This
spectacle affected me very badly because Erzurum was
living its last
minutes. The sun had completely set. We too came to Topalak
redoubt
where I saw Cisr Mustafa Paşa’lı Riza and Heavy Artilleryman
Mumtaz
of the 50th Regiment.
The destruction of Erzurum, February 1916.
We were continuing to move. The fires in Erzurum
were showing
themselves from time to time.
The poor city was falling into Russian
hands again. We entered the city at the Kars gate. I waited for the
regiment
at a place called ‘mahalle başı’ (neighborhood gate). The
time was after the last
prayer hour. I waited quite a while but
I didn’t see the regiment or anything else.
I didn’t see any sense in
waiting any longer because
I was afraid that with the worthless horse
I’d be left behind. The situation in Erzurum was very bad. Both the
soldiers and
the populace were looting the markets. All the stores had
been broken
into. I left the city via the İstanbul gate and bid Erzurum
my permanent
farewells. Since I didn’t know the short
cut to
the Yarımcı road and since I couldn’t find
anyone who knew it, I
decided to head toward Gez. The weather was extremely cold,
like ice,
and the wind was howling. Frozen to the bone and with great
difficulty
I reached Gez. It was just about morning and we went into a place to
rest a
bit.
Fuad Bey was looking for the Yarımca road but ended up
in Gez, left center on map.
16 February 1916
Wednesday
After a short rest at Gez, I started to ask
around about the Yarımca road
but although there were quite a few cavalry officers
about, I spent a full
two hours in this effort. Unfortunately, no one knew about the road
and
they couldn’t give me directions. Finally I found out from a cavalry
soldier
from that area and immediately set out.
The plain was completely covered with more
than half a meter of snow
so we followed a path that had already been cleared. About five minutes
out of Gez I saw that
there was a full detachment moving up ahead and
I was
pleased to see this. I thought that this was our regiment and I was
heartened by the prospect that even
if it wasn’t our regiment I could
reach it and join it. There was about one or one and a half
kilometers
between us and this detachment. Because
there was a light fog the
village couldn’t be seen. I advanced by following this
detachment by
sight and on horseback as
I was passing through the waves of the
terrain.
I moved ahead quite a bit. The village became visible and we
approached it. Since it was passing around the rear of the village
I
started to lose sight of the detachment. I was moving ahead on my
lame horse, coming nearer to the village, hoping and wishing
to join up
with that detachment.
With me were five or ten stragglers from the regiment and a cavalryman.
Again with
the effect of the cold, I was daydreaming on my horse
when
just then I felt the lame, lazy
horse stop.
At this moment two
cavalrymen appeared at my side. And one of them took the rifle of our
cavalryman while the other one
approached me and started to search me.
The two cavalrymen were talking to each
other in a foreign language. I
right
then trembled and fell into despair because
these were
Cossacks. I was now a
prisoner.
Russian Cossacks
At this time we approached to about 200
meters from the village and
I saw that two columns of Cossacks to the left of us were
heading
toward the village. There was no chance of resistance . The horse was
no
good, my foot was in bad shape…captivity was certain. Henceforth
we were prisoners. The Cossacks rounded up the prisoners they
had taken in one place and they brought us
there. They took the rifle
mechanisms
and bullets from the soldiers, as well as my
revolver,
money purse and some other things, and put them away. They weren’t
threatening us though.
In any event, we spoke here with Captain Şakir of the 51st
Regiment
who had been taken prisoner. After
I was captured I saw that a whole
detachment scattered and
fought with the Cossacks. Apparently,
this
was the 51st regiment. The bullets they fired were coming all
the
way to where we were. İn fact, one or two soldiers were
wounded.
After the regiment was
completely rounded up the Cossacks brought
one of them
to their commander. At this time, fearing that their
commander would take my
notebooks the Cossacks hadn’t already
taken, I buried them in the snow along the
Yarımca-Erzurum road at
a distance of 200, 1000 meters from the village. Limping all the
way,
I traversed this distance. But a Cossack soldier noticed the notebook
along with
some other papers I buried and gave them to his commander.
The commander, though,
rejected them and gave them to me.
In any event, the commander wrote his report and,
mounting us on horses,
sent us to Erzurum. We went as far as Tayatlu on horseback and
then
walked. The Russian were looting. Erzurum was in a sorry state anyway
because
of the fire. After a while they put us soldiers in a filthy place
and a Russian
officer – he must have been Armenian – promised us he’d
find another place for us and he
left. We waited and waited but nothing
happened as midnight passed. Finally, we too went in
with the soldiers
and lay down. For some reason, even though I hadn’t been able to eat
anything since morning, I didn’t feel hungry.
//END of PART XII//
Hiç yorum yok:
Yorum Gönder