camp where he will stay for more than two more years.
Another book by a Turkish prisoner held in a nearby camp
at Varnavino, just southwest of Vetluga and on the same
river, is highly recommended: "Vetluga Memoir" by
Mehmet Arif Ölçen (translated by Gary Leiser).
21 May 1916 Sunday
Half of today was spent passing through
forests. There are lots of
forests in these northern parts of Russia, in particular. There’s
lots of
wood and lumber. In fact, the
locomotives in the northern areas burn
wood. The carts we
see in the cities are lined up with loads of wood.
Before we came to the Vologda station
we saw Austrian prisoners who
had been brought to work at a station up ahead. They
greeted us and
we waved handkerchiefs at them.
The weather is cold and we shivered. I’m sick again. I climbed up to
the upper berth and lay down. I really felt lousy. We were
at the
Vologda station. The sun set at eight thirty. On one side, before the
brightness
sprinkled by the sunset faded, the other side was showing
signs of dawn. We weren’t allowed to see Vologda or to tour
around
it. But the provincial capital is orderly, big and beautiful. Our
train,
which up to now had been travelling north, changed direction
southward here. Toward
morning when we got upthe train was
moving toward the east.
22 May 1916 Monday
When I woke up in the morning our train was
at the Lupayavo station.
Today as well our travel passed completely through forests.
These
forests seem to know no end, as if theywere made with great care and
they’re quite
pleasant, set row upon row. Occasionally we encounter
Austrian prisoners along the rail
line and we exchange greetings with
them. They are good enough to give us tobacco and
other costly things.
In the morning we came to Timayalıh station where we said farewell
to
the group that had accompanied us since Tblisi. At five o’clock –
late afternoon prayer time
– we came to Şarya station where we will
get out but we spent the night in the rail
cars. Today my discomfort
still has not
passed. I haven’t been able to get out at any of the
stations
so I don’t understand anything about the trip. At this last station the
fellows went
to a big restaurant to pass the time but I couldn’t go.
During this 21-day life on the train
many strange things have
happened. Lots of gambling. Some fellows are broke, some have
sold
their fur hats. In fact, there have been some little fights and
quite a few very odd incidents.
23 May 1916 Tuesday
I woke up a bit late this morning. I saw
that everyone was busy trying
to find what they could to fill their food needs. They were
all going
hither and yon. After about seven hours the carts arrived at the station
and were waiting for us. Then we boarded them. These carts are quite
basic. The space between the
wheels is quite far. On top of it is a
covered basket, within which there is some straw, serving
as a cushion.
Since there weren’t enough carts some of our comrades were late and
some of them had to walk.
The town
or township named Şarya is rather big and pretty.
Almost all
the homes are made of wood. The road we followed after we left here
was made of
find sand that had essentially become dirt. All around
there were dense forests. There were
marshes in some places. Quite
a bit further on we bagan to follow the shore of one of
the branches of
the Volga River. At first the road was muddy and irregular but later it
improved. Noon passed and late afternoon approached.
Unfortunately, we passed a village whose
name I wasn’t able to learn.
The shortage of men was evident here, too. The village streets
are quite
orderly. All the houses are set amidst trees. Not bad at all. The women
are all outdoors
and the villagers’ clothes are simple but colorful. It
seems they like colored
clothes. Toward evening our road ended at the
bank of a large river. We crossed over to the other
side on a raft. There
is a village here and we were separated into various homes. I was in
a
Russian home with Zühdü, Şerif, Mehmet, Tahir, Zarif and Mehmet.
This is simple, made of
wood. The inside is nice, conducive to health.
There’s one big room and an adjacent kitchen with
an oven in it. These
people live all together. In every Russian house there’s a samovar and
in
every corner invariably there’s a picture of a church. The name of
this village is Ivanoskaya. I
wasn’t really sick at all today. I’ve
recovered. This river is said to be the Vetluga. The weather is
good.
24 May 1916 Wednesday
Morning came. First off, the Russian
villagers made breakfast which
consisted of tea, milk, cabbage pickles and black bread. They eat
these
while chatting away. Then, probably because soon summer will be here,
they don’t wear
any shoes. Everyone’s barefooted. Then they come
into their rooms with dirty, muddy feet.
Once inside in the right hand
corner of each room there are pictures of Jesus and Mary, and while
eating, and even after eating, they worship these pictures. In short, I
found the villagers
to be filthy and because of this there is a strange,
unpleasant smell in their rooms. The
villagers drink tea by holding a
piece of sugar in their mouths so they drink five glasses of tea
with
one piece of sugar. Then they drink the tea from the plate.
Anyway, after filling our stomachs somewhat in the
morning we left
Ivanoskaya village. The weather was bad, raining
heavily. Although I
wanted to sleep in the cart I couldn’t. We passed a number of villages
and at late
afternoon we came to Pehon Kisna village and remained
here. Today we travelled 25 verst
(20 kilometers) and yesterday 30
verst (25 kilometers). In this village we stayed in a
smaller and more
shabby village home than the one we stayed in yesterday. There were
children
in this one. They raise their children well. At night in a dream
I dreamt that my mother
was giving birth to a child in her old age and
died. I was very troubled by this.
Arrival in Vetluga
Vetluga is at the top of the map.
Vetluga is at the top of the map.
25 May 1916 Thursday
After breakfast in the morning we went to
the carts. At this time they
gave us four and a half rubles travel pay for three days. We were to
leave a bit later. Then we had an
argument with a retired secretary
captain who had been
unable to flee from Erzurum and who came here
as a prisoner, when he tried to take over our
cart. In any event, we
departed. Again our route took us through forests and meadows. The
terrain was as before. In some places there were little wather holes and
swamps.
Noon came
and we reached the town of Vetluga where we’ll stay
henceforth. Today we traveled 15 verst
(10 kilometers). At first
glance Vetluga looks big and rather pretty. Right away it made me
think
of our Hasankale. The town is on the bank of the Vetluga River, one of
the branches of
the Volga. As soon as we arrived we went straight to
the Commander’s office but it wasn’t as
nice as the one at Sarıkamış.
We waited quite a while. After a thorough inspection they
made three
groups based on rank. Myself and my low-ranking companions were to
be with the
married officers. Each group was assigned a house. The
majors went to Varansova house,
the group of mid-level captains and
lieutenants went to Adalifenski house and we settled
into Lebedof house,
which was next to them at the corner. There were already five officers
here who had
been taken prisoner earlier. These were Artillery Captain
Arap Hamid, Cavalry First Lieutenant Cemil
(…), Infantry Second
Lieutenant Süleyman, Infantry Regular Army Junior
Officer Istanbullu
Hakkı and Cavalry Reserve Junior Officer Yozgatlı Saffet. Of these, I
knew
Saffet because we had traveled together from Istanbul to Erzurum.
We spent the night on wooden
beds, upon which there was some rough
straw. Since we had just come, the five of us lack
everything. This
house is in front of a
rather broad square, somewhat above the road that
goes to the
loading dock on the river. It has a big, beautiful garden. The
river is rather wide and its
right bank, the one the city is on, is made up
of a few ridges that are 50 meters high. But we
couldn’t see any rock at
all. These are terrain waves. The opposite bank, the left bank, is a very
broad flatland. There are lots of swamps.
//END of PART XXVII//
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