1 Mart 2019 Cuma

TNT Matchbox Diary: A Turkish POW in Russian Prison Camp (1915-1918)/Part XXXI

//Ed. Note: Fuad Bey's biggest problem is the summer
mosquitoes in Vetluga.  Money troubles abound, as well,
but he's getting exercise and keeping up with his Russian
studies.//

russian mosquitoes ile ilgili görsel sonucu


13 June 1916 Tuesday
The weather is still cloudy but  it leaves some nice shade. Nevertheless,
lots of mosquitoes – they give us no peace day or night. We chatted a 
bit and played games. Once again in the afternoon I went to see Şerif. 
After writing some words and verbs I came back and wrote the other 
Russian verbs that I couldn’t write over there. Again, I went to sleep 
late. At one o’clock at night the eastern sky was completely red. Of 
course, there was light all around. 

Before lying down in the evening a sergeant came from the Command 
and said that tomorrow we would go to the Command office. There 
were a bunch of reasons whispered about this, in particular that some 
untoward incidents had occurred among the senior group. No doubt 
tomorrow we’ll find out. The Russian news agencies today wrote that 
the French took 113,000 German prisoners at Verdun. Is it true? 
I wonder.

14 June 1916 Wednesday
When I woke up in the morning I noticed that the mosquitoes had 
bitten my foot very badly. In my sleep I had scratched and scratched 
the bites, causing a wound. My feet are sore and aching. They don’t
care about socks, their stingers pass through everything. 

In the morning at 10 o’clock we gathered in the Command office 
garden and, of course, all the prisoners were there. The Commander 
came and said that an order had come from the Moscow Command 
about officer prisoners not wearing civilian clothes. He said that
the petition Hakkı had submitted to the effect that permission to wear 
civilian clothes that had been obtained from a Russian general in Baku 
would not be implemented. He added that those who did not have 
uniforms would not be allowed to go to the market and that everyone 
would have to have a military uniform made. He approved the hunting 
outfit I had made on condition that the buttons be changed (epaulets 
will be attached too). The Commander said that tomorrow we will be 
given a sufficient advance in proportion to the sum we got in Kars. 
It rained heavily during the night.

vetluga photos ile ilgili görsel sonucu
                          A street in Vetluga today.

Aches and Pains from Gymnastics and Javelin

15 June 1916 Thursday
The weather is pretty nice but the mosquitoes are still active. There’s 
swelling all over us. My body aches all over from the gymnastics we
did last night and the javelin-throwing. I didn’t work as much on 
Russian today as I should have. The time passed with chatting and
playing games. I couldn’t sleep because of the mosquitoes  although 
I wanted to. I’m feeling a bit depressed.  Sometimes I think about the 
past, sometimes I think about my situation and the future. These days 
it seems like an unknown person is at my ear whispering distressing 
and sad news. This startled me a bit but I collected my thoughts and 
comforted myself. As the sun was rising I lay down and slept.

16 June 1916 Friday
The weather is nice. After lunch we went to the Command office. A bit 
later the Russian secretary came and gave us each five more rubles. Our
many petitions have been put off, citing bad behavior as the reason. A 
month passed. They didn’t give an allowance. We asked why. The 
authorization for the allowance hasn’t come yet. We’re suffering because 
of a lack of money. God help us! We closed all the windows in the room 
today. Even though the inside of the room became hot and stifling there 
weren’t any mosquitoes left. In this regard we were comfortable and we 
slept well at night.

17 June 1916 Saturday
The weather is quite nice. In the morning we worked on physical fitness
in the garden, especially rope-climbing. Since the rope was rather thin it 
made our hands swell.  Today we bought netting from the market and 
attached it to the windows in the room. This keeps the mosquitoes out 
and refreshes the air in the room. At last we’re saved from the annoyance 
of the horrible mosquitoes. At night I dreampt that I got a letter from my 
father. In it he wrote that he had dealt with the old problem successfully 
and so I could spend my time in captivity with peace of mind. Of course,
I was very happy and asked God to let me get a real letter.

 vetluga photos ile ilgili görsel sonucu

18 June 1916 Sunday
The weather is clear and nice. A light wind that came up in the afternoon 
rid the garden of mosquitoes. Again we worked out with a rope we tied 
to a tree in the garden. I went up twice. We did some arm exercises in the 
trees, as well. We played games, too. I was a bit annoyed in the afternoon. 
I won’t play for a few days because I can’t do anything else – neither 
finish writing the family history nor write the memoir properly.

19 June 1916 Monday
The weather is nice.  I went to Şerif’s room in the afternoon for a while 
and we wrote Russian verbs. Today I got bread from the Austrians’ 
committee (for helping civilian prisoners) using a ticket that Osman’s 
Hungarian wife got and gave to us as a gift. On the way back I got a few
cards from the post office. The exterior of the post office is nice, 
appropriate for a town center. 

News: I heard tht the Russian newspapers are writing that the Russians 
have abandoned Erzurum and pulled back to the old border in the face 
of an army corps whose forces they could not withstand. The Russians 
have attacked the Romanian border again. The Austrian army and 
cannons have withdrawn again. We were happy. In the evening we 
laughed a lot after a long tale by one of the fellows, Ethem.   

20 June 1916 Tuesday
The weather is nice. We did exercises in the garden again in the 
morning. I went to see Şerif after lunch. We worked on Russian a bit
and chatted. After the evening meal we did exercises again. The lack 
of money is very annoying, as is the Russians’ negligence. Let us be 
freed from this captivity! A corporal informed us about an order from 
the Commander to the effect that henceforth the married officers’ 
children will not be allowed to come and talk with their fathers. So 
the children can’t come to the house anymore. At night it rained for
an hour or two.

//END of PART XXXI//


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