mosquitoes in Vetluga. Money troubles abound, as well,
but he's getting exercise and keeping up with his Russian
studies.//
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.
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.
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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