19 Nisan 2019 Cuma

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

//Ed. Note:  As October 1916 ends, Fuad Bey gets lots of
news about the War, including reports of the Germans
bombing London with Zeplins.  Language lessons and
inmate relations dominate Fuad Bey's life.//

zeplin bombs london 1916 ile ilgili görsel sonucu


22 October 1916 Sunday
The weather is partly cloudy. The sun is showing itself, giving us some 
color…the Commander came in the morning. We talked about Major 
Haydar coming here from the other side. At this point Çerkes Mehmet 
said that an officer had come to him saying that he had no money for 
tobacco and he wanted an advance. This moneyless fellow was Kazim. 
The Commander took three rubles from his pocket and gave them to 
him. This made me mad. Kazim doesn’t pay any money for table d’hote 
and he’s deep in debt. He can’t bear to be without money so he’s forever
asking everyone to borrow money. May God make him wise and shape 
him up. Toward evening I again asked Süleyman to give us German
lessons. He agreed. Really, I’m mad because we’re sitting idle. I got 
angry at another thing today. Salah and Saffet chatted with each other 
from morning till midnight. They keep on whispering. They’re not
talking about home or the war because they’ve used up everything they 
know about them. The strange thing is they’re talking about who they’re 
against and who they’re for. I’m sick of it! Let’s be human! Even if we 
don’t do good deeds let’s at least work. Damn these trouble-makers!

23 October 1916 Monday
Like yesterday the weather today is nice. A bit chilly. Another problem: 
Haydar will come from the Other side so someone from here will 
change places with him. Salah was going to be sent over there but 
Çerkes Mehmet intervened to forestall Salah’s leaving even though the 
Russian  ustarşi (supervisor) had insisted on it. The result was that 
everyone appealed to Çerkes Mehmet and the ustarşi and Salah
stayed. I wanted him to leave. The Russian ustarşi said to Salah 
‘you don’t seem to be a friend, you have a plan. I know a person from 
his actions, not his words. You’re talking in secret every night.’ Salah
got very angry and gloomy. Halis took the boots to the main barracks 
today. He didn’t have enough money by one ruble. He was embarrassed 
and said he would bring it tomorrow. The boots really look great, like 
new. At night Halis, Burhan and I started to get German lessons from 
Süleyman again. I wrote two cards today, one to my father and the 
other to Ziya who is in Çohlama. I gave them to the Russian ustarşi.

24 October 1916 Tuesday
The weather is more overcast than yesterday. There’s a dry cold in the
air. News: the Germans are using the 42 against the Romanians, who 
are under heavy pressure! The hope is that Romania will be completely
destroyed soon. Supposedly all civilian prisoners are being set free for
return to their home countries. I wonder if it’s true? I was gloomy today 
because Zühdü gave away a match and Burhan said something 
thoughtless. Then Halis came and said ‘you’re always in a bad mood. 
This seems to have happened after you and I became close friends.’ At 
night he said something meaningless about the two covers of a book and 
added that he would share the details in the morning. I didn’t understand.
Really, I felt rather strange. Right away my mood changed. Mostly, I feel 
badly about even the slightest  thing. But perhaps I’m not justified. It’s 
not good for Halis to tease me like this but it’s no big deal. We’re really 
eternal friends…we didn’t have a German lesson for lack of a table. I felt 
badly about this.

25 October 1916 Wednesday
The weather is nice, cloudless, pleasant. It’s warmed up. In the afternoon 
everyone went to walk around  in the garden and the park by the river. 
Unfortunately, I was late so I couldn’t go. All I could do was walk a bit 
in front of the door. I busied myself today with sewing a cloth slipper and
I worked on German a bit too. At night we had a new German lesson. 
Halis has been in an odd mood for the past couple of days. He can’t sleep 
at night. Whenever I wake up at night I see him smoking a cigarette. I 
ask ‘what are you thinking?’ but he doesn’t respond. Sometimes he says
it’s just sleeplessness. May God grant him health. Seeing my best friend 
under such stress makes me extremely upset.

26 October 1916 Thursday
The weather is pleasant like yesterday. We strolled around in front of the 
door quite a bit. We had another lesson with Süleyman at night (about 
irregular verbs). At night Saffet told us the story of the novel Kantoma. 
Again, the trials born of captivity. No word from my parents.

27 October 1916 Friday
The weather is rather nice again. There are some clouds and some rather 
cool air. Vetluga is northeast of Moscow at a latitude of 5758 degrees. 
It’s a district and the province is Kostroma. It’s on the right bank of the 
river, which has a current on the right side. There are no mountains here,
just a plain. On the left bank there are wetlands and ponds. The land is 
more like fine sand than dirt. We had a new German lesson. We chatted 
and went to bed.

28 October 1916 Saturday
The weather is quite nice. Sunny. News: the Germans are on the attack 
and the French and Russians are in retreat. The Russians say that they 
can’t hold the line because they’ve used too much of their ammunition. 
The zepplins have bombed London, destroying a pier on the Thames. 
Austria is pressing Italy, which is fleeing. Romania is being pressed by 
German, Austrian, Bulgarian and Turkish forces. Very good. There are 
lots of forests in Vetluga. The land is two thirds forest and one
third grassland.  Apples, cucumbers, beets, oats and rye are grown. 
Wheat and watermellons come from elsewhere.

Forces from the Carpathians Have Split the Boğdan-Eflak Border

29 October 1916 Sunday
The weather is nice. We didn’t have a German lesson today on the
pretext of practice. News: our army has taken Lepez district in Van. We 
and our allies are squeezing Romania. They’ve crossed the Danube at 
Dobruca. Köstence and Mecidiye have fallen. A force from the 
Carpathians has split the Boğdan-Eflak border. Two armies are joining 
together. Eflak is completely surrounded. The Russian newspaper says
‘we were expecting something from Romania but they’ve put us and our
friends (our left flank) in danger. The Russian newspapers are also saying 
‘we were threatening the Germans with starvation but they’re not scared 
of hunger. On the contrary, although we can’t export anything, we’re 
dying of hunger…’

30 October 1916 Monday
The weather is neither good nor bad. These days we’re suffering from 
a lack of money. I don’t know, is it because we’re not managing it 
properly? It’s as if the destitution we experienced at Sarıkamış has 
returned, come back to life. We have enough tea chits but there’s no 
cigarette paper. We’re in a bad way. Everything is finished and there’s 
still ten day until we get paid. Being without cigarettes is bewildering.
We’re too embarrassed to ask anyone for them and we won’t lower 
ourselves to do so. We got some mahurka for a few (40,50) kopeks 
and are trying to use it to remedy our need for cigarettes. Mahurka 
come from the roots of tobacco. By adding wood chips we’re making 
do. We got 40 kopeks from Zühdü today. We had a new German lesson
(case endings for verbs) today. We chatted and went to bed.

31 October 1916 Tuesday
The weather is like yesterday. The foul smell from the latrine sewers 
which were cleaned yesterday kept us from going outside. Very 
uncomfortable. The outside smells terrible. News: the Russians
have destroyed the Danube Bridge with cannon fire. We’re advancing 
at Dobruca. The main line from Köstence to Europe has been seized. 
Turkey, Istanbul are in tumult. Enver Paşa and Talat are feuding. Enver 
Paşa has dispersed the Committee of Union and Proress forces loyal to 
Talat and closed their clubs. When this happened they formed a 
committee with Prime Minister Said Halim Paşa as the chief, Talat as 
the deputy chief and Midhat Şükrü and some others as members. They
declared a dictatorship and protested Enver Paşa. We didn’t believe it.
God willing, there’s nothing to it, especially at a time like this. We 
didn’t have a lesson tonight. From now on lesson time has been 
shifted to three o’clock in the afternoon. Today I had the Austrian 
servant Franz write some things in French. We chatted and went to bed.

//END of PART LI//


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