26 Nisan 2019 Cuma

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

//Ed. Note:  The rumblings of things to come are evident
in Fuad Bey's life in mid-November 1916 - the calm
before the storm.//

world war one russia map ile ilgili görsel sonucu


15 November 1916 Wednesday
The weather has changed completely, it’s brand new. The sky is clear 
and the sun is out. A little before noon two of the newly-arrived officer 
prisoners came to our house. We chatted a bit. After lunch we went to 
the market. The weather is cold, our mustaches froze. We got two 
notebooks from the  ?benşilme? and brought them back. At night Franz 
and I worked a bit but I had to go to bed rather early. There’s no work,
nothing to do, not even sleep. My life passed grimly toward the end of 
the day today.

16 November 1916 Thursday
Yet another gloomy day of captive life. Yes, this gloomy new day makes 
me think of the past, of the happy days I once knew. Those magical 
times are rocking my heart and soul. It gives my life such a great and 
fun-filled abundance, it’s as if I was living those days once again in all t
heir glory…I don’t know, where has this hopeless situation come from? 
It’s really unpleasant to deal with the memories of the past during these 
days of captivity which can’t hide the calamities and torments, to wrestle 
with ideas and dreams in such a place of torment. I’m hoping that if 
something can be found to keep me busy during captivity I’ll be better 
off…still, I don’t know! I don’t know! How can it be that I’m living my 
life the best that I can but still I can’t be saved without some motivation,
no matter how much I think about it. Still, I can’t escape from the 
tremendous pain that crushes my heart, rocks my soul, and makes me 
forget the thoughts in my mind and my dreams. Dear God…give strength 
and firmness to my spirit so that I’m not dragged to the abyss within these
enigmatic depths. I don’t know, what’s in this new phase of life’s 
passage?  The weather is nice. I got ready to go to the Lebedof house 
after lunch but unfortunately I couldn’t go. The reason was Ethem. I 
had an argument  with him just for this reason. We had another German 
lesson. But it feels  like my interest is slowly fading away. I went to the 
market toward evening.  I was going to get a German reader but I came 
back wth a  scissors  instead.  We chatted at night…went to bed.

17 November 1916 Friday
The weather is partly cloudy. Hasan Basri and a few other fellows from 
the other house came to visit. I made another request of Halis today. 
First of all, I went over to him and asked him to behave a little more 
seriously, not to roughhouse with anyone and to absolutely not engage 
in any pushing and shoving ourselves, in spite of our closeness. He 
found this to be sensible but there was a trace of sadness on his face. 
Later on he wanted an explanation from me so I told him that things 
that seem unimportant could be misunderstood or misinterpreted in our 
environment and I mentioned some other things too. At this point, Halis
 became quite distraught. Again, my words were the cause. And yet I 
had said them in the spirit of our friendship. Anyway, with some 
difficulty I was able to reassure him but then it was me who felt badly. 
Halis had tried to kill himself once before. In fact, he had drank cologne.
 God help us! Has this child gone mad! Really, I was quite upset. It was
all I could do to console Halis. Then he said to me ‘if I don’t find my 
family in Turkey would you come with me to a foreign country where 
we could live? My real estate and land would fetch a pretty penny. It 
would be enough for us.’ I agreed to this and told him to rest, adding 
that I would never abandon him. We agreed and promised each other. 
In fact, we wrote a note to this effect. Later Halis said that he would do
his utmost to fulfill the request I made of him today. I was happy and 
relieved.

18 November 1916 Saturday
The weather is overcast. The snow that falls now and then is 
accumulating on the ground with what’s already there.  The cold is 
affecting us inside the house. This results mostly in the rooms being 
damp, as follows: even though the windows have two layers, ice forms 
and melts. As a matter of fact, the spot next to the window has become 
a lake. This is really annoying. It probably has quite an effect on health, 
too. This is also mostly from breathing but somewhat from water vapor, 
as well. News: our allies have passed Dobruca and have entered Russian 
Bessarabia. The Turks have defeated the English near Nasiria, taking 
60,000 prisoners. Two English planes have bombarded our army head-
quarters…today time passed pleasantly. I did a lot of German work and 
we had another new German lesson. We bought an ordinary table for 
two rubles and rearranged the beds to accommodate the table. I got a 
little upset while this was going on because someone was interfering 
with our work. But I cut him off with a couple of well-chosen words. 
We chatted among ourselves and went to bed.

The Turks’ Attacks in the Caucasus Have Come to Naught

19 November 1916 Sunday
The weather is overcast. The ground is almost all covered by snow. Now 
and then there’s some snow falling. News: the Turks’ attacks on the 
Caucasus front (Kifi, Muş, Gümüşhane’s northwest) have come to 
naught. Offensives on the other fronts are going better. Betman Holvek 
said in a speech that Russia cause the current war and that England has 
fanned the flames. SomeRussian writers are blaming the government. 
Again today an argument about the beds arose and I made Hakkı angry. 
Because I got mad then too. Sabbet came over to me in the evening and 
we had a long talk. In summary, he said that since we’re from the same 
town we have to always support each other. At night we chatted among
ourselves and went to bed.

20 November 1916 Monday
The weather is still cloudy. The cold is increasing significantly. Water
 is freezing even during daytime. Even the river appears from a distance
 to have frozen over. News: the Germans have invented a machine gun 
that weighs 24 funt (18 lbs.). They’re said to be having dogs find 
important reports and make small discoveries. They’ve joined the Rhine
 and Danube rivers by opening a canal, linking the North Sea with the 
Black Sea. Currently, the source of the Danube is in Russian hands…
some fellows came from the other houses.  Uzun Hakkı asked me to 
write the German equivalents of a few Turkish words. I sent him a paper. 
We chatted among ourselves and went to bed.

21 November 1916 Tuesday
The weather is overcast. Some light snow fell. News: a German 
offensive. The French have pulled back ten kilometers. The Russians 
have retreated a bit, as well. Likewise, the Italians. The attack on 
Romania continues. Russian members of parliament want the cabinet
changed and an end to the war. We got an order from the Russian 
Command: no one will go to the market. If anyone goes their own 
soldiers and then any prisoner who goes will be executed. How severe! 
We couldn’t understand it. There had been an incident. As an Austrian 
soldier was passing the market with a guard a Russian soldier who had
returned from the war flew into a rage and hit the Austrian a couple of 
times. Then the mujik (villagers) gathered and they were just about 
ready to kill the Austrian. Finally, the guard yelled to the Austrian ‘run, 
save yourself!’ and the Austrian ran to safety at the main barracks. We 
wondered if this order was the result of this incident. We worked
a bit at night. We had another new German lesson.

22 November 1916 Wednesday
The weather is still cloudy. Again today there was another incident 
caused by the Russians. The problem arose as follows: First Lieutenant 
Sadık from the other house went to the market with a German soldier-
servant in the morning. They went into the Tatar’s store. While 
shopping, the German soldier talked with a German civilian who asked 
why they couldn’t go outside and the German soldier related the 
incident involving the Russians. The German civilian said that two
thirds of the population of this province is made up of Germans and 
that if the Russians were to attack the prisoners they shouldn’t worry, 
they would probably be helped and defended. This conversation was all 
in German. Just then a few mujik (villagers) entered the store and asked
the Tatar’s child why the Germans were allowed to talk like this. The 
child told them to ask the guards who were with the German. The mujik 
were angered by this and attacked the Tatar’s child. Realizing that the 
situation would get worse, Sadık slipped away…what  a scandal! The
Russians say they don’t want war and then they attack us!

23 November 1916 Thursday
The weather remains overcast. The cold is not bitter, though. After 
lunch we went to the Command.  The issue: the Kostruma governor has 
sent an order, in which it is stated that the grocers and shopkeepers will ,
not give prisoners more provisions than have been allotted to them and 
that any shopkeeper that acts otherwise will be hit with a fine. It seems
 they’re saying this so the shopkeepers don’t sell to us at wholesale 
prices and then blame us for their problems…the incident that occurred 
was also mentioned. The Commander said that only the big market road
is off-limits and that we could go to the other neighborhoods…we 
worked a bit on German at night. Franz had us write a short story in 
German. The German tailor said that Bucharest has fallen and that 
shortly all of Romania will be occupied.

24 November  1916 Friday
The weather is still cloudy. Compared to other days, it’s not as cold. 
News: Russian war troops in Selanika have taken Manastir. Romania is 
still under pressure. The Russian Parliament has been closed because ,
the government does not like the idea of the country making a peace 
deal…yet another  regrettable incident: Uzun Hakkı and Geveze 
(chatterbox) Ismail from the other house came over. Ismail related an 
incident that had occurred at their house. In short, Sadık and Ismail 
got into an argument about reserves and regular army. Supposedly, 
Kör (blind) Mehmet and Şerif supported Sadık…enough of these 
incidents!...big regret…at night we worked on our lessons and after 
chatting a bit we went to bed. The Russian newspapers are writing that
Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph has died of natural causes.

25 November 1916 Saturday
Cloudy again. Outside it’s reminiscent of our Fall days but it’s a bit 
warm. The newspapers are writing that the Russian Parliament will 
open. Again I heard an irritating, regrettable thing. Şahir and Yahya i
n the Malaşova house had a fight because of a backgammon game…
what a scandal! I worked with Franz at night. We chatted…went to bed.

//END of PART LIV//

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