mostly blindfolded - toward the Grand Duke's location,
which he discerned to be Plevne after getting a peek at
some familiar countryside during a rest-stop.//
Gazi Osman Paşa and the Plevne battlefront on 30 July 1877.
Since the carriage was destroyed we had to continue on horseback. Yet,
my beloved horse remained back at the forward outpost. Who knows
what had happened to it? So they gave me a horse of one of the
cavalrymen accompanying us. It was quite a tall Cossack horse -
everything about it was rough and the saddle was of the Circassian
kind. Exactly the kind of things I distained. The stirrups were well
behind where I was used to them being so the long, tiresome jouney
was something of a torment.
We would transit a big portion of Bulgaria this way to reach the Grand
Duke, who was wrestling with our heroes at Plevne and unable to
advance even one step forward. The fate of the great, powerful Russia
that all feared was in the hands of the Ottomans soldiers. What might
have happened there if the stars had aligned differently?
The great Russian army was immersed in calamaties, unable to confront
a handful of Ottoman heroes, to the degree that it had to call on Romania
for help. What great victories the world might have expected from a
reformed and reorganized Ottoman army? Only those of us with a
close-up view knew about the perseverance and sacrifice of our officers
and the courage and tenacity of our soldiers.
The mistakes made during the war must not be forgotten. To do so
would be to discount the virtues of our soldiers and allow these
mistakes to be committed again in the future. It must be said, though,
that thanks to the preparations made during the reign of the late Sultan
Abdülaziz to correct the many deficiencies and wrongheadedness of
our army in those days, our victories at Plevne and Zivin (on the
eastern Anatolia front) astonished the world.
But let us continue with our story. We pressed on at high speed,
advancing many kilometers without stopping. In the evening
we rested at a place with no military link to the battlefront so the
Russian officer agreed to take my blindfold off. The sun had just set
behind the mountains but I could still make out the lines of the
horizon in the reddish light. I took note of a mounds in the distance
that were unusual because most of Bulgarian mountains are peaks.
These mounds to our right were not far off and I noticed some very
tall cypress trees.
Recalling this view from my earlier days, I had no doubt that we were
on the outskirts of Byala, on the river Yantra, down toward which we
were advancing. We were heading west, meaning that was where the
Grand Duke was located - at Plevne. Up to that point, my Russian
escorts hadn't said anything to me about our position and, of course, I
hadn't asked them. But it is extremely anxiety-ridden for a person,
blindfolded as I was, to travel a long distance without knowing where
he is.
İzzet Fuat crossed over to Russian-controlled area south of
Ruse (Ruschuk) and proceeded via Byala toward Plevne.
Our Danube Army had received misinformation that was circulating
about Gazi Osman Paşa having abandoned Plevne and retreating toward
the Balkans. Actually, if that had been the case it would have been
much better. But now knowing that our Plevne Army was still there, I
was determined to bring this important news that I had stumbled upon
back to my commander upon my return. I made sure to conceal my
joy at this discovery from my Russian escorts and they didn't think to
blindfold me again all the way down to the bottom of the slope, in the
cool of the evening.
We mounted our horses once again and moved ahead at high speed. At
a village, we dismounted for a rest and a meal. We went into a clean
house, where a very well-bred colonel, one of the communications line
commanders, was residing. On all the walls and even on his desk and
bed, were pictures of famous actresses he had met in Paris! They were
actresses I recognized from my own recent time in Paris: Schneider,
Sarah Bernhardt, Judic, Granier, Marguerite Ugalde, etc., etc.
We had a great deal in common to talk about over dinner, recalling our
days in Paris, as we drank champagne. Fortunately, Haşim Bey pulled
me away from the colonel since, never having touched alcohol in my
life, if our revelry had continued I would have been unable to continue
our journey.
So we obtained a carriage but what a wreck! No springs! I had never
been roughed up and tossed about like I was in that carriage. My escort's
well-intentioned idea in getting the carriage had been for us to sleep a bit
during the night ride but even if someone hadn't slept in ten years he
wouldn't have been able to sleep in that carriage for another ten years.
//END of PART VI//
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