Four-Fifty Miles to FreedomJohnston, Maurice Andrew Brackenreed
History
Four-Fifty Miles to Freedom
Johnston, Maurice Andrew Brackenreed
Prisoner-of-war escapes; World War, 1914-1918 -- Prisoners and prisons, Turkish
Having given the reader this sop we will continue. Surrounded by a
large but kindly crowd, we sat down on the rocks above the natural
jetty on which we had landed, and waited for an answer to Cochrane's
note. In the meanwhile a gift arrived from the monastery: a basket
containing bread, cheese, olives, and pomegranates. No larks' tongues,
nor the sunny halves of peaches, have ever been so welcome, and we had
a wonderful meal, finishing with clean sweet water and cigarettes.
About half an hour later an officer, in what looked to us then
extraordinarily smart uniform, came down to see why this crowd had
collected, and on hearing our story conducted us to the village. The
road led through orchards whose trees were heavy with pomegranates
and figs; past vineyards and banana palms, tobacco plants and cotton.
Everywhere we could see the signs of a fertile prosperous land, and
it struck us forcibly how different it all was from the barren tracts
through which we had toiled down to the coast of Asia Minor. No more
vivid testimony could be borne to the contrast between British and
Turkish sovereignty.
The officer with us did not belong to the police, but was on survey
work in the island. We were taken, however, to the barracks of the
Cyprus Mounted Police, and here, seated on chairs on the verandah, we
were given coffee with sugar in it. Everything seemed wonderful. We
could smoke as much as we wanted, and the barracks were scrupulously
clean and tidy. One by one we went into the garden near a whitewashed
well, and were shaved by one of the C.M.P. After a good wash we brushed
our hair for the first time for five weeks. All that time we had had
to be satisfied with a comb. As soon as Lieutenant S---- of the Police
arrived, we were taken upstairs to have breakfast, and right royally
did we feast. The meal ended, we were given the 'Lapethos Echo,' which
contained Haig's and Foch's communiqués of the 9th September. These too
were wonderful, and we were greatly amazed by the change which had come
over the main battle front since we saw the last paper at Yozgad before
we left; then the Germans were, so we were told, about to enter Paris.
After breakfast a hot bath and clean clothes were provided for each
of us, our rags being collected in a corner with a view to their
cremation. A Greek doctor anointed us with disinfectant and bandaged
anything we had in the way of sores or cuts.
At about 3 P.M. two carriages arrived and our triumphal
progress continued. We first paid a final visit to the motor-boat,
collecting our few trophies in the way of rifles and flags. This done,
we were driven to Kyrenia, a coast town eight or nine miles to the east
of us: the police officer and Greek doctor stopping the carriages at
every roadside inn to regale us with Turkish delight and iced water.
At Kyrenia we were expected by the British residents, who accommodated
us for the night and treated us with the truest British hospitality.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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