The Secrets of a Kuttite: An Authentic Story of Kut, Adventures in Captivity and Stamboul IntrigueMousley, Edward O. (Edward Opotiki)
History
The Secrets of a Kuttite: An Authentic Story of Kut, Adventures in Captivity and Stamboul Intrigue
Mousley, Edward O. (Edward Opotiki)
Al Kut (Iraq) -- History -- Siege, 1915-1916; World War, 1914-1918 -- Prisoners and prisons, Turkish
We thought Angora was very changed. So were several of
the Armenian villages a few marches out of Angora where we had
bought milk and fruit on our outward journey. They were
now deserted. Weeds grew above the walls and in the burned
floors. Here and there a vine or vegetable told of the swift
and terrible change. Still Armenians go about in Angora,
having daily affairs with the Turks. A consuming fire of black
impotent hate is in their hearts. And because it is impotent
the Armenian has by destiny become treacherous. Fatteh
and I talked German on many things; and after whistling the
"Merry Widow" out of tune for another hour, he fell asleep.
We reached Eski Chehir in early morning and found our
Choush quite willing to be reasonable, if we did him well. We
went to the hotel opposite, had a meal, slept, and then walked
to the town with our guard. Some loud and rather disreputable
women, Armenian and Jewish Levantines, I think, were in the
hotel. They were in some theatrical show, or had been.
Greenwood and I described them as performing women. We
travelled on again that night with Fatteh Bey and our guard.
Fatteh promised many things for us in Constantinople, but
being pensioned off, seemed doubtful of his ground.
The carriages were packed with travellers, including a
great number of children with mothers. They carried household
effects. One heard they were Armenians or Greeks whose
husbands were dead, and they were off to some new town.
We heard a confirmation that the big terminus station of the
Baghdad line on the Asiatic side of Constantinople, Haidah
Pacha, had been blown up two or three days previously.
After a pleasant run round Ismid Gulf we got to Ismid, a
large town with railway works. There in the silvery waters
of the Marmora we beheld Principo, Halki, and the other
islands, their bronze green shimmering in the bright sunshine.
A few sails were on the sea, the sea, the sea! Never shall I
forget the thrill we both had as, for the first time, after ages
in tiny mud dug-outs, flat plains, and a taunting confinement
behind a high range, we saw, a few yards off us, the sparkling
drops glistening as they fell from the tiny waves of the Marmora.
The sky darkened as we stopped at a place called Kadakeuy.
We now heard Haidah Pacha was in ruins, as a well-directed
plot had arranged that a huge consignment of petrol
should be fired. The flames prevented a train-load of ammunition
from being removed. This went off, playing havoc all
around. Missiles had been thrown into the adjoining districts.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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