WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
iPhoto S. Ashinead-BartUtt
Savinc; the Guns after the Batti.k of Lule Burgas.
WITH THE TURKS
IN THRACE By ELLIS
ASHMEAD-BARTLETT
SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT OF THE LONDON "DAILY
TELEGRAPH " Author of "PORT ARTHUR, THE
SIEGE AND CAPITULATION," "THE PASS-
ING OF THE SHEREEFIAN EMPIRE"
In Collaboration with SEA BURY
ASHMEAD-BARTLETT
ILLUSTRATED
NEW YORK MCMXIII
GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY
V
Printed in England
PREFACE
This book is intended as a record of those dramatic
days my brother and myself passed with the Turkish Army
in Thrace during the battle of Lule Burgas and in the
subsequent retreat on the lines of Chataldja. I have
to acknowledge my great indebtedness to him for the
assistance he has given me in writing parts of it, and also in
preparing it for publication.
My thanks are also due to the Daily Telegraph for
allowing me to reproduce articles which originally appeared
in its columns.
Since the last chapter was in print the revolt of the Young
Turkish party against Kiamil's Government, because of its
decision to surrender Adrianople to the Bulgarians — fore-
shadowed in the last chapter — has actually taken place, and
Nazim Pasha, the late Minister of War, and Commander-in-
Chief of the Army, has been assassinated.
Whether the Young Turks will endeavour to carry on
the war only the future can show, but all the arguments set
forth in the concluding chapter against such a course of
action still hold good, and a revolution in Constantinople in
no wise alters the strategical and financial objections to a
renewal of the campaign. Turkey's European Provinces
and the fortress of Adrianople are irrevocably lost, and any
effort to regain them can only lead to further disasters.
E. ASHMEAD-BARTLETT. .
London : January 26/A, 1913.
V
258377
CONTENTS
CHAP. PAGE
I Watting for the War 1
II Scenes in Constantinople 12
III The Efforts of Diplomacy 22
IV The Military History of the Turks 29
V The Modern Turkish Army 50
VI The Authorities and the Correspondents 59
VII The Early Operations 77
VIII Departure of the Correspondents for the Front 93
IX My Journey to Chorlou 108
X My First Meeting with Abdullah 120
XI Lule Burgas— The First Day 139
XII Lule Burgas — The Second Day ^ 152
XIII The Rout 171
XIV How WE Sent the Story of the Battle 182
XV The Retreat from Chorlou to Chataldja 203
XVI The Migration of a People 217
XVII The Capture of Rodosto 229
XVIII The Chocolate Soldier 242
vii
viii CONTENTS
CHAP. PAGE
XIX The Cholera 250
XX The Attack on Chataldja 263
XXI The Turn op the Tide 278
XXII The War Against the Correspondents 292
XXIII The Future op the Turks 313
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Saving the Guns after the Battle of Lule Burgas Frontispiece
Constantinople
facing page
10
Nogi and Abdullah, our two Saddle Horses, with Hadji,
the Albanian Groom
18
feefugees on the March
26
Our Cart with Bryant and Beavor
36
A Turkish Colonel
36
Retreating from Lule Burgas along the Roman Road
44
Greek Villagers and our Motor-car
60
The Track to Stamboul
68
Overturned Train
68
Nazim Pasha, Minister for War, leaving the Sublime
Porte on the Eve of Hostilities 74
Refugees' Train Overturned at Seidler 96
Our Tent at Chorion 106
Mr. Ashmead-Bartlett's Motor-car being pulled out of a
Rut by Men 112
Turkish Infantry driven out of Lule Burgas by the^
Bulgarians 142
Plan of the Battle of Lule Burgas page 143
facing page
Artillery advancing to support the hard-pressed 2nd
Army Corps at Lule Bui^as 154
The Turkish Retreat 162
Retirement of the 2nd Army Corps at Lule Burgas 168
Wounded Turkish Soldiers in Bullock Wagons 172
Passing the Bridge at Chorlou after the rout of Lule
Burgas 176
A Halt during the Retreat ' 184
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
facing p
Crossing the Bridge at Chorlou 194
The Camp of the Routed Army at Cherkeskeuy 204
Turkish Artillery Leaving the Field of Lule Burgas 212
Refugees 224
Train Crowded with Refugees and Soldiers escaping from
the Front 234
Artillery on the March 244
Victims of Cholera 258
Mr. Ashmead-Bartlett and Mr. Martin Donohoe, of the
Daily Chronicle, with an Armenian Priest, in whose
house they stayed at Aya Yorgi 260
A Trench hastUy built by the Turks at Chataldja 268
The Trenches at Chataldja 280
Waiting for the Bulgarians at Chataldja 280
Turkish Soldiers Saving their Wounded Captain 290
The Turks Retreating from Lule Burgas 302
Soldiers and Refugees Escaping from Lule Burgas 310
Map of Thrace at end of volume
With the Turks in Thrace.
ERRATA
PAGE LINE
34 24 for Mahomed II read Mahmoud II.
283 16 for Erzeroum r^od Erzerum.
91 26 'i
I ^'^ Karagac rmd Karagach.
274 28 f(yr Kuyuk read Kuchuk.
Before the Volume was completely passed for press Mr. Ellis Ashmead-
Bartlett was forced to return to Constantino}jle. The Publisher asks for
indtdgence if the traiiditeratio7is of Turkish names vary here and there, especially
between text and map.
CHAPTER I
WAITING rOR THE WAR
I HAD just returned from the great French manoeuvres in
Touraine when the outlook in the Balkans became threaten-
ing. There I had followed the operations of five Army-
Corps, and had seen them handled with machine-like pre-
cision, controlled, fed, and concentrated with such ease that
war was made to appear a ridiculously easy game. Over-
head seventy aeroplanes, assisted by dirigibles, kept the
opposing commanders-in-chief fully informed from hour
to hour — one might almost say from minute to minute — of
every fresh disposition of the enemy's forces, until many
eminent critics declared that anything in the nature of
grand strategy or of a surprise was eliminated from war for
ever, and that the battles of the future would be won by the
side which could concentrate the greatest number of troops at
a given point and strike home first. " The age/' they declared,
" of the gi-eat general is gone ; battles will now be lost
or won by the station-masters along the main lines of com-
munication to the front."
There is doubtless a great deal of truth in this. Never-
theless we were reminded that surprises might still occur
by an incident on the last day of the first period of the
manoeuvres, when General Marion, the commander-in-chief
B
2 t#ttf¥Hfi TURKS IN THRACE
of the Army of the East, together with the whole of his
staff, and his Corps Artillery, were captured during the battle
fought round Craon by two brigades of Blue Cavalry under
the command of General Dubois. This incident showed that
mistakes will happen even in the most highly organised and
scientific armies, and that there is still scope for the in-
dividual brain of a commander to seize the psychological
moment and change the fortunes of the day by a brilliant
coup de main. To outward observation the five French
Army Corps in Touraine were manoeuvred with consum-
mate ease, yet the machinery which guided and controlled
them was of an extremely delicate construction, and,
should a hitch have occurred anywhere, the whole complex
organisation was liable to be thrown out of gear.
I recall how often it was remarked by critics how hopeless
a modern army would be unless its organisation were perfect ;
how it would flounder about, its units without cohesion and
hopelessly intermixed ; its supply trains gone astray, and how
finally it would blunder up against the enemy's position
without having any definite objective to attack, its weight of
numbers entirely lost by lack of co-operation. Little did I
think at the time, that within a month I would find myself
with just such an army, and take part in the most crushing
defeat of modern times.
On Monday, September 30th, I returned to London from
a visit to the country to find urgent messages from IVIr.
Harry Lawson to come down to the office of the Daily
Telegraph immediately. I went there and was instructed
to hold myself in readiness to start at a moment's notice for
Constantinople to join the Turkish Army in the event of
war breaking out in the Balkans. I will not relate in detail
here the contradictory rumours of peace and war, which
kept the whole civilised world in a ferment of hopes and
fears for the next fortnight, before little Montenegro finally
IN SUSPENSE 3
threw down the gauntlet and commenced the Twentieth
Century crusade against the Turk without waiting for
her aUies. On Tuesday, October 1st, I spent most of the
day at the Daily Telegraph office waiting for the latest news
from the Near East and hesitating whether to commence
my preparations or to wait just one day longer in case
events should take a favourable turn. On Wednesday,
October 2nd, I received an express letter telling me to come
down to the office without a moment's delay and on
arriving there I was informed by Mr. Le Sage, the
Managing Editor, that I must start that very night for
Constantinople, as the prospects of preserving peace now
seemed hopeless.
These days, and I have known many in my time, when
one has to rush off to a far distant land at a moment's
notice, pass in a whirl of things remembered and things
forgotten. You seem to crowd into twelve hours the
concentrated effiDrts of a week, and then, when you are
finally seated in the train and hope to obtain a few hours for
calm reflection, you invariably find you have forgotten to do
many of the most important things you had thought of
earlier in the day, and have also left behind numberless
articles which you imagine will be of supreme importance to
you at the front.
At five that afternoon 1 happened to meet my brother
Seabury, and said to him, " I am off at nine to-night for
Constantinople." He replied, " I wish I were going too."
I said, " Why don't you come ? It may be worth your
while ; once you are on the spot I am sure I could get
you a job with some paper, although you have not had
any previous experience, or in any case I am sure to
need an assistant and you might be very useful." For
some time he hesitated, but finally made up his mind to
come with me and rushed off to pack a few clothes. He
b2
4 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
would never have hesitated, had he known the dramatic
events which were in store for us both before the month
had expired.
At nine p.m. on Wednesday, October 2nd, we left
Charing Cross for Paris and spent the following day there.
We learnt from Cook's that the line to Constantinople via
Sofia had been taken over by the Bulgarian Military
Authorities, and that the last Orient Express had passed
through the day before. We had, therefore, to travel
out to Constantinople via Constanza, in Roumania, passing
through Vienna and Bucharest, and from Constanza to
take the steamer to Constantinople. We found every seat
in the Orient Express booked as far as Vienna, and were
obliged to take an intermediate train as far as the Austrian
capital.
As we had a few hours to spare in Paris, we went to
call on M. Normand, the editor of IVie Illustratio7i, for
whose paper I had written an article the year before on the
*' Massacre in the Oasis " on my return from the Italian
campaign in Tripoli. M. Normand, a handsome black-
bearded man with a clever, alert, humorous face, received us
in his office, which was superbly decorated in the style of
Louis Quinze and looked less like the dreaded editorial lair
than a lady's boudoir. He greeted us with great polite-
ness saying, ** M. Ashmead-Bartlett, je suis enchante de
vous revoir, bien que votre article sur les atrocites Italiennes
en Tripolitaine nous ait perdu six cents abonnes en Italic,
et qu'on ait meme brule rillust?'atio?i sur les places pubhques.
Mais, M. Bartlett," the editor went on with a serious air,
*' il y a encore pire — le Saint Siege a mis T Illusti'ation sur
rindex." He ended up with a magnificent gesture ex-
pressive of mingled horror and amusement.
At five o'clock we left Paris for Vienna. As we had no
time to complete our packing in a scientific manner, we had
SUSPICIOUS TEUTONS 5
with us in the carriage a miscellaneous collection of bags
and packages, including a tent in a canvas bag and a saddle
wrapped up in a sack. Our belongings completely filled up
a first-class compartment, rendering it impossible for any
other would-be passengers to enter. All went well as long
as we were in France, the officials being prescient of the
pourboii^e which was certain to arise from the chaos
around us.
The situation, however, changed for the worse as soon
as we crossed the German frontier. A horde of fat but
alert-looking officials gathered in the doorway, contem-
plating with mingled suspicion and horror the amount of our
hand baggage, which included a typewriter, a suit-case, a
hat-bag, a Gladstone bag, a rug-strap and a dispatch box, as
well as the saddle and tent. " JVIein Gott, how many pas-
sengers are there for all this baggage ? " asked one of them.
We replied, " Two." " Is such a thing possible ? " he faltered.
Then, after a few minutes' conversation with his companion,
his face lighted up and he said, " Have you the first class ? "
We realised we were objects of intense suspicion. The
flaxen-haired, vicious-looking conductor gazed in anticipated
triumph at the disreputable-looking packages containing our
tent and saddle. He was sure that such travellers could only
have second-class tickets, and when we proved the contrary
he was keenly disappointed. Then, after another guttural
conversation with his companions, he asked, " Are you
Enghshmen ? " " Yes," we replied. A look of under-
standing brightened up their heavy Teutonic faces. Later
on another conductor came and eyed the tent and saddle
with suspicion. " You should not bring meat with you into
a first-class compartment," he said. " Meat ? " we answered,
in astonishment. " Yes," he answered, " have you not got a
ham in that sack ? "
On Friday, October 4th, we reached Vienna, where we
6 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
were obliged to break our journey, as the train for Constanza
did not leave until the following evening. We stopped at
the Bristol Hotel, and found several well-known war cor-
respondents already there, likewise bent on reaching
Constantinople. I was delighted to find amongst others my
old friends Lionel James, of The Times, and M. H. Donohoe,
of the Daily Chronicle. It is always pleasant to know you
are going to campaign amongst friends, even though you
know them to be the keenest of competitors, who will keep
you on the qui vive from start to finish, unless you wish
to find your best endeavours ever anticipated by the coups
of these highly trained and skilful colleagues.
We spent Saturday seeing the sights of the town, and in
the afternoon my brother and myself visited the battlefield of
Aspern-Essling on the other side of the Danube. At five
o'clock we entered the Orient Express for Constanza. On the
train we met Reshid Pasha, who was returning from conduct-
ing the peace negotiations with the Italians at Ouchy. Poor
Turkey ! Here was her representative returning from what
proved to be a successful mission of peace, only to find his
country on the brink of war with four other nations. He
was accompanied by Colonel Aziz, who had been Military
Attache in Washington, and who had also accompanied the
British Army during the South African War. He told me
he was on his way to join his regiment at Mustafa Pasha, on
the Bulgarian Frontier, and that he regarded war as certain.
We reached Constantinople on Monday, October 7th.
The last time I had visited this picturesque blot on the face
of Europe, was fourteen years before, at the time of the
Greco-Turkish war, when Abdul Hamid still reigned
supreme, and all one knew of the Young Turks was the
sinister fact that from time to time their bodies were found
floating in the Bosphorus, being carried slowly by the tide
out towards the Sea of Marmora.
THE NEW BYZANTIUM 7
I had heard so much of the Young Turks and the miracles
they were going to accomphsh once the country had obtained
a Constitution that I hardly expected to recognise Constanti-
nople, but to find it a city transformed. I found nothing
changed except that the dogs had gone, although, by the way,
a fresh generation of these noisy pests is already springing up.
Constantinople remains to-day the city of many colours and
of decay ; the city which nature designed to be a paradise
on earth and which man has transformed into a cesspool of
vice, decay, and blood ; a city which from the waters of
the Bosphorus looks like a dream of marble hanging on the
slopes of purple hills, and which on closer inspection turns
()ut to be a hopeless jumble of tumble-down houses with
gangrened and mouldering walls, built along the sides of
l^adly-paved, precipitous streets, down which tired horses
glide and stumble, with here and there some beautiful
marble mosque rising above the gaudy rubbish-heap of an
out- worn faith. The Turks have done nothing constructive to
beautify the city since their inruption in 1453. They have
merely added minarets to the old Byzantine churches, or
erected mosques in garish imitations of the Greek buildings.
For the rest, they have allowed the city to fall into hopeless
decay.
We were delayed at the Customs House by an official who
insisted that our tent in its canvas case was the envelope of
a dirigible balloon. It was only by a liberal donation of
backsheesh that we convinced him of the innocent nature of
our baggage.
We found the wildest rumours floating about the city.
Everyone held different opinions and had a different tale to
tell on the prospects of peace or war. Some declared war
to be absolutely certain and others were equally confident
that peace was assured. At the Pera Palace Hotel we
found a motley collection of war correspondents of all
8 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
nations, who, like vultures, had gathered in anticipation of
the horrid feast of death.
In official and diplomatic circles the opinion prevailed that
peace was assured because the Turkish Cabinet had agreed
to apply the Law of 1880 to Macedonia. This concession,
combined with the efforts of the Powers to bring pressure
on Bulgaria and Servia to preserve peace, caused a highly
optimistic tone to prevail in Constantinople on the day of
our arrival, and until we got in touch with the true facts of
the position it really seemed as if our journey to the Near
East would be in vain. However, on visiting Sir Gerard
Lowther I found that he was far from sharing the general
optimism and regarded the situation as extremely grave.
His views were confirmed and amplified by Count Leon
Ostrorog, the Special Correspondent of the Daily Telegraph
in Constantinople, who was always better informed on the
true situation than anyone else.
Europe had up to this time quite failed to grasp the true
significance of the Balkan League. It had been built up by
years of patient endeavour with the proclaimed object of
obtaining the freedom of Macedonia, but with the real
intention of proclaiming a twentieth century crusade and
of driving the Turks once and for all out of Europe. The
only hope for Turkey lay in the jealousies of the Great
Powers, and especially in the much-vaunted, but now dis-
credited, friendship of Germany, which, the Turkish Govern-
ment hoped, would postpone the blow until a more favour-
able season, if it could not permanently prevent it. To this
hope Turkey clung, until in the end the demands of the
Coalition left no alternative but war.
Immediately on arrival in Constantinople we began to
experience the difficulty of getting at the truth of anything.
The Press is not allowed to publish any news of importance
without official sanction, but nevertheless the most intimate
COUNT OSTROROG 9
Cabinet secrets are common property within a few hours.
No one seems capable of keeping a secret, and all news
filtering from mouth to mouth in the coffee-houses and
mosques becomes hopelessly garbled and distorted, with the
result that in the course of a few hours a score of people Avill
tell you different stories of events which have obviously
originally emanated from the same source.
For two days we wandered around Constantinople en-
deavouring to get in touch with the true situation, so as to
find out whether it was worth while going to all the trouble
and expense of making preparations to take the field. On
the second day Count Ostrorog invited my brother and
myself to lunch, and finally removed all doubts in our
minds. Count Ostrorog had all along unhesitatingly
preached the certainty of war in his despatches to the
Daily Telegi^aph. He was on intimate terms with everyone
in the diplomatic and official world ; he possesses a sound
knowledge of the Turkish character, history and politics,
and always had access to the Sublime Porte. He was at
one time legal adviser to the Young Turks and to the
Committee of "Union and Progress," and has had much
practical experience of the difficulties of attempting to graft
modern civilisation on to a Mahommedan community
without infringing the sacred code of Islam.
At lunch Count Ostrorog told us that there was a rumour
that the Montenegrin Minister had asked for his passports and
was about to leave Constantinople. In the middle of lunch
the Count's secretary, M. Pech, arrived and confirmed the
report. The surprise of everyone in Constantinople was
intense when it became known that Montenegro, the smallest
and weakest State of the Coalition, the " opera bouffe " State
of the Balkans, had thrown down the gauntlet and declared
war. On hearing this all-important piece of news, I lost no
time in visiting the War Office, known in Turkish as the
10 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
Seraskerat, in the hope of seeing Nazim Pasha, the Minister
of War, as I wished to find out what facilities would be given
to war correspondents to carry on their work at the front.
Great excitement prevailed in the streets of Stamboul
through which we had to pass on our way to the
War Office. Military preparations were being hastily
pressed forward. The narrow, filthy, cobbled streets were
crowded with Turks, reading the little sheets issued by
the Ottoman Agency, announcing the outbreak of war
with Montenegro. There were young Turks dressed in
the latest European fashion, with little save the red fez
to denote that they were children of the Prophet ; old men
in gaudy turbans and coloured robes sitting cross-legged in
front of their tumble-down shops ; wild-looking individuals
from Turkestan in long smocks embroidered with gorgeous
flowers ; negroes with their happy, smiling faces, to whom
war made apparently not the smallest difference ; here and
there veiled Turkish ladies in black satin dresses and shoes
from the Rue de la Paix ; fat Jewesses and crowds of peaceful-
looking peasants from Anatolia who had come to the capital
out of curiosity, or who were obeying the summons of the
mobihsation. Many of them had brought their sheep and
their turkeys or their oxen with them, hoping to do a good
" deal " before leaving for the front. Sometimes the crowd
would be ruthlessly pushed aside to make room for detach-
ments of fully accoutred Turkish infantry marching to the
station to entrain for the front.
On reaching the War Office we found large numbers
of troops being drilled and equipped in the great court-
yard in front of the building, while a band was playing
Turkish military airs to stir up the patriotism of numbers
of recruits and reservists who were endeavouring to master
the intricacies of the Mauser rifle, which large numbers
had never seen or handled before. The courtyard in
COLONEL IZZET 11
front of the Seraskerat was a great centre of attraction for
the people of Constantinople, who spent the day gazing
in wonder and admiration at the splendidly-equipped
battalions as they were in turn marched off to the station
to entrain to join the army of Thrace, which was now
being formed between Adrianople and Kirk Kilisse. We
were unable to see Nazim Pasha, the Minister of War, on this
visit, but my brother and I here made the acquaintance for the
first time of Colonel Izzet Bey, who was destined to play a
very important role in our lives, as he was placed in charge of
all the war correspondents and military attaches. We hoped
to learn much valuable information from Izzet, but quickly
found that he expected us to keep him informed of what was
happening. He started by asking us whether we had heard
any news of a declaration of war by Bulgaria, Servia, and
Greece. I very soon learned to know also that it was
utterly useless to hope for any reliable information from the
War Office, as Colonel Izzet did little to assist the corre-
spondents except to invent a daily victory for the Turks.
The information which he gave us regarding the movements
of troops and the concentration of the various army corps
was generally fabulous, and consisted of what the army
should have done rather than what it actually did. This
mania for dissimulation and for keeping up false pretences
when the truth must eventually leak out is a marked charac-
teristic of Turkish officialdom.
CHAPTER II
SCENES IN CONSTANTINOPLE
On the following morning my brother and myself accom-
panied Count Ostrorog to the Sublime Porte to visit Ghazi
Moukhtar Pasha, the Grand Vizier. The Sublime Porte is
sublime only in name, being an unpretentious, dilapidated
and rather dirty square building, while the paving stones
in the courtyard have subsided in many places, allowing the
water to accumulate in pools. A number of troops were
concentrated in the courtyard to cope with a possible
outbreak, as disturbances had been freely threatened unless
the Government showed a firm front to the demands of the
Balkan States.
We were received on every hand with the greatest cour-
tesy and politeness, the Turk being by instinct the first
gentleman in Europe. But, on the other hand, we were
kept waiting nearly three hours before the Grand Vizier
arrived at his office from his country seat, it being typical
of Turkish methods that he should arrive at two o'clock
at his office, when Islam was on the verge of one of
the greatest crises in its history. We waited in the room
of Ghazi Moukhtar 's Chef de Cabinet, a handsome and
very smartly dressed young Spanish Jew. The room was
thronged all the time with an anxious crowd of deputies,
journalists and the like. They discussed the situation from
a variety of standpoints, all their arguments leading by
GHAZl MOUKHTAR 13
devious routes to the certainty of war. Presently an old
man, an ex-deputy, came up, and bid Ostrorog farewell,
saying that together with his two sons he had volunteered
for service in the army and that all three were leaving for
the front that afternoon. At length, about two o'clock, the
Grand Vizier drove up.
Ghazi Moukhtar, the celebrated defender of Kars in the
Russian War of 1878, is a splendid specimen of the old
type of Turk, and showed but few traces of his ninety
years. On the other hand, it was easy to see that a man
of such advanced years must be lacking in that vigour of
mind and quickness of decision necessary to cope with the
tangled and troubled situation in which the Ottoman
Empire was placed. Ghazi Moukhtar has been nicknamed
the MacMahon of Anatolia, and this title well describes
him. He is a simple, honest soldier, possessing none of
the brains or finesse or far-seeing ability so necessary in
the statesman who hopes to guide his country successfully
through troubled waters. The Ghazi is very plain and blunt
in his speech, and did not hesitate freely to express his
views before Europeans who could at once make them
public. The Ghazi's colleagues in the Ministry knew
his proclivities for free speech, which had frequently
landed them in trouble before, and finally they had induced
him to promise never to grant any further interviews, but on
this occasion, having escaped from his chaperons, he quickly
forgot his promise and indulged in a torrent of opinions.
He spoke French slowly and distinctly, but seemed to have
some difficulty in grasping what was said to him.
I asked him what the attitude of the Government would be
now it had consented to apply the Law of 1880 to Macedonia.
He replied, " Turkey has reached the limit of her concessions
in Macedonia, and nothing but war remains unless Bulgaria
and Servia consent to demobilise." I told him I had been
14 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
with the Itahan Army in Tripoli and had been responsible
for exposing the massacre in the Oasis. This seemed to
please him very much. Then the tactful Count Ostrorog,
who always knows how to say the right thing at the right
moment, referred to his glorious defence of Kars against the
Russians which had earned for him the title of Ghazi, which
means, " the man who has defeated Unbelievers," and
expressed the hope that he would again take the field in
command of the Turkish armies. The old warrior was
delighted at this piece of obvious flattery, and the recollection
of his former glories coming into his eyes, he replied, " I
often think of it and long to be in the saddle at the head of
my troops, but I am old and infirm." " But Highness, one
could never take you for an old man," the diplomatic Count
Ostrorog replied, " you are surely not so old as Fouad Pasha,
who commands the cavalry." " Ah, my friend," the old man
replied, '' I was a marshal when Fouad was only a colonel."
Ghazi Moukhtar has all the charming simplicity of the
peasant. His face is full and of a healthy colour ; his beard
thick and white. Save for a slight palsy and hesitation in
his speech, one would never suspect his age.
Afterwards we touched on the question of Montenegro's
declaration of war, and he expressed himself as totally
mystified by the attitude of the httle mountain State in
precipitating the struggle. " Why has Montenegro declared
war on us, apparently without consulting her aUies?" he
said. "1 always thought that Montenegro worshipped
Russia as a god, and that a single word from the Russian
Government, which professes to be so sincerely anxious to
preserve peace, would have held the Montenegrins in
check."
The old warrior made no further comment, but his
remarks showed clearly the intense and very natural
suspicion with which the pacific efforts of Russia and
THE ANATOLIAN PEASANT 15
Austria were regarded by the Turks. Poor old Ghazi
Moukhtar only remained Grand Vizier for a few weeks
longer. The defeat of Lule Burgas discredited his Ministry,
and he was obliged to resign to make room for Kiamil
Pasha, who was supposed to be an Anglophil.
At this time there was ample evidence in Pera and
Stamboul of the activity with which preparations for war
were being pushed forward. Regiments of Turkish infantry
were being constantly marched through the streets to
entrain for the front at the Cirkedge railway station in
Stamboul. Most of the men were Redifs, and had been
hastily called up from all parts of the empire. Physically
they could hardly have been bettered. Tall, strong,
deep- chested, and accustomed to hardships and to a meagre
diet from earliest childhood, they were defenders of which
any nation might have been proud. They showed but little
trace of enthusiasm, marching through the streets with dull,
expressionless faces, more like animals than men.
Reservists were arriving from Anatolia at the rate of seven
thousand a day, and were immediately marched off to the
various barracks to receive their uniforms and equipment.
These peasants were intensely picturesque. They were dressed
for the most part in bright-coloured cotton shirts ^nd ragged
trousers, with coloured turbans wound round their heads.
Many arrived in Constantinople barefooted, and strongly
resented having to wear military boots. As they were quite
unaccustomed to foot-gear their feet speedily became sore,
and two weeks later, during the retreat from Lule Burgas,
it was a very common sight to see men deliberately throw
away their boots in order to facilitate their escape from the
stricken field. y
Although the conscription had only called for men between
the ages of twenty and forty-five, there were many above and
below this age who had volunteered to serve with the army.
16 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
The hard lives of the peasantry in Anatolia cause men to
age rapidly, and thus a great many of these reservists had
an appearance of extreme age and venerability, and looked
as if they ought to be on their way to collect old age pensions
rather than to shoulder a Mauser rifle. These reservists
seemed extremely cheerful and full of fight until they
reached the barracks, but the finished article turned out
there seemed to lose most of his patriotism and enthusiasm
for the war.
I suppose a few nights in crowded quarters with barrack
fare, and a few days spent in long hours of drill, carrying
heavy packs on the back, caused these simple Anatohans to
take a different view of the struggle. Possibly also for the
first time the awful state of confusion which prevailed every-
where was brought home to them, and they began to have
serious misgivings as to the outcome of the war.
The recruits and reservists, as soon as they arrived in Con-
stantinople, were marched to the barracks. The men formed
up in double file or in fours, and, holding each other's hands,
marched through Pera and Stamboul to the music of
primitive flutes and diminutive violins, played by the
shepherds among them, whilst the others chanted monoto-
nous refrains. From time to time the music would stop and
the whole group would utter a deep-throated cheer.
In the mosque of St. Sofia we saw numbers of these Redifs,
who had obtained an afternoon's leave after receiving their
uniforms and kits, gazing in wonder and awe at this miracle
of marble and mosaic and at the golden dove above them,
before kneeling in silent prayer to Allah. It was an object
lesson to watch the sublime faith which these innocent
victims of oppression had in the justice of their cause and in
the certainty of their victory. How few realised that within
three weeks nearly all would be dead or back at the lines of
Chataldja, and that St. Sofia would have been turned into a
THE CORRUPT VET. 17
vast hospital for the wounded or for the countless victims of
cholera !
The Turkish Government, having little or no money to
spend on the war, adopted the very simple expedient of
commandeering anything it might require for the service of
the army. Receipts were given for horses and carts, the
money to be paid after the war in the event of the property
not being returned to its rightful owners. No one had the
slightest faith in the ability or even in the intention of the
Government to meet its liabilities, and there was a rush of all
cab owners or horse dealers in Constantinople to sell their
animals to Europeans, before they could be commandeered by
the agents of the Government. Thus, excellent horses could
be obtained at about half their usual price, the attraction of
cash down in the place of a Government receipt proving
irresistible.
The veterinary surgeons hired by the Government to
pass horses as fit for service made large fortunes in bribes,
and many a horse owner saved his animal by a timely gift of
a couple of sovereigns to the veterinary surgeon, who would at
once pronounce it as lame or permanently unfit for service.
I know of one man who made £1000 in this way alone.
The first to be taken were the tram horses which were
required for the use of the artillery, after which the cab
horses were gradually snatched up. In consequence, only
the most wretched old screws were left to drag one about
Constantinople, and as the insatiable maw of war gradually
made fresh demands, these also were commandeered, and
very frequently one would see a two-horse carriage being
dragged along by a single animal which would not have
fetched two pounds as sausage meat in normal times.
On the way back from the Sublime Porte, where we had
visited the Grand Vizier, our carriage was stopped in order
that the two fine Arab horses which dragged it might be noted
18 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
by the military authorities. This was probably the last drive
they ever took through the streets of Pera, as few of the horses
survived the hardships of the campaign in the cold table-
lands of Thrace. They were too hght for the heavy Turkish
cavalrymen or for the heavy transport wagons, even if
proper care had been taken of them. But in the care of
their horses, as in everything else, the Turks showed lament-
able negligence. The horses seldom, if ever, received
sufficient food, and their saddles fitted so badly and were
kept on for such long periods that they developed huge
festering sores, until, finally, at the end of their powers of
endurance, they dropped by the roadside to die of hunger
and exposure.
Toward the end of the mobilisation in Constantinople
the city was almost without wheeled transport. Only the
horses of the ambassadors and a few old screws remained
in the streets. A few days later the Government decided to
seize the horses of all foreigners resident in the city, with
the exception of those belonging to ambassadors and
bankers, the exemption of the latter being delightfully sig-
nificant of the empty state of the Treasury. We encountered
great difficulty in buying horses to take us to the front.
Such animals as remained were leading much the same
existence as the Huguenots after St. Bartholomew's Eve.
They were hidden away in obscure streets, behind locked
doors, in stables to which admittance could only be obtained
by knocking the requisite number of times. Then the bolt
would be stealthily withdrawn a few inches, a head would
look out to see if you were a friendly cash-down purchaser
or a vile confiscatory soldier, who would not only take the
horse in return for a worthless bit of paper, but also the
harness and cart and any fodder which happened to be in
the stable.
As the days passed and the male population was
\l'hoto S. Aslimcad-BartUtt
NoGi AND Abdullah, our two Saddle Horses, with Hadji, the
Albanl\n Groom.
WAR'S INSATIABLE MAW 19
gradually drafted to the army, Stamboul grew more and
more to resemble a city which had been swept by a great
pestilence. The shops and booths were almost deserted and
the contents were being disposed of by boys in their teens
or by old men too worn out for service in the field. None
but old men were to be seen in the shadowy bazaars, where
beneath vaulted Byzantine arches they sat cross-legged all
day before a jumble of carpets from Aleppo, silks from
Damascus, gold- work, jewels, silver, and shoddy trifles from
Birmingham and Manchester. Almost the entire able-
bodied male population had been swept northwards by the
tide of war, leaving their homes, their families and their
countless petty trades to take care of themselves. Sir
Walter Scott's words describe the state of Stamboul, and
indeed of every hamlet in Turkey, better than any words of
mine can do : —
" For naught, he said, was in his halls
But ancient armour on the walls.
And aged chargers in the stalls.
And women, priests and grey-haired men.
The rest were all in Twisel glen."
Throughout the whole of European Turkey and Anatolia
the men had been called to the front. Every village, town
and hamlet had sent its tale of men. War is an insatiable
maw which gathers to its cruel feast whole provinces at a
time. The normal Hfe of the nation must be carried on by
old men and women and beardless youths, whose turn is
likely to come at any moment. The loss in wealth which
this represents to a community is far greater than the
amount of money consumed by the war. The sacrifices
demanded of Turkey in this most fateful winter in her
chequered history are horrible to contemplate. The sulFering
and poverty in many a home in Asia Minor will only be
known to the sufferers themselves — who will bear them
c2
20 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
without a murmur — and to the bread-winner, if by chance he
survive the struggle and return to his native village the
richer only in glory and in his hopes of eternal salvation.
From the very day the first shot was fired by Montenegro
the Turks began to disseminate false news of purely
imaginative victories. They were published broadcast in
their local Press and by the Ottoman Agency, an institution
which works hand in glove with the Government. I myself,
and many of my colleagues who knew little of Turkey or of
the Turkish character, were taken in at the start, because we
never believed that a reputable Government would adopt such
childish measures to conceal its reverses.
Yet officers, including Colonel Izzet, who, I really think,
himself believed some of the stories he told us, were
instructed to send news to Europe w^hich did not contain
a single element of truth. The first night he came to dine
with us at the hotel he gave us the news of the fighting on
the Montenegrin frontier. " The Montenegrins," he said,
" have crossed the Turkish frontier, capturing several villages
and massacring the inhabitants without distinction of race
or creed, sparing neither old men, women nor children.
Afterwards three battalions of Turkish infantry advanced
and defeated the Montenegrins, driving them back across
the fi-ontier." " But," I asked, " if we telegraph this news,
will the censor pass it ? " " Yes, he will pass it all right,"
replied Colonel Izzet. " Will he pass the part about the
massacres ? " " Yes," came the prompt response, " I can
assure you he will pass the massacres." We could hardly
restrain our laughter.
The above is typical of the methods of the official
Turkish Press Bureau. We were repeatedly officially
informed by the Headquarters Staff, as the above example
shows, of successes gained by the Turkish troops on the
Montenegrin frontier, and were given the names of towns
OFFICIAL LIES 21
and villages taken from the enemy. Yet, when the English
papers reached Constantinople a few days later, and we read
for the first time the Montenegrin reports of the engage-
ments, we found that they claimed the victory and the
possession of the same towns and villages, with the not
inconsiderable addition of more than three thousand Turkish
prisoners. When the war became general we heard equally
divergent reports from the Servian, Bulgarian and Greek
frontiers, until the task of the wretched war correspondent
became hopelessly bewildering as long as he remained in
Constantinople. It was not until we started for the front,
and could see for ourselves, that the veil fell from our eyes
and the naked truth stood revealed in all its dramatic
intensity.
The Turks, following the unfortunate precedent of
the Turco- Italian War, embarked on a vast campaign of
make-believe, in order to throw dust in the eyes of the
public, and would in no circumstances admit a reverse
until the truth became so obvious that it could no longer be
concealed. This is both a foolish and a short-sighted policy.
Sooner or later the truth always comes out, and as the
Government had systematically announced decisive victories,
the ultimate revelations were all the harder for the public to
bear. In addition, this campaign of lies effectually alienated
the sympathy of most of the correspondents who had
arrived in Constanza pronounced Turcophils.
CHAPTER III
THE EFFORTS OF DIPLOMACY
Although the war was certain from the very first, dull-
witted, hea\'y-footed diplomacy went on playing its hollow
farce right up to the moment when the first sound of the
cannon brought down the fragile edifice of pretence and
conceits about the ears of the diplomats like a pack of cards.
On Sunday, October 6th, the Sublime Porte, anticipating
that the Powers would bring pressure to bear on Turkey for
the enforcement of the reforms in Macedonia, announced
that it was prepared to enforce the Law of the Vilayets of
1880, which the Sultan Abdul Hamid had refused to ratify.
The news of this became public on Monday, the day we
arrived, and in consequence superficial observers imagined
that peace would be preserved. But the Turk had been
promising reforms in Macedonia for nearly a century without
any practical betterment of the lot of that unfortunate
province. It was unlikely, therefore, that the Balkan
Coalition, which had been preparing for the war to save
their co-religionists in Macedonia for more than twenty years,
would withdraw at the eleventh hour and declare themselves
satisfied with a hollow promise, which had so often been
made and so often broken in the past.
On the same day the Powers agreed to M. Poincar^'s
proposals that they should unite to bring pressure to bear in
the Balkan capitals in the interests of peace. This was
A FUTILE DEMARCHE 23
done quite seriously three weeks after the Balkan States
had begun mobilising with the avowed object of driving
Turkey out of Macedonia. Russia and Austria, as the
Powers most directly interested, were to make joint demands
at Sofia, Belgrade, and Athens, while the Powers were to
present a collective Note to the Porte demanding the
practical fulfilment of Article 23 of the Treaty of Berlin.
Russia and Austria were to make their demands on Tuesday,
October 8th. By a strange coincidence, on the morning of
that day, before the Ambassadors had had time to present
their Note, Montenegro, the smallest of the Leaguers,
declared war on Turkey. Now, Montenegro has always
been guided in her actions by Russia, and Russia has
provided her with both money and arms. Yet on the very
day that Russia was presenting a Note in the interests of
peace to the Balkan Allies, little Montenegro declares war.
A general war might surely now have been regarded by
European statesmen as inevitable, but still diplomacy con-
tinued its policy of pretence, and the next step was the
presentation of the Austrian and Russian Notes to the
Balkan Allies, a few hours after the news of Montenegro's
action had come to hand. The Notes formulated the
following demands : —
(1) That the Powers will energetically reprove all
measures tending to bring about a rupture of peace.
(2) That, taking as their basis Article 23 of the Treaty of
Berlin, they, the Powers, will take in hand the reahsation
of the reforms in the administration of Turkey in Europe,
it being understood that the reforms will not infringe the
sovereignty of the Sultan or the territorial integrity of the
Ottoman Empire.
(3) That should war nevertheless break out, the Powers
will not permit at the end of the conflict any modification
of the territorial status quo in European Turkey,
24 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
This sounded very virtuous and to the point, and must
have soothed the amour propre of the statesmen who
drew it up. Unfortunately, it was presented three weeks
after the mobihsation had begun and when the angry armies
were already facing one another on the borders. Also the
statesmen of Sofia and Belgrade were sufficiently astute to
know that the Powers were far too busy quarrelling amongst
themselves to take any effective collective action. Had not
Montenegro already crossed the Rubicon and defied the
Concert of Europe, which in spite of the frantic efforts of its
conductor Poincare was already playing hopelessly out of
tune?
As a matter of sober fact, although unknown to European
statesmen at the time, the Balkan question had passed
entirely beyond the powers of diplomacy to influence the
issue one way or the other once the mandate had gone forth
for the forces of the Coalition to mobilise. All the well-
meant efforts of Europe to preserve peace, although out-
wardly accepted with good grace and fervent thanks by the
prospective combatants, who were determined to preserve
all the etiquette and outward formula of diplomacy until the
first shot was fired, were being secretly laughed at by the
military authorities of all five interested parties, who were in
entire control of the situation and determined to make war
just as soon as their military preparations were complete and
at that psychological moment when they could strike with
most advantage.
In Europe the idea was generally held, and diplomacy
seems to have accepted it as well, that the real issue at
stake was the question of Macedonia. This was an entirely
erroneous outlook. The Macedonia question has been
going on for thirty-two years and will probably continue for
a good many more before it is finally settled. Macedonia
was merely the preliminary dry bone, over which the dogs
THE TWENTIETH CENTURY CRUSADE 25
of war were quarrelling, in order to obtain an excuse to
reach the rich meat which lies behind. The struggle had
been working up for years and nothing could settle it
except the arbitrament of arms. The issue at stake was a
national one and was regarded as such not only by the
Turks, but by the Slavs. It was the final effort to drive
the Turk out of Europe across the Hellespont, into Asia.
That is how the Turks read the situation and that is why
they were determined to fight the matter out once and for
all, even though they had been caught at a great military
disadvantage.
There were many who believed up to the last moment
that there would be no war, because neither Turkey nor the
Balkan States would dare disobey the mandate of the Powers
that they must not fight, and that even if they did so none
of the combatants would be allowed to reap any rewards
either territorial or pecuniary from their victory. This last
threat, however, hit both ways, because if the victors are to
gain no material laurels, the losers cannot suffer any loss.
But in reality the beseechings and threats of the Powers
carried very little weight with the Turks or with the Balkan
States. Both knew perfectly well that throughout the
negotiations Europe had been hopelessly divided, and that
concerted action to preserve peace had been brought about
only with the utmost difficulty, in spite of the repeated
declarations of Foreign Ministers that all the Powers were
in complete accord.
For instance, over the question of the guarantees, every
Turk thoroughly believed, whether it was true or not, that
Sir Edward Grey only consented to bring pressure to bear
on Turkey with the utmost reluctance and as a very last
resource. Thus the collective Note was still-born before it
was delivered. The Turkish Government, and also the
AlUes, knew perfectly well that, however much the Powers
26 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
might threaten and back up their threats with a united
protest, the moment the first shot was fired the collectiveness
of Europe would at once evaporate into thin air, and that an
entirely new diplomatic situation would be created, over
which the Powers would be hopelessly at loggerheads and
unUkely ever to agree, so that there would still be an
excellent chance of the victor reaping material as well as
moral rewards from the war.
All the good offices of Europe were brought to naught
by the mistrust in which both Russia and Austria were
held by the Turks, as well as by the Balkan States.
No one in Turkey believed that Austria and Russia were
working in the interests of peace from the humane stand-
point, but merely to postpone the struggle, because they
themselves were not ready to take part, and to fish
for spoils from the troubled waters of the Near East.
To make an analogy showing the true position of Russia
and Austria ; here was a case of vast importance which had
suddenly come into court for settlement. Austria and
Russia were the two K.C.'s who were to lead either side, but
who happened at the moment to be busy elsewhere. They
were not, however, willing to see their junior counsel, Turkey
and the Balkans, fight it out between them, and they were
thus making frantic efforts to have the case postponed until
the next sessions, when they hoped to be present and play
the leading role.
At the same moment that the Russian Note was presented
in Sofia, Russian officers were giving their Bulgarian and
Servian cousins, who were leaving St. Petersburg to join
their regiments on the frontier, such an enthusiastic send-off
as effectually to calm any misgivings which might have been
felt in Bulgaria as to the ultimate attitude of Russia. The
scenes at the railway station in St. Petersburg were de-
scribed as foUows in The Times of Saturday, October 5th.
RUSSIAN SYMPATHIES 27
"Although the hour of departure had been kept secret,
the station was crowded by an enthusiastic throng, cheering
and singing ' Shumi Maritza ' and * Bozhe Tsurya Khrani.'
" Hundreds of Russian officers were present. They carried
their Bulgarian comrades on their shoulders into the railway
carriages. In the Imperial waiting-room a delegate of the
Slavonic Society, in an impassioned speech, acclaimed the
present union of the Balkan Slavs, and wished them a speedy
victory. But if Providence ordained reverses, let them
remember that their Russian brothers would not forsake
them. All the Russians present shouted * Verno,' •' Verno '
(true, true). A Servian priest then solemnly blessed the
departing warriors, bidding them restore the Cross on
St. Sofia."
The next move in this stupid game of make-believe was
the presentation by the Powers on Thursday, October 10th,
of a collective Note to the Sublime Porte, demanding the
fulfilment of Article 23 of the Treaty of Berlin. This
provided for the reform of Macedonia under European
control, and would have meant in effect the virtual loss of
that province to Turkey. Everyone knew that the Turkish
Government would have had to face a counter-revolution if
it had acceded to the demands of the Powers. The Com-
mittee of Union and Progress had very cleverly announced
its intention of supporting the Government in defence of
Ottoman Rights, thereby ensuring its return to power if the
Government should give way to the pressure brought to
bear on it by the Powers. Nevertheless the Note was pre-
sented with all due ceremony, diplomacy thinking, like a
second in a Prussian duel, that if men were to kill one
another they might as well do it according to the strict
rules of etiquette.
Turkey, of course, politely and vaguely expressed her
inability to comply with the demands of the Powers,
28 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
and Europe waited for the next move in the game. This
was to come on Sunday, October 13th, when the Balkan
League, its war preparations completed, threw off the veil,
repudiated the authority of the Great Powers, and declined
to accept their promises to take in hand the realisation
of reforms in Turkey. Further, it declared it would only
be satisfied with radical reforms, sincerely and honestly
carried out, and in conclusion the League invited Turkey to
apply the reforms indicated in Article 23 of the Treaty of
Berlin. It insisted that the principle of Nationalities must
be observed, called for the administration of the Provinces
under Belgian or Swiss Governors, required the formation
of elective assembhes, and the formation of a local gen-
darmerie and militia, and stipulated that reforms must be
applied by a council composed in equal numbers of Christians
and Moslems under the superintendence of the Ambassadors
of the Powers and the Ministers of the Balkan allies in
Constantinople. Further, Turkey was asked to complete
the changes in six months and to recall her orders of
mobilisation.
The Powers were aghast. The naughty children of the
Balkans had actually dared to defy their mandate and it now
dawned on European statesmen, apparently for the first
time, that there was no possible means of bringing them to
order. Any attempt would probably have meant a general
conflagration in Europe. Of course the end had now come.
On Tuesday, October 15th, Turkey decided to break off
diplomatic relations with the Balkan States, and on the same
day the preliminaries of peace with Italy were signed at
Ouchy. On October 16th, the Turkish Ministers left the
respective Balkan capitals and on Thursday, October 17th,
Turkey declared war on Bulgaria and Servia and we enter
upon the last phase of Turkey in Europe. On the following
day, Greece followed suit by also declaring war on Turkey.
CHAPTER IV
THE MILITARY HISTORY OF THE TURKS
Before the outbreak of the present' war there was a
widespread belief in the mihtary prowess of the Turks, the
average person regarding them as a warhke nation who
have been trained in the use of arms ever since Constanti-
nople was captured by Mahmoud in 1453. As a matter of
fact, this is an error.
After the first wav^e of Mahommedan fanaticism had
spent itself, the military power of the Empire was fur-
nished by the Janissaries, who were not in the first place
Mahommedans, but Christians in the employ of the
Sultans. One hundred years before the conquest of
Constantinople the Sultans hit upon the idea of forming
a personal bodyguard by seizing the children of their
Christian subjects at a tender age, forcibly educating
them as Mahommedans, and training them in the use of
arms. These troops were called " Yeni Tcheri," or *' new
soldiers," a term which afterwards became corrupted into
Janissary. Celibacy was imposed on them, and they were
enrolled in a sort of military family and supported at the
Sultan's personal expense. Their very banner bore as its badge
a saucepan with the arms of the Padisha upon it — a potent
reminder of the source of their sustenance. The idea was to
form a Pretorian Guard of soldiers, having no ties or affinity
with the conquered peoples from among which they were
30 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
seized, or with the turbulent conquering castes which were
a constant source of unrest in the Empire.
The Sultans were not slow to discover that in the
Janissaries they had found an excellent instrument of
despotism, for they were not only useful as a conquering
foil, but also as an infallible means of maintaining order
amongst the heterogeneous medley of creeds and races
within the borders of the Empire. Their institution was
rendered additionally necessary by the fact that the Turkish
population of Anatolia could no longer support the terrible
drain of human life which the constant wars of the Sultans
imposed upon it, and this was the only safe means of ob-
taining recruits from the subject Christian races. At the
beginning of the sixteenth century Suleiman the Magnifi-
cent, the Conqueror of Rhodes, multiplied the Janissaries
into a huge standing army. In one year he caused to be
circumcised no fewer than 40,000 Christian children.
The Turks then began to lose their warlike habits
and the Janissaries fought all their battles for them.
They remained almost invincible up to the year 1580, but
then the decUne set in, and so rapid was the process of
disintegration that early in 1680 Savary de Breves, the
French Ambassador in Constantinople, wrote a book on the
approaching break up of the Ottoman Empire. He had
never heard of the status quo and could not foresee that for
two and a half centuries the pariah dogs of Europe would
be too busy quarrelling amongst themselves to devour the
putrefying corpse of Islam.
Under a strong Sultan the disciphne of the Janissaries was
maintained and they were a source of strength to the Empire.
When the ruler was effete, discipline was relaxed and the
Janissaries degenerated into a horde of proud Pretorians
running the country in their own interests and setting up or
pulling down the principal Ministers of State at will. By
THE TURBULENT JANISSARIES 31
1622 they had abeady become such a nuisance that Osman II.
decided to disband them and to substitute a national army
recruited from all classes of his subjects. A horde of Ulemas,
Sipahis, and other palace parasites, fearful that their privileges
and perquisites might be cut short by a Sultan with such a
misplaced passion for reform, joined hands with the Janissaries
and applied to the Sheik-ul- Islam for permission to dethrone
a ruler who dared to flaunt the sacred Code of Mahomet in
such a flagrant manner. The Sheik-ul- 1 slam, whose posses-
sions were also in danger, readily acceded to their request.
So the Janissaries, after massacring Osman and his Grand
Vizier, indulged in an orgy of pillage which had never been
equalled even in the troubled history of Islam.
It was not until 1826 that any Sultan found himself
strong enough to disband these dreaded Pretorians. Then,
at the order of Mahmoud II., twenty thousand of them
were massacred and the remainder, sixty thousand in
number, were disbanded ; the Nizam, or recruited army,
being substituted. Henceforth, by a strange anomaly,
the recruits for the army were drawn from amongst
the least warlike section of the people, namely, the
peasants of Anatolia, the reason being that the Ottoman
Government has never been sufficiently strong to subdue
the warlike tribes — which inhabit, for the most part, the
mountainous districts — and to enforce military service on
them.
The Kurds in the Caucasus, the Arabs in the Yemen,
and the Albanians on the Adriatic have been in more or less
open rebellion for some years. Against these hardy warriors
the peaceful peasants of Anatolia are constantly being
mobilised, only to perish in battle, or more often from
neglect and starvation, in the outlying provinces of the
Empire. The best blood of the nation has been drained
from the heart of Anatolia to be spilt in the burning sands
32 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
of the Yemen or in the mountains of Albania and the
Caucasus. The wastage of hfe has been tremendous.
Meanwhile the fertile soil of Anatolia is deserted by
all save old men, women, and children. The Anatolian
peasants who were marching to do battle against the
Balkan Crusaders, knew that a similar measure of neglect
and suffering would be their only reward. Thus it was they
marched in silence and sadness to sell their lives like heroes
at the command of a Government which had not even made
arrangements to supply them with the bare necessaries of life.
If we briefly survey the history of Turkey in the last
100 years, since the abolition of the Janissaries, we shall
find that she has been beaten in every war in which she
has been involved, with the exception of the war of 1897
against Greece, when she possessed such immense numeri-
cal superiority as to render victory over the none too
courageous Greeks inevitable. In the defence of armed
fortresses, however, the Turks have repeatedly shown proof
of astonishing courage and endurance, and it is on this
trait in their military character that their reputation as
soldiers is based. But the defence of fortresses, however
stubborn and prolonged, is not sufficient of itself for the
winning of wars, although it may seriously delay an
invader and inflict severe losses upon him. It is merely a
useless waste of life when there is no field army to give
battle to the enemy, when his forces have been weakened by
a prolonged siege, or prepared to take the offensive after
relieving the beleaguered fortress.
But whenever the Turks have given battle in the open
field, or essayed an offensive movement of any kind, they
have been badly beaten, not because they lack courage,
but by reason of the inefficiency of their officers, the want
of training among their men, and a general deficiency of
any form of military organisation.
THE TURKS IN DEFENCE 33
The heroic defence of Plevna in the war of 1878, when
40,000 Turks, under Osman, held more than 100,000
Russians at bay for nearly six months, and were only finally
defeated by the slow process of a regular siege and by the
arrival of two Roumanian Army Corps, is the latest and
greatest feat of arms upon which the reputation of the
Ottoman army is based. It should be remembered, how-
ever, that after Osman had surrendered while trying to
fight his way out of the beleaguered fortress, the Turkish
power collapsed, and within a few weeks hordes of Cossacks
had overrun the whole of Turkey in Europe, while the
main Russian army was encamped at San Stefano within
ten miles of the Capital and only prevented from setting
up the Cross in Byzantium by the presence in the
Bosphorus of the British Fleet.
The course of nearly all Turkey's wars in the nineteenth
century has been much the same. First a few successes,
then a mismanaged advance ending in disaster, followed by
the heroic but useless defence of some fortress, and after that
the deluge. Unfortunately for Turkey, the jealousies of the
European Powers have always saved her Empire in Europe
from dismemberment, and she has been allowed to remain in
possession of territories which she was unable to defend, and
which were involving her in constant and bloody wars.
The loss of life and the suffering which this policy of the
Powers has involved, are appalling to contemplate. The
best blood of Turkey has been drained from the fertile
vilayets of Asia Minor to be spilt in a hopeless struggle in
the land of the giaours ; thousands of Russian peasants have
perished fighting for a country in which they had no interest,
and the Christian, Greek, and Bulgarian inhabitants of the
Balkans have been repeatedly ravaged and decimated.
When we consider the terrible list of wars which Turkey
has had to fight in the last century, and when we consider
D
34 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
that her armies have been almost entirely recruited from
among the Mohammedan subjects of the Empire, we no longer
wonder that the country is backward and misgoverned, our
only surprise is that the Turkish race has not ceased to exist.
The strain upon the vitahty of the Ottoman Turks has, of
course, been very severe, and to-day they number less than
one-third of the total population of the Empire.
All over Europe the nineteenth century was marked by
the awakening of national feeling among subject races.
Italy was destined to free herself from the Austrian yoke,
but the first rising was that of 1821, when Greece revolted
against Turkish rule and the Turks retaliated by hanging
the Patriarch on his own church door in Constantinople,
and by massacring or reducing to slavery the 70,000
inhabitants of the island of Chios. The war was destined
to last eight years. During this time the Turks, unable
to subdue the Greeks, sent to Mehemet Ali, the Pasha
of Egypt, for assistance. The latter with his very efficient
fleet and army was on the point of reducing the Greeks to
submission or rather annihilation, when the Powers stepped
in and destroyed the Turkish fleet at Navarino. Soon
afterwards Russia declared war and occupied Adrianople
in 1828 without encountering much resistance. Meanwhile
Mahomed II. had in 1826 disbanded the Janissaries, and
made futile efforts to carry on the war with a hastily
recruited Nizam (regular) army.
At the Conference of London in 1830 the Powers
ordained that Greece should become an independent
kingdom, and the Russian army was politely but firmly
requested to leave the neighbourhood of Byzantium and to
return to its native lair.
Turkey was only to enjoy two years of peace, for in 1832
Mehemet Ali, who was nominally only the Governor of
Egypt, appointed by the Sultan and removable at will,
THE FIRST CONSTITUTION 35
declared himself independent and quietly annexed the whole
of Syria to his newly-created kingdom. Mehemet's son,
Ibrahim, at the head of an Egyptian army, easily destroyed
all the Turkish troops that were sent against him, and the
Sultan in his extremity was constrained to call upon his
old enemies the Russians for assistance. Mehemet made
peace, but obtained the Viceroyalty of Syria for his life-
time. Soon afterwards, however, having reformed his army
under French supervision, he proceeded to invade Turkey,
annexed Crete, and destroyed all the Turkish armies which
were sent against him.
The break-up of the Ottoman Empire appeared to be
inevitable, when, by a stroke of genius, the Sultan sum-
moned representatives from among all nationalities and
creeds of his subjects and read the famous Hatti Sherif
of 1839, which, besides granting a constitution, proclaimed
the equality of all races wdthin the Empire, and generally
promised the dawn of a golden age in Turkey. The
apparent intention of the Sultan to reform his decaying
Empire so worked upon the sympathies of the Powers, and
more especially upon those of England — to whom incidentally
the break-up of Turkey was by no means welcome — that they
intervened, and after a blockade of Alexandria by the allied
fleets, the rebellious Pasha of Egypt was constrained to
abstain from further assaults on his master's property.
But even now, after almost twenty years of continual
warfare, Turkey was not destined to enjoy peace in which
she could recover from her almost mortal wounds. An
insurrection broke out in Kandia, and the Emir-el-djebel
(Prince of the Mountains), not at all liking the equality
of all races and religions which the Hatti Sherif had pro-
claimed, raised the Holy Standard in Arabia, and massacred
all the Christians whom he could lay his hands on. The
insurrection spread so wide, and was accompanied by such
d2
36 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
fearful bloodshed and atrocities, that the Powers were once
more obliged to intervene in order to rescue the Sultan from
his unruly subjects.
Europe now looked forward to a few years of peace in
the Near East, as all possible combatants were apparently
exhausted, but such hopes were vain, for no sooner had the
Emir-el-djebel been subdued than the Shah of Persia
suddenly invaded Turkish territory. This attack was rather
like the case of one old inmate of a workhouse attacking
another with his crutch when the master had his back
turned, for the Shah ruled over the only Empire in the
world which for decrepitude and bad government could
compare with Turkey. The Shah was repulsed after much
bloodshed, but in the meantime anarchy broke out all over
the Turkish Empire, due chiefly to the reforms which the
Sultan was misguided enough to attempt to enforce. Sixty-
eight years later, the Young Turks were destined to pro-
duce an exactly similar state of affairs by their ill-fated
Constitution.
Anarchy reigned supreme in Turkey for years, but
without any interference of the Powers, who were for the
most part far too busy in quelling their own disturbances
at home, which culminated in the revolutions of 1848.
During this time the awakening of national spirit among the
Slavs of the Balkans began to take definite form. They
were too weak to free themselves from the Turkish rule
by their own unaided efforts, and so their hopes were centred
on Russia, who was looked upon as the great liberator. So,
in 1853, Russia, stimulated by the weakened state of the
Ottoman Empire, embarked on her great attempt to drive
the Turks out of Europe, and to set up the Czars in
Byzantium.
Europe, and more especially Austria, had been so shaken
by the revolutions of 1848, that Nicholas I. expected to be
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AN ITINERANT SULTAN 37
allowed to fulfil his crusade in peace, but he reckoned
without the ambition of Napoleon III. and the fears of
England.
At first the Russians were everywhere successful, the
Turks, however, distinguishing themselves for the heroic
defence of Silistria in Bulgaria, and of Kars in Asia Minor.
Then England and France invaded the Crimea, and Russia
was compelled to abandon all hope of reaching Byzantium.
The Turkish troops which were attached to the allies in front
of Sevastopol proved themselves of little value in the field.
Once again the Turkish Empire in Europe was only saved
from complete disintegration by foreign intervention. Left
to themselves the Russians would in all probability have
succeeded in setting up the Cross on St. Sofia.
After the Crimean War, the intercourse of Turkish
rulers and statesmen with Western civilisation proved a
further source of weakness for the Empire, in that it
rendered them less and less qualified to govern their
Mahommedan subjects. The Sultan Abdul Aziz in 1867
took the unprecedented step of visiting Queen Victoria,
Napoleon III., and the Emperor of Austria. There
was a terrible outcry among Mahommedans against this
unheard-of innovation, but the Sheik-ul-Islam, hard-pressed
to justify his master's breach of the laws of the Koran,
invented the fable that " The Sultan had embarked on a
voyage of conquest, and that so great was his prestige and
the fear of his power, that each country in which he had set
foot had at once submitted to his rule. By an extraordinary
act of magnanimity, however, he had personally visited each
sovereign and restored his possessions to him."
This childish fable quelled the outcry in Islam, and had
the additional merit of giving rise to some admirable hons
mots on the subject in Paris at the expense of Napoleon III.
Turkey was now entering on the last phase of her
38 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
chequered history in Europe, and the final struggle of the
Slav nationalities for independence was about to begin. The
foundation of a Bulgarian Exarchate — independent Bulgarian
Church — in 1842, was their first step toward independence.
In 1875 isolated rebellions broke out all over the Balkans,
but were subdued by the Porte without much difficulty,
and Bismarck was able to declare in the Reichstag shortly
afterwards that the "Political heaven had never been
clearer." Three weeks later the Servians rose to a man in
revolt against the Turkish yoke and the Balkan Peninsula
was plunged in the throes of a ghastly war.
European diplomacy was destined to prove equally badly
informed in 1912. Turkey's situation was complicated by the
fact that Gladstone had allowed himself to be hoodwdnked
by the Russians into believing that the Turkish troops
possessed a monopoly of the atrocities committed in the
Balkans, whereupon he started his Turkish atrocity cry and
turned away the sympathies of Europe from the Ottoman
army. Meanwhile, the Sultan, Abdul Aziz, was deposed,
through the machinations of the newly-founded "Young
Turks" under Midhat Pasha, and the Sultan Murad sub-
stituted for him. Abdul Aziz shortly afterwards committed
suicide with the assistance of two assassins whom Murad
sent to him, and Murad soon going mad, the notorious
Abdul Hamid was set up in his place. The Servians were
getting the worst of the war, and practically all their
resistance had been crushed when, in 1877, Russia declared
war against the Porte and marched to the assistance of
her Slavonic cousins. Then came the heroic defence of
Plevna, after which the Russians occupied the whole of
European Turkey up to the walls of Constantinople.
By the Treaty of San Stefano Turkey granted autonomy
to the Bulgarians and ceded the whole of the Eastern Balkans
up to Adrianople to them. To the Servians was given a large
THE BILL OF INEFFICIENCY 39
portion of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and to Montenegro a
portion of Northern Albania. Roughly speaking, these
nascent Balkan States were given the territory that they are
now claiming after the accomplishment of their successful
crusade. Once again Russia was to be baulked of the fruits
of victory. The Powers stepped in, revoked the Treaty
of San Stefano, and at the Congress of Berlin in 1878
Roumania and Bulgaria were created autonomous princi-
palities to serve as a buffer to the ambitions of Russia, a
large portion of Roumelia being restored to Turkey as well
as the fortress of Erzerum in Asia Minor.
Some idea of the drain which these successive wars made
on the resources of Turkey may be gathered from the fact
that the Crimean War cost Russia £160,000,000 and some
100,000 men. For the war of 1877-8 she brought some
460,000 men into the field at a cost of £200,000,000. The
cost to Turkey and her losses in men are not known, but
they must have been almost as great. At this time began
the migration of the Turks out of the conquered provinces in
Europe back to Asia Minor, rather than live under Christian
rule. The migration was destined to culminate in the war
of 1912, when practically the whole Ottoman population
abandoned Turkey in Europe.
In 1885 Eastern Roumelia fell to Bulgaria, which kingdom
remained under the nominal suzerainty of the Sultan until
1908, when Prince Ferdinand seized the opportunity afforded
by the Young Turk revolution of declaring his principate an
independent kingdom, with himself as Czar.
At the close of the campaign of 1877-8, national senti-
ment had not reached a high state of development among
the Bulgarians, so that when Bulgaria was made an
independent principate by the Treaty of Berlin, she was only
too contented to become the instrument of Russia, and
would have offered no resistance to being incorporated in
40 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
the Empire of the Czar. But the spread of Western ideas
and education soon began to foster the spirit of independence
in Sofia, and before long the statesmen of St. Petersburg
were obhged to recognise that they had created a nation
with definite ambitions, which would block the road to
Byzantium to them for all time. Accordingly, after a short
time, they began to devote their energies toward the
acquisition of territory in the Far East.
Meanwhile, the tyranny of Abdul Hamid was to ensure
to Turkey thirty years of comparative external peace ; but
they were dark years for the Christian subjects of the
Empire. This tyranny of Abdul Hamid was merely the
policy which the Turkish Government has always pursued,
carried to its highest form.
The Turks are the fruit of the blending of the warhke
autocracy of the JNIongols with the religion of the ascetic
Arabs of the desert. The result of this combination
was a fanatical and courageous race, which, after flooding
the fertile lands of Asia Minor, swept on over Byzan-
tium, and only exhausted its force against the waUs of
Vienna. Upon their inruption into Byzantium, however,
these fanatical and ascetic warriors came into contact with
the most effete and corrupt civilisation that the world has
ever seen. Byzantium was a cesspool of vice and corruption,
polluting all streams which flowed through its foetid waters.
So the Sultans of Turkey left their tents and went to live
in the palaces of the Greek Emperors, where, in the scented
luxury of the harem, their energy was sapped by a life of
erotic indulgence. As their love of luxury and extravagance
increased, so arose the necessity of draining more and more
money from their conquered provinces, and as they no
longer possessed the physical energy to initiate sound methods
of government, they entrusted the task of collecting their
revenues to the corrupt Pashas of the different provinces, to
THE DECAY OF ISLAM 41
whose interest it was to extort the uttermost farthing from
their down-trodden subjects, regardless of all the economic
principles of taxation.
The Turks have never been a constructive race, or
attempted to create a centralised Empire like the Romans.
Their object has been to obtain as rapidly as possible, and
with a minimum expenditure of effort, a land in which to
live and a plentiful revenue.
They have conquered those who were too weak to resist,
but with the strong — the inhabitants of the mountains or
the frontier districts — they have compromised, so that their
Empire is a patchwork of races and creeds ; some enjoying
complete autonomy, others a modified form of vassalage ;
others again being subjected to heart-breaking subjection.
The orthodox Christians have from the earliest times
formed a State within the State, having their own patriarch,
archbishops, and bishops, and enjoying complete religious
freedom. This has not saved them, however, from the most
appalling economic oppression, for the Turkish Government
of the European provinces has always resembled the head-
quarters staff of an army camped in a hostile country, only
anxious to draw the maximum of supplies for its men,
regardless of the fact that in doing so it is reducing the
land to a desert.
To-day in Thrace, the only roads, the only wells and
fountains, the only decent buildings, are those left by the
Romans, and the country which 1000 years ago was one of
the principal granaries of Europe, is now one of the world's
waste places.
The same ruin and decay are to be seen in Constantinople,
which, when Constantine was Emperor in Byzantium, must
have been one of the wonders of the world. Now the
statues have disappeared from the Hippodrome ; the palaces
of the Greek Emperors no longer hang like marble dreams
42 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
upon the shores of the Bosphorus ; the streets of Stamboul
are badly paved, decrepit, and narrow as rabbit warrens ; the
sanitary arrangements of the city are non-existent, and when
a house tumbles or is burned down, it is not rebuilt for
years — the great fire of four years ago destroyed 15,000
houses in Stamboul, and no attempt has been made as yet
even to clear away the ruins.
The policy of extortion was never more ruthlessly pursued
than during the reign of Abdul Hamid. The ambition
of this modern Nero, so soon as he had got rid of the
constitutionally-minded Midhat Pasha by having him
strangled in some remote Arabian gaol, was to awaken the
primitive fanaticism of the Mahommedan world by stamping
out all Western ideas and innovations with a ruthless hand,
and to weld together his empire by appealing to the spirit
of Pan-Islamism.
A study of history had taught him that directly any
section of the Christian subjects of the Empire became too
prosperous or powerful, they purchased arms and revolted
against the tyranny of the Khalifate. Accordingly, when
any of his Christian subjects showed signs of incipient
prosperity, agents were instructed to excite the fanaticism
of their Mahommedan neighbours, until such time as they
should faU upon the rebellious Christians and reduce their
villages and lands to a wilderness. In this way he caused
some 30,000 Armenians to be massacred in cold blood by
the savage Kurds, not because he disliked them as a
race — his own mother was an Armenian — but because he
thought that they were becoming politically dangerous, and
because he wished to nourish the spirit of Pan-Islamism with
a little Christian blood.
The Albanians he kept in hand by taking the best of
their manhood to serve in his own highly-paid bodyguard.
In Macedonia, which was inhabited for the most part by
TURKTSH JUSTICE? 43
Greek and Bulgarian Christians, he pursued a poHcy of
rigid repression which effectually stifled the economic and
intellectual progress of the province. The different vilayets
were abandoned to the tender mercies of corrupt Pashas,
whose instructions were to extort the uttermost farthing
from their Christian subjects. The principal instruments of
extortion which the Pashas employed were the army, the
law, and the roads. Any Christian with property was liable
to be seized and imprisoned repeatedly, each time having
to pay the tax for exemption for military service, irrespective
of the number of occasions on which he had already paid all
that was due from him.
Christian landowners also frequently found that their
property had been claimed by a Mahommedan, who was in
reality an agent of the courts. The claimant would produce
perhaps twenty professional witnesses — of whom a large
number were attached to every court — in support of his
claim, and the landowner would find himself involved in
litigation culminating probably in the loss of his land, and
even imprisonment, unless, being wise in his generation, he
went immediately to the judge and paid his price, in addition
to rewarding the claimant and his regiment of professional
witnesses.
Then, too, light women of Christian origin were induced
to supplement the wages of sin by coming to court
to swear that they were Mahommedans and had been
violated by a number of unfortunate Christians who had
fallen victims to their charms. This is a capital offence in
Turkey, and the whole lot were immediately arrested and
left to rot in gaol, until such time as their families should
purchase their freedom.
Road-building, however, was the sport in which the
Pashas most dehghted. The order would go out from the
Sublime Porte that a road was to be built — say, from
44 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
Monastir to Uskub. The simplest way to construct it was
by means of the corvee, and a few weeks' work from the
inhabitants of each village would probably have completed
the road. But this did not suit the Pashas, so they took the
peasants from the neighbourhood of Monastir and sent them
to work around Uskub, while the peasants from Uskub
were sent into the Monastir district. There these unfor-
tunates were left without provisions or instructions until
such time as they should begin to murmur at their treat-
ment. The Pasha at once announced that a revolt had
broken out, and would descend with a swarm of gendarmes
and Bashi-Bazouks upon the villages of the unfortunate men
of the corvee, pillaging their homes and confiscating all that
they could lay their hands on. In the end the road would
remain unbuilt, while the Pasha and his minions pocketed
about five times the amount of money necessary for its
construction.
It is only fair to say that, in the Mahommedan province
of the Empire, the unfortunate Mussulmans were equally, if
not more, oppressed by the Pashas and other officials.
Gradually, and as education spread in Macedonia, the
Macedonian revolutionary committee sprang into existence,
and unrest among the Christian population became wide-
spread. Then the Nero of the Bosphorus set in motion his
pet policy of atrocities, in order to crush the spirit of the rebel-
lious Macedonians, with every refinement of cruelty. Word
was passed to the Bashi-Bazouks to massacre and plunder
the Christians, which they at once proceeded to do with the
best will in the world.
The Albanians, also, were told that there was no objection
to their crossing the frontier and enjoying themselves in
Macedonia, which they proceeded to do with the peculiar
ferocity of this race. A typical example of the atrocities
is that of the three Albanian landowners, who, having
MIGRATION OF THE CHRISTIANS 45
drunk rather too freely at luncheon, went out into the
fields and started shooting at their Christian labourers,
three of whom were wounded and one killed. When an
old workman cried shame on them, saying that the dead
man had left a wife and children to starve, they became
penitent, and, sending for his family, proceeded to kill them
also to save them from the horrors of penury.
But the Turks had yet to
" Learn in some wild hour
How much the wretched dare."
Many of the Christians, after seeing their houses burned
and their women outraged, took to the mountains, and,
forming themselves into bands, offered effective resistance to
the Turkish police and Bashi-Bazouks. Then Abdul Hamid
sent an army to subdue the province, and in 1901 no fewer
than 100,000 Turkish soldiers were quartered in Macedonia.
As the Government failed to provide these soldiers vdth
any of the necessaries of life, they soon started to roam
about the country pillaging the peasants for food — although,
being drawn from among the peasants of Anatoha, they
were by nature the kindliest and gentlest of men. The
situation was further complicated by the fact that the Greek
Christians started to massacre the Bulgarians, and the
Bulgarians the Greeks, while both equally massacred and
were massacred by the Turks. So that complete anarchy
reigned in Macedonia, and Abdul Hamid had attained his
object, in that he had rendered the province too weak to
revolt against his will.
Things became so bad that by 1902 the major portions of
the educated Bulgarians had migrated across the frontier to
Sofia, where they filled many important positions. In that
year 20,000 out of Sofia's population of 60,000 were refugees
from Macedonia, and their total number in Bulgaria
exceeded 200,000. The sight of half-starving Macedonian
46 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
refugees arriving at the frontier with fearful tales of persecu-
tion and outrage excited the most intense feehng among all
sections of the Bulgarian and Servian populations. It is,
in fact, twenty years since these two little States first
started arming with the definite purpose of ending an
intolerable situation, and of winning freedom for their
fellow Slavs in Macedonia.
The expediency of declaring Macedonia an autonomous
province was more than once discussed among the Powers,
but on each occasion they allowed themselves to be seduced
into inaction by that red-handed old tyrant of Yildiz Kiosk,
Abdul Hamid, who used to meet their ultimata with a
semblance of penitence, and produce an elaborate scheme of
reform for Macedonia, which was immediately afterwards
restored to the shelves of the Sublime Porte, until such time
as another ultimatum necessitated its re-appearance in
public.
Fortunately for him, the Powers were at this time too
much occupied with their own schemes of robbery to bother
about Macedonia. England had the Boer War on her hands,
Russia was busy making conquests in the Far East, and the
German Emperor was busy fraternising with Abdul Hamid,
with the object of obtaining railway concessions in Asia
Minor. So that in the end all that was done was the
creation of an international gendarmerie in that country.
All this time, unobserved by the Powers — save perhaps
by Russia and Austria — the little Slav nationalities of the
Balkans were arming, arming, arming, and looking forward
to the moment when they could start their heroic crusade
against the putrefying Colossus of Turkey, and win freedom
for their brethren in Macedonia.
In 1908 came the Young Turk revolution, which was
heralded as the dawn of a golden age for the Ottoman
Empire. Racial animosities were to disappear, constitutional
THE ATTACK ON THE KORAN 47
government was to take the place of a soul-killing despotism,
the finances and the army were to be reformed, and a new
Turkey was to rise like a phoenix from the ashes of the
old regime. Government by " atrocities " was to end, and
so confident, or rather ignorant, were the ambassadors of
the Powers that they allowed the international gendarmerie
to be abolished, upon which the old atrocities at once broke
out again in Macedonia. What a harvest of disillusionment
the Young Turks were destined to reap I Their Western
education had taught them to care nothing for the Koran,
and so, in the circumstances, they saw no reason why the
different races of the Empire should not become united
despite the differences of religion which had always separated
them.
They made the same mistake that had been made in the
Hatti Firman of 1839 ; they tried to unite all their subjects
with the spirit of Ottoman nationality, irrespective of the
Ottoman creed. They were foredoomed to failure, because
the Ottoman has no nationality apart from his religion.
Islam is at once his fatherland and his religion. So it was
impossible to Ottomanise the Christian subjects of the
Empire without converting them to Mahommedanism.
Incidentally, the Koran had taught the Turk to consider
himself as belonging to a superior caste, so the Arabs of
the Lebanon, among whom the Mahommedan religion had
preserved a large measure of its primitive purity, objected
strongly to being told that they were brethren with the
despised Christians of Jerusalem and straightway broke out
into open rebellion.
The Albanians, too, had no desire to abandon their
proverbial freedom and anarchy for the taxes and military
system of a well-ordered Government. They had no objec-
tion to belonging to the Turkish Empire as long as the
honour brought no unpleasant obligations with it. When
48 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
the Young Turks tried to recruit them for service in the
Yemen they flatly refused to go and fight against the Arabs,
with whose cause they rather sympathised. So Albania
broke out into open revolt.
We have already pointed out how in the first glow of
good intentions, the Powers had consented to the abolition
of the international gendarmerie in Macedonia. But the
Greek and Bulgarian bands saw no fun in abandoning
their dreams of freedom for the sake of being Islamised.
So anarchy broke out worse than ever, and was compli-
cated by the depredations of Turkish soldiers, who, having
been sent to fight the Albanians and not being supplied
with any food, became disbanded and prowled about
Macedonia in search of the necessaries of fife.
The Young Turks were awakening from their dream of
a golden age, to find the Empire breaking up around
them. The possibility of Ottomanising the Turkish Empire
had passed for ever. The Ottoman population only
equalled about one-third of the total population of the
Empire, and so dead was the spirit of Islam, so incapable
the Turks of government, that for sixty years Turkey's
Grand Viziers had been almost exclusively Christians,
Catholic Albanians, Jews, Armenians, or Greeks.
In other ways the Young Turk Revolution dealt a
serious blow at the old faith of Islam. First of all the
committee dethroned Abdul Hamid, who, despite his corrupt
and cruel government, was none the less respected by his
people as a religious symbol. In his stead they tried to
set up a constitutional Government, which was manifestly
absurd in a nation consisting of thirty-two different races,
and where the only education of the majority of the
people consists in a mechanical knowledge of a few
religious shibboleths.
The doctrines of the Young Turks were in no sense
"OUR HOME IS ANATOLIA" 49
national. They were but lightly planted in a thin soil of
European customs and beliefs, and had no root in the
fertile flower garden of picturesque customs and beliefs,
which was Islam. To the masses of the Mahommedan
subjects of the Empire, the rule of the Young Turks
meant little less than foreign domination.
In the old days, when the soldiers of Islam marched to
war they marched at the call of the Padisha to do battle in
the sacred cause of Islam against giaours whom they had
been taught to despise and hate. They marched with
enthusiasm because, although perhaps personally they had
no interest in the war, they were marching to fulfil a
religious obligation. On the present occasion they were
marching at the orders of a Government in whom they had
no belief to do battle against Christians, whom they had
been told to regard as brethren, for a land in which they
had no interest.
So little interest in Turkey in Europe have the Turks
from Asia Minor, that on one occasion when an officer
endeavoured to excite his men by telling them they were
fighting for their country, the men replied, " But this is not
our country ; our country is in Anatolia."
In 1911 Italy made her sudden descent on Tripoli, and
in October, 1912, the Balkan League, judging the moment
propitious, began their twentieth century crusade for the
liberation of Macedonia, to the horror and astonishment of
the virtuous Western Powers, and to the secret amusement
of Russia, who, after all, could reasonably expect to see one
day a Slavonic emperor enthroned in Byzantium.
E
CHAPTER V
V
THE MODERN TURKISH ARMY
Amongst the radical changes which the Young Turks
hoped to bring about was the complete reform of
the Army. To aid them in their task, instructors were
hired from the German Army, and the work proceeded
apace. For the first time annual manoeuvres were instituted,
and I have read a report on those which were held around
Adrianople in 1910, which shows the army in a very
favourable hght. It is WTitten by a French officer. How-
ever, it is one thing to manoeuvre four divisions of picked
troops in time of peace, and quite another to handle four
army corps in time of war. One of the generals in com-
mand in 1910 was the unfortunate Abdullah Pasha, and I
believe he largely owed his promotion to the command of
the army of Thrace to the fact that he was considered to
have done so well in the manoeuvres of 1910.
As I have already remarked, a study of the military history
of the Ottoman Empire during the past century will show that
the Turks have always been beaten in war — with the single
exception of the war with Greece in 1907 — but that isolated
bodies of troops, when well commanded and placed behind
entrenchments, have often put up the most heroic resistance.
This seems to point to the fact that the senior officers have
never been capable of handling large bodies of men; that
THE OLD REGIME 51
grand strategy in war is almost unknown in Turkey, and
that the soldier himself lacks that dash and initiative in
offensive movements which are so characteristic of the
French and also of the Japanese.
The old type of Turkish soldier who existed up to the
end of the Hamidian regime possessed many excellent
qualities which rendered him individually a stubborn and
formidable opponent for the best of troops. He was
hardy and could exist on rations which would spell
starvation for the troops of any other race. He was
willing and obedient, and would follow his officer any-
where. He was accustomed to look after himself in the
field and to regard the commissariat train as a doubtful ally
which might, but which probably would not, be available
at critical moments on a campaign. Therefore he learnt, not
to be dependent on it, but to shift for himself, to collect
provisions when they were available, and to husband them
carefully against a rainy day. He cared little about the
outward trappings of war. In appearance he was slovenly
to a degree which would have made the Potsdam Guards
blush with shame and horror ; but on a campaign each man
collected those articles of clothing and more especially of
foot-gear which he found the most useful and the most
comfortable.
Thus, even as late as the war with Greece in 1907, it
was very seldom one saw a battalion with a common
uniform. The troops resembled a collection of unemployed
on a hunger march rather than a regular army. Some of
the men wore boots, some sandals, some merely had rags
tied round their feet, and some preferred to go barefooted.
Of tactics and battalion manoeuvres the Turks knew little
and cared still less. In their place they possessed a natural
instinct for war which caused them to stick together in
moments of emergency and invariably to choose a strong
e2
52 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
defensive position without having to have the ground
carefully selected for them by their officers.
The old regular battalions possessed another great
advantage, namely, that the men served together for very
long periods at a time, knew and trusted one another, and
resembled a large, united, and happy family. Great numbers
of the men served long beyond the period rendered com-
pulsory by the conscription. This was due to the fact that
no register of births existed throughout the Ottoman
Empire under the Hamidian regime and therefore many
were able to escape the conscription altogether, while
others were able to purchase exemptions, with the result
that the authorities, in order to fill the ranks, often kept
unfortunate paupers with the colours after their time was
up, or would force them to serve afresh after they had
been released from their first term.
The officers of the old Turkish Army were on a par
with their men. They were superannuated, ignorant,
almost untrained, totally devoid of any knowledge of the
science of war and slovenly in their outward appearance.
They served in the junior grades of subaltern and captain
all their lives, but few ever obtaining promotion, in fact,
the majority never expected promotion and were quite
content to fill their humble roles. A very large proportion
also were promoted from the ranks, and had nothing to
qualify them save their knowledge of the men. They
served for years in the Yemen, in Macedonia and in the
wilds of the Caucasus, forgotten by the War Office, often
going for long periods without their pay, but nevertheless
faithful to Islam.
These old officers were the backbone of the old Turkish
Army. They knew- their men and were respected and
loved by them. On a campaign the men had the most
implicit confidence in them, and would follow them anywhere.
THE GERMAN MODEL 53
The whole army marched to war at the command of the
Padisha, not in defence of the territorial possessions of the
Ottoman Empire, but in the cause of Islam against the
infidel. Such was the old army which generally managed
in the midst of reverses to cover itself with glory and to
maintain the reputation of the Turkish soldier for stubborn
courage.
The advent of the Young Turks to power brought about
changes in the character of the army, which have had the
most disastrous results during the present campaign. An
army can only be reformed from the top, not from the
bottom, but the Young Turks tried to change the rank and
file without first reforming the War Office and creating a
General Staff; for without efficient organisation and leader-
ship, all drastic reforms in the men and material must
necessarily be wasted in time of war.
The Young Turks wished to create an army on the
model of the German, without stopping to consider if the
material they were handling could be moulded into a new
form without destroying all the durable qualities which
had so often saved the Empire from complete disaster and
disruption in the past. They set themselves the task, with
the aid of German instructors, of substituting a national
spirit, based on the territorial boundaries of the Empire,
for the old cry of Islam, which had so often aroused the
patriotism of the Turkish soldier in the past, and of sub-
stituting science, tactics, and the stern discipline of Prussia
for the old natural instinct for war and self-rehance which
had characterised the troops of the old regime. They
thought that by changing the outward trappings of the
soldier ; by clothing him in the most modern of khaki
uniforms ; by placing putties round his legs and boots on
his feet, and a khaki-coloured kalpack on his head in place
of the traditional fez, and generally making him outwardly
54 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
up-to-date in appearance, they could construct an army on
the model of the German, equal to it in efficiency and
ability for the grand manoeuvres of war.
It was the outward appearance of the soldiers as they left
Constantinople for the front, which led so many critics to
believe that the Turkish army was highly organised and more
than capable of holding its own against the Allies. Truly
the appearance of some of the battalions, as they paraded on
the great square in front of the War Office before marching
to the railway station, was magnificent, and seemed to ensure
success. The Turk is naturally big and deep-chested, and
when clothed in khaki with his great-coat strapped to his back,
with the peculiar headgear consisting of a kind of combined
shawl and hood, which could be passed over the kalpack to
protect him from the cold, and which added several inches
to his height, and with his brand-new Mauser rifle at his
shoulder, he looked a warrior of which any nation might
be proud.
But a closer examination, more especially when the troops
were on the march, showed defects which were not at first
apparent. The uniforms, which on parade seemed to fit so
closely and to be so comfortable, soon began to lose their
smart appearance and to sag ominously ; the men began
to stoop under the weight of ill-fitting knapsacks held to
their backs by unaccustomed straps, and to fret at the great-
coats slung round their bodies. Ill-arranged putties began
to get loose and to flap round the legs of the marchers, who
looked down at them in dismay, and after a few hundred
yards many were already limping from sore feet, and hating
the sight of their new boots. Many of the reservists
carried their Mauser rifles in that gingerly manner in which
a man will hold a young child, if suddenly called upon to do
so, being totally unaccustomed to this new army, and having
been schooled in the simplicity of the old Martini,
CHANGES IN PERSONNEL 55
Thus long before the station was reached the illusion had
vanished, and it was obvious that these Anatolian peasants
were being sent to the front ill-trained and ill-disciplined,
with ill-fitting and unaccustomed kits, and armed with a rifle
which but a small proportion knew how to handle. From
the very first we noticed a remarkable shortage of officers.
Whole battalions would be equipped and drilled, and
marched off with hardly one officer per company.
In their dealings with the old type of regimental officer
the Young Turks made the most fatal mistake of all.
Because they saw European armies with young regimental
officers who enjoyed steady promotion, they said, " We
must get rid of all these old subalterns and captains who were
promoted from the ranks, and who are old enough to be
colonels and generals, and replace them by young officers."
Therefore, with a stroke of the pen they placed all the
regimental officers over a certain age in retirement before
they had a sufficiency of young officers to take their place.
Thus for the last three years the Turkish Army has been
woefully short of officers, and when the war broke out it was
no fewer than two thousand below its proper establishment.
This fatal step destroyed the efficiency of the battalions
to a lamentable extent. The old idea of the battalion
being a happy family, where men and officers knew
one another and had served together for many years, dis-
appeared, and the confidence of the men was shaken by the
introduction of a younger generation with new ideas of
discipline, which did its utmost to impress on the men
that the significance of their faith was as nothing, compared
with the necessity of maintaining the territories of the
Empire intact.
Neither was the new generation of officers prepared to
lead the lives of their predecessors, who always remained
with their battalions and shared the hardships and dis-
56 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
comforts of their men. The one idea of the new type of
officer was to obtain a billet on the Staff which would give
him an easy berth, and they spent every spare moment they
could obtain in applying for leave and hastening to Con-
stantinople, where they delighted to parade their fine new
uniforms among the foreigners in the cafes and hotels of
Pera, for even Stamboul no longer possessed attraction for
their Europeanised minds.
Large numbers of officers were also sent to be educated
in Berlin, Vienna, and Paris, and this move — sound in
theory — has also had a highly detrimental effect on the
character of the Turkish officers and discipline of the Army.
The primitive fighting virtues of an Oriental race almost
invariably disappear in the ratio in which the individuals are
brought in contact with, and imbibe the ideas of, more
civilised communities. We saw this among the European-
trained Japanese officers in the Russo-Japanese War, and
we see it still more clearly marked in the case of the Turk.
A few years amongst the gaieties of the capitals of Europe
invariably gives the Turkish officer a distaste for the hard life
and poor fare of his own country. His faith in his religion
disappears, and his patriotism weakens because he asks him-
self, " What am I fighting for ? Merely a worn-out religion
and a crumbling empire which offers me none of the
attractions provided by the higher civilisations."
But worse than this. Having received a scientific military
training and having been brought into contact with European
armies and European methods, he returns to his own country
full of his own importance and possessed with a profound
contempt for his less fortunate comrades who have not
received the same education as himself. He believes himself
to be their superior because of his theoretical knowledge, and
entirely forgets that all theoretical knowledge is quite wasted
without practical experience of regimental Hfe and the
THE OCCIDENTAL ORIENTAL 57
handling of troops in the field. His natural desire is to
avoid serving with his regiment at any price. He feels
that only a billet on the Staff is good enough for him,
for this will not only enable him to show his scientific
knowledge of war, but also to remain in the capital
and to live under conditions which approximate more closely
to those he has been accustomed to in the European capitals.
If he is obliged to join his regiment he looks upon
his superior officers, trained in the old school, with con-
tempt, considering himself vastly their superior. He is
continually levying veiled criticisms at his superiors, and
undermining the discipline of the regiment by the open
disapproval he displays for the orders he receives. His
outwardly smart appearance is in glaring contrast with the
slovenly uniforms of his comrades, and he feels himself
entirely out of harmony with those whom he now regards,
from his enlightened standpoint, as little better than
barbarians. In consequence of the fatal step of having
got rid of nearly aU the old officers without having others
to take their place, whole battalions left for the front
with hardly any officers at all, whilst the cafes and
hotels and streets of Pera and Stamboul were crowded
with young officers in beautiful uniforms, who had nothing
in particular to do, who were too proud to serve with
their regiments and who had nominal, or were awaiting
billets on the staff. Many of them never went near the
front, and many who eventually did find their way up there,
only stayed for a few days and seized the first available
opportunity to return to the more congenial haunts of
Pera, where, over coffee, liqueurs and cigars, they would
describe the lamentable state of the army to an admiring
circle of friends, and explain the causes which led to its
defeat, without realising that they themselves were largely
responsible for the debacle.
58 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
In the early stages of the war many officers, as soon as
the retreat on Chataldja had begun, left the front without
leave and hastened to Constantinople, without reporting
themselves to anyone. Thus the generals had no idea
what had become of them and could take no steps to
recall them to the front. This finally became such a
scandal that Nazim Pasha took drastic steps to check the
evil. No officers were allowed to leave without permission,
and they were obliged to report themselves to the War
Office on their arrival in the capital.
This brief summary will show the lamentable state of
the Turkish Army when the war broke out. The Army
Corps were split up and scattered over the Empire ; the
battalions were short of officers ; the men had lost confi-
dence in themselves and in their officers, and, above all,
they were called upon to march to the defence of territories,
in which they had but little interest, for the first time, not
because Islam was threatened, but because the integrity of
the Empire had to be preserved.
CHAPTER VI
THE AUTHORITIES AND THE CORRESPONDENTS
The life of the modern war correspondent cannot be
described as being exactly a bed of roses. The glorious
days of the profession, when William Russell and Archibald
Forbes and their like flourished, have gone, never to return.
Then the war correspondents were few in number, their
papers were in no great anxiety to receive news almost
before the event to be described had taken place, and the
war correspondent would stay at the front for a certain
period, then make his way leisurely to the nearest pillar box
and slip in an uncensored letter describing his experiences.
He did very little cabling, except on occasions of extreme
importance, and then he had the entire field to himself and
had nothing to fear from rivals hastening to get in their
despatches ahead of his.
I often wonder [how the great ones of the past would
have fared under modern conditions, when competition is
so keen that the war correspondent is kept in a continued
state of nervous unrest from the moment he arrives at
the scene of hostilities to that happy hour when he receives
a cable to the effect " come home at once, spend no more
money and all will be forgiven."
At the date when war broke out on October 16th, some
thirty-five odd correspondents were assembled at Con-
stantinople waiting for the first sound of the guns and for
60 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
the desired permission to accompany the army. Of these
by far the larger number represented Enghsh papers, and
almost every journal of note had a representative at the
front, while some, like the indefatigable Daily Mirror, for
instance, had a perfect bevy of photographers. Amongst
well-known men assembled in Constantinople were Lionel
James, The Times, M. H. Donohoe, the Daily Chronicle,
Ward Price, the Daily Mail, Pilcher, The Morning Post,
Allan Ostler, Daily Express. The French Press was also
well represented ; M. Rodes was there for Le Temps,
M. Raymond for U Illustration. The German Press was
represented by Major von Zweiter, and the Austrian by
Baron Binder von Kriegelstein. Then there were war
correspondents representing papers in Denmark and Scan-
dinavia, also two Russian correspondents who were believed
by the Turks to be officers on the Headquarters Staff in
disguise, and, as soon as the peace was signed at Ouchy, an
Italian turned up to act for the Corriera della Sierra. It
will be seen that we were a very representative body.
Now it is always necessary to pick out at the start of
a campaign those who are likely to be formidable rivals,
and those who can be more or less disregarded in the great
race to get off news first. For instance, I knew from the
start that my most dangerous rivals on this campaign would
be my old friend Lionel James, the doyeii of the war cor-
respondents with the Turkish Army, and M. H. Donohoe,
the highly experienced correspondent of the Daily Chronicle.
It is now generally the custom for the representatives of
at least two papers to work together so as to save expense,
and also to obtain that feeling of comradeship which is
always agreeable on a campaign. On this occasion Lionel
James and Ward Price were working together, the old
threepenny Thunderer linked for the first time with the
famous halfpenny on account of the affiliation between
•«f * " •
^^
FOREIGN CORRESPONDENTS 61
those two journals at home. In these circumstances,
Donohoe and myself agreed to work together, and it was a
great relief to me to feel I had such a formidable and enter-
prising rival acting as a friend to share my fate for better
or worse, rather than having to keep an eye on him all the
time for fear he should steal a march on me over some
important battle.
The English war correspondents have little to fear
from the competition of their foreign rivals. I do not
wish in any way to belittle the efforts of the Frenchmen,
who are charming writers and still more charming
companions ; but the French system is entirely different
from our own. They go in very little for cabling,
they do not spend nearly so much money on their work,
and, therefore, they are hardly in a position to compete
for speed with ourselves. The Germans are much the
same. They are so wedded to discipline that they obey
every order given them by the authorities, and, in fact, seem
hopelessly at sea unless they are being watched over by the
Censor and his colleagues. They are themselves the first
to admit that they lack that spirit of enterprise, which
renders the English Press supreme during campaigns, when
every opportunity must be seized like hghtning, and not a
minute lost if a rival is not going to beat you and obtain a
" scoop."
The success or failure of the war correspondent depends
almost always on the preparations he has made for
sending off news from the front, before he actually starts on
the campaign, and the men with experience are always certain,
unless by a remarkable series of unforeseen occurrences, to
beat those who are without experience and who are making
their first campaign. The campaign in Thrace was an object
lesson in this respect, and the old hands scored time and time
again over their inexperienced rivals.
62 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
It is no use starting for the front with the intention of
finding means to send off news after you have arrived on
the battlefield, although of course unexpected means which
you have not included in your pre-arranged plans may present
themselves, and should be taken immediate advantage of.
The first thing the war correspondent should say to himself
is, " Where is the nearest point for sending off censored tele-
grams, and where is the nearest point for sending off un-
censored despatches should the necessity arise ? " Having
decided upon these two points, he should ask himself this
question, " What will be the quickest means of getting news
to the telegraph stations ? " Having decided on the most
suitable means of communication, he must take steps to
complete the organisation necessary to carry his good inten-
tions into effect.
It was obvious in the present campaign that Constantinople
was the only place from which to dispatch censored cables,
and that Constanza in Roumania was the only place from
which to send uncensored cables. The latter would have to
be sent by the Roumanian boat which leaves Constantinople
for Constanza every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. It
was obvious, therefore, that if you missed sending your cable
on Tuesday, it could not be sent until Thursday, and that if
you missed Thursday, it could not go until Saturday, and
that, if your rival sent his by the boat you had missed, he
would have his news in the paper two clear days before you
could have yours.
There was also one other means of speeding up a cable,
namely, to have it sent by wireless telegraphy from the
Roumanian boat to Constanza, the moment she was outside
territorial waters. But this was made very little use of
during the war, as the wireless was found to be far too
unreliable for long and important messages, and cost two
shillings a word just to reach Constanza.
BUYING A MOTOR-CAR 63
It became obvious from the start that the authorities in
Constantinople would only allow news favourable to Turkey
to be sent from the capital, and that in the event of a reverse,
Constanza alone would be available. The old hands, there-
fore, made elaborate preparations to have their cables
dispatched to Constanza with a minimum of delay.
Then we had to consider how we could get messages
rapidly from the front to Constantinople, in order that they
might be sent on by the Roumanian boats. Donohoe and
myself had many an earnest conversation on this all-important
subject, and finally decided that a motor-car was essential.
I will never forget as long as 1 live the troubles we had
over obtaining a car suitable for a country where roads are
non-existent, and where every ounce of petrol has to be
carried.
I first of all entered into negotiations with the Pera
garage for the hire of a car. I was shown one which,
I was assured by the Greek proprietor, had frequently
made the road to Adrianople without difficulty, and that
he would guarantee it would do so again. I mistrusted
the look of the old machine, but he reassured me, and
as the price seemed reasonable, namely, one hundred pounds
per month, I decided to hire it. The proprietor was exceed-
ingly anxious that I should sign the contract and pay him
one month's hire in advance without giving the car a trial,
as he explained this was quite unnecessary, and he was busy
overhauling the machinery and repainting the chassis. The
contract contained a clause that in the event of our losing
the car or it falling into the hands of the enemy, we should
pay the modest sum of £600 by way of compensation.
However, I refused to sign or to pay a penny until Donohoe
and myself had given it an exhaustive trial by taking it out
on a trip to San Stefano.
On the afternoon of the trial, my brother, Donohoe, and
64 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
myself repaired to the garage, where we found many
mechanics putting the finishing touches to the old buz box
and tuning her up. The owner had so carefully painted
and polished up an old taxi - cab that its material
defects were not apparent to the inexperienced eye.
But the bluff was short-lived, for we never reached the
Galata Bridge. The old machine smoked and roared and
groaned, but could not even take the smallest hills, and
finally caught fire in the high street ; the tyres fell off at the
same moment, and the chauffeur announced that he must
return for repairs, as he did not quite understand the
machinery. We returned and told the owner exactly what
we thought of him.
It turned out on inquiry that this car was one of the
original taxi-cabs introduced into Paris, and that, after
serving a long term in the Parisian streets, it had been
sent to the Near East. The papers the owner had shown us
were all forged, and the value of the car was perhaps fifty
pounds, yet he had tried to get us to pay £600 in the event
of its being lost.
We confided our troubles to the obliging Colonel Izzet,
who was one of the first to advise us to take a car to
the front, declaring that it would be invaluable, as the
roads were excellent, and that we could reach Adrianople
in it in about five or six hours. Colonel Izzet then
produced a sinister-looking Persian, whom he declared
was the owner of a splendid new forty horse-power
Panhard Limousine — the finest car in Constantinople,
which could go anywhere and carry any number of
passengers. He offered to give us a trial by motoring us
out that very afternoon to San Stefano. This we accepted.
The car went very well, negotiating all the bad spots on
the road, passing through mud feet deep, and crawling up
all the hills without much difficulty.
THE MODEST PERSIAN 65
Then came the most troublesome task of all, namely, to
settle on the terms of hire or purchase. Colonel Izzet acted
as our interpreter and intermediary, and the meeting between
the Persian, Donohoe, my brother, and myself took place
in the War Office. The Persian turned out a hard task-
master and demanded the modest sum of £1000 for the
purchase of the car or £lO a day for the hire of it. As
these terms proved too stiff we haggled and bargained, and,
after threatening to break off the negotiations several times,
we got the purchase price down to £900, and the rate for the
hire by the day to £8.
Finally, we decided to take it for one month on trial,
as we were not wholly convinced of what value the car
would be at the front. Then a contract was drawn up in
French by Colonel Izzet, who took the greatest pains to be
fair to us both. This took an endless time, as all sorts of
unexpected difficulties arose on such questions as to who
was to supply the oil, and how much we were to pay for the
car in the event of its being captured or destroyed. The
Persian insisted on a guarantee of £1000, minus any sums
we had paid by way of hire, but finally we got him down to
£850. At last the contract was completed and he was very
anxious we should sign it then and there, but this Donohoe and
myself declined to do until we had made some independent
inquiries to find out if the car was really what the owner
professed it to be.
That evening we set our independent agents to work,
and received two reports on our prospective purchase. It
was nearly four years old and had been the property of
an Egyptian prince for two years. The prince finally
sold it for £450 to a merchant in Constantinople, who,
in turn, parted with it a year later to its present owner, the
Persian, for £350. The latter had done it up and had hired
it at so much a day to tourists visiting Constantinople. It
66 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
was not a forty horse-power car at all, but only a twenty.
This was the car for which our good friend the Persian
had demanded £1000 or a guarantee of £850. Needless
to say when he arrived at the Pera Palace Hotel that
evening, all smiles, with the contract ready for signature, he
received a somewhat cold reception and was politely shown
the door.
This, however, did not help Donohoe and myself much, as
at any minute we might be allowed to start for the front,
and without a car how could we hope to compete with our
leading rivals. The Times and the Daily Mail, who had pur-
chased one second-hand for a considerable sum? It was
utterly useless trying to hire one, as we knew we were bound
to be swindled, and had no guarantee that the chauffeur, who
was the servant of the owner, would not fail us at a critical
moment in the campaign, or perhaps even decline to carry
us near to some stricken field.
I then went to the principal agents in Pera and
examined a new Panhard which they had for sale. It
was an excellent car, having just arrived from Paris,
very strong, and of 18-24 horse -power. The agents
were very agreeable and honest in all their dealings, and
produced all the necessary papers from the Panhard Com-
pany, showing the actual price they had paid for the car, the
cost of its passage to Constantinople, and the Customs duty.
They consented to forgo half their usual commission, and
the car became our property for £700, which price included
accessories and a spare pair of tyres. We thus had a great
load off our minds and could now start on equal terms with
The Times and the Daily Mail.
Little did we realise at the time the endless trouble and
bother we would have with the car, with the various
chauffeurs who attempted to handle it, and, above all, with
the roads, which proved to be totally unsuitable for wheeled
THE DRAGOMEN 67
traffic of any sort, except a country cart drawn by four
strong oxen. However, let me say here in justice to the
car and to our own judgment that it saved us at the most
critical moment of the campaign, and enabled us to get off
the news of the great defeat of Lule Burgas ahead of all
our rivals. I had two rides in it, and Donohoe two also,
and as the price paid for these rides was over £700, they
were the most expensive journeys we had ever taken or ever
wish to take.
The experiences I have just related were typical of many
others endured by us whilst we were engaged in making our
preparations to leave for the front. Every single detail had
to be thought out beforehand, and every single article, from
a horse to a tin of sardines, had to be purchased from people
whose sole idea was to cheat and swindle you.
The fitting out of an expedition, the purchase of suitable
horses, stores, and equipment, sounds a simple enough under-
taking, but, in reality, in Constantinople the task was one of
stupendous difficulty, exhausting both to the body and to the
patience. The dragomen you engage, who carry about with
them pages of references, cannot be trusted a yard, and are
an additional burden, rather than an assistance. I and my
brother had personally to superintend the buying and
packing of every single article we might require for
the campaign. The country through which the army would
pass on its way to Sofia, which we were assured was our
destination, would speedily be swept bare by the passage
of two large armies, and we had to take everything necessary
in the way of food supplies with us. I therefore bought
provisions for two months.
We had ample opportunity of studying the character of
the Christian population of Constantinople, both Greek and
Armenian, and we often wondered at the moderation of the
Turk at not having exterminated the lot years ago. There
f2
68 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
is an old saying amongst the Turks that it takes two Jews to
get the better of one Greek, and five Greeks to cheat one
Armenian. These bastard races, which have dwelt for
centuries amid a corrupt and effete civilisation, having
no tradition of race, have not the slightest trace of
a sense of decency or honour.
In fact, it seems that almost everyone who comes in contact
with Constantinople becomes corrupted by the atmosphere of
dishonesty and stagnation. Even Europeans seem to develop
a sort of moral anaemia after a few years' residence in the
Scarlet City. The Turks of the upper classes, and of the
official world, are better than the Christians in one sense, in
that they are honest in their dishonesty. They are all open to
bribery, but can be trusted once they have taken the bribe,
if they see the opportunity of doing any further business on
the same terms. Corruption and vice have flourished for so
many centuries in Constantinople, that there seems but
little hope of stamping it out. The effete civilisation
of Byzantium corrupted the Roman Emperors and the
Greek and the Ottoman Dynasties in turn, and, until the
entire population is replaced by another, Constantinople is
likely to enjoy her evil reputation.
Before we left we were forced to the conclusion that
the best thing that could happen to the town would be
its complete destruction by fire, and for the inhabitants to
perish in the flames, or to migrate in order to make way
for a different race. But would this drastic step have any
effect ? Is the character of a race formed by the climate ?
as Mr. Maurice Baring believes. These questions cannot
be dealt with here.
Finally, after endless trouble our preparations were com-
pleted, and we sat down at the Pera Palace Hotel to wait
in patience for leave to join the army.
One of the first steps we took on arriving at Constanti-
U'liJto S. Askine-id-Bartlett
Tiii: Track 'lo Stamkoui
\Photo S. Ashviead Barilctt
OVEUTURNKD TRAIN.
^
DIPLOMATIC RED TAPE 69
nople — and it is one of the most important for the war
correspondent, to place himself on a satisfactory footing at
once — was to find out the attitude of the authorities towards
us, and to ascertain what facilities would be given us to carry
on our work in a legitimate manner, and at the same time
insure to the newspapers that we represented, that they
should receive some value for the large sums expended on
sending us to the Near East and in fitting us out for service
in the field.
I do not intend at this stage to deal with the very
comphcated question of the future of the war correspondent,
but I shall do so at a later stage, when the reader has been
able to gauge, from a perusal of this work, the pros and the
cons that both sides can bring forward in favour of their
arguments for continuation or abolition.
On the occasion of our first visit to the War Office, we
were received most politely, but, at the same time, informed
that all who wished to accompany the army must obtain a
recommendation from their respective Embassies. This was
quite a reasonable request, but when I applied to Sir Gerard
Lowther, I was informed by him that he could give no
recommendation without the sanction of the Foreign Office
in London. This really seemed a little absurd, Sir Gerard
Lowther having known me personally for several years,
while, at the same time, I came fully accredited from the
proprietors of the Daily Telegraph. But Sir Gerard
declared that, the Foreign Office having made such a regula-
tion, he must abide by it. Why could not the Foreign Office
have informed newspapers of their intention before we left
for the Near East ? It caused a delay which in this instance
did not matter, but which might have had very serious
results had we been granted permission by the Turkish
Government to join the army immediately after our arrival.
As it was, it entailed much cabling and inconvenience.
70 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
This little incident is typical of the methods of the
procedure of the British Foreign Office and Diplomatic
Service, which is a gigantic and highly organised piece of
machinery for shifting responsibility from one person to
another. All other Foreign Embassies appear to exist for
the purpose of helping the subjects of their respective
nations. The British, on the other hand, appear to exist
for the express purpose of placing difficulties in the
way of anyone who applies to them for assistance. Then,
again, the British Embassies are invariably the worst-
informed on what is passing in the country to which they
are accredited. The British Embassy in Constantinople
was a by-word in this respect. You could obtain more or
less reliable news at the French, and Austrian, and German
Embassies, or could, at any rate, carry on an intelligible
conversation with someone who had some knowledge of
the country, and who took some interest in his work, but
the inmates of the British Embassy, with one notable
exception, were always shrouded in a black mist of blissful
ignorance and seemed to feel a personal resentment
against the Turkish Government and all the Balkan
States for having declared war, thus disturbing the even
tenor of their peaceful and harmless, but almost useless
lives.
The whole Service wants to be thoroughly reorganised on
a basis which would make it of more value to England and
to English commercial enterprises abroad. It is now a
kind of happy hunting ground for youths who v^dsh for an
easy life amidst pleasant surroundings in foreign countries,
where they suffisr the fond illusion that their social position
is bettered by being able to print " Attache to the British
Embassy" on their cards. It wants fresh blood and new
brains, and men trained in commerce and in the fierce
competition which English merchants abroad understand so ]
I
DELAYS 71
well. Then it might be worth all the expense and pomp
which now attach to it.
The greater part of the money spent by the State year
after year on ambassadors, first secretaries, second secre-
taries, councillors, dragomen, and a horde of lesser minions,
is thrown into the gutter. Of course, amidst the gloom of
ignorance, apathy, and general physical and mental debility
which hangs over our Embassies like a leaden pall, there
are some brilliant exceptions, but, in the main, few will
gainsay the truth of the strictures I have made on a
Service which is hopelessly out of date in this age of
commercial competition.
It was obvious, even after presentation of the necessary
letters of recommendation from the Embassy, that the
military authorities were determined to delay our departure
as long as possible. Day after day we visited Colonel Izzet
at the War Office and were informed by him that a Code
of Regulations was being drawn up and would be duly
presented to us, after which passes to enable us to
accompany the army would be issued by the War Office.
Day after day we waited, and on each visit we were put
off by an evasive reply. It recalled the long, dreary wait
in Tokio, which I had experienced before being allowed to
join the Japanese troops in Manchuria. The Oriental hates
to give a decisive answer either by way of assent or refusal
to a proposition, and prefers to keep negotiations running on
indefinitely.
But Lionel James, Donohoe, and myself had aU had
previous bitter experience in the Russo-Japanese War of
this love of procrastination, and were all three deter-
mined not to put up with it again. We decided to
make a joint protest to the officers of the General Staff,
and, unless we obtained a satisfactory reply, to leave Con-
stantinople and to abandon our mission. This joint demarche
72 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
had the desired effect. The War Office realised that it
was ahenating the Enghsh Press, and gave us a definite
assurance that we should leave for the front as soon as the
Commander-in-Chief of the army of Thrace, Abdullah
Pasha, had started himself.
Meanwhile the Code of Regulations was drawn up, and
we were all asked to sign a document undertaking to
remain with the army until the end of the war. This
seemed rather hard on us, and we pointed out to Colonel
Izzet that our papers might wish to recall us and that
the South African War had lasted no fewer than three years.
Colonel Izzet reassured our minds on this point in his
own inimitable manner. He said : " Do not worry, we
have made this regulation in order to discourage too many
correspondents from going to the front ; we do not wish
to have people remain up there for a few days and then
to hurry back to give away our military secrets. But
rest assured, any time you wish to leave you have only to
say you are ill, and you will find our doctors very lenient,
more especially as I shall be the doctor to decide if your
state of health warrants your leaving the army."
The next point we raised was the all-important one of the
censorship of telegrams and letters from the front. The
Regulations prescribed that all telegrams must be sent in
French, if they were to pass over the military wire to
Constantinople. We pointed out that this was a distinct
hardship on the English war correspondents, many of whom
possessed a most rudimentary knowledge of that language,
and but few of whom could profess to write it with any
attempt at accuracy.
The kind-hearted Colonel Izzet promised to try to obtain
an English operator who could handle our despatches, and
thus place us on an equal footing with our French
colleagues. But this promise was never carried out, and
THE REGULATIONS 73
what is more, as the sequel will show, the Headquarters
Staff even failed to provide a French operator, and when
we reached the front we were politely informed that all
our messages must be sent in Turkish.
This was the initial source of all the bitter quarrels
between the correspondents and the authorities, for it is easy
to imagine the value a despatch would be to a paper, which
was first translated into bad French, then from French into
Turkish, and then back again into French, and finally from
French once more into English.
Finally, nearly all the outstanding questions were settled
or left in abeyance, and in accordance with the demand
of the War Office we were each asked to subscribe our
signatures to a document in which we promised to remain
with the army until the termination of the war, and also
promised not to enter the territory of any of the belligerents
engaged in hostilities with Turkey. Lionel James, Donohoe
and myself, however, were too old at the game to give away
our freedom without the certainty of corresponding facilities
with which to carry on our work, and we each signed a
document drawn up on much the same lines, which allowed
many loopholes of escape.
But even after all the formalities had been complied with,
the authorities were in no hurry to hand over our passes, as
they feared we would disperse and make for the front on our
own account. We were told that a day would be fixed for
our departure, and that we would all be sent north together
in a special train with our horses and baggage. We waited
patiently for this day, which was a long time in coming.
Meanwhile Colonel Izzet, who was sincerely anxious to
assist Lionel James, Donohoe and myself in any way in his
power, proposed that we should take into our employment a
special agent well-known to the Headquarters Staff, who
would accompany us everywhere and act as interpreter, so
74 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
that we could enjoy a measure of freedom greater than if we
were tied up all the time with thirty odd other correspon-
dents. This gentleman waited on us at the hotel, and we
discovered that he was a police spy who was being fastened
on to us to watch our every movement and to make reports
to the Staff on our daily deportment. Even at this stag^
the Headquarters had gained an inkling as to who wouhj
probably be the dangerous ones on the campaign, and it wsl^
hoped to checkmate any attempt we might make to bring off
a coup by this means. As this gentleman could not speak
one single word of English or French, he was of absolutely
no value as an interpreter, and therefore we politely^
but firmly declined to take him into our service, more
especially as we were expected to pay him for spying
on us.
It was a week after the declaration of war, on October
16th, that Abdullah, the Commander-in-Chief of the army
of Thrace, left for the front. We, however, were destined
to enjoy a fuller measure of Oriental procrastination. On
Wednesday, October 16th, we were all asked to attend at
the War Office in order that a photograph might be taken
of us in one large group for the Minister of War to keep
as a souvenir. I expect he is not so keen on having it in
his office now.
We were then informed that the special train would
be ready for us on Friday, and we broke up like a
crowd of happy schoolboys dispersing for the summer
holidays at this good news. Friday came and we were
told we must wait until Saturday, as the railway
authorities could not find a spare train. On Saturday there
was a further postponement. On Friday I had an interview
with the aged Kiamil Pasha at his private house. He struck
me as being a very shrewd old man with a distinct liking at
this time for the English. He told me how he hoped
{rhoto ■■ J\iily Mh,or
Nazim Pasha, Minister for War, leaving the Sublime Porte on the
Eve of Hostilities.
<^
THE ULTIMATUM 75
Turkey would retain the friendship of England throughout
the war.
There were rumours at this time that Ghazi Moukhtar
Pasha would shortly resign, or be driven from the Grand
Vizierate, and that Kiamil Pasha would replace him. In
consequence the old man's ante-room was packed with a
crowd of political followers and office seekers, who were
hoping for places as soon as the expected change should be
made. On Saturday we were told that there would be a
further postponement. I spoke to Kiamil on the subject of
our departure for the front, and he promised to see the
Minister of War, Nazim Pasha, after the council on the
following day, and to urge on him the necessity of allowing
us to leave without further delay. On Saturday we were in-
formed we must wait for a few days longer.
By this time we were almost in despair, as the fighting had
already commenced round Kirk Kilisse and at any moment
we expected to hear the news of a decisive battle. That
afternoon I went and called on the Minister of War, Nazim
Pasha, who received me in his room at the War Office.
He gave me a definite assurance that we should start on
Monday, and I hurried back to the Pera Palace Hotel to
communicate the glad tidings to my friends. Monday came,
but no permission, and we made further protests at the War
Office, threatening to leave Constantinople and to join one
of the armies of the Balkan States, if we were detained
longer.
This had a decisive effect. That very evening Colonel
Izzet came to the hotel, and told us that everything had
been arranged at last, and that we were to be at the
Cirkidje Station at half past four in the afternoon of
Wednesday, October 23rd, to leave for Kirk Kilisse.
Meanwhile I had been seized with a violent attack of
fever and influenza and was obliged to stay in bed, but
76 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
hoped to be well enough to leave with the others on the
appointed day. On Tuesday evening my temperature was
still high and I was in no condition to start, much to my
mortification. In these circumstances I decided to send on
my brother with all our horses, servants, stores, and camp
equipment, and to follow myself in the motor-car as soon as
I was well enough. I will, therefore, leave him in due
course to tell the story of his departure from Constantinople,
and of the adventures which befell him en route to Chorion,
but before doing so it will be well at this point to give a
brief account of the disposition and organisation of the
Turkish armies at the outbreak of war, and of the early
operations which led up to the final disaster of Lule Burgas.
CHAPTER VII
THE EARLY OPERATIONS
At the outbreak of the war the Ottoman forces in
European Turkey were widely scattered and hopelessly
disorganised. It was the intention of the general staff, had
they been given sufficient time by the Balkan Coalition, to
form four armies, namely: No. 1, the Grand Army of
Thrace ; No. 2, the Army of the River Struma, concen-
trating at Serres ; No. 3, the Army of the River Vodena,
point of concentration Uskub ; No. 4, the Army of Thessaly,
point of concentration Elassona.
I am only concerned in this book with the operations of
the Grand Army of Thrace, and I shall say nothing further
of the fate of the other three armies, except that they
existed only on paper and in the imagination of the
Headquarters Staff. They were never organised ; the
machinery for forming them was non-existent ; they were
devoid of transport and short of artillery. They were
little more than hordes of undisciplined men, short of
officers, badly commanded and incapable of either taking
the offensive or even of holding a strong defensive position.
All three were in turn defeated and broken up by the
Servians, Montenegrins, and Greeks.
The Turks had a pre-arranged plan of campaign which they
were never destined to carry out. It was based on the mis-
78 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
taken assumption, which the Turks in their self-pride and
contempt for the Balkan States could never get out of their
heads, that neither Bulgaria, Servia, Greece, nor Montenegro
would ever dare take the offensive against the Ottoman
Empire, but would remain quietly behind their frontiers
until the Turkish troops were mobilised, concentrated and
in a position to attack them. The Turks rightly considered
that a success against Bulgaria, in Thrace, would be decisive
throughout the whole theatre of war, and that, once the
Bulgarians were decisively defeated, the whole coalition would
collapse like a pack of cards. Therefore, from the first, their
main efforts were devoted to mobilising a powerful Field
Army for the invasion of Bulgaria under cover of the
fortress of Adrianople.
The confidence of the Turks was amazing. I had an
interview with Nazim Pasha, the Minister of War, a few
days after the outbreak of hostilities, and he expressed his
utmost confidence as to the result of the campaign. He
said, " We have only two months' more good weather for
fighting, as it is too cold in the Balkans for winter operations,
but that should give us ample time to cross the frontier and
take Sofia."
Shortly afterwards, when bidding farewell to some officers
who were leaving to join their regiments, Nazim addressed
them as follows : " Farewell, my comrades. Do not forget
to take with you your full-dress uniforms, because you
will need them for the grand entry into Sofia two months
from now."
These words sound rather funny in the fuller know-
ledge of the subsequent debacle. But did Nazim really
beheve what he was saying, or was he merely talking to
keep up the spirits of the troops, and to put a bold face
on what he knew to be a critical situation ? I heard, both
before and after the battle of Lule Burgas, that he had
NAZIM'S OFFICIAL BOAST 79
warned the Sublime Porte in the strongest language that
it would be hopeless to take the offensive in the present
state of the army ; that it was inviting disaster to attempt
to concentrate on the line Adrianople-Kirk Kilisse, and that
the only safe plan of campaign would be to sit behind
the lines of Chataldja until the army had been reorganised
and the picked troops brought up from Smyrna, Trebizond,
and other parts of Asia Minor.
At the same interview I had with Nazim he assured me
that he himself would personally command the army of
Thrace. Yet, a few days later, Abdullah was sent to fill
this thankless position and remained in command until the
flight from Lule Burgas to Chataldja, when he was
removed, or voluntarily resigned, I do not know which.
I have always had a strong suspicion that Nazim, anti-
cipating a disaster which could not be prevented, purposely
refrained from assuming the command at the start of the
campaign in order that he might escape the odium attaching
to defeat. Whether this surmise is true or not, the fact
remains that Nazim, even after one of the most crushing
disasters in military history, did not resign his position as
Minister of War. He not only retained it, but also took
personal command of the army at Chataldja, thus gaining
the prestige of having repulsed the Bulgarian attack on the
famous lines.
Although the Turkish Headquarters Staff never seem to
have grasped the extent of Bulgaria's preparations for war
and her ability to take the offensive long before the Turkish
armies were in a position to offer any sustained resistance,
they nevertheless had anticipated that some Bulgarian
divisions might cross the frontier by forcing the Mustafa
Pasha Pass. But they did not regard such a move very
seriously, firmly believing that it must come to a full stop in
front of Adrianople, which fortress they regarded as quite
80
WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
impregnable and capable of holding its own for a long time
even although faced with a regular siege.
Their confidence in the ability of Adrianople to hold
out has been justified by future events. What they entirely
failed to grasp was the ability of the Bulgarians to mask
Adrianople and to concentrate the bulk of their forces south
of it, and to fight a decisive battle with the fortress garrisoned
by more than fifty thousand of picked Turkish troops in
their rear.
This certainly did appear to be an extremely hazardous
undertaking, and few military critics believed before the war
started that the Bulgarians would invade Thrace, attack the
Turkish main army, and actually advance on Constantinople
without first reducing Adrianople. But then the Bulgarian
General Staff knew to the last letter the utter state of
demoralisation and disorganisation prevailing in the army of
Thrace, and their daring plan justified its conception by the
rapidity and certainty of its execution.
At this stage it will be as well to give a brief summary
of the respective strengths of the Turkish forces and those of
the Allies. According to General Von Bernhardi, the
nominal strength of the Turkish army in time of peace is
275,000 men. The actual strength of the Nizam, or regular
army, in 1910 was as follows : —
Infantry
... 133,000
Cavalry
26,000
Artillery
43,000
Engineers
4,500
Special Troops (Sultan's Guards, &c.) ...
7,500
Commissariat
3,000
Various
3,000
Total
... 220,000
In addition to these there were 25,000 men in the
permanent Cadres, into which the Redifs are incorporated
THE TURKISH ARMY SI
when mobilised, and 30,000 regular and reserve officers,
a total of 275,000 officers and men.
The war strength of the Turkish Army is nominally
700,000 men, which includes troops in Europe, Armenia,
AnatoUa, and Syria. Owing to the lack of railways, the
general incapacity of the Turks for organisation, and the
necessity of maintaining strong garrisons in the various
disturbed districts of the Empire, probably not half this
number could ever be concentrated in European Turkey in
time of war, and not more than 300,000 ever reached
Constantinople in time to take part in the present struggle.
In addition to the regular army and Redif reserves there
is the levy en masse (Mustafiz), consisting for the most part
of old and non-effisctive men, who could only be utilised for
the purposes of local defence and policing. Liability for
service begins at the age of 20 and lasts for twenty years ;
nine years in the Nizam, followed by nine in the Redif and
two in the Mustafiz. The organisation of the Turkish army
is by Army Corps.
3 Divisions equal 1 Army Corps (war strength about 50^000).
3 Brigades „ 1 Division (18,000 men).
3 Regiments „ 1 Brigade (6,000 men).
1 Regiment „ 3 Battalions (2,000 men).
The Grand Army of Thrace, which should have been con-
centrated between Adrianople and Kirk Kilisse at the out-
break of hostilities, ready to take the offensive or to meet
the attack of the Bulgarians, was, in point of fact, hope-
lessly scattered and some of its regular units were never
brought together in time to take part in the battle of
Lule Burgas.
The lack of these trained battalions was largely responsible
for the crushing nature of that disaster. The Army Corps
had to be brought up to war strength, which they never
actually reached, by the incorporation of large numbers of
82 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
Reservists, and by the addition of ill- trained Redif Divisions.
The Grand Army of Thrace consisted of four Army Corps,
the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th.
At the outbreak of hostilities the 1st Corps, under Yavir
Pasha, was split up as follows. The 1st and 2nd Divisions
were in Adrianople, forming part of the garrison of that
fortress, and the 3rd Division was in Smyrna, where it had
been sent during the war with Italy to meet a possible
descent of the Italians on the coast.
The 2nd Army Corps, under Shef ket Torgut Pasha, was
also split up. The 4th Division was between Rodosto and
Adrianople ; the 5th at the Dardanelles, and the 6th at
Smyrna.
The 3rd Army Corps, which was placed under the com-
mand of Mahmoud Mukhtar, was concentrated round Kirk
Kilisse.
The 4th Army Corps, under the command of Abouk
Pasha, was partly in garrison at Adrianople, and during the
campaign one of its Divisions remained in the fortress and
the other two formed part of the Field Army routed at
Lule Burgas.
Neither of the Divisions stationed at Smyrna reached
Thrace in time to take part in the campaign, as they did not
arrive at the front until the army fell back on the lines of
Chataldja. Their place was taken by Redif Divisions, which
in discipline, training, and military spirit could not compare
with the regular army.
According to the same authority. General Von Bernhardi,
Bulgaria, with a population of 4,000,000, has an army the
peace strength of which is 59,820 officers and men, and the
war strength 330,000, of which 230,000 are infantry and only
6,500 cavalry. The actual number of men in the artillery
and commissariat trains is not known, but the army possesses
884 field and siege guns and 232 machine guns. With the
THE FORCES OF THE COALITION 83
auxiliary troops formed of men between the ages of forty-one
and forty-six, which could be employed in garrisoning
fortresses, or on the lines of communication, the total
strength of the army could be raised to 400,000 men.
Servia, with a population of three millions, has an army
28,000 strong in time of peace, but this number is seldom
reached, and sinks in winter to only 10,000 men. The war
effective strength of the army is 250,000, of whom 165,000
are infantry, 5,500 cavalry, and the rest artillery, transport,
etc. The Servian army possesses 432 field and mountain
guns (108 batteries of four guns each). In addition, six siege
batteries of six guns each and 228 machine guns. With
third class reservists the total strength of the army could be
raised to 300,000 men.
Greece, with a population of 2,600,000, has an army which
in time of war can be brought up to 100,000 men.
Montenegro, with a population of only 250,000, can place
45,000 men in the field, of whom 4,000 are mounted. There
are in addition 11 reserve battalions only fit for service on
the lines of communication. There are 104 field and 44
machine guns.
I shall not relate in detail the extraordinary rumours in
circulation in Constantinople during those weary days when
we were still awaiting permission to leave for the front ;
neither will I give in detail the appalling amount of false
information served out by the Headquarters Staff to the
Turkish Press in order to calm the public, and to bluff
Europe into believing that all was going well with Ottoman
arms.
The daring of these senseless fabrications beats anything
ever attempted before in war. We were told of the bombard-
ment of Varna and of the dispatch of a Turkish army thither
to invade Bulgarian soil in order to cause a diversion and
force some of the enemy's troops to leave the neighbourhood
g2
84 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
of Mustafa Pasha. We were told of the dispatch of an entire
Army Corps to Media, in the Black Sea, under Mahmoud
Mukhtar Pasha, which was to form behind the Istrandza
Mountains and to act on the right flank of the main
army. Then came successive victories over the Servians
at Kumanova, the rout of the Greeks near Elassona,
the total disruption of the Montenegrin army and finally
the successful invasion of Bulgarian territory through the
pass of Mustafa Pasha.
Finally, it became the fervent wish of every war corre-
spondent in Constantinople to leave for the front at the
very first opportunity, so that he might pass from the
realm of fictitious rumour, which hovered over the city
like a dense mist, into the realm of facts which he might
see with his own eyes. To have remained in Constantinople
much longer would have driven earnest seekers after
truth almost to despair, as it was utterly impossible to
trust any of the official or unofficial news which circulated
hour after hour throughout the town. The Turks kept
up the bluff* right to the last minute, and the Sultan issued
a proclamation to his armies ordering them to take the
offensive everywhere against " Our little neighbours, Greece,
Montenegro, Servia, and Bulgaria."
The veil was suddenly lifted from all these doubts and
uncertainties in the most dramatic manner on Friday,
October 25th. On that morning rumours began to circulate
throughout the town that Kirk Kilisse had been captured by
the Bulgarians and that a Turkish Cavalry Division under
Prince Aziz had been almost entirely destroyed. The day
will be known in future as Black Friday, because for the
first time the authorities made no effort to conceal the truth
and published an official account which, of course, minimised
the full extent of the disaster, but which nevertheless did not
attempt to deny the main facts.
NEWS FROM THE FRONT 85
Constantinople was profoundly stirred by the bad news
from all parts of the theatre of war, and the feeling of
the public was akin to that of the British people on
receiving the news of the successive reverses of Colenso,
Stormberg, and Magersfontein in a single week. The
capture of Kirk Kilisse and the retirement of the Army
of Thrace on Baba Eski and Lule Burgas ; the defeat of
Zekki Pasha's army at Kumanovo, after his reported victory
over the Servians three days previously, and the advance
of the Greek Army on Classo came as a complete surprise
to the Turkish public.
To crown these misfortunes, reports came to hand that
the Albanians were wavering in their allegiance, no doubt
influenced by the adverse turn events were taking against
Ottoman arms. They delivered the following ultimatum : —
" We are tired of the war and of the perpetual disturbances
in our country. We do not wish anyone to fight over our
lands, and unless we are guaranteed peace and liberty
we will call upon Austria to come to our assistance."
I received confirmation of these reports in a most dramatic
and unexpected manner. I have already mentioned that my
brother had left for the front with the other correspondents
two days before, on Wednesday, October 23rd, and that
I had been detained at the Pera Palace Hotel owing
to an attack of influenza. 1 was upstairs in my room
making preparations to leave for the front on the
following day, when there came a knock at the door
and a very much travel-stained individual entered the room,
and handed me a dirty envelope. I tore this open and found
three messages, one from my brother, addressed to myself;
one in code from Lionel James, addressed to Mr. Graves,
The Times correspondent in Constantinople ; and the third
addressed by Donohoe to Dr. Sadler, the correspondent of
the Daily Chrojiicle.
86 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
My brother's message was as follows : " We arrived at
Seidler on Thursday morning, after spending all night in
the train. Owing to a railway accident, a train having gone
off the line, it was necessary to wait until the evening. It
appears that the Turkish population are in a state of panic,
owing to King Ferdinand's proclamation declaring a war
of the Cross against the Crescent. The trains returning
from the neighbourhood of Burgas are filled with women
and children who have lost everything. There are large
numbers of them, and even the roofs of the railway carriages
are crowded. During the night we were ordered to retire
on Chorion. It is rumoured the Bulgarians have crossed the
frontier, have defeated the Turks, and have taken Kirk
Kilisse. I am sending this down by the engine driver, who
has promised to deliver it to you."
I sent for my interpreter and talked to the engine driver,
who had no very clear idea as to what had happened, except
that the Turks had undoubtedly suffered defeat.
These were the first messages sent by correspondents from
the front in the course of the campaign.
That evening Colonel Izzet came in to see me, in order to
make some final preparations, as I was to leave for the
front by motor car on the following morning. 1 was
anxious to see how he took the news of the disasters and
how he reconciled them with all the reports he had been
persistently circulating of Turkish successes everywhere.
The gallant Colonel, who suffered, up to the time of the
debacle of Lule Burgas, from a persistent optimism, which
nothing could check, addressed me in the following strain : —
"Naturally, we are disappointed at the news from the
front, and of our retirement from Kirk Kilisse, but in reality,
what is our position ? We are now concentrated on the very
ground previously decided for the concentration of the Army
of Thrace, as laid down by Field-Marshal von der Goltz and
COLONEL IZZET'S VIEWS 87
our own strategists. Even if Adrianople were to fall into
the enemy's hands, it would make not the smallest difference
to our originally-formed plan of campaign, which is to con-
centrate all our forces, and then gradually force the
Bulgarians back across the Balkans. Had our precautions
on the frontier met with success, it would have been gratifying,
but, contrary to our expectations, as it is, they have had the
effect of delaying the enemy's advance, and of giving time to
our troops to concentrate.
" It must be remembered under what difficulties the
Turks commenced this campaign. In their earnest desire to
preserve peace, they delayed their concentration until the
very last minute compatible with their national safety,
although they knew Bulgaria was fully prepared for war.
The men, munitions, and provisions had to be brought long
distances from widely-scattered districts of the Empire, and
the Balkan Coalition, therefore, possessed every strategical
advantage at the start of the campaign. The delay in the
Bulgarian offensive caused a sudden change from pessimism
to optimism, which has led to temporary discomfiture,
because the sound plans of the recognised masters of
strategy were temporarily abandoned. But the check will
have a wholesome effect, because it will at once cause the
spirit of contempt for our little neighbours to give way to a
truer appreciation of their fighting capacities."
Before I relate in detail the strange adventures which
befel me on my journey to the front and during the battle
of Lule Burgas, I will give a 7^esume of the opening opera-
tions of the campaign which led to the capture of Kirk
Kilisse and to the failure of the Turkish plan of campaign,
which was to concentrate the whole of the Grand Army of
Thrace along the line Adrianople-Kirk Kilisse.
The battle must be considered as a whole with the
operations which commenced with the capture of Kirk Kilisse
88 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
on the night of October 22nd and morning of October 23rd.
Kirk Kihsse was held by a portion of the garrison of
Adrianople, in no great force, although it was the right of
the base of operations against Bulgaria, and contained large
accumulations of food, ammunition, and supplies. The
garrison were totally inadequate to withstand the shock of
the Bulgarian troops, and the mobilisation of the Army
of Thrace was so behindhand that no force was ready to be
pushed forward to its support.
The original Turkish plan of campaign was to concentrate
the whole of the Army of Tlirace, under the command of
Abdullah Pasha, along the lineAdrianople-Kirk Kilisse, where
its left flank would be protected by the fortress of Adria-
nople — from which it could draw its supplies — and at the
same time the right of the army would rest on Kirk Kihsse,
and would be covered by the Istrandza mountains, behind
which it was proposed to form an army under Mahmoud
Mukhtar, landed at Midia, on the Black Sea, and having that
port as its base.
This was doubtless a sound plan of campaign, and the
natural one in the circumstances, always supposing that
the mobilisation of the Army of Thrace could be completed
either before or at approximately the same date as that of
the Bulgarians. If the mobilisation were delayed even for a
few days, it would at once become the most dangerous plan
of campaign that could possibly be chosen, because the
various corps arriving one after another on the line
Adrianople- Kirk Kilisse would render themselves liable to
be attacked and destroyed in detail, should the enemy take
the offensive in force.
This is exactly what happened, and the failure of the
Turkish General Staff to gi*asp the time-honoured axiom
of war — that an army must be concentrated before battle —
is responsible for the crushing disaster which has over-
FAULTY STRATEGY 89
whelmed Turkey. At the outbreak of war the Turkish
troops were hopelessly scattered throughout Macedonia,
Albania, on the Greek frontier, in the Yemen, in Asia
Minor, and Tripoli, and from the very commencement it
became obvious that, as the conditions on which the plan of
campaign were originally based were no longer normal, it
would be quite impossible to mobilise the Army of
Thrace within the period calculated for that purpose by
Von der Goltz and his German advisers.
It is extremely doubtful, even if the conditions had been
normal, whether the Army of Thrace could have been
mobilised and concentrated in time to meet the first shock
of the Bulgarian advance. Everything essential to a rapid
mobilisation was lacking. There was no efficient railway
organisation for transporting troops ; no commissariat for the
Army Corps once they left the line of the railway; no
adequate supplies of food and ammunition ; no hospital
arrangements of any sort ; and, even if the material had been
at hand, there was no trained staff capable of handling an
army of more than 100,000 men.
Therefore, it may well be asked. Why did the Turkish
General Staff proceed with a plan of campaign which,
according to the generally accepted maxims of war, seemed
to play right into the enemy's hands and to invite certain
disaster ?
I think the answer is to be found in the utter lack of
all knowledge of strategy in Turkish military circles ; their
entire failure to grasp the true significance of Bulgaria's
twenty-five years of steady preparation for war ; and, above
all, in the overwhelming self-confidence and conceit of the
Turkish character which caused them to despise all infidels,
and more especially the Balkan States, until the debacle
of Lule Burgas finally opened their eyes to their own
inefficiencies. The Turks never believed that the Bulgarians
90 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
could, or would, dare to take the offensive against the
Ottoman Empire, and they seemed to think that the Czar
Ferdinand's legions would quietly sit still behind the
Balkans, scared to death, until the Turkish concentration
was completed, and an offensive campaign begun.
This, then, was their state of mind when the startling
intelligence became known in Constantinople, on October
23rd, that Kirk Kilisse had been captured, its garrison routed
and put to hopeless flight. But even then the true signifi-
cance of the disaster does not seem to have dawned on
them, and no steps were taken to avoid a still greater one.
It is obvious that, the moment the General Staff became
aware of the Bulgarian forward movement on a vast scale,
it was hopeless for them to attempt to concentrate so close
to the hostile frontier as the line Adrianople-Kirk Kilisse,
and, therefore, the only sound course would have been
to order the immediate retirement of the advanced corps
to some strong central position, where they could have
entrenched themselves and waited, until the rest of the
army had come into line.
The most natural position would seem to be that between
Baba Eski and Lule Burgas, where the army could protect
the line of the railway, and at the same time draw its food
and supplies. In view of the utter disorganisation which, it
has since been proved, prevailed everywhere, the still sounder
course would have been immediately to order the
retirement of the whole army behind the lines of Chataldja,
where it finds itself at this hour. But I suppose the
military authorities did not dare make this confession of
failure, and preferred to run still greater risks than admit
defeat.
At any rate, the original plan of a concentration
between Adrianople and Kirk Kilisse was proceeded with,
and I will now relate the sequence of events which brought
THE FIRST DEFEAT 91
about its failure and which led to the utter disruption of the
Army of Thrace.
At the time of the defeat of the garrison of Kirk Kilisse
three Turkish Army Corps, the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd, were
being mobilised and gradually pushed to the front. The
1st Army, under Yavir Pasha, was the most forward, and
its three divisions, the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd, were echeloned
between Kavakli, south-west of Kirk Kilisse, and Jenidze,
about six kilometres further north-west. On October 24th
and 25th the three divisions of the 1st Corps — the Constan-
tinople troops, and considered one of the crack corps —
were attacked and beaten in detail by the Bulgarians who
had been victorious at Kirk Kilisse. The 1st Corps was
completely broken up, practically all its artillery being
captured, and the remnants fled in confusion to Baba Eski.
While this disaster was taking place the 3rd Corps, under
Mahmoud Mukhtar, was at Bunar Hissar, where it was also
attacked by a portion of the Bulgarian army. There was
some fighting, but the utter rout of the 1st Army Corps,
which exposed his left flank, forced Mahmoud Mukhtar to
retire on Viza, which he reached safely.
Even this second crushing disaster failed to bring wisdom
to the Turkish General Staff", and, instead of a general
concentration being ordered of all the corps farther south,
troops were pushed to the front, and an effort was made to
concentrate the army between Lule Burgas and Karagac.
Thus, when the battle of Lule Burgas opened on Monday,
October 28th, the position was this : — The 4th Corps, under
Abouk Pasha, but not up to its full strength, was in and
around Lule Burgas. The remnants of the 1st Corps, which
had been routed on the 24th and 25th, had been hastily
collected and brought into line, but without guns, as practi-
cally all had been lost ; the 2nd Corps, under Shefket
Torgut, had come up on the right, and was between Turk-
92 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
Bey and Karagac ; whilst the 3rd Corps, under Mahmoud
Mukhtar, was still a long way to the rear at Viza.
It will thus be seen that Abdullah's army was in a hope-
less state of confusion and demoralisation before the battle
began, whilst, on the other hand, the Bulgarians were flushed
with two great successes.
In addition, the Turkish Commander-in-Chief was taken
completely by surprise, which is proved by the fact that,
when I saw him at dawn on Monday, October 28th, he
told me he had no immediate intention of proceeding to
the front, and yet later in the day he hastily departed for
Sakiskeuy with his staff, without even having time to
forward his personal baggage, and was thus left for two days
without food or spare clothes. I have since learnt that
such was the confusion amongst the corps, that many of the
men never reached their proper divisions, but were hastily
snatched up by other commanders and hurried to the
fighting-line.
As soon as the men were brought up by rail they were
dumped down, given vague instructions, and expected to
find their proper commands ; and when the battle opened
many regiments were wandering about hopelessly lost. Thus
some of the 4th Corps fought with the 2nd, and some
of the 1st with the 4th, which naturally added to the
general demoralisation.
CHAPTER VIII
DEPARTURE OF THE CORRESPONDENTS FOR THE FRONT
We left Constantinople at seven o'clock on the evening of
Wednesday, October 23rd, for Kirk Kilisse, the headquarters
of the right wing of the Turkish Army of Thrace commanded
by Abdullah Pasha.
The train was due to start at 4 o'clock, and by 2 p.m.
a small army of fifty dragomen and servants, eighty horses,
and as much baggage as would have sufficed for a Turkish
army corps, had arrived at the station. It was raining
hard, and when I went down to see the horses entrained
I found the utmost confusion prevailing. The station yard
was blocked by a medley of carts and horses, the latter
kicking and plunging about in the mud, refusing to be led
into the open cattle trucks which were provided for their
accommodation. The voluble Greek dragomen added to
the confusion by shouting and abusing each other and
everyone in general, as is their wont, but finally, by some
miracle, horses, baggage, and servants were bundled into
the trucks.
Meanwhile some thirty-two correspondents, photographers,
and cinematograph operators, representing almost every
European nationality, had assembled on the station platform.
Their costumes were varied, some of them grotesque. One
cadaverous Frenchman, who arrived mounted on an
94 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
emaciated cab horse, decked out with an abnormal quantity
of obsolete saddle-bags, revolvers, waterbottles, filters, etc.,
was at once christened Don Quixote, and an obese German,
who followed him, was nick-named Sancho Panza.
The correspondent of the Kreuz-Zeitung wore the largest
sombrero that it has ever been my lot to see, with one side
looped up after the manner of Roosevelt's Roughriders, or
of the C.I.V. As it rains continually at this season, I
imagine that he must have intended to use it as an umbrella.
We had to wait three hours at the station, but there was
so much incident that the wait did not seem dull. A
number of Turkish infantry had stacked their rifles and
were squatting about on the platforms waiting to entrain.
Two of them had pulled out rustic pipes, and were playing
a monotonous wailing melody, while a dozen other rough-
bearded soldiers danced a slow measure round and round in
a circle, waving their arms in rhythm with the music.
Later on, a regiment marched into the station with its band
playing, while the crowd pressed round clapping and cheering.
We were allotted carriages in the same train as this regiment.
A number of the correspondents' friends, among whom were
several ladies, and a number of Turkish officers had come
to bid us farewell. Everyone was in the best of spirits at
getting away from Constantinople at last, after the weeks of
tedious waiting and uncertainty.
The Turkish officers assured us that they would join us
in a few days, and invited us to dine with them in Sofia,
and other equally unlikely places. I don't think that anyone
had an idea of how quickly disaster was destined to
overtake the Turkish Army, or of how, within a few weeks,
most of these fine soldiers who were being despatched to
the front daily would have either been killed on the battle-
field, or have perished of disease by the roadside, uncared
for and unmourned.
OFF TO THE FRONT 95
Hundreds of people had gathered along the railway line to
cheer and burn torches and fireworks as the train steamed
out through the shadowy suburbs of Stamboul, while a
tuneless brass band was playing in an open truck.
A few miles outside Constantinople we had a first glimpse
of the realities of war when we were halted in a siding, while
a train-load of badly- wounded men on its way back from the
front crawled slowly by. By the light of the carriage lamps
we could see the men lying about on the floors and seats of
the carriages in varying attitudes of suffering. One young
officer, his clothes soaked in blood, lay pale and rigid on the
floor of a first-class carriage. He had died of his wounds
during the journey.
A little farther on we passed a train-load of refugees flying
from Adrianople and the surrounding villages. Women and
children were packed in first-class carriages or cattle-trucks,
with the wreck of their homes scattered in confusion around
them.
I shared a second-class carriage with Lionel James of
The Tivies, and Martin Donohoe of the Chronicle, both of
whom afterwards became my constant companions. Having
had some experience of Turkish methods, we had brought
provisions for four days in the carriage with us, although we
were due at Kirk Kilisse on the following day at noon. We
ate an impromptu supper of sardines and tongue and cocoa,
which we boiled over a portable spirit lamp, and then, worn
out by a fortnight of procrastination and preparations in
Constantinople, settled down to sleep as best we could in
the railway carriage, which was crowded with our camp
equipment.
Few things are more ghastly than dawn in a railway
carriage. If you have the window open at night the draught
becomes intolerable, and if it is shut one awakes in an atmo-
sphere sodden and foetid. It is bad enough in a sleeper on
96 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
the Orient Express, but here, in a second-class Turkish
railway carriage en route for the front, it was infinitely
worse.
A large measure of our first enthusiasm evaporated when
we awoke in the morning and found ourselves halted at the
little wayside station of Seidler, twenty miles from Lule
Burgas, and on the main line to Adrianople. There were
no signs of a village, only a few station buildings, while as
far as the eye could see stretched a brown and barren plain
like the South African veldt. It was raining hard, and in
the grey light of dawn the landscape looked indescribably
desolate.
We were told that we should have to wait two or three
hours to allow train-loads of wounded men to pass, so, stiff
and tired, we turned out to refresh ourselves by a wash
under the station pump.
Towards noon we sighted a long line of wagons and
people on foot winding across the hills from the direction of
liule Burgas. At first we thought that it was an army in
retreat, but after a time we could make out that they were
women and children, tramping across country with all their
worldly goods packed in bullock- wagons. They went bare-
footed for the most part, and in places had to wade up to
their knees through mud and water.
One pretty little dark-eyed girl was riding astride on an
ox, and other little children were urging on the patient
bullocks with their goads. An old man who was limping
down the road, moaning as he went, told me that the
Bulgarians had captured Kirk Kilisse, and that the villages
were in flames. Then he shook his fist towards the north
and swore a vengeance that he could never hope to take.
We were told that we should be taken back to Chorion
at once, but a train became derailed behind us and we were
compelled to wait until the line could be repaired.
i^<i
THE FIRST REFUGEES 97
All day long an endless line of refugees wound across the
plain, and towards evening a train arrived from Burgas with
women and children clinging to the front of the engine and
the tops of the railway carriages.
King Ferdinand's proclamation of a crusade of the Cross
against the Crescent had spread a panic among the Turkish
population. As it grew dark the panic increased, and
women and children came staggering across the fields
panting and dishevelled. Among them was a number of
Turkish soldiers who had become involved in the flight. The
soldiers were starving, and when some of the officers in our
train remonstrated with them, saying that if they did not
return to the front they would be shot, they replied, " We
would rather be shot than return there to be starved to
death."
As night set in the confusion increased. On all hands
one heard the lowing of oxen, the cries of children, and
a babble of angry voices raised in dispute. The officers
accompanying us asked us to remain in our carriage, as the
sight of Christians would hardly be welcome to those poor
people, who had lost everything, and who, in their ignorance,
knew only distinction of creed and not of race.
The Turkish army had suffered its first reverse and the
fortified town of Kirk Kilisse, headquarters of the right wing
of the army, had been captured by the Bulgarians at the
point of the bayonet at midnight on Wednesday.
I gathered all the details that I could, and wrote out a
hasty despatch describing the capture of Kirk Kihsse, and
our own adventures. This despatch I addressed,
"Pera Palace,
Room 60,"
which was the number of my brother's room, and gave the
Greek engine driver of one of the down trains a sovereign to
deliver it to the porter at the Pera Palace Hotel. I did
H
98 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
not care to put my brother's name on the letter, as I thought
we might get into trouble from the authorities, if the Greek
engine driver betrayed us. The letter was, I afterwards
heard, delivered to my brother on the following day, and
enabled him to send the first authoritative account of the
capture of Kirk Kihsse.
By 10.30 on Thursday night the line in our rear had been
cleared and we were able to return to Chorion, some 20
miles in the rear, arriving at dawn on Friday. Even there
the station and all its approaches were crowded with refugees.
We gave bread to some of them and they went down on
their knees to thank us.
At about 7 o'clock we detrained, and the general scramble
for the few bullock- wagons available to carry our stores and
equipment to the camping ground afforded an interesting
example of the enterprising nature of war correspondents.
There were further interesting, but rather expensive examples
when it came to sorting out the baggage.
Then the horses were detrained and freely manifested the
resentment that they felt at two days' imprisonment in cattle
trucks.
The stout German correspondent, whom we had nicknamed
Sancho Panza, was soon afterwards seen disappearing in the
distance in pursuit of his two saddle horses, which were
making for Adrianople at full gallop.
When we reached the camping ground there was another
undignified scramble for the best spots in which to pitch the
tents, in which the halfpenny papers rather worsted their
more dignified penny colleagues.
We were camped in a pleasant vaUey v^dth high tablelands
all round us. That evening I sat in my tent in the hour of
shadows. It was a beautiful evening, peaceful as the
summer-time in England. In front were the horse lines,
and beyond them lay the white road, along which wound an
DISORGANISATION 99
endless train of refugees flying blindly toward Stamboul —
that mirage city of prosperity — from before the crusaders of
the twentieth century. As evening fell a crimson glow spread
over the hill and the road became veiled in purple shadows,
until the long line of refugees looked like an army of
phantoms. From over the hills came their flocks of sheep
and goats, and the night was restless with the music of
cattle-bells and the groaning of the heavy ox-wagons.
At Chorion, which was the advance base for the left and
centre of the Turkish Army, which was concentrated on the
line Lule Burgas-Baba Eski-Viza, some 40 miles to the
north-east, we had ample evidence of the activity of the
Turkish preparations. Regiments were arriving at all hours,
either by railway from Constantinople or by road from
Rodosto on the Sea of Marmora, some 20 miles distant.
From Chorion they were hurriedly dispatched by rail and
road to the front.
There was a complete lack of organisation. Regiments
would arrive in the camp worn out and hungry after a long
day's march, and instead of finding food and the shelter of a
tent, would be left to spend the night without shelter in
pelting rain and a bitter north-east wind. The nights were
intensely cold, there being on several occasions 12-14
degrees of frost. There seemed to be an almost complete
lack of food, or of any form of organised commissariat, and
so the half-starved men were dying like flies of dysentery,
pneumonia, and other diseases.
There was also a great shortage of officers, many
regiments having only one to a double company.
In the course of a day's march about half the men in
the regiment would fall out from sore feet, exhaustion, or
disease. The utmost demoralisation and apathy prevailed
among the men, and we had little doubt, after a few days
spent at Chorion, which would be the victorious army.
H 2
100 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
Our own position was not of the happiest. We were
camped forty miles from the scene of the mihtary operations,
with armed sentries on guard night and day with orders to
prevent us escaping, while our only news consisted of daily
reports of Turkish victories, which were announced to us by
the fatuous censor. We had been told before leaving Con-
stantinople that all our despatches would have to be handed
in in French, but when we got to Chorion we found that
there were no facilities of any kind for sending telegrams.
We made a collective protest, and after twenty-four hours'
delay were informed that we might send telegrams which
were handed in in Turkish, of which language we were
completely ignorant.
This rather limited the sphere of our usefulness, and we
began to wonder what the editors would say when they saw
the long tale of our fruitless expenditure. We were destined
to spend three days in the camp at Chorion, and during that
time I had the opportunity of getting to know my fellow
correspondents, and, with a few exceptions, I never hope to
meet a nicer lot of fellows.
In one way only did they disappoint me. I had expected
to meet a hardy band of buccaneers, trained in the ways
of camp life, and inured to the hardships of war. Some of
them, it is true, were experienced campaigners, but a great
many had never been out of Fleet Street oi;* seen a shot
fired in anger in their lives. Several of them, even, had
never been on a horse's back.
One correspondent in particular had reached an age which
cannot have been far short of 40, without ever having
exposed himself to the fearful hazard of the saddle. He
had purchased the quietest steed that he could find in Con-
stantinople, but when, on his trial run in the camp at Chorion,
the animal broke out into a spirited hackney trot, the corre-
spondent felt his tenure of office so uncertain, that he hastily
DONOHOE PASHA 101
dismounted in a none too dignified manner. After this he
confided his horse to the care of a more experienced com-
panion, with a request to so break it in that it should never
go out of a walk. It was a jaded and dispirited animal,
about the number of whose ribs there could be no possible
doubt, and everyone who rode it had difficulty in getting
it to go at anything faster than a walk, but, with the strange
perversity of its kind, it indulged in the wildest affectation of
activity directly the unfortunate one from Fleet Street got
on to its back.
Finally he abandoned his horse and went everywhere on
foot. How he managed it will ever be a puzzle to me, but
he was always present where there was anything to be seen,
and his energy appeared inexhaustible. I have ever since
had a profound admiration for him, because he behaved in a
most gallant manner, although I believe that from the first
he found his unusual situation in the midst of a routed army
both embarrassing and alarming.
Lionel James of The Times, and Martin Donohoe of the
Chronicle, were my two best friends, and we had all three
pitched our tents together in one corner of the camp.
James, a charming companion, used to amuse himself
by telling me horrible tales of the atrocities which the
Turkish soldiers were likely to practise on me, in the
event of their being defeated and getting out of hand.
He entertained us very much by sitting in front of the
tent and chanting erotic Hindoo songs in nasal monotonous
tones, to the astonishment of the Turkish sentries. He was
an experienced campaigner, having himself served in the
army, while at present he commands a regiment of
Yeomanry. In addition, he is a very able war correspondent,
and in that capacity has taken part in numerous campaigns,
including the South African and the Russo-Japanese wars.
Martin Donohoe, an Irish- Australian, is a journalist of
102 WITtt THE TURKS IN THRACE
great experience, and is a most entertaining companion,
having amusing stories to tell about every part of the world.
In appearance he reminded me of the stout robber baron
in Reinhardt's " Miracle " at Olympia. I am sure that in a
more primitive state of existence he would have spent his
time ravaging other people's lands and driving off their
cattle, or in burning their castles and carrjring off their wives
across his saddle bow. Living in the twentieth century, he has
turned his hand to the only legalised form of brigandage —
the profession of a war correspondent. He is a large, rather
stout man, with a round, reddish face and a bristling mous-
tache. When one day he appeared wearing a black fur cap
and a grey overcoat of military pattern, he looked so like a
Bulgarian, that we were all afraid for his life.
He used to ride the most extraordinary horse that it has
ever been my lot to see ; such a horse as one sees portrayed
in story books for children or in effigy in a toy-shop. It was
a strongly-built animal, abnormally long in the barrel, with
the sturdy foreshortened legs of a carthorse, which, however,
tapered down to the hocks and hoofs of a thoroughbred
racer. These legs, with an excess of affectation, it used to
lift high in the air in an effort to imitate the exaggerated
gait of a prize hackney. In addition, it had the head of a
'bus-horse, and the delicate, sensitive nostrils of an Arab.
Donohoe used to ride a Turkish military saddle with a brass-
capped back piece, underneath which was a sky-blue numnah
cloth, with a red border, so that, later on, when he discarded
his Bulgarian costume and adopted a fez and grew a beard,
he looked for all the world like a Turkish Pasha, and inspired
superlative respect among all the soldiers whom he
encountered.
Among the other correspondents, I have particularly
pleasant memories of Mr. Alan Ostler, the very able and
energetic representative of the Daily Express, who had been
VASFI'S LAMENTS 108
with the Turco- Arab forces in the deserts of Tripoh for more
than a year. He had finally fallen a victim to typhoid fever,
and had experienced all the horrors of a Turkish field hospital.
He had been left alone in a tent with various other more or
less moribund unfortunates, and was on the point of death
when rescued by an English doctor. None the less, after
six months of convalescence, he had volunteered for service
in the present war.
On the whole the foreign correspondents were a very nice
lot of fellows, although the Frenchmen were rather inclined
to behave in a childish manner. They treated the censor,
Major Vasfi, as though he had been their nurse, and were
constantly gathering in a gesticulating mob round his tent
to make what they described as a ^'demarche collective''
This generally meant that they had come to abuse him
because one of them had lost his horse, or some of his
baggage, or because another was cold and had not enough to
eat. They tormented poor Major Vasfi almost to death,
and on several occasions he came to my tent for a little
peace, exclaiming, as he sank with a sigh of rehef upon the
camp bed, " But, Monsieur Ashmead-Bartlett, what would
you ? Am I their nurse ? Can I look after their luggage,
their horses, and their cold feet ? "
Of the German correspondents. Baron von Kriegelstein
and Major von Zweiter, I have nothing but pleasant
memories. They were both brave and able gentlemen, but
— in common with all the other foreign correspondents — they
were hampered in the execution of their work by a lack of
funds.
The two Russian correspondents were persona ingratissima
with the Turks, who suspected Russia of having instigated
the crusade of the Balkan States. To make matters worse,
one of the correspondents was an officer of the Headquarters
Staff in St. Petersburg, and the Turks insisted, not without
104 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
reason, that he had been sent by his Government to act as
a spy. FeeHng was very bitter against him, and he had been
told by Izzet Bey before leaving Constantinople that he
accompanied the army at his own risk, and I myself more
than once heard Turkish officers express the wish that he
might be found shot by the roadside. The limit was reached
when he handed in his despatches to the Censor, addressed
to the Russian Embassy in Constantinople. Then for the
first time did Major Vasfi's habitual calm desert him, and
he pointed out some unpleasant truths to Captain W .
Personally, I liked the Russian, for he was a man of great
experience and culture, and we went for several long forbidden
rides together. Officially, the only exercise we were allowed
was a tour, which took place daily after lunch, when
we were expected to ride two and two behind a
Turkish officer, like schoolgirls out with their mistress
on the parade of some South Coast watering-place.
Personally, 1 refused to take part in these rides after the
first occasion, when the whole cavalcade of riders, good, bad
— for the most part — and indifferent, clad in the most
heterogeneous and ridiculous costumes I have ever seen,
trotted back into camp led by a tiny stray donkey which had
joined them during the ride. That donkey seemed so aptly
to symbolise us and our fruitless mission at Chorion.
The first day and night in the camp at' Chorion were
pleasant enough, as the weather was warm and sunny, but
on Saturday evening a bitter wind sprang up in the north-
east and it became very cold. I found it impossible to
keep warm even in a tent, and a few such nights as we ex-
perienced on Saturday would have proved fatal to the
horses, unaccustomed as they were to the hardships of a
campaign. Luckily, by a supreme and united effort, we
succeeded in rousing the Censor from his habitual sluggish-
ness and prevailed upon him to find stabling for the horses
MY VILLA AT CHORLOU 105
in Chorlou, while we ourselves moved into houses in the
village.
Major Vasfi, the Censor, was always very kind to me,
I think chiefly because I was always polite to him, and
for the sake of my father, who had been a life-long friend
of Turkey. So, when on the morning of Monday,
October 28th, we moved from our camp into the village
of Chorlou, he went on ahead and obtained one of the
best houses in the place for me.
It was a large wooden house with projecting bay windows
on the upper floors, rather like the houses that were built in
London in the seventeenth century. It belonged to a family
of Greeks, and was kept remarkably clean. Two large wooden
coach doors gave access to an atrium with a floor of earth
and paving stones, which occupied the whole of the ground
floor, and in which the family lived and performed all
their household duties. The family consisted of an old
bearded man, two old ladies, his daughters, and a young
man, his grandson, and they seemed to spend most of their
time squatting on the earthen floor in one corner of the hall,
around a brazier of coals, smoking and drinking coffee.
Upstairs the rooms opened on to a hall, in the centre of
which was a plain deal table on which we used to have our
meals. In one corner a lamp was suspended above a photo-
gravure of the Virgin Mary. It should, strictly speaking,
have been kept burning continually, but the old ladies, being
of an economical turn of mind, used only to light it at
sunset, and put it out again when they went to bed. The
rooms were large and airy, and the deal floors were scrubbed
as white as snow, but they were bare of all furniture, save
for divans arranged around the walls, upon which we
used to sleep.
All this time I had been anxiously awaiting the arrival
of my brother, of whom I had had no news since I left
106 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
him lying ill in the Pera Palace Hotel. On Monday
afternoon, just as I had got installed in my house, Sir Bryan
Leighton arrived from Constantinople in my brother's motor-
car. He said that they had taken three days to cover the
intervening 150 miles, owing to the absence of proper
roads, and that the previous evening they had broken down
15 miles outside the town, and my brother and Ismet Bey,
a young Turkish officer, had left the motor in order to walk
on to Chorion in search of assistance.
I began to wonder what had happened to them, as
24 hours had by now elapsed since they had left the motor-car.
At first I thought that they must have taken the wrong road
and gone some miles out of their way before discovering
their mistake. But when on the following morning there
was still no news, I began to think that my brother might
have fallen ill again, or met with an accident by the roadside.
At 10 a.m. on Tuesday, therefore, I visited the Censor and
informed him officially that my brother and Ismet-bey were
missing. Major Vasfi was very kind, promising to make
all inquiries and to send a patrol out to search the roads.
Soon afterwards we heard the distant sound of guns to the
north, and during the day the cannonade increased in
violence, until, toward evening, it had deepened to a con-
tinual murmur of far-away thunder. The great battle that
was to decide the fate of the Turkish Empire had started,
but the Censor hardened his heart and refused to allow us to
leave Chorion. My situation was horrible ; here I was, a
prisoner in Chorion, while 40 miles away the greatest battle
of modern times was being fought out on the heights around
Lule Burgas.
I felt bound to wait for my brother until the evening, as I
had all the stores and equipment. Finally, at five o'clock in
the afternoon, I could bear it no longer, and as I was still
without news of him, I decided that he must be either dead
Our Tent at Chorlou.
iFlwto S. Ashmead-BartUtt
S5 <
tiot-
PARTING WITH THE CENSOR 107
or else had got on to the front by some miracle.
Accordingly, I purchased a cart for £14, loaded it up with
a tent and sufficient food for four days, and the next
morning, accompanied by Sir Bryan Leighton, I escaped
from Chorion and the Censor before dawn, and rode toward
the sound of the guns.
CHAPTER IX
MY JOURNEY TO CHORLOU
On Saturday, October 26th, I left Constantinople. On
Saturday, November 2nd, just one week later, I was back
again in the city. During this brief period I was destined to
make my way to Lule Burgas to take part in the great
decisive battle of the campaign, to retreat with the routed
army of Thrace as far as Chorion, and then to make my
way back to Constantinople via Rodosto. I passed through
the most exciting, fatiguing and instructive week of my life ;
such a one as I never wish to endure again. Looking back
now, it all seems like some wild dream, so unnatural were
the scenes which I witnessed and so strange the adventures
which beset my path from the moment I left Constantinople.
Colonel Izzet arranged for a charming young Turk, Ismet
Bey, who is employed in the service of the Ottoman Public
Debt, but who volunteered to serve with the army when the
war broke out, to accompany me to the front to act as my
interpreter. Ismet turned out to be a great deal more to
me than a mere interpreter. He became my guide, philoso-
pher and friend, and but for his assistance I do not know
what would have become of me, when for days I was
wandering about the battlefield hopelessly lost and almost
starving.
Ismet is not a pure-blooded Turk, for his mother
ISMET BEY 109
is French ; he was educated in France, and is the possessor
of a charming French wife. He speaks Enghsh and French
with the utmost faciUty, has innumerable friends in the
Turkish army — as the sequel will show — is a sportsman to
the backbone, and prepared to rough it to any extent.
Thus a more valuable companion for such a week of
excitement and exertion could not have been found
anywhere in the Turkish Empire.
The night before I left Constantinople I had no sleep, as I
had to make my final preparations, and then to sit up writing
a long despatch to the Daily Telegraph on the news
which had come in that day of the defeat of the
Turkish army and the capture of Kirk Kilisse, while on the
following morning — Saturday — I was up at 4 a.m. I was
to be accompanied as far as Chorion by Sir Bryan
Leighton and a young English cinematograph operator called
Gordon, neither of whom had reached Constantinople in
time to go to the front with the other correspondents on
October 23rd. I offered to take Sir Bryan Leighton in my
motor-car. Gordon had a seat in the car which had been
bought by Lionel James and Ward Price for the use of The
Times and the Daily Mail It had been arranged for this
car to accompany me in order that I might see it safely to
the front.
My car was driven by a young French chauffeur who,
despite his good recommendations, turned out to be about
the worst of all the mongrel chauffeurs who feed on the
unwary in Constantinople. There were the usual delays
at the start. The hotel servants brought breakfast late ;
it was found almost impossible to carry all our effects in the
two cars, and many articles had to be rejected at the last
moment. Then the cars were late in turning up, and it
was near eight o'clock before Ismet, Sir Bryan Leighton,
and myself were seated in our brand new Panhard.
110 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
We started amidst the encouraging cheers of the
entire staff of the Pera Palace Hotel, who had turned
out en masse to receive their tips. The packing of two
motor cars had also caused a dense crowd to gather in
front of the hotel, and, when they realised we were off to
join the army, they too joined in the chorus of farewell until
the streets of Pera fairly resounded with their shouts. It
was a beautiful morning, fine and clear, but somewhat cold.
It had rained hard on the previous day, but the sky had
now cleared, and there was every prospect of our
having good weather for the journey.
It was our avowed intention to reach Chorlou, where
Colonel Izzet had told me we would find all the correspon-
dents assembled, that same afternoon. He assured me we
would not have the slightest difficulty in doing so, as
the roads were excellent. However, there were others
who did not share his optimism. The agents from whom
I had bought the car warned me that the roads were
practically non-existent, and that, although in dry weather
it would be practicable to pass over them, the task became
almost impossible after heavy rain such as we had had on
the previous day.
The day before starting I went to the French company
who hold the contract for the making of roads through-
out the Ottoman Empire. The director was even more
pessimistic. He showed me on a map the best route to
take, but also warned me that I would come to places,
over which it would be almost impossible to pass. My
chauffeur, who had once, so he said, driven a car as far as
Adrianople, would not commit himself to any definite state-
ment, simply saying, '* I will try my best, and I think I can
get this car through anywhere." I stupidly allowed myself
to be deceived by the wild statements of Colonel Izzet, and
was also influenced by the fact that I heard that the military
THE START 111
authorities had commandeered a number of cars and taken
them up to Chorion for the use of the General Staff of the
Army.
Just as I was leaving, an Englishman called Bryant,
in the employ of the French Road Company, came to see
me at the hotel. He had actually been charged with the
task of making the road, and said that with fine weather I
might get through. His job had now come to an end, as it
was impossible to find labour for road-making during the
war, and he asked me if I would employ him as a despatch
rider, as he thought his knowledge of Turkish and his
acquaintance with the people and with the country would
prove invaluable. I therefore arranged for him to make his
own way up to Chorion and to join me at the earliest
possible date.
The two motors rolled over the Galata Bridge, through
the crowded streets of Stamboul and out by the Adrianople
Gate to the open country beyond. For the first ten kilo-
metres the road is fair and we made rapid progress. It
was obvious from the start that a friendly rivalry existed
between the two chauffeurs, the driver of The Times-
Daily Mail car being a powerful Turk and an excellent
driver, but lacking the mechanical knowledge possessed by
my driver.
We were all in high spirits and had begun to congrat-
ulate ourselves on the rapid progress we were making,
when the first of many subsequent disasters overtook us,
effectually subdued our premature pride, and warned us of
still worse evils to come.
Descending a hill close to San Stefano, the road suddenly
ended in a sea of mud. It would have been wiser to leave
it and to try to pass over the meadow-land on either side,
but the chauffeur, without waiting for instructions, drove
bUndly into the morass. The gaUant car did her utmost to
112 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
get through. The momentum of the descent carried her
to the centre, then she slowed down, the wheels began to
churn the mud with a furious roar, while we made no
further progress and gradually sank up to our axles in this
liquid slime. We jumped out and pushed and tugged, but
in vain. It was obvious that only one course remained
open, namely, to lighten the car by unloading all our
baggage and the eight cans of petrol which we were
carrying. Standing knee-deep in the mud we proceeded
with this thankless task, and, when everything had been
removed, we again turned on the engine and pushed behind.
Again the wheels went whirling round, again the mud
was thrown up in all directions, but it was impossible to
obtain any grip, and the car refused to budge.
Meanwhile the other chauffeur had succeeded in passing
the morass by taking his car off the road. He now
suggested that we should send to the nearest farm and
secure two strong oxen to drag the motor out. We
were saved this necessity by the passing of a wagon
with two powerful beasts. The owner was not very
willing to let us have them, but Ismet cut him short
by commandeering them in the name of the Sultan, the
Army, and the Koran. Fortunately we had taken the
precaution to supply ourselves with a strong piece of rope
before leaving Constantinople. This was tied round the
front axle and harnessed to the two oxen. The gallant
beasts put their shoulders to the yoke, at the same time
the engine was started, and the great tug began. But
although the oxen fell in the mud from their exertions,
and although all of us pushed from behind, the car would
not budge an inch.
We were almost in despair, and sat down by the
roadside wondering what to do next. It seemed impossible
for us to release the car until the roads dried, and
MY JOURNEY TO CHORLOU 113
another shower might retard this indefinitely. From
this predicament we were saved by the arrival of a party
of soldiers, twelve in number, who had been attracted
to the spot by the noise of the engine and the shouts of
the bullock driver. Ismet commandeered them, with the
promise of liberal backsheesh, to assist us. They put their
shoulders to the wheels, and once more the oxen were
harnessed up and the engine started. This time our joint
exertions succeeded. The car began to move and amidst
loud cheers we got her through the morass. But at
what a cost ! That morning she had left Constantinople
on her maiden journey, brand new, her beautiful green
paint and smart appearance a source of constant delight
to myself, who had never owned a car or ridden in one
of which I was at any rate the temporary master
before. Now she was covered with mud and the spokes
of the wheels had completely disappeared. Her paint
had been scratched off outside by the soldiers and inside
by the packing and unpacking of the baggage and tins
of oil. She had, in fact, ceased to have any likeness to
a new car, and resembled an old and sorely battered
wreck.
However, to our infinite relief, we found the machinery
had in nowise suffered, and after paying the bullock-owner
and soldiers liberally, we resumed our chequered way.
We had, however, lost two precious hours, and had to
abandon any idea of reaching Chorlou that day. As if
to lure us on to our eventual doom, the road now became
much better, having lately been repaired by the French
Road Company, and we made rapid progress as far as the
village of Kuyuk Chekmedche, where we crossed the
bridge spanning the inlet to the lake. On the other side
we were delayed for some time by soldiers and transport
carts making their way to the front, but, having shaken
114 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
them off, we soon reached Buyuk Chekmedche, which forms
the left wing of the famous Chataldja Hnes.
The road here is carried over the lake by a giant causeway,
some three hundred years old, built by one of the Sultans.
It is a beautifully artistic structure, but, as the road has never
been repaired since it was built, it is extremely difficult
to avoid falling through holes, and we were obliged to
proceed with extreme caution. On the other side of the
causeway we halted for lunch, having brought provisions for
a couple of days in the cars. Our passage through the
country excited the wildest interest among the inhabitants,
many of whom had never seen a motor-car before, and were
astonished beyond measure at our progress without horses,
and by the strange noises of the machinery. Above all,
these simple-minded folk loved to sound the tooter. We
had to keep a guard on the car to prevent spare parts and
our personal effects from being stolen.
We now had to decide which road we would take.
We could either follow the sea-shore, or else turn inland
and try a new road which the French Company had told
me existed. We had many anxious consultations with the
local villagers, and in the end the weight of opinion was
strongly against our turning inland, as we were told the
road was almost impassable, and would lead us up amongst
the hills, which our cars would very likely be unable
to climb.
On the other side of the village of Kalikratia we
met with our second mishap. We chmbed the steep hill
all right and then found ourselves on an upland close to
the sea shore, where the road disappeared altogether and we
had to follow stray tracks left by bullock-wagons, or made
by the passage of the transport and artillery on their way to
the front. The cars could easily have passed over these
tracks had there been no rain, but now they were soft beds
THE SECOND BREAKDOWN 115
of mud, and we were in constant danger of sticking once
again. At length we came to a ditch and stream which
completely cut the road, and there was no way round. My
car, with infinite difficulty, managed to get across, but as it
was mounting the further bank it struck a rock with terrific
force and I thought something must be smashed. However,
we saw no damage at the time.
Then came the turn of the Daily Mail car. Its chauffeur
had been abusing mine ever since we had stuck earlier in
the day, on account of his bad driving. He now tried to
cross the brook at another point by driving at a terrific
pace right through it. The result was awful ; the car
entered the water with a mighty splash, refused to budge
another inch, and sank in the mud until the hind wheels
had completely disappeared and the water was almost
entering the body. We got out and looked at it in dismay.
We tried to move it by pushing, but it was hopeless.
Then we tried to improvise a bridge by placing boards under
the wheels, but it never stirred.
At the end of an hour's work we knew we were beaten,
unless we discovered some oxen. Ismet volunteered to go
in search of some, and half an hour later returned with
two bullocks and their driver, which he had commandeered
out of a plough in a neighbouring field. Again we were
successful, but we had lost another two hours, and it was
now three o'clock and by six it would be almost dark.
When we went to start my car we found to our horror
that the starting lever had not been fastened up, and that
it had received the full force of the blow when we struck
the rock, with the natural result that it was badly bent
and we could not start the engine. This time I thought
we were absolutely done, but by the joint efforts of the
two chauffeurs we managed to hammer it back more or
less into shape.
I 2
116 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
By four o'clock we had reached a village called Kum-
burgas on the sea shore. The head man, or mayor, told
us it would be useless to follow the road along the shore,
as at high tide it was washed by the sea and the water
would be three or four feet deep. He advised us to keep
on the road as far as possible, and then to turn inland
and go across country until we had passed the danger
points. His words were true. Long before we had reached
the village of Bogados we were stopped by the waves and
had to drive across country at a very slow rate, guessing
what tracks to foUow and frequently having to retrace our
steps, as the road we were on ended in a morass.
We passed through several small villages and close to
one of these, called Jalos, the Daily Mail-Times car came
to an abrupt stop, and the chauffeur announced he could
go no further as his pump was broken and the gasoline
would no longer percolate through the machinery. I
decided to abandon him and the car together with Gordon,
and to push on with Sir Bryan Leighton. We promised
to send back the first brass-mender we could find in any
of the villages to help him make good the damage.
Gordon we advised to try to find a horse and to make his
own way to Chorion or else to return to Constantinople.
It was impossible to take him with us as our car was
already overcrowded, and he refused to abandon his cine-
matograph.
About six o'clock we reached the large village of Bogados,
where we made a short halt to refill the engine, and we also
found a workman who volunteered to return and help mend
the Daily Mail car. Then we pushed on to Silivri. If the
road was bad before, it had now become worse and our
progress was merely a jolting crawl. To make matters
worse, darkness began rapidly to set in and, unless we
succeeded in reaching Silivri, we would have to spend
OUR FIRST BIVOUAC 117
the night in the open. Finally it became so dark that
Ismet, Leighton, and myself were obliged to walk in
front and select the most favourable route for the car to
follow.
Suddenly the road bifurcated and we had to select which
one to follow. In the darkness we took a track which led
us to the edge of a minor precipice and very nearly ended
our ill-starred expedition. Then we had the stupendous
task of turning the car round. This took quite half an hour,
but at length we succeeded and got on the right road. It
was now quite dark, the sky was clouded and there
was no moon or stars to help us on our way. We had to
admit we were beaten and to reconcile ourselves to spending
a night in the open.
Fortunately, we had stuck near a fountain close to the
roadside, and a small hut, evidently a shelter intended for
belated travellers. The interior of the hut was too filthy
for Ismet, Leighton, and myself, but it served for the
purpose of cooking in. There was some dry brushwood
inside and with this we made a fire and heated some cocoa.
Then, with sardines, bread, and a tongue, we had a toler-
able evening meal. Sir Bryan Leighton had with him a
small shelter tent, supposed to be waterproof, which he
had bought just before leaving England. We decided to
sleep in this, while Ismet and the chauffeur took shelter
in the motor, which had a hood which completely covered
it in.
We had hardly got the tent up when the rain began tc
fall in a deluge, the like of which I have never seen before
in any part of the world. It came down in one great sheet,
like a wave. In less time than it takes to write these words
it had completely soaked through the tent and lay an inch
deep on the canvas floor. However, this made no difference
to me. I had no sleep the night before I left Constantinople,
118 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
and the exertions of the journey on the top of my illness
had completely worn me out. I fell asleep and neither the
rain, nor the howling of the wind, nor the curses of Leighton
disturbed my slumbers.
I had gone to sleep about nine o'clock and did not wake
until 3 a.m. Then I was aroused by a feeling of being icy
cold. I had one of those patent electric lamps, which I
turned on, and to my astonishment found I was alone in
the tent, for Leighton and all his belongings had dis-
appeared. My own plight was a sorry one. I was lying
in two or three inches of water, I was soaked through to
the skin, and my teeth were chattering from the cold.
The rain was still coming down in torrents. Along
the road I saw dim figures, mysterious in the darkness,
and heard the rumble of wagons. It was the transport
train which we had passed earlier in the day and which was
pushing on to Silivri.
Several soldiers came to the fountain for water and were
amazed to find our motor-car, the interior of which they
proceeded to investigate, arousing Ismet from his slumbers
and calhng forth from him a torrent of Turkish invective,
which, by the way, is in no way inferior to our own.
I then went inside the hut and lit a candle. There I
found Bryan Leighton comfortably installed on Ismet's
camp bed, which he had taken from the motor-car. I felt
inclined to turn him out and have a share of it, but
1 was so cold and wet that rest was impossible. I
was very afraid of getting a return of influenza from my
immersion, or else of having an attack of rheumatism. I
managed with difficulty to light the fire once again and to
set the kettle boiling. Then I took a large tumbler and
filled it half full of Black and White whiskey, taking nearly
a third of the bottle. Then I poured the boiling water into
the glass, put in two lumps of sugar, and drank the whole
SOAKED THROUGH 119
down. This was the strongest drink I have ever had in my
Kfe and I never wish to take another hke it. However, it had
the desired effect and restored my rapidly- vanishing circula-
tion. I then took off the wettest of my garments, stole
two rugs off Leighton's bed, lay down on the floor and once
more fell asleep.
CHAPTER X
MY FIRST MEETING WITH ABDULLAH
At six I again woke up frozen through, for the weather
was bitterly cold. I aroused the others and once more
the kettle was put on to boil, and we had a frugal breakfast,
as our provisions were rapidly running out. The chauffeur
now set to work to tune up the car. The first delay
was caused by the gasoline having frozen into a yellow
jelly during the night. This took some time to put right.
Then the tank had to be refilled with petrol. This was a
very difficult task, because we had had a rest fastened on the
back of the car to carry baggage, and the idiots in Constan-
tinople had almost covered up the entrance to the tank.
Then commenced the fearful task of trying to start the
engine. The starting lever was useless as, owing to
being bent, it would not enter the socket, and the only
way of starting the engine was by pushing the car uphill
and allowing it to run down again. At half-past eight
the engine began to work and we were feeling more
light-hearted, when we found one of the tyres required
pumping up. Then slowly the horrid truth dawned
upon us that it was punctured. This was the last
straw. But there was no help for it, and we set to
work to assist the chauffeur to change the tyre. It was a
long and difficult process, because the wheels were absolutely
SILIVRI 121
caked with mud, and every screw and nut had to be washed
in the fountain. The cause of the trouble was found to be a
nail two inches long, which had passed completely through
the outer cover on into the inner tube.
It was nearly ten o'clock before we were once more under
way. How can I describe the state of the road ? It baffles
my poor descriptive powers to do so. It was bad enough
on the previous day, but after the night's downpour it had
lost all semblance of being even a track, and was feet deep
in mud and slime. How the car ever managed to get
through is a mystery that I will not attempt to solve.
We climbed a gentle slope, from the top of which we
saw the village of Silivri at our feet. We had camped
within about two miles of it without knowing. The descent
into Silivri is very dangerous, and was rendered additionally
so by the slippery nature of the mud. The car side-slipped
in all directions, and frequently turned right round. Just
as we were entering the village we came to a high cause-
way with an unprotected drop of some twenty feet. I
begged the chauffeur, who had now completely lost his
nerve, to take care, but it was in vain. The car got out of
his control and side-slipped absolutely to the edge of the
embankment. I thought that it was all over with us. There
was not an inch to spare when he managed to jamb on the
brakes and bring it to a standstill.
We found the village of Silivri blocked with the great train
of bullock- wagons which had passed us in the night, and which
was just preparing to continue its dreary crawl to Chorion. In
the village we bought some steel chains and bound them round
the wheels to act as non-skids. On the other side of Silivri
the road passes over a causeway which is in a terrible state
from lack of repair, and then makes a very steep ascent up
an old Roman-paved road to reach the tableland beyond.
The road was almost blocked with bullock-wagons, and it
122 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
was with the utmost difficulty that we made our way
through.
We met some refugees and one old Turkish woman
mounted on a horse which took fright at the car and
deposited the poor old girl in deep water, from which she
was rescued by some soldiers. We paid her liberally for her
misadventure.
We encountered terrible difficulties in climbing the old
Roman road out of Silivri. The surface was almost com-
pletely destroyed ; ancient cobbles lay about obstructing the
wheels, which from time to time would sink deep into
holes that had once provided beds for these obstructions.
To add to our troubles, the rain had rendered the stones
extremely greasy. About half-way up the car came to a
dead stop and commenced to run backwards. We checked
this movement to the rear by placing stones behind the
wheels. The car had come to a standstill sideways across
the road and completely blocked the passage of the great
bullock train, which also came to a compulsory halt.
Here I made the acquaintance for the first time of the
officer in charge of the train, whose name I have unfortunately
forgotten, for he proved himself a veritable friend in need.
He ordered one of the bullock-wagons to be fastened to the
car, and by this means we were able to get it to the top of
the incline. But our troubles were not over. The grassy
plateau close to the sea shore, over which we now passed,
was a quagmire from the rain which had fallen during the
night, and, try as we would, the wheels would only revolve
impotently beneath us without enforcing any propelling
motion.
Again the officer in charge came to our assistance.
He pointed out that the road was in the same condition all
the way to Chorlou, and that there was absolutely no
chance of the car ever reaching that haven of refuge, unless
THE CONVOY 123
the bullocks dragged it there. He offered to have one of the
bullock-wagons unloaded and its contents placed on other
carts, so that it might be free to drag us all the rest
of the way. To this proposition we agreed reluctantly,
because it meant another two days on the road, and
I was dreadfully worried lest a great battle should take
place in my absence. Throughout the morning we
thought we heard the sound of guns, but I believe it
came from our imagination rather than from the hostile
armies.
The same officer also lent me a horse to ride, and it
was pleasant to leave the old car and canter ahead of
the great train of wagons, and to feel I was free and not
stuck in the mud for the rest of my natural existence.
The soldiers with the convoy were engaged in clearing out
the country as they passed through it. They visited every
village, farm, and hamlet, and seized all the horses and
commandeered all the able-bodied men, whether Turks,
Bulgarians, or Servians, to serve in the ranks. These came
very reluctantly, but there was no help for them, and soon
there were several hundred of the ill-clad unfortunates walking
parallel with the train under the escort of armed sentries,
to discourage them from attempting to escape.
Shortly after this we came to two streams which were
extremely difficult to cross on account of the mud and the
shelving banks. Even the stout oxen had trouble in pulling
the lightly laden wagons through them, and our motor car
could never have crossed but for their assistance. I watched
the whole train pass and found the motor was a long way in
the rear. I rode back and found it had been in endless diffi-
culties, chiefly owing to the bad steering of the chauffisur,
who would allow too sudden strains on the rope attaching
it to the ox-wagon, with the natural result that the rope was
continually breaking. However, after endless exertions,
124 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
we at length got it across the two brooks. Shortly after-
wards the road became much better for a stretch.
Here 1 did a foolish thing. I was led to believe the car would
be able to go without assistance, and, as we were only making
a mile an hour with the oxen, I ordered them to be cast off,
and the soldier driving the cart was only too pleased to
accede to my request. The cart went on and was soon
out of sight over a rise in the ground, before we had even
succeeded in starting the engine, owing to the bent lever.
When the engine was at length started we moved forward
fairly rapidly for about a mile and then came to a morass
of mud and ruts. We put on all speed and endeavoured
to force our way through it, but it was all in vain. The
car stuck and sank above the axles in the mud until the
machinery of the engine was also resting in the shme.
This time we were down and out. The bullock train
was already some three miles away, and there was no likeli-
hood of anyone returning to assist us. Every horse, ox,
and able-bodied man capable of bearing arms, had been
swept up by the onward march of the column, and we were
stranded at 4 o'clock, on a bitterly cold afternoon, on a high
plateau, close to the sea, without shelter, without water,
almost without food — for only some chocolate and a few
biscuits remained of the store which we had brought with us
from Constantinople.
I think, for the first time, a feeling akin to despair
crept over us all. For some time we said nothing, but
sat ruefully contemplating the car, the wheels of which
had almost completely disappeared. Then we held a
consultation. I suggested that Ismet should return to
Silivri and endeavour to obtain oxen to drag the car back
into the village, and at the same time hire horses to enable
us to continue our journey to Chorion. Suddenly a bullock-
wagon appeared. It belonged to a party of refugees on
I ABANDON THE MOTOR-CAR 125
their way to Stamboul. The oxen were, however, in poor
condition, and they could not budge the car an inch. In
fact it was painfully obvious that, until the roads dried, the
car would remain stuck exactly where it was. In these
circumstances we felt it would be useless to return to Silivri
and I was extremely reluctant to retrace my steps, as my
one desire at this moment was to press on to Chorion, so as
to be in time for the great battle.
At last we agreed on an alternative plan. It was decided
that Ismet and myself should walk on and endeavour to
overtake the convoy at its halting place, and ask the
commandant to send back soldiers and bullocks, and to
take charge of the car until we reached Chorion. Sir
Bryan Leighton and the chauffeur were to remain with it
during the night. Ismet and myself lost no time, but set
off through the mud. I looked back and saw two melan-
choly figures. Sir Bryan and the worn-out, miserable
chauffeur, endeavouring to obtain some shelter from the icy
wind by erecting the wretched shelter-tent that had taken in
so much water on the previous evening.
I shall not forget in a hurry that horrible tramp through
the mud, which Ismet and myself had after the bullock train.
It was 4 p.m. when we started — that day we had only made
5 kilometres in the car — and only two hours more remained
of daylight. I detest walking at any time, and had on a
pair of field-boots, which, having been soaked through on
the previous evening, now stuck to my feet and hurt them
horribly.
We came to a river which cut the road, and wondered
how we were to cross it without becoming soaked up to
our waists. There was a small party of Turkish soldiers
encamped on the bank, and they were good enough to
make us some tea. They also told us that the convoy
had split in two portions on the other side of the river in
126 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
order to find shelter for the night at two farms. One
powerful soldier then volunteered to carry us through the
river on his back, an offer which was gratefully accepted, as
neither Ismet nor I wished to be immersed in the icy cold
water just at sunset.
It was half past six when, footsore and weary, we reached
the farm. Here we found our friend encamped. We told
him of our troubles and difficulties. I believe the Captain's
name was Fouad, but if it was not, I hope, if he ever reads
these lines, that he will accept for himself the infinite
thanks I tender him now for all that he did for us on this
critical evening, when any delay would have meant failure
to witness the battle of Lule Burgas.
Both Ismet and I were worn out, but we agreed we must
push on to Chorlou that night, even if we had to do so on
foot. The Captain then suggested the following plan, which
we adopted. He undertook to send back that same night
to the car an escort of twelve soldiers, four strong oxen, and
some stout rope, as well as spades, so as to dig it out of the
mud. He undertook to find two horses for Ismet and
myself and to put us on the road to Chorlou. The horses
we were to hand back to him on his arrival in Chorlou,
which place he hoped to reach in two days' time. He said
he would accept full responsibility for our motor-car and for
the baggage, and would undertake to deliver the lot safe and
sound to us. He also said that he would look after Sir
Bryan I^eighton and the chauffeur.
He advised Ismet and myself to stay the night at the
farm and to push on to Chorlou at dawn, as it was an
eight hours' ride and the temperature had fallen below zero.
Although the temptation to remain was almost irresistible
Ismet and I resolutely refused, and this decision to push
on at all costs just brought us to the front in time, as the
sequel will show.
A NIGHT RIDE 127
But we were hungry. We thought that Captain Fouad
would offer us something to eat before we started on our
night ride, but unfortunately the owner of the farm had
fled and his house was shut up, so the unfortunate officers of
the convoy had little to eat themselves. However, he did
give us a cup of Turkish coffee. Then he announced the
horses were ready.
To our surprise, on entering the farm-yard we found an
escort of twelve soldiers under a sergeant, whom Captain
Fouad announced were to accompany us to Chorion. It
seemed little short of cruelty to ask these men to walk some
forty kilometres after they had been on the march all day
and for several previous days, and we begged him to allow
us to proceed alone, as we felt sure we could find the road.
But the Captain would not hear of this. He said the
country was infested with brigands, Bulgarian sympathisers,
and disbanded soldiers, who might murder us without com-
punction, in which case he would be responsible. There
was no help for it, so mounting our horses, we set off in the
darkness with our escort in front.
I do not think that Ismet and I will ever forget that
night ride to Chorion. For the first two hours all went
well, but then an icy cold wind sprang up and chilled us to
the bone. We were soon glad to dismount and warm
ourselves by walking. We became more and more hungry,
until the feeling of emptiness became almost insupportable.
Ismet found unexpectedly in his pocket a cake of chocolate
which, to use the well-known advertisement, was " both
grateful and comforting." He also had a small flask of
brandy, of which we took mouthfuls at intervals throughout
the night just to restore a temporary warmth to our bodies.
Once we lost the road, some of the escort going one
way and some another. This caused a delay, before the
stragglers were found again. As we drew nearer Chorlou
128 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
the ground rose, and we passed over a high plateau, across
which the wind swept in an icy blast, until even the patient
Turkish soldiers began to grumble. By this time they had
become so exhausted that two of them could hardly keep up
with us, and we were obliged to make frequent halts. We
gave them rides on the horses, but this was not much
relief, as the weary beasts were continually stumbling over
the ruts which had by now hardened.
We came upon some refugees, who were camped close to
the road, endeavouring to warm themselves by a fire. It was
a sad sight. The oxen lay round in a circle so as to obtain the
benefit of the friendly blaze ; the women and children lay
mixed up with the oxen, obtaining warmth from their bodies
on one side and from the fire on the other. Our escort
immediately surrounded the camp and demanded if they
had any arms. This the spokesman of the party denied, but
the sergeant was not satisfied. He ordered his men to turn
everything out of the wagons and to search them. Beneath
a miscellaneous and filthy collection of old clothes, house-
hold furniture and bags of oats, two rifles, a Mauser and a
Martini, were unearthed. The sergeant cursed the refugees
for having lied to him, and then we proceeded on
our way. Shortly afterwards we came upon a second
camp and secured two more rifles.
It seemed cruel to disturb these poor wretches, who were
only bent on reaching Stamboul and crossing into Asia Minor,
but the soldiers had received stringent orders to disarm all the
civilian population and these orders had to be obeyed. They
soon found the additional burden of these four rifles unbear-
able, and I think were extremely sorry they had ever found
them. I relieved them of two and carried them for a time
across my saddle, but the cold steel soon froze my fingers and
I returned them to their owners. Long before we reached
Chorion they had disappeared. I did not see actually what
WE REACH CHORLOU 129
became of them, but I fancy the soldiers, without consulting
the sergeant, chucked them aside, after first removing the
bolts from the breech blocks.
Between one and two a.m. we saw the glare of some
lights in the distance, which the soldiers declared must come
from the camps round Chorlou. This welcome sight roused
our drooping spirits, but it seemed an endless time before
we reached the outskirts of the village, and it was not until
close on two-thirty a.m. that we finally entered the streets
of the town.
Ismet and I expected on reaching Chorlou to have no diffi-
culty in finding the camp of the correspondents. Naturally at
this hour there were but few astir, except the sentries over the
buildings which were being used by the military authorities.
Ismet made careful inquiries of them as to the whereabouts
of our colleagues, but could obtain no satisfactory reply.
One of the soldiers, however, at length declared they were
in certain houses in the town. We repaired to one of the
houses he had named, but found it full of weary soldiers.
We continued our search, but without success. At length
an officer told us they were not in the town of Chorlou, but
were camped close to the railway station two miles away.
This was bad news as it meant we would have to take the
road once more. However, the prospect of food and
shelter proved irresistible, and after thanking him we once
more, rode out of Chorlou. Meanwhile, our escort had
disappeared. The moment they reached Chorlou, without
even bidding us farewell or giving us the opportunity of
handing them over any backsheesh, they bolted to the
nearest local inn to obtain rest and refreshment. We soon
reached the neighbourhood of the railway station, passing
through endless standing camps of white tents, the larger
number of which seemed to be deserted, as the troops had
been pushed on to the north. There was no one about at the
K
130 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
railway station except a sentry who could give us but little
reliable information. He said he had heard that some
Europeans had been camped there, but he thought they
had already left.
He gave us one piece of news which seemed to offer
a ray of hope, namely, that Abdullah, the Commander-in-
Chief, and his Staff were in a barrack placed on a high
hill about a quarter of a mile from the station.
By this time Ismet and I were thoroughly fed up with
life. We were almost frozen, worn out with fatigue, and so
hungry that the mere mention of food almost caused tears
to fall from our eyes. We lost no time in hastening up the
steep hill to the barrack, where we expected to learn
definitely what had become of the correspondents.
A sentry was on guard, and he was greatly surprised at our
sudden apparition in the middle of the night. Ismet explained
the position. The sentry replied that there were no corres-
pondents at the barracks, and that he had not heard of any
at Chorion. He advised us to see the officer in charge of
the guard who might be able to give us some information.
We found the officer asleep in a room. He was very agree-
able, but had no news. He showed us where Abdullah was
sleeping and advised us to ask one of his staff officers.
I said to Ismet, " It does not matter where the camp is.
We must have shelter for the night. I don't care where we
find it, but I shall freeze if I have to stay out in the cold any
longer." Ismet quite agreed with me and whilst I held both
horses he knocked at the door and was admitted by a sleepy
orderly. It seemed an endless time before he again made
his appearance, and I began to think he had gone to sleep
and had forgotten all about me, when he appeared at the
door, his face wreathed in smiles.
"It is alright," he said; "you can come in, for the
Commander-in-Chief, Abdullah Pasha, wants to see you."
ISMET WAKES ABDULLAH 131
*' What have you done, Ismet ? " I replied. " I hope
you have not awakened the Commander-in-Chief."
'* Yes," he rephed. " I went inside and found his two
staff-officers asleep in bed. I woke them up, and explained
matters ; but they only replied, * We can do nothing for
you. You must go and find shelter in the village of
Chorion.' Suddenly I remembered that Abdullah is a
distant cousin of mine, so I went to his room feeling quite
desperate from the cold and hunger, and woke him up, to
the horror of his aides-de-camp. Abdullah was immensely
surprised to see me, and thought I had dropped from the
skies. I explained to him our position, and that you were
outside in the cold, and he immediately told me to bring
you up to him. Now we are sure of shelter for the night."
Ismet and I then entered the Commander-in-Chiefs
presence, who greeted me as if I were his best friend, and
had known him all my life. Abdullah is a big man with a
splendid head, rather grey hair and a moustache. He
has the most kindly expression always on his face, and looks
the typical English country squire of tradition. He was
seated on the edge of his bed, clad in pyjamas, with his
great-coat wrapped round him. I apologised for disturbing
him at such an hour, but he merely laughed and said : " It
matters little to me these days what hour I am awakened,
because telegrams are coming in at all hours of the night,
and I am only too glad to be of any assistance to you. You
must be hungry. Unfortunately, my cooks left last night
for another destination, but I will get my servant to make
you some tea, and I think I can find you some cheese and
biscuits."
Shortly afterwards Abdullah's servant appeared with tea,
biscuits and cheese, which was one of the most welcome
repasts I have ever sat down to. After I had eaten for
some time Abdullah insisted on my telling him every detail
k2
132 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
of my journey from Constantinople, and laughed heartily at
the picture I drew of the motor, moving at two miles an
hour, drawn by oxen.
I asked him where the correspondents were quartered, to
which he replied : " I have not seen them yet. They were
here for a few days, but they have now gone on to Lule
Burgas. I suppose you want to get there as soon as
possible. Well, I will see if you can go by train to-morrow."
I then asked the Commander-in-Chief if I had missed a
big battle, to which he replied : " No ; you have missed
nothing. There has only been some desultory fighting
round Kirk Kilisse, and we have not yet had 300 wounded.
So do not worry ; you will see a big battle yet."
How little did I realise then the dramatic manner in
which the general's prophecy would shortly be realised I
Neither did Abdullah himself foresee that the great battle
would come so soon, because he told me he expected to
remain in Chorion for another two days. He then went on
to speak of the immense difficulties which confronted his
army in the campaign, of the terrible state of the roads, of
the insufficiency of transport, and of the poverty of the
country, which was quite incapable of supporting a large
army of more than 100,000 men. He spoke with the greatest
misgiving of the prospects of a winter's snows.
We talked for nearly an hour, and then the Mushir said,
"You must be worn out, and sleep will do you good.
There is no place to put you here, but I will turn out some
of my staff-officers and make them give you their beds."
I begged Abdullah to do nothing of the sort, but he
laughed and replied, " Do not worry ; they have slept quite
long enough. I have lots of work for them to do, and it
won't hurt them to get up now."
The two staff-officers were therefore aroused from their
slumbers, and, although they displayed no outward annoy-
BAD NEWS 133
ance, must have inwardly cursed our intrusion on their
well-earned repose.
Ismet and myself only had four hours' sleep, for at 8 a.m.
on Monday, October 28th, we were roused by one of
Abdullah's A.D.C.'s, who came to tell us that a train was
expected from the south, bearing the Minister of War,
Nazim Pasha, and would afterwards go on to Lule Burgas, and
that if we cared to travel by it we might do so. We got up
at once, and one of the A.D.C.'s, who apparently bore us no
grudge for having been turned out of his bed at 4 a.m.
to make room for us, brought us a cup of coiFee and some
biscuits.
I then went to bid farewell to Abdullah, and to
thank him for the great kindness which he had shown us
both. The Commander-in-Chief was sitting at a table
poring over the Turkish Staff Map of Thrace. He did
not seem nearly so cheerful as a few hours before, and I am
inclined to think he had received some bad news that
morning. It was probably the news of the defeat of the 1st
Army Corps between Kavakli and Jenidze, on October 25th,
but it is almost incredible that this information did not reach
him before the morning of October 28th. However,
considering the appalling state of confusion which reigned
everywhere, and the almost entire absence of any means of
communication, it is feasible that it did not reach head-
quarters until the dawn of October 28th. At any rate,
in the course of his conversation with me in the middle of
the night, Abdullah made no mention of this reverse, and to
judge from his outward demeanour he was perfectly cheerful
and confident, and he declared emphatieally that the
army had suffered only three hundred casualties up-to-
date.
Abdullah also promised to look after Sir Bryan Leighton
on his arrival, and to send him on to Lule Burgas by the first
184 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
available train. I then bade him farewell, little dreaming
that a night later I would meet him in such dramatic
circumstances.
Monday, October 28th, was one of the coldest days I have
known since the closing months of the siege of Port Arthur,
and we had a long wait at the station before the train came
in sight round a bend in the line.
Meanwhile, several trains full of refugees passed through
on their way to Constantinople. Never have I seen more
strange sights. So crowded were these trains with Mahom-
medans fleeing from the Bulgarian invasion, that men,
women, and children preferred to sit on the bare roofs of the
carriages, desperately clinging to one another to save
themselves from falling off, rather than risk being left
behind. Many had been without food for days, and there
was none to be obtained at Chorion, an alarming fact, which
did not augur well for the troops in the field. Ismet and
myself managed to procure a loaf, which we shared with
several officers also waiting to leave for Lule Burgas, but tea
and coffee were quite unobtainable.
When the train did at length arrive, it did not contain
Nazim, but Zia Pasha, his Chief of Staff, who had come to
Chorion to have an interview with Abdullah Pasha. At
the station to greet him was a common soldier in a dirty
war-worn khaki uniform, whom Zia Pasha shook warmly by
the hand. Ismet said to me, " Do you see that man ? He
is Telad, the late Minister of the Interior, who is serving as
a volunteer."
I regarded this patriot with amazement, and wondered if
one of our ministers would have acted likewise. Telad was
one of the most prominent men in the revolution, and used
to pass his time at Salonika, where he was a telegraph clerk,
tapping the wire and reading Abdul Hamid's plans for the
destruction of the Young Turks. When the present war
WE REACH LULE BURGAS 135
broke out he paid his forty pounds exemption fee, and then
volunteered as a private soldier.
It was twelve noon before the train left Chorion for Lule
Burgas, and it was one of the very last which made the
journey during the war, for on the following day the station
of Lule Burgas fell into the hands of the Bulgarians. The
journey up was uneventful. We saw from the window
crowds of refugees slowly making their way towards
Chorion, and we also passed the remains of a train which
had left the metals and had been overturned at Seidler, but
except for these incidents there was little or nothing to show
that a great battle was imminent. As we neared Lule
Burgas, we thought we heard the sound of a distant
cannonade, and later in the afternoon we learnt we had not
been mistaken.
It was 3 p.m. when we reached Lule Burgas station,
which is some six kilometres from the town. It was
crammed with soldiers, transport, and refugees. Zia Pasha,
Chief of Staff to Nazim, left the train and, accompanied
by two staff officers, entered a broken-down cart and
drove towards the town. He persistently refused to take
any notice of Ismet and myself, and it was obvious that his
attitude was not friendly towards Europeans. We went to
the officer in command at the station, and asked him if he
could provide us with a carriage to enable us to reach the
town of Lule Burgas. Just before we left Chorion,
Abdullah gave Ismet and myself a pass written in his own
handwriting, requesting all and sundry to assist us in any
way in their power. This proved an invaluable document
on several occasions, and the officer soon found us an old
victoria drawn by two broken-down horses, which speedily
carried us to Lule Burgas. It was somewhat ominous that
at the station, in reply to our inquiries, no one seemed to
have heard of the correspondents, and the station-master
136 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
most emphatically declared they had not come by train.
However, we thought they had probably ridden up from
Chorion.
Ismet and myself were now in excellent spirits at the
prospect of shortly seeing our friends, our horses fed, and
our camp, but the sound which cheered us up the most was
that of cannon, which we could hear rumbling away in
the north, showing that an engagement was already in
progress.
On reaching Lule Burgas, a small town situated in a
valley surrounded by a low range of hills, we inquired for
the camp of the correspondents, but, to our amazement,
could find no trace of them. We repaired to the town hall
and were heartily greeted by the colonel in command
whose name, I believe, was Fouad Bey. He said, " No
correspondents are here. Abdullah must have made a
mistake. They have never come." Ismet and I looked
at one another in amazement and felt depressed, as we had
had nothing to eat all day and had no shelter for the night.
Colonel Fouad then said :
" I suppose you want to see the fighting. Well, you can
go and see it. Follow the sound of the guns. They
commenced at three o'clock and seem to be coming nearer
every minute."
We explained our difficulty to the colonel, as we had no
horses, no food, and no tents. He said, " There are no
horses to be had in the town, as all have been seized by the
troops who passed through here yesterday, but I will do my
best to find you some by the morning. In any case, it is not
worth your while going out to-night, as there are only two
hours' more daylight, and the fighting will be over before
you get there."
The mayor of the town then came to our aid and said,
" I will arrange for you to pass the night in a local inn (or
THE LOCAL HAN 137
han, as they are called in Roumelia), and afterwards the
proprietor will also find you some food."
The news that the correspondents were not in Lule Burgas
and were not even expected there caused Ismet and myself
furiously to think. It was obvious from the sound of the
guns, which kept on booming until nightfall, that they could
not be nearer to the probable scene of hostilities than our-
selves, and we could at least congratulate ourselves on being
well placed for the ensuing battle.
On the other hand, we were without any tents, without
any equipment, or even a change of clothes, but, what was
worst of all, we had no horses. We also had no food,
but expected to be able to live on the country for a day
or two. But the absence of our horses worried us most ;
for without them it would be almost impossible to follow
the various phases of the battle. I told Ismet we must
obtain horses at any price, and gave him carte blanche to
buy any that he could discover in the town, together with
two saddles. I had plenty of money, having more than
two hundred pounds in gold strapped round my waist.
We decided that, with or without horses, we would make no
further effort to find our missing colleagues until after the
battle. In fact, I would have made no effort to find them
at all, except for the fact that I was anxious for my brother
to rejoin me, and above all to obtain my horses, my camp
equipment, and my supplies.
We accompanied the proprietor of the han to his hostelry.
It had been closed up, as the majority of the Turkish
inhabitants had fled from Burgas some days before, and
were now well on their way to Stamboul. Ranged round
a very dirty deserted courtyard were several small rooms,
each containing a still dirtier bed covered by a thick quilt.
The proprietor did his utmost to make us comfortable. He
managed to secure a chicken and some eggs, a loaf of bread.
138 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
and three bottles of local wine which, on an ordinary
occasion, would not have commanded our favour, but which
seemed delicious in our exhausted and semi-starving
condition.
The cooking, however, was not equal to the materials.
The eggs were ruined through being fried in some rancid oil,
and the chicken was likewise spoiled to the European palate.
However, this mattered but little. We made a substantial
meal and retired to rest, having secured some extra coverings
from the spare beds as the night was bitterly cold.
CHAPTER XI
LULE BURGAS THE FIRST DAY
We passed a fairly comfortable night, and were astir at
dawn, aroused by the cannon, which again commenced to
boom from the north-east far more vigorously than on the
previous day. We hastened to the town hall to inquire if
the colonel had succeeded in finding us horses ; but he had
not, and sent us on to the commander of the independent
cavalry division, Sali Pasha, who was quartered in the town.
We found the general in a local wine shop with his staff,
snatching some refreshment. All the officers were most
agreeable, but explained that for days they had not seen their
baggage or spare horses, and therefore could not procure us
a mount.
We were in despair, and I was suffering greatly from sore
feet, as my field boots had been soaked for three days and
had become frozen to my feet. Ismet suggested that I
should try to buy a new pair in the town in case we had to
walk, and I managed to procure a strange outfit from a
local Jew for a very high price, and also a pair of puttees.
Thus I could manage to walk with difficulty.
Once more we returned to the town hall, where we
found the colonel and the mayor in a great state of excite-
ment. The colonel said, " You are just in time. I have
received news that a large force of Bulgarians is advancing
from the north-east, and we have only one battalion of
infantry with which to defend the position. If you want to
see the fight come along with me." The mayor at the same
time came up and said, " I have found two horses, but only
140 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
one saddle." Ismet and I examined these animals. Both
were old and almost past work, but we decided to take the
one with the saddle, and ride and walk alternately.
Meanwhile the colonel had disappeared, so we followed
two squadrons of cavalry, which were hastily leaving the
town and making for the hills half a mile away, from which
the sound of violent musketry fire was just breaking out.
We had only gone a short distance when the enemy's shells
began to burst amongst the infantry on the ridge. The
volleys became heavier ; the great battle had begun. I
glanced at my watch. It was exactly eleven o'clock.
As we advanced to the ridge a crowd of wounded men
began to trickle away from the firing line towards the town,
and also a great many stragglers who were not wounded.
An officer stopped and spoke to us.
" Do not go on any further. It is awful up there. The
enemy are in tremendous force. I have already been
wounded, and we cannot hold the position."
Ismet and I soon learned the truth of his words from the
bullets which began to fly around us in ever-increasing
numbers, and, not wishing to become mixed up in the
conflict, we moved more to the left to join the cavalry, who
had dismounted and were taking up a position on a hill,
evidently with the intention of checking the enemy's
advance towards the railway station, as it was obviously
their intention to try to cut the line.
Suddenly the Turkish infantry broke, and made for the
shelter of the town, running in complete disorder in small
groups. Ismet and I were swept away in the general.
sauve qui pent, and beating our wretched horse to make
him move more quickly, were soon across the bridge and
under the shelter of the houses.
Here we found a half-battalion of infantry strongly
entrenched, and evidently determined to defend the town
to the end. Their attitude was splendid. They were
"THERE ARE THE BULGARIANS!" 141
in no way demoralised by the sudden abandonment of the
hills, and each man, as he lay behind an entrenchment or
stone wall, seemed determined to hold his ground or die.
The refugees from the hills soon recovered from their
temporary panic and joined their comrades in the town.
The wounded from the hills began slowly to trickle in,
most of them making their way on foot, as there were
no ambulances, as far as I could see, anywhere.
At this moment Sali Pasha and his cavalry dashed
through the opening in the ranks of the infantry and
hastened to join the remainder of his dismounted cavalry,
who were already engaged with the enemy. At 11.30 masses
of dark-clothed figures began to appear among the trees
on the low ridge of hills lately evacuated by the Turks.
A great shout went up : " There are the Bulgarians I "
For a few minutes the enemy withdrew from sight, and
then reappeared in the form of a strong firing line, steadily
advancing. The Turkish soldiers around me commenced
to ply them with long-ranged fire, which did not check
the advance for a moment. A staff officer dashed up
shouting : " Everyone must clear out of the town and make
for the higher ground behind, where you will find our
infantry entrenched. The town cannot long be held. Only
the rear-guard can remain."
Ismet and I then made our way slowly to the rear, but
were dragged into a vortex of men, women, children, carts,
stray soldiers, unarmed men and wounded, all hastening to
escape from the enemy's shrapnel, which had commenced to
burst over the town itself. The confusion was awful. A
complete panic had seized the flying mob, and every minute
we expected to have the enemy's shells burst in our midst.
I had no time to save my boots, which later in the day fell
into the hands of the Bulgarians. The road outside the
town was a mass of fleeing refugees. A magazine of old or
obsolete arms and ammunition had been hastily burst open.
142 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
and all were invited to help themselves to the contents.
The road led up to a high plateau, for, as I have said, Lule
Burgas lies in a valley, through which there runs a shallow
river, and on the crest of the plateau I saw long lines of
Turkish infantry entrenched, together with two batteries of
artillery in position.
Having reached the crest, Ismet and myself refused to
flee any further, and stayed with the guns to watch the
Bulgarian attack on Lule Burgas, which lay at our feet only
a short mile away.
Two separate engagements were now taking place in this
portion of the field, for part of the Bulgarian infantry had
right- wheeled, and were making a desperate attack on Sali's
dismounted cavalry, who were nobly trying to check the
advance on the railway station, the capture of which would
mean the cutting of the line and the isolation of Adrianople.
The fighting in this quarter was of the fiercest character, and
the Turkish cavalry, only about 800 strong, lost 150 men
before being obliged to retire.
But the sight which interested me the most was the
attack on Lule Burgas. The Bulgarians now half-surrounded
the town, and had advanced half-way down the hill, where
they lay firing at the entrenched battalion of Turks in
the town. The latter had inflicted very heavy losses on
the invaders, who were quite devoid of any cover. But
now the Bulgarian artillery had been brought up to the
crest of the ridge, and commenced to shell the town and the
Turkish entrenchments on the higher ground where we
stood. Their fire was wonderfully accurate, but the Turks
stood their ground well and refused to leave the town.
For more than two hours this rear-guard held out heroically.
About two o'clock fresh masses of Bulgarian infantry
debouched from the hills and rushed down into the firing
line, and the whole line dashed forward with magnificent
elan. The fire from the Turkish entrenchments now rose
CAPTURE OF LULE BURGAS
143
into a sullen roar. It was independent, and as rapid as each
man could load and fire. The Bulgarians fell in scores, and
the advance came to an end only a few hundred yards
away from the entrenchments.
But the defence had shot its last bolt, the ammunition
Plan of the Battle op Lule Burgas.
was exhausted, and much against its will the heroic rear-
guard was obliged to fall back.
I was much struck by the failure of the Turkish artillery
to take advantage of the splendid target afforded by the
Bulgarians as they advanced on Lule Burgas. When we
asked the commander of the battery why he did not fire, he
said, "I am not sure if they are Bulgarians or our own
people, and I have received no orders to fire in any case."
144 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
Finally he did condescend to drop a few shells at them, but
these were badly aimed and fell short.
On the retirement of the Turkish rear-guard the Bulgarians
entered Lule Burgas and hoisted a flag on the mosque, but
for some time they only managed to maintain possession of
one-half of the town, on account of the Turkish shell fire
which was now concentrated on them.
Hitherto 1 have only attempted to describe what was
taking place on the extreme left of the Turkish line and
extreme right of the Bulgarian, but once Lule Burgas was
taken I was able to look round, and I will now attempt to
give an account of what was going on in other directions
stretching nearly twenty miles to the north-east.
The ground, over which six army corps were contending,
is a vast undulating plain, with shallow valleys, in which are
half-buried, scattered villages, which naturally played a very
important part in both the attack and the defence. So open
is the ground, that from the higher ridges it was possible to
follow the movements of all three Turkish Army Corps
although, naturally, those individual incidents which make
war so fascinating could only be followed close at hand.
On this day's fighting, namely, Tuesday, October 29th,
the Turks had three Army Corps engaged ; the fourth, under
Abouk Pasha, was in and around Lule Burgas. From this
point the line stretched north-east to the village of Turk
Bey, where the ground was held by the 1st Army Corps,
under Yavir Pasha, and from here was carried on to the
village of Bunar-Hissar by the 2nd Corps, under the com-
mand of Shefket Torgut Pasha. The extreme right of
the line was at Viza, where was stationed the Third Corps
under Mahmoud Muhktar.
Along the whole of this front the battle raged furiously
throughout Tuesday, October 29th. All along the line
the Bulgarians were on the offensive, and, to gauge from
the severity of the artillery fire, their evident object was
A COUNTER ATTACK 145
to break through between the right of the 1st Corps and
the left of the 2nd Corps, between Turk Bey and Karagach.
It is utterly impossible for me or any single eye-witness
to describe the whole of this great conflict in detail. It
will be months before the reports of all the commanders
are collected and collated and the whole story rendered
intelligible to the military reader. I can only put on paper
that which I saw with my own eyes.
The whole of the battle front for twenty miles was clearly
shown by the masses of bursting shrapnel shells. Never
before have I seen such an artillery fire. For every battery
the Turks seemed to have in action, the Bulgarians were
able to produce half a dozen, and, whereas the Turkish
fire was desultory and generally ill-directed, the Bulgarian
shells burst in a never-ceasing storm on the Turkish
positions with a maximum of effect. In fact, the enemy
seemed to have so little respect for the Turkish batteries
that they seldom directed their fire against them, but
concentrated it on the infantry, who suffered enormous
losses, and became sadly demoralised.
There seemed to be no escaping from these Bulgarian
shells. Ismet and myself were kept continually on the
move, for, whenever we took up a position from which
to watch the fight, we were sure to be driven from it by
the enemy's fire, and what rendered the plight of ourselves
and of the Turkish troops all the worse, was the impossibility
of obtaining any cover on this bare plateau of grassy land
or ploughed fields.
After the taking of Lule Burgas, the Bulgarian advance
against the left flank of the Turkish line was checked for
the remainder of the day by the artillery, and towards
evening, an hour before darkness set in, Abouk Pasha, the
commander of the 4th Corps, decided to deliver a counter-
attack on the town mth one of his divisions advancing from
the high ground into the valley. This attack was well-
L
146 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
directed, and seemed to meet with success. 1 was talking
to the commander of the 12th Division, which made this
attack, and he was highly pleased with its success.
" The enemy," he said, " seems to be retiring, and is only
offering a feeble resistance with his artillery and mitrailleuses."
I saw a portion of the Bulgarian infantry all run away
back towards the hills, but the Turkish counter-attack,
which seemed to offer hopes of great things, came to an
abrupt stop with the fall of night. For two hours, between
four and six, the fighting on the extreme right of the
Turkish line became furious. The artillery fire on both sides
swelled into a crescendo, and the rifle fire was so incessant
that it seemed to come from one huge machine. We could
see the smoke moving slowly forward on the right, which
meant that the 2nd Army Corps was not only holding its
own, but was actually advancing, and all the officers with
whom I spoke were confident that the day was going well
for the Imperial army.
But just before dusk the Bulgarians made a supreme effort
against the 2nd Army Corps, and not only stopped its
advance, but actually pushed it back, recovering some of
their lost ground.
Now for the first time the unpleasantness of our own
position dawned upon Ismet and myself. Throughout the
day we had been too busy watching the fighting and moving
from point to point to avoid the shrapnel shells to trouble
about our future. But directly the night fell, we were most
unpleasantly reminded, by cold and the pangs of hunger,
that we had nowhere to spend the night and were without
food. We might have taken some from Lule Burgas, but
the capture of the town came so suddenly and unexpectedly
that we left without anything.
In the early morning I picked up and placed in the
pocket of my overcoat half a loaf of bread, but on entering
the han to speak with Sali Pasha, I placed it for a moment
ABOUK PASHA 147
on the table, and it must have been immediately snatched
up by some hungry soldier, for I never saw it again. Fortu-
nately, on the previous evening Ismet had taken the pre-
caution to fill his water bottle with the one remaining bottle
of wine, but by the evening this had been entirely consumed.
A feeling of complete desertion settled over us both. We
felt we had not got a friend in the world and were entirely
dependent on our own exertions. Fortunately, at this
moment Ismet met a staff officer with whom he was
acquainted, and who said he was on his way to the head-
quarters of Abouk Pasha, the Commander of the 4th Army
Corps, and advised us to come along with him.
Abouk, who is a very big thick-set man, received us in
the most friendly manner, but he seemed somewhat
depressed over the result of the day's operations. When he
heard of our plight, he said :
" I would like to give you food and shelter, but I am no
better ofF myself, as I have nowhere to go, and I shall have
to spend the night riding around with my escort. Last
night was bitterly cold, and I think to-night will be just as
bad. I do not advise you to remain out in the open, and
therefore I think the wisest course would be for you to
make for the headquarters of Abdullah Pasha, the
Commander-in-Chief, which are at the village of Sakiskeuy,
about ten kilometres north of here. I will give you two
soldiers from my escort, who know the road, and who will
conduct you there."
Abouk Pasha then went on to talk of war, which he
described as a miserable game, only fit for barbarians, and
having nothing glorious about it.
Having thanked the general, Ismet and myself set off in
the darkness towards Sakiskeuy. The spectacle now was
extremely majestic. The firing had almost entirely died
down, and only an occasional cannon shot, or the distant
crackle of musketry reminded one that 200,000 combatants
l2
148 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
lay ready to fly at each other's throats directly dawn should
appear. The whole of the horizon as far as the eye could
reach was lit up by a chain of burning villages and hamlets,
for the Bulgarians set every village they took on fire, and
the Turkish soldiers, careless after the fatigues of the day,
often involuntarily brought similar disaster to the homes of
their unfortunate countrymen. These fires led many of the
Turkish generals to believe that the Bulgarians were retiring,
and that dawn would find the positions in front of them
evacuated.
Our course to Sakiskeuy led us in the rear of the hnes of
the 4th and the 1st Army Corps. We passed innumerable
stragglers searching for their regiments, ammunition trains
lost in the darkness, deserters from the fighting line who had
had enough of war, and hundreds of wounded men, looking
either for shelter or for field dressing stations. For these latter
they looked in vain, for they seemed almost non-existent.
The plight of the wounded was awful. So inadequate
was the Turkish medical service, that the wounded could
hardly secure first aid. There were no mounted ambulances,
and hardly any stretchers. Thus every wounded man who
could possibly walk had to make his own way to the rear,
and the serious cases were either left to perish miserably on
the ground, or were carried, to meet a similar fate, into the
nearest village, where they were abandoned, as there was no
possible way of carrying them off when the army was in
full retreat.
Hundreds of wounded stopped us on our way to Sakiskeuy,
and asked us if we could tell them where they could find the
ambulances or the hospitals. Alas ! neither existed.
We reached the village at 9 o'clock and found it full
of exhausted troops and wounded men, who had taken
possession of every house. The village had been formerly a
prosperous one, and contained considerable stores of grain
A TALK WITH ABDULLAH 149
and straw, but absolutely no food. The men, many of
whom had eaten nothing for two days, were eating raw
mealie cobs, or else grinding them to flour and making a
coarse, almost uneatable bread, which at least was better than
nothing.
We found Abdullah and his staff installed in a miserable
little four-roomed hut, crowded together like flies. The
general was very much surprised to see us, but greeted us
with his usual kindliness, and said we might stay with his
staff for the night. Ismet and myself were glad of shelter, as
we were thoroughly exhausted after our long wearying day
without a particle of food, and nothing to drink except one
bottle of local wine, which we had saved from Lule Burgas.
But the General Staff of the army were in almost as bad
a plight. They had come from Chorion at a moment's
notice, leaving all their baggage behind and were almost
without food. The staff officers and ourselves dined off one
plate of pilaf and two loaves of stale bread of the worst
quality, and of such a taste that one felt after each mouthful
that one had robbed the museum at Pompeii.
However, we made the best of it, and were all very
cheerful, for the day's operations seemed to have taken a
favourable turn and the general impression at headquarters
was that on the following morning the Bulgarians would be
found in full retreat.
After dinner Abdullah came in and talked to me for a
quarter of an hour, and gave me a splendid cigar, which,
in the circumstances, was about the greatest luxury
anyone could have provided. He inquired carefully of
what I had seen during the day, and seemed greatly
surprised when I told him that Lule Burgas had been taken,
a piece of information which had hitherto not reached him.
He then pointed out to me on the map the various positions
of his army corps, and told me several details of the fighting
of which I was hitherto ignorant. He laid special stress on
150 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
the success of the 2nd Corps, which for some time had
carried all before it, and had only been checked by the
desperate counter-attack of the Bulgarians just before dusk.
The general said, " The Slavs always make their final effort
before dusk. It is the hour they like best for fighting."
Then he went on to explain his plans for the following
day, and used these memorable words :
" Mahmoud Mukhtar with the 3rd Army Corps is coming
up from Viza to-morrow. I shall be able to throw him on
the enemy's left wing, and I trust this movement will lead
to good results and force the Bulgarians to retire."
At the same time, Abdullah told me he had another
Army Corps in reserve, the 17th, which was coming up from
Tatarli, and that he would reinforce the 2nd Corps with
it on the following morning.
Now what became of this mysterious 17th Corps which
does not apparently exist in the Turkish organisation ? Did
Abdullah mean the 17th Division of Redifs ? Whether
it was a Division or a Provisional Army Corps, it never
came to the assistance of the 2nd Army Corps on the
following day, Wednesday, October 30th, and its movements
have remained a profound mystery ever since. I was under
the impression that it never reached the battlefield, but
broke up and dispersed en route. I have, however, since
heard from a reliable officer that this mysterious division
or corps, instead of reinforcing the 2nd Army Corps, joined
the 3rd Corps under Mahmoud Mukhtar and was involved
in his fight and subsequent retreat.
That night I listened to many strange tales of the
fighting, brought in by aides-de-camp from all quarters of
the field. Most of these officers were highly optimistic,
and prophesied a great victory on the following day, but
there was one whose name I cannot recall who said to me :
" Things are not going well. Up to a certain hour the
2nd Army Corps was making considerable progress, but
A COMFORTLESS BIVOUAC 151
the final Bulgarian attack drove it back. To-night there
is tremendous concentration of the enemy in front of the
2nd Army Corps, and to-morrow we shall see the bloodiest
fight of the battle there."
All the Turkish officers were loud in their praises of the
bravery of the Bulgarian troops. They described how, when
determined to gain a position, they came on regardless of
their losses. Their bodies were literally piled up in heaps
after the fight in front of the 2nd Corps.
Having bid good-night to Abdullah and having
wished him every success on the morrow, the junior
officers of the staff*, Ismet and myself proceeded to make
ourselves as comfortable as we could for the night. We
dispersed through the village, stole all the straw we
could find and piled it up in the little room where we
were to pass the night. It was not more than twelve feet
square, and there were some sixteen of us to sleep there, as
many staff" officers, having come in with reports from other
corps, were to remain at headquarters until the morning, and
then to carry back fresh orders.
I remember that evening, in spite of our hunger; our
anxieties and the general uncertainty of our position, we
were all very cheerful and sat up for a long time telling
stories and listening to each one's experiences during the
day. One officer who had come in from Sali's Cavalry
Division was better supplied than his comrades, and gave
me a stick of chocolate, which helped to stave off* the pangs
of hunger just a little longer. Hardly any of us had any
blankets and I was continually awakened during the night
by the bitter cold, and I do not think any of us really slept
except for half an hour at a time. However, the feeling of
excitement and the prospects of further dramatic develop-
ments on the following day kept up our spirits and caused
us to bear the cold and the ever-growing feehng of star-
vation without complaint.
CHAPTER XII
LULE BURGAS THE SECOND DAY
I WILL now describe the second day of this disastrous
battle, which has settled the fate of Turkey in Europe.
At dawn on Wednesday, October 30th, Abdullah Pasha
and his staff were early astir. It was bitterly cold, but
fortunately the weather remained fine and clear. All of us
had passed a miserable, sleepless night, lying amidst the
straw hastily collected on the previous evening. Neither the
general nor anyone else had a scrap of breakfast or even a
cup of tea, for not a morsel of food remained in the village
of Sakiskeuy.
If this was the lot of the Commander-in-Chief of the army,
imagine that of his troops. For .three days the majority of
the men had had absolutely nothing to eat, and very many
of them but little to drink, as water in many parts of the
field was scarce, and often whole regiments had to fill their
bottles from muddy ponds, in which horses and oxen had
trampled and stirred up the sediment. For three days the
troops had lain out on the bare hills in the icy cold with no
covering except their coats. The majority of the wounded
lay exactly where they had fallen on the previous day, and
only the minor cases had been able to drag themselves to the
rear. But as there were no hospitals or field dressing
stations, the wounded had to make their own way for fully
THE DAWN OF OCTOBER 30 153
forty miles to Chorlou, before they could hope to find any
succour. A few may have eventually reached shelter,
thanks to the wonderful constitution of the Turkish soldier,
but the majority must have succumbed en route.
If ever an army was not in a position to renew a battle,
it was the Turkish army on the morning of Wednesday,
October 30th. Without food, without ammunition for
the artillery, without supports for the firing-line, it was
obvious that nothing could stave off the disaster unless
Mahmoud Mukhtar and the 3rd Corps could make a
diversion on the enemy's left flank, or unless the Bulgarian
offensive had spent its force, and they, too, were in as equally
bad plight as the Turks.
Reports which had come in at dawn from Shefket Torgut
Pasha, the commander of the 2nd Corps, showed that a great
concentration of the enemy was taking place in front of his
army corps between Turk Bey and Karagach. And to meet
this fresh concentration Abdullah had not a single fresh
battalion to throw into the firing line. Only one thing could
save the day, namely, for the 2nd Corps to hold its own until
Mahmoud Mukhtar and the 3rd Corps could come up.
I had a few words with Abdullah at dawn. He was calm,
but it was easy to see that inwardly he was beset with
anxiety. He asked me what I was going to do. I replied :
" I shall stay with you, with your permission, to see the end
of the battle, after which I shall try to make my way to
Chorlou, where perhaps I shall find my horses." Abdullah
replied : " Go straight out in front of the hills towards Turk
Bey. There you will see the real struggle."
The general and his staff rode off. Ismet and myself
followed the road they had taken, which led up to the low
hills in front of Sakiskeuy. On my way I was amazed by the
number of stragglers from the fighting line. Hundreds, even
thousands, of men, who should have been with their regi-
154 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
merits, were strolling about the country, searching for food
and taking no notice of the efforts of staff officers to induce
them to return to the front. Many were in a pitiful state,
so weak from two days' fighting and three without food,
that they could hardly drag themselves along.
On the low hills in front of Sakiskeuy Abdullah and his
staff took up their stand on an ancient mound about fifty
feet high, of which there are many scattered over the country.
They are said to be tombs marking the burial-places of the
victims of former battles in this dark and bloody land.
To-day this proved to be the tomb of Turkey's hopes, for
from this mound Abdullah Pasha watched the defeat and
destruction of his army.
Neither of the combatants seemed anxious to renew the
struggle, and it was nearly eight a.m. before the Bulgarian
artillery commenced a furious bombardment all along the
line from Lule Burgas to Karagach. In spite of the
immense expenditure of ammunition on the previous day,
the enemy apparently had an unlimited supply left, for he
did not use it sparingly, but fired with rapidity and precision.
Against this storm of shells the Turkish artillery could
return but a feeble reply, for not a scrap of fresh ammunition
had been brought up during the night, and those batteries
which still possessed a few shells in their caissons were loth
to use them until the decisive moment had arrived.
It was a sad sight to watch the long lines of infantry on
the hills, a mile to our front, the batteries of artillery and
the horse teams lying for hour after hour under this storm
of shrapnel, unable to reply, unable to advance, and un-
willing to retire. Men and horses fell in scores, and soon
the dismal procession of wounded men, bleeding from feet,
hands, faces, shoulders, from anywhere where the hurt was
not vital, came dribbling back past us into the village of
Sakiskeuy.
THE TOMB OF TURKEY'S HOPES 155
The hill on which Abdullah Pasha had taken up his
stand was about the centre of the arc of a semicircle,
extending from the railway line at I^ule Burgas station to
Karagach, in the north-east. It speedily became obvious
that the object of the Bulgarians was to break or turn the
Turkish left flank, and if possible cut off the retirement of
the army from Chorion, and at the same time to crush
Abdullah's centre, or at least, hold the 2nd Army Corps
and prevent it from advancing.
The plan of Abdullah, the only one which offered the
smallest hope of success, was to hold his left wing with
the 4th and 1st Corps, to attack with his centre now formed
by the 2nd Corps, and to crush the enemy's left wing by
hurling the whole of the 3rd Corps under Mahmoud
Mukhtar on to it. To gain time for the 3rd Corps to come
up from Viza, Abdullah ordered Shefket Torgut Pasha, the
commander of the 2nd Corps, to attack the enemy with his
entire army corps, or what was left of it, united and massed
on a small front.
The ground over which the troops had to advance to
the attack was a plateau similar to those I have already
described, only having this difference, that it was covered
with very small trees and shrubbery, which gave a certain
amount of concealment, but absolutely no cover against
artillery fire.
This attack was supported by several batteries of artillery,
which were pushed up close to the firing line, and in
consequence suffered enormous losses. Abdullah, I fancy,
had imagined that the enemy would take the offensive
against the 2nd Corps, and, when they displayed no
inclination to do so, he decided to take the offensive himself.
As a matter of fact, the Bulgarians, having suffered
enormous losses in their final effort to hold the 2nd Corps
on the previous night, had now entrenched themselves,
156 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
determined, as was proved later in the day, to act on the
defensive in this part of the field, and furiously to attack
Abdullah's left wing. Had the Turkish Commander-in-Chief
had a fresh army corps in hand, or had he even possessed a
spare division of infantry, some more batteries of artillery,
or even ammunition for the batteries he did have, it is
possible the attack of the 2nd Corps would have been
crowned with success. But as it was, his troops were
already worn out and decimated, his artillery had only a
few rounds left, and the moral of the army had sunk to
the lowest ebb.
Nevertheless, the troops of Shefket Torgut advanced
bravely to the attack. A firing hne, nearly half a mile long,
was formed and swept forward over the open ground until
it became almost hidden from view amidst the low
shrubbery of which I have already spoken.
For a short time it really seemed to us spectators as if
the advance v/ould be successful, for the infantry pressed
steadily, and only the enemy's artillery opposed the onrushing
Turks. But suddenly a deafening roar of musketry rent the
air, intermingled with the tragic hum of innumerable
machine guns. The noise was infernal, but it only lasted
for a short time.
Then suddenly there appeared rushing from the wooded
ground the remnant of the Turkish firing-line. Full fifty
per cent, had fallen, and the remainder, losing all semblance
of order, dispersed in small groups, and under a perfect rain
of shrapnel, dashed back on to the supports and reserves.
Even here their flight did not end ; for in spite of the eiForts
of the officers, the fugitives pressed on to the rear until they
had reached safety behind the ground on whieh we were
standing.
The supports and reserves of the broken firing-line were
hurried to the front. They, too, reached the edge of the
DEFEAT OF THE 2nd CORPS 157
wooded ground, where they were met in turn by such a hail
of shrapnel and bullets that the lines seemed Uterally to
melt away to nothing under the withering blast.
Two Turkish batteries, the only ones which seemed to
possess any ammunition in this part of the field, attempted
to relieve the pressure by opening up on the enemy's
guns, but as the latter were invisible, it made not the slightest
difference to their volume of fire. The only effect was to
attract to the artillery some of the shrapnel which had played
such havoc with the infantry. The two Turkish batteries
were speedily placed out of action. One of them lost all its
men except seven, and had 150 horses placed hors de
combat. Fresh teams were sent up later in the day to bring
them to the rear. 1 examined this battery carefully on
the following day during the retreat. The shields were
bespattered with shrapnel bullets, and an entire shell had
passed through the shield of the gun.
Immediately after the failure of the attack of the 2nd
Army Corps, I suggested to Ismet that we should ride to
the position now held by the defeated Corps and examine the
condition of the troops, and also endeavour to ascertain their
losses. Ismet, however, pointed out that we had only one
horse and that it would be very poor fun for the one who
had to walk. I then said to him : " You stay here and I
will go and have a look and will return in an hour." Ismet
advised me not to go, saying I would probably get into
trouble and might be mistaken by the ignorant soldiers for
a Bulgarian.
However, I decided to go, and mounting the worn-
out, half- starved old nag, was soon on my way. I was
approaching my destination when I encountered some
mounted Turkish soldiers accompanied by an officer. I was
immediately seized by them in spite of my protestations. I
showed them the badge which I should have worn on my
158 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
arm, but which I was carrying in my pocket. It made not
the slightest difference. They seized me by each arm, took
away my revolver and field glasses, and almost every odd
and end I happened to have in my pocket. They then
dragged me before Abdullah and his Staff, who laughed
heartily and ordered my immediate release and the restitution
of my few effects. Abdullah then sent for Ismet and told
him he was not to allow me to go off alone again. There
was no chance of this, as I had had quite enough.
The incidents I am now relating took place about twelve,
midday. For the time being the forward movement of the
2nd Corps came to an abrupt stop, and the infantry fell back
a considerable distance, where they remained for hours, ex-
posed to the enemy's shrapnel fire, unable to advance and
unwilling to retire.
While this desperate struggle was raging in fi-ont of the
2nd Corps the Bulgarians were engaged in delivering a series
of equally desperate attacks on Abdullah's left wing and
centre, held by the 4th Corps on the extreme left, and by
the 1st Corps between Lule Burgas and Turk Bey. The
brunt of this attack fell on the weakened 4th Corps, which
the night before still held its entrenchments on the hills
facing Lulu Burgas.
Here again, the Turkish defence was crushed by the
immense superiority of the enemy's artillery fire. Here
again, the old story was repeated of Turkish batteries unable
to play any part in the battle from lack of ammunition.
Here again, a half-starved and worn-out infantry were
expected to fight like men.
Throughout the day the Bulgarian advance against the
left wing made steady progress. Having gained possession
of the railway station, they were able to outflank the 4th
Corps and force it to retire, through fear of having its
retreat cut off altogether.
MAHMOUD MUKHTAR 159
The efforts of Sali Pasha's cavalry to stem the advance
proved utterly futile. They in turn had to give way before
the terrible rain of shell. The gradual outflanking and
retirement of the 4th Corps was plainly visible to
Abdullah and his staff in front of Sakiskeuy, from the clouds
of smoke thrown up by the enemy's shells, which were now
bursting over the left wing of the army, and threatened
every minute to envelop our rear and jeopardise the retreat
of the 1st and 2nd Corps on Chorion.
By two o'clock in the afternoon the position of Abdullah's
army was critical, almost desperate, and the glasses of the
staff were all turned towards the north-east in the direction
of Viza, from which point Mahmoud Mukhtar with the
3rd Corps was making tremendous efforts to come up.
An engagement of a desultory character had been taking
place in that direction throughout the morning, but the
smoke of the bursting shells showed that up to the present
the 3rd Corps had been making steady progress.
Messengers had arrived with the news that Mahmoud
Mukhtar was driving all before him, that the enemy were
becoming steadily demoralised in his front, and that he
hoped to come up on the left of the 2nd Corps in the
course of the afternoon.
This news temporarily raised the spirits of the General
Staff, and for hours all our glasses and all our hopes were
fixed on the 3rd Corps. About two o'clock this engagement
to the north-east became furious. It was obvious that the
Bulgarians had detached large reinforcements from the front
of the 2nd Army Corps or else had brought up fresh troops,
and had passed the right wing of the 2nd Corps, until they
were almost in its rear and were concentrating every man in
this part of the field to hold Mahmoud Mukhtar back.
In the whole course of the battle I never listened to such
an artillery fire as that which arose from the contact of the
160 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
3rd Corps with the enemy. Mahmoud Mukhtar not having
been engaged on the previous day, was able to employ his
artillery to good advantage, and to meet the Bulgarian guns
on more equal terms. But even here, in spite of its previous
exertions and vast expenditure of ammunition, the Bulgarian
artillery soon gained the upper hand.
Throughout the campaign the Creusot gun has proved its
immense superiority over the Krupp in a manner which has
amazed the Turkish artillery officers, but how far this
superiority is due to the weapon and how far to superior
handling it is premature to say.
Even the heroic efforts of Mahmoud's hitherto unbeaten
infantry could not drive back the enemy, who fought with
unparalleled determination and ferocity, absolutely throwing
away their lives in the Japanese manner whenever a point
had to be won or held.
About three o'clock in the afternoon it became obvious
that Mahmoud Mukhtar's advance had been completely
checked. The smoke of his guns no longer steadily
approached the right flank of the 2nd Army Corps. Rather
it seemed to recede, as if he were being slowly driven back.
In any case the great gap between the 2nd and 3rd Corps
had not been filled.
I will interrupt a further description of the day's fighting
to present to the reader the hopeless position of the
Commander-in-Chief of the Turkish army, directing as he
was, or as he should have been directing, the movements of
four army corps, ranged over a front of twenty-five miles.
Abdullah remained throughout the entire day, except for
one brief interval, on the mound of which I have already
spoken. His sole companions were his staff and his personal
escort, and his sole means of obtaining any information as to
what was happening elsewhere were his pair of field glasses.
Not a line of telegraph or telephone had been brought to the
A GENERAL IN THE DARK 161
front, and not a single wireless installation, although the
Turkish army on paper possesses twelve complete outfits for
its army corps ; and not an effort had been made even to
establish a line of messengers by relays to connect head-
quarters with the various army corps. I need hardly add
that not a single aeroplane was anywhere within 100 miles
of the front, and if any exist there was no one to fly them.
Thus, throughout the entire day, Abdullah remained for
hour after hour without any exact information, except that
which he obtained hours too late by dispatching various
staff officers to his corps commanders. In the course of
the day I only saw one orderly ride up with a message, from
which I gather that the corps commanders did not even
take the trouble to communicate with the Commander-in-
Chief.
No one can blame Abdullah ; it was not his fault ; he was
the victim of a vicious system of bluff and make-beheve
and self-deception which has brought such crushing disaster
on Turkey in the present war. But in all my experience I
have never seen a more pathetic or instructive spectacle than
that of this Commander-in-Chief of more than 100,000 rtien
sitting on the tomb of a former generation, as helpless as a
blind-fold man, searching in vain for his enemy.
Thus the battle, instead of being directed by one
master-mind, practically resolved itself into four isolated
engagements with four separate commanders, each com-
pletely ignorant of his comrade's movements, and each
having the same difficulty as his Commander-in-Chief in
communicating with his divisional and brigade commanders.
At about four o'clock I received the first tidings of the
other correspondents. Suddenly Lionel James's dragoman
and his groom came up riding two horses. I was extremely
surprised to see them and asked for their news. They told
me that several of the correspondents who had been
M
162 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
imprisoned at Chorlou ever since their arrival at the front,
had broken loose that morning at the sound of the guns
and v^^ere making every effort to reach the battlefield.
Lionel James himself, so his dragoman told me, had left for
Lule Burgas by motor-car, and he had sent on his two
horses with orders to make for that town with all rapidity.
Of course, he did not know when he gave these instructions
that the town had been captured. I told the dragoman he
was some eight kilometres from Lule Burgas, and he asked
me what I thought he should do, saying plaintively, "It
has taken me eight hours to come from Chorlou here, and
I can't wander all over the battlefield in search of Mr.
James, who may be anywhere now, and in two hours it will
be quite dark." There was truth in this, and I advised him
to remain with myself and Ismet, as Lionel James would
probably try to make his way to headquarters. But no
advice or words of mine would have changed the dragoman's
resolution to remain under my protection. He was delighted
beyond measure at finding himself amongst friends once
again. On the way up he had been arrested by parties of
soldiers who had threatened him, and he was half scared to
death. Later in the afternoon Ismet and myself com-
mandeered the two horses and rode a mile to visit the 2nd
Army Corps. I also learnt from this dragoman some
interesting news of the trials, sufferings, and indignities
which all the correspondents had suffered since their
departure from Constantinople. He told me that both the
motor-car of the Daily Mail and Times and my own had
reached Chorlou safely on the previous day, and that
Donohoe had left Chorlou and had gone down to Rodosto
in ours in search of more petrol. To my unspeakable regret
this man had brought no food with him, so we were but
little better off.
I wiU now describe the dramatic closing stage of this
THE TURKISH GROUCHY 163
battle, which may prove to be one of the decisive battles
of the world. I have already said that by three o'clock
in the afternoon Mahmoud Mukhtar's advance had been
completely checked, and that he was being slowly driven
back. Abdullah and the General Staff recognised clearly
that the situation was almost desperate, unless something
could be done at the eleventh hour to change the fortunes
of the day. Napoleon at Waterloo never waited more
anxiously for Grouchy to come up, than did Abdullah for the
advance of Mahmoud Mukhtar, and now it was obvious
that the battle was lost unless the enemy's line in front of
the 2nd Army Corps could be broken.
Let me describe once again the position of the Turkish
army at this hour. The left wing was completely enveloped
owing to the repulse and retirement of the 4th Corps. The
1st Corps, next in line, was gradually giving way, whilst the
2nd, although still holding its own under tremendous
artillery fire, seemed incapable of any further offensive
movement. On the extreme right and in the rear of the
line the 3rd Corps was also held in check. Thus, should
Mahmoud Mukhtar be still driven back, and should the 4th
and 1st Corps retire much farther, the 2nd Corps in the
centre of the arc of the semicircle would be in danger of
being cut off and enveloped on both its wings.
However, on the other hand, the strategical position of
the Bulgarians was also extremely dangerous, because they
had been obliged to detach a large portion of their forces, and
of their artillery, from the extreme left wing, to check the
advance of the 3rd Corps. Thus the Bulgarians had passed
the right flank of the 2nd Army Corps, and were almost in
its rear.
Now Abdullah still had a chance of retrieving the fortunes
of the day, if he could successfully attack the enemy in
front of the 2nd Army Corps, because if this attack was
m2
164 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
successful and forced the enemy to retire, the Bulgarian
force attacking Mahmoud and the 3rd Corps would be
taken in flank and rear, and its retreat entirely cut off
from the rest of the army. Attacked in front by
JNlahmoud, and in the rear by Shefket Torgut, its position
would have been critical in the extreme.
Again, as in the morning, had the Turkish general had
but a fresh corps in hand and a few batteries of artillery the
day might have been saved. Nevertheless Abdullah, like
Napoleon at Waterloo with his Old Guard, determined to
risk all on one final effort with the exhausted 2nd Corps.
Staff* officers were sent to order an immediate advance.
The wearied troops, their moral half gone under the terrible
rain of shells to which they had been subjected throughout
the day, once more pulled themselves together and advanced
over the ground covered with corpses of their comrades.
This time no single firing line with supports was formed.
The whole corps, or what was left of it, moved forward in
close formation to the edge of the plateau, where disaster
had overtaken them in the morning. No sooner had this
movement begun than the enemy sighted it, and I am told
that no fewer than twelve batteries of artillery concentrated
their fire on the doomed troops. The white puff's of smoke
burst in an unceasing stream above the serried columns,
which were met by a fearful storm of musketry and
mitrailleuse which no troops could face. The column
seemed to be bathing in a surf of shrapnel. The ranks
wavered, then broke, and made precipitously for the rear.
In vain did those behind attempt to check the rush. No
amount of reinforcements could have brought success at this
moment. The Turkish soldier was being asked to do more
than human nature could stand.
Having regained the old ground which they had held aU
day, the fugitives halted, and some semblance of order was
THE END OF THE DAY 165
restored to the ranks, and the corps held its ground for two
hours until darkness set in.
Now it was obvious to all that the battle was irretrievably
lost, and the important question was : Could the half-
destroyed corps hold their ground until the following
morning, or would they be obliged to retire during the
night ?
About half-past five Abdullah Pasha and his staff, seeing
that the game was up, left the mound on which they had
stood all day, and returned to the village of Sakiskeuy. I
took a final glance round the field of battle. Everywhere it
was obvious that the Grand Army of Thrace had been
beaten, and was in full retreat or else barely holding its
ground. The artillery fire still continued, and the smoke of
the shells both to the north and south seemed almost to
envelop both its wings, leaving clear only a gap right in our
rear.
Ismet and I rode over to the ground where the 2nd Corps
had been fighting throughout the day. The dead and
wounded littered the soil in every direction, and the survivors
sat around with a hopeless, listless look on their faces, all
fully realising that the battle was lost. We soon had to
return on account of the enemy's shells, which never ceased
to play over the Turkish position until complete darkness,
at six o'clock, put an end to the struggle.
Both armies were too worn out to molest one another
during the night.
During the day Ismet and myself had been too busy
following the various phases of this stupendous combat to
realise our own plight, but now it had come to an end a
reaction from the intense excitement speedily set in, and
pangs of hunger brought home to us the realisation of our
own position. During the entire day we had not had a
morsel of food or anything to drink except dirty water, and
166 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
now darkness had set in we were without either food or
shelter for the night, intensely weary, and with only one
equally tired old horse between us.
The General had told us in the morning that we could
pass the night again with the staff, but on arriving once
again in Sakiskeuy we found only Abdullah's servant, who
had been wounded in the head on the previous day, at the
house which the staff had occupied. This man told us he
had received orders to pack up Abdullah's baggage and to
be ready to leave at any moment for a destination he did
not know.
This was the final straw, and Ismet and myself both felt
on the verge of despair. Without horses it would be
impossible to retreat with the staff, and we both felt that,
weakened as we were from want of food, it would be
impossible for us to make our way on foot the fifty odd
miles to Chorlou, the nearest point where we could hope to
find food or horses. We asked the Mushir's servant if he
could obtain us any food, but he only replied, " There is
none to be had. The only thing my master has had to eat
all day has been a toasted mealie cob. There is absolutely
nothing left in the countryside."
I sat down on a chair, and Ismet did likewise, both of us
too apathetic to care what happened, and both too weary to
move another yard. I remember an endless procession of
wounded men passing through the village, some dragging
themselves along, others carried on improvised stretchers,
others supporting one another, others falling to the ground
as soon as they saw a pile of hay on which to throw
themselves.
I also recollect seeing some desperate cases brought up to
a surgeon, who was gesticulating wildly, explaining, Ismet
told me, that it was useless bringing them to him as he had
no bandages, no medicine, and no means of performing any
A DRAMATIC MEETING 167
operation. The stretcher-bearers — hurdle-bearers, as it
would be better to call them — took them to the nearest
house, and left them inside.
Yet throughout all these horrid scenes I never heard even
a groan or a reproach escape from the sufferers. Each
seemed to realise that his number was up, and accepted
his hard lot with superb dignity and fortitude. Shortly
afterwards a dying officer was brought in and laid in
Abdullah's house, as no accommodation could be found
elsewhere.
I sat debating in my mind what to do. At that moment
I would have paid any price for a couple of good horses, for
a biscuit, or for a bottle of whiskey. I thought how ironical
it seemed that I should be sitting there with £200 in gold
strapped round my waist, and yet be unable to buy even
a cigarette. It is surprising how quickly one becomes
apathetic to the sufferings of others, when one is faced
with necessity oneself, and even the lot of the wounded
aroused but little interest amongst those of us who were
unhurt.
It was now a question of sauve qui peut, and that feeling
had taken possession of the whole army. I had almost
made up my mind to pass the night in Sakiskeuy, and in
the morning to surrender to the Bulgarians, rather than
make any further effort requiring physical exertion.
I was sitting there, half asleep in the semi-darkness, when
I suddenly heard my brother's voice calling me by name. I
looked up, and there, to my unutterable amazement, I saw
my brother riding a horse. Sir Bryan Leighton on another,
a young English photographer called Gordon mounted on a
third, two or three servants and grooms, and a covered-in
country cart loaded to the brim with tents and baggage.
Had a celestial caravan suddenly tumbled from the skies I
could not have been more surprised, and, for a few moments,
168 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
I thought I had been dreaming. My brother told me after-
wards that the only question I asked him was, " Have you
brought any food and drinks ? "
To the infinite joy of Ismet and myself, they had brought
supplies for three days. Without waiting to ask any
questions, we rushed to the wagon and devoured anything
in sight. Then it occurred to me to inquire of my brother
how they had happened to turn up in Sakiskeuy, and
whence they had come.
This is the story they told me.
All the correspondents since their arrival at the front had
been locked up in Chorion and closely guarded. They were
all so closely guarded that sentries were even placed round
their camp. On the night that Ismet and myself arrived in
Chorion all were safely quartered in houses in the town, and
yet this fact was unknown to Abdullah Pasha and his staff
when they sent us on to Lule Burgas.
On Tuesday the sound of the guns of the great battle
aroused all the prisoners to frenzy, and they determined to
break way on the following morning and make their own
way to the battlefield. The officer in charge of them,
hearing of this project, said he would conduct them himself
to Lule Burgas, being ignorant that the town had fallen
into the hands of the Bulgarians, and he gave a general
rendezvous for half-past seven.
But the more enterprising Englishmen, especially, had
lost all faith in Turkish promises, and long before that hour
the Anglo-Saxon section had cleared out, and were well on
their way to the front
My brother bought a cart, harnessed my two strongest
horses to drag it, and made for Lule Burgas. By
one of those strange chances which cannot be explained,
they took the wrong road, and instead of arriving at Lule
Burgas, or near it, they wandered quite by accident into
5
WE FEED ABDULLAH 169
the village of Sakiskeuy, where they found us in such dire
distress.
But for this accident I do not know what would have
become of us on the following day. I do not think I
could ever have reached Chorion on foot, and certainly not
in time to send my account of the battle to the Daily
Telegraph.
The arrival of food, tents, and our baggage soon caused us
to forget all our miseries and misfortunes, and, as all the
houses were occupied, we pitched a tent, collected some com
for the horses, which had done forty miles that day over bad
roads, and proceeded to cook our evening meal.
About eight o'clock Ismet came to me and said : "Abdul-
lah has returned with his staff. They are once more in the
house, and do not intend to leave to-night, but all are starving,
and have not so much as a loaf of bread between them."
I collected half our stores, had a hot kettle of cocoa made,
and carried them to Abdullah Pasha myself. It was indeed
a pleasure, at such a moment, to be able to repay in some
small measure his many acts of kindness and hospitality
towards Ismet and myself. The General was sitting on the
floor of his little room, surrounded by his staff, and with
many general officers, including Shefket Torgut Pasha, who
had been summoned to a council of war.
Abdullah Pasha looked worn out and cast down. The
faces of all present reflected the deepest depression, almost
amounting to despair, and if any further confirmation were
needed as to the plight of the army, it was to be found in
the appearance of the Headquarters Staff.
The Commander-in-Chief rose when I entered and ex-
plained my mission, and thanked me profusely, saying that,
without my coming to his aid, he would have been obliged
to go without any supper. I wished him success, and
expressed a hope that the enemy, exhausted by their
170 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
exertions, would be found to have retreated on the fol-
lowing day. Abdullah Pasha merely shook his head and
rephed : " I am afraid not. Our army has made tremendous
sacrifices, especially the officers, of whom the majority have
fallen, including some of the youngest and most promising."
Then I withdrew. Ismet remained behind to talk with
some of his friends on the staff, and a little later returned to
my tent and asked if I could let Abdullah have a little
brandy. We searched the wagon in vain. In the general
confusion of an early morning departure it had been for-
gotten, and also the whiskey, but fortunately Sir Bryan
Leighton had half a bottle on him. We sent half of this
by Ismet to Abdullah, who sent back word to say it was
the best drink he had ever tasted.
Sir Bryan Leighton and my brother told me of the
alarming state of the army they had passed on their way to
the front. They calculated they had passed at least seven
thousand wounded men dragging themselves to the rear on
foot, and thousands of stragglers fleeing, many having
thrown away their arms. They told me that regiments
leaving Chorion for the front, melted away to the size of
companies before they had gone half-a-dozen miles, and that
even these fresh troops had been two days without food.
They were amazed by what they had seen, having been told
in Chorlou that everywhere the army was victorious and the
Bulgarians beaten back.
CHAPTER XIII
THE ROUT
It now remains for me to describe the last tragic day
in the break-up of Abdullah Pasha's army, of how the
troops who had faced every adverse condition and who
had fought heroically throughout three days, finally gave
way under the strain of starvation and exposure, and each
man, thinking only of his own salvation, sought safety in
flight.
At five a.m. on Thursday, October 31st, I was aroused by
Ismet shaking me. These were the words he whispered
in my ear, not wishing to disturb the other weary sleepers
in the tent : " Come outside quickly ! We can stay here
no longer. Abdullah and his staff have left. The village
has been evacuated. At any minute the Bulgarians may
enter."
I was astonished at the news, because it seemed so strange
that no member of the staff had warned us when they left,
but I suppose in the general confusion of a sudden departure
we had been forgotten. I lost not a moment, but aroused
the camp and set everyone to work packing the wagon and
harnessing the horses. Just as dawn was breaking, a rattle
of musketry from the hills outside the village from which
I had watched the fight on the previous day showed that
172 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
the Bulgarians were already advancing, and that the rear
guard was engaged.
Everyone had cleared out of Sakiskeuy during the night,
with the exception of the seriously wounded, who were
unable to move. They were abandoned to the mercies of
the villagers or else to the care of the enemy.
By six o'clock we were packed and on the march, and just
as we cleared the village the enemy's guns roared. Then
we found ourselves amidst a crowd of stragglers and
wounded, ox-wagons, stray batteries of artillery, and all the
manifold debris of a defeated army. All had one object in
view, namely, to put as great a distance as possible between
themselves and the enemy.
We decided to take the road to a village called Ahmed
Bey, six miles behind Sakiskeuy, where we were told we
would find Abdullah Pasha and his staff; but on reaching
Ahmed Bey we found the village had been evacuated and
was only filled with stragglers and wounded. I therefore
decided to make for Ciiorlou, forty miles away, and to
endeavour to reach it that night.
The country from Sakiskeuy to Chorion is the same broad
undulating plateau, dotted with villages and traversed by
innumerable bridle-paths, nothing in the nature of a high
road existing. Almost all these roads or paths converge on
Chorion, and every one of them was blocked with the fugi-
tives of three beaten army corps. Behind us we could hear,
from the noise of the guns, the bursting of shells ever nearer
our rear, and the incessant rattle of musketry, that a
desperate rear-guard action was taking place, and the sound
nerved us on to fresh exertions. Away to the east a pitched
battle seemed to be raging, showing that Mahmoud Mukhtar,
with the 3rd Corps, was making desperate efforts to retire
from the exposed position in which he had been placed by
the break-up of the 1st, 2nd, and 4th Army Corps.
"SAUVE QUI PEUT " 173
I do not know to this hour if the retreat was ordered by
Abdullah Pasha, or if the troops voluntarily abandoned their
positions and took to flight. Probably an orderly retreat
was arranged, but speedily developed into a sauve qui pent.
The scenes on the road baffle description from my pen.
They recalled to mind a picture I have seen somewhere of
the flight of the French army after Waterloo, or one of
Napoleon's retreats from Russia. Not a vestige of order
remained. Whole brigades and divisions had broken up.
The men made no efforts to preserve their places in the
ranks. The strongest speedily got to the front, and the
weak, sick, and wounded struggled painfully behind.
Thousands of wounded made pathetic efforts to keep up
with their comrades, but each had to shift for himself, as not
even the unwounded were in a condition to lend a helping
hand. Many of the unwounded were so weak that they fell
by the roadside and made no further effort to save them-
selves.
For three days all these men had been without a morsel
of food, and many for even a longer period. Only soldiers
possessing the wonderful constitutions of the Turks could
have stood the strain. As our wagon lumbered along
amidst the ruts, at times threatening to collapse altogether,
many a wounded man begged for a lift, holding up their
hands imploringly. It was awful having to refuse them, for
once we had taken two inside, the cart would not hold
another person, and as it was, the worn-out horses could
hardly drag it along. At times we dismounted and gave
exhausted officers a lift on our horses, for which they were
profoundly thankful.
We distributed the remains of our food to the starving,
but amongst such a multitude our little store could only
supply the wants of a very few. When we came to a
village some way away from the battlefield we were obliged
174 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
even to abandon our two wounded men to the care of
some wagon-drivers, as the horses began to show signs of
breaking down.
The further we receded from the battlefield, the worse
the scene became, because many of the wounded, having
dragged themselves thus far, could go no further, and,
crawling off the track, lay down to die by the roadside
without a curse or reproach at the authors of all their
miseries. Sometimes when a man had died his comrades
would stop a moment and dig a shallow grave, but the
majority of the corpses were left just where they fell.
Amidst the fugitives were many country-people fleeing
from the tide of war; many great trains of ox-wagons,
creaking painfully along ; many stray batteries of artillery,
with the horses so lean that they could hardly drag the
guns, and with the exhausted gunners asleep on the
Umbers. Amidst these thousands of fugitives, the remnants
of three army corps, hardly an officer remained.
At the commencement of the campaign the Turkish
army was no fewer than 2,000 short of its proper quota
of officers. Its loss in officers in this great battle was
enormous, and in consequence whole battalions were left like
sheep without a shepherd. If ever officers are most
necessary, it is when troops get out of hand, as they did on
this retreat, but without officers it was impossible even to
attempt to restore some semblance of order amongst the
flying horde.
On the road we were met by fresh bodies of troops
coming from Chorion, on their way to the front, and ignorant
of the great disaster. They, too, joined in the flight, and
speedily deserted their ranks and dispersed. At every
village crowds of stragglers invaded the houses in search of
food, digging up roots in the gardens and eagerly devouring
raw cabbages and turnips — anything edible they could find.
AMAZING SCENES 175
Every stream of water was turned into a mud-pond by the
general rush of men, horses, and oxen to be the first to
obtain a drink.
After we had marched for several hours, and had placed a
considerable distance between ourselves and the enemy, we
halted for half-an-hour to give the horses a rest, but, with
this exception, we never once stopped, except when obliged
to do so by the block on the roads, between six a.m. and ten
o'clock at night.
On the high ground, half way to Chorlou, we had a good
view of the whole of the countryside, which presented a most
extraordinary sight. Along every road men, horses, guns,
and ox-wagons were pressing forward, all converging on to
the two roads which lead into Chorlou. There must have
been forty or fifty thousand stragglers scattered over the
plain, all bent on reaching the town before nightfall. Many
became so exhausted from want of food that they simply
could not go any further, and lay down to sleep where they
were. What became of them I do not know. I suppose
a large number came in the next day. Others were doubt-
less captured by the enemy, and the majority of the
wounded left on the bare plateau, swept by an icy wind,
must have perished during the night.
I have no time to relate here the varied tales of the great
fight told us by the fugitives — of whole battalions cut to
pieces by the enemy's fire ; of men starving in the ranks
or dying of exposure ; of thousands of Bulgarians slaughtered
in the attacks ; of artillery captured ; of guns abandoned ;
of the mistakes of Generals ; of the awful confusion and
lack of method which prevailed everywhere.
Many of the fugitives had abandoned their kits and
equipment to lighten their burdens. A still larger number
flung away their boots, preferring to march with bare feet.
But to their credit let it be said that very few abandoned
176 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
their rifles. One old, worn-out soldier with nothing left
except his beloved Mauser, and so weak that he could hardly
stumble along, said to Ismet as we passed : "A Turkish
soldier is not worth the price of a dog these days."
We were yet a long way from Chorlou when night hid
from view these horrid scenes of human misery. If our
progress had been difficult before, it now became infinitely
more so, and finally, as a crowning misfortune, a wheel came
off" our cart.
The screw was lost and we searched for it in vain in the
dark. But as we had no certain proof that it had not come
off* some way back we were obliged to abandon the quest as
hopeless. For some little time we contemplated spending
the night on the road and going on to Chorlou on the
following morning, but all our servants were dead against
this, as they were anxious to obtain food and shelter. The
faithful Hadji then suggested that he could tie on the wheel
of the cart and although it would not go round any longer
he thought the horses would be able to drag it into Chorlou,
exhausted though they were. There was no alternative, so
we accepted his proposal although it seemed extremely cruel
to ask the two horses to drag a heavily laden wagon five
miles on three wheels. I do not know how we ever got
over this last stretch of the road. It was pitch dark and
over and over again the cart was on the verge of turning
over on account of the deep ruts and banks which we were
obliged to negotiate. At length, about nine p.m., we came
to the bridge spanning the river which had to be passed in
order to enter the town. Here the scene absolutely baffles
description. The only road leading to the bridge was com-
pletely blocked by an immense train of ox-wagons, refugees'
carts, stray commissariat wagons, soldiers, and masses of
men having no semblance of order. We saw at once that
it would be utterly impossible to hope to get across the
^^wppf'
THE FORD m THE DARK 177
bridge that evening, and that if we were to obtain food
and supper we would have to find another way round.
The only alternative course was to ford the river beneath
the bridge, but this was not an encouraging outlook because
some of the ox-wagons had already tried the ford, and had
stuck in the mud in the middle of the stream. However,
Ismet, my brother, and myself plunged in the river and
found the water only up to our girths, and we called upon
the party to follow. It was a desperate experiment, but
the faithful Hadji was equal to the occasion. Calling upon
Allah to protect him and to give his horses ten times their
normal strength, he took the river at a rush, and after a
fearful struggle the cart somehow got through and mounted
the further bank, amid shouts of joy. The following day
a French correspondent tried to get his cart over the
bridge and was pushed over the side, losing his cart,
his horses, and his dragoman.
But our difficulties were not at an end even after we had
crossed the stream and our efforts to regain the road almost
ended in further disaster and we were very nearly pushed
over an embankment, but by a miracle we escaped. After
that we crossed the railway line and soon found ourselves
in Chorion, where at least we had a temporary home.
Throughout the day we had all been wondering why the
Bulgarians had not pursued the masses of fugitives stream-
ing over the open plain without any semblance of order,
who would have offered no resistance had they been
attacked. But the Bulgarian infantry were exhausted after
their tremendous exertions, and the cavalry of the Bulgarian
army is almost non-existent. But what a unique oppor-
tunity was lost of finishing off the war then and there I
How fortunate it was for the Turks that the Bulgarians had
no cavalry at hand with which to pursue the beaten army
over the broad undulating plain between Lule Burgas and
N
178 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
Chorlou I Had a few brigades been let loose on this mass
of fugitives, thousands of prisoners would have been captured,
and I would never have escaped to write this account of
the battle. The thousands of fugitives crowded on to the
banks of the river at Chorlou, who had only one bridge
over which they could pass, would have been at the mercy
of the cavalry, and, had the latter possessed a few batteries
of horse artillery, it is awful to contemplate the disaster
which would have ensued. But these things were not to
be, and the Army of Thrace was allowed to retire on the
lines of Chataldja without a shot being fired. But the lesson
is obvious. Had the Bulgarians been able to follow up their
victory, they could have occupied the famous lines almost
without firing a shot, they would not have lost both time
and men in their abortive attempt to carry the works three
weeks later, and Constantinople would have been captured
from Islam after an occupation of six hundred years.
Looking back on the great debacle now, the more natural
does it seem.
As long as I remained in Constantinople and was unable
to see with my own eyes the true state of the army, I was
perforce obliged to accept the Turkish tales of its readiness
for war.
But from the very moment I arrived amongst the troops
the great bubble burst, and the great illusion was shattered.
I found that the mihtary authorities in Constantinople had
deliberately deceived the outside world, and had embarked
on a gigantic system of calculated lying in order to keep
the truth from coming out, hoping against hope that the
bravery and determination of the Turkish soldier would pull
them through at the eleventh hour.
The responsibility for the disaster cannot be laid on the
Turkish soldier. He in innumerable instances has proved
himself as brave as ever he was, and only his stubborn
CHAOS 179
determination and unparalleled hardiness prolonged the battle
of Sakiskeuy throughout three days. The responsibility rests
solely on the administrative classes and high officials, who,
eaten up with pride and self-confidence, and regarding all
the Balkan States with the utmost contempt, believed the
Turkish army to be invincible. The army was caught
utterly unprepared for war, and the military authorities
remained blind in their belief that mere numbers set forth
on paper and published broadcast in the Press would win
the day against an army smaller in numbers, but which had
been carefully organising and preparing for war for twenty-
five years.
It is impossible for me to describe severely enough the
utter state of chaos, of mess, muddle, and make-believe,
which exists throughout all branches of the army. Had the
Turkish soldier been supplied vdth even one biscuit a day he
might have held his ground against the invader, and I am
convinced that he has been defeated more by sheer starva-
tion than by any other single factor.
Looking back on the great tragedy, it is almost
impossible to understand how the wretched private soldier
existed for three days without a scrap of food, without
any shelter, and yet covered himself with glory. The
most splendid material has been sacrificed on the altar
of stupidity, conceit, self-satisfaction, and the grossest
ineptitude.
The Turkish army has no general staff capable of running
a country circus. The army has no generals who seem to
have grasped even the most elementary principles of modern
warfare. The army has no commissariat-train of any sort,
and yet four army corps were despatched on a vast offensive
movement. With a whole line of railway behind them,
within fifty miles of the capital, the authorities could not
feed a brigade, and, realising this fact, they, with true
N 2
180 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
Oriental apathy, made no effort to feed four army corps, but
left them to starve, trusting to Allah to produce manna
and quails from the skies, and water from the rocks.
The greatest battle of modern times was entered on
under these conditions, with an utter, callous disregard of the
consequences. The victims were marched to the slaughter
without the smallest preparation having been made to
succour the wounded. Not a field dressing-station existed,
not a field hospital was established, and the few surgeons
up at the front lacked every necessity, and were obliged
to see thousands of wounded pass to their doom who might
otherwise \ have been saved, without being able to lift a
finger to help them.
The artillery was sent into action with a few hours'
supply of shells and not a reserve within fifty miles, with
the result that on the second day of the battle the Turkish
soldier had to fight practically unsupported by this arm.
Whole battalions and brigades of ignorant peasants from
Anatolia were sent to Constantinople, dressed up in khaki,
handed a rifle, some hundreds of rounds of ammunition, kits
which they hardly knew how to fit to their backs, counted
at the railway station with glee by the authorities, and
officially described as *' our invincible infantry."
Thousands of these men had never had a Mauser rifle in
their hands, and had to be shown how to use it under the
enemy's fire. Entire battalions, unused to this new arm,
and never having been trained to shoot, would loose off all
their ammunition in a short hour, and only hit the ground
fifty yards in front of them, inflicting absolutely no damage
on the enemy.
I never saw a single Turkish machine-gun in action, and
if they exist I do not know what became of them.
The Bulgarian artillery played a matchless role in the
action. It overwhelmed the Turkish defence, and crushed
THE NEW POWER 181
every offensive movement by the rapidity and deadly
accuracy of its fire. The number of guns, which the
Bulgarians were able to bring into action, astounded the
Turks, and the way in which they replenished their ammu-
nition supply was a masterpiece of organisation.
The fire of their machine-guns, of which they possessed
great numbers, was also extremely deadly, and played a very
important part in the victory. The heroic courage of the
Bulgarians excited the admiration of their opponents.
A new military power has arisen in Eastern Europe, which
even the Great Powers will not be able to disregard, to
threaten, or to attempt to coerce.
CHAPTER XIV
HOW WE SENT THE STORY OF THE BATTLE
It is all very well for a war correspondent to see a battle
and to note carefully what has happened throughout the
whole struggle and during the retreat, but his exertions are
absolutely wasted, unless he is able to dispatch the news to
his paper without delay and before his rivals. This is the
only way that the paper can obtain any adequate return for
the large sum of money spent in fitting him out, buying
him motor-cars and horses, and sending him to the front.
I reached the house my brother had taken at Chorion at
ten o'clock on Thursday evening. I was very tired after
the last four days of sustained exertion, little sleep, and
semi-starvation, and my natural inclination was to have a
good dinner and then to lie down and go to sleep until
I woke up again. But I knew I could not allow fatigue
or hunger to overwhelm me at this critical juncture. I
knew I must find out at once exactly what had become of
aU the other correspondents, but more especially of Lionel
James and Donohoe, whose enterprise I feared.
Therefore, immediately on my arrival, my brother took me
round to the house where he had last left James and
Donohoe. By banging on the door we obtained admittance
to Donohoe's room, where we found him asleep in
bed, or rather on the verge of going to sleep. He was
A CONSULTATION 183
immensely surprised and pleased to see me again, as we had
not met since he left Constantinople, and he knew nothing
of my movements, except that he had heard vaguely that I
had reached the front. Donohoe told me that all that day
he had been out in the motor-car watching the retreat, and
that on the previous day, Wednesday, he had been obliged
to rush down to Rodosto to buy some more petrol, as the
supply we had brought to the front had given out. He
gave me a very sketchy account at the time — as we had
more important matters to discuss — of his adventures in
the car ; of how it had stuck, and how he thought at one
moment that it would be necessary to abandon it altogether.
But the most welcome news of all was the safety of
the car and the fact that he had secured sufficient
petrol to carry us back to Constantinople if necessary.
Then I asked for news of James, and what Donohoe told
me of his movements was profoundly disquieting. He said
that James had left Chorion in his motor car that morning,
and had gone down to Rodosto, evidently with the intention
of making his way to Constantinople by steamer. Of course,
I knew from this that James had not witnessed the retreat
of the army, and therefore could have no clear idea of the
result of the battle except what he had learnt from being
present at it on the Wednesday.
We then considered the question carefully. It was
obvious that James must arrive in Constantinople ahead of
Donohoe and myself, provided he could find a steamer,
and that he could thus send a censored account of the battle
to The Times from Constantinople, before we could send a
censored one from the same place to the Daily Telegraph
or to the Daily Chronicle. On the other hand, the last
boat left Constantinople for Constanza on that day, Thurs-
day, at three p.m., and there would not be another until
the same hour on Saturday. It was, therefore, absolutely
184 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
impossible for James to send an uncensored despatch by
the Thursday's boat and unless he hired a special steamer
he would have to wait until Saturday afternoon. The fact
that he could send a censored despatch from Constantinople
ahead of us caused me but little anxiety, as in view of the
Turkish defeat it was quite obvious that such a despatch
would be of small value, as the Censor would never allow
the true facts to be known.
Therefore, Donohoe and I were faced with this problem :
Could we reach Constantinople on Saturday morning in time
to catch the steamer at three p.m. for Constanza ? If we
could do this, it would be impossible for James to get any-
thing of value in The Times ahead of us. We decided that
at all costs we must make the attempt, and debated long
into the night, which would be the wisest route to take and
the one which offered the largest number of chances of
success. At first we thought of starting at daylight and
motoring the whole way down to Constantinople, as we just
had enough petrol for such a trip, but I vetoed this idea
and Donohoe quite agreed with me after I had given him a
cursory review of my experiences on the way up. It is true
that it had not rained for five days and that, therefore, the
roads were in better condition ; but, if we punctured a tyre
or if the fool of a chauffeur made the smallest mistake, we
would be liable to be stranded on the road without any
possible means of reaching our destination.
We decided that there was only one possible course which
offered the least chance of success, and that was to motor
down to Rodosto at dawn the next morning, Friday, and to
take the chance of finding a steamer going to Constantinople,
or else to hire a tug or even to take a sailing vessel as a
very last resource. Donohoe undertook to have the motor
ready at seven a.m.; it was no use trying to start any earlier
as there would not be enough light. I asked Donohoe if
A GOOD DINNER AT LAST 185
he had any news of the other correspondents, but, although
he knew nothing for certain, it was quite obvious that none
of them could have stolen a march on us, even if they
had seen anything of the battle, and, therefore, our minds
were set at rest.
My brother and I then returned to our house, where we
found Goupa had prepared an excellent dinner, the first
good meal I had tasted since I had left Constantinople.
Of course I told Ismet nothing of my intention of
leaving the front, because it would have placed him in
an awkward position, as he was semi-officially charged
with looking after me, although I knew perfectly well that
personally he had no objection to my leaving the front.
It has often been brought up against war correspondents
attached to the Turkish Army, that they deliberately
disobeyed the orders of the authorities and broke their own
written word by leaving the army without permission. But
this is quite untrue. I only signed with the stipulation that
I would remain as long as I could carry out my work in a
satisfactory manner and be of some value to the Daily
Telegraph. None of these conditions existed. I had no
idea where to find the Censor, even if I had desired to do so.
If I found him and showed him a despatch, there was no
possible means of sending it off from the front, as there was
no French or English operator and all messages would have
to be dispatched in Turkish.
Also the conditions had entirely changed. The Turkish
forces as an army had ceased to exist, and although we were
supposed to be attached to headquarters, it was impossible
for us to find headquarters, as they were now in full flight
somewhere down the line to Constantinople. Again all the
correspondents had dispersed and were on their own, each
doing his best to send off the full news of the disaster before
his rivals. Lastly, there was no question of giving away
186 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
military secrets, as nothing I or anyone else could write was
as bad as the truth, which would at once be made known to
the whole world through Bulgarian channels.
In the circumstances the reckless charges made against all
correspondents by a certain Mr. Bennet in the Nineteenth
Century are childish in the extreme. I never met this
gentleman and know nothing of him. I see he claims to
have been appointed a Censor by the Turkish military
authorities. I never heard of his appointment in Constanti-
nople, and he certainly never saw any of our despatches, as
we would not for a moment have tolerated such an inter-
ference from an outsider. He was certainly never at the
front with the correspondents, so I am quite unable to say
where he carried on his duties. But I am amazed to learn
from his article in the Nineteenth Century^ that an English-
man could have been found to do this donkey work for an
oriental race, namely, to censor the despatches of his fellow
countrymen.
I have since learned that Mr. Bennet is an Oxford Don
who was once employed as a war correspondent himself.
But to continue my narrative. That night I did not retire
to rest until very late, as I had to make all my preparations
to be off at dawn. Thus it seemed to me I had hardly been
asleep more than a few minutes, when the faithful Goupa
was shaking me by the shoulder and whispering in my ear
that it was five a.m. I never felt less inclined to turn out of
bed, but there was no help for it, and, cursing my hard lot,
I proceeded to dress. By seven a.m. I was ready, when I
heard the toot of the motor coming to a stop in front of the
door.
Now it had been carefully arranged on the previous
evening that in no circumstances was the motor-car to
come round to my house, through fear of waking Ismet;
besides which, we did not wish to wake up the entire town.
THE FLIGHT TO RODOSTO 187
and thus announce the news of our departure. We were
afraid that we might be stopped by some officer, or by
gendarmes, or that some unknown trouble would cross our
path and ruin our chances of bringing off a coup, at the
eleventh hour. Goupa was hastily dispatched to send the
motor back to Donohoe's house, and I followed it a few
minutes later with my few belongings.
I found Donohoe sitting in the car and fuming at the mouth
because it had attracted an immense concourse of spectators,
who completely surrounded him and shouted with glee at
any strange noise it made. He said to me in an agonised
voice, "Come quickly, we shall certainly be stopped unless
we get off at once." I lost no time and the next minute
we were tearing out of Chorion, which I was never
destined to see again during the campaign, pursued by a
crowd of children. We passed the sentries without being
questioned or stopped, and once we had obtained the open
country beyond we were able to breathe more freely again.
It is only about 35 kilometres from Chorion to Rodosto,
and the road is rather better than it is customary to find in
Thrace, so we were able to make rapid progress. But I
must confess I was more nervous on this ride than on any
previous occasion, because I felt that my labours were for
the time being at an end, that success lay within my reach,
and I trembled lest at the last moment a smash up on the
road should dash all my hopes to the earth once more. To
make matters worse, the chauffeur, a bad driver at any time,
who invariably selected the worst part of the road, was in a
peculiarly reckless mood that morning and seemed to take a
fiendish glee in bringing us to the brink of disaster, but our
luck was in and, except for one short delay to extricate the
car from a ravine full of mud which had not dried, we
reached Rodosto without incident.
But, just as we were entering the town, our spirits once
188 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
more fell to zero. We heard the whistle of a steamer and
saw a small vessel rapidly leaving the shore and making in the
direction of Constantinople. Donohoe groaned aloud. " That
is the tug I proposed to hire," he exclaimed. " Someone has
got in ahead and has taken her. We are done ! " I tried to
comfort him, saying, " But surely we can find another."
" No, that is the only one in the port. I made inquiries
when I was down here two days ago, and there is not
another to be had for love or money." Then I pointed out
to him two steamers lying off the port with steam up and
suggested they might shortly be leaving for Constantinople.
This brought a respite and we said no more, only gazing
with longing eyes at the rapidly disappearing cloud of
smoke out at sea. "James has got her," Donohoe kept
on repeating. " Oh, why did we not start two hours
earlier, then we would have been in time." I refrained
from any further comment, for at such a moment all
regrets were quite useless.
We soon reached Rodosto, left the car at the local han,
and rushed down to the British Vice-Consulate to find Mr.
Streater, the acting Consul. He took some time to find, but
at length turned up. We explained our position simul-
taneously, until the poor man was so confused that he
begged us to speak more calmly. Then he said, " What a
pity you were not an hour earlier, you could have gone in
the tug." " Has James taken her ? " we demanded. " No,"
replied the Consul, "James left by the Marmora express
last night, and will be in Constantinople this morning."
This news did not serve to soothe our ruffled spirits. " Then
who has hired her ? " we asked. " Oh," Streater replied,
"There are no correspondents on board, but there are
a great number of refugees here who wish to leave for
Constantinople, so the agent has fitted her out and is taking
them down at so much a head."
"THE CONSUL'S BROW WAS SAD" 189
We then told the Consul we must have a steamer
even if we had to hire a special one. We asked him the
destination of the two vessels in port, and he replied, " One
is a French boat and the other a Turkish one, and both are
bound for Asia Minor with refugees." We asked him if
they would agree for a fixed sum to take us to Constan-
tinople before calling at any of the Asiatic ports, but
Streater only shook his head and replied, " I am afraid
not." However, he said he would go off and negotiate with
the agents on our behalf. It seemed an age before he
returned. Whilst waiting, Donohoe and myself stood at the
window of the Consulate gazing out to sea, hoping against
hope that the smoke of some other steamer might suddenly
appear. But, like Bluebeard's wife, we waited in vain.
Presently Streater came back, and his looks told us plainly
he had failed. " I am very sorry ; it is impossible. The
Turkish captain dare not take you to Constantinople, as he
fears a revolution on board amongst the emigrants unless
he carries them direct to Asia Minor, and as most of them
have rifles he won't take any risk. The agent of the French
boat says he must first cable down to Constantinople, but it
is extremely doubtful if the line is working, and, in any
case, there is sure to be a long delay and we might not get
a reply until to-morrow."
We were in despair. Every hour lost was of paramount
importance to us, and, unless we could leave at nightfall, we
would never reach Constantinople in time to catch the
steamer to Koumania. Streater then suggested it might
be possible to get a tug up from Silivri or from Evekli,
where he knew there was a salvage boat. We begged
him to cable at once and gave him carte blanche to
arrange terms. He returned shortly afterwards with the
news that the operator could not be found, which, translated
into the language of Turkey, meant that the operator would
190 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
not send any telegram, unless he received some backsheesh.
This was quickly forthcoming.
Meanwhile a slimy Levantine in a morning coat and
greasy bowler hat came into the Consulate and asked whether
he could assist us. His appearance was not prepossessing,
but in such an emergency we could not be particular with
whom we had deahngs and we explained to him fully our
position. He then said, " I think I can arrange for the
Turkish steamer to take you, or if not the Turkish perhaps
the French boat will ; if you will come along with me we
will see what can be done."
Again our drooping stocks rose a point and we followed
our would be benefactor, the Turkish term for which is
*' The man who receives a commission," to the office of the
Turkish boat. Here we found the agent, the captain, and a
horde of other hangers-on, all of whom would share in the
disbursement we might make. Our guide explained our
position, which was quite unnecessary, as they knew it
already, and then asked what terms they would require for
the short eight hours' easy steam to Constantinople. The
reply staggered even Donohoe and myself, though by this
time we thought we had become accustomed to almost
any shocks. The mild figure demanded was three hundred
pounds Turkish. We refused to negotiate on these terms
and, as they would not bring their price down, we tried
threats and said we would go to the Governor. I also
produced the letter from Abdullah, the Commander-in-
Chief, but this was simply brushed aside. They knew
too well that order no longer existed in the army and
that Abdullah's days as Commander-in-Chief were already
numbered. Shortly afterwards, Streater joined us and
took up the case on our behalf, offering two hundred
pounds as our maximum, but they stuck to their three and we
left the office.
" PIRATES " 191
Streater then said to us, " It is no use paying three,
two, or one hundred pounds to those people. They
will take your money, carry you out to sea and then refuse
to go to Constantinople on the grounds that they fear a row
with the refugees." This thought had long been in both
our minds, and we at once put aside as hopeless all hope of
getting the Turkish steamer. We then tried the French
boat, but the agent wanted two hundred pounds and per-
sisted that it was necessary to await a reply to his telegram
from Constantinople. It was now nearly two o'clock, and
our case seemed almost hopeless. We returned to the ban
and had one of the most melancholy lunches I have ever
known. The Consul did his best to raise our spirits by
assuring us that very often some stray steamer looked in
unexpectedly at Rodosto ; or by saying he was sure the tug
would come up from Evekli in lots of time to reach Con-
stantinople. He also remarked, " There is just a bare chance
that the Austrian Lloyd boat may put in here to-day. She
was due yesterday, but never turned up and is now
twenty-four hours overdue. But you cannot rely on her
as in all probability she is held up indefinitely at the
Dardanelles."
He then brought the captain of a sailing boat, who
guaranteed to deliver us in Constantinople in eight hours if
the wind held. But what chance was there of the wind hold-
ing ! It almost invariably dies down at nightfall in the Sea of
Marmora. We felt the risk was too great and put that scheme
also amongst the discards. We felt there was nothing to do
but to wait. We repaired to the Consulate and sat upstairs
scanning the horizon, examining every distant speck which
might possibly be a steamer, but which invariably turned out
to be clouds or small fishing craft. I have never spent a more
miserable afternoon. We were dead beat, too upset to work,
and roamed about the little room like criminals in their cell
192 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
awaiting the verdict of the jury or the advent of the hang-
man. Thus the afternoon wore on.
At four o'clock I became quite desperate, and determined
to make one final effort to secure the French boat on my
own account. I went to the agent and found his demeanour
somewhat changed. He seemed more anxious to do business
and said nothing further about first waiting for the reply
from Constantinople. He made all sorts of difficulties and
pointed out it would be impossible for him to land us
actually in Constantinople, but that he could take us as far
as San Stefano, from where we could take a local service
running to Stamboul, or else we might hire a carriage and
drive the remainder of the distance. I suppose his change
of attitude was due to our not having accepted his original
terms, and therefore he was afraid our emergency was not so
great as he had imagined, and he feared lest the golden
harvest should slip through his fingers altogether. When I
saw he was wavering, I proceeded to beat down the terms
and finally got the figure down to £150, of which sum the
Steamship Company was to receive one-third, and the rest
was to be divided between the agent and the captain, and
one or two other interested parties whose mouths it was
necessary to stop. But, when I thought all was settled, the
agent suddenly declared nothing could be definitely arranged
until he had been off and seen the captain, who, he said,
might not be satisfied with his share, in which case I would
have to pay a trifle more. I was desperate and told him to
go, and to come back at once so that the money could be
paid over and the ship made ready to start. He promised to
be back in half-an-hour.
I returned once more to the Consulate and found
Donohoe, his face hidden in his hands, a victim of the
profoundest melancholy. " Donohoe," I said, " we will
get there, but it will cost us not less than seventy-five
SAVED 193
pounds apiece." His spirits rose a trifle. Then I sat down
and waited for the agent to return. Streater, the Consul,
had also joined us. One by one the minutes passed.
Twenty-five had gone by and still the agent had not arrived.
" He does not mean to take us, after all," groaned Donohoe.
" You must give him time," said Streater, strolling across to
the window and gazing seawards.
Another five minutes had gone by when suddenly the
Consul gave a wild yell, sprang into the air, rushed towards
us, and, seizing our hands, dragged us towards the window,
shouting out, " Look, look, what is that I " There, still far
out to sea, way down on the horizon, was a thin trail of
smoke. " It's a steamer. It's a steamer," yelled Streater.
" Yes, but how do you know it's coming here ? " " They all
come here." " Yes, but it may be a warship going direct to
Constantinople." "No, I am quite sure it's the delayed
Austrian Lloyd boat." We were in a state almost of
frenzy. We seized our field glasses and glued them on the
spot. Gradually the smoke grew denser and soon the out-
lines of a large steamer were plainly visible. We uttered
no further word but watched her course. Suddenly Streater,
who had been using my glasses, broke the silence. " Yes, it's
the Austrian Lloyd. I know her by her funnels. In an
hour she will be in port and will leave to-night for Constan-
tinople, for they never stay longer than two or three
hours."
But even now Donohoe and I remained in a painful state
of anxiety and asked the worried Consul more foolish ques-
tions in a given space of time than I am [sure he has ever been
asked before. Such as, " Don't you think she will go direct
to Constantinople without stopping, to make up lost time ? "
Answer : " She cannot. The terms of her contract with
the Turkish Government oblige her to put up in here."
" Look, she is not coming this way, she is keeping out to
o
194 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
sea." Answer : " She has to take that course to avoid the
shallow water." " Do you think there will be any room on
board ? " " WeU, there may be no cabins, but the captain
can hardly refuse to take you on deck."
But at length all doubts were set at rest. She was
obviously coming into port. We closed our glasses, opened
a bottle of whiskey, and drank long and deeply. Then,
joining hands, we danced a sort of farandole round and
round the room till the crazy old building fairly shook.
We forgot all about the French agent and hastened to the
han to make ready our slender baggage. Now we had our
revenge. The unexpected arrival of the Austrian Lloyd
boat came as a bitter shock to all the gentry who had hoped
to make large sums of money by catering to our misfor-
tunes. The price of steamers fell almost to zero. The
Turkish boat was ready to take us for £50 and the
French boat for £25. But we laughed in their faces.
Their chance had gone. They could have gained their
money, had they been able to make up their greedy minds
earher in the day. The golden harvest had slipped through
their hands at the last minute. There was wailing and
gnashing of teeth amongst the Levantines that night in
Rodosto. They learnt a lesson which they will not forget
in a hurry, namely, that " he who asks too much is Uable to
get nothing at all."
As soon as the ship came alongside we went on board.
Our surmise that there would be no cabin accommoda-
tion turned out to be only too correct. The ship was
absolutely packed with Turkish refugees who had come
from Greece and from every port of call. Not only
were all the cabins full, but men, women, and children were
sleeping on the decks and in the holds of the vessel.
However, we did not care. Without even a place on which
to recline my weary head, the great vessel seemed a paradise
THAT STRENUOUS WEEK 195
of luxury after all I had gone through. After I had been on
board a short time 1 met the captain, who, hearing of all our
hardships and privations, said he would allow us to sleep in
the hospital, as there happened to be no sick on board. This
was a dirty cabin situated right forward, and to reach it we
were obliged to climb over a mass of struggling humanity,
weeping women, gesticulating men, and children howling for
their bottles. On any ordinary occasion I would have
hesitated about sleeping in the cabin which had been used
as a hospital during a fairly long voyage by countless
refugees, but I was too weary to be fastidious, and after a
hearty dinner and a bottle of sweet, almost undrinkable
champagne, I was soon sound asleep. At nine a.m. on
the following morning, Saturday, November 2nd, we reached
Constantinople.
It was exactly a week since I had left Constantinople, but
as I drove up through Galata and Stamboul it seemed as if
months had passed, and at times I thought I had just
awakened from a dream. But what a week it had been 1
Here is a brief diary, day by day.
Saturday, October 26th. — I left Constantinople at eight a.m.
All the day in the motor-car on my way to Chorion.
Passed the night in the rain on the road.
Sunday, October 27th. — Still struggling to reach Chorion by
motor. Four p.m. abandoned car and walked for three
hours. Seven p.m. reached convoy, obtained horses and
rode for eight hours, reaching Chorlou between two
and three a.m. Spent the remainder of the night with
Abdullah.
Monday, October 28//i.— Left Chorlou by train. Three p.m.
reached Lule Burgas. Spent the night there.
Tuesday, October 29th. — I spent the morning looking for
horses. Eleven a.m. Lule Burgas attacked by Bul-
garians. 11.30. I am forced to fly from the town.
AH day on the battlefield. Lost at nightfall, but finally
reach Abdullah's headquarters at Sakiskeuy at 9.30 p.m.
o2
196 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
Wednesday, October 30th. — At 5 a.m. we once more leave
Sakiskeuy and ride to the battlefield. All day I watch
the fighting. At 6 p.m. I return to Abdullah's head-
quarters. At 7 p.m. my brother and Sir Bryan
Leighton arrive in Sakiskeuy. Spent the night in
the village.
Thursday, October Slst. — I leave Sakiskeuy at daybreak.
All day retreating on Chorlou. Reach Chorion at
10 p.m.
Friday, November 1st. — I leave Chorlou at 7 a.m. for
Rodosto. Leave Rodosto at 9 p.m. for Constantinople.
Satm^day, November 2nd. — Arrive in Constantinople at
9 a.m. At 3 p.m. I leave for Constanza, Roumania,
by steamer.
Sunday, November Srd. — I arrive at Constanza at 1 p.m.
All Sunday cabling account of the battle to the
Daily Telegraph.
Monday, November 4>th. — All day cabling account of battle
and the retreat.
Tuesday, November 5th. — The same. Sailed for Constanti-
nople.
But here I am anticipating. Donohoe and I were to
receive some further shocks before we finally reached
Constanza. On our arrival in Constantinople we went
to the Pera Palace Hotel and had a wash, the first one
either of us had had since we had left Constantinople.
The luxury of a bath compensated us for a great many hard-
ships, and the joy of putting on clean clothes was immense,
and cannot be appreciated until you have known what it is
to wear the same garments for a week or ten days on end.
The surprise of the manager of the hotel and his underlings
was immense at seeing us so soon again, as they thought we
had left Constantinople for at least a month or six weeks,
and there were not a few who never expected to set eyes on
us again, fully believing we would return to England via
Sofia, after Nazim's triumphal entry into that city.
WE RETURN TO CONSTANTINOPLE 197
There were rumours in Constantinople of a great battle
and a Turkish reverse, but not a soul had the least idea of
the extent of the disaster and of the entire break-up of the
Turkish Army. We guarded our secret most carefully and
refused to commit ourselves or to answer the most pressing
inquiries, always replying, " We do not know what has
happened, as we were kept locked up and allowed to
see nothing." We also kept very closely to our rooms
until the hour arrived for us to board the boat for
Roumania, as we were afraid our presence in the town might
become known to the authorities, who might take steps to
keep us in confinement so as to prevent the truth becoming
known to the whole world.
We learnt that Lionel James had reached Constantinople
on Friday morning and had sent off despatches through the
Censor exactly as we had anticipated, but, as I have already
said, this caused us but small misgiving, as a censored
despatch of the battle would be of small value, and our
descriptions of the full extent of the disaster would only
gain in comparison. James was not in Constantinople, as
he had left early that morning in a small tug for Rodosto,
evidently intending to rejoin the army, and hoping to be
in time to watch the closing stages of the battle. After-
wards, when I saw James at Rodosto a week later, he told
me he had left the front when he did because, .having
heard I was with the army, he feared I might steal a march
on him by slipping down by train to Constantinople
with or without the permission of the Headquarters Staff.
However, he need not have had any fears on that score,
because nothing would have induced me to leave the
army until the battle was over and I had learnt for
certain what had happened. He also told me another
reason he had for leaving the front when he did was the
fact, that he had learnt in Rodosto, that the only steamer
198 WITH THE TURKS iN THRACE
for Constantinople left on Thursday and there would be no
other for four days. His feelings may therefore be imagined
when, as he lay horribly sea sick in a terribly rough sea, he
saw the Austrian Lloyd boat go by, because his instinct told
him that Donohoe and I would be on board, and therefore
would be in time to catch the mail for Constanza.
It was not my original intention to go myself to Constanza,
but to send my despatches across by a trusted agent and
then to return to the front without delay. But this was
impossible, as neither Donohoe nor myself had a single line
written when we reached Constantinople, and we had no
time to write a lengthy despatch before the boat left. We
therefore had no alternative but to cross ourselves. At
2 o'clock we slipped quietly from the Pera Palace Hotel and
went on board the boat. It was very crowded and most of
the good cabins were already occupied, but we found a fairly
comfortable one.
Almost the first person we met on board was Mr.
Fitzmaurice, the chief dragoman of the British Embassy,
who went up to Donohoe and told him the authorities were
looking for us on board and had asked him to point us out
to them. This Fitzmaurice declined to do, saying he had
not seen us. Donohoe came and communicated this awful
news to me and we both were terribly scared. Supposing
that even now all our hopes were cast to the ground !
Supposing we were prevented from reaching Constanza !
Then all our efforts, and trials, and troubles would be
wasted. We decided to go down below and sit in an
obscure cabin and remain there, until the ship started.
That was an awful hour we passed. Donohoe was quite
desperate, and, taking out his revolver, swore he would not
be taken alive. We heard voices inquiring for "Mr. Bartlott"
and "Mr. Donohague" of the stewards, but the latter could
give no information. The clock seemed literally to stand still.
THE STORM 199
The boat was due to start at 3 p.m., but she was late, and in
our nervous state we thought she was being purposely held
up in order that a more stringent search might be made.
But at last we heard the gentle switch of the screw and the
welcome sound of the ladder being raised. We were under
way and knew at last that we were safe.
But now for the first time our luck deserted us. The
boat was due to reach Constanza at 4 a.m. on Sunday
morning, but, unfortunately, we encountered the worst
storm of the year in the Black Sea and the steamer could
make hardly any progress against it. All night long we
were tossed about in the trough of the sea. Not a single
passenger was present at dinner, and the majority were very
sea sick. Donohoe and I had come on board with the noble
resolution of working all through the night at our
despatches, but this was quite impossible, and at six o'clock
we were only too glad to retire to our berths, where we
remained until the good ship entered the port of Constanza at
1 p.m. on Sunday afternoon, more than ten hours late.
We rushed to the Hotel Carol, engaged rooms, and
hastened up to the cable office to arrange with the manager
for the prompt dispatch of our cables to London. I never
felt less inclined to sit down and write, and Donohoe was in
an equally bad condition. We were both worn out from
the horrible baffling we had received from the waves, and
my head swam. The manager of the cable office was most
obliging and helped us in every way in his power. We
handed over to him most of the gold we had strapped round
our waists, and told him to come for more when it was
exhausted. He gave us a special messenger who was to go
to and from the hotel to the telegraph station in a cab,
engaged by the day, as each sheet of our telegrams was
ready to be sent off.
Then we returned to the hotel, had a hasty lunch and
200 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
commenced to write. We each had a typewriter and kept
at work the whole of the afternoon, until our minds were so
weary we could no longer think and our fingers so sore we
could hardly hit the keyboard. The messenger thought we
were quite mad to send off so many thousand words, as he
had no knowledge of English and could not understand
what it was all about. But he entered fully into the spirit
of the occasion, and, whenever one of us managed to get a
page ahead of the other, he would point this fact out, and
beg each of us in turn to make an additional spurt. By
eight o'clock I had only finished about one half of my cable,
and the manager told us it would be no use writing any
more that night as it could not be sent through to London
in time. We were glad to desist and to sit down to a good
dinner.
All through the following day, Tuesday, we were hard at
it again, and I was even obliged to write for another two
hours on Wednesday morning. Then for the first time we
could breathe freely once more. We knew we had beaten
everybody else and that no other accounts of the battle,
uncensored, could appear in the London Press until
Thursday morning.
On Tuesday evening, at eleven o'clock, we once more
boarded the boat for Constantinople, and after an extremely
calm voyage reached the city at two o'clock on Thursday
afternoon, wondering what had happened during our
absence, and more especially interested to learn what
sort of a reception we would receive from the authori-
ties, after the full exposure we had made of the Turkish
disasters.
Now that I had finished my work for the time being
and had a few minutes for calm reflection, I became
painfully anxious to know what had happened to all the
other correspondents and more especially to learn the fate
THE MISSING CORRESPONDENTS 201
of my brother. I now realised for the first time that he
might be in a serious position, left as he was at Chorion
with all our baggage and stores and with all my precious
horses on his hands. I felt certain the Turkish Army
would never rally at Chorlou and feared lest the town had
already fallen into the hands of the Bulgarians, and thought
it more than likely that by this time the unfortunate
Seabury was well on his way to Sofia as a prisoner of
war.
I had one ray of hope. Just as I was leaving Chorlou
on the Friday morning, MacCulloch, the special corres-
pondent of the Daily News, who was afterwards captured,
handed me a letter from Bryant, the Englishman I had
engaged to join me at Chorlou to carry despatches. In
this he said he had reached Chorlou and was hiding in a
house in the town, so as not to attract the attention of
the authorities. I had no time to find him or even to write
him a note, but I hoped he would learn of my brother's
presence and would join him. I had great faith in Bryant's
knowledge of the Turkish language, the character of the
race, and more especially of the country, and I hoped he
would bring my brother safely through all difficulties to
C onstantinople.
As soon as I reached the Pera Palace Hotel I inquired
if he had arrived, but, to my dismay, they told me no
English correspondents had as yet reached Constantinople,
and there was absolutely no news of my brother or of
any of them. This filled me with anxiety. I went
upstairs to my room and sat down to think over the whole
position, to decide what steps I would take to go in search
of my brother, Sir Bryan Leighton, my stores, my camp
equipment, and my horses.
I had hardly sat there for half an hour, when the door
of my room opened and in walked my brother, very dirty,
202 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
very weary, and with a ten days' growth of beard on
his face. In a few words he gave me a brief summary
of his own adventures after I had left Chorion, and I will
now leave him to tell his own tale of his personal experiences
and of what he saw of the retreat of the routed Army of
Thrace from Chorlou to the lines of Chataldja.
CHAPTER XV
THE RETREAT FROM CHORLOU TO CHATALDJA
My brother left Chorlou for Rodosto at seven o'clock on the
morning of Friday, November 1st. I did not expect to see
him again during the war, as I knew that it was his intention
to go to Constanza in Roumania in order to send off his
despatches describing the battle of Lule Burgas, and I did
not think the Turkish authorities — supine as I knew them to
be — would ever allow him to return to Constantinople, much
less to the front. Indeed I feared that when his uncere-
monious departure became known, I should be arrested and
summarily executed or expelled, or, worse still, incarcerated
in some vermin-haunted ergastula.
It was impossible to ride out on Friday in order to see
what had become of the defeated army, as the horses had
done one hundred and fifty miles in three days over rough
country, and were badly in need of rest.
About lunch time I sauntered out to see some of the
other correspondents, and to learn of their adventures. As
I was passing down the principal street, an unknown man in
the dress of a Greek peasant accosted me and then thrust a
crumpled piece of paper into my hand. I was greatly
astonished and turned round to ask the man what he wanted,
but he was already disappearing up a side street. I examined
the piece of paper and on it was written : " I am at the
208
204 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
house of the Greek priest, in the street of the tanners.—
Bryant."
I was quite at a loss as to what this could mean, and
was about to throw away the paper, thinking that the
man had made a mistake, when I suddenly remembered that
after the battle of Lule Burgas, my brother had asked me if
I had seen or heard anything of one Bryant, an Englishman
in the roads department, whom he had engaged as a drago-
man and despatch rider a few minutes before leaving Con-
stantinople. Bryant had undertaken to break through the
Turkish lines and to get to Chorion by the previous Monday,
but since then we had heard nothing of him, and my brother
thought that he had probably abandoned the attempt as
hopeless, or else that he had been caught and shot as a spy.
With some difficulty I found the house of the Greek
priest in the street of the tanners. Bryant was hiding in a
back room, and was in a sad state of dilapidation, his clothes
being torn and covered with mud, and the soles of his very
inadequate boots worn completely through. He told me that
he had been five days getting through Constantinople and
that after passing the lines of Chataldja on foot, he had
made his way to the sea coast and had come thence in a row
boat to Silivri. From the latter place he had walked to
Chorion, and had been hiding for twenty -four hours in the
house of the priest, who was an old friend of his, not daring
to go out for fear of being arrested as a spy.
I was very glad of his arrival, as I was badly in need of
an interpreter whom I could trust and who knew the
country, so I took him back to where I was lodging, and
provided him with some clothes and a badge certifying
that he was our dragoman.
Signs of the rout were becoming more and more apparent
in the peaceful little town of Chorion. One by one the
shutters were being put up in the front of the shops, and the
"".I)' t o „at '"'o
GOUPA'S FAREWELL 205
Ottoman subjects were beginning to pack their worldly
belongings in bullock- wagons and to trail out of the town
toward the sea coast. The streets also were becoming more
and more crowded with hungry and dispirited looking soldiers,
wandering around in search of something to eat. Fearing
that at any moment the patience of these unhappy men
might become exhausted, and the town given over to pillage
and loot, I decided to leave my comfortable quarters, and to
move to a room in the inn — or ban as they are locally
called, — above the stables in which our horses were kept. In
doing this I was chiefly actuated by the thought that, in the
event of trouble, the horses would at once be looted, and I
was anxious to be able to protect them.
As I was packing up our things, Goupa, my brother's
Greek dragoman, came to me, and, after taking up an attitude
much resembling that of the Chevalier Grasso in Othello
when he discovers the supposed treachery of Desdemona,
began pouring forth a flood of eloquence in bad French,
accompanied by an extraordinary exuberance of tragic
gesture. It was some minutes before I could make out
what he was talking about, then I grasped that he was
imploring me not to stay in such a danger spot as Chorlou,
but to take the train back to Constantinople at once.
I told him that such a thing was utterly impossible,
whereupon he went on with greater vehemence. *' Here we
are exposed to the rapacity of the Turks, and to the
vengeance of the wild Bulgarians. This is alright for you.
You are an Englishman, and do not mind to die — all your
race is so. They are a nation of madmen. It is alright for
me also, for I am a man and know not fear." His attitude
became more and more heroic. " It does not matter for
my wife ; when I am gone she can take another husband."
Here he actually shed a tear. " But it is of my daughters
that I think. If I perish and can no longer protect them,
206 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
they will go on the streets ; I know it as sure as my name
is Goupa, they will take to the streets."
There was so much pathos, nobihty of gesture, and
paternal affection in his voice that I was quite moved. As
there was a train leaving that evening, I told Goupa to take
all the heavy baggage and to go with it to Chataldja, or
Constantinople, at which he was highly delighted and left
in due course. Bryant, who knows the country, afterwards
spoilt the effect of Goupa's heroics by telling me that the
man had been in the last extremity of fear for some time
and was thinking solely of his own safety.
I had the remainder of the things carried round to the
han, where Bryant and I were accommodated in a dirty,
little, tumble-down room, with whitewashed walls, and a
broken window. It contained two large beds, which
occupied practically all the floor space. The room was
on the first floor, directly above the stables which occupied
the whole of the ground floor, and in which were
housed some thirty horses. Outside the room was a large
square atrium, where some twenty soldiers and peasants
were sitting round in a circle eating their meal out of an
iron pot. The stench from the stables was indescribable,
and 1 think a few nights in that han would have meant
typhoid fever.
Ismet Bey came in to dine with us, and the dinner, which
consisted of dry biscuits, potted meat, sardines, and cocoa,
was spread upon my bed, upon which we also sat cross-
legged while we ate.
Ismet is a young Turk and a good example of the new
school, and is at once one of the most delightful and
cultured of the Turks that I met during my sojourn in
the country. His family have discarded the old Turkish
fashion of locking up their womenfolk in a harem, and
of never allowing them to be seen with uncovered faces
ISMET ON THE CHRISTIANS 207
by a man, and he himself is married to a charming French-
woman.
He appeared to feel the disaster which had fallen on his
country at Lule Burgas very much. When I remarked
that the general disorganisation had surprised me, as I
had understood that the Young Turks had entirely reformed
the army since their advent to power in 1908, he said :
" How could we ? We did our best, but we were never
given a chance. First there was the rising of the Arabs
in the Yemen, then the Albanians revolted, after that it
was the Kurds of the Caucasus, and then came Italy's
attack on Tripoh." He was silent for a few moments,
overcome by the memory of so many disasters. Then he
went on : " Besides how can we hope to govern the Turkish
Empire by constitutional means ? There are no less than
thirty-two different races and one hundred different creeds.
Most of the people, too, are quite ignorant, their only
education being a knowledge of a few religious shibboleths."
"Yes," I answered. "You did, indeed, undertake a
hopeless task. Only a dictator could hope to govern such a
discordant conglomeration. Your task was further compli-
cated by half the sects being Christians."
" Yes," Ismet answered, " and what Christians some of
them are ! At Jerusalem at least twenty different sects
wage incessant warfare round the birthplace of your beautiful
gospel of peace."
" Yes," I replied, " I have always understood that it
was hard for a man to visit Jerusalem and to remain a
Christian."
" My cousin," Ismet continued, " was for a long time
Governor of the Holy City before he went to Smyrna, and
his life was rendered intolerable by the quarrels of the
Christians. One night when I was staying with him," Ismet
went on, " a soldier came to the palace at two in the morn-
208 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
ing and awakened him, begging that he would come at
once to the sacred shrine of Bethlehem, where a terrible
fight was going on between orthodox Greeks and Roman
Catholics. It appears that the Roman Catholics are allowed
to pass before the shrine from nine o'clock till midnight, and
the Greeks from midnight until three a.m. Each supnliant
is supposed to make three genuflexions before the sacred
relics and then to pass on out of the shrine. On the night
in question three Catholics were still in the shrine, when the
Greeks entered. The first made his three genuflexions
and passed on. The second became excited, and in his
confusion made four, whereupon the Greeks seized the third
suppliant and insisted that he should only make two genu-
flexions, in compensation for his comrade's excesses. Other
Roman Catholics ran back to join in the altercation, and
finally a free fight ensued, which became so violent that the
Turkish soldiers were obliged to lock the shrine and run to
fetch the Governor. My cousin found these good Christians
pulling each other's beards out and scratching each other's
faces with fearful energy," Ismet continued, "and it was
only with great difficulty and after sending for the French
Consul, that he could restore order. If he had used force
and some of them had been hurt, there would have been an
outcry in your papers that the Turks were interfering with
Christians in the celebrations of their religion."
I was very much amused by Ismet's story, and begged
him to tell me more tales of Jerusalem, so after a little
while he began.
" At a certain time of the year — I think it is during your
Bairam (Easter) — Greek pilgrims gather in the temple to light
their lamps at the sacred fire which is supposed to burn forth
on a certain day by divine inspiration. Sometimes the
pilgrims wait in the temple for days, never leaving it for
one instant, and praying continually for the sacred fire to
THE SACRED FlRE 200
burn. Meanwhile the priests go round telling them that
the difficulties of combustion are caused by their parsimony
in giving alms, and exciting them to a high degree of
fanaticism. The people grow hysterical from much fasting
and praying, and free fights often ensue. The temple also
becomes so dirty, and the stench so foul, that there is serious
danger of disease breaking out.
" On one occasion, a few years ago now, things got so bad
and the priests kept the people waiting so long, that my
cousin sent for the Greek patriarch and said to him : — * If
your God, whoever he may be, does not light the sacred
fire to-night, I shall send my soldiers to clear out your
temple.' "
" Well, and what was the result ? " I queried : *•' That night,"
Ismet concluded with a smile, " A thousand happy pilgrims
lit their lamps at the sacred flame amid scenes of unparalleled
rejoicing."
Then the conversation turned on the question of chance.
I told the story of M Bey, the Governor of Pera, who
at the battle of Lule Burgas had lost 300 men of his
regiment killed, and practically all the rest wounded, while
he himself had sat on a white charger all through the battle
and had escaped unhurt. " His escape was little less than
miraculous," I concluded.
" How miraculous ? " Ismet replied. " It is written in the
Book of Fate that he should escape." Then he went on to
tell me of a Mollah, who had been shaken out of the bracelet
of a minaret, while proclaiming the Muezzin during the
recent earthquake, and who, falling into the basket of a
melon seller, had escaped unhurt. "It is Kismet," Ismet
concluded. " The destiny of every man is written in the
Book of Fate."
Then I knew that Ismet, too, despite his western education
and general enlightenment, was a believer in Kismet, that
210 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
blind faith in predestination, which has strangled the energies
and vitality of his race.
Later on in the evening Major Vasfi Bey, who was in
charge of the correspondents, sent round to say that, as the
left wing of the Turkish Army had suffered a reverse, it was
impossible for us to remain any longer in Chorion, and that
accordingly we must leave with him at eight o'clock on the
following morning to proceed to Cherkeskeuy, and thence
to Sarai. He gave me to understand that the object of the
move was to transfer us from the beaten left wing of the
army, to the right, which, he said, had held its own. I was
very sceptical, as Cherkeskeuy was on the road to Constan-
tinople, and I had little faith in his statement that we should
advance from thence to Sarai. 1 had also been told by a
Turkish staff officer, that the major portion of the beaten
army had called about ten miles north of Chorlou, and was
entrenched there with a view to offering a desperate
resistance to the Bulgarian advance.
So, as I was anxious not to miss the battle, I decided
not to leave Chorlou with Major Vasfi and the other corres-
pondents.
The next morning it was raining hard when, at ten o'clock,
Major Vasfi, and all the correspondents he could collect,
started on this melancholy ride to the rear ; nearly all
those who went with him were either Frenchmen or
Germans ; the Enghsh, being of a more adventurous
disposition, had either remained behind or vanished with
their despatches after the battle of Lule Burgas. Most
of them ultimately rode to Rodosto on the Sea of Marmora
about 15 miles from Chorlou, and went thence by sea
to Constantinople, so that, with the exception of one
German, I think that I was the only correspondent to
accompany the routed army on its terrible retreat to
Chataldja.
DESERTED CHORLOU 211
The aspect of the erstwhile prosperous Httle town of
Chorlou had completely changed. All the shops were now
closed and barred, and the streets deserted by the inhabi-
tants. Scores of hungry wolfish soldiers were wandering
round the desolate town in search of a scrap of bread
to eat, but everywhere they found the doors shut and
bolted in their faces. Several soldiers came to the door
of our inn, which had been left temporarily open. Inside
were a number of Greeks and a few Turkish officers
smoking in front of a warm fire, and drinking coffee or
rakki. The men stood for a few minutes at the door,
looking with envious eyes at the warm room and at the
food and drink. Then the Greek proprietor came forward
and asked if they had money, and when they shook
their heads, he slammed the door in their faces and bolted
it. I expected to see them storm and pillage the inn,
but instead they just slouched off in the rain, shivering
as they went. Poor wretches, all the spirit had been
starved out of them, and I shall never forget the look
of patient suffering in their faces.
All Saturday, more and more hungry soldiers came pour-
ing into Chorlou, and more and more of the inhabitants put
up their shutters and fled towards the coast. The two old
Greek ladies, in whose house I had lodged before taking up
my abode over the stables, came to me in tears to ask
if they were safe. I comforted them as best I could, but
it was with the conviction that they were doomed.
All day long the rain came down in torrents, and all day
long I sat at the window of my attic watching the wrecks of
the grand army dribble through the town. From time to
time there was a loud rumbling, and the clatter of horses'
hoofs on the rough cobble stones, as a gun went by drawn
by six tired and starving horses.
The next morning, Sunday, November 3rd, the rain had
p2
212 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
ceased, and at dawn I rode out in the direction of Lule
Burgas to see the last stand, which I beheved to be imminent,
accompanied by Bryant and a young Enghshman who was
serving as a volunteer with the Turkish Army. The road
was strangely deserted and quiet ; only a few stragglers in
the last stages of exhaustion, a number of dead horses and
broken down transport wagons were to be seen.
The twenty-four hours' continual rain had rendered the
rough cart tracks a sea of mud, while raging streams were
tearing along the bottom of what had been dry nullahs when
we had returned from Lule Burgas three days previously,
and several times we were in water up to our saddle girths,
when crossing the so-called fords. We rode for about ten
miles over the barren table-land, until from a high plateau
we got a view of the country for fifteen miles around.
There was no sign of any army, nor the sound of a single
shot ; only in the distance the smoke of many burning
villages.
In that moment we realised that the Turkish Army
had retreated, leaving Chorion and the railway wholly
unprotected. We turned and rode for Chorion, for it was
evident that the Bulgarians might at any time come down
the line and cut off our retreat, and I was anxious to save
both myself and the baggage.
Chorion in a few short hours had become like a village
of the dead. Hadji, the old Albanian groom, who always
seemed to know by instinct what was going to happen,
and who incidentally regarded us as quite mad for
wanting to come near the war — had already harnessed
the two country-bred ponies into the Araba, and was
awaiting our return with the peculiar impassiveness of his
race.
After half an hour's halt to feed ourselves and the horses,
we got under way, and by noon were leaving Chorlou by
"MAY ALLAH BLESS YOU!" 213
the road which leads to Cherkeskeuy, thirty miles to the
south-east.
We travelled fast and soon began to overtake the
remnants of the army tramping to the rear, and all the
way to Cherkeskeuy, a march of thirty miles, this long line
of stragglers continued. The men were trudging along
sullenly, and without a vestige of order. Many had thrown
away their rifles and ammunition, others were wounded and
soaked in blood, having dragged themselves forty miles from
the dreadful battlefield of Lule Burgas. Only a few of the
latter could hope to escape, for in their weak and starving
condition, another night in the open would mean death.
I saw one man fall by the roadside. He at once took
off his boots, which were in good condition, and, caUing to
a comrade who was staggering along in bare feet, handed
them to him and then lay down to die. I held out a piece
of dry bread to another soldier, and he snatched it eagerly,
crying, '* May Allah bless you ! I have eaten nothing for
five days." Several times my horse shied, and, looking
down, I saw staring up at me with wide open eyes the face
of some dead man lying half buried in the mud and
trampled on by all who passed.
Before we had gone very far it came on to rain. The
soldiers around us presented a most melancholy spect^icle.
Most of them had lost all their kit. Their mud-bespattered
grey overcoats were in rags, and they wore the hoods turned
up over their heads, while their feet were wrapped in
sandals which they had cut from the hide of some dead ox.
Their faces were covered with thick black beards, and were
so drawn with hunger, privation, and horror that they looked
like an army of ghosts, as they trudged along with bent
heads and shuffling footsteps.
The track lay over barren hills, and the rain came driving
down before the bitter north-east wind, enveloping the
214 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
remnants of the Grand Army of Thrace in grey mist clouds.
Many men fell by the roadside to die from exhaustion,
exposure, or the loss of blood from wounds incurred three
days before. Others more fortunate were riding lean pack
horses or donkeys ; aU were starving.
Sickened by all we saw, we pushed on to Cherkeskeuy,
fuU of the hope that there the fearful ebb-tide from the
battlefield would cease, and that we should find an army
ordered and prepared for battle. But as we marched, the
fine of stragglers thickened, and the confusion increased,
until, just as it was growing dark, we came to Cherkeskeuy,
to find pandemonium, but no army.
Every approach to the station was blocked by artillery,
ammunition wagons, transport carts, and crowds of excited
soldiers and refugees fighting their way towards the trains.
In a sleeping car which had once done service with the
Orient express, I found Nazim Pasha and the whole of
the Headquarters StaiF. Behind it were two sumptuous
motor-cars on open trucks. In another wagon-lit were aU
the military attaches.
The four other trains which were waiting their turn to
steam off down the single line of railway to Constantinople,
were packed as I have never seen trains packed before.
Women and children were piled into cattle trucks one
above another, together with their household goods, in
such a manner that numbers must have perished from
suffocation. Other women with young children strapped
to their backs were running about like frightened, sheep,
looking in vain for places in the already overcrowded
trains. I saw one old bearded man carrying his pretty
young wife upon his shoulders. Wounded men were being
thrown pell-mell into second-class carriages, to fall hope-
lessly on the floor or seats.
I met Major Vasfi, in charge of the correspondents.
POOR VASFI 215
He was in a great state of excitement, and told me that
he was going off to Constantinople with all the corre-
spondents he had been able to collect — mostly Frenchmen
and Germans. At that moment, a young Frenchman came
up, and as usual started abusing the unfortunate officer
because he had lost some of his baggage. " But, Monsieur,"
the ever courteous Major Vasfi replied, " Why do you
blame me ? In war it is every man for himself, and besides, I
cannot personally look after each correspondent's luggage."
Then the Frenchman complained because the officer had
brought them to Cherkeskeuy, and they had nothing to eat.
" Monsieur, you forget! that the whole army is starving, and
how can I feed when I have nothing to eat myself? "
Major Vasfi then offered me a place in the train with the
other correspondents, but I refused, sa5dng that I could
not abandon my two companions, and my brother's horses
and baggage ; so he bade me farewell with an air of depress-
ing finality, murmuring something about the danger from
disorganised soldiery.
Then I chanced on Goupa, the dragoman whom I had
sent on from Chorion on Friday evening with the heavy
baggage and who had been delayed at Cherkeskeuy ever
since. He was in a state of great excitement and terror, and
began crying : " Monsieur, I love you as my son, but if you
do not come in this train, you are a man lost." I told him
not to be a fool, and he then started to tell me how to say
in Bulgarian : " Please do not shoot me, I am a harmless
British War Correspondent."
Night had by now set in, and in the existing state of
confusion it was hopeless to attempt to move with the cart
to the village of Cherkeskeuy, so we had perforce to camp
in the low-lying, fever-haunted ground round the station.
We paddled about in the dark, sinking from time to time
well above our ankles in filthy mud and water, until we
216 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
found a dry spot — dry only by comparison, for in reality it
was little better than a marsh.
When we started to pitch the tent, we found that one
of the tent poles had disappeared, and it took us over
an hour improvising an impromptu pole with the shaft of
the cart. Then, just as we had squatted down to an excellent
dinner of tinned meats, for 1 had saved most of our stores,
there was a crash, the sound of ripping canvas, and the head
of a derehct artillery horse appeared through the side of the
tent, bringing the w^hole thing down about our ears with a
run. I appropriated the animal by way of compensation for
the damage*d tent, but in the morning he was reclaimed by
some angry gunners.
We took it in turns to keep watch over the horses all
night, and the first watch fell to my lot. Hadji had
purloined some coal from the station, and lighted a fire, but
even so the cold was intense. The hill beyond the station
was ablaze with a thousand camp fires, and the night filled
with an indescribable medley of sound — the shouting and
screaming of men and women struggling for places in the
trains, the incessant whisthng of engines crawling slowly
through the crowds on the lines, the wailing of children
exposed to the bitter cold, and the ceaseless coughing of
soldiers Ipng without covering or shelter in the foetid marsh
around us. From time to time hungry, wolfish-looking soldiers
came prowling round our tent in search of loot, only to dis-
appear at the sight of my revolver like shadows in the night.
Towards midnight there came a great wailing from
the hill behind us, and turning I saw the village of
Cherkeskeuy going up in flames. For a few moments the
white mosque was surrounded with a halo of light, and then
was swallowed up in black clouds of smoke. There would
be no stand at Cherkeskeuy, and at dawn we struck our tent,
and trekked off in the direction of Chataldja.
CHAPTER XVI
THE MIGRATION OF A PEOPLE
It was the same weaiy spiritless tramp to the rear, save
that now most of the sick and wounded had dropped out and
perished. There was not a vestige of order. Some of the
men were riding on donkeys, others on broken-down horses.
The majority having thrown away their boots, to which
they were not accustomed in everyday hfe, were trudging
along in blood-stained socks or bare feet.
There was no complaining ; only a vast silence as of the
grave, until I felt that T was marching in the midst of an
army of corpses without souls. A field gun was being drawn
by two horses and two white oxen. Mingled with the rabble
of soldiery, were thousands of bullock- wagons, in which the
mussulmans, inhabitants of the country, were driving off all
their worldly goods towards Stamboul.
It was the migration of a whole people, the return of the
Turks to Asia. Barefooted women, in bright-coloured,
baggy, cotton trousers, with gaudy yashmaks, were driving
their flocks along the road, and httle children were goading
on the oxen. Many of them had unfastened their veils, and
I was able to see how beautiful they were.
One magnificent Georgian woman, with skin of alabaster,
proud aquiline features, and hair of burnt gold, was sitting in
the front of an ox-wagon, a yellow quilt wrapped around her
218 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
shoulders, while she held a tiny child to her heart. By the
side of the wagon walked a handsome, old, bearded man, with
a turban of green and rose. They were the living image of
a picture of the flight into Egypt, by an Italian master,
which I had seen some years ago — I think in the picture
gallery at Dresden.
Soon after leaving Cherkeskeuy, the road passed into
mountainous country covered with thick oak scrub. It is
called a road only by courtesy and became completely blocked,
so that the bullock-wagons could not progress more than a
mile an hour. Therefore, had the Bulgarians possessed
adequate cavalry, in a position to push on after the battle of
Lule Burgas, they might have captured the whole of this
great convoy of women and children, together with the
greater part of fugitives from the once Grand Army of
Thrace.
About ten miles out we came to a spot where the mud
track dived precipitously into a nullah about two hundred
yards below, and then mounted almost at right angles on the
other side. Down the centre of the nullah a torrent was
raging, the result of Saturday's rain. Three field guns, each
drawn by six emaciated horses, were about to essay the
passage of this impasse. The first gun plunged down
the slope into the stream, well above the axles. The
horses plunged and struggled half-way up the far bank,
then one of the wheelers fell, and the gun and horses
slid back in a hopeless jumble into the torrent, the gun
overturning and the horses kicking and plunging in wild
confusion.
The major in charge came up to me and begged for a
little brandy, and I handed him my water-bottle full of
whiskey. He told me that he had commanded the eighteenth
regiment of artillery. For two days they had fought at Lule
Burgas against the most fearful shrapnel fire that he had
WHERE ARE THE GUNS? 219
ever seen. He showed me the shields of his guns, which
were battered almost out of shape.
After the army broke up on the fearful night of the 31st,
he had been left behind with the rear-guard to cover its
retreat, and in the night the Bulgarian cavalry had sur-
rounded them. " They captured eighteen of my guns," he
said ; " I myself only just escaped with these three, and
now I must abandon them, for they can never pass these
roads." He seemed broken-hearted. I asked him to ride
on with us, but he refused, saying, " No, I will stay with
my guns. You had better push on as fast as you can.
For us it is the end. But what would you ? We have
no roads, no food, no organisation."
A little further on I was surprised to hear myself
addressed in excellent French by an emaciated and ragged
private soldier. I stopped and looked hard at him. It was
Macksoud Bey, a young Armenian and an attache at the
Foreign Office, who had volunteered for service with the
army. Although one of the richest young men in Constan-
tinople, he was starving on the roads less than 100 rniles
from the capital. He told us that he had been marching
for sixty-five hours without a scrap of food to eat.
Poor Macksoud! I think the longest walk he had ever taken
in his life, before the war, was from the Sublime Porte to
Tokatlians, where he was in the habit of dining, and to go
there he generally took a cab. He was pretty nearly at the
end of his powers of endurance, but we gave him something
to eat and a lift in the cart. Later we were unfortunate
enough to lose sight of him in the general confusion. I
afterwards learnt that he had developed dysentery, and
would have died on the road, had not someone put him in a
cart and brought him to Constantinople, where he recovered.
Soon afterwards we came in sight of the railway. As far
as the eye could see, the track was covered with soldiers
220 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
taking the quickest route to the rear. A train was
approaching from the direction of Cherkeskeuy — one of the
last to leave that place. It was drawn by two powerful
engines which steamed at a snail's pace along the line,
whisthng continually to clear a way through the rabble on
the permanent way. Women, children, and soldiers were
clinging to the front of the engines, the couplings of the
carriages, the footboards — everywhere where they could get
a hold. The roofs of the carriages were crowded, and the
train was literally festooned with humanity. As it passed
at the rate of four or five miles an hour, a number of soldiers
tried to board it, but those in the train drew their bayonets
to prevent them.
Towards evening we sighted Sinekli, after a day's march
of only ten miles, so blocked were the roads. Just outside
the station I was accosted by a fantastic-looking individual
riding on a donkey. He was a very fat man in the uniform
of a colonel, and although the weather was fine and sunny,
he rode beneath the shelter of an umbrella. He told me that
he was a colonel in the Army Medical Corps, and begged me
to take his photograph, which I did. He had no
surgical instruments ; only an umbrella. For three weeks
he had been wandering about the country completely
lost, in search of the army. Now, through no fault of his
own, he had found the army, it having come to him, so he
had determined to return to Stamboul and there to await
further orders.
I asked him if it had not occurred to him to go on,
and to look after the sick and wounded, to which he
replied : " What good can I do ? I have no instruments,
no bandages, no medicines. I have not even got a thermo-
meter, only an umbrella." I gave him some whiskey, and
he introduced me to a Mend of his, a colonel in the Army
Service Corps, who wanted us to spend the night with them
ONE BOTTLE OF CHAMPAGNE 221
in a shed at the railway station. They also gave our horses
shelter in another shed, and gave them a feed of barley, for
which we were very grateful, horses' fodder being extremely
scarce.
I wanted the officers to dine with us, and we made
an excellent meal of a pilaf of chicken and rice ; the
chicken we had looted on the way down, and the Army
Service Corps colonel gave them to one of his soldiers to
cook, which he did in a most accomplished manner. We
also had some sardines, a tin of jam, and a tin of apricots,
the latter articles being very much appreciated by the Turks,
who are fond of all sweet things.
They had spread a mat of honour for me, on which I had
to sit cross-legged and dispense hospitality. The climax was
reached when I produced a bottle of champagne. These
two old men then shook me by the hand and swore eternal
friendship. The colonel waxed loquacious under the
influence of the champagne and many libations of whiskey.
He told me that he had been one of Abdul Hamid's
physicians. He also remembered my father — and ended up
by growing quite maudlin at the memory of the good old days,
when, under Abdul Hamid's corrupt regime, he was able to
line his nest with golden feathers at the expense of the
general public.
In the night I was awakened by the noise of someone
moving in the room, and, sitting up, I saw the fat colonel
opening my packing case of provisions, and taking out a
bottle of whiskey, the major portion of which he proceeded
to drink.
Unable to sleep again, I wandered out into the night.
Sinekli lies very high and the whole line of our retreat was
marked by flame and smoke, for the soldiers were burning
the villages behind them. Soldiers were squatting round
fires, which they fed from the stacks of coal in the station.
222 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
Further on, I came upon a large encampment of refugees.
The children were crying faintly, for it was bitterly cold, and
their sufferings must have been terrible, as they were only
clad in thin cotton clothes. A number of women with
babies in their arms were sitting round a feeble fire which
they had lighted with brushwood and straw ; their heads
had sunk forward on their breasts and they slept. Others
lay huddled up in each other's arms in the wagons, or
nestled close to the sleeping oxen in search of a httle
warmth.
At dawn we left for Chataldja. The road was so blocked
by the bullock- wagons of the refugees that I decided to ride
on, leaving the cart to follow. I asked Hadji, the Albanian
groom, whether he thought that he could bring it through
safely, whereupon he undid his waistcoat, displaying a row
of knives and an antiquated revolver, and swore by the
beard of the Prophet to do so or perish in the attempt.
We now took to the railway line, but even here progress
was slow, so dense was the crowd of fugitive soldiers on the
line.
About 15 miles beyond Sinekli the fugitives suddenly
began to run. I trotted along wondering if the Bulgarians
were upon us. Then 1 heard a murmur of " Eckmeck !
Eckmeck I " (Bread I Bread I), and round a bend in the line
we came upon two abandoned truck-loads of bread, for
which an excited crowd of soldiers were fighting with their
bayonets.
As we neared Chataldja our spirits rose, as we heard on
all sides that it was an impregnable position. We left the
railway and took to the old Roman road, which wound down
a green valley, between great purple hills. These Roman
roads are the only real roads that the country boasts, but as
the Turks have never even bothered to keep them in repair,
the great square paving stones, of which they are built, have
A PHANTOM ARMY 223
sunk in places, leaving gaping holes, and rendering progress
along them both slow and dangerous.
Three miles from Chataldja we found a village in flames
and soldiers looting it for food, and our spirits began to sink.
Then we came to Chataldja itself, nestling on the slope of a
great bar of hills which block half the valley down which we
had been riding. Chataldja was deserted, but this was
not surprising, as the tovsni itself is about seven mOes in
advance of the so-called lines of Chataldja.
Nowhere could we see any signs of an army, nor signs of
a camp, nor signs of a fortified position. We met a
lieutenant-general riding aimlessly about the country
followed by an escort of four orderlies v^dth lances, and
preceded by two aides-de-camp. He told us that he had
an army of 150,000 men and that 200,000 more were
coming from Constantinople. Then he rode off, apparently
in search of something. Poor fellow, he was looking for a
phantom army which existed only in his imagination.
At Chataldja railway station we found the usual scene of
pandemonium and trains, crowded with refugees . and
wounded, with women and children on the roofs of the
carriages. We halted for an hour to feed the horses on
some chopped straw and barley, which we found in the
station. Some cavalry officers invited me into their
carriage and gave me coffise and sweet native brandy to
drink. Like all Turks, they were courtesy itself They
told me that the sufferings of the women and children on
the tops of the railway carriages had been terrible, many
of the children having died of exposure and hunger in the
night.
While we were talking a private soldier, wearing a
captain's overcoat, tried to enter the carriage. A major
told him to get out and to hand over the coat, which he
had doubtless pillaged from some dead officer's body. The
224 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
man refused, whereupon the major seized the coat, but the
man struck him and the officer was obhged to draw his
sword in self-defence.
The officers seemed broken-hearted. They said that
disciphne had ceased to exist, and repeated the old cry
which we had heard all down the line — No roads, no food,
no organisation. They advised me to ride on to
Hademkeuy and to ask the commanding officer there for
an escort, as the roads were unsafe.
A few miles beyond Chataldja night overtook us and we
became completely lost. A bitter east wind was blowing,
and it began to rain in torrents. We were chilled to the
bone, and had almost abandoned all hope of finding shelter
for the night, when towards midnight we sighted a blaze
of light in the distance. It was Hademkeuy, and the
soldiers had set fire to some of the outlying buildings to
keep themselves warm.
We tapped at the door of a shepherd's wooden hut,
through the chinks in the walls of which we could see a
light burning. We were hospitably received by some
Turkish officers, who invited us in, set us down before a
brazier of red-hot coals to dry our clothes, and made us hot
tea. There were about thirty officers and men in the hut,
lying on the mud floor wrapped in their overcoats, or
squatting about smoking cigarettes and narghilis. They
were in complete ignorance of the military situation, but, as
the conversation warmed, I told them, little by little, of the
disaster of Lule Burgas, and of how the routed army was
coming back on them in a state of complete disorder.
I had expected the awakening of strong emotion, some
bitter manifestation of grief. But instead they received the
news quite calmly ; one or two of them exclaimed, " Allah,
Allah ! " and then sank once more into their habitual
apathy, and a private soldier, who was squatting on the floor
KISMET ! 225
smoking a narghili and talking to his colonel, ceased for a
moment and exclaimed, " Kismet ! " Upon which they
all — the colonel included — looked at the soldier as though
he had said something very profound and, nodding their
heads, repeated his exclamation of " Kismet ! " After that
they seemed to forget all about the war, and became
absorbed in the study of us, our manners, equipment, and
life in general.
Hademkeuy is in the centre of the so-called lines of
Chataldja, which should more properly be called the lines
of Chekmedche ; a natural position on the slope of the hills
stretching from the head of Lake Chekmedche on the west
to the head of lake Derkos on the east in the shape of a
semicircle, the concave edge presented to the enemy. The
slopes of the hills are clothed with several lines of forts and
trenches, which, if properly defended, should offer an impreg-
nable front.
On the morning of Wednesday, November 6th, there were
few signs of preparation for defence. There were only some
four thousand troops in Hademkeuy, of which the majority
were wandering about the village in a semi-starved condition,
although only twenty miles from the capital. The remnants
of the Army of Thrace were coming back toward the position
and would begin to arrive on the morrow, but it seemed
doubtful whether this rabble could ever be reorganised in
time to offer an effective resistance to the enemy.
In the end, to the great surprise of everybody, the slow-
ness of the Bulgarian advance was destined to give the Turks
time to bring up a fresh army, composed almost entirely of
Nizam troops, from Asia Minor — but of this in due season.
Later we rode on by crazy goat paths to Constantinople,
over rugged mountains and beautiful green valleys, down
which veiled women and little children were driving their
flocks of silken-fleeced sheep.
Q
226 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
We halted for a short while in a pretty little mountain
village called St. George. Here there was food in plenty,
for the army had not as yet passed through the district, and
we were able to give the horses a much-needed feed — they
had had nothing since the previous day at noon. We
ourselves were not much better off, having had nothing but
a few sodden biscuits to eat during the last twenty-four
hours, owing to our unwise generosity in sharing what small
stock of provisions we carried in our saddle-bags with hungry
Turkish officers and men, and to the non-arrival of Hadji
with the cart of provisions.
The innkeeper gave us rye bread and a bowl of steaming
goat's milk, and I have seldom eaten a meal that tasted
better. While we ate, the inhabitants of the village, who
were nearly all Ottoman Greeks, and who appeared to have
nothing on earth to do, gathered in the room of the inn
and watched us eat with great interest. The long-haired,
chimney-pot-hatted Greek priest also came to bid us
welcome to the village, while a picturesque Albanian with a
white cap and an embroidered waistcoat, who was hung all
around with antiquated knives, pistols and cartridge bando-
liers, looked with longing eyes at our modern revolvers, and
at the gold coin which I produced to pay for the meal.
Then on to Stamboul.
At sunset we reached the hills of the dead on the outskirts
of the city. Around us stretched hill after hill, covered
with the tombstones of the long-forgotten dead. There
were some stately sarcophagi, now crumbling to ruin, but
for the most part the tombstones consisted of flat slabs of
marble or stone. The majority of them were prostrate,
piled up in a jumble of putrefaction and decay — thousands
were leaning over as if about to fall, a few were upright. In
the half light of the evening they looked like myriads of
white shrouded ghosts, streaming forth from their tombs to
THE HILLS OF THE DEAD 227
share in some ghastly midnight orgy. Purple shadows were
creeping over the hills, but in the east the sky was a sea of
blood and fire, while ahead we could see the pale silver
outline of the Golden Horn and the minarets of Stamboul.
As it grew darker we could no longer see the path, and
our horses stumbled over the broken and prostrate tomb-
stones, from time to time snorting and trembling as if
oppressed with some strange fear ; nor am I surprised, for
even to my human senses it seemed as if myriads of ghosts
were stretching forth their cold fingers to drag me down to
the realms of putrefaction. Then we saw figures moving
ahead of us, and as we got closer, found that this ghost
world was peopled with hundreds of women and children
who were crying faintly as if weary, hopeless, and hungry.
They were refugees, who, debarred entrance into the city,
had taken refuge among the tombs, where soon hunger,
exposure, and disease would drive many of them to find a
lasting resting-place.
We rode in through the Adrianople gate at Stamboul,
down the narrow streets, past the Hippodrome and the War
Office, across the bridge into Pera and then on to the Pera
Palace Hotel. I was a sorry-enough looking object ; my
horse was lame and exhausted ; my khaki suit bespattered
with mud and torn in several places, while 1 had a fortnight's
growth of a miserable-looking beard on my chin. As I
entered the hotel, the well-dressed crowd drew back before
an object at once so dirty and so wild-looking, and the
porter came forward with the obvious intention of asking
me to leave, when, suddenly recognising who I was, he
received me with open arms.
I little expected to see my brother again in Constantinople
after his flight from Chorlou with the despatches, and was
surprised when the porter informed me that he was upstairs,
having returned from Constanza only a few hours previously.
q2
228 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
I went upstairs and found my brother, who was as astonished
to see me as if I had been a man who had returned from the
grave.
Little remains to tell, save that on the following morning
Hadji arrived with the cart, which in one week those two
wonderful little black horses had drawn 200 miles up hill
and down dale, through rivers and seas of mud, over stony
mountain paths and through raging torrents.
I gave Hadji a sovereign for his pains, whereupon, in the
foyer of the hotel, he kissed my hand, saying that he desired
nothing save that Allah might bless and protect me, and
then went oif to buy a young wife, whom he had long
coveted — at least so Goupa assured me, and Goupa had a
long record of mendacity to atone for.
CHAPTER XVII
THE CAPTURE OF RODOSTO
To judge from the description which my brother gave me
of the state of the Turkish Army between Chorion and
Chataldja, I thought it extremely unlikely that the fugitives
would ever stop at the famous lines. In common with
almost everyone else in Constantinople, I expected to see a
mass of starving, disbanded soldiery back in Stamboul, and
possibly an uprising against the Christian section of the
inhabitants. But we did not reckon on two factors which
saved the situation. The first was the extreme sta e of
exhaustion of the fugitives, which caused them to halt at
Hademkeuy, where an eiFort was made to supply them with
food, and the second, the large reinforcements of Nazim
(regular troops) which the Turks were just beginning to
bring up from Smyrna and from the Armenian frontier.
These men were pushed to the front with great rapidity,
and it was their bayonets which finally checked the rout at
the lines of Chataldja. But for nearly two weeks after the
battle the situation was extremely critical, and had the
Bulgarians been able to follow up their victory more
quickly, they would have encountered no organised
resistance, and a few rounds from the dreaded Creusot field
guns would have started all the fugitives on the run once
again, and even if the fresh arrivals from Asia had put up a
230 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
good fight, they were not numerous enough at this time to
check an attack in force.
Nazim Pasha, the Minister of War, left Constantinople
and took up his quarters at Hademkeuy, living in a railway
train just outside the town. It was at this time that we first
learnt of the outbreak of cholera at the front. It originally
started amongst the troops of the 3rd Army Corps at Viza,
having been brought from Asia by the fresh battalions. But
it was not amongst the fresh arrivals that it made its greatest
ravages, but amongst the unfortunate survivors of Lule
Burgas.
These men had, by the time they reached Chataldja, been
practically starving for ten days, their only food consisting
of raw mealie cobs and anything they could pick up in the
countryside. They were thus in a terribly weak state,
and fell easy victims to the great epidemic, which spread with
extraordinary and almost uncanny rapidity throughout the
whole countryside. Not only were they swept away in
thousands by cholera, but also by dysentery and enteric, and
many cases of dysentery were put down as cholera. It
mattered little whether the unfortunate Anatolian peasant
paid his last debt to his country by one or by the other
of these diseases.
The news of the rout of Lule Burgas caused the utmost
consternation in diplomatic circles. A general attack on all
Europeans was feared, and warships were hastily demanded.
Each nation sent two, and more than three thousand blue-
jackets were landed and remained on duty until after the
signing of the armistice. It was doubtless a wise and
necessary precaution, in view of the bloody history of Con-
stantinople, but, as all remained perfectly peaceful, it did
look a little absurd to see the Embassies protected by armed
men, and with machine guns behind sand bags on the roofs.
The Turks looked on and smiled, and on the whole the
ART DEALERS 231
bluejackets were extremely popular with the local towns-
people.
The prospect of the taking of Constantinople and the
possible looting of the town attracted art dealers from all
over the world. They hoped that the priceless heirlooms
contained in the Museum, the mythical hordes of gold
and silver ware, and heaps of unknown but suspected
jewels, including the famous Persian throne, would fall
into the hands of the looters, who, in turn, would be
only too pleased to part with them for a tenth of their
value for cash down. As day by day went by and only a
comparatively small number of fugitives, who were easily
kept in hand, returned to Constantinople from the front, the
disappointment was keen, and these gentry, who had come
so far to fill Bond Street, the Rue de la Paix, and Fifth
Avenue with the spoils of Byzantium, went away very
disapppointed.
I think almost every European and certainly every war
correspondent hoped to see the triumphal entry of King
Ferdinand, at the head of his legions, into Constantinople.
This was needed to give a grand dramatic finale to the
campaign. There were many who wished to be present
at the solemn ceremony of substituting the Cross for
the Crescent on the dome of Saint Sofia. Many well-
known writers commenced their accounts of the march of
Ferdinand's legions through the Golden Gate, and the exit
of the Turks into Asia Minor after an occupation of six
hundred years.
It seemed to us, who had come straight from the battle-
field, that the Bulgarians could perform any miracle or feat
of arms they chose. They appeared now as a mythical
monster, who had only to open his jaws and swallow up
whole tracts of country and whole armies. It seemed
incredible that the beaten Turk, worn-out, starving, and
232 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
hopelessly mismanaged, could ever again rally or offer any
resistance in the field. For a few days it was continuously
rumoured that the Bulgarians had swept past Chataldja and
were hammering at the gates of the city. But it took a
very short time for these wild fancies to pass, and then
those of us who settled down to examine the situation
calmly and dispassionately, soon realised that it would be
quite impossible for the Bulgarian armies to advance against
Chataldja for a very considerable period of time.
The distance from Lule Burgas to Chataldja is, I believe,
some hundred and forty kilometres. This takes time for an
army to travel, more especially in a country where there are
no roads and where the railway is no longer available. We
knew the Bulgarians must be absolutely exhausted after
their prolonged exertions, and that, before they could risk
an advance on the capital, they would have to look after the
immense number of wounded on their hands, replenish
their ammunition supply, and entirely reorganise their
commissariat, so as to be able to feed a large army, three
hundred miles away from its base, in a country which had
already been swept by the ravages of war and which could
offer them nothing.
Then, again, we knew they had Adrianople on their
hands, and there were some who were of the opinion
that they would rest content with having driven the
Turks back to Chataldja and would now concentrate all
their efforts on taking the fortress, using the army
which had been successful at Lule Burgas, as a covering
force.
In these circumstances, Donohoe and myself decided
it would be useless to go to the lines of Chataldja for some
days, and that we would learn more by hovering on the
flank of the army, or even by remaining between the
advancing Bulgarians and the retiring Turks. We there-
SALVING THE MOTOR 233
fore decided to leave for Rodosto by the first available
steamer. Our main object in going there was to recover
our motor-car, which we had left in charge of Mr. Streater,
the Consul, and also of Donohoe's dragoman.
We felt it was of the utmost importance to bring the car
to Constantinople, so as to be able to pass rapidly to and fr6
between the city and the lines of Chataldja, and also to have
it at our disposal for the rapid dispatch of cables from the
front. Therefore on Saturday, November 9th, we left
Constantinople in a small steamer for Rodosto, where we
arrived the same evening at 5 p.m.
On our arrival at this prosperous little port, we found
many Turkish merchant vessels, both steamers and sailing
craft, anchored in the roadstead, together with the old
Turkish battleship " Masudia " and a torpedo-boat.
All was quiet, as the Bulgarians had not yet approached
the town, although their presence within eight kilometres
(five miles) had been reported. There was, therefore, a
strong undercurrent of unrest running throughout the
Levantine population, whilst hundreds of others were only
awaiting some means of transportation.
On my arrival I dined with Mr. Streater, at whose
house I found Lionel James, who kindly gave me a resume
of all that had passed since my departure for Constantinople.
I learned definitely that the Bulgarians had not occupied
Chorion until Thursday night, November 7th ; up to
which day a small force of Turks, remnants from the
field of Lule Burgas, had remained in possession, but had
retreated on Chataldja on the approach of the enemy's
cavalry. The Turkish force, which numbered about 3,000,
was composed of some infantry and the remainder of Sali
Pasha's independent cavalry division. I also learned that a
large force of Servians, with artillery, had been seen passing
through Muradli, evidently with the purpose of strengthen-
234 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
ing the Bulgarian army in its assault on the lines of
Chataldja.
The proximity of the Bulgarians at Chorlou had natur-
ally aroused the alarm of the citizens of Rodosto, who had
been expecting a visit from the enemy all the previous week.
On Thursday, November 7th, the advance posts of the
enemy were reported to be only seven kilometres off on the
Rodosto- Muradli road, and therefore, after a consultation
with the foreign Consuls, the heads of the various religious
communities, who make up these Levantine towns, sinking
their life-long quarrels on dogma in the face of the common
danger, sallied forth for the first time in their lives with a
common policy, namely, formally to hand over Rodosto to
the enemy. Unfortunately, on their arrival where the
Bulgarians had been reported, they found no trace of the
invader, and were obliged to return to the town with their
formal act of submission unaccomplished.
On Friday, November 8th, the battleship " Masudia,"
together with a torpedo-boat, arrived off the port, and the
military authorities under Colonel Remzi, either on receipt
of instructions from Constantinople or else gaining confidence
from the big guns of the warship, decided to defend the town,
in spite of the sustained supplications of the united divines.
This was the position on our arrival on Saturday night,
November 9th. We found our motor safe where we had
left it, and on Sunday morning Donohoe and myself
motored out. We found the Turkish advance posts just
outside the town, but they made no effort to stop us, and
we motored on for another mile, when, on some high ground
we discovered a line of vedettes, whose soldierly bearing and
military formation aroused our suspicions as to their identity.
We therefore alighted from the car, turned it hastily round,
so as to be ready for immediate retreat, and examined them
at our leisure.
i
THE "MASUDIA " 235
Beyond a doubt they were Bulgarians, and as we were
only a quarter of a mile away from them, we hastily retired
to the line of the Turkish outposts. Here a further examin-
ation showed Rodosto to be completely surrounded by the
enemy's cavalry, and all the roads radiating from it cut off.
Here we also encountered Colonel Remzi, the commandant,
who informed us that he intended to defend Rodosto with
the aid of the warship. The force at his disposal was quite
adequate for such a task, consisting of isolated detachments
from the 2nd Army Corps, some of whom, after the debacle
at Lule Burgas, had taken the road to Rodosto to make
good their escape, rather than the common line of retreat to
Chataldja.
Together with some gendarmes and old reservists collected
in the town, the total force at Colonel Remzi's disposal
numbered about 1,000 men. Of these, only about half were
properly armed, the rest carrying old, obsolete, worn-out
Martini and Gras rifles. The Turks, with their customary
apathy, were leaving everything to chance and making no
effort to entrench their position, preferring to save themselves
this unpleasant labour, but utilising some petty rises in the
ground, or else hiding behind the outer houses of the town.
There was no scheme of defence, no supplies of reserve
ammunition, no guns, and no dressing stations.
We then returned to the house of Mr. Streater to lunch,
and had just sat down when a mighty roar from one of the
guns of the " Masudia " brought everyone to his feet. This
was followed by a series of broadsides from the four-inch and
eight-inch guns of that vessel, which shook every house in
the town and caused an almost indescribable panic amongst
the Greek and Armenian population. There was a general
stampede of gesticulating men, panic-stricken women, and
howling children towards the Consulates, which are all
situated close together on the sea front.
236 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
Never have I seen an entire population so scared. They
tumbled over one another to obtain shelter under the foreign
flags, and every time a gun of the " Masudia " thundered
forth, it was followed by a prolonged echo of shrieks,
howls, groans, and wailing, such as only a mixed Levantine
community can produce in times of trouble. Lionel James,
Donohoe, and myself did our best to calm the fear of the
women and children, but for some time with little effect, the
populace not being able to discriminate between a gun being
fired and a bursting shell, and thinking the Bulgarians were
shelling the town. But after a time, the novelty of the
sound having worn off, the tears were dried, the men
ventured to saunter forth into the streets, and the women,
pressing their children closely to them, took shelter in the
cellars.
We were besieged with anxious inquiries. Would the
enemy fire on the town? Would the warship bombard
the town ? \\^ould the Bulgarians take it by assault ? Would
there be a general massacre ? Of course we replied in the
negative, without having great faith in our own optimism.
About two o'clock the sound of rifle fire from all sides of
Rodosto showed that the enemy were approaching, and soon
the defenders were replying vigorously. Having calmed
the populace, we climbed the highest pinnacle to view the
engagement. We saw the Turkish outposts rapidly retiring,
firing at long range on the Bulgarian or Servian infantry.
I am unable to say to which army they belonged. It was a
pathetic sight to watch the blue-coated gendarmes doing
their best to keep off the invaders with rifles out of date
twenty years ago, and sending up great columns of smoke
after each discharge.
The Bulgarians developed a strong attack on the west of
the town over ground which gave them considerable cover,
but the Turkish regulars in this quarter vahantly held their
A HOT CORNER 237
own, encouraged rather than materially assisted by the
deafening broadsides from the " Masudia," which fired all
her guns at objects the marksmen could not possibly see,
and with little harm to the enemy, but which only served
still further to terrify the good citizens. In fact, it seemed
as if the Turkish sailors, in their efforts to reach the enemy,
would blow off the upper stories of the houses near the
seashore, and some of the Consuls, to avoid this contingency,
took down their flags, which were facing landwards, and
hoisted them seawards, to remind the '* Masudia," which
was evidently revelling in this opportunity of distinguishing
herself, of her international responsibilities.
The engagement now became hotter, and Donohoe and
myself, having captured our chauffeur, who, evidently
anticipating some such move, had carefully hidden himself,
entered our car, and motored out towards the Muradli
road. Having turned the car round, and leaving it under
cover, we joined the advanced Turkish posts, which were
firing from behind houses, chiefly without even looking over
the walls or taking aim. It was evident that Rodosto could
be carried at any moment the enemy developed a sufficient
force at any one point, but throughout the afternoon they
contented themselves with feeling the position, and evidently
were without artillery, as they made no effort to fire on the
" Masudia " or on the town.
The moment our car had moved to the front, the Turkish
unemployed, men and boys, gained courage and followed
us in hundreds to the firing line, saying they were quite
safe as long as they remained with Englishmen. But this
concentration, which we tried in vain to break up, speedily
attracted the enemy's fire, and, thinking discretion the
better part of valour, we retreated to the motor-car,
followed by the whole crowd, running as fast as their legs
would carry them.
238 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
For some time the car stuck and refused to move, but
fortunately the defence held good, and we got her back
to the Consulate. The enemy's bullets were now whistling
in hundreds over the tops of the houses, and hardly a soul
was to be seen, all having taken to their cellars, but the
" Masudia's " guns still thundered forth, and the enemy,
uncertain what force was on his front, did not press home
and carry the outskirts with the bayonet.
I have already mentioned that a number of Turkish
vessels, steamers, and sailing ships were anchored in the
roadstead early in the day, engaged in taking off refugees.
As soon as the " Masudia " started shooting they all, without
exception, hauled up their anchors and made for Constanti-
nople, leaving Rodosto to look after itself.
We three English correspondents thus found ourselves in
an awkward position, as we had no means of escape, and
should the town be taken by the Bulgarians, we would
become prisoners of war, and thus cease to be of any further
utility to our respective papers. We tried to secure a
sailing ship, a fishing smack, or even a rowing boat, but
in vain, and things were looking extremely black for us
when about five o'clock the " Marmora " mail boat, flying
the French flag, put into the port, anchoring a long way
out.
Immediately there was a rush of refugees to make their
escape in small boats to her. Thanks to the French agent,
we secured a boat, and were allowed to leave after a
prolonged parley with the authorities, who required passes
from us. Our departure was the signal for a fresh panic, as
those citizens of Rodosto attributed it to fear alone. There
was a general rush for the quays, but the soldiers, hearing
that the " Marmora " express was already crowded, refused to
allow others to embark, which caused the wildest lamenta-
tions. With the utmost difficulty, and by sheer fighting.
IMPLORING A PASSAGE 239
we reached the ship and fought our way aboard. The
gangway was then hoisted.
From that moment, until we sailed, a crowd of boats
hovered round us, the refugees imploring to be taken on
board, and offering to pay any sum for a passage ; but as the
boat is built to carry about 200 persons, and some 1,600
were crowded on her, the captain remained adamant. When
his decision became known a perfect babel of discordant
cries, shrieks, curses, and prayers arose from the darkness,
which had now settled over this unpleasant scene, and lasted
until we sailed. Some in their desperation tried to climb
up the sides, abandoning their baggage, their friends, and
relatives.
The " Masudia " continued her bombardment until night-
fall, and almost the last shot she fired burst prematurely,
sweeping the harbour with fragments of an 8-inch shell. We
were obliged to abandon our motor-car, and Lionel James
was also obliged to abandon his, to the care of the British
Consul, hoping to ship them to Constantinople under more
peaceful conditions, if the enemy did not seize them as spoils
of war. I learnt later from a refugee, who came by an
Italian ship which called at Rodosto after our departure, that
the miUtary authorities had temporarily commandeered our
cars to carry petrol to the Turkish quarter of the town, as
they intended to burn it down if the Bulgarians attempted
to enter.
Neither James, Donohoe, nor myself were ever destined to
have another ride in our cars during the campaign, and I am
extremely doubtful if we shall ever see them again. When
we left Rodosto we placed them in charge of Streater,
the Consul, and also left Donohoe's dragoman and our
chauffeur with instructions to ship them by the first avail-
able steamer to Constantinople. Our former chauffeur,
whom we had with us at Lule Burgas, had had enough of
240 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
the campaign and ran away to Roumania, and we never saw
him again. We were therefore obhged to obtain another in
Constantinople, and we took this man with us to Rodosto.
Sunday evening, November 10th, was the last time we have
ever heard of or seen either the car, the chauffeur, or the
dragoman. The protection of the Consul was of little use,
as Streater left his post early on Monday morning, November
11th, and decided he would be more safe and comfortable in
Constantinople. Two days later the Bulgarians occupied
the town.
After this, all remains a blank, and, up to the time of
writing we have never heard a single word from either the
chauffeur or the dragoman, neither have their despairing
mothers, wives, sisters, and children in Constantinople.
The mystery is almost inexplicable, unless both were seized
as prisoners and sent back to Bulgaria. Of course there
remains the alternative that they may be dead. But who
would kill them? If they are alive, why have they not
written, if not to us, at least to their wives ? Steamers
have called there many times since, and I believe a regular
service was resumed after the signing of the armistice, but
not a sign has either of these men made to anyone of his
safety.
Of course it is useless to comment on the fate of the
cars, until we know what has become of those who were
left in charge of them. Perhaps they are running cheap
trips to the neighbouring battlefields. Perhaps the Bul-
garians have forced them to work in their service, and our
beautiful Panhard may now be conveying some Savoff or
Popoff on his daily rounds. Personally, I am not very
hopeful of ever seeing it again.
We had a terrible time after our return to Constanti-
nople, and until we finally escaped to England, trying to
comfort the wives, famiUes, friends, and relatives of these
THE CAPTURE OF RODOSTO 241
two men. They would besiege the Pera Palace Hotel,
begging us for information which we were quite unable to
give them. Sometimes in their frenzy they declared we
knew they were dead and were merely concealing the
truth. What could we do ? We knew no more than
they did.
CHAPTER XVIIl
THE CHOCOLATE SOLDIER
On Wednesday, November 13th, Donohoe, my brother,
and myself left Constantinople for the lines of Chataldja.
The appearance of the city was even more desolate than
before we had left to join the Grand Army of Thrace. The
last vestige of wheeled traffic had disappeared from the
streets, and Stamboul had more than ever the appearance of
a plague-stricken city. The gold-merchants, the dealers in
precious stones, and all those who traded in wares of value,
had removed their goods from the bazaars to the vaults of
the foreign banks ; for there was considerable apprehension
among certain sections of the community lest, in the event
of the lines of Chataldja being forced by the Bulgarians,
the routed Turkish soldiers would pillage and burn the city,
sooner than allow it to fall once more into the hands of
Christians.
The Turkish Cabinet itself was doubtful as to whether
an effective resistance could be offered to the enemy at
Chataldja, so disheartening were the reports of disorder and
disease among the remnants of the Grand Army of Thrace.
Even Nazim Pasha at one time gave way to the general
despondency and declared that he could not hold the lines,
and on Sunday, November 10th, the Cabinet seriously
discussed the advisability of abandoning Constantinople and
VASFI AND HIS FLOCK 243
of transferring the seat of government to Brusa in Asia
Minor.
Meanwhile, fresh troops belonging almost entirely to
the Nizam army, and of a far better quality than the
undisciplined Redifs that had fought at Lule Burgas, were
being hurried to the front from the vilayets of Asia Minor.
The Turks at the eleventh hour had decided to denude the
Armenian frontier of troops, upon which some of their
best divisions were stationed. We saw several regiments
belonging to the army corps from Trebizond pass through
Constantinople, and were very much struck by their appear-
ance. The troops from the Yemen under the command
of the famous Izzet Pasha were also beginning to arrive,
and the Government had by now brought up most of the
regular troops from the vilayet of Smyrna, whither they
had originally been sent to cope with a possible Itahan
invasion.
As before the outbreak of hostihties, it was utterly
impossible to obtain any reliable news of what was happen-
ing in the trenches at Chataldja, although they were only
twenty miles distant from Constantinople, but, as one by one
the correspondents arrived from the front, each had a
different story to tell of the sufferings and disorganisation of
the Turkish Army.
On Friday, Major Vasfi, the Censor, sent a message
to the correspondents, saying that he would like to see them
all at the Pera Palace at six o'clock. Donohoe and I
thought it advisable to stay away after our flight from
Constanza, and so my brother was deputed to attend the
conference.
At six o'clock a score or so correspondents were seated
round Major Vasfi in the hall of the hotel. Major Vasfi
started by reproving us for our unceremonious departure from
him and the army, whereupon a dispute at once broke out as
r2
244 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
to whether the correspondents had abandoned the army or
the army the correspondents. It was finally settled that the
army was at fault. Then a Frenchman started blaming
Major Vasfi, because he had not been informed in time of the
departure of the Circassian horsemen to the front on the
previous day, so that he could take a photograph of them,
whereupon I suggested that, as they would probably be
coming back in a few days, he would then have an excellent
opportunity. After which an Austrian started a long tirade,
in the course of which he pointed out that he was a hero who
had given his life blood for the Turks in Tripoli, and in return
he had overheard Turkish officers calling him a dirty spy.
I pointed out to him that, being a correspondent, that was
exactly what he was. Finally, the Censor gave us the daily
account of a Turkish victory ten miles north of Viza, and
offered to pass any telegrams that we might wish to send on
the subject.
We were now able to glean a knowledge of what had
been happening in the other theatres of war from the
European papers arriving in Constantinople. Uskiib,
Monastir, and Salonica had fallen in turn, and from every
side came the same story of the Turkish lack of organisation
and failure to provide the army with food. We were also
able to read the lurid reports of Lieutenant Wagner, the
correspondent of the Reichspost with the victorious Bulgarian
Army.
Writing from the " Headquarters of the Bulgarian
Army," Lieutenant Wagner described a bloody battle, in
which the Turks lost 40,000 men killed and wounded, as
having taken place in and around Chorion a few days after
the battle of Lule Burgas ; and yet we who were there
saw nothing of the battle. He ends up his despatch
with the following words : —
" Still more terrible was the fighting at Chorion, which
WAGNER'S FIRST INTERMEZZO 245
must have resembled that at the Beresina. Even to-day in
many places the water is dammed by corpses and war
material, and red with the blood of dead and wounded."
They must have been very sanguinary wounded, for the
river at Chorion, being swollen by heavy rains at that time,
was running at about 12 knots, and yet for days after the
fight it was stained with blood and blocked with corpses !
There is another peculiarity I have noticed amongst the
soldiers of all nations, they do not fight for preference in
the middle of a river, and whenever possible the wounded
avoid crawling into a river to die.
In addition, the following despatch from Lieutenant
Wagner appeared in the Reichspost, of Thursday, November
7th :—
" It had already been seen in Turkish military circles that
the defence of the Chataldja line was untenable and useless.
The Turkish troops fled in breakneck style to Constanti-
nople, without paying regard to the cries of their officers.
" The situation at Constantinople is desperate. The city .
is full of refugee soldiers, who, half-starved, take revenge
upon the defenceless Christians.
" The left wing of the Bulgarian army, after a determined
struggle, reached the heights east of Strandja, driving the
right Turkish wing into the forest district west of Derkos
Lake. The Bulgarians are strongly reinforced at Strandja
and Yenikoei to give a final blow to the Chataldja positions
south of the Derkos Lake. The centre and right Bulgarian
wing forced the conquered Turkish rearguard along the
railway line and through Cauta, and will continue the attack
upon the Turkish positions on both sides of the village of
Chataldja.
" The immediate fall of all the Turkish positions is now a
dead certainty. The Turkish artillery has very insufficiently
supported the infantry thus far, and has seldom remained
till the last moment. Insufficient action with the too early
retreat of the Turkish artillery left the retreating Turkish
246 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
infantry defenceless against the attacks of the onstorming
Bulgarians and firing of the Bulgarian batteries so that the
retreat almost resembled a flight.
Lieutenant Wagner heads his despatch " Bulgarian Army
Headquarters," but he does not say where the headquarters
were, neither does he date his despatch. The despatch
appeared in the Vienna Reichspost of November 7th, and
must, therefore, have been sent off at the latest on the
previous day, which brings us to Wednesday, November 6th.
The battle which it describes, therefore, must have taken
place on Tuesday, November 5th, at the latest. Now on
Monday, November 4th, Seabury Ashmead-Bartlett was at
Cherkeskeuy, 80 miles north-east of Chataldja, and there
was no sign of the Bulgarians ; on Tuesday he was at
Sinekli — still no sign of the Bulgarians, while the Turkish
peasants and soldiers continued their retreat unmolested.
On Wednesday, November 6th, he was actually at Chataldja
and yet he saw no signs of an attack on the lines, no signs
of the taking of Derkos — which, incidentally, lies behind
the Turkish position — while the Turkish headquarters were
still in telegraphic communication with Cherkeskeuy.
The remnants of Abdullah's army of Thrace only began
to reach the lines on November 7th, whereas Lieutenant
Wagner describes how, at least two days previously, they had
abandoned their positions and " fled in breakneck style to
Constantinople. "
Then he goes on to describe how Constantinople is
" full of refugee soldiers, who, half-starved, take revenge
upon the defenceless Christians." At the time there were
no starving soldiers in Constantinople, and later on, when
a certain number of sick and stragglers found their way
to the city, they were segregated in the mosques under
a strong guard, and at no time did they "take revenge
upon the Christians."
WAGNER CAPTURES CHATALDJA 247
In a later despatch dated " Bulgarian Army Headquarters,
Nov. 7 (10 p.m.) " Lieutenant Wagner goes on to describe
how: —
" The Bulgarian attack on the Chataldja positions goes
successfully forward. The positions taken by the Third
Bulgarian Army on the Turkish right wing at Delijunus,
form an excellent centre for the continuation of the
attack.
" On the south hne, also, the Bulgarian troops have
already taken possession of the principal positions. The
fall of the whole of the Chataldja positions is imminent.
"Already yesterday the advanced troops of the Third
Army, fighting continually, had pressed forward to the
Tarfa-Kalfakeni line, and early this morning the First
Army drove the Turkish troops from the heights near
Chataldja.
" The battle is now raging along the whole line, and
Europe may expect to receive at any moment the laconic
announcement of the fall of the famous lines of Chataldja.
" Once more the Bulgarians are acting with unexampled
dash.
" I just learn that the columns of the Third Army,
proceeding south of the Derkos Lake, have captured the
positions at Delijunus, on the Turkish right wing, and
that the columns of the Third Army, also going southwards,
are advancing victoriously."
Truly prophetic utterances, in view of the fact that the
Bulgarian attack on the lines of Chataldja did not begin
until November 17th, and that it was then easily repulsed
by the Turks. When this faint-hearted attack of the
Bulgarians on the Turkish positions did begin, Lieutenant
Wagner, undeterred by the exposure of his former
prophecies, reported : —
" After four days of sanguinary fighting, the Bulgarian
army has succeeded in breaking through the centre of the
Turkish positions at Chataldja in the direction of Hademkeuy,
248 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
and in completely rolling up the Turkish defences. The
advance will be continued with the greatest energy, in order
to force the Turkish troops as far as possible from
Constantinople. "
The course of events will show that the fighting at
Chataldja was never of a sanguinary nature ; that the battle
only lasted two days, and that, far from rolling up the
Turkish forces, the Bulgarians were themselves forced to
retreat.
But Lieutenant Wagner did not hesitate to state in the
course of another despatch, that the gallant, but defeated
Turkish troops behaved with shocking brutality.
*' The atrocities committed by the retreating Turks are
awful. All the villages were burned to ashes ; all the
Christians were massacred, and dozens of female corpses
have been found with mutilated bodies. The Anatolian
Redifs, especially, behaved like wild beasts."
Poor, gentle and kind-eyed, courteous Anatolian Redifs !
You were starving and disorganised, and yet we marched
with you all the way from Lule Burgas to Chataldja, rather
more than 140 miles, without a passport or any other paper
to show who we were, and with a cartload of equipment and
stores, and none of you ventured to molest us. We were
Christians, and King Ferdinand had proclaimed a Holy War,
and yet one of you offered to share his last crust of bread
with us, because we gave him a drink of water.
Nor did we see you massacre and ill-treat Christians or
mutilate their women-folk, although, when you were starving,
they used to shut their doors in your faces and refuse to give
you of the food which they possessed in plenty. Their flocks
also you left untouched in your extremity, and their chickens
and their com. Few European armies would have behaved in
NO TURKISH ATROCITIES 249
such a gentle and forbearing manner as you. Few races
could show such a spirit of tolerance.
One day at the height" of the crisis, when the Bulgarians
were said to be on the eve of entering Constantinople and
of setting up the cross on St. Sofia, we watched a Greek
religious procession passing through the streets of Pera. A
priest dressed in robes of silk and gold went before, carrying
high the cross, while others in gaudy raiment followed after,
chanting a solemn hymn as they went. And no attempt was
made by the Turks to molest these Greeks. We wondered
what would have happened in Piccadilly if, when the army of
a Roman Catholic nation, which had invaded England with
the avowed intention of stamping out Protestantism, was
on the eve of entering London, the Roman Catholic Arch-
bishop of Westminster had gone in procession through the
streets carrying the Host. We remembered the outcry in
the Press, when he had mooted doing such a thing in a
period of profound peace, and trembled for the fate of him
and his priests.
CHAPTER XIX
THE CHOLERA
We were much amused to read one evening an official
announcement by the Ottoman News Agency, that forty of
the most prominent Ulemas had been dispatched to the army
at Chataldja, in order to excite the fanaticism of the soldiers
by preaching an " official Holy War." They did not, how-
ever, succeed in awakening any fanaticism, and the dispatch
of forty train loads of bread would probably have been more
efficacious.
Meanwhile thousands of refugees with their bullock-
wagons and flocks were arriving daily at the city's gates.
To most of them entrance was debarred, and they had to
take refuge in the cemeteries beyond the city walls, but
many were camped in the streets of Stamboul. The
resultant filth and congestion beggars description and was
certain to cause a lot of disease. These unfortunate women
and children were being transhipped as fast as possible to
Asia Minor ; but what will happen to them there and who
will provide for their support, none can tell. Their fate is
in the lap of the gods. Many of them have lost their
fathers, sons, or brothers. Even if their menfolk should
escape death in the war, they will never be able to find their
famihes again, for the people do not mean to return to
Europe. I talked to one old peasant, and he said : — ** We
BRITISH RED CROSS SOCIETY 251
are going to seek in Asia the peace that we have never
found in the land of the Giaours."
Meanwhile we heard that cholera had broken out among
the troops at Chataldja, and that a number of cases had
arrived at Constantinople. One day therefore we visited the
Cekedje railway station at an hour when we knew that a
train load of sick and wounded men was expected from the
front, and we were able to see for ourselves the truth of
the report. With characteristic carelessness, the Turks had
placed a number of cholera cases among the non-infectious
patients, and quietly sent them off to Stamboul to spread
the dread disease among its teeming population. At the
station the cholera patients were sorted out from among the
others, and placed in sheds which were already half full of
dead and dying men, while those who handled them were
profusely sprayed with disinfectant. Then they were left
uncared for until such time as death should end their
sufferings.
We afterwards visited the British Red Cross Society's
admirable hospital in the old Museum, where we were
able to see the condition of the wounded men arriving
from the front. Only about 20 per cent, of those who
had been wounded at the battle of Lule Burgas ever got
back to Constantinople, the remainder perishing from
exposure and neglect, while trying in vain to drag them-
selves away from the battlefield. Many of those who did
survive, only reached the hospitals in the capital ten or
fifteen days after the battle, during which time their wounds
had remained untended, with the result that they had
festered and were covered with maggots and vermin.
Still in most cases they managed to recover, thanks to their
wonderful constitutions and non-alcoholic habits.
On the evening of Tuesday, November 12th, the Turkish
Government announced, through the medium of the Otto-
252 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
man Agency, that no correspondents could be permitted to
return to the front.
Nevertheless, as our preparations were completed, and we
believed an attack on the lines of Chataldja to be imminent,
we decided to start at dawn on the following day, Wednes-
day, November 13th. As on the occasion of our first
departure for the front, we were obliged to take all supplies
with us, as we could hope to find but little food in the
country through which the Turkish army had passed. We
did not know how long the second phase of operations was
likely to last, and so we had purchased supphes for one
month.
Our party consisted of my brother and myself, Martin
Donohoe of the Chronicle, Bryant, our guide and interpreter,
Goupa, dragoman and cook, Hadji, our old Albanian groom,
and another groom of Donohoe's. To carry the food and
equipment necessary for seven persons, we were obliged to
hire a second cart and two horses, in addition to the araba
drawn by the two little black ponies, which had done such
wonders on the retreat from Lule Burgas. We also hired a
Minerva motor-car for the purpose of getting back quickly
to Constantinople with our despatches, should occasion
arise.
We were up by six in the morning packing up the two
carts, which were sent on in charge of Goupa, with orders to
proceed to the station at Kuchuk Chekmedche, and there
to await our arrival.
Kuchuk Chekmedche is situated on the coast about 14
miles from Constantinople, on the banks of the lake of
Chekmedche, and is about seven miles distant from the lines
of Chataldja. We ourselves arranged to follow at about
12.30 p.m., Donohoe in the motor-car, and myself and my
brother with our guide Bryant on horseback. Shortly
before that hour my brother went round to the stable to
A FIGHT 253
fetch our saddle horses, and was met by the Greek pro-
prietor, who presented a bill for £10 for the five days
which our horses had spent in his stable, and this despite
the fact that we had provided their food ourselves. We
told him as politely as possible that his bill was excessive
and that, as we were pressed for time, we could argue the
matter out after our return from Chataldja. He also
told him, as he raised objections, that the Pera Palace
Hotel or the Ottoman Bank, where we had our account,
would give security for the money that we owed him. But
this did not suit the rascally Levantine, who, never having
done an honest action in his life, was incapable of trusting
anybody else.
Unwilling to continue a discussion which was becoming
undignified, my brother started to lead his horse from the
stable, whereupon the proprietor seized the bridle in an
endeavour to prevent him. My brother was so exasperated
by this traditional insult from one whom experience had
taught us to consider as an inferior species, that he struck him
in the face, knocking him down. The man picked himself
up, screaming like a woman, and disappeared into the coach-
room, whence he reappeared a moment afterwards armed
with an iron bar, and followed by three stablemen armed
with heavy sticks. In face of such overpowering odds my
brother was obliged to beat a strategic retreat to the hotel,
whence we returned a few minutes later armed with hunting
crops.
We found that the stablemen had closed the coach door
and were prepared to stand a siege, but we at once delivered a
frontal attack, forced open the door, and precipitated our-
selves on the enemy's forces within. A free fight ensued, in
which first fists, then hunting crops and sticks were freely
employed. Finally, the Greeks drew their knives and
attempted to mutilate the horses, but my brother drew his
254 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
Mannlicher automatic pistol, and drove them trembling into
a corner, while we led the horses round to the front of the
hotel. We were followed by the proprietor and his under-
lings, whose gesticulations, remonstrances, and bleeding faces
soon caused a large and excited crowd to gather round us.
Then a policeman arrived on the scene, and, fearing
detention and endless litigation, we told Bryant to calm the
proprietor's anger with a sovereign. But Bryant, who
knows the country, gave the money to the policeman, upon
which our path became strewn with roses.
We were doubtful as to whether we should be allowed to
pass the city gates, in view of the official announcement that
no correspondents would be allowed to return to the front.
And, sure enough, we were stopped by the military police at
the Golden Gate, and questioned by the officer in charge as
to whether we were war correspondents. We replied that
we were not, but harmless English gentlemen in the act of
taking a little ride out to San Stefano — and this despite the
fact that we were laden with water bottles, revolvers, haver-
sacks, and all the varied equipment of war.
The officer took our names and telephoned to the War
Office for instructions, receiving the order to send us back
immediately. We feigned complete indiffisrence, chatted
with the officer in a friendly manner for about a quarter of
an hour, offisred him cigarettes, and finally pointed out what
a pity it was that we should be deprived of our ride on such
a fine day. We so worked on his better feelings that, in
direct contravention of his orders, he informed us that we
might go on our way to San Stefano, and begged us to stop
and take coffise with him on our return. This example is
typical of the anaemia of the Turkish character, and the
laxity of officials.
It was a lovely day — bright sunshine and almost tropical
heat, despite the advanced season of the year. We rode
BACK TO THE FRONT 255
out through the Golden Gate, through which the Turkish
conquerors rode into the city five centuries ago, leaving
behind us the noble castellated walls of the city, built when
it was Byzantium ; now crumbling to ruin and seared with
deep cracks. The Sea of Marmora was all golden in the
sunlight and beyond we could see the faint outhne of the
purple hills of Asia Minor with their mantle of eternal
snow. The country round us was covered with the flocks of
refugees searching the sun-baked soil in vain for pasture.
Women from one of the refugee camps were filling their
pitchers with water from a stagnant pool, oblivious of the
fact that in it lay the putrefying body of an ox. We saw
a large number of sick and useless soldiers straggling off to
the rear, while many men were lying untended by the road-
side in a dying condition — and that within ten miles of the
capital. Some of them had the appearance of cholera
victims. We reached Kuchuk Chekmedche about four
o'clock in the afternoon after a very hot ride, and there
we found Donohoe in the motor car and Goupa with
the stores awaiting us.
We decided to spend the night in the inn at Chekmedche,
as we only had about another hour and a half daylight, and
it was useless to think of pushing on before the morrow.
Chekmedche lay very low on the shores of the lake ; it was a
miserable, dirty village, and must have been a fever-stricken
haunt, for the atmosphere was foetid and sodden, and peopled
by myriads of mosquitoes. The village was crowded with
troops and we had some difficulty in finding stabling for our
horses. We found a room with three beds for ourselves in
the local inn, and Goupa prepared our evening meal in the
common room downstairs, which was crowded with Greek
peasants and Turkish soldiers.
We found Nicholson, a cinematograph operator, and
Grant, of the Daily Mirror, in the inn, and they dined
256 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
with us at the httle deal table which Goupa had spread with
a white cloth in one corner of the bar, while the natives
looked in astonishment at the lavish meal of which we
partook.
It was very hot cholera weather, and mosquitoes were
dying in battalions against the glass of our lamp, but from
outside the moan of the waves brought a little coolness to
our parched senses.
When it came to the opening of the whiskey we discovered
to our horror that the soda water had been left behind. Here
was a predicament, indeed, for we were in a country where
cholera was raging and all the streams and springs were
contaminated by the insanitary customs of the Turks. So it
was decided that my brother should return to Stamboul at
dawn in order to get the two large cases of Mattoni water.
Next day, after he had returned with two huge cases of
Mattoni water, each containing twenty-five quart bottles, we
decided to make for the village of Aya Yorgi (St. George),
which was some five miles in rear of Hademkeuy, the centre
of the Turkish position, and there to estabhsh our head-
quarters. We chose Aya Yorgi because it lay in the hills off
the main road, and we hoped to find it free of soldiers, for we
were anxious to avoid camping in proximity to the Turkish
army, owing to the terrible stories of cholera that we had
heard.
For some distance our road lay along the shores of the
sapphire blue lake, past banks of golden rushes peopled
with wild duck and other waterfowl, and then wound on
into a well-watered valley lying between rugged volcanic
hills. From time to time the sight of the decaying corpses
of oxen or horses, or of some sick man who had lain down
by the roadside to die, reminded us that we were in the
midst of war.
We watered our horses at a spring flowing over moss
OUR HOUSE AT ST. GEORGE 257
and ferns from out the heart of a great white rock,
such as Moses must have struck with his rod when the
children of Israel were dying of thirst in the wilderness;
then we started on a long climb up to the hills. We
reached St. George about four o'clock in the evening, only
to find, to our dismay, that a brigade of the second division
of the reserve was quartered in it. Every house appeared
to be fully occupied, and the atmosphere was full of that
peculiarly foetid scent which always accompanies the insani-
tary Turkish Army.
We contemplated leaving the village and pitching our
tent in the open, but at that moment a staif officer came
up to us, and after inquiring who we were, asked us to
wait while he made a report to the commandant. He
returned shortly afterwards to say that the commandant
had ordered him to place a room at our disposal, and to
find stabling for our horses. We thanked him, and he com-
mitted us to the care of a lieutenant in the Army Service Corps,
who was at least fifty years old, and who evidently belonged
to the old class of officer promoted from the ranks under the
Hamidian regime. The antiquated Heutenant found us a
room in a house which had once been the summer home of a
bygone Sultan's favourite, and which was now occupied by
an Armenian priest. It was a handsome room of many
windows, looking out over the valley up which we had
climbed to the sea beyond, but was devoid of all furniture,
save for two divans upon which we slept. After he had
seen us comfortably installed, the patriarchal lieutenant
informed us through the medium of Bryant that he would
not scorn to accept a little backsheesh, and we were only too
glad to reward the poor fellow, as he had probably received
no pay for months.
We were very tired, having had a long and hot march,
so after we had eaten some dinner we settled down for
258 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
the night. We had just turned out the lights and were
lying in a semi-somnolent condition, congratulating ourselves
on having found such comfortable quarters for the night,
when there came a loud knocking at the door. We jumped
up and opened it, and our friend the staff officer entered,
followed by four other persons, saying : " Messieurs, je
vous ai apporte vos camarades." We had not the least
idea who " vos camarades " were, but we were in no mood to
receive visitors, had they been our oldest and dearest friends.
From the babel of guttural sounds which issued from them
we were able to distinguish that they were Germans, and on
striking a light we found ourselves confronted by three
German war correspondents and Mr. Frank Otter, the war
correspondent of the Pink-un. All were without baggage
or provisions and announced their intention of billeting
themselves on us. This we did not at all relish, as the room
was already overcrowded, so we requested them to find
shelter elsewhere. This annoyed the Germans very much,
and they made angry remarks about our total want of the
spirit of comradeship, and of how in war it was share and
share alike. This argument naturally appealed to them as
they, through their own improvidence, were without pro-
visions, while we showed obvious manifestation of having
food and drink in plenty in the room with us. When our
first annoyance at being disturbed had subsided, we gave
them something to eat and drink and handed them over to
our dragoman, with orders to find them a lodging elsewhere.
Frank Otter we invited to spend the night with us.
He told us that he had come by motor car to Chekmedche,
and had strolled from that village to St. George. He
did not seem to know where he was going, or what he
was going to do. He had no stores, not even a horse,
but this did not seem to trouble him in the least. He
presented a very picturesque appearance, being dressed
FRANK OTTER AND THE "PINK-UN" 259
in exquisitely fitting tight khaki breeches, a pair of New-
market leggings, a dark coat, a green waistcoast, and a
large white stock, while his face, upon which is the glow
of many matutinal libations, was crowned with a scarlet
fez. Next morning we had some difficulty in explaining
his presence to our friend the staff officer, who said that
he had heard of The Times^ the Morning Post, and the
Telegraph, but never of the Pink-un. So we assured
him that it was a military journal which owed its name
to the peculiar colour of the British soldiers' coats, upon
which he became very friendly, and to Otter's considerable
embarrassment started telling him a number of technical
and strategic details.
Fond as we were of Frank Otter's company, it was
impossible to keep him with us owing to the difficulties
of commissariat, and he willingly consented to return to
Constantinople when he discovered the denuded state of the
country and the ravages of cholera, not wishing — as he
quaintly put it — "to die twenty miles away from the
nearest bar."
In the afternoon we decided to ride out to Hardemkeuy,
in order to reconnoitre the lines of Chataldja, a ride that
was destined to be the most gruesome we had ever taken.
First we passed through the beautiful valley of Chekmedche
which presented an ideal picture of peace. In it were
grazing the flocks of the migrating Ottoman peasants,
nothing in whose dress, manners, and customs has changed
for a thousand years. Pretty veiled women were carrying
water on their heads in great pitchers to their camp, where
their children were playing in the shelter of some silver
birch trees. In the distance the blue lake lay in the
sunhght, and the air was filled with the music of many
cattle bells.
But on the slope of the hill beyond we were suddenly
s2
260 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
brought face to face with the horrors of war. There was a
httle encampment of brown shelter tents, in front of which
were half-a-dozen newly covered-in graves. Beside the
graves lay three corpses with blackened, distorted faces,
while all around sat or lay some twenty or thirty soldiers in
the last stages of disease. Several of them lay on their
faces writhing and uttering horrible groans. Several more
sat in silence waiting for death to overtake them, gazing
with misty, apathetic eyes at the beautiful valley at their
feet, down which perhaps their own wives and children were
fleeing into Asia, driving their flocks before them. It was a
cholera isolation camp, and the men we saw were all dying
of that dread disease.
A little further on we met a band of some fifty soldiers
coming over the hill. They were staggering along with the
hoods of their grey overcoats turned up over their heads.
Every now and then one of them would totter and fall by
the roadside unheeded by his companions. They were sick
men, who, after having rifles and equipment taken from them,
had been ordered to march to the rear in search of a
hospital.
But these fearful scenes in the rear of the army paled
into insignificance when compared with the horrors of
Hademkeuy, the headquarters of the Turkish Army, where
the remnants of the troops routed at Lule Burgas were
finally rallied. As we mounted the last slope which hides
the valley in which Hademkeuy lies, we were brought to a
standstill by the awful babel of sounds that came from
beneath us. We were gazing into the valley of the shadow
of death.
In the centre of Hademkeuy lay a great square formed
on one side by some barracks, on two others by lines of
white hospital tents, and on the fourth by the high road.
This sq^uare resembled a successful fly-paper in midsummer.
THE VALLEY OF THE SHADOW OF DEATH 261
It was covered with the corpses of the dead, and the writhing
bodies of the hving in all attitudes. Some prone, some
sitting, some kneehng, some constantly shifting, some with
hands clasped as if in supplication. In some parts of the
arena the dead were piled in heaps ; in others those still
living were almost as closely packed.
This shocking lake of misery was being constantly fed by
rivulets of stretcher-bearers, bringing in fresh victims from
the camps and forts, and by others who crawled in of their
own accord, seeming to prefer to end their days in the
company of their fellow-men, or else expecting to find
succour or relief from their immediate torments. All the
tracks leading to this impromptu morgue were clothed with
the bodies of those who had died on the road. From time
to time empty bullock-wagons would pass through, and the
bodies of those in whom life was extinct would be dumped
into them, carted out of the village, and thrown into great
pits, where sleep thousands of unhappy Anatolian peasants.
There is a station at Hademkeuy, and a train was in the
station. It was black with the most wretched specimens of
sick humanity seeking to escape from the dread spectre of
cholera. The train was leaving for Constantinople, and all
who could crawl were endeavouring to secure a place in it,
hoping thus to reach a haven of refuge. Some were
wounded, some were down with dysentery, others with
enteric ; others were feeling the spirit spasms of the scourge
itself; others were merely sick at heart, unable to stand
any longer the constant strain of waiting for an unnatural
death ; all were trying to escape.
It is the men who went through the awful hardships and
sufferings of the retreat after Lule Burgas, who lived for ten
days on green corn and on scraps of offal picked up as they
marched, who yield up the greatest number of victims on
the altar of Asiatic cholera.
262 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
Such is the fear of infection that once a soldier is seized
with cholera he is regarded by his comrades with whom he
has lived, and by whose side he has fought, as a pest to be
avoided as if he were the devil himself. Those who fall are
left to die where they drop, and no pleadings or prayers will
move the living to raise a helping hand, even if they are in
a position to do so. We Europeans, who happened to be
with the army, were obhged to play the role of the Pharisees
who passed the sick man lying by the roadside without raising
a finger to help him. There are many Turkish soldiers and
many Europeans who possess the inclinations of the good
Samaritan, but in war, when cholera claims its victims by
the thousand, those who fall by the way must look for no
human assistance. The most distressing feature of the
disease is the rapidity with which it works. A man may be
perfectly well in the morning ; a few hours later he may be
writhing on the ground in agony, and a corpse by nightfall.
In the village of St. George, where we were stopping,
cholera had broken out. As soon as a man was seized with
the disease, he was thrown over the back of a horse, carried
beyond the outskirts of the town, and laid on the first patch
of open ground, there to die, and when dead his body was
covered with a thin layer of earth. These ghastly mounds
litter the country. There is no escaping from them. Every
village through which we passed has its victims ; every road,
over which the troops move to the front, is marked by a trail
of corpses or of men djdng by the roadside ; the very air
seemed foul with the germs of disease, putrefaction, and
decay.
CHAPTER XX
THE ATTACK ON CHATALDJA
We had hoped to remain in concealment at Aya Yorgi
until the fighting commenced at Chataldja, and then to ride
forward the short remaining distance to the lines and watch
the fighting, but all our plans were upset by the arrival of
the German correspondents, who were shortly afterwards
followed by a number of our English confreres. This
number of Europeans concentrated in a small village
aroused the curiosity of the commandant, and, unknown to
us, he communicated with Constantinople, and received
orders to send us all back to the town.
All went well until Sunday, November 17th, up to which
date we were left unmolested and allowed to ride about the
country. At dawn on that day we were aroused by a
continuous detonation which sounded Hke distant thunder,
and it became plain that at length the suspense of the last
few days was at an end and that the Bulgarian onslaught
had commenced. We sent for our horses, and, taking some
provisions, were about to ride out to Hademkeuy, when an
officer came from the commandant of the village saying we
were all to return to Constantinople immediately. This
news came as a thunderbolt, and could not have arrived at
a more inopportune moment, just when the attack on the
lines of Chataldja had commenced. We asked for an
264 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
explanation of this strange treatment, and the A.D.C., who
seemed very sorry to turn us out, said that an order had
been issued by Nazim Pasha on the previous afternoon for
the expulsion of all foreigners from the front.
But it is one thing for a Turk to give an order, and quite
another for him to enforce it, and neither Donohoe, my
brother, nor myself had the least intention of returning to
Constantinople. We held a hasty council of war and decided
to pack up all our baggage and stores, ostensibly to take the
road to Constantinople, and then to turn off and take
another route, which would lead us to the front. Packing
the carts caused an hour's delay, for on this, as on every
other occasion, there were endless difficulties to be over-
come. But at length all was ready, and after bidding
farewell to the Armenian priest in whose house we had
lodged, we mounted our horses, and personally I was very
pleased to shake the dust of Aya Yorgi from my feet.
We rode out at the back of the village, pretending to take
the route to Constantinople, but the commandant sent after
us and said we must take the road to Buyuk Chekmedche,
and we had no alternative but to obey his orders. We saw
the other correspondents in the village also on the move, for
all had received similar orders. We passed down the valley
until we came to the railway hne, and then turned inland
towards the lines of Chataldja. Hidden behind a hill we
found a deserted farm, and decided to leave our servants and
our baggage there and to ride on to the front. We left in-
structions with our dragoman to have a meal ready for us on
our return, but not to unpack the wagons in case we found
it necessary to move elsewhere. Our party was now reduced
to four : Donohoe, my brother, Bryant, whom I took as
interpreter, and myself. We cantered over the country at
a rapid pace, nerved on to fresh exertions by the sound of
the cannon, which grew louder and louder every minute.
A WANTON'S CHARM 265
We had not gone far when we met M Bey, an
educated Turkish officer who had been miUtary attache in
several European capitals, and who spoke French and German
fluently. M Bey was now attached to the headquarters
staff, being actually employed in looking after the foreign
military attaches. We had every reason to fear, therefore,
that he would order us to the rear, as he must have been
cognisant of the order prohibiting correspondents at the
front. Instead, he received us most politely, and proceeded
to explain carefully to us the situation of the Turkish Army,
ending by saying: *'Do not forget to mention in your papers
that M— Bey told you so."
We then made some banal remark about the horrors of
cholera, but he seemed indifferent, and proceeded to tell us,
with every manifestation of naive delight, how he carried in
his sword-knot a charm presented to him by an English lady.
He even went so far as to undo his sword-knot and to
produce a vulgar little enamel charm with " Dinna Forget "
written upon it in gold — or brass. It had probably been
given to him by some light o' love in one of the many cafds
chantants in Constantinople, and we went on our way
wondering what manner of nation it was that produced staff*
officers capable of taking joy in such trifles, when all around
them the Empire was crumbling to ruin amid scenes of
unparalleled horror.
We thought we were clear of all interference and would
encounter no further difficulty, but here we made a mistake
which landed us in endless trouble and considerable expense.
We followed one of the high roads leading to the lines,
when we should have cut right across country, avoiding all the
roads. We had almost arrived at the point we had selected
two days before from which to watch the attack, when, as we
were crossing a superb old Roman bridge which spanned a
deep gorge, we ran right into a patrol of six gendarmes, who
266 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
immediately stopped us and said that they had received
orders to send us back to Constantinople. They told us
they formed part of a body of seventy gendarmes, especially
told off by Nazim Pasha to watch all the roads and to stop
any Europeans from approaching the front.
The situation was maddening, as just beyond the ridge
was taking place the battle that was to decide the fate of
Constantinople. We thought of riding for it, but Bryant
assured us that the gendarmes, who were all mounted, would
follow us and shoot us down. He begged us to have
patience, while he bargained a while with them. " Every
man has his price in this country," exclaimed Bryant cheer-
fully, " only as these fellows are Turks we must go slowly
with them, captain. Mustn't hurt their feelings. Nice
fellows, very nice fellows. You leave it to me, captain." So
we left it to him, and, sitting on the parapet of the bridge,
he began an animated and genial conversation with the
sergeant in command. Bryant has a wonderful way with
the Turks, among whom he is very popular. First of all he
offered the lieutenant a cigarette, then a drink of whiskey,
shortly after which they embraced, and their conversation
became more and more animated.
All this delay was extremely annoying to us, who were
longing to put spurs to our horses, and to gallop up to the
ridge whence we could see the battle. When we suggested
to Bryant that he should hurry, and offered the gendarmes
a sovereign each, he appeared greatly shocked and replied
in his peculiarly disjointed style : " Can't hurry these
fellows, captain. Wouldn't like it. Must go slowly, slowly.
Very decent fellows, these gendarmes."
The gendarmes are a fine body of men and up to the time
of the Young Turks' revolution were under the command of
European officers. Their uniform consists of a tight-fitting
blue tunic, blue breeches, top boots, and a cloth turban.
LOCAL BECKERS 267
They carry a Mauser or Martini carbine, and two cartridge
bandoliers slung across their tunics. They are well-mounted
for the most part on hardy Circassian ponies, and also use
the wooden Circassian saddle. They possess considerable
authority, having the power to arrest any officer found
drinking spirits, this being contrary to the Koran. This
rule is never enforced, except as an excuse for arresting an
officer for political motives, and we afterwards found they
had a very pretty taste in whiskey themselves. Finally
Bryant concluded his bargains, and we learned that the
sergeant in charge of the party, who at first had been loth to
disobey his instructions, had finally decided to sell his
military virtue and to conduct us to the battlefield at the
price of £l per head for himself and his men.
We breasted the last slope, and there, before us, lay the
battlefield, majestic and infernal. A delicate bluish haze lay
over all the valley, which was filled vvdth one long continuous
roar of gun-fire. On our left was the Lake of Buyuk
Chekmedche, and beyond it the open sea. Two Turkish war-
ships were bombarding the Bulgarian outposts on the black
mountain ridge that bordered the far side of the lake and
extended inland to Chataldja, forming a wall across the centre
of the valley. Their shells had destroyed two arches of the
Roman causeway which had spanned the head of the lake
for nigh two thousand years. Now they were bursting high
on the purple hills above the lake, in clouds of smoke and
dust. They had set fire to two villages, and two black
columns of smoke were rising straight in the air and spreading
out like a vast funereal canopy over the valley, which looked
like a seething inferno in which Titans were playing some
fiendish game of death.
But before I come to my description of the actual fighting,
I wish to give a short sketch of the Chataldja lines, and of
the position of both armies. They are erroneously called
268 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
the lines of Chataldja, because the village of that name is
situated at the foot of a high hill some two miles in front of
the most advanced Turkish works. They should really be
called the lines of Hademkeuy, because this village hes in the
centre of the position, half-way between the Sea of Marmora
and the Black Sea. The lines run in a semicircle from
Buyuk Chekmedche on the Sea of Marmora to Kara Burun
on the Black Sea.
The centre of the semicircle recedes to take advantage of
the high ground, but a line of earthworks has been con-
structed on a lower ridge, about a mile in advance, thus
forming an additional strong protection to the position.
The full extent of the hne from the Marmora to the
Black Sea is from twenty-five to thirty miles, following
the line of the works. But the whole of this distance does
not have to be defended by the Turkish army, as the
Lake of Buyuk Chekmedche forms a natural protection on
the south of the position, and the Forest of Belgrade and
Lake Derkos serve a similar purpose to the north. Thus
the extremities of the line need only be held by a skeleton
force, as it would be almost impossible for an invading
army to break through.
In front of the position extending from the north of
Lake Buyuk Chekmedche to the Forest of Belgrade is a
broad open valley that stretches right up to the base of
the hills, at the foot of which lies Chataldja. The position
is naturally strong, and could have been rendered almost
impregnable, had the work been undertaken in time.
The centre in front of Hademkeuy is, perhaps, the weakest
point, although the ground offers but little cover to an
attacking force, because here the hills recede, and should it
once be forced, both wings of the position would be taken
in flank, and the defenders cut off altogether unless they
eifected their retreat in time.
THE LINES OF CHATALDJA 269
Behind the hnes lies the fertile valley of Samarkoff, down
which the Russian army advanced in the war of 1878. On
the other side of the valley is another line of hills, which
would make a second almost impregnable position, were they
fortified, but the Turks have erected no works or entrench-
ments of any sort on them.
Situated amongst these hills are many once prosperous
villages, and in them the reserves of the army had been
living during the past two weeks, but they were pushed to
the front when the action commenced at dawn.
The defences of the lines have been sadly neglected. The
so-called works consist merely of infantry lunettes dug out
of the earth, and only reinforced by concrete magazines and
barracks in a few of the main works round Hademkeuy.
The armament of these positions along the main line consists
merely of some old Krupp guns, and throughout the engage-
ment I never saw them employed.
The position had not even been connected up by lines of
entrenchments, but a good deal had been done to remedy
this defect during the previous few days. Field artillery had
also been placed in many of the existing works, and special
gun emplacements, affording some protection against the
enemy's fire, had also been dug.
No good roads connecting the various positions have been
made, allowing of the rapid transit of artillery and supplies,
and, as far as 1 know, none of the positions were connected
up by telephone or telegraph until after the retreat from
Lule Burgas. Yet, in spite of its many defects and the
infinite neglect from which the place has suffered in times
of peace, 70,000 men, if armed with modern weapons, should
be able to hold it indefinitely against any army of any size,
provided that their moral had not suffered too much from
repeated reverses, bad handling, and the ravages of a nerve-
destroying disease.
270 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
Almost every advantage rests with the defence, because
the invading army has to advance over ground affording
very little cover, and unless that army possesses siege
artillery, which the Bulgarians did not, the field works and
so-called forts can only be weakened before an infantry
assault by shrapnel. It is true that a certain amount of
cover is afforded by an army advancing through the forest
of Belgrade, but in this section of the field the Bulgarians
could not employ their artillery to the same advantage, and
would have to meet the Turkish infantry on ground broken
and affording splendid cover.
They were hardly likely then to deliver their main attack
on the extreme right of the Turkish line.
Since the debacle of Lule Burgas, an effort had been
made to reorganise the army of Thrace and to reform the
scattered army corps. Abdullah had either voluntarily
retired, or else had been relieved of his command, and
Nazim, the Minister of War, was now the supreme chief
in the field.
Three of the army corps which took part in the battle of
Lule Burgas now occupied the main line of the defence.
The first, under Yavir Pasha, held the position from Buyuk
Chekmedche to the Ahmed Pass. From the Ahmed Pass to
Yasoren, the line was held by the 2nd Corps, and from this
point to the Black Sea the defence of the line was entrusted
to Mahmoud Mukhtar and the 3rd Corps, which up to the
present had distinguished itself more than any other during
the war, and was less demoralised than any of the others
after the battle of Lule Burgas.
The 4th Corps, under Abouk Pasha, was not in the front
line, but was held as a general reserve to the 2nd Corps, to
be pushed forward in case of need. Reserves had, in fact,
been collected behind all three corps ; but the lack of moral
amongst these men was painfully evident, and they, like the
THE BOMBARDMENT 271
troops on the main position, were suffering terribly from
sickness.
The battle which took place on Smiday, November 17th,
was an artillery engagement on an immense scale, with but
little infantry fighting. It was evident that the Bulgarians
were preparing for an assault on the outlying works by
a concentrated bombardment on the advanced positions.
From seven in the morning to five o'clock in the afternoon
the artillery fire was incessant, and was occasionally broken
by the rattle of rifle fire and the buzzing of the machine
guns as the enemy's infantry advanced across the valley
leading from Chataldja to obtain a footuig under the
advanced works, which, reading from the Marmora to the
Black Sea, are called Hamidiyeh, Mahmudiyeh, Nakashkeuy
Kurd Dere, and Gazi Bajir.
During the last few days the Bulgarians had been
occupied in placing their artillery in advantageous positions
along the whole front of the Turkish lines. Their efforts
to establish themselves on the high ground overlooking
Buyuk Chekmedche were rendered futile by the concentra-
ted fire of the Turkish warships, which are said to have
completely destroyed one battery. Therefore, they were
obliged to place their batteries in emplacements at the foot
of the hills in front of the Turkish advanced works, in order
to cover the advance of their infantry across the open ground
which leads up to these positions.
Throughout the morning the roar of the artillery was so
severe that it sounded like thunder. When I arrived at the
high ground at the top of Lake Buyuk Chekmedche I saw
before me one of the most magnificent spectacles that war
provides. I overlooked the whole field of battle, and could
follow every movement of both armies. On my left lay the
Lake of Buyuk Chekmedche, and out at sea two Turkish
warships were concentrating a furious bombardment from
272 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
all their guns on the Bulgarian positions on the hills on the
farther side of the lake.
Huge columns of smoke and flame arose wherever a big
shell from one of the naval guns burst, and speedily every
village and farm in this quarter was in flames.
The Bulgarian artillery at the foot of the hills, protected
from the fire of the warships, concentrated on the Turkish
advanced works, which were completely enveloped in smoke
from the bursting shrapnel. The guns were fired in salvoes
to keep down the fire of the Turkish guns, which however
maintained a desultory reply throughout the day.
The Turks are very careless in the manner in which they
place their men. The whole plain below me was covered
with camps placed in close proximity to the advanced works,
so that the Bulgarians could shell all the reserves, the tents,
and the long line of pack animals taking food and
ammunition to the front. They did not fail to take
advantage of this, and at times neglected the works and
concentrated their fire on the camps, but the range was too
great and but little damage was inflicted.
This was the game the Bulgarians played so successfully
at the battle of Lule Burgas, namely, to demorahse the
Turkish reserves by pounding them with shrapnel. As a
consequence when they delivered their assault on the front
lines, these reserves were in no condition to advance.
The front of this great artillery duel extended from the
northern shore of Lake Buyuk Chekmedche until it was lost
in the distance as far as the eye could reach towards the
Black Sea. There must have been from 500 to 600 guns in
action, and the little white puffs of shrapnel burst so
continuously, that at times it was almost impossible to tell
which were the Bulgarian and which the Turkish shells, and
the valley became so choked with smoke that a mist seemed
to be rising from the ground.
THE GENDARMES AGAIN 273
Then the g\i ns would stop for a few minutes to allow the
smoke to clear, so that the gunners could obtain a fresh
view of their objective. At times the whole Turkish line
was completely enveloped by bursting shells, and the
infantry in the advanced works and entrenchments could
not show their heads for a moment above cover ; but the
casualties were extremely small.
At two o'clock the bombardment became more furious
than ever, and for some time the Bulgarian artillery left the
camps alone, and concentrated every gun on the advanced
works in a manner which seemed to be the prelude to an
infantry assault. Heavy rifle fire broke out at several
points, but during the afternoon the attack was not pressed
home, and the Turks remained in possession of all their
positions.
The bombardment continued almost without cessation
until darkness fell, and then gradually ceased.
At four o'clock in the afternoon, it being quite evident
that no decisive move would be made that day, and as the
light was extremely bad for seeing, we decided to ride back
to the small farm where we had left our baggage and to pass
the night there. I hoped that, as soon as we took the road
to Buyuk Chekmedche, our friends the gendarmes would
leave us, but the sergeant declared his orders were personally
to conduct us to Buyuk Chekmedche, and therefore he
would ride with us the whole way. I do not believe these
were his orders and his main reason, I am sure, for accom-
panying us was the hope of obtaining further backsheesh.
It took us two hours to ride back to the farm, and on the
road I had a long consultation with Bryant as to our future
plans. I was determined in no circumstances to leave the
front until the result of the fighting at Chataldja was
definitely known, and I told Bryant he must arrange with
the gendarmes to pass the night with us at the farm and to
T
274 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
take us out to the front again on the following morning in
return for a further payment. It was almost dark when we
reached our camp and the sergeant was obliged to admit
himself that it was too late to leave for Buyuk Chekmedche
that evening. We therefore had the carts unpacked, our
beds got ready, and made ourselves as comfortable as circum-
stances would permit.
The faithful Goupa had prepared an excellent dinner and
we feasted our guardians and gave them whiskey to drink,
until they became in an exceedingly amiable mood. Then
Bryant reopened the negotiations and suggested that they
should conduct us to the same spot at dawn, so that we might
follow the operations. The poor sergeant was placed in a
painful dilemma. He declared his instructions were most
stringent and that if he disobeyed them, he might get into
most serious trouble with the Headquarters Staff. On the
other hand he was quite a sportsman, was anxious to see
the fighting himself and was not at all averse to making a
little money. I suggested to him that, if we were discovered
by Headquarters on the lines, he should say we had passed
through his patrol during the night and that he had no idea
we were there. He said this scheme was not feasible,
because we would be almost certain to be arrested by other
gendarmes, as they were now everywhere, and, even if we
went across country, it was extremely unlikely we could
escape them. Finally he agreed to take us out at dawn,
if we would promise him faithfully to return before night-
fall to Kuyuk Chekmedche. Content with this arrangement
we retired to rest.
We spent the night in what were evidently Byzantine
ruins, which the peasants had roofed in to serve as a dwelling
place. The ragged walls were blackened with age and smoke,
and in the notches Goupa had stuck tallow candles, so that
it looked like a sepulchre. I think originally that it must
FIGHTING IN THE MIST 275
have been a tomb ; anyhow, it was well in keeping with the
surrounding atmosphere of death and corruption.
In the night I was awakened by warm breath upon my
face, and by the light of the moon, which came streaming
in through the open door, I could see the snarling fangs of
a pariah dog, which had left feeding off the carcass of a dead
horse in the tobacco plantations to enter our tomb in search
of choicer prey, while outside, his companions were raising
a melancholy chorus to the moon.
Donohoe had been taken ill on the previous evening and
could not leave, so he remained in the farm all day, and I
told him I would tell him all that passed up at the
front. Just as we were starting, another gendarme arrived
from Buyuk Chekmedche, and told the sergeant he was to
take us back immediately to that village, as the major in
command there had heard we were at the farm, and had
issued orders for our immediate arrest. But my brother
and myself, on hearing this news, immediately rode off in
the semi-darkness, and the sergeant, having quieted the
new arrival by telling him we would come to Kuyuk
Chekmedche that evening, followed after us.
As we rode to the position from which we had viewed
the fighting on the previous day, we did not hear any
artillery fire and believed the attack of the Bulgarians had
been suspended, but as we drew nearer the sound of guns
reached us in a muffled roar. We had not heard it before
owing to the strong wind which carried the sound away
from us. When we reached the high ground overlooking
the valley in front of the Turkish positions, it was very
difficult to see anything or to make out the positions of the
troops and batteries on either side, as they were almost com-
pletely hidden by a drizzhng Scotch mist. It was a very
weird sight, because you no longer saw the white puffs
from the bursting shrapnel, but the red flashes of the ex-
T 2
276 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
plosions in the air, as they appear during night fight-
ing.
We met several soldiers and one or two gendarmes, who
were making for the rear. They gave us the most alarmist
accounts of the situation. They said that some of the
underlying works had been captured by the Bulgarians
during the night and that the latter were now preparing
for a general assault against the centre of the position, and
were actually shelling Hademkeuy itself. Shortly afterwards
an officer came up and told me w^hat had happened. He
said that at one o'clock that morning the Bulgarian infantry
had delivered a desperate attack against some of the out-
lying works and had taken them by assault after three
quarters of an hour's fighting.
When the mist cleared somewhat, it certainly looked as
if this statement was true. The advanced works were
apparently deserted by both sides, and the Bulgarians were
concentrating their artillery fire on the Turkish camps and
on Hademkeuy itself This was the disaster of which the
retiring soldiers had spoken. But they were somewhat
premature in leaving the field. If the Bulgarians had
really captured the advanced works in front of Hademkeuy,
the position of the Turkish Army would have been
extremely precarious, because the enemy would be estab-
lished in the arc made by the receding circle of the hills,
formed by the main line of defence, and if they once pierced
the centre of the position they could enfilade both wings by
their artillery fire, and very possibly cut off the retreat of
the troops holding them. But none of these things happened,
and the day was devoted to a heavy artillery fire, which,
being at too great a range, inflicted but very little damage on
the Turks, whose total casualties during the attack on the
lines only amounted to seven hundred kiUed and wounded.
I have never yet been able to arrive at the truth about the
HARMLESS SHRAPNEL 277
capture of these advanced works and their occupation by the
Bulgarians on the night of November 17th and early
morning of the eighteenth. I heard so many contradictory
reports, that it is almost impossible to say exactly what did
happen. I was assured by many Turkish officers that the
advanced positions were actually carried at the point of the
bayonet, but were abandoned by the enemy after a very short
time. Others assured me that the advanced positions were
never taken, but remained in the hands of the Turks until
the Bulgarians finally retired and ceased their attack. My
own opinion is that some of the advanced works were either
captured, or abandoned by the Turks, but the Bulgarians
found them untenable, and, after holding them for a few
hours during the night of the seventeenth, retired at dawn.
Throughout Monday, November 18th, the Bulgarians con-
tinued to shell, not only the Turkish works, but also all the
camps in the vicinity. From where we stood there seemed
to be a continuous rain of shrapnel bursting over the troops
of the 1st Corps, and we saw large numbers of men
apparently abandon their positions and retire for safety to
the rear. But as a matter of fact, as I learnt subsequently,
this shrapnel fire inflicted but very little damage. The
Bulgarians, having been unable to find any suitable artillery
positions close to the lines, had to fire at too great a
range, at from five thousand to six thousand yards, and in
consequence the shells burst far too high seriously to incon-
venience the Turkish troops exposed in the open.
It was a bitterly cold day, and, having watched the bom-
bardment for several hours, at 2 p.m. my brother and
I decided to return to the farm where we had left Donohoe
and the baggage, as it was fairly evident from the absence
of all movement that no decisive attack would be attempted
that afternoon.
CHAPTER XXI
THE TURN OF THE TIDE
At four o'clock we were back again at the farm, where I
am happy to say we found Donohoe somewhat recovered
and with no immediate symptoms of developing cholera,
which we all feared so much. I was considerably mystified
by the day's operations. The Bulgarians had expended an
enormous amount of ammunition in an utterly futile bom-
bardment and had pressed home no decisive infantry attack.
It was obvious they could not continue this expenditure of
shrapnel indefinitely such a long way from their base, and I
felt sure that, if they intended to make a decisive and
sustained effort to take the lines, it would be on the
following day.
Try as we would, we could not induce the sergeant to
allow us to remain at the farm another night. He insisted
on our returning to Buyuk Chekmedche and, in spite of
our protests, we had to pack up the wagon and take the
road. I was determined to break away again on the
following morning, to move right over to the right wing of
the Turkish lines and to endeavour to get through from that
side. At six o'clock we reached Buyuk Chekmedche and put
up at the inn. Here we found one or two correspondents,
who all had the same tale of woe to tell about having been
arrested and turned back whenever they tried to reach the
A CROSS-COUNTRY RIDE 279
front. That evening I was very busy writing despatches
which had to leave Constantinople for Constanza by the
boat the following afternoon.
At dawn on Tuesday we were astir and the carts were
once more packed. Donohoe and my brother were to return
to Constantinople, as the latter was now going back to
England. They took the road in the motor-car we had hired,
which had remained at Buyuk Chekmedche ever since our
arrival there a week before. Goupa was to take charge of
the wagon and the stores and to see them safely into the
town. Bryant and I took the two freshest horses, abandoned
everything except two days' supplies, and followed by two
gendarmes who, I fancy, suspected some new move on our
part, we ostensibly took the road for Constantinople also.
But after having ridden for two miles and having shaken
off the gendarmes, we turned inland, and, avoiding all villages
and all roads where we would be likely to find gendarmes
stationed, we made for the extreme right of the line. All
that day we rode through hilly country, having at times to
make long detours and more than once becoming lost. But
Bryant, who knows the country well, and who has a natural
instinct for finding his way about, always managed to get
on the track again. Knowing Turkish methods, I was
inclined to think that, once we had arrived on the right
of the line, no one would interfere with us, as it was
more than probable that Nazim's order to expel all foreigners
from the front had only been issued in the neighbourhood
of Hademkeuy.
It was an extremely hot day, our horses were tired and
our progress was not rapid, but we were comforted by the
entire absence of any artillery fire. A few rounds were
fired early in the morning, but it quickly died down again
and everything remained still throughout the rest of the
day. This showed that the Bulgarian attack had been
280 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
suspended and at least we were missing nothing for the
time being. About four o'clock in the afternoon, having
covered some thirty-five miles, we entered the hilly and
wooded country which extends all the way to Derkos and
which forms part of the Forest of Belgrade. It was im-
possible to pass through this and we were obliged to strike
the Derkos road. We very soon came to a transport train,
which was resting on the roadside, and also to a post of
gendarmerie, but the latter took not the slightest notice of
us. It was therefore evident that Nazim's order of expulsion
was unknown to the officials on this side.
As it was now growing dark, we decided to pass the night
at the first village we came to, and this turned out to be
Arnautkeuy, pleasantly situated just off the high road and
inhabited by Greeks. There was a large field hospital
established in the village, and the Colonel in command
of the hospital, having discovered our presence, sent for
us. I showed him my pass, and he received us most
graciously and at once sent for the head man of the village
to find us a house in which we could pass the night. This
Colonel was one of the most intelligent and enlightened
Turks I met during the campaign. He had only been at
the front a few days, as he was in Paris studying bacterio-
logy when the war broke out, and was recalled by telegraph
to join the army in the field. He had made a special study
of cholera and told me many interesting details about the
disease. He was an out and out Young Turk and had been
obliged to live abroad for many years during the reign of
Abdul Hamid.
The head man of the village found us a very comfortable
house, which was kept by a Greek lady and her husband, who
made us very comfortable for the night, and we were also
able to procure some chickens and eggs. It was evident
from the Colonel's attitude towards me that he knew
^ k
■^
i
The Trenches at Chatai.dja.
..j<* u '■'M^
\Photo '-Daily Mirror"
Waiting kor the Bulgarians at Chataldja.
ARNAUTKEUY 281
absolutely nothing of Nazim's order in regard to all
foreigners, and he was only too anxious to assist me in
every way in his power. He warned me that it would be
extremely dangerous to move off the high roads, as the
Bulgarian peasants and sympathisers in the villages had
commenced to snipe Turkish patrols and to kill off any
fugitives who were trying to make their way to Constanti-
nople. Bryant and I were amazed on our ride across
country at the number of stragglers we found hidden in the
villages and amongst the hills. These men all gave a most
gruesome description of the state of the army. They said
that men were starving and that it would be impossible for
the army to hold the line, if the Bulgarians only attacked in
force. I determined to lie low in Arnautkeuy until the
fighting actually started again, so as not to attract attention,
and to risk the chance of being arrested by meddlesome
gendarmes.
On Wednesday morning there was no firing at the front,
so I remained in the village and gave the horses a good
rest of which they were badly in need. About four o'clock
in the afternoon we were surprised to hear a motor
approaching, and, going out on the high road, I found
my brother and Donohoe and a doctor from the British Red
Cross in the Minerva car. They had left Constantinople
that morning and could only get out of the town, all the
entrances to which were stopped, by bearing the red cross
on their arms. I told them that all was quiet at the front
and they returned to Constantinople the same evening.
On the following morning, Thursday, November 21st, all
was quiet, but, as I was tired of being shut up in Arnautkeuy,
I decided to make my way once more to the front, to
examine carefully the positions of the opposing armies
and to find if the fighting was really over, or if the
Bulgarians meditated any further attack on the Chataldja
282 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
lines. At eight o'clock Bryant and myself left the village
to ride across country to endeavour to reach Yasoren,
where we learnt we would find Mahmoud Mukhtar, the
Commander of the 3rd Corps. As a matter of fact, he
had been wounded whilst making a reckless reconnaissance
on Tuesday morning and had been taken back by train
to Constantinople, but I had not heard this news at the
time.
Just outside the village we were surprised to find the
bodies of no fewer than 130 Turkish soldiers who had
died of cholera in the houses of Arnautkeuy during the
previous 48 hours. They were all thrown into one big
pit dug by the Greek villagers and covered with a thin
layer of earth. On our way to the front we passed through
several villages containing troops but no one inquired
our business and we got through the permanent camps
of the troops holding the advanced line of works, without
any difficulty. There was no sign of any enemy in the
immediate vicinity and not a shot was fired throughout
the morning. I saw at once that a great change had come
over the spirit of the Turkish Army, now that the Bulgarian
attack on the lines had been successfully repulsed.
As I rode along the positions over the open plateau
behind the forts it was difficult to believe that the army
was not merely engaged in peace exercises. Bands were
playing in the camps and the men one met on the road
looked both cheerful and confident and had a very different
demeanour from the sullen, depressed, careworn crowd who
had survived the debacle of Lule Burgas. The infantry
were being drilled in open order exercises, close order
ormations, bayonet charges, and rifle practice. Numerous
targets had been set up and squads of men were endeavour-
ing to hit improvised bullseyes, but generally with very
poor success.
PEACE MANCEUVRES 283
This spectacle of a large army, which had been fighting
three days previously, being drilled and taught to shoot,
with the enemy only a few miles away, is surely almost
unique in the annals of war. I was amazed at all I saw.
It was almost impossible to believe I was in the presence of
the same army, which a fortnight before had been streaming
back to Constantinople without officers, without discipline,
the men starving and hopelessly demoralised. Certainly
Nazim Pasha and his fellow workers deserve every credit
for the remarkable transformation they worked in a short
time.
This recovery shows clearly of what the Turkish Army is
capable, if only it is properly handled and given anjrthing
like a chance. I have already mentioned the vast improve-
ment in the moral of the Army, which followed the arrival
of the picked battalions from Erzeroum, Trebizond, and
Smyrna. These men had not suffered defeat or privation.
They were being fairly well fed and kept clear of cholera as
far as possible, and in consequence, having successfully
resisted the Bulgarian attack and having suffered but very
few casualties, they were spoiling for another brush with
the enemy. Of the original army which was defeated at
Lule Burgas, most of the weaklings were now under the
soil and the old and useless reservists had been sent back to
their homes. Thus there was now concentrated along the
lines of Chataldja a powerful army, the organisation of
which was improving every day. Trains were regularly
bringing up food and medical stores from Constantinople,
and already a reserve supply of five days' provisions had
been collected at the front.
It was calculated that the Turks had at this time one
hundred thousand men concentrated along this strong de-
fensive position, and that reinforcements were arriving at the
rate of two thousand a day. I also noticed a very great
284 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
improvement in the hospitals. The whole of the cholera
patients had been cleared out of Hademkeuy and were now
isolated in special camps, where the victims could obtain
some attention. The cholera itself was showing pronounced
signs of diminishing, which was partly due to the more
sanitary arrangements now in vogue, but chiefly to the cold
spell, which had lasted for three days. Nevertheless it was
far from being at an end, and every day hundreds of fresh
victims were borne away from the camps to the field hospitals
or taken back by train to San Stefano, where the main cholera
camp had been established. When the cholera was at its
height, it claimed no fewer than three thousand victims per
day, and it was calculated that, in all, the army of Thrace
lost more than 20,000 men from this disease alone, in
addition to large numbers from dysentery and enteric.
I was told by a medical officer that when the epidemic was
at its worst, only 8 per cent, of those attacked ever recovered,
but afterwards, when the victims received proper attention,
a very much larger number were saved. But even now the
medical authorities were greatly alarmed and feared an even
worse outbreak in the future. The season was abnormal
and the rains long overdue. If the wet spell came before
the cold weather set in, they feared the cholera would spread
with terrible rapidity. On the other hand, three days of
snow and frost would wipe it out altogether, and these
happily, arrived, so that as far as I know, cholera has
now disappeared altogether from the Turkish camps.
I now learnt from my own observation that the Bulgarians
had definitely retired from the immediate vicinity of the
lines, and I was told they had abandoned and burnt
the railway station at Chataldja. This retirement took
the Turkish Army completely by surprise, as for three days
past they had been expecting a decisive assault on the centre
of the position between Hademkeuy and Yasoren. To meet
"INSH ALLAH" 285
this attack they had brought up all their reserves, but even
then were not confident of being able to hold the position,
and arrangements were made for a general retirement, should
the necessity arise. That they contemplated a defeat, is
shown by the fact that another defensive position was being
prepared in the immediate vicinity of Constantinople, where
the Ottoman armies, animated by the sight of Stamboul
with its many mosques and minarets in their rear, were to
make one desperate stand in defence of Islam. Now
without any apparent reason, before his attack had even
been pressed home, the enemy had abandoned aU his
positions, withdrawn his artillery and had retired, occupying
the high ground facing the right wing of the Turkish Hne, and
was reported to be strongly entrenching himself.
What was the reason for this sudden abandonment of the
offensive by the Bulgarians ? No one has ever answered the
question satisfactorily, and the Turks, who were absolutely
amazed, could only reply " Inshallah " (God knows !). The
conduct of the campaign after the battle of Lule Burgas
cannot be said to reflect any great credit on Bulgarian
generalship, and until we learn the official explanation of the
indefinite attack on the lines of Chataldja and the sudden
withdrawal, the Bulgarians must be blamed for having made
a very false move. It seems fairly obvious that in their
wildest dreams the Bulgarian General Staff never expected
to gain such a decisive victory as Lule Burgas, and had never
calculated on finding themselves within fifteen miles of Con-
stantinople less than four weeks from the declaration of war.
They probably calculated that the occupation of the capital
would at once bring them into political conflict with Europe,
and that in no circumstances would they be permitted by
the Great Powers to remain in permanent possession of the
city. Therefore they had made no arrangements for a
rapid advance after Lule Burgas, as in all probability, after
286 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
defeating the Turkish Army of Thrace, their original plan
was to take up a strong defence position in the neighbour-
hood of Lule Burgas and there cover the operations of the
First Army which was besieging Adrianople. They
never anticipated, and neither did anyone else for that
matter, the complete break-up of the Turkish army and
its retreat without order or discipline as far as the lines of
Chataldja.
The Bulgarians doubtless expected to see the Army of
Thrace rally at Chorion and there make a stand, or even
take the offensive again after reinforcements had reached it
from Constantinople. They did not realise that there was
no accumulation of food supplies nearer than Constantinople
itself, and that a defeat anywhere in Thrace must cause the
retirement of the Turkish Army to the vicinity of the capital
itself. The Bulgarians, in fact, under-estimated their own
successes, and when they discovered their error they could
not take immediate advantage of the new situation, which
offered them every chance of finishing the campaign with
a thunderbolt, of capturing the whole of the Turkish Army,
and also of taking the capital. Had they realised the
decisive nature of their victory, or rather had they antici-
pated such a victory at the commencement of the war, they
would surely have made every effort to pursue the routed
army and to pass the lines of Chataldja, before it could be
rallied or reinforced. They would surely have kept all their
cavalry in hand and also have borrowed cavalry from their
allies. They would surely have kept a couple of divisions
of infantry in reserve and formed them into a flying column
accompanied by a minimum of light transport, and have
launched them against the mass of fugitives, thus keeping up
the pursuit at all costs. But not a regiment of cavalry was in
hand to follow on the heels of the Turks, as they swept
in complete disorder across the plain between Lule Burgas
THE CAUSES OF THE DELAY 287
and Chorlou, and there was not a brigade of infantry in
reserve to take thfe place of the non-existent cavalry.
I suppose the Bulgarian offensive had completely spent
its force when the Turks left the battlefield on the morning
of Thursday, October 31st. Their army had been moving
steadily forward ever since the declaration of war on
October 16th. In that short space of two weeks it had
captured Kirk Kilisse, defeated the 1st Army Corps on
October 24th and 25th, and had then, after two days' respite,
entered on the three days' struggle with the whole of
Abdullah's army. Evidently every available man had been
drawn into the struggle, and on Thursday morning, when
the Turks retreated in disorder, the Bulgarian infantry were
completely exhausted. They must also have been short of
ammunition after the tremendous expenditure throughout
three whole days, and I know for certain that the men,
although not actually starving like the Turks, were on very
short rations.
In these circumstances Popoff could not follow up his
victory. He had to reorganise his army, to collect his
immense number of wounded, to reorganise his supply
trains and to bring up fresh ammunition for his artillery.
The Turks were therefore given eighteen days in which to
reach Chataldja and to bring up reinforcements from Con-
stantinople. Therefore the Bulgarian General Staff cannot
be blamed for its failure to pursue the Army of Thrace after
Lule Burgas.
On the other hand, it cannot escape criticism for its sub-
sequent conduct of the campaign. Probably the Bulgarians
learnt through the European Press for the first time of the
complete state of disorganisation and demoralisation which
prevailed amongst the fugitives who fled from Lule Burgas.
For weeks the English, German and French papers were
full of descriptions of the scenes on the retreat. Many
288 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
writers who were not on the spot, and who seem to have
had but small idea of the distance to be traversed, or the
immense difficulties to be overcome, or of the natural
strength of the lines of Chataldja, assumed that it was only
a question of two or three days before the Bulgarians would
pass the lines and occupy Constantinople itself.
Within a week Europe had become, so to speak, perfectly
acclimatised to the idea of having Czar Ferdinand's legions
march in triumph through the streets of Byzantium, and
already many anticipatory descriptions appeared in the Press
of the dramatic scene, when, after an occupation of six
hundred years, the Turk was to be finally driven from Europe
and the Cross substituted for the Crescent on the dome of
St. Sofia. It was certainly a dramatic moment, and the
possibilities of the situation were enough to flatter the pride
of any nation and any army. Who in their wildest dreams
a month before expected to see the army of little Bulgaria
doing what Russia has so often tried and failed? No
wonder, then, the Bulgarian General Staff acted against its
better judgment and allowed sentiment to triumph over
sound strategy. They were drawn into a false move, which,
although it has not up to the present altered the result of
the campaign, has nevertheless rendered the peace negotia-
tions extremely difficult to bring to a conclusion, because it
restored the lost moral of the Turkish Army in a manner
which nothing else could possibly have done.
King Ferdinand and his advisers seem to have argued thus.
Here is a unique opportunity, which may never occur again
and which is too good to be lost. There is nothing but a
crowd of disorganised fugitives between us and Constanti-
nople, according to the reports of the European Press. The
Great Powers do not seem to care in the least if we occupy
the capital, so why should we not enjoy the fruits of a
truimph almost unique in the annals of war ? Let us march
I
THE LACK OF DECISION 289
on Chataldja and see if we can take the lines and occupy the
capital, temporarily at least. But then some misgivings
seem to have entered into their minds. We have lost large
numbers of men ; the army is exhausted by its exertions ;
Chataldja is a very long way from our base, and we shall
have extreme difficulty in feeding the army and in keeping
the artillery supplied with ammunition ; also the country is
very difficult and offers every advantage to the defence, and
it may be the Turks are not so demoralised as some of the
critics seem to think. Above all, it would be fatal for us to
meet with a decisive check, which would undo all the good
results obtained from our victory at Lule Burgas. There-
fore it behoves us to act with extreme caution and to run no
risks. We have Adrianople on our hands and, until the
fortress is taken, it will be impossible for the First Army to
go to the assistance of the Second.
In these circumstances there were only two sound
courses open which would have commended themselves
to the great masters of war ; either to abandon the project
altogether, to take up a strong covering position and
concentrate every available man and gun on Adrianople ; or
else to risk everything to obtain the great prize of the
campaign, and to advance on the lines of Chataldja with
every available man and every available gun. Neither
course was adopted and a weak compromise was decided on
instead; namely, to advance on Chataldja and to feel the
strength of the lines by a cross between a reconnaissance in
force and a half-hearted attack.
Such a plan contains the germ of failure, if not of actual
disaster, from its conception. PopofF was ordered to try to
shell the Turks out of the lines and to see if he could carry
the positions without difficulty, but in no circumstances to
risk a heavy loss in an assault which might fail. It is no
use the Bulgarians now making out that the attack on
290 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
November 17th and 18th was merely intended as a recon-
naissance in force to sound the strength of the lines
and to test the state of demoralisation of the Turkish
army. Such a plea will not bear examination. Every
available gun was brought into action and a tremen-
dous amount of ammunition, which could not easily
be replaced, was expended without any effective results,
and the advanced works were actually assaulted and some
of them carried.
The official excuse of the Bulgarian Government to
justify the retirement, namely, on account of the cholera
at Hademkeuy, was very lame, because it was well known
that the Bulgarians were already suffering themselves
severely from this dread disease. This was ascertained
without a shade of doubt from prisoners who were captured
in front of the Chataldja lines. All these men described
the state of the Bulgarian Army as being deplorable ; the
men as dying in hundreds from dysentery, cholera, and
enteric, and the whole army almost on the verge of star-
vation. These Bulgarian prisoners could only point to
their mouths and murmur in their own tongue " Food, food,"
when brought into the Turkish lines.
Therefore the Bulgarian attack can only be regarded as
a misplaced forlorn hope, which cam^ too late after Lule
Burgas to meet with any chance of success ; and in the
circumstances, carried out as it was in a half-hearted
manner, it should never have been attempted. It led, and
could lead, to no definite result ; it involved a very serious
expenditure of ammunition and considerable loss of life,
and it naturally discouraged the worn-out, overworked, and
underfed Bulgarian soldiers. But, as has been said, the most
serious result of the failure was the effect it had in restoring
the moral of the Turkish army. The effect of the retire-
ment was almost magical. The Turks at once passed from
TURKISH SELF DECEPTION 291
an almost excessive gloom to an almost excessive optimism,
and, to hear the officers and soldiers talk, one would have
thought they had just w^on a decisive and glorious victory,
which fully atoned for their failure throughout the entire
theatre of war.
tT2
CHAPTER XXII
THE WAR AGAINST THE CORRESPONDENTS
On this particular day, Thursday, November 21st, Bryant
and I had ridden close to the rear of the forts of Chataldja
and watched the army being drilled and trained to shoot,
without anyone attempting to molest us, but we were not
destined to escape without a strange adventure, which might
have had the most serious results, but which, fortunately
for ourselves, terminated in nothing worse than a fright.
About midday we sat down on a small hill and prepared to
eat our frugal meal, which we carried in our haversacks.
We had just dismounted and were eating when a bullet,
which, to judge from the sound of the report, must have
been fired at very close range, struck the ground with a thud
quite close to us. We were both surprised by it, but I
calmed Bryant's fears by teUing him it must have been from
a rifle let off by mistake, as this was a very frequent
occurrence in the Turkish Army. I had hardly uttered these
words, when another bullet struck the earth even closer and
threw Bryant into a worse state of panic. I then suggested
to him the possibility of our having taken up a position in
rear of one of the numerous targets which had been set up
for the men to practise, but on investigation we could see no
sign of any target and no sign of any soldiers. We resumed
our lunch, but five minutes later three bullets fired in rapid
SHOT AT BY SENTRIES 293
succession all struck the little hill very close to us, far too close
to be pleasant, in fact. I then suggested to Bryant that we
should move elsewhere, an offer he was more than willing to
accept.
We mounted our horses and were just riding away,
when another bullet whistled by our heads and caused us to
put spurs to our steeds. About a quarter of a mile to our
right we saw two Turkish soldiers minding a flock of sheep
and goats, which were grazing on the long grass behind the
forts. We rode towards them and as we came up one of
them was in the act of inserting a clip of cartridges in the
magazine of his rifle and the other one was handling his
weapon in a manner which did not serve to ease our troubled
minds. I told Bryant to relate to them our unpleasant
experience and to ask if they could throw any light on the
matter. One of the soldiers then replied, " Oh yes, we saw
the men who fired at you. It was not a mistake, they did it
on purpose." " But why ? " Bryant asked ; *' we have done
them no harm and are friends of the Turks and have been
with the Turkish Army ever since the commencement of the
campaign." " Oh, have you not heard ? " the soldier replied
in the calmest manner, "A line of pickets has been
established, by order of the General Staff*, from Derkos on the
Black Sea to Buyuk Chekmedche on the Sea of Marmora,
with orders to shoot at any foreigners who attempt to cross
the line formed by the pickets, unless accompanied by an
officer or by a gendarme." This was pleasant news indeed,
and Bryant said to me, " I think we had better return to
Arnautkeuy at once."
Our friend the soldier then said, " We form part of that
line of pickets, and have orders to shoot at you as well."
Bryant asked them whether they intended to do so, and
could only obtain a very evasive reply.
Meanwhile I took out my cigarette case and gave each of
294 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
them a cigarette, which they accepted and which was a good
sign that they would not put their orders into immediate
execution. Bryant then said to me, " I think we had better
come to terms with them." I was entirely of his opinion
and gave him carte hlanche to arrange what he liked. A
long and animated discussion then took place in Turkish, of
which I did not understand a single word, but it finally
ended in Bryant asking me for one silver Medjie (about four
shillings). I was surprised at the smallness of the sum, but
the soldiers were more than contented, and from their looks
seemed to think we were a recklessly extravagant couple to
have purchased our safety at such a price.
We were about to leave our two corrupt friends, when
the spokesman of the party further alarmed us by remarking,
" If you go down that valley which you rode up, those men
who fired at you just now will be waiting on the hill and
will shoot at you again." This was not encouraging. The
soldier then said, " I will conduct you to the camps in the
valley behind the lines and when you have passed the
danger zone I will leave you." We accepted his suggestion
with alacrity and were soon under way. However, even
now I was feeling far from comfortable and thought the
soldier might be leading us off quietly, so as to claim the
honour of having shot us for himself. 1 told Bryant of my
fears, but he replied, " He has accepted your bread and
salt and will not go back on you."
Now from the first the soldier behaved in the most sus-
picious manner. As we marched along, he loaded his rifle and
would keep behind us. This was too much for my nerves, and
I told Bryant to call him up and to engage him in friendly
and sustained conversation on the weather or on any subject
which entered his head. This carried us to the foot of the
valley, but then our escort suddenly left us and climbed the
bank, and insisted on walking parallel with us in a very
THE CIRCASSIAN GENERAL 295
commanding position from which he would be in an ideal
situation to shoot. I was now thoroughly certain he medi-
tated some treacherous attack, and got my Mauser pistol
half out of its case, quite determined, if he shot at me, to
shoot back at him and then to run away as fast as my horse
could go. However, I was doing this man an injustice. He
kept strictly to the terms of his contract, and had merely
climbed up the side of the hill in order that the other pickets
might see he was escorting us. When we reached the per-
manent camps behind the lines, he showed no disposition to
leave us, and said he must take us in person to his general,
who would doubtless decide what steps to take. There was no
help for it, so we accepted the situation with the best possible
grace. At the same time he begged us to say nothing about
the bribe.
We found the general, a Circassian officer whose name I
never discovered, outside a small house where he had his
quarters. He did not receive us in a particularly friendly
manner, and gruffly asked for my pass. This I was able to
produce, together with Abdullah's letter, and his attitude
changed at once. We then related to him what had passed,
but he merely replied, " Yes, it is quite true, a line of pickets
has been established with orders to shoot all foreigners at
sight." This is the pleasant little way the Turks have of
doing business. They give you no previous warning,
but shoot you first and then explain their reasons after-
wards.
This incident did not augur well for war correspondents in
the future, and I began sincerely to wish that the rumours
of an armistice, which had filled the air ever since the retire-
ment of the Bulgarians, would materialise. The Circassian
general was a very good fellow, and, when he heard I was
returning to Constantinople, gave me a pass authorising me
to come back to his headquarters, and promised to give
296 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
me an officer who would personally show me round the lines.
Then we said good-bye and started on our return to
Arnautkeuy.
Bryant's nerves had now quite given way and, whenever
we met a soldier, he was convinced he meant to shoot
at us. He stopped behind at every village and declared
the water was better there than elsewhere, but later on
I noticed his courage had revived and he was willing to
ride to any part of the lines at any hour of the day or
night. I then found he had been indulging freely in
the native "rakki," a foul brandy which is on sale in all
the villages throughout Thrace.
After what had happened I determined to return to
Constantinople and to seek out the Censor, Major Vasfi,
and to find out from him definitely what the position of
correspondents really was, and if I would be allowed up
to the front again in the event of the war being continued.
I was now thoroughly weary of being continually arrested
and hampered, and the affair of the afternoon had come as
the final blow. On reaching Arnautkeuy, I was fortunate
enough to find my brother, who had motored out for news,
and, leaving Bryant instructions to follow with the horses
and kit on the following day, I was soon being bumped
over vile roads towards the Pera Palace Hotel.
On my return to Constantinople I found the air full of
rumours of the armistice. It was reported that at any hour
Nazim and Savoff would meet and discuss the conditions for
a temporary cessation of hostilities, and would then proceed
to a discussion of the conditions of peace themselves. I
found most of my friends under orders to return home.
My brother sailed on the Saturday after my return, and
both Lionel James and Donohoe, exhausted by their
tremendous exertions and disgusted by their treatment at
the hands of the authorities, were packing up and only
MAJOR VASFI 297
waiting the definite news of the signing of the armistice
before taking the first steamer home.
I found all the correspondents back in Constantinople.
All had the same sad story to tell of having been arrested
by gendarmes and placed on the road to Stamboul. This
news and the departure of my friends made me doubly
anxious to leave also and I telegraphed for permission,
but received orders to "wait just a little longer." I soon
grew weary of Constantinople and decided that, if I was
obliged to remain in the country, I would prefer to be
out in the open air with the army rather than pass my
time in the enervating stuffy air of Pera with its foul smells
and equally offensive rumours. I sought out the Press
Censor, Major Vasfi, whom by the way I had never yet
seen, but of whom I had heard many funny stories from my
brother and from others who had been brought in contact
with him. Therefore one morning, accompanied by the
faithful Ismet, who was also anxious to return to the front,
I waited upon him at his house.
Major Vasfi is a strange type, a Turk who has been
educated in the school of Prussian discipline and who has
taken everything German as his model. He is not a soldier,
but a civilian who was formerly a member of the Turkish
Parhament. On the outbreak of war he was given the
honorary rank of Major, and was appointed as Press Censor
and general factotum to all the correspondents. A more
unfitting choice could surely not have been made. He
possessed truly Prussian ideas of discipline, but on the other
hand he was totally incapable of carrying his resolutions
into effect and was also incapable of making up his mind.
When he was up at Chorion with the correspondents and
the guns of Lule Burgas were heard for the first time his
one object was to lead everyone away from the battlefield
instead of towards it. In reply to all protests he would say,
298 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
" But you cannot go there, they are fighting ; we must ride
towards Constantinople." Of course after this the Anglo-
Saxon element would have nothing more to do with him,
and dispersed on their own account. On the other hand,
the German correspondents, educated in the same school of
Prussian thought and of Prussian discipline as himself,
would never leave his side, and the Frenchmen, although
they heaped abuse on his devoted head, also remained with
him at the front and during the retreat. Thus poor Vasfi,
after Lule Burgas, arrived back in Constantinople, surrounded
by a crowd of disgruntled Germans and Frenchmen and
other stray nationalities, but without one single Englishman.
In consequence he was peculiarly bitter against all English-
men and especially against Donohoe, who, I fancy, had told
him exactly what he thought of him on more than one
occasion.
However, as he had never set eyes on me since the begin-
ning of the campaign, Vasfi had nothing personal against
me, and received both Ismet and myself in a most friendly
manner in his house. We talked on general matters for
some minutes, and then 1 broached the delicate subject of
the censorship and of the future position of correspondents
with the army. Then at once Vasfi's attitude changed.
His face became pale with anger, he got up from his chair
and walked about the room, heaping a torrent of abuse on
all the English war correspondents, but on Donohoe in
particular, and kept on saying, " Ah, if I could only meet
him in the field. He has insulted me and disobeyed my
orders, and all the English are the same. I took them up to
the front, I kept them all together, and then, when we heard
the guns, they all went away and I have not been able to
collect them since. And what have you been doing? I
have been looking everywhere for you and I have not seen
you since the war started." Ismet and myself could hardly
A STORMY INTERVIEW 299
restrain our laughter at the sight of this funny httle fat man
strutting up and down the room hvid with indignation that
anyone should have attempted to disobey him.
However, when he had calmed down, I pointed out that
the authorities had not kept their word with the corres-
pondents and had given them none of the promised facilities
for the dispatch of news from the front. He was obliged to
admit the truth of this, and confessed that the initial cause
of all the trouble was the failure of the authorities to provide
a French or English censor.
But it was not so much the censorship which riled him,
as the feeling that he himself had been personally slighted
and ignored, and in a very few minutes he had worked
himself into a passion. He went on, *' This evening I
am going up to Hademkeuy to see Nazim. I am going
to ask him for instructions. I shall advise him to keep
all the war correspondents locked up in Constantinople and
•refuse them any further permission to come to the front.
But if he says they are to be allowed up, then I shall
urge him to make the most stringent regulations and only to
allow those of them up who are friendly to Turkey." Then
in his rage he gave the whole secret away by saying, " We
find we do not obtain enough advantage out of the European
Press. The majority of the papers work against us, there-
fore why should we give them facilities for seeing the war ?
We admit we broke faith with you in the first place by not
having the promised facilities for the dispatch of messages
from the front, and therefore I don't blame any corre-
spondents who left of their own accord to send off news,
because they were quite unable to carry on their legitimate
work. But, if the war lasts, we are going to make fresh
arrangements. In future we will only allow the corre-
spondents of those papers with the army, who will work in
the interests of Turkey. The correspondents of all those
300 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
papers which have been opposed to Turkey in the past or
during the present war will be kept in Constantinople or
else expelled from the Empire, and those who are officially
allowed to accompany the army, will have to sign a document
undertaking to remain until the war is over, and only news
favourable to us, either political or military, will be allowed
through."
I pointed out to the irate Vasfi how absurd such a
system was, and how no paper of any repute would consent
to keep representatives up at the front under such conditions.
I also asked him whether we would have to send defeats as
victories, to which he replied, " You will have to send
exactly what the Headquarters think fit."
Thus it will be seen that the Turks were contemplating
the organisation of a spoon-fed Press campaign in their own
favour quite irrespective of the truth. Major Vasfi went
so far as to declare that we had no right to report the battle
of Lule Burgas as a defeat and that in future even a crushing
disaster of this character would be suppressed. I left the
gallant Major, feeling that from my point of view it would be
much more satisfactory if the war came to an immediate
conclusion.
On Monday, November 25th, I left Constantinople for the
front for the last time. I had made up my mind to ride out
to Arnautkeuy to pick up my horses and Bryant, and then on
the following day to make no effort at further concealment
but to ride boldly into Hademkeuy and see Nazim or his
Chief of Staff and find out definitely what arrangements
would be made for correspondents in the future. I expected
to find Major Vasfi and Ismet out there, as they both told
me they were leaving on the night of my interview to consult
with the Headquarters Staff. With great difficulty I hired
a motor to carry me as far as Hademkeuy. I had not
employed either the chauffeur or the car before, but just
ESCAPING FROM CONSTANTINOPLE 301
before starting I was warned by one of my German friends
that the chauffeur was a scoundrel, who was in the habit of
demanding money in advance, then taking his passengers
half-way to their destination, and then saying the road was
too bad to go any further and obliging them to return to
Constantinople. I took a young Englishman named Morton
with me, who belongs to Constantinople and who speaks
the language perfectly. I was not much impressed by
the look of the chauffeur or of his friend whom he
brought with him as an assistant.
By this time all the gates leading from Stamboul were
closed and no correspondents could get out by them, as
they were immediately stopped by the posts of gendarmes.
We had, therefore, to motor out by way of the Sweet
Waters, which route the Turks, with their usual short-
sightedness, had omitted to guard, as they were under
the impression no motor could negotiate the almost im-
possible roads. However, some enterprising Germans had
found a way through and explained the road I must
take. At one point we had a fearful climb up an almost
precipitous mountain side, but the car was a powerful one,
and we reached the top and were soon on the main Derkos
road. We thought our troubles were at an end, when
suddenly an officer and four soldiers rushed into the middle
of the road, holding up their hands to make us stop. We
slowed down the car a trifle and as we came up to them
Morton shouted out in Turkish, " Red Crescent," while at
the same time I produced a badge with a large Crescent in
red embroidered on it. The officer smiled, stepped back,
and we were allowed to proceed.
Unfortunately we had started from Constantinople some-
what late and had taken longer on the road than we antici-
pated, and the light was failing before we reached
Arnautkeuy, but there was still ample time to arrive before
302 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
it was too dark for the chauffeur to find his way over the
very broken track on which we now entered. But now
the warning of my German friend came true. The chauffeur
started to create all sorts of difficulties and declared he could
proceed no further and must return before night set in to
Constantinople. I ordered him to go on, and, backing up
my words with suggestive threats from my hunting crop,
induced him to proceed a short distance further, when he
deliberately drove the car into the worst part of the track.
He then got out and said he must examine the road in
advance before going any further. 1 told him my car had
often been over it before and said I would show him the
way, but he insisted on examining it for himself. In fact
his one object was to dawdle about until he knew it would
be too late to continue, and then to force me to return with
him to Constantinople. He went on some distance, wasted
a precious half hour and then returned saying it was quite
impossible to proceed.
I realised from the first he intended some move of this
sort and I had meanwhile dispatched Morton a mile back
to a point where we had left some mule-wagons on their
way to Constantinople. I told him to hire one of these
at any price and to return with it to the motor. When
Morton came back with the cart, it was almost dark and
too dangerous either to reach Arnautkeuy or to return to
Constantinople in the car. I had all my baggage taken
out and placed in the mule-wagon, and also every scrap
of food and drink, and then, without another word to either
the chauffeur or his companion, we mounted the cart our-
selves and were soon on the road to Arnautkeuy. I have
never seen two villains more completely sold. They had not
received a penny. They could not return to Constantinople,
and were left stranded in a rut in a lonely district without
food, without drink, and without any shelter for the night.
AN ORGIE 303
which was bitterly cold. They thus passed a miserable
night and returned to Constantinople on the following
morning, having learnt a lesson they will not forget for
many a long day.
We had a three hours' ride over execrable roads before
arriving at Arnautkeuy at nine that night. We went straight
to the house I had occupied before, expecting to find supper
awaiting us and my servants waiting to receive me. But,
alas I this was not to be. I hammered some time on the
door without obtaining any response, and it was fully five
minutes before the old Greek lady crept downstairs and
gazed gingerly at us through the keyhole, wondering who
the intruders could be who disturbed her at this hour. We
were then admitted and I asked where I would find Bryant
and the dragoman. " They are upstairs, asleep," she replied
in a strangely suspicious manner. No sooner had I entered
the house than I was conscious of a strong smell of whiskey,
cognac, and absinthe, which hung over the upper storey
like the miasma from a bog. I entered the room which I
had formerly occupied and there found Bryant asleep and
snoring profoundly on my bed, and the other dragoman
in a comatose position on the divan. Scattered in hopeless
confusion about the room were the remains of a meal,
empty bottles, and tumblers. I saw at once 1 was not
expected that evening, and that my intrusion would be
most unwelcome. However, I kicked both sleepers until
they awoke, and their surprise at seeing me turn up at
this hour was immense. They staggered to their feet, but
experienced considerable difficulty in maintaining an upright
position, and then it took them some time to collect their
scattered thoughts. Then each in turn started abusing
the other, and making mutual accusations of insobriety.
I told them to cease endeavouring to saddle the other with
his exact share of guilt, but to clear out of the room, open
304 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
all the windows, remove the debris, and prepare supper.
Very shamefacedly they went about their task and at length
we obtained some supper. This is a typical example of
what one has to put up with in Turkey. If your back
is turned for a single instant, your servants at once take
advantage of the fact.
On the following morning I started for my last ride to the
lines of Chataldja, accompanied by Bryant, and, leaving
Morton in charge of the house and my belongings, promising
to return that same evening. On the road I took the
opportunity to admonish Bryant severely on his conduct.
He promised not to offend again, but it was easy for us to
see that his days of utility were numbered. His nerve had
gone. He could not bear to approach a Turkish soldier, and
expected every minute to be shot. He implored me not to
attempt to pass through the lines again without first obtain-
ing an officer or gendarme as an escort. I saw it was useless
to attempt to go anywhere further with him, and agreed to
pay a visit to the Circassian general at Tursunkeuy, who had
promised to give us an officer to take us round the lines.
This officer once more received us in a most friendly
way, but I could see that his manner was somewhat
restrained. Then he told us he had received orders from
headquarters not to allow any Europeans to pass through
the lines, and that he must send them all back to Constanti-
nople. I told him I wished to go to Hademkeuy to see
Nazim myself, and asked him to allow me to do this. To
this arrangement he consented.
Meanwhile a heavy rainstorm had come on, and we were
delayed for a considerable time in the house. Here I had a
long talk with the owner, a very enlightened Young Turk,
who spoke French perfectly. He told me he had been exiled
during the reign of Abdul Hamid, but had returned when
the Young Turks came into power, expecting to see a
A TRAGEDY OF WAR 305
transformation worked in his country. But he found the
Young Turks very Httle better than the old regime. He
was extremely bitter against them for some of the political
appointments they had made of men without abihty and
without experience, who had done much harm to the country.
I rather gathered he was angry at not having received some
appointment himself. But whatever his reason, he had had
enough of political life, and had decided to retire and devote
himself for the remainder of his days to farming and wine-
growing and tobacco-raising. He had bought a large tract
of land behind the lines of Chataldja, had bought vines at
great expense, and had built himself the house in which we
were now sitting.
He went on : " The first two years I did not do so very
well, as numbers of my vines died from the blight, but last
year I was more than compensated. Now look at this."
He took me to the window, and I gazed on his land. The
vines had been trampled down by the passage of armed
men ; his garden had been denuded of everything, and was
now the site of a camp, and the young trees which he had
planted had either been cut down or were now resounding to
the blows of the soldiers' axes. Nevertheless, like a good
patriot, he had placed, without any hope of compensation,
everything he possessed at the disposal of the authorities, and
had given up his best rooms to the General and his Staff.
He laughed at the idea of the Bulgarians being able to force
the lines, and said, " We are far too strong ; there are now
really three positions all fortified one behind the other. But
it is impossible for the army to move from here. It has no
organisation ; the roads are non-existent, and they have no
means of feeding the men, if they lead them out against
the Bulgarians." It was easy to see the truth of his
words.
The rain had now ceased, the soldier who was to act as our
306 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
escort was ready, and, after bidding farewell to the General,
we took the road to Hademkeuy. The town looked very
different now from what it had ten days before. All the
cholera patients had been removed from the immediate
vicinity to a large camp of white bell tents some two miles
away. The dreadful square, which I had last seen covered
with victims, was now packed with wagons and material of
war. Trains were daily bringing up food suppUes from
Constantinople, which were stored in large depots near the
station. The whole town was surrounded by the camps of
the army, and thousands of soldiers were hurrying hither and
thither, each playing his small but necessary role in this great
drama of war. We rode through these camps to the
railway station, and inquired where we would find the
Minister of War. We were told he was living in a special
train some two kilometres down the line towards Chataldja.
We rode there and were molested by no one.
We first came upon the train assigned to the Mihtary
Attaches, who had now returned to the front from Con-
stantinople. I met a Turkish officer, Moukbill Bey, who
was attached to them, and who had formerly been Turkish
Military Attache in Paris. He invited me inside his carriage
and explained some of the details of the fighting at
Chataldja. Before being allowed to enter, I was sprinkled
all over with a variety of disinfectants. In fact the whole
town of Hademkeuy and all the camps in the neighbour-
hood sent up a strong aroma of disinfectants, as the
authorities were making desperate efforts to stamp out the
disease. I sent someone to Nazim's train to try to find
Major Vasfi or Ismet Bey, but he returned with the news
that neither could be found. As it was growing dark
I decided to ride back to Arnautkeuy. Bryant and I had
ridden some little distance and were passing through one
of the camps, when we were completely surrounded by
ORDERED BACK 807
soldiers and officers, and politely informed that a train was
waiting for us in the station. Bryant asked them what they
meant, but we could obtain no further information.
On our arrival at the station we were taken before the
Commandant, who informed us we must leave immediately
for Constantinople. I asked him at whose orders. He
replied : '* Nazim Pasha has just heard you are here, and has
ordered you to be sent down to Constantinople on the first
train." I pointed out to the Commandant that we could
ride back, as we had our horses and had left all our
belongings at Arnautkeuy. But our protests made no
difference. We were told we must enter the train and leave
at once. I then asked what was to become of our horses
and the Commandant replied : " You can leave them here."
But on this point I was adamant. I refused absolutely to
leave my horses, unless I obtained a receipt in full, and an
acknowledgment of the exact sums I had paid for them.
This the Commandant declined to give, and matters were at
a deadlock, when the station master, an Austrian, suggested
that he might add an empty truck to the train, in which the
horses might travel. This was done.
Then they tried to make us enter a third class carriage
with a crowd of sick — cholera patients (for all I knew) —
and wounded. This 1 absolutely refused to do, and said
that nothing would induce me to enter the train, unless
they gave me a first-class, thoroughly disinfected carriage
to myself. This led to a further row, but in the end I
gained my point, and Bryant and myself were allotted a
very comfortable compartment. As a final straw, the con-
ductor of the train came and said we had no tickets, and
could not travel without them. I pointed out to him that
we were being sent back against our wishes, as the guests
of the Turkish Government, and therefore it was surely
their duty to pay for us. But all my arguments were in
x2
308 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
vain. The officials said the company had no connection
with the mihtary authorities, and had to collect all moneys
from civilians for itself.
In the end I had to pay up, and buy two first-class tickets
and two horse tickets. It took us nearly five hours to cover
the odd twenty miles between Hademkeuy and Constanti-
nople. As we passed through the country, which was now
so familiar to us, I will confess I was not altogether sorry I
had been arrested and was seated in a comfortable train,
which every hour was bringing me nearer to a comfortable
hotel, rather than be riding in the cold, chased by gendarmes,
and shot at by sentries.
Thus ends my last excursion to the Turkish lines.
All that now remains to be told is the signing of the
armistice, which has for six weeks put an end to the bloody
and disastrous struggle with three of the Alhes, Bulgaria,
Servia, and Montenegro. On Sunday, November 24th,
Edib Bey, a Staff Officer, was ordered to advance with a
flag of truce and arrange for a meeting between Nazim
Pasha and the Bulgarian Commander-in-Chief, or with the
delegates appointed by him. Edib was led blindfolded to
the town of Chataldja and there saw the general in com-
mand, and a meeting was arranged for the following day,
Monday, November 25th.
The Turkish Headquarters Staff forgot to inform all the
forts that a Staff Officer was leaving with a flag of truce,
and when Edib was met some way outside the lines by
a Bulgarian patrol, the latter were vigorously shelled
with shrapnel, much to their amazement, since they had
naturally imagined they would be safe under the
white flag. The situation was becoming very awkward,
when the mistake was discovered and the forts ceased
fire.
At eleven a.m., Nazim Pasha, accompanied by two Staff
THE NEGOTIATIONS 309
Officers, motored out as far as a damaged bridge over the
river, where horses were awaiting him, and then rode into
Chataldja, where he was received with full military honours.
The meeting between him and General SavofF and the
Bulgarian delegates was extremely cordial. Nothing was
said about the war, and, after the customary formal cour-
tesies, General Savoff said :
" Have you full powers to negotiate peace ? "
Nazim Pasha replied : "I am awaiting full instructions
from my Government."
General Savoff then said : " What day will you be ready
to hold the first meeting ? "
Nazim Pasha replied : " On Wednesday, Thursday, Friday,
or Saturday ; any day will suit me."
The Bulgarians then said they were most anxious to
commence the negotiations at once, and Wednesday was
finally agreed upon.
The next point was to settle a suitable location for the
conference. General SavofF suggested Silivri, a small town
on the Sea of Marmora, but Nazim Pasha replied : " It is
too far off, and would be inconvenient. I suggest that
Chataldja would be the most suitable."
To this the Bulgarian delegates agreed, and the first
meeting terminated.
Between Hademkeuy and Chataldja the railway line is
intact, except for some slight damage to the bridge spanning
the river. This was repaired on Tuesday by the Turkish
engineers, so that on Wednesday morning, at eleven a.m.,
Nazim Pasha, accompanied by Reshid Pasha and Zia Pasha,
Minister of the Erkaf or mosque properties, and by Ebro
Effendi, the lawyer to the Sublime Porte, was able to travel
in a saloon train to Chataldja, where they were joined by
General SavofF, M. DanefF, and M. TchaprachikofF, King
Ferdinand's private secretary. The negotiations subsequently
310 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
took place inside the railway-car, for probably the first time
in history.
All the delegates were from the first on the best terms
with one another. On Wednesday, Nazim Pasha, as host,
offered the Bulgarians tea. On Thursday a modest soldier's
luncheon of three courses was ordered from Tokatlian's
restaurant and taken out to Chataldja, and this was followed
on Friday by a magnificent repast of more generous
proportions.
The negotiations dragged on for nearly two weeks before
the armistice was finally signed. During the whole of this
period Constantinople remained in a continual state of
unrest, hopes and fears alternating every hour of the day.
But at length, on the evening of Wednesday, December 4th,
the elusive armistice was signed just at a moment when
Constantinople had begun to abandon all hopes of peace.
Indeed, on December 4th the capital passed a very bad day,
owing to the complete absence of any official news either
confirming or denying the rumours of a rupture of the
negotiations.
Up to a very late hour on that night it was fully believed
in official and diplomatic circles that the delegates had failed
to come to an agreement, and that hostilities would recom-
mence the next morning. Those of the correspondents who
had sold their horses and kit in the anticipation of a peaceful
issue, were in despair, and spent the afternoon obtaining
options on fresh animals and tents.
Pessimism reached its zenith after dinner, because we
had been told that, if the armistice was signed at all,
the hour would be two o'clock, in which case the news
should have been known by five or six. Those of us
who sat up later than usual, hoping against hope for a
cessation of the bloodshed and a release from our labours,
were rewarded at 11.30 p.m. by the issue of a semi-official
WBSW'
1
^
i
SUBLIME INDIFFERENCE 311
statement from the Ageiice Ottomane, that the armistice
had been signed by Servia, Bulgaria, and Montenegro, but
not by Greece.
We retired to rest with our minds reheved, but, on
awakening next morning, our hopes again sank to zero,
because none of the early editions of the papers were pre-
pared to stake their reputations for habitual inaccuracy, by
declaring the report issued on the previous evening to be
true.
In the course of a short half-hour four persons, who were
supposed to be in the know, assured me that no agreement
had been signed, and that the negotiations had been
definitely and finally broken off, as the AUies refused to
sign without the acquiescence of the Greeks. I sent
various messengers abroad to sound high officials and to
visit the Sublime Porte, which was in its usual state of
sublime ignorance as to what had occurred, was occurring,
or would occur.
I then sent to some of the Embassies, fully believing
that the dove of peace would first visit those interested
arks with the glad tidings, but I found all of them hope-
lessly in the dark, devoid of any official news, and eagerly
searching the rubbish heap of rumours for a scrap of fact.
I then went myself to the War Office as a last resource,
and saw the officer who sometimes distributes news. He
had just arrived, and when I put the momentous question to
him, he replied :
" I saw in the papers that the armistice had been signed,
but I do not know if it is true, as I have not yet been
upstairs to the official bureau of information."
We then talked for half an hour on the sins of the war
correspondents and the omissions of the officials, and agreed
that honours were about evenly divided, and that both sides
were to blame, and, having arranged a modus vweiidi for the
312 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
future, my friend went upstairs to seek the desired infor-
mation. He returned in a few minutes with a telegram,
which he said had been sent by Nazim Pasha on the previous
evening to the acting Minister of War. He kindly trans-
lated the contents, which were as follows :
" Armistice signed this evening by Bulgaria, Servia, and
Montenegro, and by our delegates. Greece alone refused to
sign.
" The armistice will last until the end of the peace
negotiations. Adrianople and Scutari to remain as they are
at present, but are to receive one day's rations for the soldiers
and civil population each day of the armistice.
"The line of demarcation between the armies at Chataldja
is to be settled to-day.
" State of war with Greece to continue.
" Peace negotiations to be held at Chataldja."
Such were the contents of Nazim's telegram.
Right up to the very end the Turks continued to issue
false statements. They circulated reports in Constantinople,
which were believed by the populace, that all the beleaguered
fortresses, such as Adrianople and Scutari, were to be
revictualled day by day during the armistice. Therefore it
came as a great shock of surprise to Constantinople to learn,
some four weeks later, that Adrianople was receiving no
supplies and might fall from starvation even whilst the
Conference was sitting in London.
CHAPTER XXIII
THE FUTURE OF THE TURKS
Peace has not yet been signed between Turkey and the
Balkan League, but even if the war should be continued in
the future, it is certain that Turkey cannot possibly regain
the immense stretch of territory she has lost. The question
of the future possession of Adrianople still blocks the way to
a peaceful issue of the negotiations. Up to the present, the
Turks still refuse to cede the fortress to Bulgaria, and Reshid
Pasha, the chief of the Delegates, has made the remarkable
declaration that even the fall of the fortress through starva-
tion or other causes will make no difference in the attitude
of the Turks, who will demand the restoration of it from
the hands of the Great Powers.
Of course this is mere word play, and, once Adrianople has
fallen into the hands of the Alhes, Turkey need look for no
aid from Europe to restore it to her possession once again.
Therefore the position is this. Either Turkey must yield
Adrianople by treaty ; or else she must be prepared to see it
captured. If the war is renewed, it is obvious Adrianople
must eventually succumb. It cannot hold out indefinitely,
and already there is every reason to believe the civil popula-
tion are suffering terribly from want of food, and from lack
of fuel with which to keep themselves warm. To pass a
winter in the Balkans without a fire is an experience which
313
314 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
few would care to undergo. Why then do the Turks refuse
to accept the inevitable and to surrender the fortress, in
which case the garrison would doubtless be allowed to march
out with all the honours of war, whereas if the fortress is
forced to surrender, or is taken by assault, they will naturally
become prisoners ?
The only logical view to take of their stubborn refusal
to accept the inevitable seems to be that a lingering hope
survives in the minds of the military leaders, that the army,
which has now been concentrating at Chataldja for nearly
three months, may yet be able to bring about the
rehef of the beleaguered garrison. But, if the Turks
really believed in the possibility of such a move, they
would surely have broken off the negotiations long
ago, and have marched against the Bulgarian covering
army, because every day they delay helps to deplete the
food supplies of the garrison, and to render the chances of
success still more remote.
In reality nothing short of a miracle can enable Adrianople
to be relieved by the army under Nazim Pasha. I do not
know what the actual strength of that army is at the present
time, but, with the reinforcements which have reached it
from Asia, it cannot be far short of two hundred thousand
men, and it may greatly exceed this number. On paper
it forms a formidable host, which should be able to render
a very good account of itself if properly led and handled.
Without a doubt it is a very formidable army, but only
so long as it remains behind the famous lines. There it is
placed in an extremely strong position, and by this time
the troops must be entrenched up to their necks, and would
fight, if attacked, under conditions in which the Turks have
almost invariably given a very good account of themselves.
So long as they remain at Chataldja, they have very little
to fear from the superiority of the Bulgarian artillery fire,
THE STRATEGICAL POSITION 315
which, after their experiences at Kirk Kihsse and Lule
Burgas, they dread more than any other arm.
Personally, I am of opinion that as long as they remain
entrenched at Chataldja, they have absolutely nothing to
fear from the Bulgarians, and I do not believe the latter
would dare take the offensive against the Turks, as not only
would every advantage rest with the defence, but the attack-
ing army would also be inferior in numbers, although
superior in artillery.
The superiority in numbers, which the Turks enjoy in
front of Chataldja, will only last just so long as Adrianople
holds out. According to the statements attributed to the
Bulgarian generals, the latter have one hundred thousand men
in front of the lines, consisting of the Second Army, which
fought at Lule Burgas, while the First Army, of equal
strength, is in front of Adrianople. In addition they have
some thirty thousand young soldiers in reserve, and they
can also call for aid from the Servians, as the latter have
little on their hands. The Bulgarians also claim to have
raised some twenty thousand men from Macedonia, but
these cannot be very efficient. Thus, shortly after the fall
of Adrianople, when the prisoners have been disposed of,
the Bulgarians will have a field army at their disposal more
than two hundred thousand strong of seasoned veterans,
well trained, well organised, and well led.
Is there anything in Turkish military history in the past,
or are there any data to be drawn from the present war, to
lead us to believe the Turks are capable of meeting such an
army in the field ? Miracles of organisation cannot be
w^orked in a few months, although large numbers of men
may be concentrated at a given spot. Without organisation
and skilful handling, the confusion only becomes the worse
with every increase in numbers. But then, it may be asked,
if the Turks are superior probably by one half, or even
316 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
double, the strength of the Bulgarian army actually in front
of Chataldja, why should they not march out and defeat
that army before the First Army besieging Adrianople can
come to its assistance ?
Doubtless on paper such a scheme might seem feasible, but
if put into practice it would be almost certain to fail. If the
Turks take the offensive, all the advantages which they now
hold are at once transferred to the Bulgarians, who, in turn,
will find themselves entrenched in hill ground offering every
advantage to the defence, especially to an army which is
vastly superior in artillery. Both armies, if they endeavour
to take the offensive, have the same difficulties to overcome,
and both have the same advantages, if they remain on the
defensive. They are facing one another in a narrow
peninsula, very mountainous, which offers no room for the
deployment of a large army in attack. Both would have to
advance over a narrow front, which renders it impossible for
a general to bring anything like an army of one hundred
thousand men into action at the same time. Thus, any
superiority in numbers which the Turks may possess would
be entirely neutralised, because they would have to advance
up a narrow funnel, so to speak, only to meet their enemy
entrenched and waiting for them at the other end.
The Bulgarians very quickly found, during their abortive
attempt on the lines on November 17th and 18th, how
impossible it was to find suitable artillery positions, from
which to support the attacks of their infantry, imd it was
doubtless this which caused their sudden abandonment of
the attack. If the Turks take the offensive, they will find
exactly the same difficulties, and will be overwhelmed by
artillery fire.
Hitherto I have only spoken of the difficulties which the
country presents for the manceuvring of large armies. But
if the Turks were even successful and forced the Second
LACK OF TRANSPORT 817
Army to retire nearer Adrianople, they would be no nearer
the achievement of their objective, namely, the relief of
Adrianople. In the first place, they must leave a very large
force to hold the hnes in case of a disaster such as Lule
Burgas, which would cause the Field Army to retire
precipitously. This would, of course, lessen the numbers
which Nazim could take with him on an offensive movement
towards the north. But, in reality, leaving a large garrison at
Chataldja is somewhat beside the point, because it would be
utterly impossible for any general to feed his whole army if
he took all his men with him, and I do not believe he could
possibly feed an army of even fifty thousand men at any
distance from his base. The Turks could not feed the army
of Thrace under Abdullah Pasha, or even keep it supplied
with ammunition, when they were in control of the line of
the railway, and when the season was far more favourable for
the passage of wheeled transport, than it is now. But, if they
decide to advance, they will no longer have the railway at
their disposal, because the Bulgarians are certain to destroy
it if the latter see any chance of suffering a reverse and being
forced to retire. Therefore, it is obvious that for some
weeks, even months, the Commander-in-Chief would have
to rely on wheeled transport, with which to keep his army
supplied. But, as 1 have already pointed out many times in
this book, roads in Thrace are almost non-existent. In the
summer they are mere tracks covered with ruts, which are
turned into pools of mud and slime after any rain ; but in
winter, when they are covered with snow and frozen up,
with the inequalities and holes partly hidden, they are
infinitely more dangerous and difficult.
The Turks have no mule carts, and all their supplies and
ammunition would have to be drawn in bullock-wagons.
Now the pace of bullock transport under summer conditions
is only, in favourable circumstances, one and a half miles
318 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
per hour, and in winter it would be even less than this. In
the summer the bullocks were able to obtain sustenance,
and this also applies to the horses of the cavalry and
artillery, from the rich pastures of the grass lands of Thrace,
and, therefore, the problem of feeding them presented but
few difficulties. But in the winter, with the country frozen
up or covered with snow, food will have to be carried, not
only for the army, but for the immense pack of bullocks
and horses, and this alone, apart from every other consider-
ation, will prove an impossible task.
Apart from the difficulties of transport and supply, all
the old strategical and tactical faults will at once reappear,
if the army leaves the friendly shelter of the lines. It
is quite impossible, if we are to draw a precedent from
any other army, for Nazim to have created a thoroughly
efficient General Staff capable of handling one hundred
thousand men in the field, since the battle of I^ule Burgas.
A trained Staff can only be created after years of patient
work, and it can only learn to handle an army after repeated
practice under peace conditions. But it is fully in accord-
ance with the Turkish character, as revealed by their actions
in the present war, for them to believe that, because they
are able to control the army scattered along the lines of
Chataldja, they would be able to handle it with equal
efficiency in the field.
At Chataldja the various positions are now connected
up by telephone ; the troops never shift their stations,
and all the subordinate commanders are within touch of
the Commander-in-Chief. But, once the army leaves the
lines, there will be no field telegraph or field telephone,
the Commanders of the various Army Corps will be out
of touch with Headquarters, except by the obsolete system
of orderUes and A.D.C.'s bearing written despatches, and
we shall see once again the spectacle of three or four Army
THE QUESTION OF ADRIANOPLE 319
Corps manoeuvring as independent units without order or
cohesion. When Abdullah's army was advancing towards
the line, Adrianople-Kirk Kilisse, the troops could find
some supplies, and the animals forage, from the villages
which are freely scattered over its fertile plains, but now
even this advantage will be gone, for the country is deserted
and has been swept absolutely bare by the tide of war
and the retreat of one army and the advance of another.
1 think I have said enough to show how impossible it is
for the Turks to relieve Adrianople and how that fortress is
inevitably doomed.
Why, then, in the circumstances, does the Turkish
Government refuse to surrender Adrianople ? Is the cause
sentiment, or simply the intense stupidity which refuses to
acknowledge the facts of the situation ? I do not think
sentiment accounts for much amongst the Turks in this age,
and I know there are a great many Turks who, even before
I left Constantinople, realised that Adrianople was lost to
them for ever. The Turkish Government is holding out,
because they stand in wholesome dread of the army at
Chataldja. Soldiers do not think like statesmen. The
ignorant private cannot look far enough ahead to grasp the
fact that his country may lose more in the end by refusing
to give up a beleaguered fortress. Probably more than two-
thirds of the Turkish Army, which is now occupying the lines,
have never fired a shot during the war. They do not know
what defeat and starvation mean, and, with a pride natural
in any army, they do not relish the idea of returning to their
homes to announce that all the European provinces of
the Empire have been lost to the faith, and then to have to
admit that they themselves never fired a shot.
The private soldier, and even many of the officers in
subordinate positions, cannot see things in the same light as
the Commander-in-Chief. So long as they are fed and
320 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
clothed, and have a rifle and ammunition, they do not under-
stand why they are not led against the enemy. They do
not realise the difficulties of the Commander-in-Chief, who
must keep each one of them supplied with food, clothing,
and ammunition. Thus all the arguments which appeal so
strongly to the commander of an army, and to the Govern-
ment which he serves, are entirely lost on the rank and file.
Therefore the Turkish Government is faced with a problem
which must command the sympathy of every impartial critic.
How can they surrender Adrianople and at the same time
keep the army quiet ? The Turkish Army is within only
fifteen miles of the capital. When it is demobilised, every
man must be sent to his home from Stamboul, and, if the
army feels that the honour of the country has been sacrificed,
it is just as hkely as not to revenge itself on the Govern-
ment, to cause a fresh revolution, and to run amuck in the
streets of Constantinople. The only solution, so far as the
Turkish Government is concerned, would seem to be for
Adrianople to fall from starvation, and for the Government
to say to the army, " This is not our act, but the will of
Allah."
Although Turkey has lost all her European possessions,
and has suffered even more in loss of prestige in the present
war, there are a good many of the more far-seeing Turks
who are inclined to look upon the loss of territory as a
blessing in disguise. From the military and strategical
standpoint she has surely gained in strength. No patriotic
man hkes to see whole provinces, which were conquered by
his ancestors and governed by their successors for six
centuries, suddenly lopped off, more especially when the
unpleasant surgical operation is performed by races his
country has formerly ruled. But, now that the first
bitterness of defeat has worn off, the more far-seeing Turks
are seriously asking themselves, " What have we lost and
MACEDONIA 321
what have we gained ? " " After all," they say, " we never
looked upon European Turkey as forming part of sacred
territories of Islam ; we have always regarded them as
captured provinces, in which the Christian populations have
outnumbered the Moslem, and in consequence we have
always governed them as such. They were captured for the
faith by the warriors of Othman six hundred years ago, and
now Allah wills that they shall pass once again into the
hands of the infidel. Well, so be it; it is fate, and no
action of ours can alter the inexorable decrees of fate."
Thus, when the war is brought to a conclusion, there will
be none of that lasting rancour in the minds of the Turks,
such as the French feel against the Germans for the loss of
Alsace and Lorraine, and none of that unchanging deter-
mination to regain that which has been lost.
From the economic standpoint Turkey is well rid of the
care of Macedonia. A precarious revenue of some five
millions is drawn or forced from the unfortunate Christian
population, but the country takes seven millions to ad-
minister, and the odd two millions have to be provided out of
the already sorely-pressed Exchequer. In fact, Turkey has
never gained either in wealth or in strength from ruling over
Macedonia, Albania, and Thrace.
Now let us examine for a moment the strategical situation
in which she is left, if the Allies' terms of peace are even-
tually accepted or forced upon her. Turkey has drawn no
recruits for her army in the past either from Macedonia
or Albania, and extremely few from the Mahommedan
population of Thrace. Therefore, as almost all Thrace is
to be left in her possession, her army will lose no valuable
recruiting ground which wiU seriously deplete its numbers.
On the other hand, the Turks have always been obliged to
maintain large armies in Macedonia and in Albania to put
down periodical insurrections, and to preserve peace amongst
Y
322 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
the various nationalities and religions which make up that
unhappy land.
Having to keep a great part of its forces always ready for
war and dispersed throughout Macedonia and Albania, has
ever been a source of weakness to the Empire. It has
also been a great drain on its resources, and was largely
responsible for the disasters of the present war. In future
the whole of the army, which the Turks have been obliged to
keep in Europe, will be available for the defence of Con-
stantinople and Gallipoli, or else it can be employed in the
Caucasus, the Armenian frontier, and in the Yemen. It wiU,
in fact, be available for the services of the Empire proper,
and will not be frittered away in Europe in useless attempts
to quell insurrections among the bands in Albania and
Macedonia.
One of the reasons which the Turks give for refusing to
surrender Adrianople, is that it will leave them no frontier
for the defence of Constantinople, and will also expose the
province of Thrace to continual invasion. This plea will
not bear examination. Adrianople is not the line of defence
for Constantinople. If the Turks remained in possession
of it, it could always be turned, isolated, and besieged exactly
as has been its fate in the war. It would be a constant
source of weakness to the Turks, because it would encourage
them to keep a large army in Thrace, so as to go to the
assistance of the fortress in case of need, and they would
have to fight for the defence of Constantinople in a false
position.
There is only one true line of defence for the capital,
and that is the lines of Chataldja. That position, if
permanent works were erected on it, could be rendered
absolutely impregnable, and it could not be forced, assisted
as the army would always be by the fleet, except by the
slow process of a regular siege.
THE FUTURE OF CONSTANTINOPLE 323
The Turks have left to them the one natural position
essential to their remaining on the European shore of the
Bosphorus, and it is their own fault if they do not insure
the safety of the capital for all time by rendering that
position impregnable. They will have left to them Thrace,
up to the line of the Maritza, but excluding Adrianople.
They can train their army there, if they wish to, and
they can keep garrisons at important towns, but, if they are
called upon to fight again, their only sound strategical plan
is to retire at once behind the lines and there to await the
onslaught of their foe, whoever he or they may be.
The question of the future possession of Constantinople
has frequently brought the Great Powers to the verge of
war. If the Turks accept the inevitable and are content to
regard the lines of Chataldja as their strategic frontier, then
that question should never arise again. They should be able
to hold Constantinople for all time, and it would tax the
strength of the greatest of the military Powers to force a
passage through that almost impregnable position. Thus,
from the point of view of the peace of Europe, the war has
been a blessing in disguise.
It is too early to place on record all the lessons to be
learned from the Balkan war. We must await fuller
information from the victors, and from the defeated Turks,
before we venture on a scientific analysis of the strategy of
the two armies. But the war has proved, what has been
proved so often in the past, namely, the strength of nations
organised for the attainment of a definite ideal.
For a century the Turks have blundered on, utterly
unprepared for war, trusting to the dissensions of the
Powers and to Allah to save them from the danger that was
to come. When the " little Balkan States " had struck their
first blow, and only then, did Islam awake from her
perennial slumber and prepare for war. At the eleventh
y2
324 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
hour the Ottoman Government, unable to concentrate its
regular army in time to meet the attack of the invaders,
seized hold of all the old Redifs upon which it could lay
hands, formed these harmless, untrained, peace-loving
peasants into extemporary^ regiments without a proper quota
of officers, or any previous organisation and training ;
improvised these mob regiments into brigades, out of which
the Headquarters Staff, with its peculiar faculty for self-
deception, formed phantom divisions and army corps.
Although fully aware that no effective stand could be
made north of Chataldja, the Government dispatched the
whole of this unwilling band of martyrs to do battle around
Lule Burgas, merely because they wished to make a show
of resistance near the frontier. They did not hesitate to
sacrifice the lives of some eighty thousand soldiers, in order
to postpone for a few weeks the inevitable disclosure of their
unpreparedness for war. They rested secure in the delusion
of numerical superiority. Was it not preposterous that
puny Bulgaria and Servia, with their total population of
some seven million souls, should dare to attack the great
Turkish Empire, with its vast resources and its population of
twenty-five millions ? But the Turks had yet to learn that
numbers are of no avail against organisation. The Turkish
army was not even concentrated when the battle of Lule
Burgas was fought. Napoleon's maxim that an army must
be concentrated before battle was forgotten. Having no
supplies, or not having troubled to bring up supplies, they
sent forth their army v^dthout bread to fight in a wilderness.
Three weeks after the initial disaster of Lule Burgas the
regular army appeared, strongly entrenched behind the lines
of Chataldja, but it was too late, for by then their European
possessions had been lost.
The telegraph, the railway, and the aeroplane have made
of war an affair of days, where it used to be an affair
THE LESSON OF THE WAR 325
of months. Armies can be concentrated with a speed
undreamed of in bygone days. A decisive blow can be
struck with almost lightning rapidity, and the fate of a
nation decided in a few days. Nowadays a war is won in
times of peace, and the army that is best organised at the
moment of the declaration of hostilities, and that can be
concentrated with the greatest rapidity, must be victorious.
The war between Turkey and the Balkan Coalition began
on October 16th. On the evening of October 31st the
Turkish Army was routed and the fugitives were flying,
without a semblance of order, back to Constantinople. In
a campaign of two weeks the conquests of six centuries
were lost. Comment would be superfluous.
The days when recruits could be trained in the course
of a laborious and prolonged march toward the scene of
hostilities have gone for ever. Yet we in England are told
with all seriousness that our Territorial Forces can be trained
after the outbreak of war, on the hypothesis that six months
must elapse before they could reasonably be called upon
to fight, and that in the meantime our striking force of one
hundred and fifty thousand regulars would amply suffice
for our immediate defence. The striking force of the
victorious Bulgarians at the battles of Kirk Kilisse and Lule
Burgas amounted to between one hundred and one hundred
and fifty thousand men. They admit that, in the first three
weeks of the war, there was a wastage from that army of
some fifty thousand men from casualties on the battlefield
or from disease. What would have been the ultimate fate
of that army if Bulgaria, with her scanty population of
four millions, had not, as the fruit of twenty years of
patriotic endeavour, had at least another one hundred thou-
sand trained men to take their place ?
Nations, like individuals, have their obligations, and the
Turks, having proved wanting, must now pay the just
326 WITH THE TURKS IN THRACE
penalty of their incapacity. In the course of the five
centuries which they have spent in Europe, they have
proved that they are incapable of governing their conquests.
They have not attempted to initiate a sound economic
system ; they have not given their subjects the first postulate
of progress, justice or education ; they have built no roads,
neither have they cultivated the land. Thrace, which might
have been the granary of the empire, they have left a
barren wilderness.
Nor is there any sentimental reason why the Turks should
be left in possession of their European conquests, for, since
the beginning of the war, practically the whole of the Otto-
man population has migrated to Asia Minor, without the
desire or the means to return.
The future of the Turk lies in Asia. Let him return to
the land of his fathers and develop those matchless resources
which constant wars and preoccupations in Europe have
caused him to neglect. I^et him subdue the Arabs of the
Yemen and the wild hillmen of the Caucasus, and so con-
solidate his Empire that a new Turkey may arise which will
command the respect of European civilisation, and give to
those Anatohan peasants, decimated by the successive wars
of the last century, some measure of that peace and security
which is vital to their survival as a race.
INDEX
r
INDEX
Abdul Aziz, 37, 38
Abdul Hamid, 6, 22, 38, 40-46, 48, 134,
221, 280, 304-5
Abdullah Pasha, his command, 50, 72,
74, 79, 88, 270 ; before Lule Burgas,
92, 93; and Mr. Ashmead-Bartlett,
130-35, 158, 190, 195-96, 295; at
Sakiskeuy, 147-51 ; second day at
Lule Burgas, 152-70; difficulties of
his position, 160-66, 317, 319 ; and
the Correspondents, 168-70 ; the
retreat, 172, 246
Abouk Pasha, 82, 91, 144, 145, 147, 270
Adrianople, Russian occupation, 1828,
34 ; army manoeuvres, 1910, 50
garrison, 79-80, 82, 88; occupation
95, 232, 289; revictualling, 312
impossibility of relieving, 313-19
reason of Turkey's holding, 319-20,
322
Adrianople Gate, 111, 227
Adrianople— Kirk-Kilisse lines, 78, 79,
87, 88, 90, 142, 319
Ahmed Bey, village of, 172
Ahmed Pass, 270
Albania, Northern, ceded to Monte-
negro, 39
Albanians, the, rebellions, 31-32, 207,
321-22; and Abdul Hamid, 42;
massacres in Macedonia, 44-45 ; and
the Young Turk policy, 47-48 ;
allegiance of, 85
Aleppo, 19
\lexandria, blockade 1839, 35
411an, Mr. Ostler, 60, 102
Alsace-Lorraine, 321
Anatolia, recruiting from, 10, 15, 16,
19, 30-32, 45, 49, 180, 248.
Arabs, the, types, 40 ; and the Young
Turk policy, 47-48 ; rebellion of the
Yemen, 30-32, 207
Armenia, massacres in, 42
Armstice, the, 308-12
Arnautkeuy, village of, 280-82, 296,
300-307
Ashmead-Bartlett, Mr. Seabury, with
the Correspondents, 3, 63-64, 65,
85-86, 105-7, 137 ; at Sakiskeuy,
167-70, 196 ; at Chorlou, 177, 182, 185 ;
return from the front to Constan-
tinople, 201-3 ; story of the retreat
from Chorlou, 203-28 ; leaves for
Chataldja, 242; and Major Vasfi,
243 ; at Cherkeskeuy, 246 ; second
departure for the front, 252-54 ;
ordered to return to Constantinople,
264, 279 ; at Buyuk Chekmedche,
275 ; at Arnautkeuy, 277, 281, 296 ;
return to England, 296.
Asia Minor, Turkish migration to, 39,
188-89, 250-51, 326
Asperm-Essling, 6
Austria, Turkish district, 14-15, 26 ;
note to the Balkans, 23, 26
Austrian-Lloyd boat, the, 191, 193-95,
198
Aya Yorgi. See St. George, village of
Aziz, Colonel, 6
Aziz, Prince, 84
Baba Eski, retreat on, 85, 90, 91
Balkan League significance, 8, 22, 49 ;
Austrian and Russian notes presented,
23, 26 ; reply to the Powers, 28
Baring, Mr. Maurice, 68
Bashi-Bazouks, atrocities by, 44, 45
Belgrade, Forest of, 268, 270, 280
Bennet, M., charges against Correspond-
ents, 186
Berlin, Congress of, 1878, 39
Berlin, Treaty of, fulfilment of Art. 23
demanded, 23, 27-28; Bulgarians'
position, 39-40
Bernhardi, General von, 80, 82
330
INDEX
Bethlehem, 208
Bismarck, remark of quoted, 38
Black Sea, 199, 268
Bogados, village of, 116
Bosnia, part ceded to Servia, 39
Breves, Savary de, 30
Bristol Hotel, Vienna, 6
British Embassy, Constantinople, 70
British Red Cross Society, 251, 281
Brusa in A.sia-Minor, 243
Bryant, despatch carrier, 111, 201,
203-4, 206, 212, 252, 254, 257, 264,
266, 266, 267, 273-74, 279, 281, 282,
292-96, 303-4, 306-8
Buj-Chekmedche, 114
Bulgaria and the Powers, 8 ; demobilisa-
tion demanded, 13 ; war declared on,
declared by Turkey, 17 Oct., 28;
autonomy established, 38-40 ; Bul-
garians in Macedonia, 45-46 ; Turkish
plan of campaign against, 78-80, 87 ;
armistice signed, 311-12
Bulgarian Army in Thrace, the fight south
of Adrianople, 80 ; strength, 82-83,
315, 325 ; capture of Kirk Kilisse, 97 ;
the attack on the town of Lule Burgas,
142-44, 145 ; plan of campaign, 144,
165 ; villages fired by, 147-48 ; brav-
ery of, Turkish admiration, 151 ; the
second day at Lule Burgas, 152-70 ;
195-96 ; need of cavalry, 177-78 ; 218 ;
the artillery, 180-81 ; slow advance
after Lule Burgas, 225-26, 229-32 ;
capture of Rodosto, 234-41 ; attack on
the Chataldja lines, 263-91
Bunar Hissar, village of, 91, 144
Buyuk Chekmedche, village of, 264, 268,
270, 271 ; correspondents ordered
back to, 273 ,274, 278 ; pickets at, 293 ;
lake of, 267, 268, 271
Cadres, the, strength, 80
Carol, Hotel, Constanza, 199
Catholics in Palestine, 208-9
Cauta, 245
Cekedje railway station, 15, 251
Censorship of telegrams. See Vasfi,
Major
Chataldja lines, 16, 82, 90, 114, 204;
retreat to, 58, 178, 246-47 ; Turkish
plan of campaign, 79 ; story of Mr.
Seabury Ashmead-Bartlett, 203-28 ;
rout checked by Nazim troops, 229 ;
the Bulgarian attack on, 247-8, 263,
267-71 ; outbreak of cholera at, 251 ;
Bulgarians retire from, 284-91 ;
position of the Turkish Army, 305,
314-15 ; as a defence, 322-23
Chataldja, town of, 223, 268, 308
Chekmedche, Lake of, 225, 252
Chekmedche, lines of, 225
Chekmedche village, 265, 258, 269-60
Cherkeskeuy, correspondents removed
to, 210-15 ; the village burnt, 216 ;
flight from, 220
Chios, reduction, 34
Cholera at the front, first news of out-
break, 230 ; outbreak at Chataldja,
251 ; at Hademkeuy, 259-62, 284 ;
scene at Chekmedche, 260-62 ; scenes
outside Arnautkeuy, 282 ; at San
Stefano, 284 ; among the Bulgarians,
290
Chorion, Turkish retreat on, 86 ; the
correspondents established at, 96, 98,
99, 100, 104, 161-62, 168-70, 297-
98 ; Mr. Ashmead-Bartlett's journey
to, 108, 130, 172, 195-96 ; absence of
food at, 134 ; departure from, 187 ;
the retreat from, story of Mr. Seabury
Ashmead-Bartlett, 203-228 ; date of
Bulgarian occupation, 233 ; and the
Bulgarian plan of campaign, 286-7
Christian sects at Jerusalem, 207-9
Christians, persecution of, in Turkey,
40-44
Classo, 85
Colenso, 85
Committee of Union and Progress, 9,
27
Constantine, 41
Constantinople, scenes in, 6-8, 12-21,
capture in 1453, 29 ; description to-
day, 41-42, 68, 242 ; cable arrange-
ments, 62, 183 ; departure of the
correspondents from, 93-96 ; refugees
in, 134 ; the museum, 231-251 ; the
cholera in, 281 ; defence of, 322 ;
question of possession, 323
Constantinople Army Corps, the, 91
Constanza in Roumania, cable arrange-
ments at, 62 ; by steamer to, 183, 184,
196, 198-99 ; the cable from, 199-200;
Corriera della Sierra, Correspondent of
the, 60
Correspondents, the, number in Con-
stantinople, 59-60, journey to Chorion,
93-96, 108-30 ; the camp at Chorion,
98-100, 104 ; sketches, 100-3 ; condi-
tions imposed on, 106-7, 185-86 ; at
Lule Burgas, 132-36 ; Mr. Seabury
Ashmead-Bartlett, ]68-70; how the
INDEX
331
story was sent, 182-202 ; removal to
Cherkeskeuy, 210-11, 214-15 ; confer-
ence with Major Vasfi, 243 ; Lieut.
Wagner's reports, 245-247 ; forbidden
to return to the front, 252 ; German
correspondents at St. George, 268 ;
ordered back to Constantinople, 263,
266; at Chekmedche, 278; war
against the, 292-312 ; Nazim and the,
306-8
Craon, M., 2
Crete, annexation, 35
Creusot gun, superiority, 160
Crimean War, 37-9
Daily C%ronicle, correspondent of the.
See Donohoe, Mr. M. T.
Daily Express, correspondent of the. See
Ostler, Mr. Allan
Daily Mail, correspondent of the. See
Price, Mr. Ward
Daily Mirror, correspondent of the. See
Grant, Mr.
Daily Telegraph, reports for the, 2, 8, 9,
69, 109, 169, 182-202, 259
Damascus, 19
DaneflF, M., the armstice, 309
Dardanelles, the, 82, 191
Delijunus, 247
Derkos, 246, 280, 301 ; line of pickets
from, 293
Derkos Lake, 225, 245, 247
Disarming civilians, 128
Donohoe, M. T., correspondent for the
Daily Chronicle, 6, 60-61, 63-7, 71,
73 ; letter from, 85 ; departure from
Constantinople, 95 ; at the front,
101-2, 162 ; sending of the news,
182-202 ; plans, 232-33 ; at Rodosto,
236, 237, 239-41 ; leaves for Chataldja,
242, 252, 255 ; and Major Vasfi, 243,
298 ; ordered to return to Constan-
tinople, 264 : illness, 275, 277, 278 ;
return to Constantinople, 279 ; at
Arnautkeuy, 281 ; leaves Turkey,
296-97
Dresden gallery, 218
Dubois, General, 2
Dysentery, 230
Earthquake, story of the, 209
Eastern Balkans ceded to Bulgaria, 38
Ebro Efi"endi, the armstice, 309
Edib Bey, the armstice, 308
Elassona, 77 ; Greek rout reported, 84
Emir-el-djebel, insurrection, 35-6
Enteric, 230
Erzerum, fortress of, 39, 283
Europeans, attack on, feared, 230
Evekli, 189, 191
Ferdinand of Bulgaria, declares the
independence of his kingdom, 39 ;
proclamation of, 86, 97, 248-49 ; and
Constantinople, 231, 288-89
Fitzmaurice, Mr., 198
Forbes, Mr. Archibald, 59
Foreign Office, London, methods, 69-70
Fouad Bey, Colonel at Lule Burgas, and
Mr. Ashmead-Bartlett, 126, 127,136-
7, 140
Fouad Pasha, 14
French Road Company, 110, 111, 113,
114
French War Correspondents, 60-1 ; and
the Censor, 103, 215
Galata, 195
Galata Bridge, the, 64, 111
Gallipoli, defence, 322
Gazi Bajir, 271
German instructors in the Turkish Army,
50, 53
German Press Correspondents, 60-1
Ghazi Moukhtar Pasha, 12-15, 75
Gladstone, Mr., and the Turkish atroci-
ties, 38
Golden Gate, the, 231, 254
Golden Horn, 227
Goltz, F. M. von der, plans of, 86, 99
Gordon, M., cinematographer, 109, 116,
167
Goupa, dragoman, 185, 186, 187, 205-6,
215, 228, 252, 255, 256, 274, 279
Grant, Mr., correspondent of the Daily
Mirrm; 60, 255-56
Gras rifles, 235
Graves, Mr., Times correspondent, 85
Greco-Turkish war 1897, 6, 32, 50, 51
Greece, war declared, Oct. 18th, 28 ;
independence declared, 1830, 34 ;
army of, 83 ; refusal to sign the
armistice, 311-12
Greeks in Macedonia, 45 ; advance on
Classo, 85 ; in Palestine, 208-9
Grey, Sir Edward, Turkish reliance on,
25
Hademkeuy, lines of, 224-25, 248,
256, 263, 268, 284, fugitives at,
229-30 ; cholera scenes, 259-62, 284,
290 ; town shelled, 276-77 ; Nazim's
headquarters at, 299, 300, 304, 306
332
INDEX
Hadji, Albanian groom, 176, 212, 216,
222, 226, 228, 252
Halli Sherif, the, reading of the, 35
Hamidieh, 271
Hatti Firman, the, of 1839, 47
Herzegovina, part ceded to Servia, 39
Hippodrome, the Constantinople, 41,
227
Horses for the army, 17-18
Ibrahim, 35
Illustration (The), 4, 60
Ismet Bey, jouniey to Chorlou, 106,
108-9, 112, 113, 115, 117, 118, 124-
30; and Abdullah, 131, 133; and
Mr. Ashmead-Bartlett. 134, 135, 136,
297, 299, 300, 306 ; at Lule Burgas,
136, 137, 139, 140, 141, 142, 145-47,
162, 171, 176, 177 ; at Sakiskeuy, 149,
151, 165, 166, 168-70 ; the second day
at Lule Burgas, 153, 157, 158, ; at
Chorlou, 185, 186, 206-7 ; stories told
by, 207-10
Istrandza mountains, the, 84, 88
Italian Press correspondents, 60
Italy and Turkey. See Turko-Italian
War
Izzet Bey, Colonel, and the war corres-
pondents, 11, 71-74, 104, 108, 110,
optimism of, 20, 86-87 : purchase of
a motor-car, 64-65 ; after Kirk Kilisse,
86
Izzet Pasha, 243
Jalos, village, 116
James, Mr. Lionel, correspondent of
The Times, 6, 60-61, 66, 71, 73, 85 ;
departure from Constantinople, 95,
296, 297 ; at the front, 101 ; buying
a car, 109, 111, 115, 116, ; at Lule
Burgas, 161-62 ; sending of the news,
182-202 ; reasons for leaving the front,
197-98 ; at Rodosto, 233, 236, 239
Janissaries, the, 29-34
Japanese, European-trained officers, 56
Jenidzi, 91, 133
Jerusalem, Christian sects at, 207-9
Kalikratia village, 114
Kandia, insurrection in, 35-36
Kara Burun, 268
Karagach, 91, 92, 144, 153, 155
Kars, defence of, 13, 14, 37
Kavakli, 91, 133
Kiamil Pasha, Grand Vizier, 15 ; and
the correspondents, 74-75
Kirk Kilisse, news of the defeat, 11,
84-87, 90, 96, 97, 109 ; fighting at,
75, 82, 132, 287 ; operations leading
to the capture of, 87-90 ; first
authoritative account, 98
Kretiz-Zeituruj, the, 94
Kriegelstein, Baron von, 60, 103
Krupp guns at Chataldja, 160, 269
Kuchuk-Chekmedche, village of, 113,
252, 255, 274
Kumanova, 84, 85
Kumburgas, village of, 116
Kurd Dere, 271
Kurds of the Caucasus, 31-32, 42, 207
Law of the Vilayets of 1880, 8, 13, 22
Lawson, Mr. Harry, 2
Leighton, Sir Bryan. 106, 107 ; journey
to Chorlou, 109, 116, 117, 118, 119,
125, 126, 133 ; at Sakiskeuy, 167, 170,
196 201
London, Conference of (1830), 34 ; 1913,
312
Lowther, Sir Gerard, 8, 69
Lule Burgas, 15, 67, 78, 79, 81 ; the
army at, 82, 85, 86 ; operations
before, 87-92 ; retreat of women and
children, 96-97 ; the great battle
started, 106-7 ; the correspondents
at, 132, 133, 134, 135 ; the first day,
139-51 ; second day, 152-70 ; rout of
the Turkish Army, 171-81; Mr.
Ashmead-Bartlett'.s diary, 195-96 ;
news of the disaster, 224-25, 230;
efiect on Bulgaria's movements, 285-
291
Lule Burgas-Baba Eski-Viza lines, 99
MacCulloch, Mr., 201
Macedonia, law of 1880, proposal to
apply, 8, 13, 22, 46 ; importance of
Macedonian question, 24-25, 27-28 ;
repression in, 42-45 ; the interna-
tional gendarmerie, 46-47 ; recruits
from, 315 ; position in regard to
Turkey, 321-22
Macksoud Bey, 219
Magersfontein, 85
Mahmoud Mukhtar, command, 82, 84,
88, 91, 144, 150, 270 ; retreat on
Viza, 91-92; with the 3rd Army
Corps, 153, 155, 159-60, 163, 164,
172 ; wounded, 282
Mahmoud II., the Janissaries dis-
banded, 31, 34 ; and Mehemet Ali,
34-35 ; the Halli Sherif, 35-36
INDEX
333
Mahmudiyeh, 271
Mahommedans, and Abdul Aziz, 37 ;
persecution of, 44 ; and the Young
Turk policy, 47-49
Marion, General, 1
Maritza, the, 323
" Marmora," mail boat, 238
Marmora, Sea of, 191, 255, 268
Martini rifles, 235
"Masudia," battleship, 233-39
Mauser rifles, 10, 54, 180
Media, 84
Mehemet Ali, 34-35
Midhat Pasha, 38, 42
Midia, Port of, 88
Mobilisation, 16-17
Monastir, 44, 244
Mongols, types, 40
Montenegro, war declared by, 9, 14, 23 ;
territory ceded to, 39 ; army of, 83 ;
rout reported, 84 ; armstice signed,
311-12
Morning Post, correspondent of the.
See Pilcher, Mr.
Morton, 301-4
Moukbill Bey, 306
Murad, Sultan, 38
Muradli, 233, 237
Mustafa Pasha, army at, 6, 79, 83, 84
Mustafiz, the, 81
Nakashkeuy, 271
Napoleon III., 37
Navarino, Turkish defeat, 34
Nazim Pasha, war minister, 10, 11, 58 ;
and the correspondents, 75 ; on the
situation, 78, 79, 242-43; expected
at Chorlou, 133, 134 ; retreat to
Chataldja, 214 ; at Hademkeuy, 230,
300, 304, 306 ; order concerning
foreigners, 264, 265, 279, 280, 299,
306-8 ; supreme command, 270 ; the
new troops, 282-83, 314-15; the
armistice, 308-12 ; transport difficul-
ties, 317-18
Nicholas I., 36-37
Nicholson, cinematograph er, 255-56
Nineteenth Century, article by M. Bennet
cited, 186
Nizam Army, the, 31, 34, 80, 81, 225,
229
Normand, M., 4
OSMAN, 31, 33
Ostler, Mr. Allan, 60, 102-3
Ostrorog, Count L^on, 8, 9, 12, 13, 14
Othman, 321
Otter, Mr. Prank, 258-9
Ottoman Bank, the, 253
Ottoman News Agency, methods, 10, 20,
250-52, 311
Ottoman Public Debt, 108
Ouchy, 6, 28, 49, 60
Pan-Islamism, policy of Abdul Hamid,
42
Pech, M., 9
Pera, 56, 63, 227, 297 ; war prepara-
tions in, 15, 16, 18, 57 ; escape of
governor of, 209 ; a Greek procession
in, 249
Pera Palace Hotel, 7, 66, 68, 75, 85, 97,
98, 106, 110, 196, 198, 201, 227, 241,
243, 253, 296
Persian invasion of Turkey, 36
Pilcher, Mr., 60
Pink 'un (The), 258, 259
Plevna, defence of, 33, 38
Poincare, M., proposal to the Powers,
22, 24
Popoflr, General, 287, 289-90
Port Arthur, 134
Powers, the, peace efpjrts, 8, 22-27
Press, Turkish, methods of dissimula-
tion, 10, 20, 83-84, 250-52, 311
Price, Mr. Ward, 60, 61, 66, 109
Raymond, M., 60
"Red Crescent," 301
Redifs, the, description, 15, 16, 80-82,
150
Reichspost (The), Lieut. Wagner's re-
ports, 244-49
Reinhardt, "Miracle," 102
Remzi, Colonel, defence of Rodosto,
234-35
Reshid Pasha, return from Ouchy, 6 .
the armistice, 309-313
Rhodes, 30
Road-building under the Pashas, 43^4
Roads, Turkish, 110-30, 222-23
Rodes, M., 60
Rodosto, 82, 99, 108, 162 ; the steamer
from, 183-88, 194-96; Mr. Lionel
James at, 197, 210, 233 ; capture of,
234-41
Rodosto-Muradli road, 234-37
Roman remains in Thrace, 41
Roosevelt Roughriders, 94
Roumania, 189 ; autonomy established,
39
Roumelia, Eastern, 39, 137
334
INDEX
Russell, William, 59
Russia, Turkish mistrust of, 14, 26-27,
103-4 ; note to the Balkans, 23, 26 ;
war of 1828, 34 ; war of 1863, 36-39 ;
war of 1877, 38 ; the war cor-
respondent, 103-4
Russo-Japanese War, 56, 71, 101
Sadler, Dr., 85
Sage, Mr. Le, 3
St. George, village of, 226, 256, 257,
262-64
St. Petersburg, scenes, 26-27
St. Sofia, Bulgariaand, 16-17, 37, 231, 288
Sakiskeuy village, Abdullah's position
at, 92, 152, 153, 154, 159, 365-70.
Mr. Ashmead-Bartlett at, 147-51,
195-96 ; the flight fiom, 171-81
Sali Pasha, cavalry of, 139, 141, 142,
146, 151, 159, 233
Salonica, 244
Samarkoff, 269
San Stefano, 33, 64, 111, 192, 254;
Treaty of, 38, 39 ; cholera camp, 284
Sarai, 210
SavoflF, General, 309
Scott, Sir W., quoted, 19
Scutari, 312
Seidler, 86, 96, 135
Seraskerat, the, 9-10
Serres, 77
Servia, peace efforts of the Powers, 8 ;
demobilisation demanded, 13 ; war
declared on 17th Oct., 28 ; rising in
1875, 38-39 ; army, strength of, 83 ;
at Muradli, 233 ; armistice signed,
311-12
Sevastopol, 37
Sheik-ul-Islam, 31, 37
Shefket Torgut Pasha, command of the
2nd Army Corps, 82, 91, 92, 144, 153 ;
attack by, 155-57, 164 ; at Sakiskeuy,
169-70
Silistria, 37
Silivri, village of, 116-18, 121, 122,
124, 189, 204, 309
Sinekli, 220, 221, 246
Sipahis, the, 31
Slavonic Society, 27
Slavs, "their hour for fighting," 149
Smyrna, troops from, 79, 82, 243, 283
Sofia, 40, 45-46, 67, 68
South African War, 46, 72, 101
Stamboul, military preparations, 10-11,
15-19, 57; description, 42, 56, 111,
192, 242, 285, 301 ; departure of the
Correspondents, 96 ; the refugees,
99, 125, 128, 137, 217, 229 ; return
of Mr. Ashmead-Bartlett, 195; the
hills of the dead, 226-27; cholera
arrangements, 261.
Stormberg, 85
Strandja, heights of, 245
Streater, Mr., assistance given to Mr.
Ashmead-Bartlett, 188-93, 233-40
Struma River, army of the, 77
Suleiman the Magnificent, 30
Sweet Waters, the, 301
Syria, annexation, 35
Takfa-Kalfakkui line, 247
Tartarli, 150
Tchaprachikoff, M., 309
Telad, story of, 134-35
Temps (Le), 60
Territorial Forces, the, 325
Thessaly, Army of, 77
Thrace, ruin in, 41, 326 ; Bulgarian
tactics in, 80 ; defence of, 322, 323
Times (The), war correspondent. See
James, Mr. Lionel ; article quoted,
26-27
Tokatlian's restaurant, 219, 310
Tokio, 71
Touraine, manoeuvres, 2
Trebizond, troops from, 79, 243, 283
Tripoli, the massacre in the Oasis, 4,
14
Turco-Italian war, 4, 21, 49, 103, 207
Turk Bey, vUlage of, 92, 144, 163
Turkey, reply to the collective Note by
the Powers, 27-28 ; declaration of
war, 28, 84 ; military history, 29-49 ;
revolution of 1848, 36 ; revolution of
1908, 46-49
Turkish Army — Army of Thrace, 11,
81-82, 86 ; reforms by Young Turk
party, 50-58 ; ■ plan of campaign, 77-
80, 87-89; strength of the forces,
80-81 ; organisation, 81-82 ; absence
of organised commissariat, 99, 162-
53, 179-81 ; defeat of the 1st Army
Corps, 133 ; absence of medical
service, 148, 152-63, 179-81, 220-21 ;
the 2nd Army Corps at Lule Burgas,
149-50, 162-70 ; lack of ammunition,
153, 154, 156, 157, 158, 179-81;
rout after Lule Burgas, 171-81 ;
bravery of the soldier, 178-79 ;
retreat to Chataldja, 203-28; the
new battalions, 229, 282-83, 314-15
Tursunkeuy, 304
INDEX
335
Ulemas, the, 31
Uskub, 44, 77, 244
Varna, bombardment, 83
Vasfi Bey, Major, code of regulations,
72, 185-86 ; and the correspondents,
103-7, 300, 306; and the Russian
correspondent, 104 ; takes the corres-
pondents to Cherkeskeuy, 210-11,
214-16 ; conference at the Pera
Palace Hotel, 243 ; interview with
Mr. Ashmead-Bartlett, 296-300
Vienna, 5-6
Viza, 144, 150, 155, 159 ; retreat on,
91, 92; outbreak of cholera, 230;
Turkish victory north of, 244
Vodena River, army of the, 77
VVagnek, Lieut., reports, 244-49
War Office, Constantinople, methods,
9-11, 20, 53-58, 69, 71-74, 83-84,
227, 311
Warships at Constantinople,
267, 271-72
Waterloo, 173
William, Emperor, 46
230-31,
Yasoren, 270, 282, 284
Yavir Pasha, command, 82, 91, 144,
270
Yemen, troops from the, 243
Yenikoei, 245
Young Turks, the movement, 6-10, 39 ;
and the Constitution, 36 ; and Abdul
Aziz, 38 ; revolution of 1908, 46-49 ;
contemplated reform of the army,
50-58, 207 ; Abdul Hamid and, 134 ;
280, 304-5
Zekki Pasha, 85
Zia Pasha at Chorlou, 134 ; at Lule
Burgas, 135 ; the armistice, 309
Zweiter, Major von, 60, 103
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