File 705/1916 Pt 2 'Arab revolt: Arab reports; Sir M Sykes' reports' [‎123r] (243/450)

stage of fourteen hours to Bozanti. Here we rested two days. Then we proceeded in
three^ days to Eregli, ^ where we had eight days training. From Eregli we were
entrained to Tuzla Keui, where we were quarantined for two days. Then we marched
t wo days to Iskidan. At Tuzla Keui we heard that a British submarine had entered
^the Bosphorus. From Iskidan we crossed the Bosphorus by steamer at night to Serkeji.
Ail lights were put out tor fear of British submarines. From Serkeji we marched in
three days to St. Stefano, where we arrived on Bairam day. I asked leave to go to
Constantinople, but was refused. [ went just the same and spent eight days in
Constantinople. I rejoined my battalion at Burgas Keui, and was not punished, having
brought with me letters of recommendation from my uncle who is on the General Staff.
Alter four days at Burgas Keui the battalion was ordered to Makri Keui, two days
march. From there we were entrained to Kulali Burgas and marched to Uzun Kupri,
Kapcham, aud Suleimanie (Zaros), where we arrived at night. We received strict
orders not to smoke or make the slightest noise in order not to attract the attention
of the British warships cruising in the Gulf of Zaros. At Suleimanie I had a quarrel
with the commander of my battalion and was transferred to the fourth battalion of the
same division. There I met my companion, Lieutenant Shukri Shurbaji.
Lieutenant Shaykha’s Account of Dardanelles Operations.
Lieutenant Shaykha was at Dardanelles from the 2nd September to the
13th October with 2nd Battalion 7oth Begiment, 25th Division, acting as reserve for
17th Corps; and Bak Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. , a German. He was on the coast between Bulair and
Kala’a Alti. On the 15th September he went to Gallipoli for eight days. He
described the effect of the indirect fire of the monitors as very destructive ; the fire
of our land artillery as ineffective. At the above-mentioned date the Turks had
practically abandoned all hope ; the troops were despondent, over their heavy losses,
and also the officers. There was little sickness, and the food supply w T as good. The f
Turks never looked up until Bulgaria came in. He was told that on the 18th July the
4th and 15th Divisions were practically destroyed. The Turks were very rnudh afraid
of a weapon called the Kar Torpil (land torpedo).
Both Lieutenant Shaykha and Lieutenant Shurbaji are certain our prisoners were
not murdered. The English were notorious for their bitter resistance. The Turks
had no regard for the British except as Giaurs. There was a consistent campaign
afoot to work up hatred against the British, on the score of bombardment of hospitals,
white flag treachery, and use of hospitals as shelters for batteries.
The normal force on and about the Peninsula was 250,000.
Mr. Ashmead Bartlett’s articles in the Daily Telegraph ” used to be translated and
read to the troops. They had a great effect in giving them hope and courage.
Junior Captain Shurbaji says that the conduct of the British in failing to attack the
small forces at Suvla Bay which opposed their landing was always a mystery to the
Turks, who looked upon the day as lost. The troops which ultimately came up from
Are Burnu, one division, were in a deplorable state, and half of them collapsed from
heat and fatigue e7i route.
General opinion in the Turkish army was that the English got off the Gallipoli
Peninsula without loss because the Turks never imagined that they would go.
The following is the Narrative of the Two Arab Officers, Junior Captain
Shurbaji and Lieutenant Shaykha, from the Time they left Zaros with
their Begiment on the 1st October, 1915 : —
They proceeded to Uzun Kupri and thence to Derakoi, where they were stationed
for fifty days ; the country around was very desolate, only old men, women, and children
remaining; here they saw no fighting at all, but were much harassed by the British
aviators, who inflicted constant casualties on the troops at Derakoi and in the vicinity’,
the 1st October, 1915, to 10th November, 1915. From Derakoi they proceeded to
Constantinople. At Constantinople the city was empty and depressed, the quiet gossip
was about the systematic drownings and murders of Armenians by night, and the
executions of Armenian leaders and notables by day. The city was beyond any hope
of revolution, the hold of the committee being absolutely complete over every section
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