File 705/1916 Pt 2 'Arab revolt: Arab reports; Sir M Sykes' reports' [‎124r] (245/450)

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masse, these were low class men who subsequently deserted. Jemal’s policy in regard
to the Hauran was to let sleeping dogs lie.
While Lieutenant Shurbaji was at Damascus a Moslem was hanged for robbing an
Armenian. ±his larce was enacted to impress the neutral consulates.
^ On returning to Aleppo Lieutenant Shurbaji rejoined his battalion and found
tjqihus and dysentery raging.
Henceforth the narrative gives the joint experiences of the two officers.
The battalion left Aleppo on the 3rd February and reached Ras-ul-Ain in twel\
hours, passing the great bridge over the Euphrates, which was well guarded. At
Has-ul-Ain some 12,000 Armenians were concentrated under the guardianship of some
hundreds of Kurds, drawn not from the local tribes, but from the urban riff-raff of
Mosul, Bit!is, and Diarbekir. These Kurds were called gendarmes, but were in reality
mere butchers; bands of them were publicly ordered to take parties of Armenians, of
both sexes, to various destinations, but had secret instructions to destroy the males,
children, and old women, and dispose of the young women among the villagers of the
Urfa plain. These Kurds always returned after absence of three or four days on such
expeditions. One of these gendarmes confessed to killing 100 Armenian men himself
on the various journeys he had taffien.
The Armenians were dying of typhus and dysentery, and the roads were littered
with their decomposing bodies. The empty desert cisterns and caves were also filled
with corpses. Both officers agree that this was the most appalling state of allairs, and
that, unless it had been a matter of ocular demonstration, it would be incredible. The
Turkish officers of the battalion were horrified at the sights they saw, and the regimental
chaplain,* on coming across a number of bodies, dismounted his horse and publicly
prayed that the Divine punishment of these crimes should be averted from Moslems,
and, by way of expiation, himself worked at digging graves for the dead bodies. When
marching from Bas-ul-Ain to Er-Badi the soldiers of the battalion often put up their
hands to avert the sight of the numerous bloated naked corpses of murdered women
who lay by the roadside. Two sayings were common among the common soldiers:
“ Bas-ul-Ain is a shambles” and “ No man can ever think of a woman’s body except as
a matter of horror, instead of attraction, after Bus-ul-Ain.” Bus-ul-Ain was used as a
place of concentration for Armenians, and 12,000 was the number usually there. The
average number of the incoming parties and outgoing parties (viz., those going to be
murdered) cannot be estimated accurately. /
From Pvas-ul-Ain the battalion proceeded after two hours halt to Mosul, through
the following halting places : Er-Badi, Tel-Ermen, Amudeh, Nisibin, Duker, Kir Bekil,
Demir Kapu, Oqlat El Kujer, Owevnat, LIuqina, Zelazeh, Humeydat, Mosul. Between
Nisibin and Duker the battalion had to take the precautions usually adopted in the
presence of an enemy, owing to the existence of a Kurdo-Arab-Armenian Committee in
the Tur Abdin, which raided this section of the line of communications at intervals.
Between Oqlat El Kujir and Humeydat similar precautions had to be taken against
th© Yezidis of Sinjar, who had chased away all Government officials in Sinjar, defied
any attempt to tackle them on their own ground, and had frequently waylaid isolated
bodies of troops.
On this journey the supplies were well maintained, the men getting a good daily
ration of Burgal mutton and occasionally bread, the biscuit issued was almost uneatable.
On arrival at Mosul, the battalion was reduced from the original 1,300 men to 1,000, 250
having fallen by sickness (typhus and dysentery) and 50 having deserted. Junior Captain
Shurdaji considers the sickness figures as above the average, but the desertion figures
as below, owing to the battalion being a good one with a popular commander. At
Mosul the officers visited two British aviators, who were housed in a filthy barrack and
very discontented; saw eleven British and Indian officers with whom they did not speak
—they were struck by the good fellowship subsisting between the British and Indian
officers. They also saw 125 Indian soldiers, who appeared doomed to die of sickness
and want, having no medicine or attention of any kind.
The popular discontent at Mosul was excessive, but lacked any signs of organisation
or leadership. After six days’ halt at Mosul the battalion embarked on rafts and
proceeded in eight days to Samarra, the transport going by road, ihe river journey
was without event, but precautions had to be taken each night. The transport was
harassed by Arabs between Hamam Ali, Gayara, and lekrit. At Samarra the railway
was working with 8 locomotives and about 100 trucks, all in good order, the train
journey from Samarra to Baghdad occupied about four hours. The battalion airiveu at
* A Moslem divine.