PRISONER OF THE TURKS.

Press, Volume LV, Issue 16437, 3 February 1919, Page 7

PRISONER OF THE TURKS.

TALE OF TERRIBLE SUFFERING. N.Z. SOLDIER'S STORY. A poignant story of Turkish brutality towards their British prisoners was told to a "Press" reporter by Private George Gunn, who returned to this city yesterday with the Wiltshire's draft, ho having been released after over three years' captivity in Turkey upon the signing of the armistice. Private Gunn, who carries the mark of Turkish cruelty upon his face is a brother of Mrs Hyland, 22 Burko street, Addington. He left New Zealand with the 4th Reinforcements attached to the Wellington Battalion. At tho Battle of Suvla Bav his talion was ordered to take" Hill 971. Ho with a number of comrades, after capturing an advanced trench,' were cut off by tho Turks and every man stood his ground and fell. A BLACK HOLE. Private Gunn was badly wounded and the first thing ho remembered upon partially recovering consciousness was a Turkish soldier trying to 6tamp his face in. When ho next opened his eyes it waa to find himself i"n a hospital in Constantinople, under tho charge of a German doctor and TurcoJewish nurses. The Germans have a lot of crimes to account for, but that German doctor was, according to Privato Gunn, an exception to his race, for ho proved himself a real good sort, and under his efficient handling and the careful attention of the nurses, who wero very solicitous and could speak English, having long been associated with British people, his wounds rapidly mended and he was able to leave the hospital fully recovered. Then began his term of misery. With several others he was thrown into a vile dungeon underneath the ground. Hero they wero herded together, so closely confined that there was not sufficient room for them to stretch themselves upon the floor. They were slowly starved, their only meal being a little wheat-meal. Sanitary conveniences there wero none, and sentries seized every opportunity of prodding at them with bayonets. Attempts were made by the prisoners to get into touch with the American Ambassador and finally* after a month's sojourn in this hell they were released, though not before several of them had died. The next month they wero given a certain amount of liberty, and had the pleasure of seeing the city become panic stricken over the raids of British aviators. ' The British could, in Private Gunn's opinion, have blown the whole placo to nieces but their object was tho Ministry of War buildings, which they failed to hit, though they went dangerously near to it on more than one occasion. Ono bomb intended for the War Office fell upon a bazaar and blew it to pieces along with 300 people.

A TERRIBLE TREK. n A few days later Private Gunn and | other New Zoaland prisoners were sent to Angora, in Asia Minor, and from !! there they were compelled to march one hundred miles in four days. The memory of that awful journey will never „ ho forgotten by those who participated " in it. With only a shirt and a pair * of pants for clothing, racked with fever, thoir feet absolutely raw, they were forced along by their guards, who need©d little inducement to club them on • the head and face with their rifle stocks. It was in this manner that 0 Private Gunn received the scars that are now on his face. Arrived at their destination, Private , Gunn and other prisoners had to be removed to a hospital, where a Turkish doctor was m charge. It was a terrible place, no 3 medicine was dispensed, the surgeon. " was negligent, and the women were " spiteful. [ NEW ZEALANDER FLOGGED. In the bed next to him lay Private 5 JefiE Arney, of the Auckland Battalion. | t Arney, ill as he was, was flogged almost r to death, and then died, Private .Gunn believing that ho was given something . to "finish him off." The flogging . aroused the ire of "Paddy!' O'Connor, . a Sydney man, who, though he had , lost ono leg rose in his bed, seized a | stool, and "outed" the two men who ' were flogging Arney. Several more men. Private Gunn bolieves, were de- ,, liberately done away with, and this suspicion induced him to get out of that hospital in record time and attempt to fijrht the fever without aid._ Periods of frightful suffering followed at various camps, and it was whilst engaged in tunnelling work at the Taurus mountains that Private Gpnn saw tho poor unfortunates of General Townshend's army arrive after their terrible trek from Kut. He endorses all the stories that havo been told concerning their sufferings, and states that several died in his own arms. . Without food, without clothing, emaciated, and fever ridden, they were a riiteous sight, and had it not been for the other prisoners giving them a portion of their scanty stores, many more of them would have succumbed. Hundreds died and wore buried in the soil in one mass only eighteen inches under the pround. "If I were to go there," said Private Gunn," it would be impossible for me to pick out any particular person." PRAYED FOR DEATH. Terrible months for Private Gunn and hie comrades followed. The Turks starved them, ill-treated them, and jeered at them. Very few of the parcels of food sent by the British ever reached the prisoners, men were jabbed at with bayonets, or clubbed with rifles, the Turks openly boasted that tho British were beaten, but the prisoners were always upheld, bv their, faith in British invincibility. Many a man died; only those with a stern resolve wero able to live. Many a night Private Gunn prayed for death, but with tho morning came the grim determination to stick it out. It waß simply this, he believes, which saved him. "I am the luckiest man alive to bo here after what I have gone through," he declared to the pressman. When Jerusalem fell the Turks became very spiteful, and the prisoners suffered severely because of the British victory. Towards the end the Turks attempted to cultivate their good-will, but the memory of their snfferingß was too keen to allow the piisonera to forget the frightful past. ARMENIAN MASSACRES. Sergeant Gunn and his comrades followed the trail of Armenian massacres. They would see women's hair sticking out of the ground, and limbs and other portions of human remains revealed everywhere. They one day entered a church which was dripping with blood. Private Gunn has returned to the Dominion with eight other New Zealand prisoners of the Turks. Ho is a stockily built man, strong both in physique and in will, and one in conversing with him could' easily imagine how he would come through where many another would die. Despite his experiences, he is looking surprisingly fit- and well, though his memory is somewhat affected, it being a mattor of difficulty for him to remember placos and dates. Ho is a man of but few ( words, and it was only with difficulty that the pressman could get him to speak.