ENEMIES. BUT SPORTSMEN

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2687, 5 February 1916, Page 14

ENEMIES. BUT SPORTSMEN

TUKKS ACT LIKE GENTLEMEN.' Tlio United Press (U.S.A.), recently pub. lished the loUowing article, written by its special correspondent in the Near' East,, Mr. William G. Shepherd:— The Tuiks fight like gentlemen,. This is the testimony of every English officer and soldier who knows anything about tlio. Dardanelles and Gallipoli lighting.'' The British camp ■at Salonika contains large numbers of men who have been figluiug at one time or another against tlio Turks in the present war, and I have talked with many of them. Sitting in the tent of an Irish regiment, I heard Irish officers praise the Turks. "The Turks are devilish fighters, but always gentlemen," said one 1 Irish captain. "The Germans never grant a truce to bury the dead or pick up tho wounded, but tho Turks never refused our offer of a truce. Fighting with the Turks always moans hard but honourable and civilised fighting." "One day," spoke up another officer, "We unwittingly, placed one of our batteries too near to a hospital. It happened because of some mistake in orders. The Turks were the first to notice it, and they signalled to us with a heliograph: 'We'll be forced to fire very close to, your hospital if you don't move your, battery from the neighbourhood.' Of course,' continued the officer, 'wa said that a mistake liad been made, and wo signalled back that we would move the battery, which we did." "I saw them dp an interesting thing one day," said a third officer. "During a truco to bury tho dead the Turks flashed us a heliograph message in Fronch. It read: 'Honour to all soldiers, confusion to all politicians."- Another time a Turkish rifle bullet hit one of our Royal Medical Corps officers in the leg, and he fell in sight of both the Turkish and British trenches. Tho Turks immemiately gave us a chance to go out and get him, and then thoy sent us a heliograph message .apologising for the fact that one of their men had stupidly mistaken the medical man for a regular soldier." ... ' . „ "Thoy apologised. to our company, too, spo.ko up ; another officer. "One of their shells struck a motor ambulance, and when the Turks saw what they had done they flashed their regrets to us, and said it had all- been a mistake and they were very sorry."