IN THE HANDS OF THE TURKS

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 136, 4 March 1919, Page 7

IN THE HANDS OF THE TURKS

NEW ZEALAND WAR PRISONER RETURNS

THREE YEARS OF HORROR

A poignant story'of Turkish brutality towards their British prisoners was told .to n Press reporter the other day by Private George Gunn, who returned to Christchurch with the Wiltshire's draft, he 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 Burke Street, Addinglon. He left New Zealand with the Fourth Reinforcements, attached to the Wellington Battalion. At the battb of Suvk Bay his battalion was ordered to take Hill 971.' Ha and a number of comrados, after capturing ah advanced trench, were cut oft by the Turks, and every man stood bis ground and fell.

Private Gunn .was badly wounded; and (die first thing he remembered upon partially recovering consciousness was a Turkish soldier trying to stamp his face in. When he next opened his eyes it was to find himself in hospital in Constantinople, under the charge of a German doctor and Turco-Jewieh nurses. The Germans have a lot of crimes to account for, but that German doctor was, according to Private Gunn, an exception to his race, for he proved himself a real good sort, and under his efficient handling and the careful attention of the nurses, who were very solicitous and could speag 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 lie was thrown into a vile dungeon underneath the ground. Hero thev were 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 wheatmeal. Sanitary conveniences there were cone, and sentries seized overy 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.were given, a certain amount of liberty, ana had the pleasure of seeing the city become panicstricken over the raids of British aviators. The British could, in Private Gunn's opinion, have blown the whole place to pieces, but their object was the Ministry of War buildings, which they failed to hit, though they went dangerously near to it on tore than one occasion. One bomb intended for the War Office fell upon a bazaar and blew it to pieces along with 300 people. A Terrible Trek.

A few days later Private Gunn and other New Zealand .prisoners were sent to Angora* in Asia Minor, and from there they were compolled to march'loo miles in four days; The memory of that awful journey will never be forgotten by those who participated in it. With only a shirt and a pair of pants for clothing, racked with lever, thoir feet absolutely raw, they were forced along by their guards, who needed little inducement to club them on the head and face with their rifle stocks. It was in this manner that Private Gunn received the scars that aro 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 in charge. It was a terrible place, no medicine was dispensed, the surgeon was negligent, and the women were spiteful. In the bed next to bim lay Private Jeff Arney, of the Auckland Battalion. Arney, ill as he was ; was flogged almost to death, and then died. Private Gunn believing that he was given something to "finish him off." The flogging aroused the ire of "Paddy" O'Connor, a Sydney man, who, though he had lest-one leg,-rose in his bed, seized a stool, and "outed" the two men who were flogging Arney. Several more men, Private Gunn believes, were deliberately done away with, and this suspicion induced him to get out of that hospital in record time and attempt to fight 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 Gunn sf.w the poor unfortunates of General Towushend's army arrive after their terrible trek from Kut. He endorses all the stores that have 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 piteous 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 were buried in the soil in one mass only 18 inches under the ground. "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 his 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 the bayonets, or clubbed with rifles, the Turks openly boasting that the British were beaten, but the prisoners were always upheld /by their faith in British invincibility. Many a man died; only those with stern resolve were able to live. Many a uight Private Gunn prayed for • death; but with the morning came the grim determination to stick it out. It was simply this, he believes, which saved him. "I am the luckiest man, alive to be 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 sufferings was too keen to allow the prisoners to forget the, frightful: past.

Sergeant Gunn and his comrades followed the trail of the 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. He is a stock-ilv-bnilt man, stroug 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 19 somowhat affected, it being a. matter of difficulty for him to remember places and dates. ' He is a man of but few words, and it was only with difficulty that the pressman could get hiiu to speak.