BOOKS OF THE DAY

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 167, 10 April 1920, Page 11

BOOKS OF THE DAY

"Caught by the Turks." In "Caught, by the Turks" '(London: Edward Arnold), Captain Erancis YeatsBrown presents a thrilling account of the seiisat'onal experiences and dramatic adventures of himself and some .fellow officers in 'Mesopotamia; and, later on, as prisoners of war in Asia ■Minor A captain.in the Royal: Air Force, the author in November, 191,5. set out from A British aerodrome 011 the Tigris, on the exciting ond dangerous'work of cnttiiu! tho telegraph \vires behind the Turkisii positions. An inaccurate map, and thi> ! collision of Irs aeroplane with a telegraph post, led to his being captured by the enemy, of whose positively fiendi-h cruelty he gives a quite horrifying description. Specially brutal was the conduct Of one Turkish officer, named Abdul Ghazi Bey, who was in charge if certain Arabs susnected of favouring tile British cause. Captain Ypat»-Brown'. describes the eyes of this,worthy as light 11s; up. at the very prospect of committing acts, of cruelty. He insulted the old. the weak and .helpless, and positively revelled in the cries of the women pns-. oners, 1 ' .• ' : The author tolls "us how this onuo. who is'surely amongst those whose f*iir-' render for trial "and pun'shmeni' should be insisted linon by the Allies, beat the unfortunate Arabs in the face, and droye > hi." spurs across their eyes. Sixty per cent, of the ppsonei'!*. savs (bff author, died as the result' of this fiend's ill-treat-ment.- Tii certain quarters attenlpts have been,made to n'ctnre the Turk as a fair and honourable fighter, and to contrast liim favourably cwith the German. Cap . tain Yeats-Brown's detailed Mid ;dow.-' mented' tof Turkish., hm'tality t6 British prisoners should, materially discount onv of these nro-Turkish apolo gia. He tells how two hundred and more unfortunate English prisoners w<*re packed into a.smill cellar'where they dir'l ot the rate of four or.five a'week, of thflir being denied drinking -water, of their being overrun by vermin, and exposes generally the studied, unrelentingly vindictive cruelties.of the' gaolers. Eventually the author, with some of his fellow captives, was takeii to Constantinople. Thence ho made attempts' at escape, his descriptions of vrliii'h constitute one of, the most thrilling, narratives of personal adventure foV which the war has been responsible. .On the .first occasion, .he successfully.. impersonated, for a time, _ a Gei'maii governess, hut finding his disguise irksome, exchanged it for th? habit of an Austrian mechanic, and was tracked down and recaptured. A second attempt, which commenced with the «nl--iiig of the wall of the Seraskerftt Military Prison, was more successful, for wifcn his equally daring.companions, the author managed to make his way to friends, in Pera. the European 'quarter, and, there remained, undetected and in safety until the B<x)d news of the Turkish collapse was made known by the strains of "Rule. Britannia," plawl outside .tho Pera. Palace Hotel. The, dory of the author's adventures and sufferings Vis set forth with a detailed and vivid realism which makes- his narrative remarkably good reading.