MATH SHIPS

Hokitika Guardian, 18 January 1921, Page 2

MATH SHIPS

120,000 RUSSIANS CRY FOR BREAD

CONSTANTINOPLE, Nov 20

Crowed in the holds and swarming on the decks of 70 ships moored in the Sea of Marmora, close to the Bosphorus, 120,OH) refugees from the Crimea are crying out tor broad and water. Each ship is carrying about twice as many people as it should. Men and women daily go mad and many have committed suicide by jumping overboard. ' A British relief organisation started supplying food to the fleet yesterday, but its resources are hopelessly unequal to tho task. Six huge camps are being prepared hastily in the neighbour hood of the city.

In the midst of this -floating misery General Wrangel, driven by the Bolsheviks out of South Russia, is living on board the cargo steamer Korniloff. There I found him to-day. “I have 30,000 of the best fighting troops” ho Said, “and I want to keep them intact to form the nucleus of an army to resist the Bolsheviks whereever it may be necessary. The political blindness of tho Allies is responsible for my defeat. “Wo have preserved all our rifles and machine guns and blew up armoured cars and tanks. Our munition dumps were too near Sebastopol to be exploded.

‘We were overwhelmed by the superior numbers of the Bolsheviks, hut they wore badly organised and ought to have done more damage to us. We evacuated without hindrance. “Tho enemy arrived at Kertch as the last of our vessels was steaming out. We wore obliged to leave 5,000 wounded soldiers behind in hospital. “Provisionally f am sending my infantry to Gallipoli and my Cossacks to the'island of Lemnos.”