HOW THE TURKS TOOK SMYRNA.
FIERCE FELLOW’S ON TINY PONIES. GREEKS 'WITH A GUILTY CONSCIENCE. (From C. Ward Price.) Smyrna, September 9. So far the most peaceable of triumphal entries; as harmless and uneventful as a parade of the Ancient Order of Oddfellows at home. Which name rose readily, indeed, to one’s mind at the sight of the Turkish irregulars—great- hairy fierce-looking fellows, mounted on ponies so small that the riders’ heels almost dragged in the dust, and armed with every kind of weapon from a javelin t.o a. shotgun. Despite Greek apprehensions, they have cut no Christian throats as .yet. It is true that their first night in Smyrna has yet to come. So far the most exciting incident of the day has been the departure of the fire-engine, escorted by British marines, to deal with a blaze in the upper town. Yet this morning Smyrna was distraught with fear. The Chettehs (Turkish irregulars) were in Burnabat, only five miles' out; they were killing, said the reports, burning, looting. They would soon be here. Women and children. camping among their heaped household property on the quay, prayed and wept and rocked themselves to and fro. The iron gates of the British Consul-ate-General were besieged by whimpering crowds of Greeks, who found at length safe side-entrance and swarmed in, duly to be ushered gently out of another gate by the marine guard. Commodore Doraville, Admiral Broch’s Chief of Staff, a dapper officer in white duck, adjured the crowd not to be silly. The streets of Smyrna were deserted and black with closed iron shutters, behind which cowefied the [inhabitants* Guilty conscience made double cowards of them all, for they remembered that when the Greek Army in 1919 landed here, their first operation was to murder some 30 defenceless Turkish officers and to throw a number of old Turkish men, too infirm to get away, into the sea. And then, towards noon, a howl of dismayed excitement came from the long crowded street that edges the shore. The head of the Turkish cavalry column was in sight. They came down the quay at a walk—husky, bony Turkish peasants in rough khaki with the crescent on their heavy fezzes. At their head rode a young officer in a grey peace-time uniform with a grey kalpak—a kind of military turban—on his head and a pair of field-glasses dangling on his chest. Some of his men carried red flags with the white crescent upon them. The sycophantic Greeks raised tremulous and propitiatory cheers; others ran out with glasses of water for the troops, A small steamer near the quay sounded its- siren in salute, and soon the place was ar oar with them as if the Kema lists had been a victorious army returning to its native town. The Turks took no notice; only some of their irregular allibs spat and muttered at the throng of Greeks. Then came their transport —even smaller ponies still, accompanied by their loose foals; here and there a string of camels. Nlo order or military pomp about it, but a tough hardship proof-looking army, and one which has just swept away a force twice its size at least, and has won back in a fortnight territory that it took the Greeks months to conquer. There is danger that to-night may see the scum of the native population start looting and murdering on its own account. Not that there is much need to loot. A. donkey could be bad from its embarking owner in honest purchase for a cup of coffee this morning, and I saw a- Greek soldier leap on board a lighter and make a- free present of his horse to three small boys. The fiercest fighting that has taken place, in Smyrna, to-day was between those three small boys to decide possession of the horse.
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Taranaki Daily News, 9 November 1922, Page 9
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639HOW THE TURKS TOOK SMYRNA. Taranaki Daily News, 9 November 1922, Page 9
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