Norwich bulletin. [volume] (Norwich, Conn.) 1895-2011, 1915-12-25
Stories of the War
Camp of Mediterranean Exposition

Camp of Mediterranean Expedition
airy Force.
The camp of the British Mediter-
ranean EXpeditionary Force lies to the
west of Saioniki-or Thesaloniki as
the Greeks have it-among the rolling
foothills of Mount Kortchou. AL
though a very considerable force has
already left for Dorian, on the Serbo-
Bulgarian frontier, there are still
some 1000 men gathered in the camp.
The first lot of British troops land
ed in Greece were Irish, as the COM
handing officer, General Sir Bryan
Mahan, is Irish. They were what was
left of the Irish division sent out to
Gallipol, whence they came on to
SalOniki. But, as the General told
as Irish as they We're" Not" he
added, that they are any less Irish
only there are fewer of them" For
| a great many were killed, wounded
and taken prisoner in Gallipoli, and
have been replaced by what material
was at hand.
Whatever they are. they are beyond
any doubt content to leave Gallipoli.
| The climate of Saloniki is nothing to
! boast Of at this season. 1t rains ev-
| cry day. The rough, badly paved
| streets are muddy and full of chuck
| holes. The roads-such as they are
are knee-deep in mud. Flour is scarce
/ and the food is bad and dear. The
| price of everything has gone up three
| times since the arrival Of the foreign
troops. A British sovereign. for the
| first time in its life in a bankrupt
country like Greece, is worth less thar
| its face value in local money. While
| French is fairly current as a language
| English is not spoken at all. Yet
| despite all OF these material draw
| backs. the British Tommy in his camT
| outside Saloniki is so delighted e
escape the heat, the flies. the unslatet
thirst and the stenches of Gallipol
that he finds Macedonia a sort of par.
adise by comparison.
The road from the harbor to hi.
camp lies through the old Turkish
quarter of the town, at q steep angl,
up narrow, winding streets. From al
most every house hangs a projecting
second story in which the latticet
windows of the haremlike do not al
ways conceal the eager, curious, un
yelled faces of Turkish womeI
watching the passage to and fro o
so many strange soldiers. Shops opeI
their whole fronts direct onto thu
} street. The shoemaker or tinsmitl
sits, cross-legged at his work in wha
would be the show-window. TIL,
camp bound British Tommy. like ev
| eryone else, is forced to bargain 70
his purchases from the sidewalk
proceeding which does not improv
the already badly jumbled traffic ar
engagements. At the bakeries there 4
always a mob Of clamoring humanity
struggling for the chance to buy tn
round. fiat loaves Of blackbread, mad
with fourth grade fiour-the only fiou
available-of which there is neve
enough to supply the current dali
needs Of the inhabitants Of Salonik
the refugees and the Greek army. TIL
foreigners bring their own food wit
them, if they did not they would ru
! serious risks OF starvation.
a nrnGErnnh N
Tommy loses himself in a dense crow
J. of Greek soldiers, so slight in com
parison with the stocky, deep-cheste
y French, so diminutive in compariso
y with the tall. wiry British tn
r Greeks seem to be gathered jus
n where the foreign soldiers must pas
J. in going to and from camp. Wheth
/ er the purpose be to give the Greek
e an object lesson in soldiery bearin
? | or to impress the Allies with the mum
r Der of Greeks is not clear. Greek al
{ | my pack mules choke the way 9
| every turn. The streets are scarcel
:, passible. The noise, the confusion, III
= mixture of half n dozen strangers-a
o of this in contrast to the Gallipol
:. enchants the British Tommy. He
e as one intoxicated with a revelatio
T that there is still normal life in IL
o world.
e Finally the way to the camp leave
the town, between the high walls
e twin burial grounds-one JEWS
the other Greek. A little further c
is the old Turkish cemetery. But Il
: Turks are no longer masters OF Ma
| edonia. The headstones OF the
graves are scattered and broken; Il
| graves themselves no longer marke
The cemetery has become the corr
of hundreds of Greek army mules-ti
dusty. unwatered expresses shade ii
mule drivers rather than the toni
of the Mussulman dead. their faces L
wards the East. Close by. long 81
ries of barracks built Of brick she
tiers tens of thousands of refuge
from Macedonia and Thrace and fro
Serbia, the derelicts of war.
The road in the open country b
comes an incredible succession
mud holes along which swing column
broad shouldered. bluc-clad lFNrencl
men making their way to their ov
camp lying to the south Of the Bri
ish compound. Trains of supp
wagons, officers automobiles, mot
I trucks, or Tories" as the Engli
call them, force Tommies and ''poilu
alike into the soggy fields. Two hu
tractors draw each gray-paint
French 4-inch long-range gun,