The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-02-27
THE BRITISH CLAD ID LEAVE DARDANELLES It Was Not a Pleasant Place
 to Fight .IS VASTLY DIFFERENT Cheerfulness Which Exists in France Was Impossible There-Fighting
 Turk in MesOpOtamia Who
 Admired the English
IS VASTLY DIFFERENT


 there's not man of the lot that re-
 gently departed from the terrible place
 who was not glad to get away. Here
 he might be, and all the rest of 1t,
 but he was overjoyed to leave. The fighting at Suvla was something more
 than mere trench warfare It had all
 the horrors and trials of that kind of thing and many others as we'll 1 Returning officers tell that the troops fought bravely and continuously, but under the most depressing cireum-
 stances. The food was not bad, but it
 was not good, and there was never too much of 1t. One officer tells most
 amusing story of three staff men sit- l ting about table in a dugout eating their dinner of bully beef and jam.
 And on the center of the table there rested tin of real strawberry jam.
 Not the runny kind, which one put on
 a piece of bread with spoon and
 hastily drained off into his mouth ere I it spilled upon the floor But the 1 thick kind, with the semblance, at l least, of strawberries, real strawber- l ries, interspersed here and there | through the sticky mass. One of the officers was a peer of the realm, an- other very famous polo player, an- l other knight. But, despite their high position, they all 1ealously eyed this real strawberry Jam, and each made l quiet and badly concealed haste with | his bully beef. One would ask a con- 1 troversial question to get the others | talking. and then hurriedly get on | with his beef in order to establish
 logical sequence, as quickly as possi- 1 ble, which would lead from beef to jam, which served as dessert, the sec | ond and only other course.
 NO SPORT THERE
 1 In France and Flanders the British Tommy is jolly chap. There is much singing and sports behind the lines football and boxing. But in the Dard- anelles there has been none Of this No chance for sports, little inclination for ng-songs, so serious has the sit
 nation always been Disease wrought. havoc and in November there were floods, Turkish dam breaking and flooding the trenches. A good many
 men were lost in this manner.
 One story which has been brought back indicates how thoroughly the British are playing the game accord ing to the rules. The officer who tells it came home on a transatlantic liner which is now used as a hospital ship
 The vessel was packed with wounded and sick and carried a large number of | nurses and doctors. In order to avoi6 the slightest justification for a charge | that the ship was armed or carried munitions of war, the wounded offf- cers had their reyolvers and even their swords taken away from them before they started. There were four officers who desired to come to England as quickly as possible, on urgent busi- pa fn refused, the ship being only for the sick and wounded. One of the major generals who had been In command i'll the Dardanelles brought with him as souvenirs certain Turkish ammunition types of shells and cartridges. This was found lying about somewhere on board the ship and the ship authori- ties without consulting anyone appar- ently chuclxed it overboard There was a great row from the general when he found it out, but to no purpose the stuff being at the bottom of the ocean and the ship authorities being we'll en- trenched behind orders that nothing whatsoever in the shape of munitions of war should be permitted aboard During the evacuation many officers lost their kits. One officer came back with only what he had on his back. A navy barge with the belongings of scores of officers was upset in the harbor and
  mates his personal loss at nearly $500, in- cluding good deal of actual money. FORTUNE AT SUVLA
 "A rag picker,'' said the officer. "would find a fortune at Suvla, but there isn't much left behind which will be of mili. tary value to the Turks. The place is | filtered with odds and ends of things | but it is junk mostly. The men all start 1 e6 from the trenches laden with equip ment. In the hurry some of it got to | the beach and some didn't. If a Tommy I found it inconvenient to carry all that was given him he would throw part of l it away He knew well that he would never be sent back to get it. The men were delighted to leave. They are all anxious to carry on the war, but they ! had grown to dislike Suvla, and with good reason, too.
 ! The officers tell good tales about the Turks as enemies. Only one criticism | have I heard since the war began. That | is from one of the Suvla officers. He 1 says that some months ago there was a 1 truce for the purpose of burying the | dead. It lasted four hours of one after noon. And during that time. the British ! discovered, Enver Pasha, the notorious | leader of the Turks, came down the pen | irsula and had a look over the field of
 action. It was breaking the truce, as neither side was supposed during it to | uO anyLnlQE LildI WOulG Sdlil military | advantage. However. the Turks as q whole are not blamed. The British army puts Enver down as one kind of Turk and the others as sportsmanlike fighters A CURIOUS FIGHTER | Tn this connection there is an interest | irg story from Mesopotamia which shows what curious fighter the Turk is. The | British forces were coming up the IL | gris when a small Turkish gunboat was | encountered. An engagement ensued l The Turk fought nobly but was finally | put out of action. Every man on board was killed or wounded except the cap l tain. His boat still had a little head l way and he beached 1t, steering to one | bank and up an adjacent canal. Then l this Turk, who was short and fat, sat on the rail of his ship, lit a cigarette ard waited for his British enemies to ap- proach. These quickly advancea
 1 The Turkish skipper could speak lit l tie English:
 T am brave man. he said. T fight very well.''
 "You did, indeed.s responded a British officer with sincerity.
 l "Yes,' puffed the Turk. 1T learn from 1 the English. I served on that English l ship station at Constantinople--" mean Il ing the station-ship which England always kept at the Turkish capital in times of | peace.
 Yes" he repeated. T fight we'll; I learn from English. I like English So | I fight till can fight no longer Then 1 I stop fighting, and take my ship one l side ont of channel SO my English