Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1918-12-29
ENGLISH YIELDED
only TO STARVATION
Major-General Townshend De-
scribes Treatment Received
! From the Turks.
|MANY HEROIC ENCOUNTERS
Spent Christmas Eve Driving
Point of Bayonet Into
Enemy.
BY MAIo::-GENERAL SIR CHARLES
'rOwSSIsI;SD


/ LONDON. rccembcr 2s.-The out,
standing feature OF the historic de-
iehse and fall OF kut lies in the gal
iAhtry and heroic endurance OF the
"i3th British Division. my little band
OF heroes who for five months hung
on, lighting magniiiccntly.
We had losses OF course. but the
ives of those men were not thrown
away We saved the whole Of Meso-
p n,oad behind US Tina, was why we
1900, 1000 FAST The siege lasted five
months. and actually was longer than
sisse OF Pievna and We We're con
uuercd not by the enemy. but by fam
1917. the Turks afetr "a desperate at.
lack got into kut My men went for
mem mem With the bayonet and after mos,
bitter lighting drove them out The
ehemy's losses were so enormous that
,ney never dared assault again. a
1:ttsrain o! concentrations from the
kins then buoyed up the spirit OF
me men wonderfully.
rate Of twenty to twen,y-four day
OF starvation alone. And IA, the .ud.
a. AZ the very end-wc were reduced
from handful OF Hour to nothing at
All You understand what | mean: We
nag nothing left to eat.
could not be relieved Ia the time
famine; Arthe last surrendered UNI
uei orders of my commander In Mcso-
potamia; The effort to get food 10 us
by airplane was gallant. but it was
"a failure. as we id not have a SUI
hc!ent number OF airpianes and they
were not as good then they are
fRUSTRATF; PLAN TO GET
FOOD INTO TIE: CITY
Another thing look upon as q
magnificent failure was the attempt
means of the river steamer Julnar.
But the Turks had stretched "A heavy
chain across the river below kut. and
mat caught IN her propeller and drew
her into the bans. That was the last
effort 1t was impossible TO cut my
cd BY Hoods-deep noodsGand on the
river side was closed in by water
800 yards broad. Also the men were
Taere are no miracles in the TWEEN
,ieih century; there are no miracles
IN war. and 10 Gu, ou: way out was
an utter impossibl!ty.
Perhaps the incident which i'm
pressed ME most Of all was after the
fan OF kut-ihe sight Of these s,arv-
The rurkish aominander-ia-chi
compared ku, TO the defense OF rlev-
na-the great historic defense Of In.
Turks-and that was why they trcr;cd
me SO honorabiy IN my captivity. Wncn
baynoctS was reduced 20 S.0UG The
number included re-cnforccments which
reached me after my retreat a; Ctesi-
phon.
the hardest Tough, battles that know
OF in history, owing TO the great su-
pcriority Of numbers OF the enemy and
their very strong defensive positions
had TO attack. and behind intrench-
me9ts the Turk is unsurpassed as a
You cannot compare them. lie STAYS
there and can't be moved Though in
The open. with the bayonet hc cannot
he compared with the British troops
Our lads Will beat him every time.
the Turkish commander chief
would not accept my sword. lie told
me that ] must wear IL always.
HELD CAPTIVE FOR TWO
YEARS IN CONSTANTINOPLE
was taken as quicily as possible
10 Ccnstantinople. where was re-
tivity the armistice between Britain
and Turkey was signed,
What eventually happened ! was try
ing TO bring about for three months
previously for there are many Turks
hostile to the Germans in cons;anti-
The Turks treated me most honor
ably, but ! was never allowed to go
j did not give my parole.
was greatly troubled because I
was never allowed to see an officer
or man VINO had served under my
command or under General Ailenby's
command in Syria
/ often wondered what the reason
was, anu theh my suspicious were
aroused. /; was not until the spring
of this year that discovered through
letter from Engit.nd the horrors of
the march OF the prisoners from Bag
dad to Asia Minor. Then | knew why
everything had been concealed from
me. ! did all could for my poor men.
Clothing. boots and food were sent TO
them by the Red Cross. / saw them
all packed myseif-bales Of things. But
the question is. did they ever reach
the prisoners? am afraid in many
cases they did not
Here should like to explain that
the Turks cannot understand our sym
pathy and interest in the private SOL
der. They treat their own soldiers
like dogs. That is also the reason whv
there were 100000 Turkish deserters
rowing about Asia Minor in the last
three months of the war as bands of
brigands.