Primary tabs
Transcription
[Page 51]
Note at top of page: Don't take notice of these numbers.
Account Of Attempted 1st Escape On 12th Aug.1916.
away 3 weeks.
On the 4th May 1916 a party of us were sent to work at a place called Hadjikiri about 12 miles from Belemedek.
[Note: see photos of Hadjikiri foot of page]
This place was at the mouth of the last tunnel through the Taurus Mountains. The conditions here were extremely bad both food and accommodation. After working on Sundry odd jobs for a month my friend and I were put with a gang unloading waggons of stone which came from the tunnel. After we had been on this job for some time we found out by conversation with Turks and Greeks that we were only about 45 miles from the coast. My friend Nichols [see photo in AE 2 Group] suggested that we might try and escape if we could gain a little information about the Country. So on every occasion we could get in conversation with a Turk or Greek we tried for the necessary information without throwing any suspicion on ourselves. Shortly after this we were shifted into another job forming a road. There was an English speaking Greek put with us as interpreter. My friend and I made it our business to become very friendly with this Greek, which we succeeded in doing. At last we told him we intended trying an escape and would he give us a map of the country and all the information he could. He did not like doing this for he said if he was found out he would be hung without trial. However when we assured him that we could be trusted he gave us the necessary information and a good map of that part of the country, amrking all water and military camps and his fathers farm outside Mersina where he said we could hide and get food if unable to get away immediately. After this we got as much food together as possible principally biscuits which our friends gave us from their parcels, oxo cubes et.c
Then we set to to steal the necessary tools which we thought we would need. After a week we managed to get a small saw an axe, nails rope, and string and several other odds and ends. By this time we had about 5 lbs of biscuits and 10 lbs of bread, so we thought that this would last us about 2 weeks with economy. It was just about full moon so we decided to wait till two nights after full moon so that it would be dark when leaving the camp. The hut we were living in was on the side of a hill surrounded by low bushes. There was a Turkish sentry posted on each side, so we decided for two or three of our friends to keep the sentry engaged in conversation while we got clear of the camp. We decided to make a move on the night of the 12th August, 1916. The day before we bought a chicken so we made a good stew and a few hours before we were ready to leave my friend received a parcel with a fine cake (in good condition) and several other little odds and ends. So we made an excellent meal of stewed chicken and afterwards finished off the 2 lb cake. We thought it might be our last good meal for a long time. After we finished our meal we went and said good bye to our friends who were in the know. They wishes us all sorts of good luck and then we got our packs on and while the old sentry was kept occupied we moved off at 8 p.m. We got away clear and had to go very cautiously as we