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[Page 8]
8. Fourteen days on the slightest pretext. Our Sergeant major got 21 days on bread and water because one of his men was found by the Commandant "having a rest." About the middle of 1918 a marked change came over the Turkish Army, and also the civil populace; whereas before they used to treat us with derision, they now were constantly telling us that the Germans were rotters and that we would win the War. From that time onward the Turkish soldier used to buy us a paper called the "Lloyd Ottoman", printed in French at Constantinople. By this paper we were able by reversing the news to get a pretty exact account of what was happening in France. About a month before the Armistice was signed with Turkey we saw several troop trains laden with German soldiers going in the direction of Berlin. About a week later we saw the same trains come back again as the line had been cut off on account of the Bulgarians breaking up. We knew then that our days of imprisonment were nearing a close, as by our knowledge of the country also the great scarcity of food we knew that Turkey could not hold out for very long without assistance from Germany.
A week later five English Aeroplanes flew over Constantinople and bombed the City. This seemed to hasten matters, and we read in the paper that Rami Pasha accompanied by General Townshend had gone to Smyrna to confer with the British Commander-in-Chief and arrange an armistice.
On the November 1918 the paper published the armistice terms that the Allies had given to Bulgaria. But said that the Turkish terms would not be nearly so severe as Turkey had always treated her prisoners kindly. Three days later we read that the armistice with Turkey had been concluded, and the following morning in spite of the protests of our Commander, we walked out of camp and caught the train for Constantinople. On arrival there we reported ourselves to the Dutch Minister and he commandeered a large hotel and put us in it to await the arrival of our fleet. Turkey never officially turned over any of the prisoners who were stationed in and around Constantinople. On arrival of the British Fleet the Sub-Marine Sailors reported them-