Papers concerning the Treatment of British Prisoners of War at Kut [‎29v] (58/62)

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ol the town. Large numbers of water-bottles were taken away from our
men, and this was the worst thing they could do to our men, when one
considers that the river was the only water supply, and to be away from it
without a water bottle would cause death from thirst in a very short time.
that evening, Major Harvey, the Adjutant of the Field Gunner Brigade
placed a guard ot our own men, who were of course unarmed, round our
camp, and instructed them that if Turkish soldiers entered the camp they
were to make a noise and wake everyone up. This was the only means
we had of protecting our kit, as the Turks supplied no guard of any sort or
description.
'Hie 30th Infantry Brigade embarked at 4 p.m. on the 29th on the steam-
boat Baghdad and two barges lor the concentration camp at Shamran
about eight miles up the river from Kut. At 11.30 p.m. the 10th Brigade!
Loyal field Artillery, was ordered to embark on the steamboat Busra
and two barges. Me felt Kut at 1 a.m. on the morning of 30th April and
arrived at Shamran at O.30 a.m. the same day. We found the concentration
camp noth mo more than a large flat piece of ground, ringed in by Turkish
sentries. >>o arrangements had been made for us, sanitary or otherwise and
oigamzation commanders had to lay out the camp and take the necessary
sanitary precautions.
Some officers had tents, but the men had no protection at all and had to
lie round in the sun and rain during the whole time they were at the camp
The 1 : emalD t de " 0 ‘h, Dlv T n f me up the same da y by boat, with the
exception of the lith Brigade, who marched. It took them eight, hours to
do the six miles. &
1 LT0 f 1 ? t i° nS ksue f > h^ Arab soldiers brought round
bags of dates and loa\es of black bread, which they either sold to the men
or exchanged for clothes and boots. Some Turks had tins of beef and
mutton and milk, which had evidently come from the Julna I o ave X^ s m
ior 1 lb tin of compressed beef, and was glad to get it. The Turks were
quite willing to accept the silver rupee, but would not take Indian notes.
1 hey were also willing to give Rs. 20 for an English sovereio-n. L, ndditinn
to the bread the l urks also sold their own ration biscuits to our men This
biscuit is made of very coarse barley flour with the husks mixed in with it
and is so hard that it can only be broken with a hammer or stone.
Several men ate these biscuits dry and they were in a great measure the
cause of the large number of deaths from gastro-enteritis and dysentery that
the Division suffered at Shamran after the surrender. In one week* after
the surrender there were nearly dOO deaths. J
Our Royal Army Medical Corps doctors'had to do all of the work for the
sick the best u ay they could with the medicines they had husbanded during
‘ri? s>ege, many of which were taken by the Turks when they entered Kut.
I he lurkish doctors gave us no help whatsoever.
On the afternoon of the 2nd May our men were issued a ration of rice
and dates and had to go out and gather little bushes to cook the rice with as
no firewood was issued The Turks brought this rice and dates to mir
Supply and Transport officers to issue to us.
On the evening of the 3rd May another ration of rice and dates was issued
and also a, small quantity of firewood, but not sufficient to cook the rice with.
On the 4th it became evident that the Turks conld not feed us and a boat
load of supplies was sent up from General Gorringe’s force below Essin
This was issued on the evening of 15th May. i " fasm *
At no time, either then or later, did the 'l urks issue meat to the Division
and this privation was terrible as we bad just come straight from a meat-diei
mKut. It seemed extraordinary too that onr own people should have to
feed us aftei we had been taken prisoners of war. But the Turkish Com
missary Department was in a deplorable condition. We heard later that
their own troops at Essm and Falayihiyeh had been on half rations for a
consideiable time. 1 here was not nearly so much looting done here as at
Eut, and 1 urkish officers were more courteous to British officers, prisoners
or w ar.
rp 9 n 1 to ^ le consternation of everyone in the Division the
Turkish authorities announced that the officers would be taken from the men
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