Chapter 1

TURKISH PRISONERS IN EGYPT

A Report By The Delegates Of The International Committee Of The Red Cross

_Extracted and translated from the Official Reports of the Red Cross Society_

_(Documents publiés à l'occasion de la Guerre Européenne, 1914-1917)_

Published in 1917

_A Report on a visit made in December, 1916, and January, 1917, to the Camps for Turkish Prisoners of War in Egypt, by the Delegates of the International Committee of the Red Cross._

Turkish Prisoners in Egypt

~INTRODUCTION~

Being deputed by the Red Cross International Committee to visit Turkish prisoners of war in Egypt, we presented ourselves on December 3, 1916, to the officer for Naval Transport in the British office at Marseilles. By order of the War Office he obtained berths for us on the liner _Morea_, of the P. and O. Line. We embarked at Marseilles on December 19, 1916, and after an uneventful journey reached Port Said on December 27.

At Cairo General Murray, Commander-in-Chief of the British forces in Egypt, was good enough to put us in touch with Brig.-General II. G. Casson, C.M.G., Director-in-Chief of the Prisoners of War Department. With the help of Colonel Simpson we drew up a programme of visits. A motor-car was placed at our disposal, and permission given us to take photographs in the camps, distribute gifts among the prisoners, and talk freely with them.

We have to express our warmest thanks to General Murray and to the officers who allowed us to make our enquiries everywhere, without restriction. We should also like to offer our deepest gratitude to Sir Reginald Wingate, British High Commissioner in Egypt, for the kindly care accorded us throughout our stay.

~1. Heliopolis Camp.~

_(Visited on January 2, 1917.)_

This camp is laid out quite close to the new city of hotels and villas founded in 1905 under the name of The Oasis of Heliopolis. The camp site is 134 feet above the level of Cairo.

_Strength._--3,906 Turkish non-commissioned officers and men.

3 Turkish soldiers of the Sanitary Corps.

2 Armenian doctors (officers in the Turkish Army).

The camp is arranged to hold a total population of 15,000 men. A barbed-wire fencing separates it from adjoining property.

_Accommodation._--The barracks for the prisoners are arranged in groups, in parallel lines separated by passages 65 feet wide. These barracks, built under the supervision of the Egyptian Engineering Department, are of uniform construction, and about 42 feet long by 30 feet wide. They are solid frames of wood with the spaces between filled in with reeds arranged vertically and held in place by crossbars. The roof is of reed thatch edged with tarred felt. Thanks to the design, the ventilation is perfect. The sandy soil shows hardly a sign of dampness. The passage between the rows of beds is made of hard-beaten earth which is very dry and easily kept clean. All along this corridor, as in all the camp roads, buckets full of water are arranged in readiness to meet an outbreak of fire. The water in these buckets is not meant for drinking, and therefore contains a little cresol to prevent prisoners drinking it. The danger of fire is further reduced to a minimum by the fact that the men smoke only out of doors and that the mildness of the climate does away with the use of stoves. Each barrack accommodates 50 men.

_Bedding._--Each prisoner lies on a mat of plaited rush, and has four blankets. Every morning the mats are brushed and rolled up and the blankets folded, so that during the day there is a large clear space inside the building. The detention cells have the same sleeping accommodation.

_Exercise._--The space left between the barracks of the separate sections is amply sufficient for exercise, which is quite unrestricted during the regulation hours.

_Food._--Provisions are purchased by the commissariat and brought every morning into a special barrack, whence each section draws its daily rations. Bread comes from the Cairo bakeries. It is of good quality and agreeable to the taste. The kitchens are in the open and heated by wood fires. They are staffed by a detachment of prisoners under a head cook. At meal times each section sends men to draw the rations for each room in large metal bowls. Every man has his own spoon, bowl and drinking cup, all of metal. The hours of meals are ordinarily as follows:

5 a.m.; 11 a.m.; and 4 p.m.

The last meal is the principal one of the day.

We have examined the various food materials given the prisoners and found them to be of excellent quality.

The menu of the Turkish prisoners of war now interned in Heliopolis Camp consists of bread, meat, vegetables, rice, butter, pepper, salt, onions, tea (7-1/2 grammes), sugar (42 grammes), cheese and jam or olives.

Each prisoner receives 42-1/2 grammes of cigarettes and two boxes of matches every week; two lbs. of firewood per day; and soap.

It interested us to make a note of the expenses involved by the support of each Turkish prisoner, according to figures supplied by the English authorities.

The calculation is based on a period of six months (in winter).

£ s. d. Clothing and linen 3 0 0 Periodical renovation of winter clothes 0 6 6 Renovation of linen, footwear, and towels (twice) 1 10 0 Food at actual contract prices 5 0 0 Tobacco 0 12 6 Wood (average price) 0 7 6 Lighting (as for Maadi Camp) 0 2 0 Water filtration (Maadi) 0 0 6 ------------- Total £10 19 0 =============

Depreciation of buildings, fittings, blankets and other things provided is not included in these figures.

_Canteen._--The regulation food of the prisoners being ample, the canteen plays a very minor part in the feeding arrangements. It sells tea, coffee, and light refreshments. A cup of sweetened tea costs 5 paras, or about one-third of a penny. The canteen also deals in letter paper, post-cards, thread, needles, buttons and other small odds and ends.

The men receive 2 ounces of tobacco free every week. They never get alcohol.

_Clothing._--Each prisoner is supplied with two complete sets of underwear: shirts, drawers, and socks. The uniform consists of trousers and coat of dark blue cloth. The brass buttons give it a military appearance.

All the men wear the red fez. They are allowed to wear their decorations. That they are prisoners is shown only by their having on them a white metal plate about 1-1/2 inches in diameter, bearing a registration number and the two letters P.W. (Prisoner of War). In our opinion this kind of medallion is a more judicious form of indication than the bands, armlets or large letters used elsewhere. In summer the cloth uniforms are replaced by linen uniforms of the same cut and colour.

All men wear indoors leather slippers of the Eastern kind. Shoes are used only by prisoners engaged on gardening, and by non-commissioned officers.

Linen, clothes and footwear are renewed on fixed dates or according to need.

_Hygiene._--Everything that has to do with hygiene and the sanitation of the camp is the province of Lieut.-Colonel E.G. Garner, Medical Office Inspector of Prisoner-of-War Camps in Egypt.

Water is supplied from the Heliopolis town mains, is of good quality, and is provided in sufficient quantities.

For toilet purposes the prisoners have the use twice a day of shower baths and water taps. The floor of the lavatories is sloping cement, and the water drains away through a gulley between the two rows of baths. Prisoners can get hot water from the kitchen when they need it. Soap is supplied _ad libitum_.

For washing their clothes the prisoners have some very convenient arrangements. Once a week each prisoner's blankets and clothes are passed through the disinfecting chamber and thoroughly sterilised. Thanks to this precaution, there is not a trace of vermin to be found in the camp.

Ten Turkish barbers are occupied in cutting the hair of prisoners and shaving them in a well-managed barber's shop.

The latrines are clean and numerous enough. Some of them are on the English system; the rest on the Turkish. They are disinfected daily with carbolineum. All discharge into the sewers.

_Medical attention._--The camp medical service is staffed by Colonel E.G. Garner and two Armenian doctors (Arsen Khoren and Léon Samuel). Four English hospital orderlies are assisted by three Turkish orderlies. An English dentist visits the camp at the doctor's request.

At the infirmary, which is clean and well looked after, all prisoners not seriously ill are accommodated with beds having mattresses and steel springs. The consulting room is well supplied with medicines. Serious cases are sent to the hospitals set apart for prisoners of war.

From 20 to 30 men come to the infirmary daily for medical attention. All the cases are entered in a register, which we have examined; after each name is the complaint and the treatment prescribed.

At the time of our visit there were six lying-down cases in the infirmary; two with tuberculosis in the first stage (prisoners captured recently at El Arish); one with diarrhoea; one with conjunctivitis; one with malaria; and one with a wounded leg.

Of the prisoners in camp 3 per cent. have been attacked by malaria--old cases from the marshy districts of Turkey, such as Angora Yosgath, for instance. Nine per cent. have been attacked by chronic bacillar dysentery; these are treated periodically with anti-dysenteric serum. Some cases of amibian dysentery are being treated with calomel, salol, and emetine. Twenty per cent. were affected by ophthalmia due to their stay in the desert before being captured. These were treated with sulphate of zinc and protargol.

Four prisoners are suffering from trachoma of old standing. Recent cases are ordinary ailments, bronchitis and simple diarrhoea.

As a general rule the camp prisoners look well, have a good colour and are well nourished.

The prisoners were inoculated in Turkey against typhoid fever and smallpox. All who no longer showed traces of vaccination were vaccinated immediately after being captured. They were also inoculated against cholera.

There is no typhoid fever in the camp, nor exanthematic typhus, nor any other infectious disease.

_Work._--The prisoners have no regular work to do. No prisoner is employed in workshops outside the camp. Even inside, except for ordinary camp fatigue duties, and some light gardening, no labour is exacted. During our inspection we saw the digging for a water supply through the camp being done by Arab workmen, not by prisoners.

In any case, corporals and sergeants are not allowed to work.

_Religion and Recreation._--The prisoners are quite free to follow their own religious practices, which are performed thrice a day ordinarily, and six or seven times daily during Ramadan. Music and singing are permitted; prisoners have manufactured several guitars and violins.

_Correspondence._--Most of the prisoners brought money with them; some have received sums of money from their families through the Turkish Red Cross and the International Committee of the Red Cross. They receive the amount in weekly instalments of 30 piastres (about 6 shillings) per month. Each person has a separate current account with the camp accountant.

Letters take from three weeks to three months to get from the sender to the prisoner to whom they are addressed. Some of them are sent through the American Consul at Cairo. Very few of the prisoners can write, but these may do so as often and for as long as they wish. There is no system of delaying correspondence after delivery or before despatch.

_Prisoners' Aid._--There is no relief committee in the camp; so far, no general relief funds have been sent. Sergeant-Major Hussein Hissan, a native of Constantinople, told us that, although there were many poor prisoners in the camp, there was no need to send help, as all prisoners are well fed, well clothed and supplied with tobacco.

_Prisoners' Behaviour._--What strikes one more than anything else on entering the camp is the prevailing orderliness and cleanliness. A Turkish sergeant-major commands each group of huts, and a Turkish sergeant is responsible for each dormitory. The prisoners are smart, give the military salute and come to attention at the orders of the non-commissioned officers when those in command pass through the camp.

Sergeant-Major Hassar Mohammed, from Angora, and Hamid Abdallah, from Koniah (Asia Minor), told us, on behalf of their fellow prisoners, that they had no complaints to make, and assured us of the kind treatment which they receive.

On their part, the English officers and non-commissioned officers declared that the prisoners are well disciplined and very willing. In short, we took away with us an excellent impression of Heliopolis Camp.

~2. Hospital No. 2, at Abbassiah, near Cairo.~

_(Visited on January 2, 1917.)_

This hospital, on the pavilion system, and arranged in accordance with the requirements of modern practice, is reserved exclusively for German, Austrian, Bulgarian and Turkish prisoners of war. It is staffed by head doctor Wickermann, assisted by four English doctors. Some English Red Cross nurses and 18 Turkish orderlies attend to the sick and wounded. These nurses and orderlies are engaged only with treatment. The rough ward work and cleaning are done by native employés. The pavilions are built of stone and separated by intervals of 32-1/2 feet. The roofs are of cement. Along one side runs a covered gallery wherein beds and arm-chairs are placed for the open-air cure of patients for whom it is prescribed. The floor of the pavilions is a kind of linoleum made of sawdust and cement, and is covered with palm mats. The windows are large, and the cubic space per patient ample. The beds are arranged in two rows and have spring and stuffed mattresses. Blankets are not stinted. The rooms are scrupulously clean; and the hospital sterilising chamber serves to disinfect the clothes, which, after being washed and labelled, are stored in a wardrobe and handed back to the owners when they leave the hospital. The prisoners have no trouble over them. A large supply of things for the patients is kept in the laundry.

_Clothing._--The hospital patients wear pyjamas like those of British soldiers; and, like the latter, convalescents wear a bright blue suit with white facings and a red necktie. Patients able to sit up have folding easy-chairs at their disposal.

_Dressings._--The hospital drug department is well stocked. The wounded are supplied with surgical appliances, and with artificial limbs of the most perfect make.

The day before our visit 80 wounded prisoners arrived at the hospital from El Arish in an exhausted and emaciated condition. We saw each case receive the most suitable treatment. The apparatus most generally used for dealing with fractures consists of a metal frame with flannel strips stretched from side to side to form a kind of trough. When the broken limb is in position the apparatus is suspended from the ceiling by means of pulleys. We have never seen this ingenious arrangement in any German or French hospital; it seems to us to be a very practical idea and likely to prove of great benefit to the wounded. At the head of each bed is a temperature chart, a diet chart, and a clinical summary of the case.

_Special Quarters._--The operating theatre is well arranged; a sterilising stove is heated by paraffin. In the wards for prisoners suffering from malaria the beds are enclosed by mosquito nets to prevent the _anopheles_ mosquito infecting itself and then biting other patients or people of the neighbourhood. Two wards are kept for convalescent cases, who have a dining-room to stay in during the day.

Cases of venereal disease are also confined to separate premises.

The orderlies live in two comfortable tents in the hospital garden, one of which, is occupied by those on day duty, the other by those on night duty.

_Hygiene._--The water is of good quality, supplied from the Cairo water system. The prisoners can use the well-equipped hot and cold baths at their pleasure. Invalids wash themselves, or are washed with the aid of bowls. Convalescents wash at the taps supplied for their use.

The latrines are on the Turkish plan, with automatic water-flush, and discharge into the town drainage.

_Food._--The hospital management employs a contractor to do the provisioning. The food is prepared in the kitchen by 4 Egyptian employés. The dietary of the Turkish soldiers differs somewhat from that of the German and Austrian prisoners, in order to suit the palates of each. For example, the Turks prefer flat loaves, which are baked for them; while European prisoners get what is called English bread, toasted. Bulgarian curdled milk is prepared for dysentery patients, and the English doctors testify to its good effects.

An ice-box in each pavilion keeps such provisions as must stay there quite fresh. The diet for invalids is divided into full diet and milk diet.

1. FULL DIET. _Breakfast_: Bread; milk. _Lunch_: Meat stew; vegetables; rice; bread. _Supper_: Bread; soup; rice; milk. _Extra, when ordered_: Chicken; pigeon; rabbit; butchers' meat; lemons; eggs; cheese; curdled milk.

2. MILK DIET. _Breakfast_: Bread; milk. _Lunch_: Soup; bread; milk; rice. _Supper_: Bread; milk; sugar.

The quantities of food allowed to invalids are given below:

_Diet for _Ordinary _Milk Fever Diet. Diet. Patients. grm._ grm._ grm._

Native bread (baladi) 937 625 Beef 115 100 Vegetables 120 Rice 115 50 Milk 200 800 1,200 Fat 20 Sugar 20 25 Salt 15 5 Pepper 3 1 Onions 20 Tomatoes 10

We examined all these provisions and found them to be excellent in quality.

_Sickness._--Sick prisoners are transferred from the camps to the hospital in specially fitted motor vehicles. The English doctors without exception praise the patience and brave endurance of pain shown by the Turkish prisoners. The cases treated in the hospital up to January 2, 1917, the date of our visit, are analysed below.

Turks Bulgarians Germans Tuberculosis 27 0 0 Bacillar dysentery 37 3 2 Malaria 3 0 0 War wounds 74 2 4 Anaemia and weakness 30 12 5 Various 96 5 0 --- --- --- Totals 267 22 11 === === ===

There is no epidemic disease in the hospital.

_Deaths._--Sixty-six Turkish prisoners died in the Abbassiah hospital between August 8, 1916, and January 1, 1917.

From Dysentery 45 " Tuberculosis 9 " Beri-beri 1 " Malaria 1 " War wounds 9 " Typhoid fever 1 --- 66 ===

In addition, one German prisoner died of pneumonia. As regards deaths from dysentery, most of the prisoners attacked by the disease came from the Hedjaz, and were in a seriously weak and exhausted condition.

Turkish prisoners are prepared for burial in the manner prescribed by their religion. They are buried in a Moslem cemetery. British soldiers from the garrison pay them the last honours, and the prisoners are represented at the cemetery.

~3. Maadi Camp.~

_(Visited on January 3, 1917.)_

The chief camp at Maadi is 9-1/3 miles south of Cairo, on the right bank of the Nile. All prisoners are taken to it after capture, and thence distributed among the other camps in Egypt.

_Strength._--Five thousand five hundred and fifty-six Turkish non-commissioned officers and men, including 1,200 men recently captured at El Arish in the Sinai peninsula.

No officers are interned in this camp. Three imaums (priests) were not classed with the officers, as they had served as privates.

The prisoners include--besides Turks--Arabs, Armenians, Greeks, Jews from Palestine and Mesopotamia, and some Senoussi. Only a small number have been captives ever since the beginning of the war; a large proportion come from Gallipoli. We found among the prisoners a boy 8 years old, named Abd-el-Mohsen, who lives in camp with his father.

The camp is divided into 41 sections and 4 quarters. The last are divided off from one another by barbed wire fences.

_Accommodation._--The quarters of the Turkish prisoners in Maadi Camp include: (1) Old buildings originally erected as a school of music and subsequently used as a factory; (2) barracks built recently for prisoners of war.

The first consist chiefly of a huge hall 252 feet long and 49 feet wide, with many large openings in the walls. The roof, of match-boarding, is 33 feet above the floor. Standpipes are fixed all along the hall. There are, in addition, some out-buildings used by the management and as stores.

In the other camp sections new barracks, measuring as a rule 100 by 39 feet, were erected by a building firm. Walls and roof are of wood and thatch; the floor is hard-beaten earth. All camp quarters are well open to the air, so that proper ventilation presents no difficulties.

_Sleeping Accommodation._--Lengthwise of all the quarters run platforms of beaten earth, 6-1/2 feet wide, and 9 inches above the floor. On these are placed the woven rush mats which serve for beds. Each prisoner has 3 blankets. During the season when the temperature falls appreciably at night extra blankets are served out. All bedding is cleaned and disinfected at regular intervals. Shelves whereon the prisoners can keep their belongings are fixed between the rows of beds.

_Food._--The food of the prisoners of war is according to the scale already given. Kitchens are provided in each section and staffed by the prisoners themselves. We tasted the soup and meat stew, and found them of good quality and very appetising. The prisoners receive _baladi_ or native bread, which resembles their usual food and is supplied by Cairo bakeries. We questioned many of the men, who assured us that they were satisfied with the food. The only complaint noted by us was that of a man who thought that he got rice too often. A small canteen supplies black coffee, sweetened, at a farthing per cup. It is run as a private concern under the supervision of the authorities. Tobacco is distributed every Thursday on the scale mentioned previously.