Untitled - Memorial University's Digital Archives Initiative

- 27 -
r;round . All t.he se littl e ect .e we r e \Jell noticed by t.he Fr ench end British troopa,
and alt hough they were maf:s8cring a rme nf e ne In bundr-ede of t .houe ande , the Ottoma n
p'Lay ed fair on our f ront .
It i s a remarkable fact thnt small ebe H e fired from Turkish gu ns and bur-sb -,
i og i ns ide our lines were wanuf'ec't ured in Enghmd . I ha ve seen many of t hem, lind
they were 811 mar ke d in English . J ohn Turk D'lut':t ce r tainly chuckle over a t rick
like t lul t .
Colonel Ryan of the Aus traU"n Hed fce L Cor-ps t e lls iii: good yarn of his ovn
edventaar-e e 111 t~ bi e: advance t ha t prove~ such. failu...-e in t he month of Augu st,
19 1 5 . Colonel Ryan i s 80 Irl :::MP n , vhc eed gr-at ed f rom the Ene r-aLd I sle i n his
early days and r -oamed t he worl d i n se ar-ch of adve nture. His va nde r -Ing led him ,
" when st i ll- quit e -y oune , "int o the land -that h e 1 :'1 nO'i:':fiebt1nc Qca i nst. Enli~ting
in the Turkish Qrmy he f our,ht egadnet t he Russ ians i n t he gr-ea t, sedge of Plevn a .
When the advan ce et.a r -te d in Aueu ftt it de veloped into a kind or -gu er i l l a fighti r.e,
a nd Colonel Ryan found himself fighti ng \.lith. a fe w men agains t a host of Turks.
He e nd his men j umpe d ''P t o the at.t.ack a nd the Turks stood to meet t hem.
ottomQn Of ficer , observing t he r i bbon s on the Cokon e L! s breast , brought
The
his me n
t o at.ten t don , and in a loud voice ex cLadmedj "Sa Iut.e a hero of Plevna"';. They
then dropped back and a few ed nutes later were piGg i ng away at each other. It
would lwrdly seem possible tha t 1n the dim of battl e an enemy officer would give
up the scrap and saLute his li.dve r silry for an honor gained in the Turki15h Empi r e .
But , neve rthe less , he clai ms i .t t o be quite tc-ne , an d his cceu-ad e a 1n army c1&i m
h1ril to be a aan of integrity and honor.
Three cruisers, firing broadside s, made quite a nice little mess of the
en emy's trench one a fter noon, a nd kil l ed our pet Turk, who u sua lly rose f r om hi"
slumber at daYn e nd sang t o u s for hours.