Wasti, S. T. "The 1912-13 Balkan Wars and the Siege of Edirne"

1912–13 BALKAN WARS 67advantage of the ceasefire to tour the surroundings of Edirne, but wasdepressed by the poor quality of the fare consumed by the soldiers. In hisdiary entry for 6 January, he says that the citizenry had been reduced tosimple bread and cheese, as even money could not buy anything else. On 13January, a friend of Ertür, Cemil by name, finally ransacked the house of hisfather-in-law who had departed for Istanbul and came up with a supply of saltand sugar. A consequence of this loot was a surreptitious feast of helva 55 forErtür, Cemil and a couple of friends.On 17 January, the rumour spread that the ‘powers that be’ had pronouncedthat Edirne was ultimately to be surrendered to the Bulgarians, causing greatunease. A telegram to the Edirne command had indicated this possibility andmentioned that if the fort held out for another month it might result in someadvantage in the political bargaining. The prospect of the loss of Edirne was asource of deep pain and worry to Ertür. Rumours continued that the soldiersdefending Edirne might be tempted to resort to violence or guerilla tactics. Aweek later, on 24 January, came the news of the toppling of the governmentof Kâmil Pasha, 56 along with renewed hopes that Edirne would not berelinquished.Over the next couple of weeks, inspection teams were formed for therequisitioning of stocks of wheat and grain from the dwellers within thefortress. A receipt was issued for each quantity of foodstuff requisitioned.Ertür was perforce a member of these teams on the orders of Halil Bey thegovernor of the province. However, all this requisitioning did not result inany substantial improvement in the quality of the bread.On a visit to a café on 1 February, Ertür read a telegram that announced theappointment of İzzet Pasha as Commander-in-Chief along with instructionsfrom his office for the fortress to prepare itself once more for the immediatecommencement of active hostilities. The announcement contained anemotional appeal to the Ottomans to prove that their blood still flowed withvigour when it came to saving the flags of faith and state.On the basis of his first-hand information Ertür calculated that such foodsupplies as existed would last about 40 days and run out by 10 March. Someresult would surely be reached by then, he thought, because the soldiers wereill-prepared for a long war. They were poorly trained, underfed and weak,worried about the lands they had been ejected from and in most casesdesperate about their wives and children left behind in far-flung villages. On2 February, Ertür continued with his melancholy task of requisitioning wheatfrom the Feyzullahpaşa and Altunî districts of Edirne. According to theaccount of Yiğitgüden:In the early hours of the morning of Tuesday, 4 February, the Bulgarianattack commenced with ferocious cannonading. Over 150 cannonballs