Vol.08.p.037

Diary Transcription:

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Saturday, November 7, 1914 (continued)

the Turks and these tried to induce the commanding officer of the Turks to come with them to make a demonstration towards the Canal. The Turk refused and the Germans set out alone. On the Egyptian side, the Germans met a Bedawi Sheikh and tried to bully him into guiding them towards Suez. He refused and ran away. The Germans fired on him, but being ignorant of the road were obliged to return to Turkish territory. The sheikh got in first and complained to the Turk, a friend of his, of being shot at. When the Germans returned, the German officer began cursing the Turk for cowardice, and, it is supposed struck him. At any rate, a Bedawin scout in English service saw nine Germans lying dead, and the Turkish officer wildly waving his sword leading the pursuit of the German officer and the other two survivors. This agrees well with other reports regarding the tension between the Germans and the Turks in the Turkish army and I shall be surprised if similar incidents do not occur elsewhere. The Germans have forced the Turks into this war by opening hostilities from Turkish territory. The majority of the Turks are desperate at being involved in the war, but they can do nothing. Of course, once they get to fighting, they will do their duty. But these German tactics founded on wholesale bribery of leading men, ought to be a lesson to all neutrals for the future. I consider that our government is wrong in not putting down summarily the German propaganda in America.
The official report that the Russians have taken Sandowierz is very encouraging. Thus the whole Austro-German attack is thrown back, and the Russians have now beaten the best German corps - the first troops of Europe.

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