Hi,
Two things I would like to ask contributors;

a. Does anyone know of any records, notes on OXCART CORPS of Turks in gallipoli ?
b. A while ago a person in Gallipoli was charged with illegal "digging". He was apparently looking for "Rum-Wine" bottles (full ones!) buried by the Anzac and French troops. I wonder if anyone has heard of such "burying"?

Regards

Hi Dogan

Re: b. Buried rum and wine

I never heard of this happening at Gallipoli, but a couple of years ago the news agencies ran a story about hoards of wine and cognac being dug up on the old French front line in Macedonia.

http://www.usatoday.com/travel/destination...macedonia_N.htm

Could that be what you were thinking of?

I don't know how true the story was, but hundreds of French tourists now arrive there every year with old trench maps, so it may just have been something thought up by a clever guy at the local tourist office.

Tunesmith

Does anyone know of any records, notes on OXCART CORPS of Turks in gallipoli ?

Dogan,

I am not really sure what sort of information you are looking for here.
But if your question is whether or not ox drawn transport was used at Gallipoli
then the answer must be yes - see the Organization of the Range Inspectorate of the 5th Army.



I regret that I cannot speak Turkish, but working from a glossary of military terms (and please correct me if I am wrong here) I understand that the last section refers to Transport (Naklie), while 'Okuz' refers to the ox and 'Manda' to the buffalo

I hope that this helps
Michael

Dogan,

The following reference is from 'Five Years in Turkey' by Liman von Sanders
Page 73:
"The bringing up of food to the Fifth Army was especially difficult. The railroad station at Usunkopri (Uzun Kupru) in Thrace was seven marches distant and the means of transport were very limited. In those days the armies in Turkey had no auto trucks and it was with much difficulty that the columns of camels, pack animals and Turkish ox wagons managed to get a few tons to the front."

regards
Michael

Hi
No I am thinking of Turkey. I was told by Yetkin Iscen that French troops are believed to have buried Wine but I thought all that aussies couldnt have taken all the rum bottles back ...there must be some hoards ))))

And Michael thanks for the info and the form..much apprciated. A retired Colonel that I know of is writing a book on Oxcart Corps (an is thinking of making a film). Thisparticular subject is not much researched in turkey and I am just trying to help him along, through this forum ( best forum I have been proud to be a member of so far )..
regards

Dogan,
Judging by this photograph then perhaps Mudros is where people should be looking for the 1915 vintage French army wine



To be serious for one moment, at Helles the French had the worst of the terrain (when compared to the British). Their ground on the east of the peninsula was rocky and the soil very shallow; I would have thought it was not well suited to burying anything. Also the French left in good order; that is they were not rushed or over secretive about it. Theirs was not the same sort of evacuation as the British or the Anzacs. So why would they bury their wine?

Finally, and returning to a lighter frame of mind; don't forget that when the French left Gallipoli, their trenches were taken over by the Royal Naval Division! There is no chance that those fellows did not find anything in the way of liquid refreshment which might accidentally have been left behind by their allies.

With best regards
Michael

I've read that the rum jars were smashed, and there are certainly a lot of broken fragments at Gallipoli. There would have been no point burying them anyway as nobody expected to be back there. If soldiers other than Quartermasters and officers had control of them as the evacuation got closer (which is unlikely as it had never happened before), the contents would have been drunk anyway.

Dogan,

One further thought on the subject of buried wine:
Like the British and the Anzacs, parties of French returned to the peninsula under the terms of the armistice in late 1918. (I have read one account of a French soldier at this time, visiting the graves of his comrades there.) So while I doubt the story of the wine, if any of it had been buried, then I suspect that it would have been found at that time.

Regards
Michael