Chapter 161 Concentration Camps and the Labyrs

In April, flowers have bloomed everywhere in the Yufadi River basin, showing a strong spring color. Even in the Ra'sal-'Ain concentration camp on the edge of the desert, in the corner of the humble camp room, some grass and flowers appeared.

This "Te?" established by Turkey's "Unification and Progress Committee" The Ra'sal-'Ain concentration camp, which is under the care of the kilat-iMahsusa force, covers an area of about four square kilometers. This Ra'sal-Ain concentration camp is a camp for Turks to "guard" Armenians.

In May 1915, Minister of the Interior Talat? Pasha asked the cabinet and Big Vizier Said Halim Pasha to legislate to allow the relocation and resettlement of Armenians to other places, on the grounds that "in some places in the country there have been riots and massacres of Armenians". Talat specifically mentioned the Van City incident, extending the measures to areas where "riots and massacres" may affect the security of the Caucasus war zone. Later, the range of migrant residents expanded to Armenians in other provinces.

On May 27, 1915, the Ottoman parliament passed the Tesir Law, which allowed the political axe and the military to expel anyone deemed to be a threat to national security, but there were provisions to protect the property rights of the deportees. In September, a new law, the Law on Property, Debt and Assets Retained by Expelled, was proposed. According to this law, all the "retained" goods and property of the Armenians belong to the political axe. On September 13, 1915, the Ottoman Parliament passed a new law, and all the property of Armenians could be confiscated by political axes.

In the following years, the confiscation of property against Armenians was accompanied by massacres, anniction, slave trade, and the most serious was planned genocide. As early as August 1915, the New York Times rereported an unknown source, saying that "the bodies of migrants were everywhere. On the road and the Euphrates, those who survived are also doomed to death. This is a plan to exterminate all Armenians.

The Ra'sal-'Ain concentration camp is part of the whole plan. Thousands of Armenians were loaded into stuffy tankers from all over the country and escorted to dozens of concentration camps in Baghdad Province, including the Ra'sal-'Ain concentration camp, waiting here. - Death.

Although the location of the Ra'sal-'Ain concentration camp is located in the Euphrates River basin, it looks very desolate. Although some Arabs lived here in the past, they all left as early as two years ago. Several of the emptied grass houses of the Arabs are still standing.

And now, these broken brick houses become Te? The barracks of kilat-iMahsusa troops, as for the Christian Armenians who were expelled here, were all sleeping in the camp, living in the cold of winter and the heat of summer.

In this concentration camp, men can be reduced to Turkish guns or knives at any time, and women can become tools for Turkish people to vent their surnames at any time. Their poor property has long been robbed in the process of expulsion. These Armenians, with a few exceptions, did not provide In any form of shelter, those who came from cold places were left behind in the scorching sun in the desert, without water or food. Only a few people who have the ability to pay officials can get temporary assistance. Naturally, the mortality rate caused by hunger and disease is very high, and it is further pushed up by the barbaric treatment of the authorities... In order to survive, people always try their best to find all possibilities. These Armenians who suffer from hunger in the desert do not know that for them, this is just a short-term "destal" for them. Soon they will die here silently, but they always try their best to improve their lives.

In the past few months, after ending the bloody and tearful expulsion, Kosjemir, a former Armenian soldier in the Turkish army, has recovered a little. He is now the mayor of this "Armenian town". In fact, this is also approved by the Tart official of the special forces. Although life is bad enough, he eats and sleeps better than most Armenians in the Ra'sal-'Ain concentration camp.

In the past few months, it was the host of Kosjemir. Thousands of men who were still alive in the camp reclaimed a piece of arable land, and some pulled out their golden teeth or took out their private belongings in exchange for some wheat from the nearby Arabs. It is undeniable that Kosjemir did a good job. No matter what the weather is, they always work quickly, silently and obediently. Even if they are often cursed and beaten by the Turks of the special forces, they still work hard to reclaim the land, because each of them knows that maybe whether their families can survive depends on whether they can reclaim it. Out of these lands.

Because many of them are extremely weak, they always faint and fall to the ground when reclaiming the land. They are often regarded as sick and lazy by the guards of the special forces and beaten to death. If they really look useless, they will send them to God with shovels or sticks, and others will silently drag their bodies back and call them at night.

For death, maybe they are used to it. As far as Ra'sal-'Ain's case is concerned, in Kirsjemir', perhaps the situation here is already very good, because in other places, too many people have died, even in some concentration camps, the vast majority People have only lived for a few days, at most a month or two, and now, here, they have lived for a few months.

Perhaps Captain Talt is also cruel, but at least he agrees that the Armenians survive in this concentration camp in their own way, instead of prohibiting them from trading with the Arabs to get the food and blankets necessary to survive here, but even so, many Asians and American in the camps The Nya people are still skinny, and the guards will always torture the Armenians here from time to time, whipped their backs to pieces. When the tortured people were bloody and fell unconsciously, they wiped off the blood dripping from the whip with a careless smile.

For Captain Thalt, I'm afraid all his fun is that he personally lined up in the execution squad to shoot the prisoners sentenced to death. When he talks to prisoners, his usual tone is a threatening roar. He beat him hard with a stick, which can bring down a man like a withered scarecrow. Despite this, Captain Talter thought he was "pretighty". Captain Thalt is different from the captains and leaders of other special forces. Although he also tortured the thin Armenians with fear, pain and death, he did not get pleasure from it.

More importantly, Captain Tarter's corruption is a surname, which can help a lot, which means that people can do business with Captain Tarter, just like Captain Tarter is an extremely lustful person. Therefore, Kosjemir lobbied several young and beautiful girls in the "village" to serve the captain well. Although they will make sacrifices, at least they can make more people survive. Anyway, it's all worth it.

"It only takes a few more months!"

Every day, Kirsjemir said this to himself in his heart, and even said to others that in the past, he had put his hopes on the Russians like others. Just like the mortal city incident two years ago, the Armenian defenders of the mortal city protected nearly 50,000 people, and later Nikolay? Yudenich's Russian army came to rescue them.

But now, Kosiyemir puts his hope on the Chinese people. The city is very close to Russia, and here, it is not far from the control area of the [***] team. Perhaps, soon, the [***] team will hit here, and then, they will get real freedom.

Freedom, for Kirsiemir, may be very important, but before gaining freedom, the most important thing is to live. Only by living can they return to their hometown and take revenge on the Turks.

"I want to live!"

All the sacrifices are for this goal. Whether others can understand it or not, Kosjemir believes that sooner or later, those who laugh at him behind his back and satirize him will understand this and understand that what he is doing today is just to keep everyone alive!

"Live..."

When Kosjemir thought so in his heart, in the desert dozens of kilometers away, there were also some people who thought so in his heart.

Adaleti, wearing a tattered Turkish military uniform, dragged his heavy feet in the desert, and the sand was poured into his worn-out leather boots from time to time. This long team of Turkish prisoners of war curved through this desert, which is the Turkish army that surrendered to the [***] team in the desert more than a dozen days ago.

On both sides of the prisoner-of-war forces, the guards in desert-colored military uniforms are holding rifles or machine guns to monitor the ranks. In front and behind the team, there were two loud military trucks, full of more Guards. This army of thousands of prisoners of war walked all the way. About one-third of the prisoners have died during the escort.

At the beginning, they could get a compressed biscuit at 10 a.m. every day, which was the ration of the [***] team and some water. But since five days ago, there was often no such ration - a week ago, the convoy escorting prisoners in the desert got lost!

A week ago, after a spring sandstorm, the escorted officers not only lost their guides, but also lost their own map bags. In the desert, the loss of guides and map bags often meant death. After the troops got lost, the Chinese naturally guaranteed their own safety first, so these Turks The strange prisoners began to look for anything to eat in the desert like goats at the gunpoint of the Guards. From twelve to fourteen hours a day, they have to keep up with the speed of the strong escorted soldiers step by step, while the escorted soldiers take turns walking and riding every two hours.

In this case, Adaleti's body as strong as a mountain was almost dragged down. Around him, people fell down as they walked, often silent, and sometimes moaned or shouted. When neither the buttstock nor the nail boots can wake up the fallen man, the Chinese soldier's way to deal with the prisoners is very simple - a bullet pierces his head. This is a routine preventive measure, so that the guerrillas may save him and absorb him or inform the guerrillas, resulting in an ambush of the escort force.

Along the way, Adalati witnessed the execution of the middle [***] people. They always calmly and carefully smashed each head with a gun, leaving a large pile of red and white things on the collar of the military uniform that shrank into a ball on the sand.

Now, the team is still moving aimlessly in an unknown direction. The cold, hunger and unbearable fatigue make Adalati's whole body look depressed. When he walks, he focuses on the person in front of him. His legs moved, but his knees were stiff, because he was afraid that if his joints were relaxed, he would bend down, and then he would fall, and his head would be smashed to pieces.

On the Middle East front, the "Neva Convention" does not exist. Turki has never signed it. As for the Chinese, perhaps, the Chinese have also signed it, but I'm afraid it's up to the officers to abide by the convention.

"Is there any water left?"

He licked his dry lips and listened to the officer's question. Wang Tianci shook his head, and then looked out of the car tiredly. He could no longer see the breath of a scholar on his face. His dark face may be the only mark left by the desert in the near east.

What kind of war is this?

Maybe there is no trace of a scholar on his face, but deep in his heart, he will still consider a lot of problems. Just like until now, he has not figured out what kind of war this is. No matter how you look at it, the expeditionary force has an absolute advantage, and here, there is no west at all. The trench of the line, but the war was delayed indefinitely. The generals seem to have no interest in continuing to attack at all, but on the other hand, they keep moving their troops to the area of Yilang, where they can't tell what friends are and what enemies are.

Allies and allies are also guarding against each other. In Iran, after the Russian Revolution, China and Britain supported their interests and spokespersons there to compete for their respective spheres of influence and tried every means to exclude the Russians. Here, in the Near East, they dismantle each other, and the British secretly supported the Arabs to fight against each other. China, and China... In the final analysis, this is just a "dirty" war! It's just a war in which several powerful countries tried to plunder the world's colonies.

"Sergeant Wang, take a car, search nearby, and go on like this..."

Cao took a look at the prisoners. Now, these prisoners are the burden in his hands, but he can't kill them all, but they can only drag down the whole team here. If they drag them down like this, everyone has no choice but to die.

"I'll give you two hours, if..."

At this point, Cao Yuan's face turned cold. If Wang Tianci could not bring good news an hour later, he could only let these prisoners disappear in the desert, and then let the big guys get on the car and drive in a fixed direction until the car ran out of gas. In any case, he could always find something. For their platoon leader, he must ensure that his brothers are alive out of this desert.

"I see!"

Two years of battlefield career will change many people, and Wang Tianci was changed by the war. If it had been two years ago, he might have questioned this order, but now, he will carry out this order without hesitation. On the battlefield, there are always some people alive and some people die.

Just like the officer's unfinished order, but just to let everyone else live, at least a little more chance to live, just like a week ago, in the face of the protest of Turkish prisoners, he resolutely picked up a pistol and killed more than a dozen prisoners. The same.

People will always change! This son of a bitch war has changed everything for a long time!

The truck was running in the desert and sitting in the cab. Wang Tianci's expression was a little solemn. The car had been driving for more than half an hour, but no trace of human existence was found.

Catch an Arab, let them get out of here with the big guys, and then...then everything will be over, it's that simple, damn Turks!

Those Turks preached jihad and pagans. As a result, those Arabs were not very friendly to the [***] team, especially those nomadic tribes, who were likely to attack the single troops.

"Tell the machine gunners to strengthen their vigilance!"

Shouting at the back of the car, Wang Tianci's eyes returned to this uninhabited desert. If you meet the herdsmen of the nomadic tribe, even if they take the big risk, they will find a way to catch a few people, but... how many people can speak Arabic?

"Stop the car!"

Suddenly, Wang Tianci seemed to find something. As soon as the car stopped, Wang Tianci jumped out of the truck, and then he walked to the sand. Sure enough, it was a cemetery.

Cross!

You can see the kind of cross made of branches everywhere in the cemetery. This is... the tomb of Christians. How can there be Christians here? And a string of footprints in the cemetery also attracted his attention, footprints, which means that there are people nearby, Christians and people! Although his heart was full of doubts, Wang Tianci still picked up the rifle and walked in the direction of the footprints.

"Your Sir..."

"Bring a submachine gun, be careful..."

More than ten minutes later, Wang Tianci, with three subordinates, saw a simple village on the edge of the village, and some people were farming in the field...

(to be continued)