15th March 1920 : Elie's letter after the Marash siege

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letter from Elie to his brother

Bozanti, March 15, 1920
My dear brother,
Here a long time that I have not given my news. I benefit today of a short time of leisure in order to hold you with what happened and to give you the result of my health which despite everything is rather good and wishes greatly that it should be better for you. I do not know if on my last letter I told you that I left Mersina and well yes, we left Mersina the 11 (January) at 3 p.m., we embarked the morning and we left at 3 p.m.. At 6 p.m. we were in Adana, we spent the night to Adana, we set out again only the 12 at the evening from Adana, the 14 in the morning we arrive at Islahiye, we spent the night in the coaches, the next morning we unloaded. We were no more in Mersina, we were in snow and cold and we had to do lot of mileage by foot. We had mission to go in a city lost in the mountains, we left Islahiye the 15 in the morning, at 6 a.m. in snow, but the day of the 15 was not too bad for us, at 6 p.m. we arrived at the first halt. Until there, all was very well. The 16 from 2 hours in the morning snow started to fall, at 6 a.m. it was necessary to mount the bags, all was White with snow, the blankets froze in the hands, we succeeded, at 8 a.m. we took again the road for Marach, it always snowed, around 10 a.m. snow ceased falling but we still walked in snow, at 5 p.m. we arrived at Elougloux, a small village, half big like M., there we made the second halt. The 17, last day of walk, we left at 6 a.m. always the same ways through mountains, in water and snow, you can understand the tiredness which dominated us. At 9 p.m. we reached the town of Marach, all was calm we arrived at quartering, a good quartering, we had a good rest; the day of the 18 well was calm, the day of 19 and of the 20 in the same way, 21 has not been the same one, Turkish at 1 p.m. attacked us, by God, I will tell you in a few days what happened because the war is always the same one and everywhere the balls cross well. We have been encircled from the 21 until February 9 and the 11 we left the territory of Marach, we made the same way than to come, the 13 we reached the station (Islahiye) the 15 we embarked for Adana, the 15 at the evening we unloaded in Adana and the 17 in the morning we embarked for Bozanti where we live in an old "camp boche" located between mountains, but we are well. As a city, there are three or four houses which do not hold even upright.

Elie formed part of the 6^th Company, under the command of the Captain Martinet. Its quartering was with the Protestant Church, in the South of the city. The church was surrounded of Turkish houses, except in south-west where it gave on the Armenian district Kerlakian.
The garrison of the Protestant church, with the orders of the Kalb captain, included the first and the sixth companies of the 412^th RI and a large part of the State Major of the battalion.