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Remembered Today:

Repatriation of Turkish PoW


PHalsall

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These photos enlarge very well.I've tried a number of other station names but no hits. I suspect there are more indexed but not online? My German is limited to 'Bratwurst ohne Senf'

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I found the following photos from the Bavarian State Archives site, although I couldn't find one link for the whole collection.

 References Bildsammlung Palästina. 1356-1357 Im Amanus-Gebirge; 1358-1368 Taurus

https://www.gda.bayern.de/findmitteldb/Archivalie/234332/

https://www.gda.bayern.de/findmitteldb/Archivalie/234333/

 

https://www.gda.bayern.de/findmitteldb/Archivalie/234334/

https://www.gda.bayern.de/findmitteldb/Archivalie/234335/

https://www.gda.bayern.de/findmitteldb/Archivalie/234337/

https://www.gda.bayern.de/findmitteldb/Archivalie/234338/

https://www.gda.bayern.de/findmitteldb/Archivalie/234339/

https://www.gda.bayern.de/findmitteldb/Archivalie/234340/

https://www.gda.bayern.de/findmitteldb/Archivalie/234341/

https://www.gda.bayern.de/findmitteldb/Archivalie/234342/

https://www.gda.bayern.de/findmitteldb/Archivalie/234343/

https://www.gda.bayern.de/findmitteldb/Archivalie/234344/

https://www.gda.bayern.de/findmitteldb/Archivalie/234345/

https://www.gda.bayern.de/findmitteldb/Archivalie/234346/

https://www.gda.bayern.de/findmitteldb/Archivalie/234347/

https://www.gda.bayern.de/findmitteldb/Archivalie/234348/

https://www.gda.bayern.de/findmitteldb/Archivalie/234366/

https://www.gda.bayern.de/findmitteldb/Archivalie/234367/

 

In addition, there was another one https://www.gda.bayern.de/findmitteldb/Archivalie/234336/  Kasiun 1360 from the above sequence. Don't know where or what Kasiun is.

Still to investigate whether there is anything either side of the above numbers

Cheers

Maureen

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Thanks Maureene, that very helpful. I have three fewer words in German than Charlie so have exhausted all the possible search terms I could come up with for this region.

 

There are some beautiful photos from Palestine/Syria using the search terms jerusalem or aleppo. Plenty of others under hebron and the like but mostly arial shots for reconnaissance.

 

Pete

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Here's the complete Palestine-collection:

https://www.gda.bayern.de/findmitteldb/Findbuch/5450/

 

05.1.2.1 Küstenebene   - Coastal plains

05.1.2.2 Gebirge vom Libanon bis Hebron - Mountainrange from Lebanon to Hebron

05.1.2.3 Jordantal -  Jordan valley

05.1.2.4 Ostjordanland - East Jordan land

05.1.2.5 Bodenaufnahmen - pictures made from the ground (Jeruzalem, Damascus, Constantinople, Zagreb, aerodromes, execution etc)

05.1.2.6 Papierabzüge - paper prints

 

 

Maybe there is something worthwhile to be found in 05.1.2.5 Bodenaufnahmen

 

 

Edited by JWK
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Thats absolutely fabulous Maureene. They are  a unique collection. Thanks.

 

Does anyone know what that little silhouette is in the top right hand corner of so many of the photos? A bracket of some sort?

 

Pete

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Thanks to JWK for posting the link to the whole collection.

 

 Go to  05.1.2.5 Bodenaufnahmen as suggested by JWK

https://www.gda.bayern.de/findmitteldb/Kapitel/7284/

Select page 11 for photos commencing Amanus Mountains, reference 1356.

 

The photos continue on to Constantinople. over the next few pages.

One of the photos I looked at had something in the right hand corner which looked as though it may have possibly been  part of some Arabic writing. Perhaps a film number ? https://www.gda.bayern.de/findmitteldb/Archivalie/234335/

Cheers

Maureen

 



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Thanks also to you Maureen for this clarification. I look at some of those wonderfully detailed photos of rugged terrain and think of those PoWs having to break rocks. Some photos show the convoy of trucks the Germans used for transporting men and materials across the Amanus and Taurus mountains. Sometimes they were kind enough to carry the PoWs but more often the men had to march on foot in their enfeebled state, frequently without boots.

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Yes, hats off to JWK these are tremendous.

 

Its interesting to see a mix of purely military shots from the air and then occasional 'touristic' photographs. Group shots at the Rock of the Dome in Jerusalem, a flock of storks, the Wailing Wall and the like. You could imagine they had the occasional days off and went to play with their lovely camera.  

 

Those things in the top right hand corner are curious, some do look like Arabic characters and others could be numbers or symbols.

 

Pete

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Hehe, it helps if you can read German....   ;)

And it's flamingos in flight, not storks (at least that´s what the Bavarian archives would like us to believe)

https://www.gda.bayern.de/show/0b54c1ab-b61a-4097-9a5c-1b07db136cb0/

 

Have you seen this caravan's shadows? Beautiful.

https://www.gda.bayern.de/show/51a312ea-cdb7-4bdd-bc0a-b67ddb21f0db/

 

Where's this" "English camp near Rowanov"? You can see the guys walking through the sand in a long line.

https://www.gda.bayern.de/show/ca9d4d1c-57da-4da7-8c56-0d987c6f4b5b/

 

As regards the symbols on top of the photographs: I think they're cut-off negative-numbers (mirrored or not)

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Yes, I do wish I had more linguistic ability, I can dabble in French a little but thats about it! Mind you, I have picked up more German in the last 24 hours than the previous 60 years.... 

 

I spotted the flamingos, but there is also another one with a flock of storks, called something like storchsturm, I'll find the link. I really like the way in which the Bavarian photographers seemed to actually enjoy the artistic side of their work, as well as the functional. I can relate to that. A highlight for me was the English Consulate in Damascus, what a beautiful building. Sadly, my grandad will no doubt have missed that on his forced march from Beersheba to Gelebek, passing through Damascus on the way, but using less comfortable accommodation. The hanging of spies was a bit grim, but thats the reality of war!

 

cheers

 

Pete

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Looking at google earth and following the railway line from the Amanus to Taurus Mountains you can see quite a lot of tunnels and the line twists and turns to follow the contours. But you get no idea of the difficulty of the terrain. The modern motorways just slice through the country with ease. These Archive photos are excellent for demonstrating the difficulties the men encountered.

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I was rearranging my bookmarks and came across this link:

Flemmings Kriegskarte

German war-maps (by Carl Flemming). Mostly earlier than 1918, but the maps show the railways as a red line (and the projected/to be built railways as a dotted red line). Maps range from the North Seacoast to Japan to British India.

 

Here for European Turkey, Dardanelles and Bosporus

Here for Middle East ("Turkish interests")

 

Maps look small but you can zoom in to quite an extent:

1880718640_000Clipboard-1.jpg.adada31449a0421e474e425fd8be67c6.jpg

 

And they're War-maps, on sale to everyone who had a spare 1 DeutschMark in his pocket, so can't vouch for their reliability....

 

 

Edited by JWK
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That's really interesting JWK, thanks. I do like a good map!

 

Still looking for those storks, I definitely didn't imagine them..... So many great pictures in that collection I keep getting distracted.

 

Cheers

 

Pete

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A good read, 'Mike's Railway History' I haven't seen that kind of detail regarding the landscape it travels through before. The one surprise for me was that it didnt highlight the Adana viaduct which is one of the most dramatic features, perhaps Mike was asleep?

 

The switch from broad gauge to narrow was at Gelebek, at least for a while, and the work there was largely moving goods from one to another. There is a series of images on the Bavarian Archive of a plane seeming to be moved from one train to another, made me wonder if that could be where the shot was taken although more likely it is just being loaded on at the beginning of its journey.

 

Pete

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  • 2 weeks later...

Another very  clear map I came across whilst looking up dunsterforce: nice and clear and easy to add your own key places. This will do me well, I think.

263377504_TurkeyMap1914.JPG.d0da177ca76966d3bb78bef872cd19f9.JPG

 

edit-  but BEWARE- some errors in names/locations

Edited by charlie962
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I think that's the best one so far, and probably the best we'll get.

 

It would still be interesting to find one that shows the terrain of the Taurus region in more detail to complement this overview, but that is proving fairly elusive...

 

Pete

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You will note that the map uses Adana Mts rather than two separate places Adana,  and Amanus Mts.

Edited by charlie962
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Perhaps there is a deliberate attempt to emphasise clarity by limiting the amount of text used. Note that some significant place names like Tripoli and Homs are omitted as well. I think its a strength overall.

 

It also seems to imply that the track through the Taurus mountains is complete in 1914.

 

This one is very crude, but might be useful to anyone with an interest in the issue of varying widths of track used across the network.

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