Escaped Turkish POW

[corisande]

We have had a long an interesting thread on Lt Thomas Charles Sebastian Huss on this link - click . This thread is solely to look at his being a prisoner of the Turks and having escaped. 

It transpires that he was captured by the Turks. This from the Inns of Court OTC records and I believe it to be correct

Now he was commissioned in June 1915 and captured by a German U-Boat in Dec 1916. The acronymns "S.F.It" mean that he served in :  "Salonica, Macedonia, and the Balkans", "France and Flanders", and "Italy"

So we are looking for someone captured by the Turks  between earliest say Oct 1915 (he was not a man with previous military experience, so would not have gone straight into action) and say Oct 1916 (he had to get to Sweden, in order to be captured by the German U-boat in Dec 1916

It is possible that he was captured by the Turks at Gallipoli before Jan 1916, but probably more likely after the Gallipoli pull out. And his record does not indicate Gallipoli

So, can anyone help with

• where else he could have been captured by the Turks other than Gallipoli.
• do any records  exist of Turkish POWs and any who escaped
• He was commissioned in Welsh Regiment (but not necessarily serving with it when captured

 

[Gardenerbill]

There were Turkish troops occupying part of the front in Salonika at the southern end of the Struma valley for a time.

[corisande]

Thanks, so he could have been capturer there

Anyone know where can I get POW information on that front?

I see from LLT that 1st Welsh was in Salonica from  24 November 1915

 

 

 

Edited 13 November , 2021 by corisande

[michaeldr]

The details given on his earlier capture in 1916 state

Section

WESTERN THEATRE OF OPERATIONS.

And the newspaper cutting mentioning 'gas poisoning and a severly sprained leg' refers to a German trench at Ypres

Are the details giving him as a PoW in Turkey reliable?

[Dai Bach y Sowldiwr]

He does have a surviving officer's  file at Kew:

https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C706100

[corisande]

2 minutes ago, michaeldr said:

Are the details giving him as a PoW in Turkey reliable?

My source is Inns of Court OTC in the Great War - click

His commission is correct and he was captured by a U-Boat. I feel that the balance of probability is that he was indeed captured by the Turks and escaped

However what I am trying to establish is whether it is true in this thread

Can we prove that he was captured by the Turks and escaped. I feel that the source makes it worth the effort of investigating its veracity. He was clearly in Intelligence, which always makes research difficult, but he may have been an ordinary ingantry officer at the time he may have been caprured by the Turks

[corisande]

3 minutes ago, Dai Bach y Sowldiwr said:

He does have a surviving officer's  file at Kew:

 

Yes , I quoted that reference in the other thread. Unfortunately I don't think anyone can see that file at the moment

[michaeldr]

He was in the OTC until April 1915 - commissioned in June 1915 - a prisoner of the Turks in 1916:

Then when was he at Ypres (as a 2/Lt or Lt.) getting gassed and a sprained leg? Or perhaps is it the newspaper report which is unreliable?

[Dai Bach y Sowldiwr]

3 minutes ago, corisande said:

Unfortunately I don't think anyone can see that file at the moment

Why is that Corisande? The NA entry  implies it's viewable, but not digitised or downloadable.

[corisande]

2 minutes ago, michaeldr said:

Or perhaps is it the newspaper report which is unreliable?

 

My feeling is that it is the newspaper report that is more likely to be unreliable.

But , as I say, what I am trying to establish he is whether I can get any evidence in this thread that he ws a prisoner of the Turks

[KizmeRD]

Or could he perhaps have been a British civilian internee, taken into custody by the Ottoman’s when Turkey entered the war (subsequently escaping and making his way home)?

I’m only suggesting this as a theoretical possibility, because its difficult otherwise to fit everything we know about him into a credible time-line (more to uncover, I’m sure!).

MB

PS His father was Swedish born, his mother Italian. He grew up in Cardiff where his father ran a ship’s chandlers. After the war Thomas ran a bonded stores company.

[emrezmen]

19 hours ago, corisande said:

Thanks, so he could have been capturer there

Anyone know where can I get POW information on that front?

I see from LLT that 1st Welsh was in Salonica from  24 November 1915

 

 

 

Ottoman 50th Div faced British 27th Div at Salonika and they encountered only in one battle, namely, the raid conducted by 2nd King's Shropshire LI and 3rd Royal Rifle Corps on 31 Oct 1916. So Salonika seems like a long shot at this point.

Edited 14 November , 2021 by emrezmen

[corisande]

Thanks, he would have been in Sweden by then anyway

[Guest]

Mate,

Of cause the 177th Ottoman Regt remained on that front for some time but again after that date.

Was not an inquiry on the Naval area?

see

Is there an record of all the military and merchant personnel taken/rescued by German submarine?

---

By Felix C,

[JWK]

Found this website  https://wiki.fibis.org/w/Prisoners_of_the_Turks_(First_World_War)

Maybe of interest?

Under "Additional information" it lists a.o.  POW lists from the Turkish Red Crescent, via the US embassy

https://grandeguerre.icrc.org/en/List/3655166/699/50410/  (early 1917)

https://grandeguerre.icrc.org/en/List/3655166/699/50509/  (april 1916)

[corisande]

Thats very kind of you. I will see if I can get anything on him out of those

[alantwo]

Corisande

I have sent you a pm

Kind regards

Alan

[corisande]

Thanks very much for his TNA file. I will go through it now and see if I can solve the puzzle

[corisande]

My conclusion from his Officer File is that he was not "captured by the Turks" nor indeed anyone else, before the Germans took him off the Swedish steamer

He seems to have a serve timeline as follows

• 1915 Jun 8 Commissioned 2nd Lt in 3rd Welsh Regt
• 1915 Aug circa , posted to Albania
• 
• 
• 1916 returned to UK - malaria and nerves - no mention of capture
• 1916 Dec captured by German Submarine
• 1917 Jun 1 Promoted Lt while a German prisoner
• 1919 Mar 29 . 3rd Welsh E.—Lt. T. C. S. Huss is placed on the ret. list on account of ill-health contracted on active service.
• He later writes to War Office suggesting they award him a medal, but they decline

I have a full write up on this link- click