I WITNESSED and LIVED THROUGH

When I inquired them about the situation, Colonel Morel said, they
received orders for withdrawal at 5 o’clock in the morning, and that
he did not understand how the orders did not reach me until then.
I was facing the very thing I was afraid of. They were running away
under the cover of Russian officers and artillery. While the Russian
officers were loading and firing the guns with their own hands to stop
the enemy, the Armenian “warriors” were massacring the people
behind them, and were robbing the people off their properties
without fear. If I had not come, none of us would have learned about
the orders issued for withdrawal.
They used to inform us about the orders, may them be trivial or not,
by sending at least an officer. But now they did not do it.
I first thought of going directly to the fortified emplacement at
Mecidiye to express my gratitude to the Armenian heroes(!), who
were running away towards Kars wrapped tightly in their overcoats
and flak jackets, with artillery fire; for having deceived us; for not
giving us enough time to destroy our guns but committing most
despicable massacres behind us; for betraying and libeling an
honorable senior officer; and for betraying other officers under my
command.
Thinking of the innocent people among them I abandoned my idea.
There still were lots of chaste Russians, people of other nations,
women and children in the city.
We set out to return to the artillery headquarters right away. The
streets were full of running, panic stricken desperate mobs of
Armenian forces. I could not see any Armenian officers around. The
roads were covered with belongings, overcoats, military equipments,
and food thrown away by the fleeing Armenians.
It was almost impossible to make our way out of the town as the
roads were crowded with streams of people and wagons. We tried to
pass through other roads. We changed our direction, and met with
cries of the people, and noise of fusillades.
I could not see what was happening in the streets. My sight was
blocked by a corner on the street. Only thing we were able to see
was the blood that was covering the snow in the street. I ordered
going back to where we returned from, thinking that there was a street battle going on. When we returned to the crossroads, we left our car
and started to walk the remaining distance.