On 16th March, two days
before the famous naval battle,
American Ambassador Morgenthau
visits the Dardanos Battery during an inspection of the Dardanelles
fortifications :
The Turkish generals were extremely proud of the fight which this Dardanos
battery had made against the British ships. They would lead me to the guns
that had done particulary good service and pat them affectionately. For my
benefit Djevad called out Lieutenant Hassan, the Turkish officer who had
defended this position. He was a little fellow, with jet-black hair, black eyes,
extremely modest and almost shrinking in the presence of these great generals.
...
... "It
is men like you of whom great heroes are made", said General Djevad. He
asked Hassan to describe the attack and the way it had been met.
The embarrassed Lieutenant quickly
told his story, though he was moved almost to tears by the appreciation of his
exalted chiefs.
"There is a great future for you in the army", said General Djevad, as we
parted from this hero.
I have
instructed Ali Bey ... ... to go and check the state of our Dardanos battery,
which had recently been reinforced with 15 cm guns from the battleship “Asar-ı
Tevfik”. Upon his return (on horseback) from the battery he reported that
Captain Hasan and Lieutenant Mevsuf had fallen while on duty and that the
guns had been completely destoyed.
Translated from “Çanakkale Memoirs”, Çanakkale recollections / Volume I,
(Istanbul 2005), Salahattin Adil Paşa, p. 133
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