Note 29 — II. VILAYET OF VAN.
Reading edition
The shelling of the mission buildings is also described by Mr. Yarrow, in an interview published in the New York “Times” 6th October, 1915, the day after his arrival in America:—
“For twenty-seven days 1,500 determined Armenians held Van against 5,000 Turks and Kurds, and for the last three days they were shelled with shrapnel from a howitzer brought up by a Turkish company headed by a German officer. I myself saw him directing the fire of the gun.
“Two days before the Russians came to Van, the Turks deliberately fired at the mission buildings. They stood out prominently and could not be mistaken, and also flew five American flags and one Red Cross flag as a protection. The firing was so accurate that the shots cut the signal halyards and brought the flags to the ground.”