KAZAK EXODUS

By GODFREY LIAS Publisher: LONDON EVANS BROTHERS LIMITED First published 1956 Coverted to e-text in August, 2002 by Pratyeka in Sydney, Australia. Printed in Great Britain by Clarke, Doble & Brendon Ltd., Oakfield Press, Plymouth Z. 5337 http://pratyeka.org/books/kazak-exodus/

In 1948, some twenty thousand Kazak families, with their herds of camels, sheep and horses and all their possessions, set but from Sinkiang Province on a tragic but unwavering exodus from their communist-dominated country.

In addition to continual attack and pursuit by communist troops, the nomads suffered intense and dreadful hardships on a journey which took them across waterless deserts where their animals died of thirst, into the icebound Tibetan uplands without food or shelter, over mountain passes eighteen thousand feet above sea level and across vast stretches of trackless, hostile land.

Two years later, less than a quarter of their original number finally straggled, exhausted but undaunted, into East Kashmir. Here they found shelter, but it was only a temporary respite and more of these gallant people were to die before the rest found sanctuary and the chance to build a new life in Turkey.

The author tells, for the first time, the story of this mass migration which has its only parallel in the Exodus of the Israelites. He describes in full the events which led up to it, and the people who took part in it. The book closes with a picture of the Kazaks beginning to rebuild their shattered way of life after one of the most harrowing, yet inspiring, experiences ever recorded.

CONTENTS CHAPTER

I   Birth of a Hero
II  Osman leaves Home
III Osman Batur Grows Up
IV Early Life of Ali Beg and Hamza
V The Kazak Way of War
VI Communist Set-Back
VII Opened Eyes
VIII Coup d'etat
IX Fighting Retreat
X Disaster at Gezkul
XI Over the Roof of the World
XII Safety Last