• FULL TITLE: Under the Red Crescent: Adventures of an English Surgeon with the Turkish Army at Plevna and Erzeroum, 1877-1878’
• Related by Charles S. Ryan, in association with his friend John Sandes.
• Published by John Murray, London, 1897 (1st edition).
• Despite the title, the preface makes clear that the Charles S. (Snodgrass) Ryan (1853-1926) was actually an Australian surgeon, not English. ‘Touring Europe, Ryan undertook postgraduate study in Bonn and Vienna. In Rome, he saw in the London Times an advertisement by the Turkish government for twenty military surgeons. Seeking adventure and experience, he returned to London, was interviewed at the Turkish embassy, and two days later was en route to Constantinople. In mid-1876 he served in the final stages of the Turko-Serbian war and then in the Russo-Turkish campaign of 1877-78. He spent more than four months in the siege of Plevna (Pleven, Bulgaria), which led to his nickname 'Plevna', and finally at Erzeroum in Turkish Armenia, after the fall of which he became a Russian prisoner of war. For his war services he was decorated with the Turkish orders of the Osmanieh and the Medjidie and the War medal.’ (ADB)