Smyrna in Flames

In “The Mask of Dimitrios” (also known as “The Coffin of Dimitrios”) thriller writer Eric Ambler described the 1922 destruction of Smyrna/Izmir by the Turks with these words: “Dragged from their houses and hiding places, men, women and children were butchered in the streets…The wooden walls of the churches, packed with refugees, were drenched with benzene and fired. The occupants who were not burnt alive were bayoneted as they tried to escape.”

In “The Mask of Dimitrios” (also known as “The Coffin of Dimitrios”) thriller writer Eric Ambler described the 1922 destruction of Smyrna/Izmir by the Turks with these words: “Dragged from their houses and hiding places, men, women and children were butchered in the streets…The wooden walls of the churches, packed with refugees, were drenched with benzene and fired. The occupants who were not burnt alive were bayoneted as they tried to escape.”