Abstract:

Turkey chose not to participate in the Second World War until 1945 during 6 years and preferred to remain neutral. However, despite this, the country did not feel the war atmosphere away from itself throughout the period. The steps taken within the framework of the neutrality policy had heavy effects on the people and the army. In this context, around 22,000 soldiers serving within the Turkish Army Force lost their lives due to malnutrition and care conditions. We believe that the narration of the troubles suffered during the war years from the perspective of soldiers is not included in the academic literature as it deserves. Such a study has been preferred for a modest contribution to closing this period-related gap. In this study, the World War II social-economic-political-military influence in Turkey and efforts have been made to identify all the reflections in their military memories. Thus, thanks to the memories of the soldiers, concrete examples such as the daily life of the people, livelihood problems, health problems, epidemics, drinking water problem, the issue of food, the problem of the soldiers' accommodation, and the attitudes of the people in the army against the power were accessed and the effects of the war were tried to be revealed from different angles.

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