According to a Turmush correspondent, Austrian soldiers were located in this region and were used to create roads along which carts could travel.
One such road is located in the foothills, about 3-4 kilometers south of Austan, along the Isfayram River, leading towards Chon-Alay. This area is currently part of the "Surma-Tash" nature reserve.
The village elders note that in the past, tungsten was mined in the Surma-Tash mines, which was then loaded onto carts and sent to Kyzyl-Kiya. During that time, bridges were also built across the Isfayram River; however, they fell into disrepair over time, and a new automobile bridge was constructed in their place.
Local residents suggest that this road connected the Chon-Alay and Kadamjay districts. It is possible that it was built during the reign of Kurmanjan-Datka, who, according to some sources, used this route for trips to the rulers of the Kokand Khanate. To this day, remnants of this road can be seen on the slopes.
Austro-Hungarian prisoners of war, while in the territory of modern Batken, were engaged not only in road construction but also in repairing weapons for the Russian troops.
There are reports that some of them exchanged weapons for jewelry with local residents.
Currently, in the Maydansk ayil aimak of the Kadamjay district, a project is underway to construct a road connecting the Batken region with the Chon-Alay district of the Osh region, which will be 127 kilometers long. Work is being carried out from both ends with the participation of employees from DEP-46.
Reference Information
Initially, the Russian military authorities planned to place prisoners of war in areas of Turkestan that were remote from major cities and railroads. However, due to the large number of prisoners and the lack of special housing, the plans changed. As a result, the first groups of prisoners of war were placed in the cities themselves.
The first prisoners of war arrived in Turkestan in September 1914, when up to 50,000 prisoners of various nationalities were sent to the region after the fall of Przemyśl, most of whom were housed in Tashkent.
At the initial stage, the placement did not cause serious problems, as barracks that had been vacated due to the dispatch of soldiers to the front were used.
However, soon there was a catastrophic shortage of available space. For example, in Katta-Kurgan, at the beginning of 1915, it was planned to accommodate an additional 1,200 prisoners, but the city could only accept 600, and in Samarkand, out of 1,000 prisoners of war, only 508 places were allocated.
