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diff --git a/old/63224-8.txt b/old/63224-8.txt deleted file mode 100644 index f44b887..0000000 --- a/old/63224-8.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,8202 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of With the Persian Expedition, by M. H. Donohoe - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: With the Persian Expedition - -Author: M. H. Donohoe - -Release Date: September 18, 2020 [EBook #63224] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WITH THE PERSIAN EXPEDITION *** - - - - -Produced by Al Haines - - - - - - - - -WITH THE PERSIAN EXPEDITION - - - - -[Illustration: THE ROAD TO BIRKANDI.] - - - - WITH THE PERSIAN - EXPEDITION - - - BY - - MAJOR M. H. DONOHOE - - LATE ARMY INTELLIGENCE CORPS - - - - ILLUSTRATED - - - - LONDON - EDWARD ARNOLD - 1919 - - (_All rights reserved_) - - - - - TO THE MEMORY OF - - MY COMRADES OF THE IMPERIAL AND - DOMINION FORCES - - WHO, IN THE CONCLUDING YEAR OF THE GREAT WAR, - GAVE THEIR LIVES FOR THE WORLD'S FREEDOM - IN PERSIA AND TRANSCAUCASIA. - - - - -{v} - -PREFACE - -No one can be more alive than I am to the fact that of the making of -war books there is no end, nor can anyone hear mentally more plainly -than I do how, at each fresh appearance of a work dealing with the -world tragedy of the past five years, weary reviewers and jaded -public alike exclaim, "What? Yet another!" Why, then, have I added -this of mine to the already so formidable list? - -Well, chiefly because in the beginning of 1918 Fate and the War -Office sent me into a field of operations almost unknown and unheeded -of the average home-keeping Briton--viz., that of North-West Persia, -in the land lying towards the Caucasus and the Caspian Sea; and my -experiences there led me into bypaths of the Great War so unusual as -to seem well worth describing, quite apart from the military -importance of the movements of which they were but a minute part. - -However, in the latter aspect, too, I hope my book will serve as a -useful footnote to the history of the gigantic struggle now happily -ended. - -The story of the Persian campaign needed to be told, and I am glad to -add my humble quota to the recital. It is the story of a little -force operating far {vi} away from the limelight, unknown to the -people at home, and seemingly forgotten a great part of the time even -by the authorities themselves. It was to this force--commanded by -General Dunsterville, and hence known to those who knew it at all as -"Dunsterforce"--that I was attached, and it is about it that I have -written here. I have tried to make clear what the "Dunsterforce" -was, why it was sent out, and how far it succeeded in accomplishing -its mission. In order to do this I have been obliged to treat rather -fully both of local geography and politics. For here we had no -clear-cut campaign in which all the people of one country were in -arms against all the people of another country. No! It was a very -mixed-up and complicated business, as anyone who troubles to read -what I have written will readily see. - -Then, again, it was a war waged distinctly off the beaten track. -During its progress we came across tribes to whom Great Britain was -as some legendary land in another solar sphere--tribes to whom the -aeroplane and the automobile were undreamed-of marvels--tribes, -finally, whose habitat and modes of life and thought are almost as -unknown to the average European as his are to them. For this reason -I have devoted some space to descriptions of places and people as I -saw them. - -A word should perhaps be said as to how and why I happened to be -there at all. - -{vii} - -War has figured very largely in my life. For the past twenty years, -as Special Correspondent of the _Daily Chronicle_, I have been -privileged to be present at most of the world's great upheavals, both -military and political. - -From July, 1914, on, for some eighteen months, I followed the -fortunes of the Entente armies in the field as a war chronicler, -first in Serbia, next in Belgium, and afterwards in Italy and -Greece--a poor journalistic Lazarus picking up such crumbs of news as -fell from the overladen table of Dives, the Censor. But I was not -happy, because I felt I was not doing my "bit" as effectively as I -might; so I followed the example of millions of other citizens of the -Empire and joined the army. Detailed to the Intelligence Corps, I -was sent first to Roumania, then to Russia. Escaping from the "Red -Terror" in Petrograd, I finally found myself one day embarking for -the remote land of Iran as Special Service Officer with -"Dunsterforce"--at which point this chronicle begins. - -THE AUTHOR. - - PARIS, - _October_, 1919. - - - - -{ix} - -CONTENTS - -CHAPTER I - -THE START OF THE "HUSH-HUSH" BRIGADE - -A mystery expedition--Tower of London conference--From Flanders mud -to Eastern dust--An Imperial forlorn hope--Some fine fighting -types--The amphibious purser--In the submarine zone--Our Japanese -escort - - -CHAPTER II - -EGYPT TO THE PERSIAN GULF - -Afloat in an insect-house--Captain Kettle in command--Overcrowding -and small-pox--The s.s. _Tower of Babel_--A shark scare--Koweit - - -CHAPTER III - -THE CITY OF SINBAD - -Arrival at Basra--A city of filth--Transformation by the -British--Introducing sport to the natives--The Arabs and the cinema - - -CHAPTER IV - -AT A PERSIAN WEDDING - -Visit to the Sheikh of Mohammerah--A Persian banquet - - -CHAPTER V - -UP THE TIGRIS TO KUT - -Work of the river flotilla--Thames steamboats on the Tigris--The -waterway through the desert--The renaissance of Amarah--The river's -jazz-step course--The old Kut and the new--In Townshend's old -headquarters--Turks' monument to short-lived triumph - - -{x} - -CHAPTER VI - -BAGDAD - -Arabian nights and motor-cars--The old and the new in Bagdad--"Noah's -dinghy"--Bible history illustrated--At a famous tomb-mosque - - -CHAPTER VII - -EARLY HISTORY OF DUNSTERVILLE's FORCE - -Jealousy and muddle--The dash for the Caspian--Holding on hundreds of -miles from anywhere--A 700-mile raid that failed--The cockpit of the -Middle East--Some recent politics in Persia--How our way to the -Caspian was barred - - -CHAPTER VIII - -OFF TO PERSIA - -Au revoir to Bagdad--The forts on the frontier--Customs house for the -dead--A land of desolation and death--A city of the past--An -underground mess--Methods of rifle thieves - - -CHAPTER IX - -THROUGH MUD TO KIRIND - -A city of starving cave-dwellers--An American woman's mission to the -wild--A sect of salamanders--Profiteering among the Persians--A -callous nation--Wireless orders to sit tight--Awaiting attack--The -"mountain tiger" - - -CHAPTER X - -KIRIND TO KERMANSHAH - -Pillage and famine--A land of mud--The Chikar Zabar Pass--Wandering -Dervishes--Poor hotel accommodation--A "Hunger Battalion"--A city of -the past - - -{xi} - -CHAPTER XI - -A CITY OF FAMINE - -In ancient Hamadan--With Dunsterville at last--His precarious -position--"Patriots" as profiteers--Victims of famine--Driven to -cannibalism--Women kill their children for food--Trial and -execution--Famine relief schemes--Deathblow to the Democrats--"Stalky" - - -CHAPTER XII - -DUNSTERVILLE STRIKES AFRESH - -Official hindrances--A fresh blow for the Caucasus--The long road to -Tabriz--A strategic centre--A Turkish invasion--Rising of Christian -tribes--A local Joan of Arc--The British project - - -CHAPTER XIII - -THE RACE FOR TABRIZ - -A scratch pack for a great adventure--Wagstaff of Persia--Among the -Afshars--Guests of the chief--Capture of Zinjan--Peace and -profiteering - - -CHAPTER XIV - -CAPTURE OF MIANEH - -Armoured car causes consternation--Reconnoitring the road--Flying -column sets out--An easy capture at the gates of Tabriz--Tribesmen -raid the armoured car--And have a thin time--Turks get the wind up - - -CHAPTER XV - -LIFE IN MIANEH - -Training local levies--A city of parasites and rogues--A knave turns -philanthropist--Turks getting active--Osborne's comic opera -force--Jelus appeal for help--An aeroplane to the rescue--The -democrats impressed--Women worried by aviator's "shorts"--Skirmishes -on the Tabriz road--Reinforcements at last - - -{xii} - -CHAPTER XVI - -THE FIGHT AT TIKMADASH - -Treachery of our irregulars--Turkish machine gun in the -village--Headquarters under fire--Native levies break and -bolt--British force withdrawn--Turks proclaim a Holy War--Cochrane's -demonstration--In search of the missing force--Natives mutiny--A -quick cure for "cholera"--A Turkish patrol captured--Meeting with -Cochrane--A forced retreat--Our natives desert--A difficult night -march--Arrival at Turkmanchai--Turks encircling us--A fresh retirement - - -CHAPTER XVII - -EVACUATION OF MIANEH - -We have a chilly reception--Our popularity wanes--Preparation for -further retirement--Back to the Kuflan Kuh Pass--Our defensive -position--Turks make a frontal attack--Our line overrun--Gallantry of -Hants and Worcesters--Pursuit by Turks--Armoured cars save the -situation--Prisoners escape from Turks--Persians as fighters - - -CHAPTER XVIII - -CRUSHING A PLOT - -Anti-British activities--Headquarters at Hamadan--Plans to seize -ringleaders--Midnight arrests--How the Governor was entrapped - - -CHAPTER XIX - -THE FIRST EXPEDITION TO BAKU - -Kuchik Khan bars the road--Turk and Russian movements--Kuchik Khan's -force broken up--Bicherakoff reaches Baku--British armoured car crews -in Russian uniforms--Fighting around Baku--Baku abandoned--Captain -Crossing charges six-inch guns - - -{xiii} - -CHAPTER XX - -THE NEW DASH TO BAKU - -Treachery in the town--Jungalis attack Resht--Armoured cars in -street-fighting--Baku tires of Bolshevism--British summoned to the -rescue--Dunsterville sets out--Position at Baku on arrival--British -officers' advice ignored--Turkish attacks--Pressing through the -defences--Baku again evacuated - - -CHAPTER XXI - -THE TURKS AND THE CHRISTIAN TRIBES - -Guerrilla warfare--Who the Nestorian and other Christian tribes -are--Turkish massacres--Russian withdrawal and its effect--British -intervention - - -CHAPTER XXII - -IN KURDISTAN - -The last phase--Dunsterforce ceases to exist--The end of Turkish -opposition--Off to Bijar--The Kurdish tribes--Raids on Bijar--Moved -on by a policeman--Governor and poet - - -CHAPTER XXIII - -THE END OF HOSTILITIES - -Types of Empire defenders--Local feeling--Dealing with Kurdish -raiders--An embarrassing offer of marriage--Prestige by -aeroplane--Anniversary of Hossain the Martyr--News of the -Armistice--Local waverers come down on our side of the -fence--Releasing civil prisoners--Farewell of Bajar--Down country to -the sea and home - - -APPENDIX - -THE WORK OF THE DUNSTERFORCE ARMOURED CAR BRIGADE - - -INDEX - - - - -{xv} - -LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS - - -THE ROAD TO BIRKANDI ... _frontispiece_ - -BRITISH-TRAINED PERSIAN POLICE - -HÔTEL D'EUROPE AT RESHT - -STONE BRIDGE AT SIAH RUD - -TYPICAL PERSIAN VILLAGE - -PERSIAN TRANSPORT - -DARIUS INSCRIPTIONS AT BISITUN - -CARAVANSERAI, BISITUN - -DRILLING JEHUS AT HAMADAN - -ROAD NEAR RUDBAR - -NORTH GATE OF KASVIN - -DRILLING ARMENIANS AT BAKU - -GROUP OF STAFFORDS AT BALADADAR STATION - -SIX-INCH HOWITZER IN ACTION AT BAKU - -GENERAL VIEW OF SCENE FOLLOWING THE ARMENIAN RETIREMENT - -HARVESTING IN PERSIA - - -_Map ... facing page_ 1 - - - - -[Illustration: Map] - - - - -{1} - -WITH THE PERSIAN EXPEDITION - - - -CHAPTER I - -THE START OF THE "HUSH-HUSH" BRIGADE - -A mystery expedition--Tower of London conference--From Flanders mud -to Eastern dust--An Imperial forlorn hope--Some fine fighting -types--The amphibious purser--In the submarine zone--Our Japanese -escort. - - -Scarcely had dawn tinged the sky of a February day in 1918 when there -crept out of the inner harbour of Taranto a big transport bound for -Alexandria. It was laden with British and Dominion troops. - -All were for service overseas. There were units for India and Egypt, -a contingent of Nursing Sisters for East Africa, and a detachment of -Sappers for Aden. The transport stealing noiselessly towards the -open sea was the P. and O. liner _Malwa_, and, as a precaution -against submarine attack, she had been so extensively and grotesquely -camouflaged by dockyard artists in black and white that some of her -own crew coming alongside on a dark night had difficulty in -recognizing her. - -The _Malwa_, too, had on board the members of a military expedition, -surely one of the most {2} extraordinary that ever crossed the sea to -fight the battles of the Empire in distant lands. Our official -designation was the "Dunsterville" or "Bagdad Party"; but War Office -cynics, and the damsel who sold us our patent filters and Tommy -Cookers at the military equipment stores in London, knew us as the -"Hush-hush" Brigade. And the "Hush-hush" Brigade we were privileged -to remain. This nickname met us in Alexandria, followed us to Cairo -and distant Basra, and preceded us to the City of the Caliphs on the -shores of the muddy-brown Tigris. - -On the eve of the departure from England of the main body for the -Italian port of embarkation, a heart-to-heart talk between General -Sir William Robertson and the members of the Bagdad Party had taken -place at the Tower of London. The veil of official secrecy was drawn -ever so little aside, and, allowed a peep behind, we beheld a field -of military activity with a distinctly Eastern setting. Men who had -been "over the top" in Flanders heard with a joyous throb of -expectation that the next time they went into the line would be -probably somewhere in Persia or the Caucasus. They were as happy as -children at the prospect, finding it a welcome relief from muddy -tramps through the low-lying lands of the Western Front, the dull -grey skies, the monotony of life in flooded trenches under incessant -bombardment, varied only by an occasional rush across No-Man's Land -to get at the Hun throat. We were going from mud to dust, but -hurrah! anyway. - -{3} - -On that February morning, as the _Malwa_ slipped past Taranto town -and into the roadstead where lay her Japanese destroyer escort, the -roll-call of the Bagdad Party showed a strength of 70 officers and -140 N.C.O's. This was to be the nucleus of a force which we hoped -would combat and overthrow Bolshevism, make common cause with -Armenians, Georgians, and Tartars, raise and train local levies, and -bar with a line of bayonets the further progress of Turk and German -by way of the Caspian Sea and Russian Turkestan towards the Gates of -India. - -With few exceptions our party consisted of Dominion soldiers gathered -from the remote corners of the Empire. There were Anzacs and -Springboks, Canadians from the far North-West, men who had charged up -the deadly shell-swept slopes of Gallipoli, and those who had won -through at Vimy Ridge. They were, in fact, a hardened band of -adventurous soldiers, fit to go anywhere and do anything, men who had -lived on the brink of the pit for three years and had come back from -the Valley of the Shadow of Death. - -The War Office needed the raw material for a desperate enterprise. -It was found by Brigadier-General Byron, himself an able and -experienced soldier with a brilliant South African fighting -reputation. He went across to Flanders and picked out the cream of -the fighting men from the South African contingent and from the -magnificent Australian and Canadian Divisions. I do not recall a -single officer {4} or N.C.O. who had not won at least one decoration -for bravery. We had with us, too, a small party of Russian officers -who, fleeing from the Red Terror when their army broke and melted -away, remained loyal to the Entente, and volunteered for the -Caucasus, where they hoped to prove to the Bolsheviks that the cause -of Russian national and military honour was not entirely lost. - -Our Russian allies for the Caucasus were mostly young men, -enthusiastic and keen soldiers, endowed with the splendid fighting -spirit of the old Russian Army such as I knew it in the early spring -campaign of 1915 in Bukovina, when it fought with empty rifles and -stood up to the encircling Austrians in those terrible February days -that preceded and followed the evacuation of Czernowitch. - -On the _Malwa_, I remember, we had with us Captain Bray, an -Anglo-Russian who had been a liaison officer in London, and spoke -English like an Englishman. Then there was a Colonel who had been -earmarked for death when his regiment mutinied and went "Red" at -Viborg in Finland. Scantily clad, he had escaped his would-be -assassins, fleeing bare-footed into the darkness of the Finnish -winter night. After many hairbreadth escapes he had gained Swedish -territory and safety. - -[Illustration: BRITISH TRAINED PERSIAN POLICE.] - -There was also Captain George Eve, an Anglo-Russian mining engineer, -who came from South America to enlist, and who, because of his accent -and foreign appearance, had been arrested more than {5} once in the -front line in Flanders on suspicion of being a German spy dressed in -British uniform. - -Colonel Smiles of the Armoured Car Section was another interesting -figure. A descendant of Smiles of "Self-Help" fame, he had won the -D.S.O. and the Cross of St. George while fighting with the -Locker-Lampson unit in Russia. - -Where practically every second man had a record of thrilling deeds -behind him it is difficult to individualize, but a word must be given -to Colonel Warden, D.S.O., of the Canadian Contingent. "Honest John" -was the affectionate nickname bestowed upon him by the ship's -company, who found a special fascination in his childlike simplicity -of character combined with exceptional soldierly qualities. - -Another refreshingly original type was Colonel Donnan, the C.O. of -the party. Apart from other things, his physical qualities seemed to -mark him out for the important post he occupied. They were -calculated to strike terror into any Hun or other heart. A veritable -Sandow, his burly thick-set figure, black bristling moustache, and -dark piercing eyes were valuable assets for the man whose task was to -discipline such a mixed company as ours, and the nurses affected an -exaggerated terror of them, well knowing (the minxes!) that they were -but the outworks of the fortress behind which was entrenched the -Colonel's kind heart--outworks apt to go down like ninepins when -assailed by a woman's tearful pleadings. - -{6} - -Colonel Donnan is one of the strong, silent Englishmen who have done -so much in an unostentatious way to push the interests of the British -Empire in the far-off places of the earth. A great Orientalist, he -has passed through many Eastern lands in disguise, bringing back -precious fruits of his labours in a store of information, both -military and political, gathered in his journeyings. - -The _Malwa_ boasted an amphibious purser named Milman. For three and -a half years, ever since the war began, he had been sailing up and -down the seas from London to Rio, and from Bombay to Liverpool, and -he knew from personal contact the summer and winter temperature of -the Mediterranean Sea better than did any meteorologist from -collected data. In fact, he had been torpedoed so many times that he -had begun to look upon it as part of the routine of his daily life. -He possessed a life-saving suit, his own improved design, which was -at once the wonder and admiration of all who inspected it. It was of -rubber, in form not unlike a diving dress, with a hood which came -over the head of the wearer and was made fast under the chin. In -front were two pockets, which always remained ready rationed with a -spirit-flask, some sandwiches, and a pack of patience cards. It was -the purser's travelling outfit when he was overboard in the -Mediterranean or elsewhere and waiting to be hauled on board a rescue -boat. - -Occasionally when, in harbour, time hung heavily on his hands, this -amphibious purser would clothe {7} himself in his rubber suit, slip -over the ship's side, and go off for an outing. Once in Port Said, -while gently floating off on one of these aquatic excursions, he was -sighted by the port guardship, and a picket-boat was sent to fish him -out under the impression that he was dead. "This bloke is a gonner -all right!" said one of the crew, as he reached for him with a -boathook. Then the "corpse" sat up and said things. So did the -spokesman of the astonished crew when, having recovered from the -shock, he found his voice again. - -Milman was a cheery optimist. Nothing ever perturbed him. He was a -recognized authority on "silver fish" (_i.e._, torpedoes) and -cocktails, was an excellent raconteur, and possessed all the suavity -and tact of a finished diplomat. When nervous ladies worried the -doctor and cross-examined him as to the habits and hunting methods of -Hun submarines, he invariably passed them on to the purser, and -always with the happiest results; for, under the spell of Milman's -racy talk, they soon forgot their fears. - -The second day out from Taranto brought us well within the submarine -danger zone. We changed course repeatedly, for wireless had warned -us of the proximity of the dreaded sea pirate. The _Tagus_, our -fellow transport, proved herself a laggard; she was falling behind -and keeping station badly, and the Commodore of our Japanese escort -was busy hurling remonstrances at her in the Morse code. {8} Our -three Japanese destroyers made diligent and efficient scouts. They -gambolled over the blue waters of the Mediterranean like so many -sheepdogs protecting a moorland flock. Now one or another raced away -to starboard, then to port, then circled round and round us, took -station amidships, or dropped astern. - -Their tactics, perhaps one should say their antics, must have been -extremely baffling, even exasperating, to any enemy submarine -commander lying low in the hope of bagging the _Malwa_ or the -_Tagus_. Nothing seemed to escape the keen-eyed sailors of the -Mikado's navy. Experience had taught them the value of seagulls as -submarine spotters. Endowed with extraordinary instinct and eyes -that see far below the surface of the sea, the resting gulls detect a -submarine coming up anywhere in their vicinity, take fright, and -hurriedly fly away. Whenever the gulls gave the signal--and there -were many false alarms--a Japanese destroyer would race to the spot -in readiness for Herr Pirate; but he never appeared. - -However, the Hun was not always so cautious. There was great -rejoicing on board the _Malwa_ when the wireless told us that west of -us, in the Malta Channel, Japanese vigilance had been rewarded, -transports saved from destruction, and two enemy submarines sent to -the bottom. It was all the work of a few minutes. Whether the enemy -failed to sight the destroyers, or whether they intended to chance -their luck and fight them, is not quite clear. At all {9} events, -Submarine No. 1 popped up dead ahead of one destroyer and was -promptly rammed and sunk. Submarine No. 2 met with an equally -unmistakable end. It had already singled out a transport for attack, -when a second Japanese destroyer engaged it at seven hundred yards' -range and blew its hull to pieces. - -Nevertheless it was an anxious time for us on the _Malwa_ living in -hourly dread of being torpedoed. The Nursing Sisters professed to -treat the danger with scorn; they were courageous and cheery souls, -and would unhesitatingly have faced death with the equanimity of the -bravest man. - -Ten in the forenoon and five in the afternoon were the hours of -greatest peril, when submarine attacks might be specially expected. -Everyone "stood to" at these hours, wearing the regulation lifebelt, -and ready to take to the boats if the ship were hit and in danger of -sinking. Colonel Donnan, C.O. ship, was a strict disciplinarian. He -enhanced the somewhat piratical ferocity of mien with which nature -had gifted him by always carrying his service revolver buckled on and -ready for any emergency, and the Nursing Sisters professed to be in -great trepidation each time at inspection parade when he ran his -critical eye over their life-saving equipment. Of course knots -sometimes went wrong, and the strings of the life-belt were tied the -incorrect way; but volunteers were never lacking to adjust the erring -straps and to see that they sat on a pretty pair of {10} shoulders in -the manner laid down in Regulations, while the ferociously -tender-hearted C.O. smiled approval. - -On the fourth day after leaving Taranto the _Malwa_ steamed into -Alexandria Harbour. Everyone was in the highest spirits. We had -escaped the submarine peril, and the period of nervous tension while -waiting in expectancy of a bolt from the deep was happily over. It -was a glorious spring day; the warm, radiant sun of Egypt gave us a -fitting welcome. - -The stay in Alexandria of the Bagdad Party was short. Orders came -through from headquarters that we were to proceed to Suez by rail as -soon as possible to join a waiting troopship there. That night there -were many tender leave-takings in quiet secluded nooks on the upper -deck of the _Malwa_. During our four days' journey from Taranto the -Australians on board had proved themselves to be as deadly effective -in love as they are in war. But now had come the parting of the -ways, with the pain and bitterness of separation. Perhaps a kindly -Fate may reunite some of these sundered ones, but for many that can -never be. At least three of those bright, cheery Australian lads -sleep in soldiers' graves beneath the soil of Persia, far from their -own South Land and from the girls to whom they plighted their troth -that last night in the harbour of Alexandria beneath the starry -Egyptian sky. - -General Byron, his orderly officer, and myself left the same evening -for Cairo en route for Suez. Next {11} day we had time to obtain a -fleeting glimpse of the Pyramids, take tea at Shepheards', and be -held to ransom by an energetic British matron who ordered us to -"stand and deliver" in the name of some philanthropic institution -which had not the remotest connection with the War or any suffering -arising out of the War. The General furnished the soft answer that -turneth away wrath, and with that, plus a small contribution for -supplying wholly unnecessary blankets to the aboriginal inhabitants -of some tropical country, we were allowed to retain the remainder of -our spare cash and to continue our journey in the Land of Egypt. - - - - -{12} - -CHAPTER II - -EGYPT TO THE PERSIAN GULF - -Afloat in an insect-house--Captain Kettle in command--Overcrowding -and small-pox--The s.s. _Tower of Babel_--A shark scare--Koweit. - - -Forty-eight hours after disembarking at Alexandria we were steaming -down the Gulf of Suez on board a second transport bound for the -Persian Gulf. - -It would be difficult to imagine a greater contrast than that between -the vessel which brought us across the Mediterranean and the one that -was now carrying us towards the portals of the Middle East. The -latter was a decrepit steamer, indescribably filthy, which had been -running in the China trade for a quarter of a century. Though -favoured by the mildest of weather, the old tub groaned in every -joint as she thumped her way down the Red Sea towards the Indian -Ocean. Long overdue for the scrap-heap, when the war broke out she -was turned into a transport, and thenceforth carried cargoes of -British troops instead of Chinese coolies. Her decks and upper works -were thickly encrusted with dirt, the careful hoarding of years; and -a paint-brush had not touched her for generations. Her cabins were -so many entomological museums where insect life {13} flourished. In -the worm-eaten recesses of the woodwork lurked colonies of parasites -gathered from every corner of the globe, fighting for the principle -of self-determination of small nations. The bathroom door, held in -place by a single rusty hinge, hung at a drunken angle, and the -inflow pipe of the bath was choked with rust. At night, as you slept -in your bunk, playful mice, by way of establishing friendly -relations, would nibble at your big toe, and a whole family of -cockroaches would attempt new long-distance-sprinting records up and -down the bedclothes. - -The Captain of the ship was a sharp-featured ferret-eyed individual -who sometimes wore a collar. No one knew his exact nationality, but -he bore a tolerable resemblance to Cutcliffe Hyne's immortal "Captain -Kettle." Indeed, he was said to cultivate this resemblance by every -means in his power. He had a pointed, unshaven chin; he wore a -much-faded uniform cap tilted over one ear. On the bridge you would -see him with hands thrust deep in his trouser pockets and chewing a -cigar. As master of a tramp, he had nosed his way into almost every -port in both hemispheres. He had traded from China to Peru, and -along the Pacific Coast of America. In his wanderings he had -acquired a Yankee accent and a varied and picturesque polyglot -vocabulary which, when the floodgates of his wrath were opened, he -turned with telling effect upon his Lascar crew or his European -officers. He was a man of moods and {14} strange oaths, a good -seaman with a marked taste for poker and magazine literature of the -cheap sensational kind. - -Such, then, was our ship, and such its skipper! When we had arrived -at Suez, where we embarked, there were several cases of smallpox -amongst its Lascar firemen. The Embarkation Officer had feared -infection, and had hesitated to send us on board; but he was -overruled by a higher authority somewhere in Egypt or England. There -was no other transport available, it was said; the units for India -and for Persia were urgently needed; and, smallpox or no smallpox, -sail we must--and did. - -The ship was terribly overcrowded. The Indian troops "pigged it" -aft; the British troops were accommodated in the hold; and those of -the officers who were unable to find quarters elsewhere unstrapped -their camp bed and slept on deck. Fortunately it was the cool season -in the Red Sea; the days were warm, but not uncomfortably so; and the -nights were sharp and bracing, the head-wind which we carried with us -all the way to Aden keeping the thermometer from climbing beyond the -normal. - -Once clear of Suez everybody settled down to work, a very useful -relief to the discomforts of life on an overcrowded transport. -Youthful subalterns joining the Indian Army set themselves to study -Hindustani grammars and vocabularies with the valiant intention of -acquiring colloquial proficiency before they even sighted Bombay. -Members of the {15} Bagdad Party, stimulated by this exhibition of -industry, tackled Persian and Russian. We had two officers who -offered themselves as teachers of the language of Iran--Lieutenant -Akhbar, a native-born Persian whose English home was at Manchester, -and Captain Cooper of the Dorsets, who had studied Oriental tongues -in England, and had been wounded at Gallipoli in a hand-to-hand fight -with the Turks. - -For Russian also there was no lack of teachers, the Russian officers, -Captain Eve, and I taking charge of classes. In my own section, -elementary Russian, I had twenty-two N.C.O.'s as eager and willing -pupils. The majority were Australians, and, although dismayed at -first by the bizarre appearance of the unfamiliar characters, and the -seemingly unsurmountable difficulties of what one Anzac aptly -described as "this upside-down language," they put their backs into -it with very remarkable results, plodding away at their lessons hour -after hour with unwearying zeal. Some had picked up a smattering of -"Na Poo" French on the Western Front; a few spoke French fairly well; -but the majority knew no foreign language at all; yet the quick alert -Australian brain captured the entire Russian alphabet in forty-eight -hours after beginning the preliminary assault. - -I have sometimes thought since that to the Gods on High our ship must -have appeared a sort of floating Tower of Babel, so intent on -speaking strange tongues were each and all. - -Before we reached the Indian Ocean, one of the {16} ship's officers -disappeared in a mysterious manner. He was missed from the bridge at -midnight and, although diligent search was made, no trace of him was -ever found, and it had to be assumed that he had jumped or fallen -overboard. Our Goanese stewards who were Christians looked upon this -incident with the greatest misgivings. Knowing the superstitions of -the Lascar crew, they secretly felt that the missing officer had been -thrown overboard by some of them to placate a huge shark that had -been following the ship for days. The Lascars have a great dread of -such company at sea. To their untutored minds this voracious brute -following a vessel foretells death to someone on board; so better a -sacrificial victim than perhaps one of themselves! - -Personally, I do not think for a moment that Lascar superstition was -responsible for the disappearance of the missing man, nor that these -people are given to the propitiation of the Man-Eaters of the Red -Sea. But when, two nights later, one of the Lascars vanished as -mysteriously as had the ship's officer, and this too in calm weather, -it looked as if some Evil Spirit had found a place on board. -Stewards and crew now became terrified. The former would not venture -alone on the deck at night, and the Lascars, sorely puzzled over the -fate of their comrade, went about their work in fear and trembling. - -This dread of the mysterious and the unseen became contagious and -affected others outside the ship's company. Subalterns who had been -sleeping {17} on hammocks slung close to the ship's rail and whose -courage had been proved on many a field, now decided that, shark -worship or no shark worship, they would be safer elsewhere, and -transferred themselves to the 'tween decks. Anyhow, the Sea Demon -must by this time have been satisfied, for we lost no more of our -personnel. - -We arrived off Koweit in the Gulf of Persia on March 1st, seventeen -days after leaving Suez. - -Koweit, or Kuwet, is an important seaport on the Arabian side at the -south-west angle of the Persian Gulf, about eighty miles due south of -Basra, our port of destination. Kuwet is the diminutive form of Kut, -a common term in Irak for a walled village, and the port lies in the -south side of a bay twenty miles long and five miles wide. Seen -through our glasses it did not seem a prepossessing place, for the -bare stony desert stretched away for miles behind the town. Yet only -by accident had it escaped greatness. In 1850 General Chesny, who -knew these parts by heart, recommended it as the terminus of his -proposed Euphrates Valley Railway; and, when the extension of the -Anatolian Railway to Bagdad and the Gulf was mooted, Koweit was long -regarded as a possible terminus. But the War altered all that, and -it is doubtful now if Koweit, which lives by its sea commerce alone, -will even achieve the distinction of becoming the terminal point of a -branch line of the railway which is destined to link up two -continents. - -{18} - -The Turks and Germans have long had their eyes open to the great -possibilities of Koweit. The former in 1898 attempted a military -occupation, but were warned off by the British, and abandoned their -efforts to obtain a foothold in this commercial outpost of the Gulf, -while the ruling Sheikh was sagacious enough to be aware of the -danger of Turkish absorption, and to avert it by placing his -dominions under the protection of Great Britain. The -German-subsidized Hamburg-Amerika Line made an eleventh hour attempt -to capture the trade of the Gulf, and in the months immediately -preceding the War devoted special attention to Koweit and Basra -trade, carrying freight at rates which must have meant a heavy -financial loss. It was all part of the German Weltpolitik to oust us -from these lucrative markets of the Middle East, and to secure for -German shipping a monopoly of the Gulf carrying trade. With the -German-controlled Bagdad Railway approaching completion, one shudders -to realize what would have been our fate economically, if the -sea-borne trade of Basra and Koweit had passed under the flag and -into the hands of the enterprising Hun. - -Basra lies about eighty miles to the north of Koweit. It is here -that the Shatt el Arab (literally the river of the Arabs, or, -otherwise, the commingled Euphrates and Tigris) empties itself into -the Persian Gulf. Vessels with a greater draught than nineteen feet -cannot easily negotiate the bar. Our own transport was bound for -Bombay, so it was with a feeling {19} of thankfulness that we quitted -her for ever and were transferred to a British India liner, the -_Erinrupy_, which since the beginning of the War has been used as a -hospital ship. She was spick and span, and the general air of -cleanliness was so marked after the filthy tub that had conveyed us -from Suez that we trod her decks and ventured into her cabins with an -air of apologetic timidity. - -It was half a day's run up river to Basra. Next morning we were -speeding along with the swirling brown waters of the Shatt el Arab -lapping our counter, the land of Iran on our right, and that of Irak -on our left. It grew warmer, and there was a good deal of moisture -in the air. The low flat shores, cut up by irrigation canals, were -covered by date-palm groves. Dhows and other strange river craft, -laden with merchandise, dotted the surface of the brown waters, and -the glorious green of the foreshores was a welcome relief to eyes -tired of the arid sterility of the Arabian shore. A few miles below -Basra we steered a careful course, passing the sunken hulls of two -Turkish gunboats which the enemy had submerged in the fairway in the -hope of blocking the river channel and preventing the victorious -British maritime and war flotillas from reaching Basra. Like most -other operations undertaken by the Turks the effort was badly -bungled, and the channel was left free to our ships. - - - - -{20} - -CHAPTER III - -THE CITY OF SINBAD - -Arrival at Basra--A city of filth--Transformation by the -British--Introducing sport to the natives--The Arabs and the cinema. - - -Basra or Busra, the Bastra of Marco Polo, and for ever linked with -the adventures of Sinbad the Sailor, is one of the most important -ports of Asiatic Turkey, and sits on the right bank of the Shatt el -Arab a short distance below the confluence of the Tigris and the -Euphrates. - -It is built on low-lying marshy land where the malarial mosquito -leads an energetic and healthy life. Basra proper is about a mile -from the river, up a narrow and malodorous creek, and when the tide -is out the mud of this creek cries out in strange tongues. The -natives, however, seem to thrive upon its nauseating vapours. It is -at once the source of their water supply and the receptacle for -sewerage. In this delectable spot, as indeed throughout Asiatic -Turkey and Persia, sanitary science is still unborn, and the streets -are the dumping-ground for refuse. - -The long, narrow bellem, with its pointed prow, in general appearance -not unlike a gondola, is the chief means of communication between the -Shatt {21} el Arab and Basra itself. If the tide is low, the Arab in -charge poles up or down stream, and when you arrive at your -destination you generally pick your way through festering mud to the -landing-place. - -One's first feelings are of wonder and bewilderment that the entire -population has not long ago been wiped out by disease. Going up and -down stream at low tide I have seen Arab women rinsing the salad for -the family meal side by side with others dealing with the family -washing. Then the bellem boy, thirsty, would lean over the side of -the craft, scoop up a handful or two of the water, and drink it. As -successors to the dirty and lazy Turk the British in occupation of -Basra have set themselves to remedy this state of affairs, but it is -uphill work. Manners and customs of centuries are not easily laid -aside, and your Asiatic sniffs suspiciously at anything labelled -Sanitary Reform, while the very mention of the word Hygiene sounds to -him like blasphemy against the abominations with which he loves to -surround himself. The Turk never bothered his head whether the -inhabitants lived in unhealthy conditions. When an epidemic broke -out and carried off a certain proportion of the population, the -Turkish Governor would bow his head in meek resignation before the -inscrutable will of Allah. - -The architecture of Basra is of a distinctly primitive type. The -houses are built chiefly of sun-dried bricks, and the roofs are flat, -covered with mud laid {22} over rafters of date-wood and surrounded -by a low parapet. - -Basra had been used as the British base for the advance against the -Turks on the Tigris. From here had been rationed the army and the -guns that reconquered Kut and opened the difficult road to Bagdad. -The magician's wand of the British soldier-wallah wrought wonders in -the place. Malarial swamps were filled in, and hospitals and -administrative buildings erected. Wharves equipped with giant cranes -sprang into being on the quayside, and, as we were landed, the busy -river scene, with fussy tugs towing huge laden barges, and the -quayside packed with transports, irresistibly recalled some populous -port in the Antipodes or Britain itself, rather than the seaside -capital of a vilayet in Asiatic Turkey. - -That Basra had a great future in store for it as a shipping centre -was early recognized by Major-General Sir George McMunn, who for some -time held the post of Inspector-General of Lines of Communications at -Basra. He was one of those rare soldiers with a genius for -organization and a capacity for bringing to bear upon big problems a -wide range of outlook, and he was never hampered by those military -trammels which often mar the professional soldier and make a good -general an exceedingly bad civil administrator. So General McMunn -set to work to give Basra an impetus along the path of commercial -progress. He planned a model city {23} which was to include -residential and business sites, electric tramways, modern hotels, and -public parks. It was a stupendous undertaking, but McMunn -accomplished much in the face of great financial difficulties. He -endowed Basra with a first-class hotel run by a chef and an hotel -staff recruited from London, installed electric light, gave the -evil-smelling town a vigorous spring-cleaning, and with stone -quarried in Arabia buried beneath stout paving the slimy mud of some -of the Basra streets. - -Ashar which fronts the Shatt el Arab is really the business centre of -Basra. Its bazaars running parallel with Basra Creek are dark, -evil-smelling, and over-crowded by human bipeds who swarm about ant -fashion, and are born, live, and die in these purlieus. - -In the course of an hour during the busy part of the day you can -count on meeting representatives of all the races and creeds of Asia -in the streets and bazaars of Ashar or lower Basra. Here ebbs and -flows the flotsam of the East--Jews, Arabs, Armenians, Kurds, -Persians, Chaldeans (merchants or traffickers these!), and coolies -from India, Burma, and China, with wanderers from the remote khanates -of Russian Turkestan, the latter in quaint headdress and wearing -sheepskin coats whose vicinity is rather trying to sensitive noses -when the thermometer is well above eighty in the shade. - -General Byron, with Major Newcombe of the Canadian Contingent, -Captain Eve, some other members of our party, and myself were -quartered in {24} the old Turkish cavalry barracks, while the -remainder went into camp at Makina, two miles out. The Turks, it is -true, were gone never to return, but in the honeycombed recesses of -the crumbling dust-covered walls of Ashar barracks their troopers had -left behind many old friends who, from the very first, displayed an -envenomed animosity towards us, and attacked British officers and men -with a vigour which the Turkish Army itself had never excelled. -Every night raiding parties, defying alike our protective mosquito -nets and the poison-gas effect of Keating's, found their way into our -beds; and every morning we would crawl from between the sheets -bearing visible marks of these night forays. - -It is always said, and generally believed, that the British signalize -their occupation of a country by laying down a cricket pitch and -building a church. They did all these things and more at Basra. -There was a garrison church, a simple building with a special care -for the temperature of a Gulf Sunday. There were several sports -clubs, and one at Makina, which might be called the suburb of Ashar, -had good tennis courts. Beyond, in the desert, was a racecourse -where the local Derby and Grand National were run off. - -The ordinary native of Iran and of the "Land of the Two Rivers" has -not hitherto shown any marked taste for either mild or violent -physical exercise. But Basra, I found, was a noted exception to -this, and youth of the place were badly bitten by the {25} sports -mania. As the doctors would say, "the disease spread with alarming -rapidity, and spared neither young nor old." After a few weeks -devoted to picking up points as spectators at "soccer" matches, a -native team would secure possession of a rather battered football and -start work, "Basra Mixed" trying conclusions with "Ashar Bazaar," for -example. The rules were neither Rugby nor Association, but a local -extemporization of both; and the dress was not the classic costume of -the British football field, but a medley of all the garbs of Asia. -Stately Arabs in long flowing robes, suffering from the prevailing -sports fever, would forget their dignity to the extent of running -after a football and trying to kick it. Chaldean Christian would -mingle in the scrum with Jew and Mussulman. Individual players -sometimes received the kick intended for the ball. Off the field -this would have led to racial trouble and perhaps bloodshed, but as a -rule these slight departures from the strict football code were -accepted in the best possible spirit, being regarded no doubt as part -of the game itself. - -Of course things did not always run so smoothly. Sometimes the ball -was entirely lost sight of, and lay lonely and isolated in some -corner of the field, while the players would resolve themselves into -a sort of Pan-Asian congress on the ethics of games in general. -Everyone spoke at once and in his own tongue. On such occasions a -passing British soldier would be summoned to assist at the -deliberations, {26} and in "Na Poo" Arabic would straighten out the -tangle. Then play would be resumed, everybody bowing to the superior -wisdom of the soldier sahib, and accepting his decision -unquestioningly. - -The youth of Basra, more precocious than their elders, converted the -streets of Ashar into a playing-ground where tip-cat, bat and ball, -marbles, diabolo, and sundry other forms of juvenile recreation found -eager devotees at all hours of the day in narrow streets generally -crowded with army transport. - -The cinema also exercised a great influence on the native mind. -Never quite understanding its working, he accepted it all -philosophically as part of the travelling outfit of that strange race -of infidels from far away who had chased the Turks from the shores of -the Arabian Sea, who seemed to be able to make themselves into birds -at will, and who rushed over the roadless desert in snorting -horseless carriages. Men such as these were capable of anything, and -when the first cinema film arrived, the Arabs filled to overflowing -the ramshackle building which served as a theatre. In Basra I often -went to the cinema, not so much for the show itself as to watch the -joy with which that primitive child of nature, the Arab, followed the -mishaps and triumphs of the hero through three reels. How they were -moved to tears by his sufferings! And how they shouted with joy when -the villain of the piece was hoist by his own petard and his career -of rascality abruptly and fittingly terminated! - -{27} - -One thing, I found on talking to some of these native onlookers, -puzzled their minds exceedingly, and that was the morals and manners -of European women as shown on the screen. The Arab is a fervent -stickler for the conventionalities, and it was a great shock to his -religious scruples to see women promenading in low-necked dresses -with uncovered faces, frequenting restaurants with strange men not -their husbands, and imbibing strong drink. "The devil must be kept -busy in Faringistan raking all these shameless creatures into the -bottomless pit!" said one Arab to me, when I asked him what he -thought of the cinema. It was useless to seek to explain that cinema -scenes did not represent the real life of the Englishman or the -American, and that all our women do not earn their living as cinema -artists. - -In Basra I never saw a Mohammedan woman frequenting a cinema -performance. Even had she won over her husband's consent to such an -innovation, public opinion would veto her presence there, and she -would not be permitted to look upon this devil's machine illustrating -foreign "wickedness." - - - - -{28} - -CHAPTER IV - -AT A PERSIAN WEDDING - -Visit to the Sheikh of Mohammerah--A Persian banquet. - - -A few miles below Basra, on the Persian shore, at the point where the -Karun River joins the Shatt el Arab, are the semi-independent -dominions of the Sheikh of Mohammerah. His territory is part and -parcel of the moribund Persian Empire, but the Sheikh has long held -independent sway, and has ruled his little kingdom with Oriental -grandeur and benevolent despotism. He is a firm and convinced friend -of the British, and even at the darkest hour of our military fortunes -in the Gulf, when it seemed as if we might be driven from the lower -Tigris itself, the Sheikh was proof against Turkish intrigue and the -corrupting influence of Hun gold. - -His Excellency the Khazal Khan, K.C.S.I., K.C.I.E., to give him his -full title, like most Persian potentates in the tottering, crumbling -Empire of Iran, where the writ of the present "King of Kings" does -not run beyond the walls of Teheran, held undisputed sway over his -little state, and his authority was enforced by a nondescript army of -retainers. But he was a {29} generous host, a firm friend, and an -unforgiving enemy. - -One week-end while at Basra I was one of a few British officers -invited to assist at the elaborate festivities which precede a -Persian marriage. The contemplated matrimonial alliance was intended -to unite the family of the Sheikh and that of Haji Reis, his Grand -Vizier or Prime Minister. In the small party that dropped down the -river on one of His Majesty's gunboats, were the Admiral of the -Station, one or two generals, the Political Officer, the liaison -officer between the Indian Government and the ruler of Mohammerah, -and my friend Akhbar, a Persian from Manchester who had joined up -early in the War. As we dropped down stream past the Palace, a -salute was fired in our honour by the Sheikh's artillery-men with a -couple of old six-pounders. An antediluvian Persian gunboat dipped -her ensign as we steamed past. It was the first time I had seen a -warship or indeed any other vessel flying the Persian flag, and I -regarded her with interest. Akhbar, who despite his British uniform -and his long residence amongst us, remained always an ardent Persian, -professed to be very much hurt by some chance observations of mine -directed at the river gunboat and the Persian navy in general. - -The Palace was a rectangular building, with stuccoed front, standing -back from the water and approached by a winding stone staircase. On -landing we were received by the chief dignitaries of the {30} place -with the Grand Vizier at their head. There was much bowing and -salaaming, and it was here that I first made acquaintance with that -elaborate code of official and social ceremony which surrounds every -act of one's life in Persia. A guard of honour from the Sheikh's -household troops made a creditable attempt to present arms as we -stepped ashore. More soldiers lined the stairway leading to the -reception room. They wore a variety of uniforms, and were armed with -everything in the way of rifles, from antiquated Sniders to modern -Mausers and Lee-Enfields. Like most of the irregulars that we -encountered in Persia afterwards, they fairly bristled with -bandoliers stuffed full of cartridges. A Persian on the war-path, be -he tribal chief or simple armed follower, is generally a walking -arsenal. He is full of lethal weapons which nearly always include a -rifle of some kind and a short stabbing sword with an inlaid hilt. -He often displays a Mauser pistol as well, and usually carries enough -ammunition hung round him to equip a decent-sized small-arms factory. - -The Sheikh himself received us in the main reception hall, which was -covered with rare Persian carpets, any single one of which would be -worth a small fortune in London. The Prime Minister and his son, we -found, spoke excellent English, and the former, who was wearing the -conventional frock coat of the Occident, but no shirt collar, -presented each visitor in turn to our Arab host, a man just past {31} -middle life with all the stately grace and dignity of his Bedouin -forebears. He was dressed in native costume; his manners were easy -and full of charm. He had a dark, olive-tinted face, black beard and -wonderful lustrous black eyes. A strict adherent of the Shi'ite -sect, and an abstainer from strong drink himself, he was, -nevertheless, not averse to supplying it to his Western guests. The -Grand Vizier during his sojourn in Europe had evidently studied our -customs and civilization _au fond_. Apart from a knowledge of the -English language and literature, he had brought back with him a fine -and discriminating taste in the matter of aperitifs, knew to a nicety -the component parts of a Martini cocktail, and was a profound -connoisseur of Scotch whisky. Our party had few dull moments with -the Grand Vizier as cicerone, and our admiration for his versatility -rose by leaps and bounds. - -The dinner was _à la fourchette_. It is not always so in hospitable -Persia where, as a rule, host and guests sit in a circle on the floor -and help themselves with the aid of their fingers. Here everything -had been arranged in European fashion, and the long table was topped -by a rampart of specially prepared dishes with a lavishness that was -truly Oriental. It is a Persian custom to supply five times more -food than one's guests can possibly consume. What remains becomes -the perquisite of the servants of the household. - -According to Persian etiquette a son may not sit {32} down in the -presence of his father, so the bridegroom-elect had no place at the -board, and his active participation in the banquet was limited to -carrying out the duties of chief butler and waiting upon the guests. -It was hot and exhausting work, in the intervals of which he -liberally helped himself from a black bottle which stood on a table -behind the Grand Vizier's chair. Barefooted servitors passed nimbly -along the table, and saw to it that their master's guests wanted for -nothing. A plate was emptied only to be speedily replenished. - -We saw nothing of the bride-to-be. She played but a minor part in -the evening's entertainment. Nor were any other women of the -household to be seen. At one end of the banqueting hall was a -heavily curtained aperture. Occasionally this was furtively drawn -aside an inch or two, and a woman's veiled face would appear for an -instant, and as quickly disappear. It was the private view allowed -to the bride and her girl friends. - -The menu was inordinately long. Dish succeeded dish, and eat we must -unless we wished to cause dire offence to our host. He himself, -seated at the middle of the table, ate sparingly and drank but water, -his air of quiet impassivity giving place to a smile from time to -time as he listened to some Persian _bon mot_ or other from one of -his neighbours. - -The Sheikh excelled as a host. No sooner was the banquet at an end -than he told us that a display of {33} fireworks had been arranged in -our honour. Seats had been placed for the visitors on the long -veranda at the back of the palace and facing the extensive grounds. -No Persian feast is held to be complete without a pyrotechnic display -of some kind, and that organized for our pleasure would have done -credit to the best efforts of Brock or Pain. - -There were Catherine-wheels, rockets, and welcoming mottoes in -Persian and English which flared up merrily, until the whole grounds -were one blaze of light. - -The retainers entered fully into the spirit of the affair. Clad in -fireproof suits, they were hung round with squibs which were set -alight, and then the human Catherine-wheels carried out an -astonishing series of somersaults, to the intense delight of the -native portion of the audience. An English gunnery instructor, aided -by native workmen with material from the Sheikh's arsenal, had been -responsible for the pyrotechnic part of the entertainment. - -In the meantime the banqueting hall had been cleared, and presently -we were conducted thither, where, to the strains of a Persian -orchestra, native dancing boys showed their skill in a series of -emotional and highly sensuous gyrations. These youths were of a -distinctly effeminate appearance in their long flowing Persian robes, -and there was a look of brazen abandon in their more than suggestive -evolutions as they whirled round and round on the floor. - -{34} - -To these succeeded a quartette of Armenian girls in bright-hued -raiment and low-necked dresses, their bare bosoms covered with cheap -jewellery, their hair and costumes studded with glittering sequins, -and their ankles encircled by gilt metal bracelets giving them an air -of tawdriness and unspeakable vulgarity. Their movements were -graceful, with a certain artistic crudeness. To the clash of -cymbals, and with a jingling of their sequins and anklets, two would -whirl round the dancing hall, until sheer physical exhaustion -compelled them to seek a temporary respite on a divan; whereupon they -would be succeeded on the floor by the other pair who had been -awaiting their turn. This dancing by relays went on until the early -hours of the morning, and we began to be alarmed lest it should -continue for the duration of the War. Etiquette forbade us to leave, -so we did our best and stuck it out to the end. In the tobacco-laden -atmosphere, with the temperature distinctly sultry, and the windows -hermetically sealed I made a desperate but ineffectual attempt to -fight off drowsiness. At last I succumbed and dreamt that I was in -the Paradise of Mahomet listening to the music of the houris -entertaining some of the newly arrived Faithful. - -I woke with a start, for someone had prodded me in the ribs and told -me it was time to go, and by a swift transition I found myself back -at Mohammerah and our party bidding adieu to our kindly host and his -Grand Vizier. - -{35} - -It was too dark to attempt the passage of the river back to Basra, so -we crossed over to the house of Mr. Lincoln of the British Consulate -on the right bank of the Karun river and spent the remainder of the -night under his hospitable roof. - - - - -{36} - -CHAPTER V - -UP THE TIGRIS TO KUT - -Work of the river flotilla--Thames steamboats on the Tigris--The -waterway through the desert--The renaissance of Amarah--The river's -jazz-step course--The old Kut and the new--In Townshend's old -headquarters--Turks' monument to short-lived triumph. - - -Our stay at Ashar barracks was of brief duration. A week after -landing in Basra we received orders from General Headquarters to -proceed to Bagdad immediately, but steamer accommodation was limited, -and it was found impossible to embark the whole of our party at once. -However, a compromise was effected with the Local Embarkation -Officer, and place was found on an up-river steamer for our first -contingent, consisting of General Byron, twenty-four other officers -(of whom I was one), and forty N.C.O's. - -Our transport was an antiquated paddle steamer, broad of beam, and -the whole of her one deck was packed with troops bound for up-river -like ourselves. In addition, she towed, moored on either side, two -squat barges filled with troops and supplies. - -The navigation of the Tigris, even in peace time, {37} when the river -is unencumbered, is a hazardous undertaking. Its lower reaches are -flat and winding, and when it is in flood the banks are submerged. -The stream follows an erratic course, occasionally striking out on an -entirely fresh one, and the search for the new channel is often -attended with disaster for the daring river mariner. Yet up and down -the stream between Kut and Basra British seamen have zigzagged their -way by sheer pluck and perseverance, dumping down men and supplies at -the advanced base with unfailing regularity. The admirable part -played by these river skippers of the Tigris has never been told, and -so has never been properly appreciated by their countrymen at home. -Day and night they toiled to hurry up the needed reinforcements to -the hard-pressed battle line in Mesopotamia, and to feed the army -that was driving the Turk from the "Land of the Two Rivers." Drawn -from all parts of the Empire, they worthily represented the pluck, -courage, and unyielding tenacity of the British race. Had it not -been for the river skippers of the Tigris, shy, unostentatious men, -sparing of speech and indifferent to praise, the Mesopotamian -Campaign must have ended abortively; Kut could never have been -retaken, and the Turks would still have been in Bagdad. - -The despatches of victorious generals in Mesopotamia have been full -of references to valuable aid and service rendered by units and -individuals, but, it seems to me, they have entirely overlooked the -{38} great contribution of the men of the Tigris River Flotilla, who -have apparently been left without reward or recognition. - -In the waterway of the Shatt el Arab itself, and before we entered -the Tigris proper, we passed scores of river craft. There were dhows -laden to the gunwale with river produce being carried swiftly down by -the current towards Basra market. Here was an antiquated -sternwheeler with her lashed barges alongside, like an old woman with -parcels tucked under her arms, going to the base to load up supplies. -And, most wonderful of all, here was a London County Council steamer, -the _Christopher Wren_, which had abandoned the Thames for the Tigris -and the carrying of happy trippers from Blackfriars to Kew for the -transporting of Mr. Thomas Atkins and his kit part of the long river -journey towards Bagdad. Some of the Tommies on our steamer eyed her -enviously. Here was a touch of the far-distant homeland under -Eastern skies! There was a suspicion of a tear in some sentimental -eyes, but the wag of the party scored a laugh when he megaphoned with -his hands to the skipper of the Wren, "I'm for Battersea, I am!" - -A number of these L.C.C. boats had come out from London under their -own steam, making the long voyage to the Gulf and Basra through the -Bay of Biscay and across the Mediterranean and Red Seas, buffeted by -wind and wave, but without losing any of their personnel or suffering -any material {39} damage. It was a triumph of seamanship and British -pluck. - -The banks of the Tigris, and indeed of the Euphrates, at certain -seasons of the year are surely the most desolate places on the -habitable earth. The date-palm plantations of the Shatt el Arab are -succeeded by a monotonous landscape of dull brown desert stretching -away as far as the eye can see. To our right, as we wound and -twisted our way up river, we occasionally caught a glimpse of the -snow-clad mountains of Persia. Dotted here and there along the banks -are Arab villages, which seemed to be a conglomeration of goats, -sheep, and dusky-brown naked children, all thrown confusedly into the -picture. By way of variation, now and then we swept past a desert -oasis, where stood a few stunted palm-trees near which a tribe of -nomads had set up their black tents of goat's-hair and were spending -a week-end on the river bank before trekking afresh into the heart of -the desert. - -Your real Arab nomad is essentially a child of nature. He spends his -life in the wilderness and has a rooted objection--nay, it is, in -truth, a positive terror--to visiting any town, big or little. He -has an undefinable dread of venturing within a walled city, -apparently regarding it in much the same way as a wild bird would -regard an iron-barred cage. Any restriction of movement is irksome -to him. He loves the free life of the desert, with its limitless -possibilities, its far-stretching horizon, and its absence {40} of -streets and houses. He is of the tribe of Ishmael, destined to -wander on and on, ever remote from the haunts of his fellow-man. - -The semi-nomad, on the other hand, is less intractable, and does not -chafe so much under the yoke of Western civilization. He is frugal, -sober, and thrifty. We passed hundreds of his tribe who live on the -banks of the Tigris, cultivating a patch of arable land, and using a -wooden plough which must have been old-fashioned even in the days of -that earliest recorded agriculturist, Cain. - -We groped a tedious way along the sinuous Tigris, missing by a foot -or two a down-river steamer and its lashed barges, making fair -headway against the swirling waters which swept past us with the -speed of a millstream. The current carried us from side to side, -first bumping one bank, and then cannoning against the opposite one, -until it seemed as if the stout lashings of our captive barges must -be torn away. Where the river was especially narrow, we would tie up -to the bank and give right-of-way to a convoy going down stream. At -night, too, we would either tie up or anchor inshore, and at daylight -would be off again. - -In the bright clear atmosphere it was possible to see objects many -miles distant. Ofttimes we would catch sight of a steamer away to -our right or left, looking for all the world as if she were making an -overland trip and was stuck fast in the middle of the waterless -desert. But the seeming mystery was {41} explained by the winding -course of the river, which can only be likened to a series of figures -of eight. - -It took us about thirty hours to reach Amarah, which lies on both -banks of the Tigris and, by reason of its position, had become an -important coaling-centre on the lower part of the stream. There was -an air of bustle and activity about the place, for British -organization had descended upon it and rudely awakened it from the -sleep of centuries. British military and native police controlled -the town, and kept the more mischievous of the unruly Arab elements -in order. A swing-bridge had been thrown across the river to carry -vehicular traffic. River steamers were moored at the quays, taking -in or discharging cargo, and Indian and Arab coolies sweated in the -sun as they hurried along with great burdens on their backs. - -Our way to camp led through the Bazaar, which may, I think, lay claim -to be one of the filthiest and most malodorous in all the "Land of -the Two Rivers." It had rained heavily the previous night, and now -the unpaved roadway through the main bazaar was a foot deep in liquid -mud. The average native was wholly unconcerned and, while we picked -our steps carefully, mentally consigning Amarah and its abominable -streets to perdition, barefooted Arab women, wearing anklets of -silver, with a pendant through one nostril, and in their finest -raiment, would plod contentedly through this mire as if it were a -rose-bestrewn path. Tiny mites with no more clothing than a {42} -string of beads gave each other mud baths with the joy and enthusiasm -of children sporting in the sea at some European watering-place. - -Still, if Amarah disgusted us with its muddy streets and -evil-smelling bazaars, it had some compensating advantages, amongst -them its British Officers' Club. In a desert of dirt and discomfort -this was a veritable oasis, with its excellent cuisine, and smoking -and reading rooms provided with the latest three-months-old -newspapers and magazines. It stands on the river front, and from its -roof-garden a fine panorama opens at one's feet. In the foreground -are the busy river and the crowded quayside, and on the opposite bank -the white tents of the British camps blend with the dark green of the -date-palms. Still farther beyond, as a background to the picture, is -the dun-brown of the desert wastes. - -A wet camp is at all times an abomination, and our first night at -Amarah was not a pleasant experience. The transit camp is on a sort -of peninsula, and a few hours' rain converted it into a lake of mud. -We were housed in huts whose shape recalled a miniature Crystal -Palace, and whose semi-circular sides and roof were thatched with -palm netting. In the hut which I shared with Major Newcombe and -Captain Eve, during the early hours of the morning a heavy shower -poured through the roof as if it were a sieve. In the darkness there -was a scramble over the muddy floor in quest of waterproof sheets and -raincoats with which to set up a second line of defence for {43} our -leaky roof. Afterwards we all laughed heartily at the experience, -but at the time we were inclined to be wrathful, for an unexpected -and unlooked-for shower-bath in bed at 2 a.m., even on active -service, may ruffle the mildest of tempers. - -From Amarah to Kut we went by river, the journey occupying three -days. The military-constructed railway which has since been opened -does the journey in ten or twelve hours. Our steamer, No. 95, was a -comfortable one of her class for Tigris river travelling. Indeed in -this part of the world she would be listed as de luxe, inasmuch as -she possessed cabin accommodation and actually had a bathroom. The -trip itself was but a slight variation of the monotonous river -journey to Amarah. There were the same flat stretches of country now -and again relieved by a few palm-trees; the white tents of a British -river guard, a link in this long-drawn-out line of communications; or -some Arab village with its grouping of dilapidated palm-roofed huts, -its barking curs, and its mud-brown naked children. Occasionally -down by the banks there was a fringe of green where some native -cultivator, aided by the water from an irrigation canal, was rearing -a hardy spring crop. - -As on its lower reaches, the river pursued a devious path across the -face of the country until one grew giddy with attempting to follow -its windings. The Tigris is a most impulsive stream; it obeys no -will but its own, and is as erratic as any river of its size in the -world. However, as Kut is approached on the {44} up journey, it -broadens out into noble proportions, swift and deep, and for a few -miles behaves rationally, abandoning its geographical jazz-step over -the Mesopotamian plains. - -Kut--the scene of Townshend's immortal stand, with his handful of -troops diminished daily by famine and disease, holding off to the -last a powerful enemy--is situated at the end of a tongue of land at -a point where the Tigris, taking a mighty sweep, mingles its waters -with those of the Shatt el Hai. - -But a new Kut, a British Kut, a town of tents and wooden huts and -galvanized iron buildings, has sprung into being three miles below -the tottering walls of Turkish Kut, and about two miles from -Townshend's advanced trench line. In British Kut there are rough -wooden piers, hastily built, it is true, where the river steamers -moor, few attempting the difficult passage from Kut to Bagdad. Kut -is also an important railway junction, for the troops bound up river -were disembarked here, and stepped from the steamer deck into the -waiting troop-trains. - -We went up river in a motor launch, General Byron, Major Newcombe, -Captain Eve, and myself, to visit Townshend's famous stronghold. It -was with a feeling of emotion that we disembarked at the old stone -pier of Kut, and made our way along its broken unpaved streets, past -its crumbling wall, to the centre of the town. The route led through -the main business centre--it could hardly be called a bazaar--where -merchants and money-changers plied {45} their trades, and a blind -beggar in rags sat under the lee of a wall, with the sun shining full -on his sightless eye-sockets, droning a supplication for alms. The -wave of red war had passed and repassed over Kut, leaving it scorched -and maimed. Turk and Briton had fought for supremacy round and about -it, but that was more than a year ago, and Kut now dozed sleepily in -the hot afternoon sun, beginning already to forget the past and, with -the calm philosophic indifference of the East, accepting as a -predestined part of its daily life the Standard of Britain which had -replaced the Crescent of the Turk. - -The Arab policemen who guarded its unkempt streets were serving their -new masters faithfully, and those we passed, spick and span in -spotless khaki and tarbooshes, by their alert and soldierly bearing -gave unmistakable evidence of having graduated from the school of -that efficient, exacting, and most conscientious of mortals, the -British drill instructor. - -Presently, guided by a Staff Officer from the base headquarters, we -came to the house of the Hero of Kut. It was an unpretentious -dwelling, flat-roofed, and built of sun-dried bricks, with nothing -much to distinguish it from its hundreds of neighbours. Descending a -steep flight of steps, we came to the Serdab or underground apartment -common to most Mesopotamian houses, where the occupants hide for -shelter during the hottest hours of the blistering summer day. The -room was bare of adornment--a few chairs, a divan, and a table -covered with official {46} papers--that was all. It was now the home -of the local Political Officer, but it had changed little, if any, -since its former illustrious occupant walked out of it and up those -stone steps--his proud spirit unbroken, his heart heavy, but his -courage undimmed--to pass a captive into the hands of the Turks. - -None of our party could lay any special claim to be sentimental but, -standing there in the narrow underground room with its hallowed -associations, where a very gallant British General, the foe without -and disease and hunger within--he, too, alas! another victim of -high-placed incompetency--planned and schemed during those dark days -of the siege to break the throttling grip of the Turk, we felt we -were upon holy ground, and every one of us, moved by a common -emotion, raised our hands to our caps in salute. It was our tribute -of admiration and respect for Townshend and his heroes--for the men -who perished so nobly, no less than for their comrades maimed and -broken who survived the fall of Kut, many of them, unhappily, only to -pass anew through the gate of suffering and to end their lives as -prisoners in the hands of a brutal, ungenerous enemy to whom honour -and compassion are meaningless terms. - -It was not every day that the Turks could boast such a victory as -Kut, or that they found themselves with a British General and a -starving British force surrendering to their arms. Short-lived as -was their triumph, they lost no time in celebrating it by setting up -a commemorative monument. This stands on the {47} Tigris' bank close -to British Kut and the landing pier, and is in the form of an obelisk -of unhewn stone on a plinth of corresponding material fenced in by an -iron railing. A few obsolete cannon, the muzzles facing outwards, -are grouped round the base of the monument. An inscription in -Turkish records the fall of Kut and the capture of Townshend and his -men which, it recounts, was accomplished by the grace of Allah and -the prowess of the besieging Turkish Army. - -The next stage of our journey from Kut to Bagdad was a short one. A -night in a troop-train, and sunrise the following morning saw us -being dumped down at Hinaida Camp on the outskirts of the City of the -Caliphs. - - - - -{48} - -CHAPTER VI - -BAGDAD - -Arabian nights and motor-cars--The old and the new in Bagdad--"Noah's -dinghy"--Bible history illustrated--At a famous tomb-mosque. - - -Who has not heard and read of Bagdad, of its former glory and its -greatness? I set foot in it for the first time on March 20th, 1918, -the day after the arrival of our little party at Hinaida Transit Camp -on the left bank of the Tigris. - -As I tramped across the dusty Hinaida plain towards the belt of palm -groves which veils the city on the east, I had visions of Haroun al -Raschid, and fancied myself coming face to face with the wonders of -the "Arabian Nights." It was with something of a shock, then, that -on entering the city I encountered khaki-clad figures, and saw Ford -vans and motor lorries tearing wildly along the streets. In the main -thoroughfare, hard by British Headquarters, a steam roller was -travelling backwards and forwards over the freshly metalled roadway, -completing the work of an Indian Labour Corps; farther on, a watering -cart labelled "Bagdad Municipality" was busily drowning the fine-spun -desert dust that {49} had settled thickly on the newly born -macadamized street. Here was an Arab café, with low benches on the -inclined plane principle like seats in a theatre, where the occupants -sipped their Mocha from tiny cups, or inhaled tobacco-smoke through -the amber stem of a hubble-bubble, watching the passing show, and -betimes discussing the idiosyncrasies of the strange race of -unbelievers that has settled itself down in the fair city which once -had been the pride of Islam. - -Truly a city of contrasts! Cheek by jowl with the Arab café was an -eating-house full of British soldiers. The principal street runs -parallel with the river and, as one proceeded, it was possible to -catch glimpses of pleasant gardens running down to the water's edge -and embowering handsome villas--gardens where pomegranates, figs, -oranges, and lemons grew in abundance. The Oriental readily adapts -himself to changing circumstances, and unhesitatingly abandons the -master of yesterday to follow the new one of to-day. Already traces -of the Ottoman dominion were being obliterated. The Turkish language -was disappearing from shop signs to be replaced by English or French, -with, in some cases, a total disregard of etymology, such choice gems -as "Englisch talking lessons," "Stanley Maude wash company" (this -over a laundry), "British tommy shave room," showing at all events a -praiseworthy attempt to wrestle with the niceties of the English -language. - -Bagdad as I saw it in the first days following my {50} arrival struck -me as a place whose remains of faded greatness still clung about it. -No one could deny its claim to a certain wild beauty which age, dirt, -and decay have not been able wholly to eliminate. The glory of the -river scene is unsurpassable. - -To see Bagdad at its best one must view it from the balcony of the -British Residency (now General Headquarters). Here, as you look down -upon the river, the old bridge of boats connecting with the western -bank is on your right, and handsome villas where flowers grow in -profusion, the residences of former Turkish officials or wealthy -citizens, adorn the foreshore. - -The river is broad and majestic, and strange craft dot its surface. -Here is a Kufa, in itself a link with antiquity, a circular boat of -basketware covered with bitumen, sometimes big enough to hold ten men -and two or three laden donkeys. Its cross-river course is decidedly -eccentric. Propelled by crudely fashioned paddles wielded by sturdy -oarsmen, its progress from shore to shore is leisurely and cumbersome -as, caught into the eddying current, it twirls slowly, with a -rotatory movement, like the dying motion of some giant spinning-top. - -The cheerful Thomas Atkins promptly christened the kufa "Noah's -Dinghy," and lost no time in getting afloat therein. Some of the -Australians at Hinaida Camp organized a kufa regatta, the course -being across river and back, a distance of about two miles. A -waterproof sheet was attached as a sail {51} by one enterprising -Anzac, but even that did not help to accelerate very appreciably the -snail-like progress of his aquatic tub. Local tradition avers that -Sinbad the Sailor came spinning down from Bagdad to Basra in a kufa, -when he signed on at the Gulf port for his first ocean voyage. Who -knows? Kufas are depicted on some of the old Assyrian monuments. - -A close relative surely to the Kufa is the Kellik or Mussik raft of -the upper Tigris. Constructed of a square framework of wood buoyed -by inflated goat-skins, it is widely utilized as a cargo carrier on -these inland waterways. Piled high with hay and a miscellaneous -collection of live-stock, it will waddle off down river with a crew -of three or four, and half a dozen or so passengers. Sometimes the -cargo shifts, or the goat-skin bladders become deflated, and the -kellik, down by the nose or stern, grows more unwieldy than ever. A -little mishap of this kind never bothers the crew. They steer for -some convenient point on the river-bank where the water is shallow, -unhitch the defective skins, and inflate them afresh with the unaided -power of their own lungs. The cargo righted, and the trim of their -cumbersome raft restored, they will push off into midstream and -continue their venturesome journey, logging a steady two knots. - -But on an upstream trip it is another story. Then the laden or empty -kellik has to be towed, and hard work it is to make headway when the -river is in {52} flood and racing down to meet its brother, the -Euphrates, on their joint way to the Gulf. - -Going upstream the kellik keeps as close in shore as possible. Two -men in the boat keep her from going aground, while a couple of others -yoke themselves to a towline and move along the margin of the stream -much like the canal bargees in Holland. But on the Tigris there is -no well-defined towing path, and the course resolves itself into a -kind of zigzag cross-country obstacle race, and the agility and -dexterity with which these muscular native rivermen harnessed to the -towline of a heavily laden raft will negotiate sunken ground, canal -ditches, tumble-down village walls, and a few other natural hazards -on a stretch of Tigris' river-bank, is extraordinary to behold. The -life of a galley slave in Carthage must have been a soft snap indeed -compared with that of the dark-skinned toilers who tug at an up-river -kellik under the full force of a Mesopotamian sun. - -Bagdad as a city takes us back to the horizon rim of the world's -history. There still clings to it an air of musty antiquity and -prehistoric dirt which the efforts of its new masters, the British, -with pick-and-shovel sanitary science, and other new-fangled -inventions of Western civilization, have not entirely eradicated. -The beardless invaders from over the seas have sought to scrape clean -its ancient bones, to straighten out the kink in its narrow, -tortuous, and evil-smelling streets, and to let the light of day and -a little wholesome fresh air penetrate into the {53} gloom and -dampness of its rabbit-warren of a bazaar. Staid, solemn-looking -citizens, with the green turban of Mecca enveloping their venerable -heads, whose ancestors probably drifted in here when overland travel -was resumed after the Flood, have looked on in pious horror while -festering slum areas have been laid low by British pickaxes. These -Hadjis, fervent believers in tradition, and uncompromising opponents -of innovation, have caressed their beards thoughtfully when -confronted with the new order of things, and come to the philosophic -conclusion that, as Kipling has it, "Allah created the English mad, -the maddest of all mankind." - -Biblical history is no longer vague and shadowy, but takes on a new -meaning and an added significance to anyone who explores old Bagdad -with eyes to see. As I wandered through its bazaars in quest of -antiquities and bargains in bric-à-brac and rare damascened weapons, -I often forgot the primary object of my visit while strolling -silently about contentedly studying the hastening crowds who elbowed -and fought their way along the narrow streets, or watching the -complacent shopkeepers who sat cross-legged in their narrow, -cell-like shops, haggling over prices with some prospective buyer. -It was like throwing Biblical romance and Biblical tragedy on a -cinema screen, only that now it lived and was real flesh and blood. -Here were the descendants of the Jews of the -Captivity--shrewd-looking, sharp-featured merchants, traffickers in -gold and silver, {54} dealers in antiquities, a living link between -that very remote yesterday and the modern to-day, amassing much -wealth in the land of their perpetual exile, carrying on unbrokenly -the religion and traditions of Judaism--in dress, manners, customs, -and speech as unchanged and unchanging as on the day when the heavy -hand of the Babylonian oppressor smote their forbears and they were -led away into slavery. - -And here, too, now competing in commercial rivalry with the sons of -Abraham, are lineal descendants of Assyrians, Chaldeans, Medes, -Persians, and of those other warring races who between them made -history in the long ago. - -The descendants of the Jews of the Captivity have never wandered far -afield, and it would even seem that they have preferred exile to -repatriation. Bagdad formed part of Babylonia, and a three hours' -train journey to Hilleh on the Euphrates will land the Bagdad Jew of -an archæological turn of mind amidst the ruins of ancient Babylon. - -The Jew venerates Bagdad as a sort of lesser Zion. It was long the -seat of the Exilarch, and is still the rallying centre of Eastern -Judaism. Monuments and tombs of the mighty ones of the Chosen Race -are scattered over Lower Mesopotamia. There is the reputed tomb of -Ezra on the Shatt el Arab near Korna, that of Ezekiel in the village -called Kefil, while the prophet Daniel has a holy well bearing his -name at Hilleh near the ruins of Babylon. But the chief place of -pious pilgrimage for Bagdad Jews lies {55} in a palm grove an hour's -journey from the city on the Euphrates road. Here is said to be -buried Joshua, son of Josedech, a high priest towards the end of the -captivity period. - -Western Bagdad, on the right bank of the Tigris, always recognizing -and rendering a somewhat sullen obedience to the sway of the Turkish -Sultan, is separated from Eastern Bagdad by much more than the deep -waters of the river. Its inhabitants for the most part are -Mohammedans of the Shi'ite sect, as opposed to the orthodox or Sunni -creed of the Turks. The Shias may be described as Islamic -dissenters, and their cult is the state religion of Persia. -Ethnologically and politically they are closer akin to Iran than to -Turkey, and their eyes are more frequently turned to Teheran than to -Istambul. In Western Bagdad they have their own mosques, their own -bazaars, and their own shrines, and lead lives more or less isolated -from their Asiatic brethren on the opposite side of the river. - -During a visit to the famous Shi'ite mosque and shrine at Kazemain, a -suburb of the Western City, I found that the people, while outwardly -friendly and polite, were much more fanatical than the average Sunni -Mussulman, and were inclined to resent any attempt on the part of a -Giaour like myself to see the interior of their mosques and shrines. -I had for companions General Byron and Lieutenant Akhbar, the latter -a professing Shi'ite. We crossed by the new pontoon swing bridge -which now connects the {56} two shores, superseding the old bridge of -boats of Turkish days. - -The houses are huddled together, and are squat and meanly built, with -the low encircling walls and roofed parapets of sun-dried mud so -common to Persian villages. The streets are barely wide enough for -two pedestrians to pass abreast, and are full of holes or covered -with garbage. As for the inhabitants, they were miserably clad, and -the few women whom we chanced to encounter in our path hastily -stepped aside and, turning from us, made a furtive effort to veil -themselves by covering the upper part of their faces with a dirty -piece of rag produced from the voluminous folds of a sleeve-pocket. - -We did not tarry here very long. Quitting this waterside hamlet we -drove three miles to Kazemain itself, passing en route the terminus -of the Bagdad-Anatolian Railway, that great link of steel in the -chain of German world-expansion the completion of which, under the -existing concession, would have been commercially and economically -fatal to us in Western Asia. - -The tomb-mosque of Kazemain is one of the architectural landmarks of -Bagdad. Its twin domes and its four lofty minarets, all overlaid -with gold, are visible for miles as the traveller approaches Bagdad -from the west. When the rays of the noonday sun strike on these -gilded cupolas and graceful tapering columns it enhances their beauty -a hundredfold, and throws into bold relief all their harmony and {57} -symmetry. It recalled to me vividly, but in a minor degree, some of -the wonder and the glory of that other great monument of an Eastern -land--the Taj Mahal at Agra. But while the one is secular and -commemorative of earthly love, the other has a deeply religious -significance, for in the imposing mosque of Kazemain are buried Musa -Ibn Ja'far el Kazim and his grandson, Ibn Ali el Jawad, the seventh -and ninth of the successors of Ali, the son-in-law of Mahomet, and -recognized by the Shias as the rightful Caliphs of Islam. As a -centre of pilgrimage for Shi'ite Moslems, Kazemain ranks second after -Kerbela, the tomb of Hosain the Martyr; and from the point of view of -sanctity, Kazemain is considered to take even higher place than -either Samarra or Nejef, the other two Shi'ite shrines in the Vilayet -of Bagdad. - -The customary crowd of beggars, maimed, halt, and blind, whined to us -as we alighted before the great gate of Kazemain Mosque. Three or -four small boys, who had stolen a free ride by clinging to the back -of the automobile while it crawled dead slow through the gloomy, -winding streets of the bazaar, now demanded a pishkash (the Persian -equivalent of backsheesh). Mollahs, Sayyeds, and other reputed holy -men, springing apparently from nowhere, formed a ring around us, -deeply interested in our dress, our speech, the colour of our hair, -and our beardless faces. More especially was the wondering attention -of the crowd concentrated on Akhbar, himself a native Persian, -holding the King's commission and wearing {58} the King's khaki. -"What manner of man is this?" asked the puzzled onlookers. "Is he -Infidel or True Believer? for, by the Beard of the Prophet, he speaks -our holy tongue as well as we do ourselves!" - -Now there intervened an elderly personage in the Abba or flowing -robes affected by the better class of Persian, with a green kamarband -indicating his claim to lineal descent from the Prophet. The -new-comer, whose hair and beard were plentifully dyed with henna--a -never-failing sign, I was assured, of virtue and virility--offered to -go in search of the Mujtahid or Chief Priest. - -He returned presently with that important functionary, who salaamed, -but looked at us coldly and suspiciously, I thought. A whispered -colloquy now took place between himself and Akhbar. He had no doubt -as to the heterodoxy of the General and myself, but, on the other -hand, at first he was not convinced of the orthodoxy of Akhbar, this -professed Believer clad in Infidel garb. All Akhbar's impassioned -pleading failed to move him. Akhbar himself might enter freely, but -as for the two Unbelievers, they must not set foot within the -jealously guarded portals of the holy place. - -Up to this point the negotiations had been singularly free from -anything even remotely connected with coin of the realm. I think it -was the Mujtahid himself who, in his most winning manner, hinted that -"Blessed is he that giveth," and that even the dole of an Unbeliever -might win merit in the sight {59} of Allah. We gave accordingly, -whereupon the Mujtahid, out of the kindness of his heart, and by way -of requiting our generosity, said he would enable us to see something -of the Shi'ite "holy of holies." With himself as guide we were led -by a circular route to a caravanserai for pilgrims which stood close -to the high wall of the mosque. The place was untenanted, but, -mounting by a flight of rickety stairs to the flat and somewhat -unstable roof, we were able to overlook the interior courtyard of the -mosque, to note its gilt façade, and to watch the worshippers -performing their ablutions at the fountain in the centre of the -courtyard. With this we had to be content. - -The Shrine down to recent days had been a sanctuary for criminals -fleeing from justice, but the Turkish overlords, it is said, when a -fugitive happened to be of sufficient importance, were able by -cajolery and bribery to override Sanctuary and secure the man they -wanted. In consequence, Kazemain lost its popularity with fugitive -law-breakers. - -The populace at the termination of our visit gave us a hearty -send-off, and the beggars, whose persistence and persuasiveness it -was difficult to resist, having relieved us of sundry krans and -rupees, called down the blessing of Allah on our heads. - -The Sunni Moslems have many imposing places of worship in Bagdad. -The Mosque of Marjanieh is noted for its very fine Arabesque work, -bearing considerable resemblance to the ornamentations on the {60} -Mosque at Cordova, in Spain. There is also the Mosque of Khaseki, -which is believed to have been once a Christian Church. Its Roman -arch, with square pedestals and its spirally-fluted columns, reveal -an architectural school that is not Oriental. - -Outside the walls of the Western City is the reputed site of the tomb -of Zobeide, the wife of Haroun al Raschid. The eroding hand of Time -has dealt heavily with this once splendid mausoleum, but its -curiously-shaped pineapple dome is still intact, and survives proudly -amongst the ruin and decay of a dead-and-gone civilization. Niebuhr, -the German traveller who visited this tomb in the middle of the -eighteenth century, says he discovered an inscription setting forth -that it was the site of the ancient burying-place of Zobeide, but -that about 1488, Ayesha Khanum, wife of a Governor of Bagdad, was -also given sepulture there. Doubt is thrown upon the historical -accuracy of Niebuhr by many scholars, and there is a legend that -Zobeide was buried at Kazemain. - - - - -{61} - -CHAPTER VII - -EARLY HISTORY OF DUNSTERVILLE'S FORCE - -Jealousy and muddle--The dash for the Caspian--Holding on hundreds of -miles from anywhere--A 700-mile raid that failed--The cockpit of the -Middle East--Some recent politics in Persia--How our way to the -Caspian was barred. - - -Bagdad is not a pleasant place of residence when the Sherki, or south -wind, blows, and when at noonday the shade temperature is often 122 -degrees Fahr. For Europeans, work is then out of the question, and -it is impossible to venture abroad in the scorching air. There is -nothing for it but a suit of the thinnest pyjamas and a siesta in the -Serdab or underground room which forms part of most Bagdad houses. -The local equivalent of a punkah is usually to be found here, and -this helps to make life just bearable during the hot season. - -At Headquarters and administrative branches there was a welcome -cessation of labour from tiffin time until after the great heat of -the day. But the late Sir Stanley Maude, when in chief command at -Bagdad, demanded a very full day's work from his staff, and suffered -no afternoon siesta. He set the example himself, and on even the -hottest days was absent from his desk only during meal hours. Maude, -{62} splendid soldier and genial gentleman that he was, boasted of an -iron constitution which was impervious alike to Mesopotamian heat and -Mesopotamian malaria. - -The cool weather had already set in when the Bagdad party took up its -abode under canvas at Hinaida. We found already there an earlier -contingent which had been gathered together from units serving in -Mesopotamia and Salonika. No one knew quite what to do with us, and -General Headquarters was seemingly divided in mind as to whether we -should be treated as interlopers, and interned for the duration of -the War, or left severely alone to work out our own salvation, or -damnation, as we might see fit. The latter view carried the day, and -our welcome in official quarters was therefore distinctly chilling. -The difficulty chiefly arose, it appears, because General -Dunsterville, the leader of our expedition, had been given a separate -command, and was independent of the General commanding-in-chief in -Mesopotamia. Jealousy was created in high quarters. There was a -spirited exchange of telegrams with the War Office, in which such -phrases as "Quite impossible of realization," "Opposed to all -military precedent," are said to have figured prominently. - -In February, in the middle of the rainy season, and while the snow -still lay thick upon the Persian mountain passes, General -Dunsterville had collected some motor transports and, taking with him -a handful of officers, had made a dash for the Caspian Sea. {63} His -intention was to seize and hold Enzeli, the Persian port on the -Caspian, in order either to bluff or to beat the Russian Bolsheviks -there into submission, and to use it as a base for operations against -Baku, which had become a stronghold of German-Turkish-Bolshevik -activity. - -After untold difficulties, one party crossed the rain-sodden Persian -uplands, hewed a road over the snow-covered Assadabad Pass for their -Ford cars, and, although severely tried by cold and hunger, succeeded -in reaching Hamadan. Leaving a small band of men there to keep the -unfriendly Persian population in check, Dunsterville pushed on for -Kasvin, and thence to Resht, a few miles from Enzeli, brushing aside -the stray bands of armed marauders that sought to bar his progress. - -The goal was in sight, but, unsupported, and without supplies, and -hundreds of miles from his small party at Hamadan, he found himself -unable to hold on. His enemies were numerous and well-armed. Awed -at first by the appearance of this handful of British officers who -had unconcernedly motored into their midst after a seven-hundred-mile -raid across Mesopotamia and Persia, the Bolsheviks and their -German-subsidized Persian auxiliaries were for temporizing--nay, they -even invited the British General to a conference to discuss the -situation; and, in the hope of arriving at the basis of an -understanding, Dunsterville accepted the invitation to confer with -them. - -{64} - -In the meantime his enemies had not been idle. Their spies were -quick to report that no British reinforcements were arriving. -Dunsterville's numerical weakness was apparent, and the drooping -spirits of the Bolshevik Council revived. It had been cowed into -inaction, but now it grew bold, and its attitude became menacing. -The British General was presented with an ultimatum demanding his -immediate withdrawal on pain of capture and death. - -There was no help for it. Withdraw Dunsterville must, and did. The -Ford cars carrying the daring raiders sped away from the Bazaar of -Resht and back to Hamadan, and through streets crowded with armed and -hostile ruffians ripe for any crime. - -This, briefly, was the situation in the early days of March. -Dunsterville had leaped and failed. He was back at Hamadan, holding -on tenaciously, with a small body of officers and N.C.O.'s, no men, -lacking supplies, from which he was separated by hundreds of miles of -roadless country made doubly impassable by rain and melting snow, and -threatened with extermination by unfriendly tribesmen who, wolf-like, -were baying round him, eager yet afraid to strike. - -[Illustration: HOTEL D'EUROPE AT RESHT.] - -But, one will ask, what were Dunsterville and his force doing in -Persia at all? And why had Britain, who had gone to war with Germany -because the latter had overrun neutral Belgium, and who had professed -so much horror for Germany's aggression, why had she, of all nations, -violated Persian neutrality, {65} invaded Persian territory, and -ignored Persian protests? The answer is simply that we entered -Persia to defend Persian rights as much as to defend our own cause -and the cause of the Allies. The territory of the Shah had been -devastated by contending armies of Turks and Russians. It had been -swept by fire and sword; and now those twin handmaidens of ruthless -war, famine and disease, were abroad in the land of Iran, slaying -indiscriminately such of the wretched helpless populace as had -escaped the fury and the sword of Turk and Muscovite. Persia, by -reason of its geographical boundaries--its frontiers being -coterminous with those of Russia and Turkey--had in the early part of -the great world struggle become the cockpit of the Middle East. The -weak, emasculated Government of the Shah, a mere set of marionettes, -hopped about on the political stage of a corrupt capital. It had no -will of its own; and, even if it had, the constitutional advisers of -the "King of Kings" had no means of enforcing it. - -Hating Russia politically, and perhaps not without reason, coquetting -with Turkey because of the common religious bond of Islamism, Persia -herself very early in the War failed to observe the obligations which -neutrality imposed upon her. She aided and abetted the emissaries of -the Central Powers. Hun gold was the charm at which her gates flew -open to admit Prussian drill-instructors, whose business was to -organize and train the wild tribes of the south-west for raids -against our vulnerable right {66} flank in Mesopotamia. The -"Volunteers of Islam," a body of fanatical Mollahs with a leavening -of Turkish military officers and of bespectacled professors of German -Kultur, were recruited round Lake Van in Turkish Armenia. They had -for their object the preaching of a holy war in Afghanistan against -Britain, and the setting alight of our Indian north-west territory. -The "Volunteers of Islam," moving across the Persian frontier, -established their base in Persian Kermanshah preparatory to turning -their faces eastward in the long trek to Herat and the scene of their -Islamic and anti-British crusade. - -They were destined never to behold the mountain passes of their -"Promised Land," for, valour outrunning their discretion, these -militants of Islam and Potsdam, while engaged in the final -preparations for the journey to Afghanistan, were foolish enough to -throw in their lot with a Mesopotamian frontier tribe which was -thirsting to distinguish itself in battle against the British. The -combat duly took place, and the insolent tribesmen were punished for -their foolhardiness. In fact, they found extinction, instead of the -looked-for distinction; and many "Volunteers of Islam" were also -given sepulture by the vultures, the _concessionaires des tombeaux_ -in these parts. As for the survivors, they readily abandoned -Kermanshah for the greater security offered by the Armenian highlands. - -After the Russian military collapse in the winter of 1917, followed -by the Bolshevist triumph and the {67} signing of the shameful treaty -of Brest Litovsk, the Germans and their infamous allies, the -followers of Lenin and Trotsky, lost no time in making themselves -masters of the Caucasus. Tiflis fell, and arrayed itself under the -Red Banner of National Shame; Armenians, Georgians, and Tartars, all -victims of Turkish misrule, but hating each other more cordially than -they collectively hated the Osmanli oppressor, wrangling over their -respective claims to independent nationhood, varied by the absorbing -passion of slitting each other's throats, were all too busy to seek -to make common cause against the Bolshevik wolf when it appeared -before their fold in the guise of a German lamb. - -Would that all these nationless peoples of the Caucasus, who with so -much vehemence are always pleading their own inalienable right to -self-determination, possessed military gifts commensurate with their -brilliant, perfervid, never failing oratory! If they could fight -only half as well as they can talk, what unrivalled soldiers they -would be! - -The Bolsheviks and their German masters and paymasters, coming down -the railway line from Tiflis, speedily possessed themselves of Baku -and its oil wells. Immediately opposite Baku, and on the eastern -shore of the Caspian Sea, is Krasnovodsk, the terminus of the -Transcaspian Railway, that important strategic line which links up -the khanates of Russian Turkestan, connects, on the one hand, -Samarkand with Orenburg and the main _reseau_ of {68} Russian -railways, and, on the other, bifurcates and comes to a dead -stop--resembling the extended jaws of a pincers--within hailing -distance of the Afghan frontier. Once masters of the Caspian -littoral and of the Russian gunboats which patrolled its waters, the -Bolsheviks and their German allies were free to use the Transcaspian -Railway, and to menace India seriously by way of Afghanistan. - -At all events, they lost no time in invading Persia from the sea by -way of Enzeli. Here they found eager sympathisers and willing -auxiliaries in the Persian Democrats, a political party with -considerable influence and following in Resht itself and throughout -the Persian provinces of Gilan and Mazandaran. The Democrats laid -claim to represent the intelligentza of North-Eastern Persia. Their -profession of political faith was, broadly, "Persia for the -Persians," the abolition of all foreign meddling in Persian affairs, -and the ending of the Russian and British spheres of influence. But -it was against the British that their virulent hatred and political -conspiracies were chiefly directed. While they feared the British, -they despised the Russians. As one of the leaders of this "Young -Persia Movement" said to me when we had a heart-to-heart talk in -Kasvin, "To our sorrow we find that the British are honest and -incorruptible, therefore they are dangerous. Should they decide to -stay here, we could never hope to turn them out. On the other hand, -to our joy we recognize that neither the Russians nor the {69} Turks -possess these high moral attributes, consequently there was always -the hope that some day we might be able to escort the last of them to -the frontier." - -The "Young Persia" representative put his case concisely, fairly, and -without any tinge of political jaundice. None better than he -realized the impotency of the vacillating Teheran Government to -enforce its paper protests against the violation of Persian -neutrality. Its only military instrument was a ragged, unpaid, -undisciplined rabble, which international courtesy has been wont to -designate an Army. The Persian Democrats therefore linked up with -the Bolsheviks. But it would be erroneous to assume that their ranks -were recruited entirely from disinterested patriots, inspired by the -highest altruistic ideals, burning to rid their country of the -foreigner--be he Briton, Turk, or Russian--in order that Persia might -be free to work out her own political salvation in her own way and -without interference from anybody. Some there were in the ranks of -the Democrats actuated only by love of country, as they conceived it, -who, with noble resolve in their hearts, trod the financially -unremunerative path which led to the goal of political glory. There -was always plenty of elbow-room and never any overcrowding on this -road. The great majority of the Democrats, as I found them, put pul -(_i.e._, money) before patriotism, and for them a Turkish lira, or a -twenty-mark piece, had an irresistible attraction. - -{70} - -With the downfall of Russia as a military power, her Army, which had -pushed down through Persia in order to effect a junction with the -British in Mesopotamia, rapidly retreated, and as rapidly -disintegrated, smitten by the deadly plague of Bolshevism. -Discipline and organization were at an end; obedience was no longer -rendered to Army Chief, corps commander, or regimental officer, but -to the soldiers' own "Red Committee"--usually with a sergeant at its -head--which, besides usurping the functions of Generalissimo, became -the Supreme War Council of the Army, giving an irrevocable decision -upon everything from high strategy to vulgar plundering. Now two -Russian generals, named Bicherakoff and Baratof, appeared on the -troubled stage of Persian politics. From the debris of an army they -had gathered round them the odds and ends of stray Russian regiments, -bands of irregulars from Transcaucasia, and Cossacks from the Don and -the Terek--stout fighting men of the mercenary type, whose trade was -war and whose only asset was their sword. - -Both Bicherakoff and Baratof were loyal to the cause of Imperial -Russia and her Allies, and refused to bend the knee to Lenin and -Trotsky. They were willing to make war on our side as subsidized -auxiliaries. In short, these heterogeneous cohorts were for sale; -they possessed a certain military value, and the British taxpayer -bought them at an inflated price, and also their right, title, and -interest, if any, in the abandoned motor lorries, machine-guns, and -{71} military stores of all kinds which littered the track of the -retreating, disorganized Russian Army. The British military -treasure-chest also honoured a proportion of the Russian requisition -notes which had been given to the extent of millions of roubles in -exchange for Persian local supplies, and which the Persian holders -knew full well would never be liquidated by any Bolshevik Government -in Petrograd or elsewhere. - -Our friends, the Russians, having sold us their supplies for the -common cause, made some difficulty about handing them over. The -soldiers, it was said, claimed that war material was national -property, and objected to its appropriation unless they, representing -so many national shareholders, were each paid on a cash basis a -proper proportion of the purchase price. This was a deadlock that -was never satisfactorily adjusted. Our new Russian allies also -offered to sell us the 160 miles of road from Kasvin to Hamadan which -had been constructed by a Russian Company, and was being maintained -by a system of tolls levied upon goods and passengers. But the price -was so formidable that, if we had closed with the bargain, the -British Exchequer would have needed the wealth of Golconda to -complete the transaction. - -Bicherakoff and his volunteers concentrated at Kasvin, at the -junction of the roads leading to Resht and the Caspian in the north, -to Tabriz in the north-west, to Teheran in the south-east, and to -Hamadan {72} and Kermanshah in the south-west. Here they imposed an -effective barrier against the flowing tide of Bolshevism coming from -the Caspian, and it was hoped that they might be able to keep open -the road from Kasvin to Resht and Enzeli. - -The distance from Kasvin to Resht is about eighty miles. Half-way, -at Manjil, there is a road bridge over the Kizil Uzun River, and the -country beyond is covered with thick jungle, which fringes the -roadway on both sides. - -About the time the Russians were sitting down in Kasvin awaiting -developments, there appeared in the jungle country a redoubtable -leader named Kuchik Khan, who was destined to exercise considerable -influence on the military situation in the region of the Caspian. -Kuchik Khan was a Persian of a certain culture and refinement of -manner, endowed with courage, personal magnetism, and great force of -character. He possessed, moreover, no little knowledge of European -political institutions and of the science of government as practised -in the West. The personification of militant "Young Persia," he -proclaimed himself an apostle of reform. Preaching the doctrine of -Persian Nationalism in the broadest sense, he declared that he was -the uncompromising enemy alike of misrule within and interference -from without. Recruits, attracted by good pay and the prospects of -loot, flocked to his standard from amongst the harassed and overtaxed -peasant population, and were soon licked into tolerable military -shape by {73} German and Turkish officers. Rifles, machine-guns, -ammunition, military equipment, and money were also forthcoming from -German sources. His army, which had its own distinctive uniform, -grew rapidly, and it was not long before Kuchik Khan found himself -strong enough to bid defiance to Teheran and its feeble Government. -He set up as a semi-independent ruler, and had his own council of -political and military advisers. Kuchik Khan's tax-gatherers -collected and appropriated the Shah's revenues in Gilan and in part -of Mazandaran, and his power became paramount from Manjil to the -Caspian Sea. The Jungalis, as his followers were called, under -German instruction became proficient in trench warfare. Selecting a -good defensive position, they dug themselves in along the -Manjil-Resht road, and their advanced outposts held the bridge head -at Manjil itself. - -[Illustration: STONE BRIDGE AT SIAH RUD WHICH IS THE PROBABLE PLACE -OF ATTACK FROM ANY OF THE JUNGLE TRIBES. IT WAS AT THIS POINT THAT -THE HANTS SUFFERED CASUALTIES.] - -Kuchik Khan, as Persians go, was relatively honest, and was possibly -inspired by patriotic zeal; but this did not prevent his becoming a -pliant and very useful military asset in the hands of the enemies of -the Entente Powers. At their behest he bolted and barred the door -giving access to the Caspian and for the British, at all events, -labelled it, "On ne passe pas!" - - - - -{74} - -CHAPTER VIII - -OFF TO PERSIA - -Au revoir to Bagdad--The forts on the frontier--Customs house for the -dead--A land of desolation and death--A city of the past--An -underground mess--Methods of rifle thieves. - - -It was not until the beginning of April (1918) that the intermittent -rainfall practically ceased, and allowed a contingent of the -weatherbound Dunsterville party to turn their faces towards Hamadan, -where our General and his small force were said to be in dire straits. - -The advanced base near Baqubah on the Diala River, north-east of -Bagdad, where some of our unit were under canvas, was a quagmire; and -the road beyond the Persian frontier was reported to be impassable -for man, motor, or animal transport. But four consecutive days of -fine weather effected a transformation. The heat of the sun -converted the liquid mud of the plains into half-baked clay, and the -road itself showed a hard crust upon its surface. - -No time was lost in setting out for Persia. The force from the -advanced base began its march at daylight on April 5. Baggage and -transport were cut down to the lowest possible limits, and General -{75} Byron and I moved ahead of the column in a Ford van. - -On the first night we reached the headquarters of General Thompson, -commanding the 14th Division operating on the Diala. Next morning, -the weather still promising fair, we were off betimes, and, in spite -of road difficulties, at ten o'clock reached the Motor Transport -Depot at Khaniquin, the last town on the Turkish side. After a brief -halt to enable us to swop our somewhat war-worn car for a more -efficient one, we started again, and, within an hour of pulling up at -Khaniquin, had crossed the frontier into Persia. - -As we approached the boundary of the crumbling Ottoman Empire at this -point, the road wound round a low hill. On an eminence above stood a -tumble-down martello tower which once had held a Turkish guard; and -on a corresponding height on the other side were the ruins of a -Persian fort. From these vantage points the two Asiatic Empires, -both now crumbling in decay, had for centuries jealously watched each -other, quarrelling over a mile or two of disputed territory with all -the vehemence of their Oriental blood. - -Near Khaniquin, on the Turkish side, we saw what had once been the -Quarantine and Customs Stations. It was here that the corpse -caravans, coming from the interior of Persia and bound for Kerbela, -one of the holy places of the Shi'ite sect, halted and paid Customs -dues. It is the pious wish of every Persian {76} to be buried at -Kerbela, near the shrine of Hossain the Martyr. The town is in the -Vilayet of Bagdad, and in pre-war days the Turks derived a very -handsome revenue from tolls levied on dead Persians who were being -transported to their last resting-place beside the waters of the -Euphrates. It was a gruesome but lucrative traffic for the living, -whether Customs officials or muleteers. These caravans of dead, by -reason of the absence of anything approaching proper hygienic -precautions, probably also carried with them into Asiatic Turkey a -varied assortment of endemic diseases. When Persians whose -testamentary dispositions earmarked them for the last pilgrimage to -Kerbela died, they were buried for a year. At the end of this period -they were exhumed, enveloped in coarse sacking, lashed two by two on -the back of a mule, and carried to their new resting-place, -accompanied by bands of sorrowing friends and relatives. - -We were now well over the frontier, and found ourselves in a land of -desolation and death. Our way lay past ruined and deserted villages, -many of the inhabitants of which had been blotted out by famine. -Beyond a few Persian road guards in British pay, or an occasional -native labour corps road-making under the protection of a detachment -of Indian Infantry, the country seemed destitute of life. On the -other side of the frontier I had heard a good deal as to the -appalling economic conditions of Persia, and of the shortage of food; -but now, {77} brought face to face with the terrible reality, I -understood for the first time its full significance. - -Men and women, shrivelled and huddled heaps of stricken humanity, lay -dead in the public ways, their stiffened fingers still clutching a -bunch of grass plucked from the roadside, or a few roots torn up from -the fields with which they had sought to lessen the tortures of death -from starvation. At other times a gaunt, haggard figure, bearing -some resemblance to a human being, would crawl on all fours across -the roadway in front of the approaching car, and with signs rather -than speech plead for a crust of bread. Hard indeed would be the -heart that could refuse such an appeal! So overboard went our ration -supply of army biscuit, bit by bit, on this our first day in the -hungry land of the Shah! - -At Kasr-i-Shirin, where we made a short halt, we were soon surrounded -by a starving multitude asking for food. One poor woman with a baby -in her arms begged us to save her child. We gave her half a tin of -potted meat and some biscuits, for which she called down the blessing -of Allah on our heads. Her maternal solicitude was touching, for, -although it was evident that she was suffering from extreme hunger, -no food passed her lips until her baby had been supplied. - -The western slopes of Kasr-i-Shirin are covered with the remains of a -great city. The outline of extensive walls can be traced amidst the -debris of masonry. Masses of roughly hewn sandstone strew {78} the -ground. Within the ancient enclosure are heaps of tumble-down -masonry, all that exists of the houses that formerly stood there. -Some little distance away are traceable the ruined outlines of a -splendid palace with spacious underground apartments and beautiful -archways, once the residence of some Acharmenian or Sasanian monarch. -The remains of a rock-hewn aqueduct, with reservoir, troughs, and -stone pipes, which brought water to this city of antiquity from a -distance of twelve miles, are still to be seen. - -From Kasr-i-Shirin onwards there was a gradual descent to the bottom -of the Pai Tak Pass. It is three miles to the top of the Pass, and -there is a difference in altitude of about fifteen hundred feet. -Whatever else they may be, Persians are not roadmakers. Formerly the -only way to scale Pai Tak was by following a mule track which wound -round the sparsely wooded slopes of the hill. But now British -military engineers had done some useful spade work there; an -excellent road had been built with easy gradients, and Pai Tak was -negotiable for Ford cars, and even for heavily laden Peerless lorries. - -The view from the top was superb. On either side of the plateau -towered snow-capped mountains. We found in possession, under Colonel -Mathews, a British force consisting of the 14th Hants. The Colonel -himself was absent; but the officers of the battalion gave us a -hearty welcome, and fixed us up with quarters for the night. - -The Senjabi tribesmen round about were troublesome, {79} and their -leader, Ali Akhbar Khan, incited by German propagandists, seemed bent -upon coming into collision with the British. It was bitterly cold at -Surkhidizeh on the top of the Pai Tak Pass, and we enjoyed the warmth -and comfort of the Hants' mess quarters. - -This was an underground circular apartment, cut out of the earth, -into which you descended by a flight of wooden steps. The top was -roofed with canvas, tent fashion. - -Rifle thieves were active in the camp at Surkhidizeh. Wandering -Kurdish tribesmen showed special daring in this form of enterprise. -Scarcely a night passed without the Hants' Camp being raided for -arms. British rifles brought enormous prices when sold to the -Senjabi and other of the lawless nomads whose happy hunting-ground is -the "No Man's Land" in the neighbourhood of the Turko-Persian -frontier. Here a man was socially valued solely by the arms he -carried. He might be in rags as far as raiment was concerned, but -the possession of a .303 Lee Enfield, or a German Mauser, marked him -as a man of some distinction and importance in the country, one who -might be expected to do big things, and with whom it was well to be -on friendly terms. - -The average nomad whom I came across is not renowned for physical -courage, and in daylight he will think twice before attacking even a -single British soldier; yet these selfsame tribesmen would {80} -unhesitatingly raid a British bivouac nightly, and face the -possibility of death, in order to pilfer a couple of rifles. Rifle -raiding possessed for them a kind of fascination. The raiders often -failed and paid the penalty with their lives, but the attempts were -never abandoned for long. One method was for a brace of snipers to -fire on the sentry and on the guard, so creating a diversion. A -couple of their fellows, with their bodies well oiled, naked save for -a loin-cloth, and carrying each a long knife, would meanwhile crawl -into the camp at a place remote from the point of disturbance, and -snatch a rifle or two from beside the sleeping soldiers. If caught, -they used their knives, and invariably with fatal effect. Even if -detected the raiders usually got away, for in the darkness and -confusion it was difficult to fire upon them without incurring the -risk of hitting one of your own people. - -I was aroused from a sound sleep the first night at Surkhidizeh by -the noise of rifle firing, followed by an infernal hullabaloo. -Unbuttoning the tent flap, and rushing into the open, I found that -the rifle snatchers had been busy again. A native had wriggled -through the barbed-wire enclosure and, with the silence of a Red -Indian, had entered a tent occupied by men of the Hants battalion. -The soldiers slept with the sling of the rifle attached to the -waistbelt. Cutting through this without disturbing the owner, the -thief had bolted with the weapon. - -On leaving, he fell over some of the sleeping {81} occupants, who -were aroused and sought to grab him, but in the darkness and confined -space of the bell-tent, they missed the thief and grasped each -other's throats. The sentry fired, but failed of his mark. The -remainder of the guard and some Indian units also loosed off a few -rounds, but without success. - -The night favoured the enterprise. It was pitch dark. The raider's -friends, from the cover of some dead ground in the neighbourhood, -sniped the camp intermittently for the next hour or two, until -everybody grew exasperated, and wished that Persia with its marauding -bands, and the whole Middle East Question were sunk in the deep sea. - - - - -{82} - -CHAPTER IX - -THROUGH MUD TO KIRIND - -A city of starving cave-dwellers--An American woman's mission to the -wild--A sect of salamanders--Profiteering among the Persians--A -callous nation--Wireless orders to sit tight--Awaiting attack--The -"mountain tiger." - - -Next day we set out for Kirind, about fifteen miles from Surkhidizeh, -where a platoon of the Hants held an advanced post. After passing -Sar Mil and its ruined fort, we dipped down into a valley bordered by -high hills, where grew dwarf oaks, with a background of mountains -whose snow-topped peaks glistened in the warm spring sunshine. - -Our way lay over a black cotton-soil plain, and the road looked as if -it had recently been furrowed by a giant plough. It was hard going -for the Ford cars, and our difficulties were increased when rain -presently overtook us. Half an hour's downpour will convert any -Persian road into a morass, and that between Surkhidizeh and Kirind -is no exception to the rule. The Fords for once were baffled. The -leading car could get no grip on the slippery soil; its front wheels -revolved aimlessly, then by a mighty exertion moved forward a few -yards, only to come to an abrupt stop, up to its front axle in a -slimy {83} mud-hole. We temporarily jettisoned everything, and -pulled it out with a tow rope and the united efforts of a dozen -friendly natives who were not averse from a little physical labour -for a pecuniary reward. There was no getting rid of the glutinous -mud. It adhered to one's boots and clung to one's garments with a -persistency that was irritating and ruinous to the temper. The -fifteen miles' journey occupied four hours, and we were "bogged" -seven times before the cars finally got clear and gained the roughly -paved causeway which, skirting Kirind village, led to the British -military post. - -[Illustration: TYPICAL PERSIAN VILLAGE.] - -Kirind itself is a straggling and typical group of Persian -mud-houses. It clings haphazardly to both sides of a steep, narrow -gorge, closed at one end by a perpendicular wall of jagged limestone -rock, which rises sheer for a thousand feet. Beneath this frowning -rock-barrier nestles a village abominably and indescribably filthy, -inhabitated by an elf-like people in whom months of semi-starvation -had bred something of the sullen ferocity of a pack of famishing -wolves. There was in their eyes the glint of the hunted wild animal. -They fled at our approach--men, women, and children--diving into -dark, noisome, underground dens which exhaled a horrible effluvium, -or else bolting like so many scared wild-cats for some lair high up -amongst the limestone ridges. Some of the fugitives whom we rounded -up and spoke to compassionately answered with a terrified snarl, as -if dreading we should do them injury. Yet it {84} was chiefly the -Turk, that zealous propagandist of the tenets of Islam, whose -rapacity and cruelty had driven this fellow Moslem race to the -borderland of primitive savagery. - -Amid all the horror and misery of this desert of human despair we -found a Christian angel of pity, isolated, working single-handed, -striving to alleviate the terrible lot of the starving people. The -angel was an American woman, Miss Cowden, of the Presbyterian -Mission. Years before she had given up home, country, and friends in -obedience to a higher call, and was devoting her life and her -energies to the betterment of the temporal lot of the unhappy, -underfed, Persian children. She had learned their language, and -moved from village to village alone and unattended, carrying out her -great work of charity, and content to live in some dirty hovel. A -vocation surely demanding sublime self-abnegation, and calling, I -should think, for the highest attributes of faith and courage! I -hold no brief for foreign missionaries in general. I know that their -proselytizing methods have been the subject of severe criticism in -the public press and on the lecture platform. All the more reason, -therefore, why I should tell of a work which is being done so -unobtrusively, without hope of earthly recompense, and well beyond -the range of the most powerful "Big Bertha" of the cinema world. - -The Kirindis for the most part belong to the curious religious sect -called Aliullahis, about {85} whose beliefs and rites many strange -legends circulate. - -One of these concerns their immunity from injury by fire, and recalls -the "fire walkers" of the Tongan Islands. Aliullahian devotees, it -is said, will enter a kind of oven and stay there while fire is -heaped around it, making it red-hot. Then, covering their heads with -the burning cinders, they cry, "I am cold," and pass out unhurt. -Another ceremony consists in lifting bars of red-hot iron out of the -fire with their bare hands, their skin showing no signs of burning. - -Their religion seems to be a strange mixture of Mohammedanism and -Judaism, with doctrines from various other esoteric faiths grafted on -to it. Thus they number amongst their prophets Benjamin, Moses, -Elia, David, and Jesus Christ, and they have also a saint of peculiar -efficacy in intercession named Ali. Some investigators into their -creed maintain that Ali and Daoud (David) are one and the same -person; others think that Ali is so high up in the spiritual -hierarchy as only to be invoked through Daoud. In any case, their -prayer before battle is, "O Daoud, we are going to war. Grant that -we overcome our enemy!" They then sacrifice some animal, usually a -sheep, which is roasted whole. The High Priest prays over the -carcass and distributes the flesh in small portions to those present. -Communion in this sacrament appears to inspire the Aliullahian with -absolute confidence in the success of any undertaking it precedes. - -{86} - -Another of their beliefs is that of a successive incarnation of the -Deity in the greatest of their spiritual guides, seven of whom are -clubbed together under the name of "Haft-Tan." - -When in Mohammedan cities, they outwardly conform to the tenets -taught by the Prophet of the Crescent, but secretly they continue the -practice of their own mystic rites. They bury their dead without -prayer (after keeping the unembalmed corpse six days), but turn his -head to face Kerbela, as do the Mussulmans. - -They are recognizable from their long moustaches, since the Shiahs -are not allowed to have hair so long as to pass the upper lip. - -Some authorities proclaim them the remnant of the Samaritans who, as -related in 2 Kings xvii. 6 and 7, were carried into captivity by -Hoshea, King of Assyria; and Rawlinson, in his writings on Persia, -speaks of a rock-tomb which they regard as a place of special -sanctity. They call it, he says, Dukka-ni-Daoud (David's shop), -because they believe that the Jewish monarch was a smith by trade. - -We stayed two nights in Kirind village. Our quarters were a couple -of rooms above a stable which sheltered a sundry collection of goats, -sheep, two consumptive donkeys and their charvadars, some stray hens, -and two or three pariah dogs. Crossing a dirty courtyard, where -filth had accumulated for years, we climbed a broken stairway, and -were at home. The flat roof of the stable was our promenade; {87} -but, since it was full of holes, which were generally concealed by a -thin layer of sun-dried mud, great caution was needed to prevent a -sudden and undignified descent into the menagerie below. Our rooms -opened on to the roof of the stable. We slept on the floor, and, as -it was cold, our Persian servant bought some green wood and made a -fire in the only fireplace available, which consisted of a small -cavity in the mud floor. A hole in the upper roof supplied -ventilation, and served the purposes of a chimney. - -It was here that the Governor paid an official call upon General -Byron. He sent a servant to announce his coming, and presently -arrived accompanied by a retinue of unkempt, hungry-looking -officials, all wearing the chocolate-coloured sugar-loaf hat peculiar -to Persians. The Governor himself was a fat, pompous individual, -with a drooping moustache, unshaven face, and no collar. We wondered -at first whether the stubble on his chin was due to slothfulness, or -was a sign of mourning. We discovered it was the latter, a brother -of his having died recently through over-participation in food at -some local festivity. To look at the portly form of the Governor -made it quite evident that everybody was not going hungry in Kirind. -As he sat cross-legged on the floor, his fingers interlaced in front -of his breast, and twirling his thumbs, he looked exactly what he -was--the personification of hopeless incapacity and lethargy. "What -ashes are fallen on my head!" he moaned aloud, by way of expressing -sorrow for the {88} death of so many of the villagers from -starvation. Yet he himself had done nothing to lessen the ravages of -famine in the district, and was content to see the wretched -inhabitants die, without moving a finger to help them. - -His attitude was typical of officialdom throughout this starving -land. The Governor was a landowner, and probably, like others of his -class whom I came across later in Kermanshah and Hamadan, had plenty -of grain hidden away waiting for the day when the British -Commissariat, in order to feed starving Persians, would come and buy -it at inflated prices, thus enriching a gang of hoarding, avaricious -rascals. - -When General Byron spoke of what the British were doing elsewhere in -the way of feeding the famine-stricken, the Governor's eyes -brightened, and scenting the possibility of an advantageous -commercial deal in cornered wheat, he replied with a fervent -"Mash-allah!" (Praise be to God!) The suggestion that thieving local -bakers who had been profiteering at the expense of the starving -population might be taught a salutary lesson by having their ears -nailed to their bakehouse doors, or otherwise dealt with under some -equally benign Persian enactment, seemed to find favour in the eyes -of the Governor, for he answered, "Inshallah!" (Please God!) - -This Governor, who had so suddenly developed a keen interest in the -local food problem, was afterwards present at a full-dress parade of -Miss Cowden's {89} starvelings. The recipients of mission charity -were of both sexes, and varied from toddlers of three to their elders -of ten or twelve years. All they had in the way of clothing was a -piece of discoloured rag, or a section of a tattered gunny bag, -fastened round the loins. Physical suffering long endured was -indelibly stamped on their shrunken features and on their emaciated -frames. Each was given a substantial chunk of freshly baked -chipattee, or unleavened bread, and they were desired to eat it then -and there to prevent its being pilfered from their feeble hands by -hungry adult prowlers outside the mission buildings. They made no -demur, and ate ravenously. Bread is the staple diet, and generally -the only article of food, of the Persian poor; and this daily free -distribution must have been the means of preserving the lives of many -hundreds of Kirind children. Charity in the Anglo-Saxon meaning of -the word seems to find no home in the breast of the average Persian; -and each day there was a fight between local cupidity, as represented -by the Kirind bakers, and foreign generosity as exemplified by the -American Mission, which was spending its funds freely in order that -these unhappy children of an alien race might have bread and live. -Here, as elsewhere during my wanderings through Iran, I was painfully -impressed by the appalling callousness and indifference exhibited by -the ordinary Persian towards the sufferings of his own people. He -would not lift a hand to help a dying man, and dead, would leave {90} -him to the tender mercies of the dogs and vultures rather than -trouble to give him burial. - -One morning, while preparing for a further move eastward towards -Kermanshah, a wireless message, transmitted in haste from -Surkhidizeh, ordered us to sit tight and await developments and -reinforcements. We were warned that the Senjabis were restless, and -might any night swoop down on our slenderly-garrisoned post. Ali -Akhbar Khan, who was the Pendragon of the Senjabis and various stray -allied bands of nomadic robbers in these parts, was said to be -watching us from his eyrie up in the snow-capped hills. His martial -ardour had been stimulated to the verge of action by German gold and -German rifles, and the promise of much loot when our weak force had -been duly annihilated. To the careful, calculating Akhbar, and to -the wild tribesmen who had flocked to his standard at the very first -mention of the word "unlimited loot," the capture of the Kirind post -must have seemed the softest of soft things. To look our way and -resist temptation was like flying in the face of Providence. How -that dear old bandit's mouth must have watered in anticipation of -securing a fine haul of rifles, ammunition, and transport animals! - -All that stood between Akhbar Khan and the realization of his project -was a platoon of the 14th Hants under Lieutenant Gow, a Lewis gun, a -dozen Persian irregulars of doubtful fighting quality, and a very -unformidable barrier of two rows of {91} barbed wire. The camp was -on the edge of a narrow plateau facing the road. In the rear, where -this latter became merged in the hills, the smooth slope was like a -toboggan run, and the alert Senjabis, if they so wished, might have -slid from their hill-top sangars down on to the field of battle. But -they held aloof; their day was not yet. - -We spent an anxious night. Everybody was under arms waiting for the -threatened attack. Morning ended our period of suspense and brought -the looked-for reinforcements--a squadron of the 14th Hussars under -Captain Pope, a couple of guns, an additional platoon of the Hants, -as well as the Dunsterville contingent which had originally set out -from Baqubah. - -The "mountain tiger," as Ali Akhbar Khan was called in the -imaginative and picturesque vocabulary of the district, had -hesitated, and missed his chance. The reinforcing party was very -much disappointed at Akhbar's display of irresolution and his -reluctance to fight. Some amongst the bolder spirits contemplated -calling upon him in his mountain lair. But that was not to be. When -the "tiger" did spring later on, and sought to cut up a British -column, he received the lesson of his life. But our party was not -there to share in the glory of his undoing. - - - - -{92} - -CHAPTER X - -KIRIND TO KARMANSHAH - -Pillage and famine--A land of mud--The Chikar Zabar Pass--Wandering -dervishes--Poor hotel accommodation--A "Hunger Battalion"--A city of -the past. - - -From Kirind to Kermanshah, our next stage, is about sixty miles. For -the most part it is dreary, barren country, with a few isolated -villages astride the line of march. The whole land had been skinned -bare of supplies by Turk and Russian, and it was now in the throes of -famine. - -There was a good deal of similarity in the methods of these -successive invaders. They commandeered unscrupulously and without -payment, and what they could not consume or carry off they destroyed. -There was no seed wheat, and consequently no crops had been sown. -Many tillers of the soil had fled for their lives; those who had -remained were dying of hunger in this war-ravaged region. The arable -land which is noted for its fertility was forlorn and neglected; no -plough had touched its soil since the passing of the war storm, and -its abandoned furrows were temporarily tenanted by wandering crows -struggling to gain a precarious livelihood. It was desolation and -ruin everywhere. - -{93} - -This was the country into which we, too, now, in our turn adventured. -Armed robbers roamed from hill to plain and back again, holding up -and looting passing caravans, preying upon the miserable inhabitants -in the remote villages, and relieving them of anything in the nature -of food and live-stock that the greedy maw of Turk and Russian had -inadvertently overlooked. - -Little wonder that the terrified wayside inhabitants fled pell-mell -at the approach of our column! It took some persuasion to assure -them that they would not be "bled" afresh, nor put to the sword. Not -unnaturally, they had reason to dread the exactions of a third -invader, and both effort and time were needed to convince them that -our intentions were not hostile, but friendly. When confidence was -at last restored, the glad tidings of our exemplary behaviour sped -ahead of us from village to village, carried by that mysterious -agency which in the East lends wings to any news of import, and in -speed rivals wireless telegraphy. - -So it was that on our further progress ragged and cringing peasants, -all semblance of manhood driven out of them by hunger and oppression, -would crawl forth into the light of day from some dark hovel to beg, -firstly for their lives, and secondly for a morsel of bread. We -granted the one without question, but were not always able to comply -with the second demand. - -From Kirind our progress was slow. The first day, {94} Sunday, April -14th, we barely covered ten miles, arriving at Khorosabad late in the -afternoon, where we bivouacked under the lee of the hills. The road -beyond was a kind of hog's back strewn with limestone boulders which -proved too difficult for the laden Ford cars. To add to our troubles -the weather broke in the evening, and it rained steadily throughout -the night, so that our camping-ground became a swamp. The Hussars' -horses suffered from exposure, while the men themselves were wet -through and inclined to be grumpy. In the morning, as the weather -showed signs of mending, the march was resumed; but the Ford convoy -had to be left behind in charge of an escort to wait until the road -became passable. - -The infantry units marched through twelve miles of mud to Harunabad, -the next stage on the journey. It tried the men's endurance to the -utmost. The road was simply an unmetalled track across the plain; -there was no foothold in the saturated soil, and at each step a pound -or two of clay adhered to one's boots, necessitating frequent halts -to scrape them clean. The Persian muleteers were more fortunate. -They marched barefoot, and their movements were not handicapped by -the encumbering dead weight of adhesive earth. - -[Illustration: PERSIAN TRANSPORT.] - -Harunabad does not differ essentially from any other village in -South-Western Persia. Dirt and decay have laid their twin grip upon -its crooked streets, its tottering mud walls, and ruinous -habitations. {95} The inhabitants were as hungry as any other of -their class in Persia, and they crowded round the bivouac cookhouses -snatching eagerly at any morsel of food that was thrown to them. -General Byron, Captain Eve, Lieutenant Akhbar, and I lighted on a -couple of rooms in a disused caravanserai, and the local governor, -who seemed to bother less about backsheesh than the average of his -fellows, procured us some mutton and firewood. Two of his servitors -who had brought the supplies were demanding an exorbitant price--the -middleman's profit. The Governor, happening to arrive on the scene -while the haggling was proceeding, beat the grasping pair soundly in -our presence, and promised them a dose of the bastinado on the -morrow. Thoroughly abashed by their drubbing, and terrified by the -prospect of a fresh one next day, they fell upon their knees, begging -for mercy and forgiveness. The General successfully pleaded on their -behalf, and they showed their gratitude by kissing his hands, before -taking themselves out of range of the still wrathful eye of the -Governor. - -The night was cold, with a tinge of frost in the air. We sat round -the fire after supper drying our sodden garments and removing the -encrustations of Persian mud which had settled thickly upon them. -Sleep came to us easily after the fatigues of the day, and it was -with a feeling of deep personal resentment that we heard the Hussars' -trumpeter sound the reveille. - -{96} - -Most transport mules are longsuffering animals, but they rebel -occasionally. The Persian variety was inclined to be peevish, when -it came to early rising and taking afresh upon its sturdy back the -burden of the day. Those of our supply convoy, when prodded into -activity before sunrise, rarely failed to make their displeasure felt -by a vigorous protest lodged at random in some part of a charvadar's -anatomy. On the morning of our departure from Harunabad the mules -showed themselves especially intractable. It could hardly have been -because of any deep-rooted affection for the locality itself. -However, at the cost of much profanity and shouting on the part of -the muleteers, during which grave aspersions were cast upon the -character of the mules' ancestors, the rebellious beasts were cowed -into submissiveness and our column was soon floundering anew in the -mud of the Persian wilderness. - -A wind from the north blew across our path and sent the menacing -rain-clouds scurrying to the right-about. The sun, too, unveiled its -face, as if half-ashamed of its tardiness, and speedily dispelled the -curtain of white mist which arose from the sodden earth. The air was -keen and invigorating, but tempered by the warm breath of spring. -Men and horses and transport mules responded to the gladsome call of -Nature in her most beneficent mood. British soldier and Persian -charvadar each sang the wild songs of his native land, telling -invariably of {97} some fair, beauteous maiden whom the sentimental -songster had left behind somewhere in England or Iran. To the ears -of one riding on in advance, as I happened to be that day, this flow -of song blending with the deep note of the jingling mule-bells made -sweetest music. - -Four hours' march brought the head of the column to the top of the -Chihar Zabar Pass. The road went sheer down the reverse slope, -cutting across an immense plain carpeted with the deepest emerald -green. Here wild flowers grew in abundance--crocuses, daffodils, -daisies, violets, and a species of indigenous primrose, a woof of -rich, glorious colouring in the warp of green. This "Promised Land," -the work of Nature's own brush, stretched away from my very feet till -it mingled with the grey-blue of the distant horizon. What a -pleasing contrast to the dreary, desolate lowlands we had so lately -traversed! It was a most welcome prospect to eyes tired of looking -upon dull, monotonous landscapes. To me it was the fairest sight I -had yet seen in the land of Iran. - -While I was revelling in the beauty of the scene, there appeared on -the summit of the Pass, coming from this valley of enchantment, three -men whose dress and appearance excited my curiosity. They were -sturdily built, and dressed in black, skirted coats, fastened at the -waist by a girdle from which was suspended a sword and satchel. -Their beards were no longer than that permitted by the precepts of -{98} the Koran. They were without head-covering of any kind, and -their long hair fell free and untrammelled on their shoulders. The -trio wore shoes of Moroccan leather with pointed, turned-up toes and -silver buckles. Each carried a small silver-headed axe at the -"slope," as a cavalry trooper does a sabre. - -As they approached, my first feeling was one of alarm, and my hand -instinctively sought my revolver holster. Seeing this, the foremost -raised his hand in friendly salutation, and greeted me with, "Peace -be upon thee, O stranger!" They proved to be wandering dervishes who -begged their way from end to end of Persia, and to judge by their -raiment and their general well-to-do appearance, it must be a -profitable occupation. - -These dervishes, amongst the Persians of all classes, have a great -reputation for sanctity. The rich help them liberally, and even the -very poor will not turn a deaf ear to their request for aid. One of -them chattered away like a magpie, recounting adventures which were -not always of the kind one is prone to associate with the austerity -of a Religious Order. They had come on foot from Meshed in Eastern -Persia to Teheran, Hamadan, and Kermanshah, and were now bound for -Kerbela and the Shi'ite holy places in the vicinity of Bagdad. The -burdens of life sat lightly on their shoulders, and the destroying -hand of care had left no traces upon their merry, laughing faces. -They were a cheery trio, {99} forgetful of yesterday, unmindful of -to-morrow, and living only for to-day. - -They were full of a pleasant inquisitiveness, and withal as simple as -children. "Were there dervishes across the big water in Faringistan -(Europe), and had the man-birds (aviators) come to Bagdad?" they -asked. I told them they would see plenty of "man-birds" and -"wonder-houses" (cinemas) down yonder in Bagdad, but that an -itinerant Persian dervish would be a _rara avis_ amongst our -benighted folk, not one, so far as I knew, having yet shed the light -of his countenance upon our slow-going old Western world. With a -small cash contribution oh my part towards the expenses of their -journey, and on theirs the formal invocation of the blessing of Allah -upon my head, the dervishes and I exchanged cordial adieux, and -parted company on the summit of the Chihar Zabar. - -Our next halting-place was at Mahidast, a walled town which stands in -the midst of an immense plain seventy miles long by ten broad. It is -one of the most fertile tracts in Persia, and grows great crops of -wheat and barley for the market of Kermanshah. As for Mahidast -itself, it consists of a few dirty streets, unpaved and -evil-smelling, and a hundred houses, the greater number of which are -in ruins. Its inhabitants are chiefly Kalhur-Kurds, semi-nomads, who -migrate in winter with their flocks to the neighbourhood of Khaniquin -and Mandali. Mahidast is a great resort of pilgrims on the way {100} -to and from Kerbela, and in the main street stands a vast -caravanserai built by that industrious architect-ruler, Shah Abbas. - -I rode inside the great doorway of Shah Abbas' hostelry hoping to -find quarters here, but my nose was in revolt at once. A stagnant -pool covered with green slime, where myriads of mosquitoes and flies -were undergoing a course of field training, occupied the centre of -the courtyard, and this was flanked by festering heaps of garbage -amongst which lean, hungry-looking dogs were fossicking for an -evening meal. - -Turning in disgust from the loathsome spot, I encountered a farrash -(messenger) come from the Naib-ul-Hukumeh, or Deputy Governor, The -latter had heard of our arrival, and sent to conduct us to quarters -near his own dwelling. Our abode proved to be a smaller -caravanserai, its living-rooms adjoining the stables and looking out -on a manure heap. The Deputy Governor himself turned up presently, -and in the usual flowery Persian speech bade General Byron welcome, -and assured him that supplies of forage and fuel would be forthcoming. - -He hinted that, as the prowling Kurds of the district were keen -horse-fanciers, and not always able to discriminate between the -niceties of _meum_ and _tuum_, it would be advisable to mount a -stable guard. For this purpose he sent us eight truculent-looking -rascals, fairly bristling with weapons, who watched over our horses -while we sought to snatch a few hours' repose. - -{101} - -Sleep we found to be out of the question. Our sleeping-bags, the -latest of their kind from London, had no chance against the -incursions of the nimble Mahidast flea, or his bigger parasitical -brethren, whom pilgrim caravans had brought from the remote corners -of Persia. Emerging angry and unrefreshed from an unequal combat, we -quitted Mahidast at an early hour. The major portion of the -inhabitants were present to see us off, and incidentally to demand a -pishkash for services--chiefly imaginary--rendered us during our -sojourn. Akhbar paid off the fuel and forage vendors, and ransomed -our horses from the stable guard for a substantial sum in krans. He -next gave a considered decision in respect to the claim of the Deputy -Governor and his numerous retinue. The former modestly demanded an -amount which would have provided him with a comfortable life annuity, -pointing out that, as our throats were unsevered and our purses -untouched, we could afford to be generous, and reward his protecting -zeal. I did not wait for the end of the negotiations, but I heard -afterwards that Akhbar, whose temper had been sorely tried, consigned -the Deputy Governor to _jahannam_, and effected a compromise with his -insistent retainers for the equivalent of ten shillings. - -It is an eighteen-mile march to Kermanshah from Mahidast. The road -was harder, and it was easier travelling for the horses and transport -animals. There was a good deal of traffic too. We passed numerous -caravans, the first being one of tobacco {102} and general -merchandise bound for Bagdad. To this a number of pilgrims had -attached themselves for safety, and had hired an armed convoy to -protect them against plundering Kurds and, in a minor sense, the -exactions of the Persian road guards. These latter were supposed to -police the route, and had posts along the road. By way of recompense -they were allowed to levy baj (toll) upon travellers. But their -rapacity was boundless. They were said to stand in with the -freebooters of the district, and woe betide the simple traveller or -merchant who, journeying without armed retainers, fell into their -hands! Him they fleeced unmercifully, and if the victim were -inclined to protest against this bare-faced spoliation, he might -always be sure of receiving a sound beating in addition. - -So much for Persian road guards and their methods! The British -sought to remedy these abuses by subsidizing local chiefs to protect -a section of road, but the chiefs took the cash and stuck to it, -while the guards still dipped deeply into the pockets or into the -bales of merchandise of those who came their way. It was considered -a lucrative post, that of road guard, and much sought after by -gentlemen who hated the attendant risks of ordinary highway robbery, -and preferred the easier and surer means of growing rich by levying -toll in a quasi-official capacity. - -Presently we met a corpse-caravan bound for Kerbela with its -lugubrious freight. A contingent of road guards had gathered round -like so many {103} human vultures, and there was much haggling -between themselves and angry relatives of the defunct as to what a -dead Persian ought or ought not to pay to pass free and unhindered -over this section of the long and thorny road that led to the holy of -holies of the Shi'ite Moslem. - -On the banks of a stream by the roadside was a "hunger battalion" -resting. Its members, men and boys, were in a state of semi-nudity; -their few garments hung in tattered rags about their wasted bodies, -and all looked to be in the last stage of physical exhaustion from -starvation. For some the end had clearly come. They were incapable -of further effort, and lay waiting for a merciful death to cut short -their sufferings. Others there were who still clung despairingly to -the enfeebled thread of life. They crouched on the ground, gnawing -frantically at a handful of roots or coarse herbs with which they -sought to assuage the terrible pangs of unsatisfied hunger. A little -apart from the main body was a small group crooning a mournful dirge: -it was the funeral requiem of a man whom famine had killed. The body -was being prepared for burial and, before committal to earth, was -being washed in the stream which supplied a near-by village with -drinking water. - -We divided some food amongst the sorely stricken survivors of the -hunger battalion. It was all we could give. They were thankful, and -one man said that he and five companions had originally started {104} -from Hamadan, where the people were dying by hundreds daily, in the -hope of crossing the frontier to Khaniquin or Kizil Robat, at either -of which places they might get work and food in the British Labour -Corps. Of the six who had set out on this quest he was the sole -survivor. - -Kermanshah is a very old Persian city, and was known to writers and -travellers from the earliest Christian times. It once was a -flourishing industrial and commercial centre, but much of its -prosperity and glory have been dimmed by a succession of political -and economic vicissitudes. The town itself has a certain military -importance. It is close to the Turkish frontier, and is equidistant -from Bagdad, Ispahan, Teheran, and Tabriz. During the War Turks and -Russians occupied it in turn, and the Turks had a consul and a -consular guard here until their army was chased out of the province. - -Outside the town itself the nomadic and semi-nomadic population -consists chiefly of Kurds, and Kurdi is the language of the people as -distinct from the merchants. Cereals are extensively grown, but, -owing to the lack of communications, the cost of transporting grain -to Bagdad or Teheran was triple its local market value, and it was a -profitless enterprise. The grain rotted in Kermanshah while people -died of hunger in adjoining provinces. - -The chief trade route in Western Persia passes through Kermanshah, -and it is also an important market for transport mules, which are -bred in the {105} district. In pre-war days as many as 200,000 -pilgrims passed through Kermanshah each year on their way to and from -Kerbela and the other Shi'ite shrines in the Vilayet of Bagdad. The -bazaars were well stocked with British and foreign goods, and the -local traders were reputed to be wealthy. But the War and the coming -of the Turks were fatal to Kermanshah and its commerce; the shops -were closed, and the wealthier merchants hid their cash and valuables -and sought asylum elsewhere. - -Kermanshah suffered much during the Civil War of 1911-12. In July of -1911 it was occupied in the name of the ex-Shah, Muhammad Ali, by a -force of irregulars under Salar-ud-Dauleh, the ex-Shah's brother. In -the following February the Government troops reoccupied Kermanshah, -and the troops of the dethroned Shah were driven out. But a -fortnight later Salar-ud-Dauleh, aided by a large force of Kurds, was -back again; the town was plundered, and the Governor appointed by the -Constitutionalists had his legs cut off and was burnt alive. For the -next few months the redoubtable Salar and his military opponent, -Farman Farma, hunted each other in turn up and down Western Persia -until the Shah's rebellion was finally subdued. - -I found the streets of the town narrow and tortuous. The Zarrabiha -Street and that leading from the Darvaseh Sarab to the Chal Hassan -Khan are about the only two possible for carriages. In the Feizabad -quarter, which is remote from the bazaars, are the {106} houses of -the wealthy classes, with their immense courtyards, high walls, and -beautifully kept gardens. By contrast, the houses of the poor look -despicably mean, being simply a collection of mud hovels into which -the light of day penetrates with difficulty. - -The rain overtook us afresh at Kermanshah, and we had to stay there -for three days weatherbound. The Hussars and the remainder of the -column bivouacked on a hill near the British Consulate. It was far -from agreeable. The tents were already soaking wet after the -downpour at Khorosabad, and had had no time to dry. - -General Byron went to stay with the Kennions. Colonel Kennion was -Political Officer and Consul, and his wife, a very charming and -energetic lady, who held in her hands most of the threads of the -political happenings in Persia, worked hard all day in the office -ciphering and deciphering despatches. In the evening she entertained -her husband's guests and graced a hospitable table. - -The foreign colony of Kermanshah was not a large one. Besides the -Kennions, there were the Russian Consul and his wife, a French -Consul, Mr. and Mrs. Stead of the American Presbyterian Mission, and -Mr. Hale, local manager of the Imperial Bank of Persia. Hale has -travelled widely in Persia, and knew its elusive and nimble-witted -people better than most Englishmen. He was an excellent raconteur, -and I spent pleasant evenings in his company {107} laughing over -stories of adventure which irresistibly called to mind that great -exponent of Persian drollery, "Hadji Baba." - -Leaving our horses behind to be brought on by the marching column, -General Byron and six officers, including myself, moved by motor -convoy from Kermanshah on April 22nd. With luck we hoped to reach -Hamadan in two days. - -It is twenty-two miles to Bisitun Bridge and the crossing of the -Gamasiab, a tributary of the Kara river. The brick bridge over the -stream had been destroyed by the retreating Russians. It had not yet -been repaired, and we were to be faced with the difficult problem of -getting the Ford cars across to the eastern bank of the Gamasiab. -The recent rains had done their worst for the road track which led -over the great plain of Kermanshah, and the soil had been converted -into a kind of pulpy clay which the passage of recent caravans had -churned into puddle. The laden cars bravely struggled through it, -sinking occasionally to the axles in the treacherous mire. Finally, -we crawled out of this bog and struck a patch of hard road which led -to the village of Bisitun, where we halted to allow the other bogged -cars to join up. Beyond the straggling village of thirty houses or -so the great rock of Bisitun rises perpendicularly from the level -plain. - -Bisitun is famous for the inscriptions and tablets of Darius found -here. It lies on the highway from Ecbatana to Babylon, and was thus -chosen by various {108} monarchs as a fitting place for the record of -their exploits. - -It is to British pluck, tenacity, and will-power that the world owes -its definite and detailed knowledge of the Darius inscriptions. That -"King of Kings," as he proudly styles himself, saw to it that the -written account of his greatness should be at a height corresponding -with his fame, and had it placed 300 feet above the ground on the -wall of a dizzily perpendicular cliff. To climb this rock near -enough to read what Persian workmen chiselled there five hundred -years before the Christian era is the dangerous and difficult -undertaking accomplished by Rawlinson. - -The bas-relief tablets and inscriptions on Bisitun's famous cliff -wall have all but one object--to glorify Darius Hystaspes ("The great -King, the King of Kings, King of Persia, King of the Provinces"), and -to give the lie to any of his enemies or rivals who dared to proclaim -themselves monarchs also. ("This Gaumata the Magian lied: thus did -he speak: 'I am Bardiya; son of Cyrus, I am King!'") - -Grandiloquently the names of the countries over which Darius ruled -are set forth. They number twenty-three. A Persian Alexander the -Great was this "King of Kings." - -[Illustration: DARIUS INSCRIPTIONS AT BISITUN.] - -The bas-relief vividly portrays his conquest of the lesser chieftains -from whom he wrested their kingdoms. His foot is on the prostrate -form of the most formidable of these, Gaumata, while the others are -shown tied together by their necks, a sorry company {109} of defeated -royalties. Darius is depicted as physically towering above the men -of his day, a giant in every way. Over him hovers the Godhead, -Auramazdn, or Ormuzd, who, holding a circlet of victory in one hand, -with the other points out the mighty monarch as the wearer-designate. - -The whole is in a marvellous state of preservation, thanks to the -conscientious work of the craftsmen who laboured at it so many -thousand years ago. After first smoothing the surface of the rock, -they filled in every tiny crevice or crack with lead. Then they -chiselled deeply, and with astonishing accuracy, each character, -finally coating the whole with a silicious varnish, a protection -against climatic ravages which has stood the test imposed upon it -while countless generations of mankind have come and gone. - -When we reached the Gamasiab, we found the stream in flood, and a -six-knot current swirling through the brick arches of the damaged -bridge. There was a great gap in the central span, the latter -running to a point almost like a Gothic arch. Gangs of workmen were -busy repairing it, under Lieutenant Goupil, R.E. - -Captain Goldberg, of the Armoured Car Section, had preceded us to -Bisitun. Goldberg, who had ripped roads through East African jungle -to get within shooting distance of the Hun, claimed that in his -service lexicon there was no such word as fail, and that wherever a -transport mule could pass in Persia {110} he would take his lighter -cars. At Bisitun he was as good as his word. The animals of the -transport were ferried across on crudely constructed rafts to which -were attached inflated goatskins to give additional buoyancy. They -were of the type of the Mussik raft of the Tigris, and the scheme -worked successfully. But it was a tricky business when it came to -ferrying motor-cars over. Our own Fords were emptied of their -contents, and a single car was lashed on a raft which was then -man-hauled across a hundred yards of stream to the other bank. -Sometimes one of the guide-ropes gave way, and the raft and its -burden, caught by the swift current, would go gyrating down stream -until it was lassooed by pursuing coolies on a second raft. At other -times the wheel-lashings would part in transit, and the raft would -"nose dip" at a dangerous angle. Then the Persian labour coolies, -with wild shouts and cries, would jump into the water and restore the -equilibrium of the water-logged raft by clinging to its stern. All -our cars were in this manner safely carried over without serious -mishap, and the stores and baggage were brought on coolies' backs -across the wrecked bridge itself. On the eastern bank the Fords were -reloaded and the party got under way once more. - -We spent the night at Kangavar, a big village at the eastern end of -the Bisitun gap, and at the junction of the Hamadan Qum and -Daulatabad roads, fifty-five miles from Kermanshah. Kangavar reposes -at the foot of a lofty, snow-capped mountain, and is {111} built on a -series of natural and artificial mounds which rise corkscrew fashion -from the plain. Here are the ruins of a large temple or palace whose -history is lost in antiquity. That profound scholar and -archæologist, Rawlinson, thinks that Kangavar is the Chavon of -Diodorus, where, according to the Sicilian historian, Semiramis built -a palace and laid out a paradise. There also existed at Kangavar a -celebrated temple of Anaitis, whose lascivious cult was once -widespread in this ancient land. - -We were hospitably entertained by the representative of the Deputy -Governor, who is noted for his pro-British sympathies. The Sheikh, -our host, furnished us with quarters within his own residence, a -wonderful walled enclosure big enough to hold a battalion, and laid -out with beautiful gardens and fountains. In the trees the laqlaqs -(storks) nested, and down by the cool splashing fountains a peacock -in all the beauty of fully displayed plumage strutted proudly. - -We were seven officers to supper, but our host, in accordance with -the lavishness required by Persian hospitality, prepared enough food -for four times our number. His multitude of retainers looked on -while we ate, and what remained of the feast passed to them by right -of custom. - -It was with considerable misgivings that we heard that the shorter -road to Hamadan over the great Asadabad Pass, nearly eight thousand -feet high, was closed by snow. We accordingly took the longer {112} -and lower road by way of Parisva and Tasbandi which skirts the Alvand -mountain range. The cars bogged incessantly in the low, flat -country, but going over the Parisva Pass, where the gradients are -steep and great boulders strew the route, our progress was also very -slow. The cars had to be manhandled, being towed and pushed by -peasants collected from the neighbouring fields. There were several -"lame ducks" in the convoy, and before evening a number had broken -down altogether and had to be temporarily abandoned by the roadside -in charge of an armed guard. - -[Illustration: CARAVANSERAI, BISITUN.] - -Night had already fallen when the leading cars crawled into Hamadan, -having taken fourteen hours to cover a journey of about ninety-five -miles. Weary and travel-stained, we reported at British -Headquarters, and to our joy found that everyone was well, and that -the Dunsterville Garrison, overawing the turbulent section of the -population, was still in possession of this isolated post in the -heart of Persia. - - - - -{113} - -CHAPTER XI - -A CITY OF FAMINE - -In ancient Hamadan--With Dunsterville at last--His precarious -position--"Patriots" as profiteers--Victims of famine--Driven to -cannibalism--Women kill their children for food--Trial and -execution--Famine relief schemes--Death blow to the -Democrats--"Stalky." - - -Hamadan stands at a height of six thousand feet at the foot of the -Alvand range, which is covered with snow for ten months in the year. -In summer, when the tender shoots of the growing corn are pushing -above the earth, and the trees are blossom-laden, "every prospect -pleases." The reverse of the medal is presented after a brief -acquaintance with Hamadan's people, and one sadly recalls that "only -man is vile." - -It is said that modern Hamadan occupies the site of one of the -ancient Ecbatanas of the Greeks, of which there were seven, and that -it was the treasure city of the Achæmenian Kings, the place taken and -plundered by Alexander the Great when he was "strafing" the Eastern -World. However that may be, very few ancient remains have been -brought to light. On a hill outside the town are the ruins of a -{114} citadel, and a carved stone lion of venerable aspect and crude -workmanship crouches by the roadside not far from the British -Hospital Compound. This lion may once have adorned the façade of an -Achæmenian palace, but he has fallen from royal greatness to plebeian -utility; for it is popularly believed that he exercises a protective -influence against cholera, smallpox, plague, and kindred ills; and -Persian mothers bring their children and seat them on his stone back -to obtain immunity from disease. Famine is evidently not included, -or so many children would not have succumbed during the hunger days -of the spring and early summer of 1918, before that never-failing -talisman, the British Commissariat, exorcised the famine fiend. - -In Hamadan, too, is buried the celebrated philosopher and physician -of Bokhara, Abu ali ibn Sina, better known as Avicenna, the legend of -whose fondness for eleventh-century wine and women has come down -through all the ages, obscuring whatever reputation he may have -possessed as a healer or thinker. - -The Jews of Hamadan, and they are numerous, point with pride to the -site of the tombs of Esther and Mordecai. It is very uncertain -whether either of these personages who figure so prominently in the -Book of Esther is buried here. Within an insignificant-looking, -weather-worn, stucco-covered shrine in the grip of decay, are two -wooden sarcophagi covered with faded paint and bearing gilt -inscriptions in Hebrew of verses from the Book of Esther. - -{115} - -The Rabbi in charge, a sallow-faced man with a long white beard, who -had seen generations of Gentiles come and go while he kept watch and -ward here, assured me that the tomb of this heroine of the Jewish -race, who stooped to amatory conquest that her people might live, as -well as that of her shrewd relative, the opportunist Mordecai, were -of unquestionable authenticity. I will leave it at that. - -The arrival of our small party in Hamadan at the beginning of May -added a hundred or so additional rifles to the unwelcome and -uninvited skeleton force already there. As I related in a previous -chapter, General Dunsterville, after falling back from Resht, -established himself in Hamadan, his available fighting force being a -handful of officers and a baker's dozen of N.C.O's. He was in the -midst of a more or less hostile population of about 70,000, -one-fourth of whom were Turks or of Turkish origin and sympathies, -the remainder being Persian, with a small sprinkling of Jews and -Armenians. - -Yet he sat there unharmed while the Asiatic world wondered. His -position was precariousness itself. The full virulence of political -animosity was focussed upon him and his dangerously thin khaki line. -I am convinced that no Assurance Company, however speculative, would -have considered him a "safe life" during those dark and doubtful -days, when he was barricaded within the British Compound, alternately -waiting for the inglorious but picturesque death so fervently -promised him by the local Democrats, or {116} watching for the -reinforcements which dribbled fitfully from Bagdad and over Persian -plain and mountain. - -Hamadan was at once the foyer of Turkish espionage and of Persian -intrigue. The moribund association of local Democrats, merchants and -grain-growers, had been largely galvanized into anti-British activity -by Kuchik Khan, whose army of Jungalis still barred the road from -Manjil to the Caspian Sea. The Hamadan Democrats were "pure -patriots," who talked glibly in the local tea-houses of the blessing -of political freedom, cursed the British as mischievous, evil-minded -interlopers, and called upon Allah to bless their deliberations and -rid them of the British oppressor. Incidentally, they would meet in -secret conclave and decree a further increase in grain prices, which -meant a substantial gain to themselves. Supplies were refused to the -British except at very exorbitant rates; the profiteers waxed fat and -became more insolent; and the poor of Hamadan were left to die of -hunger, victims of Persian cupidity and Persian indifference. -Pamphlets, inflammatory in tone, and bearing the imprimatur of the -principal democratic club, were distributed broadcast in the streets, -and from these the victims of famine had at all events the -ante-mortem satisfaction of learning that it was the British who were -deliberately starving them to death in order that these beardless -intruders might the more easily overrun the whole land of Persia. - -{117} - -If a Persian Democrat be valorous in speech, he is fortunately -discreet in deeds. An ukase would go forth from Kuchik Khan that -there was to be a truce to temporizing, and that the Dunsterforce -must be sent without delay to the Jehannam of Unbelievers. "By -Allah, it will be accomplished!" would be the prompt reply. Then the -fearless Democrats, always careful never to risk their own skins -unduly, would hire some half-starved fedais or irregulars, who for a -kran or two would fire a few shots into British Headquarters, or, -under cover of dusk and a sand-bank, snipe some solitary officer or -soldier of our force. Whereat there would be much rejoicing in -democratic circles, and the club would sit up late drinking arak. - -Meanwhile the hunger mortality in Hamadan was increasing. Bread, the -chief, indeed the only, article of diet of the poor, was at 14 krans -a batman (roughly, the equivalent of ten shillings for 7 lbs.), and -the wheat combine saw to it that the price increased rather than -decreased. On May 6th Mr. McDouell, the British Consul, officially -computed that the daily deaths from starvation were two hundred. -Hamadan was a city of horrors. The unburied victims of famine--men, -women, and children--were lying in the streets and in the fields -adjoining British Headquarters. The Kashish or priest of the Shi'ite -mosque, who received a fee of about twopence for officiating at the -funerals of those buried in _forma pauperis_, admitted that the daily -interment-roll was {118} one hundred and sixty during the first -fortnight of May. The hunger-enfeebled survivors became herbivorous, -eating the grass in the fields like so many animals. A short course -of this diet proved as fatal as the want of bread, for it invariably -caused peritonitis and a lingering, agonizing death. - -But there was worse to come. The foodless people, driven crazy by -their sufferings, now resorted to eating human flesh. Cannibalism -was a crime hitherto unknown in Persia, and no punishment exists for -it under Persian law. The offenders were chiefly women, and the -victims children stolen from the doorsteps of their homes, or -snatched up haphazard in the bazaar purlieus. Mothers of young -children were afraid to leave them while they went to beg for bread, -lest in their absence they should be kidnapped and eaten. I never -went into the Bazaar or through the narrow, ill-paved streets without -a feeling of sickly horror at the sight of the human misery revealed -there. Children who were little better than human skeletons would -crowd round to beg for bread or the wherewithal to purchase it, and -in parting with a few coppers to them, one could not help shuddering -and wondering if they, too, were destined, sooner or later, to find -their way into the cooking-pot. - -The Persian Governor one day awoke from his habitual lethargy and -roused the local police, who set out on the track of the -child-eaters. A series of domiciliary visits brought to light -fragments of human bones and rags of clothing. They arrested {119} -eight women, who confessed that they had kidnapped, killed, and eaten -a number of children, pleading that hunger had driven them to these -terrible crimes. - -On the following day, May 8th, a yet more horrifying case of -cannibalism was discovered. Two women, mother and daughter, were -caught red-handed. They had killed the daughter's eight-year-old -child, and were cooking the body, when the police interrupted the -preparations for this horrible feast. The half-cooked remains were -removed in a basket, and an indignant crowd of well-fed Democrats -followed the wretched offenders to the police-station, threatening -them with death. - -Some of the people, who did not share the noble view of the Democrats -that the poor should starve rather than that cornered wheat should be -released, went to the telegraph office with the intention of -informing the weak and incapable Teheran Government of the true state -of affairs. - -But the Democrats would have none of that; it might upset their -carefully laid schemes for enrichment at the expense of the flesh and -blood of their fellows. There was no telling what effect a -telegraphed protest might have upon the supineness of the Shah's -Cabinet Ministers. Those administrative sluggards might be goaded -into some action bordering on interference with the policy of the -Hamadan Democrats, which Heaven forbid! So Democrat emissaries -picketed the Persian telegraph office, and pitched into the street -any of their adversaries who {120} questioned their right to impose -an arbitrary censorship. Thus was made manifest the "benign rule" of -the "friends of Persia" in all its callous disregard for the first -principles of humanity. - -On the following day there was the sequel to the case of child murder -by mother and daughter, when these two unfortunates paid the cruel -penalty imposed by Persian law for killing one's own offspring--that -of being stoned to death. The "execution" took place in front of the -Hamadan telegraph office. The condemned women, already on the -borderland of death from hunger, were staked down in two shallow pits -near where heavy stones were plentiful. Then the police, reinforced -by a willing mob, armed themselves with heavy boulders and pounded -the flickering life out of their emaciated frames, silencing for ever -their unavailing cries for pity and mercy. It was a revolting -spectacle, and although their crime was an abominable one, no one not -a Persian could repress a feeling of compassion for the wretched -creatures who, made desperate by hunger, had become so dead to all -human instinct as to kill and be prepared to eat their own flesh and -blood. - -Other women were apprehended and executed for child murder. It was -reported that there was plenty of wheat stored in private houses, and -it was urged that severe measures should be taken against the -hoarders. The men were still eating their evening meal of grass, -flavoured with a little salt. One of the favourite trysting-places -of the Democrat {121} stalwarts was the football-ground near the -Hospital Compound. Nearly every afternoon in fine weather, when the -ground was not being used for play, they sat there cross-legged--in -their brown and black loose-fitting robes, resembling so many -clucking hens on a roost--discussing and planning the overthrow of -the British, while hundreds of their own people lay dying around them -of starvation. - -In Hamadan, to add to our other difficulties, we were greatly -troubled with professional mendicants, whose ages varied from six to -sixty, and whose energy and begging zeal were unbounded. In time we -got to know them, chiefly, I think, because of their physical -fitness. They were always in the pink of condition, sound in wind -and limb, and could run a mile in pursuit of a likely dole without -turning a hair, while their vigorous lung power would have done -credit to a "cheap jack" auctioneer. - -I always did, and always shall, admire the wonderful patience and -clemency exercised by Dunsterville when faced with the Democratic -organization, which aimed at nothing short of wiping out both himself -and his force in Hamadan, if not by a _tour de force_, then by -starvation. They were always inciting the populace to rise and -finish us. But hungry men have little stomach for blood-letting, and -although those in Hamadan found it difficult enough to exist owing to -the food shortage, they were in no hurry to abridge their unhappy -days by flinging themselves on British bayonets. - -{122} - -The Hun or the Turk would have ended this intolerable situation long -ago by decorating Hamadan lamp-posts with the dangling bodies of -local Democrats; but Dunsterville was forbidden to embark upon any -strong measures. Our own Minister in Teheran, Sir Charles Marling, -kept warning us that we were neutrality-breakers, and wondering -whether the Persian Government, even by the exercise of all his (the -Minister's) diplomatic skill, could ever be induced to forgive us. -Sir Charles, who has since been transferred to some other sphere of -usefulness, was always quick to grasp and expound the Persian -official point of view. I often wonder if he ever busied himself -with attempting to understand that of the British concerning the -occupation of Hamadan and Kasvin. - -One of the contributory causes of the Hamadan famine was the insane -behaviour of the Russian Army when in occupation of the town and -district. They destroyed the growing crops of wheat and barley, and -wantonly wasted the grain they were unable to consume or carry off. -The Hamadan harvest is not ripe for gathering until about the first -week in July, so the British, in May, were faced with the problem of -feeding a starving population for some sixty days. It was not -incumbent upon them to do so, but both pity and policy coincided in -indicating the necessity for combating the evil of food shortage that -was so rapidly thinning out the population. - -With the approval of the British Government a {123} scheme of famine -relief was inaugurated by General Dunsterville. Labour gangs were -formed, and under the supervision of our officers the starving -multitude was set to work road-making. In about the first week three -thousand offered themselves for employment, and were enrolled. -Nominally, only the able-bodied were supposed to be eligible, but -judging by the human wrecks that one saw in the Labour Corps few of -this category existed in Hamadan. The road-makers, at the beginning, -were paid four krans per diem (a kran is, at war-exchange, the -equivalent of a franc), and it was stipulated that they should -provide themselves with a spade or mattock and a basket in which to -carry away the loosened earth. A number, it is true, did present -themselves armed with the narrow-bladed bilm or spade of the Persian -agricultural labourer, but there were hundreds who heroically tackled -the job equipped with nothing more efficacious than wooden -rice-spoons. Still, no one kicked at this, and the rice-spoon -wielders did their "bit," or attempted to do it to the best of their -enfeebled ability. Our object was rather to be content with some -colourable imitation of a _quid pro quo_ for cash disbursements, than -to exact a stiff day's labour from people wholly incapable of -performing it. - -In our blissful ignorance of Persian psychology, we fondly imagined -at first that the equivalent of £400 a day paid out in wages to -roadmakers would sensibly alleviate the prevailing distress. But we -{124} did not reckon upon Persian avarice, selfishness, and -untrustworthiness of character. The price of bread, somewhat to our -surprise, did not fall. In fact it became dearer than ever. The -bakers saw to that. Money was beginning to circulate more freely; -the very poor were no longer empty-fisted; so up went the price of -bread with a bound! In short, it was found that the more we -distributed in famine relief the lower fell the purchasing power of -the kran. Another thing, too, that militated against the successful -working of the "all cash" scheme of assistance was that it did not to -any extent ameliorate the pitiable lot of the women and children. -The men did not always bother to buy bread for their starving -dependents, preferring to dissipate their earnings in a nightly -carouse in an opium den--the local equivalent to a British gin palace. - -An unpleasant element of "graft" was also brought to light. No -Persian for very long can keep his itching fingers from other -people's money. The native foremen of the road gangs were not an -exception to the rule, and for a brief period they made a lucrative -income by trafficking in labour tickets. First they issued spurious -ones to their friends and relatives, none of whom had done a stroke -of work; they even sought, somewhat clumsily to be sure, to -counterfeit the official stamp which each ticket bore on its face. -They rubbed some Indian ink on the reverse side of a two-kran piece, -and with this stamped the forged tickets, adding a few pencil strokes -_à la {125} fantasie_ by way of giving a finishing touch of -verisimilitude. - -As the tickets entitled the bearers to draw four krans when presented -nightly at the pay office, the thieving foremen were in a fair way to -becoming rich by the time the fraud was discovered. The same -individuals were also in the habit of coercing their hapless -underlings into selling their tickets for a kran or two. These were -then resold to a middleman, who cashed them at their full face value. -But a liberal application of the bastinado worked wonders, and -speedily rendered such dishonest practices highly unpopular. - -Still, it was felt that some radical alteration was necessary if we -were to get full value for, and the Hamadan poor full benefit from, -the money that was being expended on their behalf. General Byron, a -level-headed practical soldier, and very wise in worldly knowledge, -who at this time was second in command to General Dunsterville, now -took over control of famine relief work. He decided upon an -alteration of the existing system of doles in favour of one -consisting of a free distribution in food supplemented by payment in -cash of two krans instead of four. Bread alone was deemed to be -insufficient, and it was felt that the starving people who toiled -daily road-making required some more nourishing food. After -overcoming many difficulties, official as well as unofficial, and -silencing the usual group of objectors who vowed that it could not be -done, the {126} General opened soup kitchens at several centres, and -fed as many as 2,000 hungry people per day. - -The recipients were delighted and grateful. But it was now that the -local Democrats, who throughout had stood aloof from the movement for -succouring their starving brethren, reached their high-level of -political strategy. It was not at all to their liking that the -detested British interloper was filling the empty stomachs of the -people gratis. In such circumstances they could not be expected to -revolt and join hands with the Democrats, and besides, if this free -distribution of food were not stopped, it would be a bad day for the -wheat-trust and inflated grain prices. So they set to work and -issued broadcast handbills warning the poor against partaking of -British soup, on the ground that it was heavily flavoured with -poison. It was part of another "deep-laid plot," they said, to kill -off all the Hamadani whom the ravages of famine had so far overlooked. - -The average Persian peasant is an ignorant and gullible individual as -a rule, but this time the Democrats overshot the mark and their -assertions were too much even for Persian credulity. The hungry -people came and ate. The second and succeeding days they came in -thousands. Barricades and armed soldiers were required to prevent -their storming the distribution centres and carrying off all the -available supply. And, to the dismay and horror of all good -Democrats, not a single one died from poisoning. This was the -deathblow to the prestige of the Democratic {127} movement. It lost -its grip on the people. There is nothing a Persian, or indeed any -Oriental, hates so much as being made to look ridiculous; and the -Democrats became the target for quip and jest in the bazaars of -Hamadan, until in rage they plucked their beards and tore their -garments, exclaiming, in accents of sorrow and humiliation, "Alas, -what ashes have fallen on our heads to-day!" - -But they rallied in their last ditch, and made an eleventh-hour -attempt to avert the consequences of the moral defeat which had -overtaken them. Kuchik Khan, the "Robin Hood" of the Caspian -Marches, yielding to democratic pleadings, and in the hope possibly -of discrediting British famine relief work, sent fifteen mule-loads -of rice to Hamadan to be sold for the benefit of the poor. But -Kuchik's agents had seized the rice without payment from growers -living in his "protected area," so he was able to play the merry game -of robbing the Persian Peter in order to comfort the Persian Paul. - -The artifice was too thin. Hamadan was not deluded. The British -were _de facto_ masters of the situation. They had conquered the -people of Hamadan not by the sword and halter of the Turk who had -preceded them, but by a modern adaptation of the miracle of the -loaves and fishes. - -By a _ruse de guerre_ the grain owners were induced to disgorge some -of their hoarded stocks. Telegrams purposely written _en clair_ -which passed between Bagdad and Hamadan made it appear that large -{128} supplies of wheat were being forwarded from Mesopotamia, -whereupon the local Hamadan hoarders rushed into the market and sold -readily at daily diminishing rates, until something like normal -prices were reached once more. And so the bottom fell out of the -wheat ring. - -Private foreign effort closely co-operated with the military in the -distribution of food and the relief of the famine-stricken. Dr. Funk -and Mr. Allen of the American Presbyterian Mission, Mr. McMurray of -the Imperial Bank of Persia, and Mr. Edwards, local manager of the -Persian Carpet Factory, amongst them spent considerable sums of money -and devoted a great deal of time to this work of charity. - -Mr. McMurray is a man possessing much business acumen and financial -ability, and as expert adviser to the British in occupation at -Hamadan he was able to render very great services to his country. -Too modest to seek reward or recompense of any kind, he nevertheless -had an honour thrust upon him. It was a minor class of a minor -decoration which a grateful Government in England somewhat -grudgingly, it seems, bestowed upon him in generous recognition of -his zealous labour in the common cause of Empire. So now, should he -attend a public function at home, and the question of precedence -arise, he will probably find himself ranking next after some lady -typist from the War Office, who can write shorthand and spell with -tolerable accuracy. To be {129} an unofficial Briton working for -Britain abroad is a very serious handicap for the Briton concerned. -The Government of the Empire sees to that. I have never been able to -discover exactly why it is, but the handicap holds good all the way -from Tokio to Teheran, and from Salonika to Archangel. Should you -desire to acquire merit, and you happen to be the possessor of a name -that betokens pure British ancestry, hide it, and let it be inferred -that the cradle of your race is somewhere in Palestine or the Middle -East. Then your path is easy. The India Office will pat you on the -back, and the British Foreign Office will ecstatically fold you to -its bosom. - -McMurray's bungalow was the chief trysting-place for the British -officers in Hamadan. It stands within the great walled enclosure or -compound where many members of the British and American colonies had -made their homes. It was a city within a city, fringed with trees -and pleasant pathways, and bordered by flower-beds. Mrs. McMurray -was always "at home" to her compatriots from about 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. -daily. While she fed starving Persians, she also gave luncheons and -dinners to British officers. Rarely were there fewer than six of the -latter billeted under her hospitable roof. The eaglets of the -R.A.F., and especially the fledglings still without their second -wing, found her an admirable foster-mother, who counselled them in -health and nursed them in illness, and was always a sympathetic -amanuensis when {130} fevered brows and unsteady hands attempted to -grapple with the problem of inditing a "line or two" for home to -catch the outgoing mail. - -Dunsterville, as he was popularly called, was a frequent visitor at -the bungalow. The original of Kipling's "Stalky," he rode easily and -without straining on the anchor of his reputation. He is -keen-witted, with an illimitable fund of dry, racy humour, and no -drawing-room was ever dull when the General was having his fling. As -a retailer of _bon mots_ the G.O.C. had no compeer in Hamadan. His -shafts were never envenomed, and his victims laughed as heartily as -anybody else, as, for instance, once when rations were running low -and cannibalism was in vogue among the poor of the city, -Dunsterville, turning to a very youthful A.D.C. whose cheeks were the -colour of a ripe apple, said in his droll way, "I shall never starve, -my lad, while you are about!" - -One of his _obiter dicta_ was that every British officer in Persia -should be compelled to pass a qualifying examination in "Hadji -Baba"--the Oriental Gil Blas--for he would then know more about the -Persians, their manners and customs, than could be acquired by months -of travel and unaided observation. - -"Stalky" had no fear of personal danger. He was an optimist who -always saw a diamond-studded lining to the blackest of clouds. It is -related of him {131} that at his fateful interview with the -Bolsheviks on the occasion of his raid on Resht he told the "Red -Committee" so many amusing stories in their own mother-tongue that -they quite forgot the principal business of the evening, which was to -sentence him (Dunsterville) to death. - - - - -{132} - -CHAPTER XII - -DUNSTERVILLE STRIKES AFRESH - -Official hindrances--A fresh blow for the Caucasus--The long road to -Tabriz--A strategic centre--A Turkish invasion--Rising of Christian -tribes--A local Joan of Arc--The British project. - - -By the middle of May Dunsterville began to feel his feet. -Reinforcements were trickling in, officers and N.C.O's., but no -fighting men, and always in the _petits paquets_ so beloved by the -parsimonious-minded officials who sat at General Headquarters down in -Bagdad. - -Dunsterville's own position was not an enviable one. His path was -beset by difficulties of every description, and, much against his -wish, he found himself engaged in a kind of triangular duel with -British officialdom at home and abroad. First the Minister in -Teheran, and apparently also the Foreign Office, were wringing their -hands in despair, asking what he was doing in Persia at all, and -urging him to "move on" towards the Caucasus. Next there was Bagdad, -who, deeply incensed that Dunsterville had an independent command, -and was in direct communication with the War Office, never lost a -chance of putting a retarding spoke in his wheel, {133} even going to -the extent of telegraphing up the line that no member of -"Dunsterforce" was to be furnished with supplies from the military -canteens. Then, finally, there was the War Office, who had sent him -to Persia in the first instance because it was the most direct route -to the centre of Bolshevik activities in the Caucasus. For some time -they continued to support him against the pretensions of Bagdad, but -ultimately they yielded, and Dunsterville and his force became -subordinate to the Bagdad command. Of course, there were, in -addition, the malcontents amongst the Persians, notably the Democrats -and their Turkish-German sympathizers, who had more than a passing -interest in all this bickering and wrangling. They, too, were -anxious that a British force should not sit down indefinitely in -Persia. - -At last it was determined to do something and to strike a fresh blow -for the Caucasus; but the initiative no longer rested with -Dunsterville. It had passed to Bagdad. New difficulties arose -immediately. How were the Caucasus to be reached--by the Caspian Sea -and thence by steamer to Baku? Or overland from northwards, through -the province of Azarbaijan to Tabriz and railhead? - -The direct route to the Caspian from Hamadan was not possible, -because Kuchik Khan and his Jungalis still held the Manjil-Resht -section of the road, and Dunsterville unaided was not then strong -enough to turn them out. True, there were the Russian auxiliaries -under Bicherakoff, but these valued allies {134} were making ready -for an offensive in their own leisurely fashion, and were not to be -"speeded up" by any known methods of British hustling. - -From Hamadan to Tabriz by way of Zinjan is about three hundred miles. -The route for the most part lies over difficult and mountainous -country, where supplies are scarce or hard to procure. The wild and -scattered tribesmen are not noted for extreme friendliness. Zinjan -itself is 115 miles from Hamadan in a northerly direction. The next -important stage on the road to Tabriz is Mianeh, eighty-five miles -north-west of Zinjan. From Mianeh, Tabriz itself is distant about -one hundred miles. - -Tabriz, the ancient Tauris, and capital of the province of -Azarbeijan, is the largest city in the Persian Empire, and the most -important commercial centre in all Iran. It is the residence of the -Valiahd, or heir-apparent to the Persian throne. It occupies much -the same position in north-western Persia as does Meshed in the -north-eastern part of the country. Marco Polo visited it during his -long overland trek to far Cathay, and found it a fair city, full of -busy merchants and wealthy citizens. - -But for the British, seeking to arrive within fighting distance of -the Turks, Germans, and Russian Bolsheviks overrunning the Caucasus, -Tabriz had its own special military importance. It was a point of -great strategic value. Julfa, on the Russian-Persian frontier, and -ninety miles from Tabriz, is the terminus of the Trans-Caucasian -Railway which runs to Tiflis, {135} the Caucasian capital and main -British objective. Tiflis is 320 miles from Tabriz. The railway -from the former city continues west to Poti and Batum, the shipping -ports on the Black Sea, and east (also from Tiflis Junction) to Baku -and its oilfields on the Caspian Sea. - -From Julfa, connecting with the Trans-Caucasian Railway, a Russian -company had built a branch line to Tabriz, and an extension to Sharaf -Khane on the eastern shore of Lake Urumia. On the lake itself was a -fleet of Russian-owned steamers, which maintained communication -between the railhead at Sharaf Khane and Urumia city, famous as the -legendary birthplace of Zoroaster, which is on the western shore of -the lake, and about twenty-five miles from Sharaf Khane. - -When the Russian Army, stricken by the deadly plague of Bolshevism, -retreated northwards towards Tiflis, they accommodatingly left behind -at Sharaf Khane, for the use of the first comer, their fleet of lake -steamers, hundreds of guns of heavy and medium calibre, dumps of -shells and small-arms ammunition, thousands of serviceable rifles, -and quantities of other military stores. - -The Turkish frontier line, passing about forty-five miles west of -Urumia, continues due north to its junction with the territorial -boundaries of Russia and Persia on the perpetual snow-clad summit of -the Greater Mount Ararat. The region round Lake Van having been -cleared of potential enemies--the {136} Russians had retired, and the -Armenians were put to the sword--the Turks, swinging eastward, lost -no time in crossing the frontier and violating Persian territory. -They pleaded military exigencies for the step they had taken, and -turned a very deaf and unsympathetic ear to the mere paper -remonstrances of the Persian Government. But in the invaded -territory they met with severe and unexpected opposition, not from -their own Islamic kindred, but from hated and despised Infidels of -the Christian sect. - -Urumia is the centre of a thickly populated Christian district, and -the headquarters of French, Armenian, American, Russian, and British -religious missions to the Nestorian Christians. These latter, with -few exceptions, inhabit the plains and lowlands; but in the bleak, -almost inaccessible mountain regions, live and thrive some brave and -warlike tribes who are also Nestorian Christians, and who are -generically known as Jelus. They had suffered much from religious -persecution at the hands of Kurd, Persian, and Turk, and over and -over again in their mountain eyries, with rifles in their hands, they -had put up a brave fight against the Moslem oppressor in defence of -hearth and home and the temples of their faith. - -Nestorians and Jelus once more made common cause against the common -Turkish enemy. Already warned by the fate of the hapless Armenians, -they were under no delusion as to what would befall them should the -Osmanli triumph--it meant extermination, root and branch. - -{137} - -Badly equipped and badly armed, but heroically led, the combined Jelu -Army took the field under Agre Petros, generalissimo, and Mar Shimon, -the Nestorian Patriarch. With the latter went his sister, Surma -Khanin, who fought in the ranks of the Christian army, and whose -lion-like bravery and devotion under enemy fire speedily led to her -being known as the Nestorian Jeanne d'Arc. - -A force of Turkish regulars belonging to the 6th Division, plundering -and burning as it went, on May 17th was surprised by the Jelus on the -River Barandoz, south of Urumia, and cut to pieces, the victors -capturing the guns and greater part of the supplies. Thus came to -naught the Turkish plan for the taking of Urumia by means of a -combined attack from the south and from Salmas in the north! The -captured artillery and supplies gave the Jelus a new lease of -military life, and they were able for some time afterwards to keep -the Turk at bay. Everyone realized that, without military help from -the British, the Urumia Christians must be overwhelmed by the Turks -sooner or later. - -This, then, was briefly the situation towards the middle of May. The -Turk, battered and bruised after his encounter with the Jelus, was -pulling himself together for another and more carefully prepared -spring. He hung around Khoi, whence he threatened Urumia on the -western shore of the lake, and Sharaf Khane and its rich booty of -Russian guns and military stores on the eastern shore. - -{138} - -While the Turk was probably inwardly debating whether he should not -bring matters to a climax by descending on Tabriz to possess himself -of the Persian end of the Trans-Caucasian Railway and the Russian -military stores at Sharaf Khane all at one swoop, some official folk -in remote Bagdad and remoter London were discussing between -themselves with great earnestness and energy whether it would not be -possible and practicable to forestall him by marching a column from -Hamadan to occupy Tabriz, seize the railhead, establish a base for -operations against Tiflis and the Caucasus generally, and stretch out -a helping hand to the sorely pressed Nestorian-Jelu Army on the other -side of Lake Urumia. - -[Illustration: DRILLING JELUS AT HAMADAN.] - -The British Minister in Teheran got wind of the project and jumped -upon it heavily. The Persians would not like it; it would offend -their susceptibilities; they were almost certain to be annoyed, and -diplomatic complications, etc., etc., were sure to follow. It is a -little way British Ministers sometimes have. They become -over-zealous and over-cautious, ever dreading a hair-breadth -departure from the narrow limits of the conventional protocol. There -followed a good deal of official wobbling and indecision. First the -"Ayes" had it, then the "Noes," and meanwhile much precious time was -wasted. Ultimately, some strong man somewhere--it is rumoured that -he lives down Whitehall way--got a firm grip of the problem, and -flung his weight into the scale on the side of the "Ayes"; and the -{139} "Noes," including the far-seeing Minister, were routed. - -The word "go" was given in Hamadan, and then began the great Olympian -race--the goal Tabriz, with Turk and Briton pitted one against the -other. - - - - -{140} - -CHAPTER XIII - -THE RACE FOR TABRIZ - -A scratch pack for a great adventure--Wagstaff of Persia--Among the -Afshars--Guests of the chief--Capture of Zinjan--Peace and -profiteering. - - -On May 21st a small British column left Hamadan for the north-west of -Persia. It was anything but a formidable fighting force as far as -numerical strength was concerned. It comprised fifteen British -officers, one French officer, and about thirty-five British N.C.O's. -The whole party was armed with rifles and some also carried swords, -infantry or cavalry pattern, which had been dug out of the Ordnance -Store at the last moment. - -Even as our equipment was varied, so was there certainly something -distinctly Quixotic about our saddlery and our chargers. Of the -latter, some were a fresh issue by the Remount Department, and ranged -from heavy limber horses to light 'Walers. Then there were Persian -"Rosinantes," bare-boned and razor-backed. The humble Persian mule -and humbler donkey were also impressed into the service of carrying -some British officer or sergeant forward on the great adventure. - -For adventure it certainly was. Our orders were {141} to march on -Zinjan, where a few hundred Turks were said to be holding a post, -defeat or disperse them, raise and train Persian levies, and, with -these auxiliaries to aid us in the fighting line, push on to Tabriz, -and, if possible, dispose of any Turks who might be inclined to -dispute our entry into the capital of Azarbaijan. We had a Lewis -gun, but no artillery. We had a medical officer, but scant medical -and surgical stores; no ambulance or stretchers, but a couple of -dhoolies, to each of which a mule was harnessed fore and aft. -Baggage and supplies were cut down to a minimum, for the column, if -such it could be termed, was to be self-supporting, and to live on -the country, not always an easy task in the starving land of Persia. - -This British forlorn hope was led by Major Wagstaff of the Indian -Army, an officer who had spent years in Persia attached to the South -Persia Rifles, and had an intimate knowledge of the Persian as a -fighter and as an intriguer. Wagstaff spoke the language of the -country with great fluency, and knew all the tribes from Fars to -Azarbaijan with the intimacy of an ethnological connoisseur. I -remember that he held the Persian in high esteem, believed him to be -courageous to a certain extent, honest according to his lights, and -altogether possessing the makings of a soldier. But then Wagstaff -was born an optimist! - -Our route lay due north from Hamadan to Zinjan, where it was intended -that we should cut in on the {142} main Tabriz road that runs from -Teheran by way of Kasvin. The Turks, too, had been active in this -district lately. Small reconnoitring parties of them were said to -have made their way down through Azarbaijan to the neighbourhood of -Mianeh and Zinjan, in quest of supplies and military information. In -a sense they were operating on favourable ground, for a large -proportion of the inhabitants of Azarbaijan are of Turkish origin. -They belong to the same race as the Turks on the north side of the -Araxes (Russian-Persian frontier) who occupy the valley from Julfa to -Erivan, and with whom those in Azarbaijan have blood ties. - -The Afshari is one of the powerful Turkish tribes known as Kizil -Bashis, which settled in Persia in the seventeenth century, and at -the present day more than a quarter of the descendants of the Afshari -live in Azarbaijan. It was to smash the growing power of these -newcomers from across the Persian border that Shah Abbas organized -the tribesmen in north-eastern Azarbaijan, who were known as -Shahsavans--"Shah loving." But their loyalty did not last long. -They soon turned their arms against their royal master, and joined -the Russians in the campaign of 1826, forming an enduring alliance -with their tribal enemies, whom they ultimately absorbed into their -bosom. The Shahsavans are a turbulent crew, well aware of their -strength and fighting value, and have from time to time terrorized -the Persian Government. In 1912 they revolted in the vicinity {143} -of Ardabil, and it took a combined Persian-Russian force of five -thousand men and a four months' campaign to suppress them. - -After six days' march we were in the country of the Afshar tribe, one -of the five main branches of Shahsavans, which is credited with being -able to put a thousand mounted and armed men in the field. The chief -of the Afshars, Jahan, Shah Jahan, we found sojourning in one of his -villages called Karasf. A day's march from this village we were met -by a messenger from the Amir Afshar, as he is generally called, who -invited us to make a detour and break our journey at Karasf. - -It was at the close of a hot, dusty afternoon that we reached the -Amir's abode, very tired after a long march. The Amir's headman bade -us welcome, and announced that we were to be the guests of his master -during our stay. The customary sacrificial offering of sheep was -made in our honour, and our horses were led away by native mihtaran -or syces. As for ourselves, we were installed in a spacious -caravanserai with a retinue of servants to wait upon us. The Amir -Afshar proved an admirable host, and supplies were forthcoming in -abundance from the many villages in his domains. - -Ascertaining that several members of the party were poorly mounted, -he sent us six horses, the very best of his blood stock. The Amir -lives in semi-regal style, and, as paramount chief of the Afshar -tribe, is lord of his people and the arbiter of the lives {144} and -fortunes of about five thousand tribal families, who render him -unswerving, unquestioning obedience. Here was ancient feudalism in -the heart of the twentieth-century Persian Empire! Although owing a -nominal allegiance to the "King of Kings" in Teheran, the Amir -apparently did not bother his head very much about party intrigues or -the trend of national politics at the Court of the Shah. He did his -own intriguing, and did it exceptionally well. A man of -extraordinary ability and political shrewdness, he first coquetted -with the Turks and then with the British, adroitly playing one off -against the other in the great game of politics. Too careful to -commit himself irrevocably to one side or the other while the Great -World War was still undecided, this Oriental Vicar of Bray -nevertheless contrived to maintain a cordial and unbroken friendship -with both Turk and Briton. If a Turkish emissary, backing up his -persuasive pleadings with a bag of gold, besought him to put an end -to neutrality and to place his resources and his small army of -irregulars at the service of his blood relatives, the Amir always -accepted the gold cheerfully, and fervently wished success to the -Turkish arms. Then the British, not to be outdone by the Turk, would -ask, as a guarantee of his good faith, for fifty or a hundred armed -levies from amongst his tribesmen. The Amir invariably agreed in -principle, but he would point out that no self-respecting Afshari -could fight at his best unless equipped with a British rifle. The -latest pattern {145} army rifle would be forthcoming to the number -required, but then a border foray would always be staged about the -same time, and the wily Amir would plead, and with some show of -reason, that he needed every sowar he had to prevent his territory -being overrun by his powerful and unscrupulous tribal neighbours. -Still, for all that, during the darkest of the famine days, he kept -the British commissariat well supplied with grain, and that, too, at -a reasonable price. - -Our host was usually "at home" to distinguished visitors from four to -five a.m. He sent to say that the state of his health forbade his -receiving us at the more conventional hour of noon. The Amir, I -learned afterwards, was a confirmed opium-eater, his daily dose of -the drug being far in excess of the quantity consumed by our own -candid de Quincey. He was an old man, verging on eighty, but -although his physical health was indifferent, his mental energies -were unimpaired. He rarely ventured abroad, and spent his days and -nights in the privacy of his apartment, abandoning himself to the -full enjoyment of his enthralling passion of opium-eating. At -daylight he was usually recovering from his latest dose of the drug. -Then he would partake of a little food, see callers, read his -letters, and depart for dreamland again, carried thither on the wings -of the insidious and baneful poppy extract. - -One morning at dawn the members of the Wagstaff Mission paid a -ceremonial call on the Amir. {146} Fortunately we were accustomed to -early rising. We were conducted to his presence with considerable -ceremony, and found him reclining on the floor of a large apartment -covered with rare Persian rugs. There was little else in the way of -furniture in the place. I saw before me an old man with shrivelled, -sunken features, piercing black eyes, and a grey beard growing on a -face the colour of yellow parchment. A long, thin, bony hand was -held out for us to shake in turn, the Amir excusing himself from -rising on account of physical weakness. He bade us welcome in a -quavering, piping voice. - -Whatever else may have been his infirmities, it soon became clear -that he had a remarkably alert brain. The most recent phases of the -European War, the varying fortunes of the participants engaged -therein, the latest tit-bit of scandal from Teheran, and the -pretensions of the Turks to territorial occupation of Azarbaijan and -possible aggrandizement at the expense of Persia, all these topics -drew from the aged but mentally virile potentate pungent and -sagacious criticism. He talked high strategy with all the assurance -of a Field-Marshal, and gleefully told how he had politically -out-manoeuvred the wily, calculating Turk in a recent little _affaire -à deux_. While he spoke he ran his hand idly through a pile of -correspondence, read and unread, opened and unopened, which littered -the floor beside him. Letter-filing has evidently not reached any -high standard at Karasf. - -{147} - -I think we all fell under the spell of our host's well-informed mind -and his world-wide interests, and when he asked if there had been any -Cabinet changes recently in London, and whether Lloyd George was -still Chief Minister of our King, we felt that the march of -contemporary events, rapid indeed as they can be sometimes, had -failed to outstrip the keen alertness of the overlord of Karasf. - -On May 29th, having previously exchanged adieux with our kindly host, -we set out from Karasf. The weather was now oppressively hot, and it -was becoming increasingly difficult to march during the noon-day -heat. We accordingly moved off earlier, and usually contrived to -take the road about sunrise daily, halted at noon for an hour or so, -and then on again, finishing the day's march early in the afternoon -in the welcome shade of some garden on the outskirts of a village and -close to a good water-supply. - -A day's trek from Karasf took us beyond the confines of the Amir's -territory. Couriers whom he had despatched in advance of us warned -his local headmen of our coming, and we lacked nothing in the way of -supplies. We crossed rough, broken country, wound over mountain -passes, and down into pleasant valleys beyond. Our advent, it was -clear, caused much excitement in the countryside, but the people, -while they sometimes held aloof, were never unfriendly. We were -passing through a country less {148} ravaged by starvation than the -region close to Hamadan. Food was more plentiful, and the "hunger -battalion," with its suffering members, was not to be seen in the -Persian North-West. - -We were also gradually losing touch with Persian as a spoken -language. It was being supplanted by Turki, the dialect of -Turkish-Persian spoken by the peasant classes in the province of -Azarbaijan. As we rode north we were sensible of this linguistic -change. First the peasants we met in the village spoke Persian and -understood Turki; farther north Persian was understood, but not -spoken with any fluency; until, north and north-west of Zinjan, Turki -entirely ousts the native Persian, the latter as a spoken language in -many cases being quite unknown to the villagers. - -So far we had seen nothing of any hostile Turks. A body of their -cavalry and a few infantry were reported to be at Zinjan, but the -villagers told us they had not come farther south, or anywhere in the -neighbourhood of our own line of march. A few robber bands -occasionally quitted their mountain lairs and descended into the -plain, taking us for some peaceful merchant caravan, probably -unarmed, and therefore an easy prey for these wild freebooters of the -hills. But, on reconnoitring closer and discovering their mistake, -they did not tarry, and turning about, went off into the hills as -fast as their wiry ponies could carry them. - -{149} - -On the afternoon of May 30th we arrived within ten miles of Zinjan, -and camped on a bare and desolate sand tract close to the main road. -A Persian tea-house, with its walls crumbling to ruins, stood by the -wayside. Tea there was none, and the occupier had disappeared, -leaving his establishment to the care of the wild dogs and prowling -hill robbers that nightly infested it. It was empty now, and -abominably filthy, so I sat outside under the lee of the tea-house -wall which afforded a little protection from the scorching heat, -holding a very tired horse, and waiting for the sun to take himself -from off the hot plain in order that we might seek both rest and -refreshment. - -At daylight on May 31st we broke camp early and moved cautiously -forward in the hope of surprising the Turkish force in Zinjan, -leaving the baggage and stores behind under a guard. Our total -striking force was thirty all told, half of which was under Major -Wagstaff and the remainder under Captain Osborne, 2nd King Edward's -Horse. - -Zinjan is a town of 24,000 inhabitants, shut in by high hills on the -east and west, between which lies an immense plain traversed by the -Zinjaneh Rud. On both banks of this river are beautiful gardens -enclosed by walls of baked brick. If the Turks meant to make a stand -here, they had found an admirable defensive position, and one from -which it would take a couple of battalions to dislodge them. -Osborne's party worked round to the west and north {150} in order to -threaten the retreat of the enemy, while Wagstaff and his small band, -including myself, halted under cover of a garden wall to the south of -the town. - -Some Persian Charvadars coming out of the town volunteered the -information that the Turks holding Zinjan, whose numbers were -variously estimated at from two to three hundred, were already in -flight, and galloping away northwards as hard as they could go. The -news of our approach must have reached them early. No doubt our -numerical strength had been magnified tenfold by the imaginative -native spy who had carried the intelligence of our advance. - -This information decided Wagstaff. In a moment we had flung -ourselves into the saddles and, with a wild British cheer that shook -sleepy folk out of their beds, we dashed across the stone bridge -spanning the river and so into Zinjan. We rode first for the -bazaars, hoping to round up in that quarter some stray Turks who had -overstayed their leave when the town was being evacuated. But we -found none. - -If our sudden arrival failed to surprise the Turks, it certainly -alarmed the inhabitants of Zinjan. Panic seized them. In the -bazaars the women and children fled at our approach, and the -shopkeepers, trembling in every limb, made frantic efforts to bolt -and bar their premises. Finding that the new-comers neither robbed -nor maltreated anyone, the bazaar lost its {151} attack of "nerves," -and recovered its habitual calm. Business instincts got the better -of physical fear. Shutters came down with a run, and as a slight -token of local appreciation, and in honour of our coming, all bazaar -prices were immediately, and by universal consent, increased one -hundred per cent. - - - - -{152} - -CHAPTER XIV - -CAPTURE OF MIANEH - -Armoured car causes consternation--Reconnoitring the road--Flying -column sets out--An easy capture at the gates of Tabriz--Tribesmen -raid the armoured car--And have a thin time--Turks get the wind up. - - -Zinjan having thus passed into our hands without the firing of a -shot, the Wagstaff column established its headquarters in a garden -villa a mile north of the town, near the junction of the road to -Mianeh. The Indo-European Telegraph Company had an office in Zinjan, -and we were speedily in communication with Kasvin, eighty miles to -the south-east. - -Osborne's small party soon turned up, having failed to round up any -Turks. Indeed, the latter bolted from Zinjan with amazing celerity, -so much so that their commandant, Major Ghalib Bey, left behind some -of his papers and personal effects. - -During our march on Zinjan, Dunsterville headquarters had moved up -from Hamadan to Kasvin in order the more effectively to co-operate -with Bicherakoff and his Russian volunteers in the impending -operations against Kuchik Khan and his Jungalis, who were holding the -Manjil-Resht road. - -A few hours after we had taken peaceable possession {153} of Zinjan, -Lieutenant Pierpont, with a light armoured car mounting a machine-gun -and a Ford convoy bringing supplies for our force, arrived from -Kasvin. The car, as it lumbered through the narrow bazaar streets, -scraping its way round sharp corners where there was scarcely room to -swing a cat, visibly impressed the susceptible native mind, and -damped the pro-Turkish enthusiasm of the militant local Democrats. -Its presence exercised a salutary moral influence, and although there -were mutterings of discontent at our unceremonious seizure of the -town, the stodgy barrel of the machine-gun peeping from the turret of -the armoured car was in itself sufficient to overawe all the -anti-British hotheads of Zinjan. - -On the morning following our arrival in Zinjan Major Wagstaff sent me -off with the armoured car to reconnoitre the road towards Mianeh. I -had with me Lieutenant Pierpont, who was in charge of the car and its -crew of three, and Lieutenant Poidebard of the French Army, who was -attached to our column. In addition to the car there were a couple -of Ford vans carrying spare petrol and stores for the journey. -Official road reports in our possession covering the section of the -route between Zinjan and Mianeh were indefinite and even conflicting. -The road ahead was in places reputed to be "good for wheeled -transport," but whether it was passable for an armoured car was -highly problematical. - -Our first day's journey was devoid of thrill. We forded the shallow -waters of the Zinjan Rud and one {154} of its tributary streams, -towed the car in places with the two Fords as tugs, and at others -built a plank bridge to carry it over deep mud holes. - -At the village of Nik Be, or Nikhbeg, which is about thirty miles -from our starting-point, the inhabitants fled in terror at the sight -of the strange iron-clad monster moving down the village high street. -The very dogs took fright and set out for some remote part of -Azerbaijan with their tails between their legs. Even the usually -placid transport donkey was not proof against the prevailing -infection of fear, and kicking his load free, he betook himself -elsewhere. The general impression appeared to be that the Evil One -himself had dropped in for a morning call. In five minutes from our -entry into the village not a human face was to be seen, and a silence -as of death itself reigned everywhere. Presently we dug out some of -the terrified villagers from various subterranean hiding-places and -prevailed upon them to inspect the "monster" at close range. Finding -it now stood the test well, and that it behaved in a rational way, -they grew bolder, and patted its khaki-painted sides affectionately, -as one would stroke a dog of dubious friendliness. - -On the succeeding day, by dint of a good deal of spade work, we -reached Jamalabad, about fifteen miles from Mianeh, where the road -approaches the Baleshkent Pass. The ascent to the pass from the -Jamalabad side is about three miles from the village, and the road -mounts abruptly at a very sharp angle. {155} On the reverse slope it -zigzags down the side of a gorge which made one giddy to look at. It -required the united efforts of fifty sturdy villagers from Jamalabad -to push the car to the top of the pass, but, even if we could have -negotiated the descent in safety, it was doubtful if we should ever -have been able to climb back by the precipitous corkscrew ascent. - -To be caught by the Turks at the bottom of the Pass unsupported would -mean disaster for the expedition, so very reluctantly we turned the -armoured car's head for Zinjan. We learned that there were Turks in -Mianeh, but none of those who had quitted Zinjan in such haste before -the advance of the Wagstaff column had come along the Jamalabad road. - -Pierpont, who was in charge of the car, was a mild-mannered youth, -but of a very warlike disposition, and was much disappointed that we -had not had a brush with his old enemy, the Turk. Down Mesopotamia -way he once charged an infantry position and engaged in "close -action" by laying his armoured car alongside a front-line trench, -where he speedily closed the account of its defenders with -machine-gun fire. - -Another swift stroke now placed us in possession of Mianeh and -brought us eighty miles nearer Tabriz. - -Captain Osborne, taking with him a small detachment from Wagstaff's -force, as well as a contingent of hastily recruited Persian -irregulars, was despatched from Zinjan over the recently reconnoitred -{156} route. He had a convoy of Ford vans, took with him the -armoured car under Lieutenant Pierpont, and pushed forward rapidly, -negotiating the difficult Baleshkent and the still more difficult -Kuflan Kuh Passes. The Kuflan Kuh at its highest point is 5,750 -feet, and the ascent on the south side and descent on the north side -are very difficult for ordinary wheeled transport. This is -especially so on the south slope, which, in a series of short, sharp -gradients rises 2,000 feet in two miles. - -By the aid of a good deal of native labour the armoured car was -safely taken over the formidable Kuflan Kuh, and duly made its -appearance in Mianeh. The Turks were reported to have had a small -post here, but when Osborne's party entered Mianeh the enemy had -already withdrawn towards the north-west. - -The premises of the Indo-European Telegraph Company, which had a -stout wall and a compound, were selected as British headquarters. -Leaving a part of his slender command here to hold the place until -Wagstaff and his main body could come up, Osborne with the -armoured-car patrol and a few British N.C.O's pushed along the Tabriz -road, crossed the Shibley Pass twenty miles south-east of Tabriz, and -reconnoitred up to the gates of the city itself. It was a hazardous -and daring undertaking, but it would have succeeded, and we could -easily have won the race to Tabriz and so checkmated the less -enterprising Turks, had a few companies of {157} British troops been -available to hurry to the support of Osborne. But one cannot very -well expect the equivalent of a sergeant's guard to perform the work -of a battalion, and to hold a city of 200,000 inhabitants whose -attitude was doubtful from the point of view of friendship. So -Osborne had to fall back slowly towards Mianeh. - -The armoured car had by this time used up all the spare tyres and -inner tubes, and, when the retirement over the Shibley Pass began, it -was going on bare rims. Its mobility was impaired, and, while it -could still fight, it certainly could not run, and its tyreless -progress over the mud and boulders which pass for a road in -Azerbaijan was slow and painful. - -The limping car looked an easy prey to Turk or prowling robber -hordes. So thought a band of two hundred Shahsavan tribesmen, as -they rode down from the hills one morning on one of their periodical -forays. They had watched the car from afar, and noted its limping -gait and its helplessness. - -In that corner of upper Azerbaijan, from the Tabriz road east to -Ardabil and the Caspian Sea, and north towards the Russian frontier, -there roam free and unhampered a score or so of sub-tribes of the -Shahsavan Clan, wild and lawless rascals for the most part, but not -wanting in courage or in that rude chivalry common to the Asiatic -hillmen. The Shahsavani handle a rifle skilfully. Pillaging is for -them both a livelihood and a distraction. They are the recognized -tax-gatherers of the Tabriz road, and {158} will rob a fat caravan, -or disarm and strip the Shah's Cossacks, with equal impunity. - -And now the tribesmen got their lesson. The car stood on the -roadside while Lieutenant Pierpont and his men were preparing -breakfast. Approaching to within eight hundred yards, the raiders -opened out, and charged to the accompaniment of wild yells. Then the -machine-gun in the turret of the immobile car spoke up in reply. It -sprayed the charging horsemen with lead; they broke and fled; but, -reforming, came on anew. The gun spat more leaden hail, and this -time the tribesmen had had enough; they fled in disorder, and ever -afterwards gave a very wide berth to all such devilish contrivances -as armoured cars and machine-guns. - -The Turks now grew seriously alarmed at our temerity in threatening -to snatch Tabriz from their impending grasp. It was the door to the -Caucasus and to one of the Turkish main theatres of military -operations. It was a prize worth having, and for the Turks the -possession of the capital of Azerbaijan was of scarcely less vital -importance than it was for the British themselves. Kuchik Khan had -already effectively barred the gate to Resht and shut us off from the -Caspian on the east; now the Turk was completing the "bottling-up" -process, for he was closing the door of Tabriz in our face and -getting in the way of our reaching Tiflis in the north. - -[Illustration: ROAD NEAR RUDBAR. THE TWO LARGE ROCKS IN THE -FOREGROUND REPRESENT ONE ATTEMPT OF THE JUNGALIES TO BLOCK THE ROAD.] - -During the first week in June the Turks bestirred themselves and -began their campaign of close and {159} active co-operation with -Kuchik Khan. Turkish troops hurriedly moved on Tabriz from the -neighbourhood of Khoi and the direction of Julfa. Ali Elizan Pasha, -who designated himself "Commander of the Ottoman Army in the province -of Azerbaijan," issued a flamboyant proclamation addressed to his -dear Persian brethren and co-religionists asking them to rally to his -standard and to make common cause with his Army of Liberation which -was pledged to free Persia from the thraldom of the Infidel. So the -Turks moved in, and were welcomed by the Persian officials and by the -Valiahd or heir-presumptive with manifestations of joy, and the -Entente consuls and citizens of the Entente countries moved out as -fast as slow-moving Persian transport could carry them. - -Once in Tabriz, the Turks did not let the grass grow under their -feet. They were bent on giving us a Roland for our Oliver. They -assiduously cultivated the good graces of the local Persian -Democrats, actively identified themselves with the Ittahad-i-Islam, -or Pan-Islamic movement, and set about the recruiting and training of -local levies with which to harry us in Azerbaijan. The Turks also -formally notified the Teheran Government that it was their intention -to extend their occupation to the Persian capital, so as to complete -the spiritual and political resurrection of the Shah's Empire. - -Mahmud Mukhtar Pasha, a Turkish military leader of some renown, -entered Tabriz on June 15th, gave {160} his blessing to the -Pan-Islamic propagandist movement, and promised the militants amongst -the Democrats that there would soon be no British left in Azerbaijan -or elsewhere in Persia to trouble the peace of mind of those -patriots. The good work was furthered by such zealous Democrats and -Turkophiles as Hadji Bilouri, Mirza Ismael Noberi, and the Sheikh -Mehamet Biabari, who contrived to combine piety with politics for a -cash consideration. - -The Turks, while lavish with oratory, were niggardly with money. In -short, they were bad paymasters, happily for the British; otherwise -the latter would not have been in Azerbaijan as long as they were. -They enrolled fedais or native levies, but forgot to pay them, -whereupon the levies deserted and took service with the British down -Mianeh way, arguing, logically enough, if crudely, that Turkish -promises would not buy bread, and that the money of the Infidel was -better than none at all. - -The Turks, too, by their rapacity early estranged popular feeling. -They commandeered right and left without payment, and in the bazaar, -at the point of the pistol, they compelled merchants and -money-changers to accept their depreciated paper currency at an -inflated rate of exchange as against Persian krans. - - - - -{161} - -CHAPTER XV - -LIFE IN MIANEH - -Training local levies--A city of parasites and rogues--A knave turns -philanthropist--Turks getting active--Osborne's comic opera -force--Jelus appeal for help--An aeroplane to the rescue--The -Democrats impressed--Women worried by aviator's "shorts"--Skirmishes -on the Tabriz road--Reinforcements at last. - - -When the Wagstaff Mission finally reached Mianeh from Zinjan it began -to collect grain supplies, by purchase, and set to work to raise and -train irregulars. Although the Persian hates drill and discipline, -there was no dearth of recruits for the local army. The pay was -good, about £2 a month with rations and uniform, which meant -affluence to the average Persian villager, who was usually too poor -to buy enough bread to keep himself alive. - -Mianeh, which is rightfully credited with being the most unhealthy -spot in North-Western Persia, has a population of about 7,000. It is -the chosen home of a poisonous bug (Argas Persicus) whose bite -produces severe fever and occasionally death. There is also a set of -parasites, human this time, whose sting is very deadly in a financial -sense. They are the Merchants' and Grain-Growers' Guilds, {162} and -they were always attempting to dip deep and dishonestly into the -British treasure chest. It would be doing this delectable spot no -injustice to say that, in proportion to its population, it can boast -a greater percentage of unchained rogues than any other town in the -whole province of Azerbaijan. - -One of these knaves turned "philanthropist" once. He begged the -Mission to start relief works to help the starving poor of Mianeh, -and offered to supply the British with spades for excavation work at -cost price. The spades were paid for and the relief work -started--and about a week later it was accidentally discovered that -the "philanthropist" was collecting two krans a day as spade hire -from the dole of the starving peasants! On another occasion he -induced a too-confiding officer to sanction the payment of a sum of -money for rendering less malodorous the streets of this pestiferous -town. The money was drawn, and then its recipient discovered that -the people were partial to noxious vapours, and had conscientious -objections to any interfering and misguided foreigner meddling with -their pet manure heap. So nothing was done, but the money -disappeared. Such is morality as practised in this corner of the -Shah's dominions! - -The Telegraph Compound which, during our occupation of Mianeh, served -as Wagstaff's headquarters, stood on the brink of a knoll overlooking -the main street leading to the Bazaar Quarter. On the face of a -corresponding eminence opposite, and divided {163} by a bend of the -road, was the local Potter's Field, where friendless peasants and -penniless wanderers from afar who had paid the great debt of Nature -within the inhospitable walls of Mianeh were interred (when the lazy -townsfolk found time to give them sepulture) in a hastily dug and -shallow grave. In the meantime the defunct ones were wont to be -dumped down on a rude bier and left there, sometimes for a whole day, -under the fierce rays of a mid-June sun. Mianeh was as uncomfortable -for the dead as it was unhealthy for the living. Truly, few Persians -seem to possess any olfactory sensitiveness. They would pass the -Potter's Field hourly, showing no concern at the repulsiveness that -must have assailed their eyes and noses. - -News filtered down the road from Tabriz that the Turks there were -displaying great activity. They were daily being reinforced, and -made no secret of their intention to attempt, when sufficiently -strong, the task of chasing the British from Azerbaijan. They -established posts on the Tabriz road southwards as far as Haji Agha, -about sixty miles from Mianeh. - -The answer to all these Turkish preparations for breaking our slender -hold upon Azerbaijan was for Wagstaff urgently to ask for -reinforcements and especially mountain guns. In the meantime he sent -Osborne back up the Tabriz road, with all the fighting men that could -be spared, to watch the enemy and to attempt to prevent his breaking -farther south. {164} Osborne's chief reliance was placed on the few -British N.C.O.'s who accompanied him. Beyond these, all he had to -stem any Turkish advance was about half a squadron of newly enrolled -irregular horse and a couple of platoons of native levies who had -been taught the rudiments of musketry and elementary drill. - -Their appearance, at all events, was very warlike, not to say -terror-inspiring, and, like some of the wild tribes of Polynesia, -they relied chiefly on the effectiveness of their make-up when on the -"war-path" to bring about the discomfiture of their enemies. The -Sowars were unusually awe-inspiring, hung about as each was with two -or three bandoliers studded with cartridges. Each carried a rifle, a -sword of antique design, and a short stabbing blade. - -The Naib, or Lieutenant, who commanded them, was equally formidable -from the point of view of arms and equipment. He had a Tulwar shaped -like a reaping-hook, and a Mauser pistol, the butt of which was -inlaid with silver. - -The tactics of the Sowar levies were something in the nature of a -compromise between a "Wild West" show and _opéra bouffe_. They would -gallop at full speed up a steep hill, brandishing their rifles over -their heads and yelling fiercely the while. It was always a fine -spectacular display with a dash of Earl's Court realism thrown in. -The rifles of the Sowars had a habit of going off indiscriminately -during these moments of tense excitement when they {165} were riding -down an imaginary and fleeing enemy, and the British officers who -watched their antics found it expedient in the interests of a whole -skin to remain at a respectful distance from the manoeuvring, -or--should one say, performing?--Sowars. - -Swagger and braggadocio were the principal fighting stock-in-trade of -the levies and their Persian officers. They were always clamouring -to be led without delay against the Turks in order that we might have -an opportunity of witnessing what deeds of valour they would perform -under enemy fire. The time did come, and our brave auxiliaries found -themselves in the front line with a Turkish battalion about to pay -them a morning call--and we realized more fully than ever that the -hundred-years-old dictum of that incomparable humorist, Hadji Baba, -still held good, "O Allah, Allah, if there were no dying in the case, -how the Persians would fight!" - -The Turks having outstripped us in the race to Tabriz, a belated -attempt was made early in July to get in touch with the sorely -pressed Jelus in Urumia and stretch out to them a succouring hand. -They had sent us a despairing appeal for help. Their ammunition was -running out; their available supplies were nearly exhausted; and they -were on the verge of a military collapse. The Turks threatening -Urumia had offered terms if the Jelus laid down their arms, but, -fearing treachery if they accepted, the War Council of the Jelus -refused the enemy offer, advising unabated resistance, and urging -that an {166} attempt should be made by the whole army to break out -towards the south and march in the direction of Bijar and Hamadan, in -order that they might find safety behind the British lines. - -Lieutenant Pennington, a youthful Afrikander airman who was noted for -his coolness and daring, was despatched from Kasvin on July 7th. He -was to fly to Urumia carrying a written assurance of speedy British -aid for the beleaguered garrison there. Pennington made a rapid -non-stop flight to Mianeh, covering the distance from Kasvin in a -little over two hours. He spent a day at Mianeh, where he carried -out a series of useful demonstrations intended to impress the local -Democrats. They had never seen an aeroplane before, and were rather -vague as to its offensive potentialities. Moreover, they had been -inclined to be scornful of our want of military strength so glaringly -revealed at Mianeh. But now, at all events, the Democrats were duly -impressed by Pennington and his machine. They argued that, if one -aeroplane could come from Kasvin in a couple of hours, so could a -whole flotilla, and armed with death-dealing bombs. Not altogether -ignorant of the doctrine of consequences, the Democrats realized the -value of oratorical discretion; so for a while they put a curb on -their poisonously anti-British tongues. - -Meanwhile Pennington continued his aerial journey to Turkish-menaced -Urumia, the city by the lake shore, where a Christian army was -sheltering and wondering anxiously whether it was succour or the -{167} sword that awaited it. Within two hours of leaving Mianeh, the -intrepid airman was crossing over Lake Urumia heading for the western -shore. He dropped low on approaching the city itself, and his -unexpected appearance brought consternation to the inhabitants. -Aeroplanes were unknown in those parts. They felt that this visitor -from the clouds could hardly be a friend; therefore he was presumably -a foe. Reasoning thus, the Jelus lost no time in blazing away a -portion of their already slender stock of ammunition in the hope of -bringing him down. The aviator had many narrow escapes, and so had -his machine. He landed with a few bullet holes through his clothing, -but his aeroplane, happily, had not been "hulled," or he would have -been immobilized at Urumia. - -As he alighted, the Jelus rushed up to finish him off, for they were -not noted for being over-merciful to Turks falling into their hands. -But seeing that he was English, they embraced him as a preliminary, -and then carried him shoulder-high into the city. He was the hero of -the hour. The people were delirious with joy, and women crowded -round and insisted on kissing the much-embarrassed aviator. As the -weather was very hot, Pennington was wearing the regulation khaki -shorts. One Nestorian woman, after gazing compassionately at the -airman's bare, sunburnt legs, and noting the brevity of his nether -garment, shook her head sadly and said she had not realized till then -that the British, too, were feeling the effects of the War and were -suffering from a {168} shortage of clothing material. There was a -whispered consultation with some sister-Nestorians, and a committee -was formed to remedy the shortcomings of Pennington's kit. The women -ripped loose their own skirts and, arming themselves with needles and -cotton, pleaded to be allowed to fashion complete trousers for the -aviator, or at least to be permitted to elongate by a yard or so the -pair of unmentionables he was wearing. The youth blushed furiously, -and was at great pains to explain that there was still khaki in -England, and that it was convenience, and not any scarcity of -material, that had caused the ends of his trousers to shrink well -above his knees. - -Pennington flew back from Urumia, and it was arranged that the Jelus -with their women and children were to march south by way of Ushnu and -Sain Kaleh to meet a British relieving force moving up from Hamadan -and Bijar. - -Early in August Osborne had several brushes with the Turks on the -Tabriz road. The enemy flooded our lines with spies, chiefly -Persians from Tabriz, and pushed reconnoitring patrols as far south -as Haji Agha, forty miles from Tabriz. In these road skirmishes our -Persian levies behaved with their characteristic unsteadiness. Once -they were fired upon by hidden infantry at seven hundred yards, they -forgot their promised display of valour, their courage oozed out at -their boots, and they promptly bolted. An aerial reconnaissance -revealed detachments of cavalry, artillery, and infantry marching -{169} south along the Tabriz road, but Headquarters in Bagdad refused -to attach any importance to this concentration, and for the moment -were deaf to Wagstaff's reiterated demand for reinforcements, and -especially for a mountain gun or two. - -Captain Osborne and his party now dug themselves in at Tikmadash, -about fifty miles from Mianeh and a corresponding distance from -Tabriz, and fixed his headquarters in a serai close to the village -which commanded the Tabriz road. There was a supporting British post -at Karachaman not far from the main Tabriz road and fourteen miles to -the south-east. - -Wagstaff's repeated pleadings with "high authority" at last began to -bear fruit. It was a generally accepted military axiom out in -Mesopotamia and Persia that, if you were insistent enough in your -demands for an extra platoon or two, with a gun or an aeroplane -thrown in, you were either given the goods, or dubbed a -"flannel-footed fool" and relegated to the cold shades of official -oblivion. It was generally the latter. When Wagstaff, therefore, -heard that he had been given a whole squadron of 14th Hussars, a -platoon of the 14th Hants, and a platoon of Ghurkas, as well as a -section of a howitzer battery and a couple of mountain guns, his -habitual soldierly calm deserted him, and he almost wept for joy on -the neck of his adjutant, debonair "Bobby" Roberts of the 4th Devons. - -"C" squadron of the 14th Hussars had made a {170} forced march from -Kasvin. Its ranks had been thinned by fever, and it barely mustered -eighty sabres when it rode over the Kuflan Kuh Pass to Mianeh. It -had but two officers, Lieutenants Jones and Sweeney, fit for service. -But there was no respite. Fever-racked troopers and leg-weary -horses, after a night's halt at Mianeh, started on a fifty-mile march -to Tikmadash, where a handful of British were holding up a Turkish -force already numbering nearly a thousand and growing daily. The -tired infantry who had "legged it" all the way from Kasvin were also -pushed north in the wake of the cavalry. - - - - -{171} - -CHAPTER XVI - -THE FIGHT AT TIKMADASH - -Treachery of our irregulars--Turkish machine-gun in the -village--Headquarters under fire--Native levies break and -bolt--British force withdrawn--Turks proclaim a Holy War--Cochrane's -demonstration--In search of the missing force--Natives mutiny--A -quick cure for "cholera"--A Turkish patrol captured--Meeting with -Cochrane--A forced retreat--Our natives desert--A difficult night -march--Arrival at Turkmanchai--Turks encircling us--A fresh -retirement. - - -The Turks came against Osborne at Tikmadash on September 5th. For -days previously they had been carefully preparing for the attack. - -Overnight they sent into the village, unperceived by the British, an -infantry detachment which fraternized with the inhabitants and also -with a small party of our irregulars who were on observation duty -there. The treacherous irregulars said nothing of the presence of -the Turks in their midst, and made common cause with them at once. -Towards midnight the Turks smuggled in a machine-gun, which they -subsequently mounted on the flat roof of the dwelling of a Persian -official. At daylight the Turks, from cover of the village itself, -opened a violent machine-gun fire on the headquarters of Osborne, -which were in a serai a short distance on {172} the Mianeh side of -Tikmadash village. All the officers, some eight or ten in number, -lived here. There were two doors to the serai on two different sides -of the building. Both these exits were sprayed with machine-gun -fire. There was nothing for it but to open the door and run the -gauntlet. It was like coming within the vortex of a hail-storm, yet, -surprising to relate, few were hit. - -Beyond the weak units of the 14th Hussars, the Hants, and the -Ghurkas, Osborne had nothing to depend upon in this critical hour -save levies recruited in Mianeh and elsewhere who, in spite of their -boastings, were always fire-shy. They took up a position this -morning at Tikmadash, but it was clear from the beginning that their -hearts were not in the business. - -After firing some shrapnel into the position, the Turks stormed it -with two thousand infantry. The shell fire had already stampeded the -Persians, but their British officers, Captains Heathcote, Amory, and -Trott of the Devons, and Hooper of the Royal West Kents, by dint of -persuasion and threats, temporarily stopped the disorderly flight, -and induced the wavering men to follow them back into the line. But -a few more shells from the Turkish gun, which burst with telling -accuracy, finished the resistance of the levies. Osborne had no -artillery, the mountain battery section from Mianeh not having yet -arrived. - -This time the portion of the line held by the levies {173} doubled up -like a piece of paper. Panic seized them, and they fled with all the -swiftness of hunted animals, throwing away their rifles as they ran. -The Hants, Ghurkas, and Hussars were now all that was left to cover -the retirement. The Turks were working round both flanks and, had -the British hung on, the whole force would have been surrounded and -killed or captured. Some of the British soldiers were so incensed at -the cowardice of the Persians that they turned their rifles against -the fugitives and shot them in their tracks. - -When a retirement was seen to be inevitable, the charvadars were -ordered to load up the stores and medical supplies at the serai. In -the midst of their preparations the levies broke and fled. This -decided the charvadars, who showed themselves to be as arrant cowards -as the rest of their race. Cutting away the lashings securing the -loads on the transport mules, they jumped on the animals' backs and -galloped panic-stricken to the rear. - -Captain John, of the Indian Medical Service, who had worked like a -Trojan attending to the wounded under fire, now collected three or -four British N.C.O's. and sought to rally the runaway charvadars, or -at least to recapture some of the transport mules. As well might -Dame Partington have tried to mop back the waves of the Atlantic. -John, however, did succeed in moving the British wounded, but all the -officers' kits, medical supplies, and ammunition fell into the hands -of the enemy. - -{174} - -The sadly diminished and battered British force withdrew to -Karachaman, preceded by the fleeing native levies, who magnified the -extent of our reverse, and as they ran spread panic amongst the -villages on our line of retreat. - -Eight days before the Turks hit us at Tikmadash, news had filtered -through to Mianeh that the enemy was becoming active in Eastern -Azerbaijan. Raiding parties of Turkish cavalry had penetrated to -Sarab, eighty miles east of Tabriz, and stray bands of tribal levies -who had taken service under the Turkish flag were reported farther -east towards Ardabil and the Caspian littoral. They distributed -proclamations broadcast announcing a Jehad or Holy War against the -British, and calling upon the people to rally to the banner of the -Ittahad-i-Islam, or Pan-Islamic movement, and so make an end of the -Infidel occupation of Persia. The hapless villagers themselves had -little choice in the matter; compulsion was drastically applied, and -a village that showed hesitation, or evinced any apathy in embracing -the tenets of the political-cum-religious and Turkish-controlled -Ittahad-i-Islam, was laid waste, its inhabitants maltreated, or -sometimes put to the sword. - -The Turks further showed their contempt for Persian authority by -seizing the telegraph office at Sarab and kicking out the detachment -of Persian Cossacks who held the place in the name of the Shah and -did police duty in the district. These Cossacks, in common with the -rest of their brigade, were under {175} the command of a Russian -officer. He evidently harboured some extraordinary view as to his -duty towards the Shah's Government, for he accepted with meek -submissiveness the imperative orders of the Turks to take himself and -his command out of Eastern Azerbaijan without any unnecessary delay. -The Persian Cossacks, the "paid protectors of the poor," to give them -one of their official designations, rarely "protected" anybody unless -as a financial investment, and their brutality and greed for illicit -gain caused them to be as much dreaded by the Persian peasant and -bazaar shopkeeper as were those brutal, plundering ruffians, the -Turkish Bashi-bazouks whom the senior partner in the Pan-Islamic firm -had let loose in upper Azerbaijan. - -To counteract enemy activity round Sarab and Ardabil a small mounted -force was despatched from our post at Karachaman under Captain Basil -Cochrane of the 13th Hussars. Cochrane had with him about forty -British enlisted Sowars of Khalkhal Shahsavans. Moving across the -mountains, he boldly rode into Sarab. The Turks, assuming his to be -but the advance guard of a large British force, scattered at his -approach. The Governor and the townsfolk welcomed him effusively, -and promised him military support. But Persian promises are not -always redeemable, as we had already found to our cost. Turkish -cavalry were advancing afresh and threatening his rear, so Cochrane, -who was fifty miles as the crow flies from the nearest British post, -{176} had to let go his hold on Sarab, and retire towards the south. -Then a veil of silence enshrouded his movements; and at Mianeh -headquarters it was feared that he had been cut off and killed with -his whole party. - -I had just come back from a long trek, and had stretched my weary -self out on a camp bed and gone fast to sleep, booted and spurred, -when someone shook me vigorously. I awoke and found it was Wagstaff, -chief of the Mission, with orders for me to take out a mounted party -and go in search of Cochrane. I mustered the available Sowars of the -station, about fifty in all. They were recruited from the Shahsavan -tribesmen, and we had had hitherto no reason to suspect their -fidelity. But immediately they divined that trouble was brewing and -that they might get a "dusting" from the Turk, they decided that -Mianeh was a healthier place than Sarab, and mutinied to a man. -Neither threats nor persuasion could move them. Having, so to speak, -thrown in their hands, they dismounted from their shaggy, -fleet-footed hill ponies, and stood sullenly with folded arms, -refusing obedience to all orders. - -Leaving Wagstaff to deal with the mutinous Sowars, I collected about -a dozen of my own Persian police, and with these and two British -N.C.O's., Sergeants Calthorpe, R.F.A., and Saunders of the 13th -Hussars, set off on my mission. - -We marched the greater part of the night, and early next day reached -Turkmanchai on the Tabriz {177} road, twenty-five miles north-west of -Mianeh. Here I impressed ten Sowars of ours who, feigning illness -and suffering from "fire-shyness," had stolen out of the trenches at -Tikmadash. Our route from Turkmanchai lay nearly due north towards -the foothills of the lofty Bazgush Range and the country of the -Khalkhal sub-tribe of Shahsavans. We bivouacked for the night in the -prosperous village called Benik Suma, which stands in the middle of -an arboreal-cloistered dale watered by a shallow but swift-running -mountain stream. Supplies were plentiful, and the hand of famine had -not touched this secluded Persian hamlet, which nestled so cosily -beneath the glorious foliage of oak and chestnut. - -When the march was resumed in the morning, it was found that four of -the "malingerers" from Turkmanchai had deserted overnight. My little -command did not seem at all easy in its mind at the prospect of -having a brush with the enemy, and every hour that brought us nearer -to the hill country an increasing number of Sowars reported sick and -begged to be allowed to fall out. - -At first I was puzzled by the spread of this sudden malady, for the -symptoms were identical in each case--severe abdominal pains; but -presently the mystery was explained. I encountered on the road a -Persian Cossack who had ridden in from the Sarab district, and had -come across the mountains that lay ahead of us. He volunteered the -information that in a village about twenty miles distant he had {178} -seen a Turkish cavalry patrol. Our Sowars on hearing this looked -very glum, and four of them at once complained of violent illness. -They rolled on the ground in pretended agony, artfully simulating an -acute cholera seizure. This time, and without much difficulty, I -diagnosed the disease as being that of pure funk, or what is commonly -known in military parlance as "cold feet." While sympathizing with -the sufferers, I gravely told them that I had instructions to shoot -off-hand any of my command who became cholera-stricken, and to burn -their bodies in order to prevent the disease spreading. The result -was little short of magical. The "severe pains" disappeared, and the -patients made such a wonderful recovery that within half an hour they -were able to mount their horses and turn their faces towards Sarab -once more. And the "epidemic" did not reappear. - -We entered the mouth of the gloomy Chachagli Pass in the Bazgush -Range. Horsemen afar off had hovered on our flanks and reconnoitred -us carefully, but the distance was too great to tell whether they -were enemy irregulars or simply roving Shahsavans in search of -plunder, who would impartially despoil, provided the chances were -equal, Briton, Turk, or Persian. - -The Chachagli Pass, a trifle over 8,000 feet, must surely be the most -difficult to negotiate in the whole of the Middle East. The road or -track from the southern entrance of the Pass follows a narrow {179} -valley shut in by a high gorge. A huge mass of limestone rock, -parting company with some parent outcrop several thousand feet above -our heads, has fallen bodily into the shallow stream which rushes -down the Pass, damming up its waters momentarily. The stream is -angry, but not baffled, at this clumsy effort to bar its path. -Gathering volume and strength, and mounting on the back of the -impeding boulder, it dives off its smooth surface with all the energy -and vim of a miniature Niagara, and goes on its way humming a merry -note of rejoicing. - -After traversing the stream repeatedly, the road tilts its nose in -the air and mounts sharply. With just enough room for sober-going -mules to pass in single file, it skirts the brink of a precipice -until the top is reached. The rocks radiated a torrid heat that -September morning, and the sun struck across our upward path. It was -difficult climbing, for there is not in all the Chachagli Pass enough -tree shade to screen a mountain goat. - -On the north side of the summit the road descends just as abruptly; -the track is narrow and rugged, and it requires careful going to -avoid toppling over the unramped side and down into the rock-studded -bed of the stream. - -It was nearing sunset on the evening of September 2nd, and my small -force was preparing to bivouac for the night, when two Sowars who had -been foraging in a village to the west came galloping with news of -the enemy. They had learned that a party of {180} Turkish irregulars -had halted in a hamlet three miles away. - -We moved in the direction indicated and found the information was -correct. The enemy horsemen, believing themselves secure, had -neglected to mount a guard. They had off-saddled and were sleeping -peacefully in the shade of a mud-walled compound when we burst into -the place and surprised them. They were ten in all. Rudely -disturbed in their siesta, they surrendered without firing a shot. -The prisoners comprised two Turkish N.C.O's., six Sowars, and two -agents of the Ittahad-i-Islam. They had evidently been "billposting" -and recruiting, for their saddlebags contained letters addressed to -Turkish sympathizers in the district and also the red armlets worn as -a distinguishing badge by the newly enrolled fedais who undertook to -fight under the crescent-flag of the Osmanli. - -My own Sowars were greatly elated over this minor success. Their -spirits rose accordingly, and they now professed to regard the -fighting Turk with disdain, and to be prepared to match themselves -single-handed against a whole troop of the enemy. - -But it was all mere bombast. The prisoners were sent down to Mianeh -with an escort of six of these "valorous" levies. On the way they, -though, of course, unarmed, overpowered the guard, took the arms and -horses, and escaped. - -At daylight next morning, September 3rd, the march northwards was -resumed. Our advanced {181} guard was fired upon by some armed -horsemen, who retired. Following them up, we found that they were -some of Cochrane's scouts who had mistaken us for Turks. Cochrane -himself I came across two hours later. With his little force he had -retreated without loss from Sarab, and had taken up a snug defensive -position on the brow of a wooded eminence, where he placidly awaited -whatever fate might send him first--the attacking Turk, or the -succouring British. - -The tribesmen were friendly towards us, and, attracted by the -prospect of good pay, were offering themselves freely as recruits. -Making due allowance for the fighting instability of our levies, we -felt we were strong enough to hold on, and if the worst came to the -worst, and we were outnumbered, capable of putting up a running fight -with the enemy. - -But the end bordered on the dramatic, and came with an abruptness -that neither of us had foreseen. As related in a previous chapter, -Osborne was heavily attacked at Tikmadash on the morning of September -5th, and the news of his retreat and the advance of the Turks along -the Tabriz road did not reach Cochrane and myself until 2 a.m. on the -morning of the 6th. It was a ticklish situation. Go forward we -could not, and our only way back was over the gloomy fastness of the -Chachagli Pass. The Turks, we knew, were advancing rapidly, and we -mentally saw them already astride our one line of retreat and -ourselves trapped at the south exit of the Pass. - -{182} - -There was no time to be lost. So, destroying our surplus stores, and -with grim faces, we set off in the darkness of the night. Our levies -surmised that something had gone wrong with the British, and fear -gripped their hearts. They deserted wholesale and without waiting to -bid us adieu. There was a picket of fifteen Persians and a British -sergeant in a village a mile to our front. The sergeant alone -reported back. His command had "hopped it" when they realized that -danger threatened. Five miles behind us on the crest of the ridge -there was an observation post of thirty irregulars with a Naib or -native lieutenant and two British N.C.O's. The Naib had the previous -evening vaunted his personal prowess, and assured Cochrane and myself -that no Turks would pass that way except over his lifeless body. But -when we reached his post in the blackness of the night, we discovered -that the gallant Naib had fled none knew whither, and taken all his -men with him. We never saw him again. The two N.C.O's. had mounted -guard alternately, and we found them cursing Persian irregulars and -Persian perfidy with a degree of vigour and a candour that did -adequate justice to their own private view of the situation. - -Cochrane is an Afrikander born, and as resourceful and plucky a -soldier as ever donned khaki. Used to night marching on the veldt, -he led the advanced guard of our party through the intricate, -labyrinthian windings of the Chachagli Pass where a single false step -meant death. It was nerve-straining work, this {183} night march in -the darkness, with men, horses, and transport mules following each -other in blind procession and groping for a foothold on the narrow -causeway. That mysterious dread of the unseen and the unknown, ever -present on such occasions as these, clutched with a tenfold force the -timorous hearts of the native levies who had survived the earlier -stampede at the beginning of the retreat. Their teeth chattered, and -their trembling fingers were always inadvertently pressing triggers -of loaded rifles, which kept popping off and heightening the nerve -tension. - -We got clear of the Pass shortly after daylight. Fortunately the -Turks were not there to intercept our march. With the passing of the -long night vigil, and the coming of the dawn, gloom was dispelled; -life assumed a rosier tint, and the levies recovered some of their -lost spirits and waning courage. Once free of the imprisoning hills, -and out on the broad plateau that dipped southwards to intersect the -Tabriz road, we headed straight for Turkmanchai. Once we rode into a -village as fifty well-mounted horsemen, disturbed like a covey of -frightened birds, bolted out at the other end. We found that they -were Shahsavan robbers, who looked upon our party as potential -enemies. Turkish cavalry in extended order were visible on the -skyline as we gained the shelter of Turkmanchai. - -We reached this spot in the nick of time. Osborne's force had been -compelled to evacuate Karachaman, {184} the position occupied after -Tikmadash, and his sorely pressed command was now trickling into -Turkmanchai with the Turks at their heels. Turkmanchai village is at -the base of a steep hill. At its summit the road from Tabriz -squeezes through a narrow-necked pass. Here the Hants and the -Ghurkas took up a position in order to arrest the Turkish advance. A -section of a mountain battery had arrived overnight. The Turkish -cavalry appeared in column of route, out of rifle fire as yet, and -blissfully ignorant of our possession of artillery. The cavalry made -an admirable target. Two well-directed shells burst in the midst of -the astonished horsemen. Their surprise was complete, and wheeling -they opened out and galloped wildly for cover. The impromptu salvo -of artillery set them thinking, and they did not trouble us again -that day. - -To hold Turkmanchai was impossible. We had stopped the Turks in -front, but they were working round our flanks, and it was only a -question of hours when we should be isolated and cut off from Mianeh. -We were outnumbered by fully ten to one, and the flanking parties of -cavalry which the enemy threw out were alone larger than the British -combined force of regulars and irregulars. - -A fresh retirement was decided upon, and on the morning of September -7th we evacuated Turkmanchai. The wounded and the sick were removed -in transport carts, and two hours after midnight the head of the -column moved slowly off in the darkness. {185} I was in charge of -the advanced guard, and found myself in command of a varied -assortment of Persian irregulars, some of whom had "distinguished" -themselves at Tikmadash and Karachaman and had been "rounded up" by -British troops during the retreat. They were a motley crew, and what -infinitesimal amount of pluck they ever possessed had long ago -evaporated. In the advanced guard it was difficult to restrain their -impetuosity. They dashed off at top speed as if they were riding a -fifty-mile Derby race to Mianeh. But their one impelling motive was -to place as many miles as possible of dusty road between themselves -and the oncoming Turks before daylight. - -By dint of threats of summary punishment they were brought to heel -and ultimately held in leash. Silence it was impossible to impose, -short of some form of gagging, and they chattered like a cageful of -monkeys, utterly heedless of the danger of betraying our presence to -the enemy. Then, too, their superheated imagination saw Turks -growing on every bush. "Osmani anja!" "Osmani anja!" (The Turks are -there!) they would cry, indicating some village donkey or goat taking -a hillside stroll. Fortunately for us, the Turks showed themselves -to be singularly lacking in energy, and were not keen on risking a -night attack in unknown country, or they might have ambushed the -advanced guard half a dozen times before it got clear of the danger -zone. With our Persian "braves" to rely upon, there {186} would -surely have been a "regrettable incident" to record officially. - -The Turks waited for daylight, and then they attacked the main body -and the rearguard, but were beaten off, and the column extricating -itself reached Mianeh in safety. - - - - -{187} - -CHAPTER XVII - -EVACUATION OF MIANEH - -We have a chilly reception--Our popularity wanes--Preparation for -further retirement--Back to the Kuflan Kuh Pass--Our defensive -position--Turks make a frontal attack--Our line overrun--Gallantry of -Hants and Worcesters--Pursuit by Turks--Armoured cars save the -situation--Prisoners escape from Turks--Persians as fighters. - - -Mianeh, pampered, spoon-fed Mianeh, which had grown fat on British -bread and comparatively wealthy on British money, gave the retreating -column a chilly reception. - -The bazaar looked at us askance, and the Democrats spat meaningly in -our direction and muttered a malediction upon our heads. There was -joy in the eyes of the people which they took no pains to conceal. - -The news of the Turkish success, much magnified in passing from mouth -to mouth and village to village, had preceded our arrival, and the -barometer of bazaar sentiment, always a sure gauge of Persian public -opinion, had veered round to "stormy." - -And "stormy" it was to be. It was felt that the sands of the British -glass had run out. The attitude of the people underwent a sudden -change {188} from cringing supplication to one of thinly veiled -hostility. Fawning officials, who had battened upon our liberality -and profited by our largesse, now fell over themselves in their -efforts to sponge the slate clean and write upon it a Persian -improvised version of the "Hymn of Hate." They threw the full weight -of their mean souls into the job. In the bazaar they buzzed about -like so many poisonous gadflies, and in order to curry favour with -their new masters-to-be they incited the people to anti-British -demonstrations, and beat and imprisoned humble folk whose friendship -for our nation was disinterested and had not been offered on the -local commercial basis of so many krans per pound. With one -exception, all the district notables--who had always been reiterating -their professions of friendship, and to whom we had paid large sums -as subsidies for faithless, turn-tail levies, or as purchase price -for grain--went over to the enemy. Our Mianeh police, my own -command, or those of them who were Persians, followed the general -example and ran off to join the Turks. - -There was one notable exception. Four Kurds who belonged to the -police and who could not be intimidated or cajoled, stood firm and -refused to be carried off by the wave of desertion, and they remained -to guard the Mission premises. - -After Turkmanchai we did not tarry long in Mianeh. Preparations were -at once made for a further retirement. The Turks were coming on -{189} slowly and methodically, and apparently in no immediate hurry -to hustle us out of Mianeh. The long and, in a sense, rapid marches -of the previous five days during hot weather had told upon the -Turkish infantry, and now the advancing enemy had cried a halt in -order that his tired troops might enjoy a brief repose. - -Our next defensive position was the Kuflan Kuh or Qaplan Kuh (the -panthers' hill) Pass, which lies five miles south-east of Mianeh. -The main range of the Kuflan Kuh runs roughly from east to west, and -the Tabriz-Zinjan road passes over its crest at a height of about -five thousand feet. At the end of the Mianeh plain, and some two -miles from the village itself, there is a solid brick bridge over the -Karangu River. Once the river is crossed, coming from Mianeh, the -rise begins gradually, and the foothills of the Pass are met with a -mile or so from the river bank. The ascent from the northern or -Mianeh end is very difficult, and the road mounts between two -perpendicular walls of rock. The gradient is steep, and the outer -edge of the roadway was wholly unprotected until a British labour -corps took the job on hand and interposed a coping-stone barrier -between the exposed side of the road and the abyss below. The same -workers also plugged up some of the gaping holes in the roadway which -had existed from time immemorial. - -On Sunday, September 8th, the whole of Major Wagstaff's force bade -farewell without regret to {190} Mianeh, marched across the Karangu, -and placed the formidable barrier of the Kuflan Kuh between itself -and the advancing enemy. Wagstaff established his headquarters in a -ruined caravanserai near the stone bridge which spans the Kizil Uzun -River at the southern entrance to the Pass. All the stores of wheat -and barley which had been accumulating in Mianeh were destroyed -before evacuation, and the rearguard crossed the Karangu without -molestation either from the Turks or from their new allies, the -Mianehites, who were hourly showing themselves more hostile to the -retiring British. - -[Illustration: NORTH GATE, KASVIN.] - -Headquarters at Kasvin now began to be alarmed at the uninterrupted -southward advance of the Turks, for, if Zinjan fell, Kasvin might be -expected to follow, and our line of communications from Hamadan -towards the Caspian would be cut. General Dunsterville himself was -away in Baku, fighting Bolsheviks and Turks. Some weeks earlier, -with the help of Bicherakoff and his Russians, he had rooted out -Kuchik Khan from his jungle fastness, and opened the road from Manjil -to Resht and the Caspian Sea. - -Wagstaff was accordingly ordered to hold the Kuflan Kuh at all costs, -but what he was to hold it with was not quite clear, inasmuch as his -total dependable fighting strength of Hants, Ghurkas, and 14th -Hussars did not exceed 250 bayonets and 50 sabres, the few remaining -levies being a negligible quantity. He had been given a machine-gun -detachment, a {191} mountain battery section, two field guns, and a -howitzer. His main position was on a line of low hills extending for -about three miles below the northern face of the Pass, and commanding -the approaches from the Mianeh plain and the brick bridge across the -Karangu. The guns were on the reverse or southern slope of the Pass, -whence by indirect fire they could make it unpleasant for an enemy -crossing the Karangu bridge or fording the shallow river itself. - -A platoon of the Worcesters arrived to reinforce our attenuated line, -and Colonel Matthews of the 14th Hants took over command on the 9th. -The Turks had now occupied Mianeh in force, and during the ensuing -two days were busy preparing for an offensive movement. They pushed -a considerable body of infantry down to the cultivated fields -bordering the north bank of the Karangu. Here, amongst the boundary -ditches, topped with low bushes, they found a certain amount of -ready-made cover, and they subjected our advanced posts on the right -to a harassing fire. These were held by levies with a stiffening of -British officers and British N.C.O's. The Persians, as usual, became -"jumpy" whenever Turkish bullets hummed in their immediate vicinity, -and as they were utterly lacking in elementary fire-control they were -a source of vexatious perplexity to their British officers and -sergeants. One officer, in despair at their utter unreliability -under fire, pleadingly suggested that they might be withdrawn {192} -altogether, and himself left with two British sergeants to hold the -post. - -Even after making due allowance for the complete worthlessness of our -Persian auxiliaries, we hesitated to believe that the Turks would -commit themselves to a frontal attack on the Kuflan Kuh. Given a -sufficiency of reliable troops, it would have been an admirably -strong defensive position, and any enemy who came "butting" against -it with lowered head would have found the experiment a costly one. - -But the Turks had seemingly gauged the measure of our strength and -our weakness more accurately than we had ourselves, for, eschewing -anything in the nature of new-fangled turning movements, they came at -us in the good old-fashioned way, and by the most direct route. - -The attack was delivered after breakfast on September 12th, and on -the part of the enemy there was no sign of hurry or confusion. Two -thousand infantry, highly trained and admirably handled, belonging to -one of their crack Caucasian divisions, crossed the river in extended -order and flung themselves against our line. The shock of contact -was first felt on the right, where the Persians were in position. -These latter promptly broke and fled in utter disorder, all attempts -to rally them proving futile. Our line was now in the air, so to -speak, with the Persians scuttling like rabbits up towards the -entrance to the Pass. It was short and bloody work. - -{193} - -The Hants and the Ghurkas had now to bear the brunt of the attack. -The Turks, reinforced, came on in surging waves and flowed over their -trenches. Both units made a gallant but ineffectual fight, and were -forced back up the Pass, suffering considerable losses. The enemy -followed up his advantage and stormed the Pass itself. A last stand -was made at the summit to cover the retreat of the guns. Here Hants -and Turks fought hand to hand with bayonet and clubbed rifle, until -the sadly diminished remnant of this brave battalion, after losing -their gallant sergeant-major, were literally pushed over the crest -and down the reverse slope. But they had stood their ground long -enough to save the guns from capture. - -The Worcesters, who had been in reserve on the southern slope, now -came doubling into action to the assistance of the hard-pressed -Hants. Taking shelter behind the boulders which are plentiful on -both sides of the roadway, they covered the retirement, driving the -Turkish snipers off the summit of the Pass and arresting any -immediate pursuit on the part of the enemy. - -The caravanserai at the Kizil Uzun Bridge, where Colonel Matthews had -his headquarters, being now untenable, he withdrew with his remaining -force across the Baleshkent Pass to Jamalabad on the road to Zinjan. -As for the runaway levies, some of them did not halt until they had -placed a good twenty miles between themselves and the scene of the -Kuflan Kuh fighting. - -{194} - -The Turks pursued us to Jamalabad, but it was the last kick. Their -offensive spent itself here, thanks to a new factor which had entered -into the game. This was the armoured car sections, light and heavy, -under Colonel Crawford and Lieutenant-Colonel Smiles, which, when our -position was indeed precarious, had been rushed up from Kasvin and -Zinjan in support of our retiring column. The Turks got a bad -peppering at Jamalabad, and a few miles farther south at Sarcham -where the cars were in action. The enemy had no liking for this sort -of fighting, and troubled us no more. They withdrew from Jamalabad -and, in anticipation of a counter-offensive on our part, proceeded to -fortify themselves on the Kuflan Kuh. - -A week after the fight at the Kuflan Kuh two men of the Hants who had -been captured by the Turks arrived in our lines, clothed in nothing -save a handkerchief apiece. While their captors were squabbling -amongst themselves as to the distribution of the worldly possessions -of the prisoners, the latter had slipped away unperceived and gained -Jamalabad. There they were waylaid by Persian thieves, badly beaten, -stripped of their clothing, and left for dead on the roadside. -Still, they were a plucky pair, for, recovering, they set out afresh, -and, completing a fifty-mile tramp in the blazing sun without food or -raiment, rejoined their unit. - -The Crawford armoured cars and the Matthews column slowly fell back -on Zinjan, and there {195} ended the military activities of the -Tabriz expedition. - -My strictures on the fighting value of the Persian may appear unduly -severe. I fully realize that one had no right to expect very much -from a mass of raw, undisciplined material. The men were hastily -recruited, and their training, necessarily circumscribed by the -exigencies of time, could not have been anything but perfunctory and -imperfect in the circumstances. But I am tilting rather at the -theory prevalent in certain quarters at the inception of the Tabriz -Expedition that one had only to send British officers into the -highways and byways of Azerbaijan and that they would find there -"ready-made" soldiers endowed with a fine fighting spirit, hardly -inferior in quality to our own superb infantry, men who would stand -up to trained and efficient soldiers like the Turks. Having once got -the half-trained levies into the trenches, their British officers -were expected to hold them by sheer force of will-power, and to -hypnotize them into taking aim at an enemy without shutting both -eyes. Now the bubble of Persian fighting efficiency has been -pricked, and we have a more just appreciation of the virtues and -shortcomings of the Persians as a unit in a modern army. - - - - -{196} - -CHAPTER XVIII - -CRUSHING A PLOT - -Anti-British activities--Headquarters at Hamadan--Plans to seize -ringleaders--Midnight arrests--How the Governor was entrapped. - - -Back in Hamadan, the fierce political enmity of the Democrats, which -had been quiet for some time, broke into fresh activity after the -removal of Dunsterville headquarters to Kasvin at the end of May. - -General Byron, who was in charge at Hamadan, speedily discovered -through his Intelligence Officers that the local Democrats were bent -on making things merry for the British, if they possibly could. -Previous rebuffs had taught the Democrats the value of silence and a -more complete method of organization. Their defects in these -directions were now to some extent remedied. Turkish gold, too, was -forthcoming, and the Democrats of Hamadan became a secret political -organization--a sort of Persian Mafia or Camorra--which was hatching -a political conspiracy against the British. It was the -Ittahad-i-Islam again at work. This organization, while outwardly -making common cause with the Islamic malcontents of Hamadan and -elsewhere, was in secret working strenuously for Turkey and the -Turkish cause, and the Democrats {197} who were caught in its net -were but a means to that end. - -One thing, however, soon became clear--that a vast network of Turkish -espionage, with ramifications through Persia, had its headquarters in -Hamadan. For many weeks the organization was allowed to have free -rein in the carrying out of its "holy work." - -Its propaganda mills worked long and late; its agents came and went; -Turkish emissaries slipped into Hamadan and out again without any -difficulty, and the leaders of the Hamadan movement, which aimed at -our overthrow by a _tour de force_, must have often chuckled to -themselves at our apparent simplicity and at the ease with which we -had been outmatched by Oriental cunning. - -While feigning blindness, the British were very watchful indeed. It -was like the story of the faithful retainer of the Samurai noble in -feudal Japan who set out to avenge his lord's death. His enemies -were powerful and vigilant, but in the end his carefully simulated -indifference threw them completely off their guard, and he triumphed. -So it was in Hamadan, where sharp wits were pitted against sharp -wits. In time the chiefs of the inner ring of the Hamadan -combination grew careless. Little by little, their secret signs and -passwords, their working programme, their membership roll, and even -full details of the Turkish system of espionage in Persia generally, -passed into our hands. There was little more to wait for. It was -time to strike. - -{198} - -But a fresh difficulty immediately presented itself. The plotters, -in co-operation with Kuchik Khan, had fixed the date for an armed -revolt against British occupation; and what afterwards happened in -Egypt, was, in June of 1918, deliberately and carefully planned to -take place in Hamadan. There were practically no troops in the town -at the time, and the torch of revolt once lighted and the work of our -extermination begun, ten or twelve officers with a couple of dozen of -N.C.O's. of Dunsterforce could not for long have resisted the -determined onslaught of a fanatical and arrack-incited population of -70,000. - -To arrest the leaders openly in daylight would assuredly have -precipitated a disaster, and led to bloodshed, and probably to our -own undoing. The inner council of the conspiracy consisted of -fifteen members, and included the Persian Governor and a number of -local notables. - -Secrecy and surprise were essential; so the plan hit upon was a night -descent simultaneously on the whole band, an officer and two N.C.O's. -being detailed for each arrest. - -The procedure in the following case may be taken as typical of the -others: In the early hours of the morning a Persian batman in the -employ of a British officer was directed to deliver a sealed envelope -marked "From O.C. Hamadan" at the house of one of the plotters. The -messenger, hammering at the door, aroused the sleepy watchman within, -and told him {199} that he had an important letter to deliver from -the British General. "Come back in the morning," would reply the -watchman, "my master is in bed and asleep." The messenger, duly -coached, would reply, "That is impossible. Open the door. The -letter, I know, is important, for I have been given ten krans to -deliver it safely." The watchman, while wary and inclined to be -suspicious of belated callers, was also avaricious, and was not going -to let slip any chance of netting a few krans. As had been -anticipated, his greed overcame his caution. He opened the door in -order to claim his share of the late letter delivery fee. As soon as -he did so, a couple of stalwart British sergeants, springing out of -the darkness, seized, bound, and gagged him. Once within the -high-walled courtyard of the house, the rest was easy. It was but a -few steps to the sleeping apartments, and the proscribed conspirator -as a rule woke up to find the chilly muzzle of a British service -revolver pressing against his temple. He was gagged to prevent his -raising an alarm; his hands were bound; and, thus helpless, he was -carried off and dumped into a covered motor lorry, where an armed -guard saw that he came to no harm. - -But the Persian Governor himself was the most difficult of the whole -band to surprise and arrest. His residence was in a big walled serai -at the extreme end of Hamadan, and, in accordance with Persian -custom, and by reason of his official position, he lived surrounded -by a guard of about fifty men. To {200} deal with him tact and -finesse were necessarily called into play. - -The task of securing the Governor quietly and without unnecessary -fuss fell to the lot of a Colonel who had learned something of native -ways in Rhodesia and East Africa. He was an Irishman possessing a -glib tongue, a knowledge of Persian, and all the suavity of his race. -He also had the advantage of being known to the Governor and his -entourage. So, when he knocked at the door of the Governor's -residence at an hour long after midnight, the watchman admitted him -without hesitation. The guard turned out and eyed the intruder -suspiciously, but, finding it was the sartip sahib (Colonel) from the -British Mission who was making inquiries about the state of the -Governor's health, they yawned sleepily and betook themselves to the -shelter of their blankets, vowing inwardly that the eccentricities of -this strange race called English who paid ceremonious visits in the -middle of the night were beyond the comprehension of any Oriental -mind. - -"There has come wonderful news from Teheran, and the Governor must be -told at once," said the visitor, flourishing a big envelope with many -red seals attached thereto. - -"Good," replied the janitor deferentially, "the Governor is enjoying -sweet repose, but if it is the wish of the Colonel Sahib, I will take -him the paper." - -"Alas, that it should be so!" interposed the caller gravely, "but -into his own hands alone am I permitted {201} to deliver this -precious letter. Go, faithful one! Summon your illustrious master, -the protector of the poor, and the friend of the oppressed! I will -remain on guard by the open door, and none shall enter in your -absence." - -The ruse succeeded. The servitor departed on his errand, and in a -few minutes returned with the Governor clad in a dressing-gown and -slippers. He greeted the Colonel, who handed him the envelope which -contained a blank sheet of paper. It was dark on the threshold where -the Governor stood tearing open the missive, so the Colonel proffered -the aid of his electric torch. Presently the Governor, divining that -something was amiss, looked up with a start, and found himself -covered with a revolver. "Come with me," said the officer tersely, -"and, above all, do not resist or attempt to summon help!" The -trapped official obeyed with docility, and followed his captor to a -waiting automobile, into which he was bundled and placed in charge of -a British guard. Two sentries at the guardroom door kept the Persian -guard within in subjection while the Governor's papers were being -seized. These latter proved to the hilt his complicity in the plot -that was being hatched to destroy British lives in Hamadan. The -deposed official--accompanied by copies of the incriminating -documents--was sent as a present to the Teheran Cabinet, with a -polite request for an explanation of the gross treachery of their -unfaithful servant. - -{202} - -The coup had succeeded without the firing of a shot, and the back of -the conspiracy was broken, for it was left impotent and leaderless. -Before sunrise all the captives, with the exception of the Governor, -were on their way to Bagdad and an internment camp. - -An amusing sidelight on the affair was the attitude of the Persian -police in Hamadan. Hearing of the arrests, they assumed the worst. -They bolted, taking refuge in the neighbouring cornfields, where they -remained a whole day under the impression that they were the sole -survivors of a "general massacre" of inhabitants carried out by the -British. - - - - -{203} - -CHAPTER XIX - -THE FIRST EXPEDITION TO BAKU - -Kuchik Khan bars the road--Turk and Russian movements--Kuchik Khan's -force broken up--Bicherakoff reaches Baku--British armoured car crews -in Russian uniforms--Fighting around Baku--Baku abandoned--Captain -Crossing charges six-inch guns. - - -In a previous chapter I pointed out that Kuchik Khan was in military -possession of the Manjil-Resht road, and that the Russians under -Bicherakoff were concentrating at Kasvin preparatory to trying -conclusions with this amiable bandit--the cat's-paw of Turkish-German -intrigue--who was barring Bicherakoff's route to the Caspian and to -Russia. - -At the end of May, in order to bring about a more effectual -co-operation between his own force and that of the Russian commander, -General Dunsterville transferred his headquarters from Hamadan to -Kasvin. - -The original purpose of the Dunsterville Mission, it will be -recollected, was to fight Bolshevism by the organizing of Armenians -and Georgians and, if possible, Tartars, in the Southern Caucasus. -This had now become difficult of realization, owing to {204} the -series of bewildering and kaleidoscopic changes in Transcaucasia -which had profoundly affected the entire political and military -situation. For example, the virus of Bolshevism had infected the -Russian troops in Baku; the Germans had landed at Batum and, by -making peace with the Georgians, were placed in possession of Tiflis. -The Turks had arranged a peace pact with the Armenians which left -their armies free to invade north-west Persia, prosecute a vigorous -campaign against the Nestorians of Urumia, and, finally, overrun the -Caucasus as a preliminary to co-operating with the Germans in their -contemplated advance on Baku. Now the Bolshevik leaders in Baku -refused to recognize the right of either of the rival belligerent -groups--the Central Powers or the Entente--to spoil the flavour of -their military hotch-potch in any way. It suited the blasé Russian -palate, and that should be sufficient. The Bolsheviks, at all -events, were consistent to the extent that, while they opposed the -advance of the Germans and Turks towards Baku, they more than once -resolutely refused to accept the proposed aid of British troops to -help them in overcoming the forces of the Central Powers. - -[Illustration: DRILLING ARMENIANS AT BAKU.] - -Negotiations with Kuchik Khan had ended abortively. The leader of -the Jungalis was quite prepared to permit Russian troops to withdraw -from Persia if they wished, and to pass through his "occupied -territory" to their port of embarkation on the Caspian. But British, -"No!" They had no business {205} in Persia at all, he argued, and if -they were desirous of going to Russia, they would have to find some -other road. - -The haughty tone of this communication angered the Russian General, -and he sent Kuchik Khan an ultimatum, calling upon him to evacuate -the Manjil position with all his followers, or be prepared to take -the consequences. As Kuchik ignored this, a combined Russian-British -force was sent against him on June 12th. Two of the British armoured -cars which the year previously had formed part of the Locker-Lampson -unit in Russia proper, were present at the attack. After a brief -bombardment, a white flag was hoisted on the Manjil bridge position, -and two German officers issued from the trenches to parley. They -offered, on behalf of Kuchik Khan, to come to terms with the Russians -and allow them to pass, provided a similar concession was not -demanded by the British. Bicherakoff's reply was to dismiss the -impudent _parliamentaires_, and to intimate that Kuchik Khan and his -whole force could have fifteen minutes in which to lay down their -arms and surrender. Nothing happened, so at the end of the -stipulated period the advance was ordered, and the Russians and -British stormed the enemy trenches and speedily disposed of the -Jungalis holding them. Kuchik and a portion of his army, with his -two German military advisers, escaped for the time; but, after -another drubbing had been administered to him, the crestfallen -Jungali leader was glad to make {206} peace, dismiss his German staff -officers and drill instructors and release McLaren and Oakshott, two -Englishmen, who had spent months in captivity. - -The road to Resht and Enzeli was open at last, and Bicherakoff moved -to the Caspian without delay and set about embarking his command for -Baku. As a leader, Bicherakoff was popular amongst his men; and in -the Caucasus he enjoyed deserved prestige as a soldier. He was -pro-Russian--that is to say, anti-Bolshevik; and it was felt that his -own personal influence, no less than the presence of his troops at -Baku, would serve as a powerful antidote to Bolshevik activity in -Southern Caucasia. - -Bicherakoff's contingent embarked at Enzeli on July 3rd. A British -armoured car battery accompanied the Russians, and, in order not to -ruffle unduly the susceptibilities of the Bolsheviks, British -officers and men wore Russian uniforms. But these they discarded on -landing at Baku. Bicherakoff, who made a favourable impression -locally and was well received by the inhabitants of the great oil -centre, lost no time in seeking out and engaging the Turks, who were -menacing Baku from two sides. A good deal of heavy fighting went on -during the middle of July, and the British armoured cars rendered -signal services, being engaged almost daily in close-quarter fighting -with the Turks, enfilading their infantry and breaking up their -threatened attacks, and, on another occasion, repulsing a cavalry -charge with heavy loss to the enemy. - -{207} - -Bicherakoff, however, soon found that the local troops were not to be -relied on, even when they professed their readiness to fight under -his flag and against the Turks. On July 29th the Turks, who seemed -bent on getting possession of Baku at any cost, succeeded in -capturing Adji-Kabul station, a short distance south-west of Baku. -Using this as a pivot, they swung northwards in order to complete the -envelopment of Baku. - -The Russian commander now became anxious for his own safety. -Realizing his powerlessness to carry on an effective offensive, and -fearing lest he should be shut up in Baku when the Turkish encircling -movement became complete, he hurriedly abandoned the town, and with -his British armoured car auxiliaries went off north by rail towards -Derbend and Petrovsk, to operate against the Bolsheviks and Dageshani -Tartars who were terrorizing the country bordering on the Caspian. - -In the attack on Petrovsk, the armoured car unit led under the -command of Captain Crossing. Their fire threw the Bolshevik troops -into confusion, and, when the latter broke, the cars pursued them -through the town, capturing several hundred of their number. A -battery of six-inch guns which had subjected the attacking force to -an annoying fire was with extraordinary temerity engaged by the -armoured cars and put out of action by the simple, but dare-devil -expedient of dashing up within range and shooting all the gunners. -This splendid and heroic deed won {208} for Captain Crossing--"the -super-brave Crossing," as Bicherakoff designated him--the Cross of -St. George, and the Order of St. Vladimir for Lieutenant Wallace; nor -in the distribution of awards for gallantry were the men who -accompanied the two officers in the armoured car charge against the -guns forgotten by the grateful Russian commander. - - - - -{209} - -CHAPTER XX - -THE NEW DASH TO BAKU - -Treachery in the town--Jungalis attack Resht--Armoured cars in -street-fighting--Baku tires of Bolshevism--British summoned to the -rescue--Dunsterville sets out--Position at Baku on arrival--British -officers' advice ignored--Turkish attacks--Pressing through the -defences--Baku again evacuated. - - -We were soon to discover that we had not cut the claws of the Jungali -tiger, and that he was yet capable of giving us serious trouble. - -There had been a good deal of unrest amongst the disbanded followers -of Kuchik Khan. Men had gone back to their villages to brood over -their reverse of fortune. The hotheads amongst them were not at all -satisfied at the easy way in which they had been beaten out of their -entrenchments on the Manjil road. Various pretexts were put forward -with a view of explaining away the sharp reverse they suffered on -that occasion. Further, there was a recrudescence of propaganda -activity amongst them, carried on by Turkish agents and sympathizers -who came and went in the jungle country on the shores of the Caspian. - -Bicherakoff and his Russians had gone off to Baku, and a small force -of British alone was holding {210} Resht. Admirable for the -Jungalis' plan, thought their leaders! This time they would be able -to settle their account with the British without any intervening -Russian mixing himself up in the business. - -Early on July 20th a large force of Jungalis made a surprise attack -on Resht. Aided by armed partisans within who, once the attack -developed, brought hitherto concealed rifles into play from window -and roof-top, the enemy achieved a distinct measure of success. The -street fighting was desperate and severe. The attacking force fought -with great bravery, determination, and skill. They dug themselves -in, and threw up barricades the better to aid them to hold ground -they had won. - -But, although the greater part of Resht passed into their hands, -following their first impetuous dash, the Jungalis were never able to -make themselves masters of the south-western section of the town -which was held by British troops. They knocked their heads against -this in vain. It was left to the armoured cars, moreover, once more -to demonstrate their great value in street fighting. The heavy cars -of the Brigade and the 6th Light Armoured-Motor Battery were rushed -into action, and although the streets had been dug up by the enemy in -order to impair the mobility of the Brigade, the latter made short -work of the Jungalis, driving them from point to point, and from -street to street, until the town was once more in our possession. -The enemy found themselves at a complete disadvantage {211} when -facing armour-plated fighting machines. The moral effect of these -alone, apart from their fire efficiency, proved disastrous to Jungali -nerves, and spread panic and disorganization in the ranks of the foe. -Profiting by the bitter example of treachery that the Jungali attack -had furnished, the British this time were less lenient when it came -to imposing terms upon the beaten enemy. - -Towards the end of July signs of dissension showed themselves amongst -the Bolshevik militants who controlled the political and military -destinies of Baku, a matter of which I wrote in the previous chapter. -The Turks were without the gates. Bicherakoff had gone north, and -the Bolshevik military machine had helplessly broken down. It could -neither organize any scheme of defence, nor evolve any offensive plan -for relieving the city from the gradually tightening grip of the -Turk. The people of Baku found that mediocrity and mendacity were -but poor and unsatisfactory weapons with which to attempt to arrest -the march of a modern army, and these were about all the Bolsheviks -possessed in their mental arsenal. Above the chaos and welter of -discordant opinion arose the murmurings of a discontented, -fear-stricken people. They had suffered much from Bolshevik -oppression and from Bolshevik ineptitude, and clamoured for a new set -of _dramatis personæ_ and the recasting of the principal roles in the -Baku tragedy. So these political _farceurs_, the Bolsheviks, were -figuratively hissed off the boards, and disappeared {212} down the -stage trap-door to an oblivion which, alas! was but temporary. They -were baffled, but not beaten. - -Their places were taken by men holding saner and less violent -political views. One of the first official acts of the new Baku -Government was to summon the British to their aid. - -It was the chance for which Dunsterville had lived and waited, and he -lost no time in grasping it. At Enzeli he embarked a mixed force of -about two thousand, made up of unattached Imperial and Dominion -officers of the original Dunsterforce, a battalion or so of the North -Staffords, a detachment of Hants, howitzer and field gun sections, -two armoured cars, two sections of the motor machine-gun company, and -other sundry units and details which had been commandeered from Resht -for the move upon Baku. - -The advanced guard disembarked at the Caspian oil port on August 5th, -and the remainder speedily followed. - -The position in Baku was not one to inspire confidence. There were -Bolshevik troops in the town who did not attempt to conceal their -displeasure at the arrival of the British. The "Red Committee," too, -was gathering fresh strength and planning the overthrow of its -successors in office--the Government that had invited Dunsterville to -Baku. Muddle and confusion prevailed everywhere. Jealousy, -distrust, and bickering were rife amongst the heterogeneous, {213} -ill-disciplined mass of Russians and Armenians which passed for an -army in Baku. It was computed that there were about 20,000 Russians -of various political hues, ranging from bright Bolshevik red to sober -Imperial grey, in and around the town, while the number of Armenian -auxiliaries was estimated at 5,000. Yet the brunt of the fighting -had to be borne by the British infantry, chiefly the North Staffords, -for it was rarely that over 5,000 of our more than doubtful allies -could be rounded up to assist in holding the far-flung defensive line -of Baku. - -Despite the stiffening of British troops in the front line, the moral -encouragement of British officers, and the active material support of -British artillery and British armoured cars, it was found impossible -to infuse any real or lasting enthusiasm into the Baku army. It had -its own ethics of fighting and stuck to them. War, it was felt, was -a job not to be taken too seriously, and must never be allowed to -interfere with one's customary distractions, nor with one's business -or social engagements. Russians and Armenians would leave a "back -to-morrow" message, and casually stroll out of the front-line -trenches, whenever they felt in the mood, to go off to attend some -political meeting in Baku, or seek refreshment and questionable -enjoyment at some of the local cafés. - -The position of the unattached British officers was a difficult one -in Baku. They were there in an {214} advisory capacity chiefly, but -their counsel and presence were alike resented by all parties, -political and military. Suggestions for a more efficient -co-operation between infantry and artillery, for the filling up of -dangerous gaps in the line, the better siting of trenches, or the -establishing of observation posts and the employment of "spotters," -were usually received in silence and with a disdainful shrug of the -shoulders. - -While striving to beat off the Turk outside, the British, too, had to -sit on the head of the rabid Bolshevik within, and prevent his -regaining his feet and running amuck once more. - -The economic situation was also serious. Food supplies were -lamentably short, and the available stock was running low. A -super-commercial instinct had been developed, and gross profiteering -was widely practised. It was true that the pre-war standard value of -the paper rouble had suffered a heavy depreciation, but this hardly -justified the exorbitant tariff of some of the Baku restaurants. It -was no uncommon thing for them to exact five roubles for the bread -eaten at meals, and about seventy roubles for the very indifferent -meal itself. - -Colonel Keyworth, R.H.A., was appointed to the command of the troops -in the Baku area. His heavy duties confined him a good deal to the -port itself, and he was unable to see very much of the defensive -perimeter; but he had excellent coadjutors in Colonel Matthews of the -Hants, and in Colonel {215} Stokes of the Intelligence Department, an -officer who had been for many years British Military Attaché in -Teheran. Then, too, there was Lieutenant-Colonel Warden, a blunt, -straight-spoken Canadian, and a very keen and efficient infantry -soldier whose permanent telegraphic address in Flanders had been -"Vimy Ridge." Warden was generally an optimist, but the Baku problem -was responsible for his passing sleepless, unhappy nights; and -finally he gave up attempting to instil martial ardour into the -non-receptive mind of the Baku soldier. In his own racy speech, -redolent, of his native prairie, he summed up his efforts in this -direction as being as futile as trying to flog a dead horse back to -life. - -I am not so much concerned with describing the military operations in -detail as I am with laying stress upon the many difficulties that -beset the path of the British during their first and short-lived -occupation of Baku. The wonder is that, instead of giving in after a -few days, they were able to cling to the position for weeks. - -On August 26th, the Turks, who had been preparing for days, delivered -a heavy attack against the Griazni-Vulkan sector. Their advance took -place under cover of destructive artillery fire which caused many -casualties. The section of the line where the Turks struck first was -held by about one hundred and fifty of the North Staffords, supported -by four machine-guns of the Armoured Car Brigade. Despite severe -losses, the Turks, being reinforced, pressed {216} home the attack, -and the auxiliary troops on the right flank were flung back and -forced to retire. At this point two of the machine-guns failed to -hear the order to retreat, and fought the Turks until their crew were -surrounded and cut off. The other machine-gun section, under -Lieutenant Titterington, stuck it to the last, and when they withdrew -the Turks were already firing upon them from the rear. But the -surviving members of the gun crews managed to "shoot" their way -through the ranks of the foe. - -The enemy, who had suffered very heavily in the attack of the 26th, -resumed the offensive on the 31st, when he bit another slice out of -the thinly held line and captured the position known as Vinigradi -Hill. After this the Turk advanced from success to success, slowly -driving back the garrison on the inner defensive line. - -[Illustration: GROUP OF THE STAFFORDS, WHOSE HEROIC ATTEMPT TO -RECOVER THE SITUATION FOLLOWING THE ARMENIAN RETIREMENT WILL ALWAYS -BE REMEMBERED AT BAKU. THE SCENE WAS AT BALADADAR STATION.] - -His crowning victory was the storming of the Voltchi Vorota sector on -the morning of September 14th. An Arab officer who deserted two days -previously furnished full particulars of the impending attack, but -his information was regarded with suspicion. It proved, however, to -be absolutely correct, for the enemy made a feigned attack on the -neighbouring Baladjari sector and delivered his main blow against -Voltchi Vorota. He got home at once, driving out the Russian troops, -who retreated in some confusion. An armoured car, however, -intervened between the retiring troops and the oncoming enemy, and, -although heavily shelled by the Turkish batteries, {217} it -manoeuvred adroitly, paralyzing the advance by its deadly fire and -allowing the broken Russians time to reform with a leavening of -British bayonets. The Turks later in the day converted the feigned -into a real attack, and broke through at Baladjari. - -This series of reverses contracted the daily shrinking perimeter -still more. It was now clear to Dunsterville that his troubled -occupancy of Baku had come to an end, and orders were issued for an -immediate evacuation. The Bolsheviks had got the upper hand again. -Their attitude was doubtful and, in the first instance, they had -objected to the troops being withdrawn, threatening to use the -Caspian fleet of gunboats to fire on the laden transports should the -latter attempt to sail. It was not exactly altruism, nor the -promptings of a generous nature, that led them to do this. On the -contrary, it was rather a tender regard for their own cowardly skins. -Should the victorious enemy storm the town the British would serve as -a useful chopping-block upon which the Turks might expend their fury; -and, if the worst came to the worst, and there was no other way out -of a disagreeable dilemma, grace and favour might be won from the -Osmanli by uniting with him in administering the _coup de grâce_ to -the trapped and betrayed remnant of Dunsterville's Army of Occupation. - -Although the town lay defenceless and at their mercy, the -Turks--victims probably of their periodical inertia--did not follow -up their advantage. The {218} Bolsheviks hesitated to strike, and, -after the motor-cars, stores, and transport had been destroyed, the -evacuation was successfully carried out under the menacing guns of -the Caspian Fleet. - -Captain Suttor, an Australian officer, and two sergeants, were -overlooked in the hurry of embarkation. But they escaped and, -boarding a steamer full of Bolshevik fugitives, induced the Captain -to land them at Krasnovodsk on the eastern shore of the Caspian and -the terminus of the Trans-Caspian Railway. Suttor knew that a -British military post had been established there. Of this the -Bolsheviks were ignorant, and their fury and amazement were great -when they found themselves marched off as prisoners. - -[Illustration: SIX-INCH HOWITZER IN ACTION AT BAKU WITH A DETACHMENT -OF DUNSTERFORCE GUNNERS.] - -The day after the British evacuation of Baku the Turks entered, and -for two days the town was given over to pillage, many of the Armenian -irregulars being killed in cold blood by the enemy. - - - - -{219} - -CHAPTER XXI - -THE TURKS AND THE CHRISTIAN TRIBES - -Guerrilla warfare--Who the Nestorian and other Christian tribes -are--Turkish massacres--Russian withdrawal and its effect--British -intervention. - - -The Nestorians, Jelus, and other racially connected Christian groups -who, in the region around Lake Urumia, had been carrying on a -guerrilla warfare against the Turks, at the beginning of July were -reduced to very sore straits indeed by losses in the field, disease, -and famine. - -As already related in a previous chapter, Lieutenant Pennington, a -British aviator, flew into Urumia in the first week in July, carrying -General Dunsterville's assurance of speedy help. The leaders of -these Christian peoples, in full accord with the British, decided -that after evacuating Urumia an attempt should be made to break -through to the south in the direction of Sain Kaleh and Bijar, in -order to get in touch with the British relieving column which was -marching north from Hamadan bringing ammunition and food supplies. - -For the better understanding of this narrative, some explanation is -due to the reader as to who and {220} what are the Nestorians and -their kindred Christian clans who were now about to run the gauntlet -of the Turkish Army operating in the Lake Urumia district. - -The Nestorians are the followers of the Patriarch of Constantinople -who was condemned for heresy in the year A.D. 431. They inhabit -Kurdistan and north-western Persia, are also known as Assyrians, and -are indeed often loosely referred to as Syrians. They live in that -portion of the country which the Bible has familiarized to us as -Assyria, and are confusedly termed Syrians, not because they come -from Syria proper on the Mediterranean littoral, with its cities of -Antioch, Aleppo, and Damascus, but rather because their rubric and -sacred writings are in ancient Syriac, while the language of the -people themselves is modern Syriac. - -Hundreds of years ago the seat of the Nestorian or Assyrian -Patriarchate was near Ctesiphon on the Tigris, a short distance below -Bagdad. But the Turkish conquerors persecuted the Christians, the -Patriarch was forced to flee, and finally took refuge at Qudshanis, -in the highlands of Kurdistan. The present spiritual head of the -Assyrians, who is ecclesiastically designated Mar Shimun, is said to -be the one hundred and thirty-eighth Catholicos, or Patriarch, of the -Nestorian Church. - -At the outbreak of the European War there were three distinguishable -main groups of Assyrian Christians. One inhabited the Upper Tigris -Valley beyond {221} Mesul and the hilly country towards Lake Van; a -second was to be found on the Salmas-Urumia plateau and in the -mountainous country bordering on the Persian-Turkish frontier; the -third group lived on the Turkish side of the frontier between Lake -Van and Urumia. Roughly they may be classified as Highlanders and -Lowlanders, with various tribal subdivisions, of which one of the -better known is the Jelu group. - -Urumia itself is the scene of considerable foreign missionary -activity, and is the headquarters of the Anglican, American, French, -and Russian religious missions to the Assyrian Christians. Each had -its own well-defined sphere of influence, and worked in the broadest -spirit of Christian tolerance. When war burst upon this unhappy -land, anything in the nature of sectarian rivalry and proselytizing -zeal vanished, to give place to a united effort to aid and materially -comfort the victims of Turkish fury. - -The retreat of the Russians from Urumia, at the beginning of January, -1915, left some thousands of Urumia Christians who were unable to -accompany them at the mercy of the Turks and their savage -auxiliaries, the Kurds; and the usual massacre followed. The -Christians, though poorly armed, defended themselves as best they -could, and the survivors were driven to seek sanctuary in the -American Mission Compound. Those who surrendered and gave up their -arms to the Turks were put to death without mercy. At the beginning -of May, 1915, the {222} army of Halil Bey, operating in North-Western -Persia, was routed by the Russians, who reoccupied Urumia. But the -beaten Turks in their retreat westwards killed every Christian -tribesman they could find. A second Russian evacuation of Urumia in -August, 1915, led to a fresh exodus of the able-bodied Assyrian -fighting men, and to another massacre of those who remained behind. - -From then until 1918 they had endured all the horrors and -vicissitudes of war, with its fluctuations of victory and defeat. -The Christian army had put up a brave fight against the Turks after -the final Russian withdrawal from North-Western Persia. Now, hemmed -in and suffering from hunger, they were about to attempt a third -exodus, this time towards the South into the British lines. - -During the last week in July the Christian army--probably about -10,000 fighting men, but with its ranks swelled to 30,000 by women -and children refugees--withdrew from Urumia and marched southwards. -The Turks gave pursuit and much harried their rearguard, which they -subjected to artillery fire, inflicting severe losses. Ultimately -the retreat under Turkish pressure degenerated into a rout, during -which the mass of fugitives was severely cut up. In the course of -the panic which prevailed, the Nestorian Army lost its artillery and -its remaining supplies, while many of the women and children were -abandoned in the general _sauve qui pent_, and fell into the hands of -the enemy. - -{223} - -The Turks reoccupied Urumia on August 1st, and vented their -displeasure upon the defenceless people in the customary Turkish way. -The aged were killed, and young girls were carried off and subjected -to a fate worse than death. - -Mgr. Sontag, the head of the French Lazarist Mission, a saintly man -who was revered even by the local Moslems amongst whom he had lived -for many years, was one of those who fell victims to the blind fury -of the Turkish soldiery when they found themselves once more masters -of Urumia. - -At Sain Kaleh and Takan Teppeh, to the north-west of Bijar, the -British were able to intervene between pursuers and pursued. The -Nestorians, a sadly diminished band, were drafted back to Bijar and -thence south to Hamadan. Harbouring vindictive feelings against -Moslems in general as a result of the atrocities perpetuated upon -them by the Turks, it is not perhaps surprising that they in their -turn made an onslaught upon the inhabitants of the Persian villages -encountered _en route_, and left them in much the same condition as -the man who, going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, fell among thieves. - -Mar Shimun, the spiritual head, and Agha Petros, the recognized -military leader, accompanied the Nestorians from Urumia. The -survivors of the exodus were put in a concentration camp at Hamadan -with their women and children. The able-bodied and healthy amongst -the men were subsequently drafted out and sent to Bakuba near Bagdad, -where {224} an attempt was made by the British to organize and train -them into fighting units. They received good pay and rations, but -proved very difficult material to handle. Their wild, free lives had -apparently unfitted them for a régime of discipline and ordered -restraint. A large contingent refused to sign attestation papers -lest they should be sent to fight overseas. It was useless -attempting to reassure them on this point, and to tell them that all -the military service they were expected to render in return for -British pay and British rations was that of defending their own -country against the common enemy, the Turk. It may be that their -physical sufferings had demoralized them, but the irregulars of Agha -Petros were incapable of attaining an ordinary degree of military -efficiency as judged by British standards. They were a perpetual -source of embarrassment to the British officers entrusted with their -training. The experiment proved a failure, and at last, on the Turks -suing for an armistice, the men of Agha Petros' command were -disbanded and sent back to their own country. - - - - -{225} - -CHAPTER XXII - -IN KURDISTAN - -The last phase--Dunsterforce ceases to exist--The end of Turkish -opposition--Off to Bijar--The Kurdish tribes--Raids on Bijar--Moved -on by a policeman--Governor and poet. - - -It was in South-Western Kurdistan that I saw the last phase of the -war between the Turks and ourselves. - -At the end of September, Dunsterforce had ceased to exist, at any -rate under that name. Dunsterville himself had gone down to Bagdad -to discuss the whole Caucasian and North Persian situation with -General Headquarters, and the officers of Dunsterforce had either -gone back to their units in France, Salonika, and Egypt, or had been -absorbed by the North Persian force which was concentrating under -General Thompson at Enzeli for a fresh smack at the Turk in Baku. - -After his capture of the oilfields' port, the enemy seemed to have -reached the last stages of physical exhaustion, and to be incapable -of further effort. His push through from Tabriz towards Zinjan and -Kasvin had been finally arrested, and he had been driven back to his -entrenchments on the Kuflan Kuh Pass, where he was well content to -sit down to {226} a peaceful, inoffensive life, smoke his -hubble-bubble, nurse his blistered feet lacerated by long marches on -unfriendly Persian roads, and, in general, by his exemplary behaviour -earn "good conduct" marks from the inhabitants of the zone of -occupation. - -But in the country to the west of Mianeh and south of Lake Urumia the -enemy was still inclined to spasmodic activity. It was in this -region that he had harried the Nestorian Army as it was fighting its -way to the south and to safety. At the beginning of October, 1918, -the Turks held Sauj Bulagh, the local capital of the Kurds of -Azerbaijan, Sakiz, Sain Kaleh, and Takan Teppeh, all of which were in -more or less precarious touch with Kowanduz on the western slopes of -the Kurdistan Range, and thence with the main and sole surviving -Turkish Mesopotamian Army which was clinging tenaciously to Mosul. -Their occupation of these several strategic points on the Persian -side of the frontier enabled the Turks to threaten the British post -at Bijar, on the confines of South-Western Kurdistan, and in a sense -to menace the British occupation of Hamadan. - -[Illustration: GENERAL VIEW OF THE SCENE FOLLOWING THE ARMENIAN -RETIREMENT.] - -But Allenby's smashing blow at the Turk in Palestine had its -repercussion in the remote highlands of Persia and in the remoter -region of the Caspian Sea. Its effect was instantaneous. It broke -the Turkish grip on Baku and appreciably loosened his hold on -Azerbaijan. He withdrew from Mianeh and made ready to evacuate -Tabriz and retire into his own territory in an eleventh-hour effort -to {227} buttress up his remaining Asiatic provinces which, one after -the other, were tottering beneath the sledgehammer blows of the -British. - -Early in October the wheel of fate and the illness of a brother -officer led to my being transferred from Caspian Headquarters to -Bijar, as Assistant Political Officer and Intelligence Officer. I -looked it up on the map and started. It was a long and interesting -zigzag trek across Persia, first south-west to Hamadan, then -north-west to Bijar and the wild country of the Kurdish tribes. - -Few Europeans can lay claim to any intimate knowledge of Kurdistan -and its predatory but fascinating people. It is distinctly remote -from the beaten tourist track. Russian and German travellers and -scholars have nibbled at the ethnological and philological problems -which it presents, and, much more recently, our own Major Soane in -his remarkable book, "Through Kurdistan in Disguise," draws aside the -veil a little, and we are able to take a peep at Kurdish life and -manners naturally portrayed. - -Kurdistan cannot be said to possess either natural or political -boundaries, for it embraces both Persian and Turkish territory, and -in it live people who are not racially Kurds. Broadly speaking, it -may be said to stretch from Turkish Armenia on the north to the -Luristan Mountains on the south, and the Turkish-Persian frontier -cuts it into two longitudinal sections. Persian Kurdistan, then, is -bounded by Azerbaijan on the north, the Turkish frontier on the {228} -west, Kermanshah on the south, and Khamseh and Hamadan on the east. -Its old administrative capital is Sinneh. - -Its geographical outline is one of bold and rugged mountains which in -winter are covered deep in snow. Narrow valleys run far into the -flank of the towering hills, and it is here, taking advantage of -these natural barriers, that the villages cluster and the inhabitants -attempt to keep warm during the long, bitter, and often fireless, -winter months. - -A nonsense rhymester who evidently knew something of the proclivities -of the Kurds once scored a palpable bull's-eye on the target of truth -when he wrote: - - "The hippo's a dull but honest old bird; - I wish I could say the same of the Kurd." - - -The Kurds themselves have more traducers than friends outside their -own country. As the great majority of them are Sunni Moslems, it has -been pointed out, and with a certain element of truth, that the root -of the Persian-Kurdish Question is the religious hatred between Sunni -and Shi'ah, just as the root of the Turkish problem is the undying -hatred between Moslems and Christians. Kurmanji, the main Kurdish -language, has been incorrectly described as a corrupt dialect of -Persian, whereas it is really a distinct philological entity, tracing -an unbroken descent from the ancient Medic or Avestic tongue of Iran. - -I had a good deal to do officially with several of {229} the -principal Kurdish tribes, such as the Mukhri, Mandumi, and Galbaghi, -while I was stationed at Bijar, and I cannot agree with the generally -accepted estimate of their character as "a lazy, good-for-nothing set -of thieves." They are admittedly fierce and intractable, of noted -predatory habits, and ready to prey with equal impartiality upon -Persian or Christian neighbour. On the other hand, I found that they -were neither cruel nor treacherous; they are never lacking in -courage, and possess a rude, but well-defined sense of hospitality -and chivalry. - -Unarmed, save for a riding-crop, and accompanied only by a few -Sowars, I have gone into their villages in search of raiders--not -always a pleasant task amongst Asiatic hill tribes--and the -inhabitants would be amiability itself. Here one saw the happier -side of these wild, free people who, revelling in the unrestrained -life and the health-giving ozone of their native mountains, find the -trammelling yoke of modern civilization about as irksome and fearful -an infliction as a bit and saddle are to an unbroken colt. - -What I liked about the Kurds was their habit--the common inheritance -of most free men--of looking their interlocutor straight in the face. -Their women, many possessing great physical beauty, and glorious -creatures all, would crowd round to do the honours to those visiting -their village. Amongst the Kurds the women are allowed a great deal -of freedom. They shoot and ride like so many Amazons. It is true -they are the hewers of wood and the drawers of {230} water in the -village or community, but, save for lacking parliamentary -enfranchisement, they do not seem to have many grievances against the -masculine portion of the Kurdish world. They always go unveiled, are -not a bit "man-shy," and, unlike their Moslem sisters in Turkey and -Persia, do not consider themselves spiritually defiled when their -faces are gazed upon by some Infidel whom chance has thrown across -their path. - -From this I do not wish it to be inferred that the Kurdish women are -immodest in conduct, or of what might be described as "flighty -morals." Far from it. - -These self-same tribesmen who received us so hospitably in their -villages, and gave us entertainment of their best--treating us in -friendly fashion according to their laws, because we had come -trusting to their honour in the guise of friends and without hostile -intent--would, when they took the "war path" and raided a British -post, put up a spirited fight, fully bent on killing or being killed. - -Persian Kurds are largely pastoral and nomadic. There are the -sedentary tribes who are the tillers of the soil and never move very -far away from home. The nomads, on the other hand, roam with their -flocks and herds and womenfolk from winter to summer quarters and -vice versa, and it is during these periodical migrations that the -inherited predatory instincts of the Kurds are given free rein. Many -are the armed forays made on a peaceful {231} Persian neighbour's -stock. Often there is resistance, and occasionally an attempt at -reprisals; so a respectably-sized Persian-Kurdish hill-war may have -had as its origin the theft of half a dozen goats by Kurdish robbers. -Stray bands of brigands who had made life more than usually -interesting for some Persian village or other, if pursuit became too -vigorous and they were threatened with capture, were always able to -escape the consequences of their depredations by slipping over the -frontier and seeking bast (sanctuary) in Turkish territory. - -Whether the Kurds are, or are not, the descendants of those -first-class fighting men of long ago who opposed the retreat of the -Ten Thousand through the bleak mountain passes of Kurdistan, they -undeniably are imbued with a certain pride of ancestry which -manifests itself in various little ways. No pure nomadic Kurd will -ever engage in manual labour, which he looks upon as a disgrace, and -a job fit only for helots, nor will he become a Charvadar (muleteer). - -The Kurd undoubtedly possesses an unenviable reputation for -lawlessness amongst the more law-abiding Persians and Turks of this -wild and turbulent frontier land. He is handicapped, perhaps, to -this extent, that, being an alien to the Turk in language, and to the -Persian in religion, he is looked upon as a pariah, and the hand of -both is ever raised against him. Being resentful and overbearing, if -not arrogant, in manner, and knowing no legal code beyond that which -a rifle imposes, he seeks to enforce his {232} own arbitrary -ready-made justice, to call it by that name. So the merry game goes -on, and up amongst the snows of Kurdistan Persian and Kurd and Turk -kill each other on the slightest pretext, and often for no -ascertainable cause. - -The Kurd is always well armed, and usually well mounted--often at the -expense of some lowland Persian villager. He invariably affects the -national costume, which is an abbreviated coat and enormous baggy -trousers, with a capacious Kamarband of coloured silk in which he -carries pipe, knife, and odds and ends. - -Ten armed Kurds riding into Bijar, a town of 10,000 inhabitants, -would start a panic in the Bazaar. Shutters would go up and -shopkeepers would vanish as if by magic, while the small force of -Persian police in the place, who were usually suffering from the -combined effects of malnutrition and arrears of pay, would discreetly -go to cover, and not be seen again until the visitors had departed. -Usually a British military policeman, armed with a stout stick, would -be sent to handle the delicate situation, to see that there was no -looting, and that the King's peace was preserved inviolate by these -quarrel-seeking, pilfering rascals from beyond the hills. - -Bijar itself, unhappily for the peace of mind and pocket of its -shopkeeper-citizens and wealthy agriculturists, is unhealthily near -the "Bad Man's Land" of the nomad Kurds. It is built in a cup-shaped -{233} hollow surrounded by barren peaks, and its altitude (5,200 -feet) gives it a rigorous winter climate. The enclosed gardens which -usually lend a touch of picturesque embellishment even to the meanest -and dirtiest of Persian towns are lacking at Bijar. It grows wheat -and corn in abundance on the long, wide plateau which stretches -unbrokenly for miles between the bare, rugged hills. The arable land -is so fertile, and its acreage so abundant, that but one-third is -cultivated yearly. The average wheat yield is enormous, yet the -people are always hovering on the border-line of starvation, the -result of mismanagement, misappropriation, and all the other evils -which may be grouped together under the head of Persian official -maladministration. - -When the British marched into Bijar in the summer of 1918 anarchy and -disorder were paramount. The Persian Government is supposed to keep -a garrison here, but the oldest inhabitants had never seen it. If it -did exist, it was carefully hidden away and not allowed to meddle in -such troublesome affairs as Kurdish forays. The Turks during their -occupancy looted Bijar very thoroughly, and roving Kurds, too, when -short of supplies--and that was often--never forgot to extend their -unwelcome patronage to the local bazaars, on the principle of -"Blessed is he that taketh, for he shall not want." - -The Governor was a local resident, and his office an unpaid one as -far as the Persian treasury was concerned; but his power was great -and his rule {234} arbitrary, and the post brought him considerable -emoluments. He was a timid and vacillating but well-meaning -individual, who always trembled at the knees when brought face to -face with the unusual. The mere brandishing of a loaded pistol -anywhere in his immediate vicinity would throw him into a paroxysm of -terror. He spoke halting French, and was afflicted with the -prevailing Persian mania for verse-writing. Still, he never allowed -his literary pursuits to clash with or nullify his keen commercial -instincts; and he grew daily in affluence. - -But even a Persian peasant has his limits of endurance when he finds -himself being ground to fine powder in the mill of oppression and -corruption. Those of the Bijar district were no exception. After -having been systematically looted all round, by Turk, Kurd, and -dishonest local officials, they rose in revolt when a demand was made -upon them for the payment of the Government Maliat, or grain tribute. -They followed up an emphatic refusal by threatening to duck the -Governor and his coadjutor, the Tax-collector, in the local -horsepond. The latter fled the town, while as for the terrified -Governor, he promptly shut himself up, seeking bast (sanctuary) with -an ill-armed following within the sacred precincts of his serai. -From the roof, one of his retinue, using his hands for a megaphone, -sent out an urgent S.O.S. call to the British, with the result that a -compromise was effected; the Governor was rescued from his -undignified plight, and the angry peasants {235} were appeased by his -promise that the collection of the unpopular tax would rest in -abeyance until Teheran gave its decision on the subject. - -Our job in sitting down in Bijar was to hold the place against the -Turks and prevent their coming back, to instil a little wholesome -respect for law and order into the minds of the plunder-loving Kurds, -and to stop them from eating up the smaller and unprotected Persian -fry. To keep the Turk at bay and hold the Kurd in awe, we had -approximately a couple of squadrons of the 14th Hussars, under -Colonel Bridges, a detachment of the Gloucesters in charge of Captain -Stephenson, machine-gun and mountain battery sections, and a couple -of hundred of Persian levies who were commanded by Captain Williams, -an Australian officer. Colonel Bridges was in command of the whole -force. The total certainly did not err on the side of numerical -superiority. - -The day after I reached Bijar the Governor arrived to pay an official -call. After the usual formalities as laid down by Persian etiquette -for ceremonies of this kind had been safely negotiated, he begged my -acceptance of a manuscript copy of his poems, and incidentally hinted -that, as the district was in the throes of famine, he would have no -objection to collaborating in the purchasing of wheat with British -money in order to alleviate the prevailing distress. - - - - -{236} - -CHAPTER XXIII - -THE END OF HOSTILITIES - -Types of Empire defenders--Local feeling--Dealing with Kurdish -raiders--An embarrassing offer of marriage--Prestige by -aeroplane--Anniversary of Hossain the Martyr--News of the -Armistice--Local waverers come down on our side of the -fence--Releasing civil prisoners--Farewell of Bijar--Down country to -the sea and home. - - -I have often wondered if the British who stayed at home, through -force of circumstances rather than any reluctance to participate in -the Great War, can have had any conception of the varying types of -men who helped to uphold British interests in this remote and -little-known corner of the Asiatic Continent. Here, then, are a few -of them taken at random! - -There was Hooper, an Australian Captain, who in civil life was a -farmer on a rock-girt island off the Tasmanian coast, and had been -through more than one big push in France. Williams, also an -Australian officer, was a Rhodes Scholar from the University of -Adelaide. He commanded Persian levies, made a hobby of dialects, and -was always eager to try his growing wisdom teeth on such abstruse -problems as "How the camel got his hump," or, "Why Jonah gave the -whale indigestion." But he was a good {237} lad, was this youthful -pedant, a fearless soldier, and an untiring worker who, in a few -months, gained a surprising knowledge of colloquial Persian. Then -there was Seddon, a Government land surveyor from New Zealand, who -also had looked on Red War in Flanders. In cold weather, of all -times, he was always shedding surplus garments, until there was a -positive danger of his arriving at the stage of the "altogether." -Seddon was fiercely intractable on the subject of hygiene as applied -to clothing, and would hear of no compromise where his cherished -principles were concerned. It was said that he was wont to lie awake -at night planning new curtailments in his winter kit. Still, there -must have been some wisdom in his methods, for, although thinly clad -during the early winter months, he was always in perfect health, and -escaped the pulmonary maladies which proved fatal to so many others -who looked askance at him and his hygienic, minimum-clothing theory. - -We had Gordon Wilson who came from the Argentine to enlist at the -outbreak of the War and attempted to leap the age-limit barrier. His -ardour was somewhat damped on being refused by the Home Authorities. -But, nothing daunted, he went to France, joined the Foreign Legion, -and saw a good deal of fighting. He was afterwards transferred to a -British Field Battery and given a commission, and lost no time in -winning the M.C. - -In the 14th Hussars was a lieutenant named Voigt, {238} an Afrikander -born, who had gone through the South African campaign. One day, -riding with Voigt and his troop of Hussars in a "punitive" expedition -against raiding Kurds, I asked him casually--and quite forgetful of -the momentous past--with whom he had served in South Africa. He -replied with the flicker of a smile on his broad, sun-tanned face, "I -was with Louis Botha's commando." And such is the material out of -which has been woven our thrilling island story! - -Up to the moment of the Turkish collapse, towards the end of October, -many of the notables of Bijar were inclined to be dubious concerning -our possibility of success. These cautious individuals shaped their -conduct accordingly. They "hedged" very carefully, to use a sporting -phrase, and, in order to avoid all risks, backed both sides. One -wealthy Persian resident whom I particularly remember was lavish of -lip-service. He would call round to the Mission Headquarters at -least twice a week to assure us of his ever-enduring devotion, and of -his hopes of success for British arms. About the same time he would -be sending off a courier to the Turkish commander in our front -telling him that he was his devoted servitor and that it would be a -blessed day for all True Believers when the Infidel British were -driven out of Persian Kurdistan. So much for Persian duplicity. Our -"friend" was a confirmed "pulophile," which is an impromptu -Perso-Greek expression for "money-lover," and, while awaiting {239} -our military downfall, he had no conscientious objections to seeking -to rob us right and left in wheat transactions. - -On the whole the various Kurdish chiefs kept their peace pact with -the British, and for a time strove hard to walk in the path of -honesty and to cease from annexing their neighbours' flocks and -herds. But occasionally temptation proved too strong to be resisted, -and there would come a recrudescence of pillaging and violence. The -Mandumis and the Galbaghis were the chief offenders. Their subtle -imagination was never at a loss for a plausible pretext to condone -their lawlessness. Once, when Mandumi tribesmen attacked a British -post at an outlying village called Nadari, a certain Mustafa Khan, -the chief of the guilty raiders, sent a very apologetic letter -pleading for forgiveness, and pointing out that the regrettable -occurrence arose through a "misunderstanding" on the part of his -tribesmen who possessed an inordinate love of well-conditioned sheep. -Times were hard, and if the poor Kurds were not to be allowed to -replenish their larders by the time-honoured method of pilfering, -then, in the name of Allah, he asked, what was to become of them? -This curious and essentially Kurdish plea of "extenuating -circumstances" was backed up by a letter from the tribal Mujtahid, or -priest, who wrote that he was a simple man of God saying his prayers -regularly and knowing little of secular affairs. His tribesmen had -evidently been maligned by their {240} enemies--"May the Evil One -pluck their beards!" He had always exhorted his people to remain -friendly with the British, and would continue to do so. - -On this occasion Mustafa Khan escaped with a fine and a reprimand, -but he was obviously looking for trouble, and it soon overtook him. -He became very insolent. Some of his men stopped and robbed the -British native courier, and the Chief sent a message that he would -soon come and raid Bijar itself. There was nothing to do except to -teach Mustafa Khan a much-needed lesson. However, before the -salutary drubbing could be administered, Mustafa and his men, -throwing discretion to the winds, and forgetful of their oft-repeated -promises to be of good behaviour, got completely out of hand, cleaned -out several Persian villages, and indulged in a veritable orgy of -lawlessness. - -Then Mustafa, with consummate skill, having no case of his own, set -about abusing the other side. He blamed the hapless villagers, and -accused them of having killed two of his Sowars who had gone into the -Persian village to "purchase" corn. The villagers in question, he -remarked, were liars, and the sons of the Father of Lies--"May -perdition be their lot!" But this time his defence of provocation -was found to be unjustifiable; a richly deserved punishment was meted -out to him, and for long afterwards he led an exemplary life. - -Nabi Khan was another Kurdish freebooter who gave considerable -trouble before he was finally {241} subdued and made to see the error -of his ways. From the point of view of stature and general physique -he was one of the finest looking men I have ever seen. He stood a -good 6 feet 4 inches in his socks, belying the prevailing idea that -the Kurds are of small stature. In an evil moment for himself, he -threw in his lot with the Turks, and for a brief period made things -right merry for the British. He fought like an enraged tiger in -defence of his village stronghold, but was put to flight after -suffering severe loss. He thought the thing out for a couple of -weeks, and then, like the old sportsman that he was, came in and -surrendered, saying that he had lost, and was ready to pay the full -price. It is easy to be generous to a chivalrous foe, and Nabi had -been all that, so he found that he had not thrown himself upon our -mercy in vain. - -I well remember the morning that Nabi surrendered. His name and his -fame had preceded him to Bijar, and, as he strode down the Bazaar -with a belt full of lethal weapons, his very appearance inspired -terror in the breasts of the pusillanimous Persian traders, and they -bolted for cover like so many scared animals. In addition to his -stature, Nabi was a man of handsome appearance. He had a bold, open -countenance, and was brief and blunt of speech. Brushing past the -startled Persian janitor, whom he disdained to notice, he made a -dramatic entry into the Political Office at Bijar. Flinging his -weapons on the table, he exclaimed, "I have been {242} foolish; aye, -misguided by evil counsellors; I have lost, and am here to pay the -price. Do with me what you will. But you may tell your Shah that I -regret the past and am willing to make amends." Peace was arranged -with Nabi Khan, and the pact he kept very faithfully, becoming one of -our most ardent partisans in the difficult country and amongst the -turbulent folk over whom he held sway. He policed his district, and -did it very thoroughly, proving a veritable terror to evildoers; and -he suppressed Turkish propaganda with a vigour that demonstrated his -real earnestness in the British cause. - -After the manner of his kind, as a further evidence of his good -faith, and in order to set a time-enduring seal upon his treaty of -friendship, he was anxious to negotiate a Kurdish-British matrimonial -alliance. After a good deal of preliminary verbal manoeuvring, he -definitely broached the project, and suggested the giving in marriage -of his daughter, a very comely damsel, to the Political Officer. The -latter was completely taken aback and, not being a Moslem, had -visions of all sorts of unpleasant legal complications should he ever -set foot in England with a supplementary wife. However, he faced the -trying situation with commendable fortitude, and cast about for a -means whereby he might be enabled to retreat with honour, and without -offending Kurdish susceptibilities. Nabi was tactfully informed -that, while the offer was much appreciated, the acceptance {243} of a -Kurdish bride would entail no end of complications for at least one -of the parties concerned, as an unsympathetic British law had long -set its face against bigamy. In fact, isolated enthusiasts in khaki -who, as a relief from the tedium of trench life, had sought to -popularize plural marriages in England had been rewarded by a term of -imprisonment. This was news indeed for the benevolent-minded Nabi, -but he did not insist further, and the incident terminated happily. - -The Kurds are in many respects as simple as European children of -tender age. They had heard much about the wonderful flying machines -of Faringistan, and, never having seen an aeroplane, were inclined to -be sceptical, and to treat reputed aerial adventures as so many -"travellers' tales." A Kurdish chief came to call on me one day -seeking enlightenment. He had seen automobiles, and admitted that -they puzzled his primitive brain. "Why," he asked honestly enough, -"is the horse put inside the box, and why does this strange creature -prefer petrol to barley by way of food?" It took a long time to -knock into his head some primitive notion of motor traction. Then he -inquired, "Is it true that in Faringistan, as currently reported, men -make themselves into birds and soar in the air like eagles?" The -reply, as they say in Parliament, was in the affirmative, but the -Kurdish seeker for knowledge remained frankly incredulous. A few -days after the conversation, a youthful Scottish aviator, who was -{244} familiarly known as "Little Willie McKay," arrived by air from -Hamadan in order to give Bijar and the Kurdistan hill-folk a taste of -his quality. It was a day of days, and inaugurated a new era in the -local Mohammedan calendar, for it marked the flight of the -terror-stricken Faithful towards a place of safety away from the -aerial monster that, appearing from out of a clear sunlight sky, -swooped down on the town. The youthful McKay was a noted aerial -stunt artist, and he executed an extensive and varied programme for -the edification of those of the astonished onlookers who had steeled -their courage to the point of sticking it out. The houses are -flat-roofed, and here the spectators assembled to watch the show. As -the aviator nose-dived occasionally, it was amusing to see the -celerity with which they dropped flat on their faces, fearing lest -they should be caught by the talons of the "man-bird" and carried off -heaven knew where. Later on, at the local aerodrome, the people -came, timidly enough at first, to peep at the monster; but they did -their sightseeing cautiously from a respectful distance, and it was -only necessary for the engine to throb once or twice fretfully, and -for the propeller to revolve, to bring about an instantaneous -stampede. Thenceforth no one ever doubted that the British were -miracle workers, and had at their disposal an unlimited supply of -magic to assist in the overthrowing of their enemies. - -The Moharran, or anniversary of the death of {245} Hossain the -Martyr, is an occasion for the display of great religious fervour by -the Shi'ite Moslems. It fell on October 17th, and the Bijar Bazaar -was closed and the houses draped in mourning. It is perhaps the only -day in the year when the average Persian looks in deadly earnest, and -when his fanaticism is aroused to such a pitch as to make him at all -dangerous to persons of other creeds. There was a procession through -the streets, and the chief incidents of the martyrdom were re-enacted -by a devoted band of Shias. The "body" of the Sainted One was -carried on a bier and, in order that the finishing touch of realism -should not be lacking, the covering of the bier was plentifully -bedaubed with blood, while the head of the "corpse" was enveloped in -gory bandages. The _mise en scène_ was completed by the addition of -a local troupe representing Hossain's wives and adherents who, -according to legend, were also put to death by the hated rival sect, -the Sunnis. The followers in the procession, in a burst of religious -frenzy, gashed their faces or bodies with swords or knives, and, with -blood streaming from the self-inflicted wounds, were not exactly a -pleasant spectacle to look upon. A Persian youth employed at the -British Headquarters was one of those who achieved religious merit -and local distinction on the occasion. Having volunteered for the -role of follower, he had his head cut open by a local barber, and off -he went to join in the quasi-religious ceremony. In the afternoon he -was back at his job {246} with his poor damaged head swathed in -bandages and feeling very proud indeed of his exploit. - -Bijar was very excited by the intelligence that arrived on November -1st. We received an official notification that an armistice had been -concluded with Turkey, at the request of the latter Power, and that -hostilities were to cease at once. The Governor made an official -call to offer his felicitations, and to congratulate the British on -their triumph over another of their enemies. He dissimulated his -real feelings with great artfulness, for while openly professing joy -at our victory he was sorrowing in secret that a Moslem Power should -have been overthrown by an Infidel. Still, he made the best of it, -and candidly told some of his intimates who were inclined to be -tearful because their religious pride had been wounded by the success -of our arms, that the British, after all, had shown more real -humanity and compassion in dealing with the oppressed Persians than -ever had their coreligionists, the Turks. - -The Governor having set the example in offering his congratulations, -all the local notables were quick to follow, and they told us what, -curiously enough we had never realized before--that throughout the -long-drawn-out War they had always ardently wished for the complete -triumph of the British. We accepted their assurances, although -finding it difficult to reconcile them with many of their actions -when our military fortunes were not of the brightest. - -An official communication was sent off by messenger {247} to the -Turkish commander, informing him of the armistice, and inquiring if -he were prepared to abide by its conditions and order a cessation of -hostilities on his side. But the enemy had evidently had the news as -soon as we had, and decided to end the war then and there. When our -messenger reached the Turkish position, it was only to find the place -abandoned, the commander and every man having gone, leaving no -address. The messenger trekked after them for a day, but their haste -was so great that he was unable even to come up with their rearguard, -so he returned to Bijar with the letter undelivered. And that was -the last we heard of the Turk in the region of Southern Kurdistan. - -Everybody in Bijar was now our sincere friend and well-wisher. The -Bazaar was beflagged in honour of our victory. Ours was the winning -side, of that there could be no doubt. The Governor was more -assiduous than ever in his professions of undying devotion, and he -was always planning fresh schemes for manifesting his goodwill and -friendship. He even hit upon the expedient of declaring an amnesty -for Persians incarcerated in the local gaol. At his urgent -solicitation, I visited the prison to decide upon the offenders who -were to benefit by this generosity. It was a filthy, evil-smelling -hole. Lying upon a stone floor were about a dozen offenders, all -huddled together and chained like so many wild beasts. There was a -Jew who had been arrested for debt. He wore round his neck a heavy -iron collar {248} like the joug of the Scottish pillory. He speedily -divined my mission, and was clamorously insistent that he should be -the first to be set free. Chained to him were two Persians, one of -whom had been arrested for manslaughter and the other for petty -larceny. - -In this foetid den, and near the trio already mentioned, was a young -Persian girl of attractive appearance--an unregenerate Magdalene, as -it turned out, who had been put in chains for a breach of the -somewhat elastic Persian law governing public morality. She alone -made no protestation of innocence and no appeal for release. Perhaps -that was why I suggested she should be the first to have her fetters -struck off and be set free. She seemed dumbfounded at first, but on -realizing that liberty awaited her, she burst into tears, and showed -her gratitude by kissing my hand. It seemed a pity to leave the -other poor wretches, however guilty they might have been, to rot in -this terrible dungeon; so I availed myself to the full of the -privilege of the amnesty and asked that all should be liberated, -including the loquacious Jew debtor. This was done, and the poor, -dazed creatures walked out of the prison doors and once more breathed -the purer air of freedom. - -With the granting of the armistice to Austria came the welcome orders -for the British force to evacuate Bijar and retire to Hamadan. On -news of Austria's defection from the side of her German ally becoming -known, the Governor arrived to offer fresh felicitations. {249} But -a shadow clouded his beaming self-satisfied countenance when he -learned that the British were to withdraw immediately. He became -greatly perturbed at the news, for he feared the ever-present menace -of Kurdish incursions, and trembled for the safety of Bijar and the -wealth of its Bazaar. "What will become of us all?" he asked in -despair. "When the British go, the Kurds will come, and then----" -He made a significant gesture across his throat. - -The Governor returned next day with a deputation of the inhabitants -to ask that a British garrison might be left behind to carry out the -duty which really devolved upon the Persian Government, that of -protecting its subjects against acts of lawlessness. He pleaded hard -and earnestly. They would find fuel, food, and quarters free for the -soldiers who were to remain. First he suggested twenty, then a -dozen, and finally he said, "Take pity on us, and send a message by -the lightning-flash (wireless) to the British King asking him to -permit three of his soldiers to remain here to protect the people. -Then the Kurds will never bother us at all." It was certainly a -tribute to our worth and fighting value. Gently but firmly the -Governor had to be led to understand that it was impossible. The -soldiers had homes and wives in far-off Faringistan across the Black -Water; their duty was done, and home they must go. - -The deputation set off with bowed heads and {250} sorrowing hearts. -It was kismet, and the decree of Destiny could not be set aside. - -The wealthier inhabitants, however, made every effort to save -themselves and their worldly possessions. All available transport -was bought up at enhanced prices, and an exodus from Bijar preceded -the British evacuation. - -On November 7th Colonel Bridges and his column bade farewell to -Bijar. The inhabitants, or at least those of them who were too poor -to take flight, turned out _en masse_ to speed the parting troops. -They had got to know and to admire the splendid British soldier who -is always a gentleman, who had fought the battle of the Persian -people against Kurdish brigand and Turkish regular, and whose -ofttimes scanty ration he was always ready to share with any roadside -starveling who crossed his path. The Governor and a numerous retinue -rode for two miles with the head of the column. On a bare plateau, -exposed to a keen, biting wind, and under a lowering sky, the last -farewells were cordially exchanged. The Governor told us that the -British had left behind an ineffaceable record for justice and -generosity. I think it was sincerely meant and devoid of any -exaggeration. - -[Illustration: HARVESTING IN PERSIA.] - -It took seven days to reach Hamadan. The snow overtook us on the -second day out, and the bitter Kurdistan winter set in with extreme -severity. The Indian transport camels, unaccustomed to extreme cold, -and not possessing the thick fur coating of their {251} Afghan -brother, died in numbers, and the Indian Charvadars followed their -example. - -From Hamadan there was the long trek down-country and over the -snow-clad Asadabad Pass. But the weather grew milder and brighter as -we steadily dropped down from the high altitudes, neared the warmer -plains of Mesopotamia, and left Persia behind us. At last came the -day when our long overland journey was to end, and Xenophon's -war-worn soldiers never cried more exultingly "Thalatta!" "Thalatta!" -at the sight of the sea, than we did on reaching the shores of the -Persian Gulf. - - - - -{252} - -APPENDIX - - -THE WORK OF THE DUNSTERFORCE ARMOURED CAR BRIGADE - -I am giving the following account of the work of the Armoured Car -Brigade with General Dunsterville's Mission, not only because the -Brigade deserves fuller mention than I have been able to give -elsewhere in this book, but because some description of their -operations will give a better idea of the difficulties of transport, -stores, etc., with which the whole force had to deal. For my facts -in this instance I have been allowed access to an official report by -the men who actually did the work. - -The Brigade, commanded by Colonel J. D. Crawford, was organized in -squadrons of eight cars each. In addition it had a mobile hospital -of fifty beds, and the usual supply column. - -The Brigade had originally been known as the Locker-Lampson Armoured -Car Unit, and its work in Russia in the earlier stages of the war is -one of the most stirring stories of the whole campaign. For its -present work, it began to mobilize in England during the latter -months of 1917. The personnel was obtained by the transfer from the -R.N.A.S. of officers and men who had been serving in the Armoured -Car Unit in Russia. - -{253} - -Owing to the internal conditions of Russia, the personnel arrived in -small parties at long intervals, the last party leaving Russia as -late as March, 1918. The unit was made up to strength by the -enlistment of personnel from motor and other munition works in -England. The cars and material were all to be provided from England, -and the necessary orders for their manufacture were issued without -delay. The armoured cars were of Austin make, and mounted two -machine-guns in twin turrets. - -A demand for the early presence of some cars with the Mission -necessitated the despatch of an advanced party, the last draft of -which landed in May, 1918. - -This party consisted of 21 officers, 450 other ranks, with 8 armoured -cars, 24 lorries, 30 touring cars, 44 Ford box vans, 32 motor-cycles, -and other stores and equipment. - -That it was impossible to concentrate and fully equip the unit in -England before despatch overseas was unavoidable, but unfortunate -from the point of view of organization. The delay in the despatch of -the remainder of the unit was a further misfortune. The absence of -many of the specialist personnel and much of the essential equipment -increased the difficulties with which the Brigade was faced. Some of -the personnel and considerable equipment never reached the Brigade -until it was withdrawn from Persia. - -Of the personnel that did arrive nearly 40 per cent. had only joined -the Army in January, 1918, were {254} devoid of all training, and had -often no mechanical knowledge. - -By May 15th the advanced party, together with such cars and personnel -as arrived later, were concentrated at Hinaidi, and preparations for -the move into Persia were rapidly pushed forward. - -On May 14th a start was made to establish petrol dumps at -Tak-i-Garra, Kermanshah, and Hamadan, and by May 15th these were -sufficiently stocked to permit of the move of "A" Squadron, which -left Hinaidi on May 17th. In connection with the establishment of -these dumps it is worthy of note that the Brigade Peerless lorries -were the first heavy lorries to cross the Pai Tak and Asadabad -Passes, in spite of expert opinion that the road was impassable for -heavy lorries. - -It will be simpler to follow the actual operations of the Brigade if -each series of operations, although concurrent, are dealt with -separately: - -1. Operations against the Jungalis. - -2. Operations with General Bicherakoff's Force in the Caucasus. - -3. Operations at Baku. - -4. Operations at Zinjan. - - - -OPERATIONS AGAINST THE JUNGALIS. - -"A" Squadron arrived at Hamadan on June 7th. At this time General -Bicherakoff's troops were concentrating at Manjil. The Jungalis -under Kuchik {255} Khan were prepared to permit the Russian forces to -continue their withdrawal to Russia, but were opposed to the passage -of any British troops through their territory to Enzeli, a port on -the Caspian. General Bicherakoff refused to sever his connection -with the British, and prepared to attack the Jungalis who were -entrenched covering Manjil Bridge. He applied to General -Dunsterville for such assistance as he could give. - -Orders were received by the Brigade on June 8th for all cars to -proceed to Kasvin, to take part in these operations. The cars were -much in need of overhaul after their long trip from Bagdad, and the -work of getting them ready for the road was pushed forward as fast as -possible, cars as they became ready being sent forward. One battery -left Hamadan on June 9th, and the whole squadron was on the road by -June 13th. - -At this point the Rubberine tyres with which the cars were fitted -gave considerable trouble, and failed to stand the wear necessitated -by running over metalled roads. The average mileage per tyre worked -out at 60 instead of 500 miles, and spares were soon used up. To -obtain further supplies from railhead 400 miles distant necessitated -a delay of at least ten days. By stripping some cars it was possible -to maintain the others on the road, but by June 27th only two cars -were mobile. - -As regards the failure of Rubberines, it must be remembered that -these tyres are solely intended for {256} work in action, and not for -long-distance running. However, pneumatic tyres had not been sent -from England, and efforts to supply the deficiency by local purchase -failed. Some tyres were purchased, but it was not possible to get -the necessary fittings to enable Warland rims to be efficiently -converted to take the pneumatics. - -As soon as the abnormal expenditure of Rubberines was experienced, -arrangements were made to maintain a sufficient supply, and the cars -were not off the road again on this account, although they consumed -in one month 75 per cent. of the estimated year's supply. -Considering that a single Rubberine tyre weighs 200 pounds, the -strain imposed on the transport of the Brigade in maintaining a -sufficient supply was considerable. - -From June 13th to July 20th the cars were mainly employed on convoy -duties, and for defensive purposes at Resht and Manjil. - -On June 28th one armoured car was in action along the Kasmar road, -supporting infantry who were attempting the rescue of an A.S.C. -officer who had been captured by the Jungalis. Captain J. Macky was -wounded in this engagement. - -On July 20th the Jungalis made a determined attack on Resht, which -they occupied. They, however, failed to drive back the British -troops camped on the south-west outskirts of the town. Both the -armoured cars of the Brigade and those of the 6th L.A.M. Battery took -a prominent part in the fighting, {257} and later in the relief of -isolated parties cut off in the town. The street fighting was heavy -and difficult. Trenches were dug across the road and barricades -erected, but the armoured cars thoroughly proved their suitability -for street fighting. Their moral effect materially assisted in -clearing the enemy out of the town a few days later. Captain G. N. -Gawler was wounded during the fighting. - -On July 28th, to relieve the pressure at Resht, and to make troops -available to assist in the defence of Baku, the Brigade offered to -organize a motor machine-gun company from the personnel of "B" and -"C" Squadrons then training at Hamadan, awaiting the arrival of their -cars from England. The offer was accepted, and the company, -consisting of sixteen machine-guns (with crews), left Hamadan on July -30th. The machine-guns and ammunition were carried in sixteen Ford -vans, and the personnel in the Brigade Peerless lorries. It was -decided that half the company should remain at Resht until the -situation there improved, the other half proceeding to Enzeli to be -in readiness to embark for Baku should the situation there permit. - - - - OPERATIONS WITH GENERAL BICHERAKOFF'S FORCES - IN THE CAUCASUS. - -General Bicherakoff.s troops embarked at Enzeli on July 3rd. No. 2 -Battery, "A" Squadron, was ordered to accompany them. In order to -avoid {258} possible trouble with the Bolsheviks, they wore Russian -uniform, but later were ordered to discard it. The force landed at -Aliyat, south of Baku, on July 4th, and proceeded by rail to -Kurdamir, which was reached at midnight, July 7-8th. The cars were -immediately detrained, and by 4 a.m. two cars were in action on the -Russian right, near Kara Sakal, and remained in action all day -against the Turkish advanced troops. - -Two reconnaissances were successfully carried out in this area under -cover of darkness, during the night, July 8-9th, and the Turkish -outposts engaged. A reconnaissance at dawn, 3.40 a.m., on July 9th, -met with heavy machine-gun and rifle fire. - -The Turks attacked the village of Kara Sakal at 5 a.m. Their advance -was greatly hampered by fire from the cars which covered throughout -the day the withdrawal of the Russian troops in this sector to -Kurdamir. On two occasions, the Turks having deployed in the -proximity to the road, the cars ran right up into the opposing lines -of infantry, which they enfiladed, forcing the Turks to withdraw. - -On July 10th the Russians, after a reconnaissance by the armoured -cars, attacked, but failed to reach their objective. An enemy -counter-attack was repulsed by the armoured cars, which eventually -covered the withdrawal of the infantry to Karrar. A determined -attack on the rearguard by enemy cavalry was repulsed by one armoured -car, with heavy loss to the enemy. - -{259} - -The battery withdrew to Sagiri on the llth, and was employed -continuously in reconnaissance from July 12th to 18th. - -Owing to the defection of the troops protecting General Bicherakoff's -right, he was compelled to retire to Ballajari, which was reached -without incident on July 23rd. The armoured cars formed a portion of -the rearguard and carried out one reconnaissance at Kara Su, without, -however, meeting any enemy troops. - -On July 26th one armoured car was ordered to carry out a -reconnaissance along Shemaka-Baku road. This car failed to return. -A force sent out to look for it found two bodies, which were -identified as the driver of a Ford touring car, and a batman, both of -whom were travelling in Captain Hull's touring car. Unofficial -reports have been received that a British officer and four men were -prisoners at Elizabetpol. No details as to what actually happened -are available. - -On July 29th the Turks took Adji-Kabul Station, to the south-west of -Baku, and began an encircling movement to the north. General -Bicherakoff, not wishing to be shut up in Baku, withdrew northwards. -The armoured cars acted as rearguard, Kirdalana being reached at 6.30 -p.m. From hereon the armoured cars travelled by rail to Hatcmas, -which was reached on August 10th. Although the force was continually -harassed by Tartars, the armoured cars took no part in the fighting. - -{260} - -On August 11th the cars were sent forward by rail to Kudat, to -operate against the Tartars. The country being impassable for -armoured cars, they returned to Hatcmas. - -On August 12th a general advance was made on Derbend, but the cars -still travelled by rail. The Bolsheviks retired from Derbend after -desultory fighting, and the town was occupied on August 15th at 9.20 -a.m. - -The train on which the armoured cars were travelling was smashed in a -collision south of Derbend, and the armoured car personnel were -responsible for the rescue of many men, under conditions calling for -gallantry and endurance. Two N.C.O's. received the M.S.M. for -their gallant behaviour on this occasion. - -The armoured cars were not in action again until the attack on -Petrovsk on September 3rd. The armoured cars preceded the infantry -at 4.30 p.m., and, driving in the Bolshevik troops, engaged a battery -of 6-inch guns at close range, driving the gunners off the guns and -capturing them. They pursued the Bolshevik troops through the town, -driving some 600 of them into the hands of the Cossacks, who had got -round to the north of the town. - -One armoured car was now immobile, owing to back-axle trouble, and -was out of action until September 20th, when necessary spare parts -were received from Baku. - -{261} - -The cars remained at Petrovsk till September 10th for overhaul, every -facility and excellent workshops being placed at their disposal by -General Bicherakoff. - -On September llth the cars were sent to Temi-Khan Shuna, thirty miles -south of Petrovsk, to co-operate in operations being carried out at -that place against a mixed force of 600 Turks and 1,500 Dageshani -Tartars. The operations fell through owing to an armistice being -arranged on the 12th. The cars remained at Temi-Khan Shuna to -maintain order until the 19th. - -On September 18th three Russian armoured cars, which had been under -the orders of the Brigade at Baku, and had proceeded to Petrovsk when -the evacuation took place, were attached to No. 2 Battery. - -On September 27th two armoured cars (one D.A.C. Brigade and one -Russian) were ordered to embark to join Colonel Sleseneff at Briansk. -The cars were disembarked at Starri Terechnaya by 11 a.m. on the -30th, and left for Alexandrisk, which was reached at 6 p.m. the same -evening, moving to Marinova on October 2nd. Here touch was gained -with General Alexieff by aeroplane. - -The advance was continued, Seri Brakovka being reached on the 3rd. - -The cars moved to Breedeekin on October 12th, reporting to the -headquarters of the force (General Mestoulov), on the outskirts of -Kislyar, at 8.30 a.m. on {262} the 13th. An attack on Kislyar was -ordered for the 14th. One armoured car was ordered to precede the -infantry attack, and clear the enemy trenches at 12 noon, after a -preliminary bombardment. The car was driven forward until the wheels -rested on the parapet, and the trenches were enfiladed, and the -Bolshevik infantry fled. The car, whilst returning to bring forward -the Russian infantry, was hit by a direct shell, which killed three -of the crew and wounded Captain Crossing and the driver. At this -point the Russian infantry panicked, and, failing to restore order, a -general withdrawal was ordered to Breedeekin. - -The personnel of the British armoured car was withdrawn to Petrovsk, -which was reached on September 18th. - -On October 26th No. 2 Battery, which had served with General -Bicherakoff since July 3rd, was ordered to return to Enzeli to rejoin -the Brigade. - -During the whole period, Captain Barratt, R.A.M.C., was mainly -responsible for the medical work with General Bicherakoff's force, -and received the 4th Class of the Order of St. Vladimir for his work. - -Captain Crossing, D.S.C., who had commanded this battery, received -the St. George's Cross for gallantry, and also the 4th Class of the -Order of St. Vladimir. - -Lieutenant E. W. Wallace also received the 4th Class of the Order of -St Vladimir, and several St. George's Crosses were awarded to the -men. - - - -{263} - -OPERATIONS AT BAKU. - -At the end of July the new Government in Baku asked for British -assistance. One section of No. 1 Battery (two cars) and two sections -of the motor machine-gun company embarked at Enzeli, arriving at Baku -August 5th. The remaining section of No. 1 Battery and two sections -of the machine-gun company were withdrawn from Resht on August 6th, -embarking the same evening for Baku, which was reached on August 7th. - -Owing to the presence of Bolshevik troops in the town, the armoured -cars and machine-gun company did not proceed to the line. There were -constant threats that the Bolsheviks intended to attempt to turn out -the new Government by a _coup de main_. The armoured cars "stood to" -every night, whilst machine-guns were located in various buildings -commanding the streets leading to the quarter of the town in which -the British troops were billeted. - -In order to stiffen and encourage the local forces, British troops -were sent into the line on August 9th. One section of the motor -machine-gun company took up positions at Voltchi Vorota on the left -of the line, co-operating with detachments of the Staffords. Efforts -were also made to organize the Russian machine-guns in this section -of the line, with some success. (The organization of the Russian -machine-guns was later handed over to Major Vandenberg.) - -On the same date two armoured cars and one and {264} a half sections -of the motor machine-gun company were sent to Zabrat, to take part in -operations being carried out against Mashtagi. These two cars were -constantly in action, handling very severely about 100 Turks who were -found sitting and lying about behind a hedge. - -The machine-guns took up positions in the Armenian lines. These -machine-guns were taken forward, and then covered the advance of the -Armenians. No serious attack on Mashtagi was, however, at any time -made by the local forces. - -One incident in this area is worth recording. At the request of -Headquarters a Brigade Vauxhall Staff car was lent for the purpose of -taking Tartar delegates to the front line, from whence it was -intended that the delegates should make their way behind the Turkish -lines and arrange terms with the local Tartars. Through some error, -the car, also containing in addition to the delegates two sergeants -of the Brigade, was sent on through the lines and captured by the -Turks. Sergeant Miks was captured on this occasion. Russian born, -he was a local linguist, and had gone through some remarkable -adventures, whilst keeping under observation the movements of the -Bolsheviks in Baku. - -On August 14th one section of guns took up a position in the line at -the foot of Griazni Vulkan, to the north-east of Baladjari Station. -The next few days were fully occupied in the construction of -machine-gun emplacements. Two armoured cars {265} and a half-section -of the motor machine-gun company were retained in Baku in reserve to -maintain order in the town. On August 24th one of these armoured -cars proceeded to Griazni Vulkan, where it remained in support of the -line. - -On August 26th the Turkish attack, the imminence of which was evident -from the daily reconnaissance reports, materialized against Griazni -Vulkan. The advance took place under cover of heavy and destructive -artillery fire, which caused considerable casualties. The line at -the point of the attack was held by 150 Staffords and four -machine-guns of the Brigade motor machine-gun company. The attack -was three times brought to a halt, the machine-guns doing great -execution. One gun's crew withdrew their gun from its emplacement, -which had overhead cover, and remounted it on top in order to obtain -a greater field of fire. Enemy reinforcements coming up about 2 p.m. -caused the troops on the right flank to fall back. The two -machine-guns in this area, however, remained at their posts, and were -last seen still firing, although completely surrounded. - -The remainder of the infantry were forced to withdraw, but this order -did not reach the remaining two guns, which only left their positions -when they found small parties of enemy in rear of them. Fifty per -cent. of the crews became casualties whilst withdrawing. Lieutenant -Titterington, who was in charge, was compelled to use his revolver. - -The armoured car in this sector, which, owing to {266} the impossible -nature of the ground, had not previously been able to come into -action, now covered the withdrawal of the remnants. These were -reorganized by Major Ruston, a new line formed, and a further -withdrawal carried out in good order to a line some 2,000 yards to -the east. Fresh gun crews were immediately organized from batmen and -other employed men of the Brigade, and sent forward to man the two -guns that were left. - -On August 27th the section of the machine-gun company was withdrawn -from Voltchi Vorota, and received orders to report to the O.C. 39th -Brigade, who took over charge of the Baladjari Sector on the evening -of August 26th. The new line ran from Baladjari to Vinagradi. Two -guns were placed in position at Baladjari and two on Vinagradi Hill. - -The Turks had suffered so heavily on the 26th that they waited till -the 31st before resuming their attack. During the interval -reorganization was carried out, and, owing to heavy casualties, crews -were only available for two sections of machine-guns and three -armoured cars. One armoured car was immobile owing to magneto -trouble, and did not come again into action whilst at Baku. The -Turks attacked Vinagradi Hill on August 31st, and, as the flanks of -the infantry were too exposed to permit of sustained resistance, they -withdrew shortly after the attack developed. Orders again did not -reach the two machine-guns in this sector, who maintained their -position single-handed for an hour and a half, {267} inflicting -considerable casualties before they were forced to withdraw, owing to -enemy fire, from the rear. They took up a fresh position on the -railway-line east of Baladjari. - -During the whole of the period of fighting two armoured cars and six -machine-guns (reduced to four after August 26th) remained inactive in -the Mashtagi area. - -The capture of Dighiya on September 1st endangered the security of -the force in front of Mashtagi, which accordingly withdrew. The -armoured cars and machine-guns took up a position about 1,000 yards -south of Balakhani. - -The Turkish success made the evacuation of Baku advisable, and orders -were issued for evacuation to take place in the evening. These were -later cancelled owing to the attitude of the local authorities and -Caspian Fleet, and orders issued for a last stand to be made on the -inner defensive line. - -The next few days were spent in building the necessary defences. - -On September 1st the Russian armoured car section, consisting of two -heavy cars mounting 3-pounders, and two light cars with maxims, under -the command of Lieutenant-Colonel the Marquis Albrizzi, were placed -under the orders of the Brigade. They were mainly employed -supporting attacks against Tartar villages on the right flank, which -never materialized. - -Between September 1st and 13th a general {268} concentration of the -Turks was noticed south-west of Baladjari. On the evening of the -12th an Arab officer deserter gave full details of the expected -Turkish attack, which was to take place during the early hours of the -morning on the 14th against the Voltchi Vorota Sector, a feint being -made to hold the troops at Baladjari. The attack developed as stated -at 6 a.m. on the 14th. The feint attack in front of Baladjari was -heavily handled by our machine-guns and rapidly brought to a -standstill. The main attack, however, against the local troops, -progressed satisfactorily. - -The two armoured cars from Baladjari were withdrawn to the Seliansky -Barracks at the north-west corner of the town at 9 a.m. Their -departure opened up the left flank of the position at Baladjari. -This, together with the danger of being cut off by the main attack, -forced the Baladjari detachment to withdraw at 1.30 p.m. They were -covered by the machine-guns, which retired successfully, the last gun -only leaving when the Turks were within 100 yards of their position, -three members of the crew being wounded during the withdrawal. They -took up a fresh position on the top of a ridge some 600 yards to the -rear. - -At 8 a.m. one armoured car was ordered out along the Voltchi Vorota -road. It here engaged the enemy single-handed for two and a half -hours, and though shelled intensively, managed to escape destruction -by continuously moving in a figure of {269} eight in the very small -space available for manoeuvre. This checking of the main attack -allowed the Russian forces to be re-formed in rear and stiffened up -with British troops. The remaining two armoured cars from Baladjari -were ordered into action along the Baladjari road, with orders to -prevent the troops withdrawing from Baladjari from being cut off. -They were in action in this area the whole day, running up among the -Turkish troops and inflicting very heavy casualties, destroying three -enemy machine-guns and dispersing in panic some Turkish cavalry which -were massing for the attack. - -At 11 a.m. the machine-gun section from the Balakhani road was -withdrawn, and remained in reserve throughout the afternoon near -Seliansky Barracks. - -At 5 p.m. orders for the evacuation of Baku were received, the -armoured cars being disposed as follows, to cover the withdrawal of -the infantry: - - 1 car on the Dighiyar road. - 1 " " " Baladjari road. - 1 " " " Voltchi Vorota road. - - -The withdrawal commenced at 8 p.m. and was carried out without -incident, the last car arriving at the embarkation point at 10 p.m. - -Owing to the still doubtful attitude of the local authorities and -Caspian Fleet, it was considered inadvisable to delay whilst the -armoured cars were embarked, and orders were issued for their -destruction, as well as for the destruction of the motor {270} -transport which had accompanied the Brigade, and which had done most -useful work in rationing the Brigade and other British troops in the -line. The following cars were consequently destroyed: - - 4 Austin armoureds. - 6 Vauxhall tenders. - 3 Ford touring cars. - 2 Ford ambulances. - 18 Ford vans. - 1 Ford van (belonging to Wireless Section). - - -Kazian was reached on September 16th. - -During the fighting leading to the evacuation the Russians' cars -under the Marquis Albrizzi rendered valuable assistance, and covered -the withdrawal of the local troops in the early morning of the 15th, -and were eventually evacuated with General Bicherakoff's detachment -to Petrovsk, where they were attached to No. 2 Battery of the Brigade. - - - -OPERATIONS AT ZINJAN. - -During the fighting at Baku a considerable concentration of troops at -Tabriz enabled the Turks to advance towards Zinjan, driving our -outposts at Mianeh across the Kufian Kuh. - -Eight more armoured cars from England arrived at Hamadan on September -1st. In spite of the fact that the majority of the personnel for -these cars had been taken to form the machine-gun company, the -balance of personnel was rapidly organized and "E" Squadron formed. -The cars needed considerable {271} attention mechanically, and this -was rapidly carried out, cars as they were fit for the road being -despatched to Zinjan. - -The serious threat to the main communications to Enzeli by this -Turkish advance necessitated the consideration of a general -withdrawal to Hamadan on September llth. In spite of mechanical -difficulties, the Brigade offered to get the whole squadron to Zinjan -immediately, and, further, to organize from batmen and cooks -sufficient crews to man four machine-guns, the whole being carried in -a Peerless lorry. This squadron and machine-gun section were -concentrated at Zinjan by September 16th, and their addition to the -small force justified a stand being made north of that place, and the -orders for the evacuation being held in abeyance. Reconnaissances, -in which one section 6th L.A.M. Battery played a considerable part, -were pushed out as far as Jamalabad, where Turkish cavalry were -engaged. - -"E" Squadron had considerable trouble from back axles giving. The -presence of armoured cars undoubtedly checked the advance of the -Turkish troops beyond Jamalabad. - -An additional twelve armoured cars left Bagdad on August 19th, -arriving at Hamadan on September 1st. These cars also needed -overhauling, and in view of the back-axle trouble experienced by "E" -Squadron it was considered desirable to take down all back axles and -thoroughly overhaul them. In the meantime the personnel of "D" -Squadron was collected, {272} organized, and trained. This squadron -was stationed at Hamadan, for fear of any possible advance of Turkish -troops from Urumia via Bijar. - -A road reconnaissance towards Bijar was carried out by two armoured -cars on October 3rd. These reported that the road was impassable, -and the country unsuitable for armoured cars some sixty miles north -of Hamadan. - -On the formation of Norperforce on September 14th, it was pointed out -that Persia did not offer opportunity for the employment of a large -number of armoured cars, whilst there was great difficulty in -obtaining the requisite petrol to keep the Brigade mobile. It was -considered that the armoured-car work could be carried out by eight -cars, especially as the approach of winter would make movement -impossible. Much of the work would be in the nature of patrol work, -and previous experience had shown that this was very expensive in -Rubberine tyres. The pneumatic tyres for the cars had not up till -that date arrived from England. - -Accordingly, on October 2nd the withdrawal to Mesopotamia commenced. - -There are one or two features of interest as regards the rationing -worthy of record. - -Owing to the heat and the rapidity with which fresh meat went bad, -considerable difficulty was experienced in rationing convoys, which -might be absent several days from main rationing bases. No tinned -meat was available, and after several experiments {273} a successful -method of dry-salting and sun-drying mutton was found. Meat thus -treated proved very palatable when soaked and cooked, and kept even -in the hottest weather for several weeks. - -Jam was made from fruit purchased locally, and stored in earthenware -jars, a jam ration being issued to the men the whole time they were -in Persia. Crushed wheat proved excellent for porridge. - -This excellent result was mainly due to the initiative and hard work -of the Brigade Quartermaster, Captain Lefroy and his staff. - -To sum up, the Brigade, in addition to entirely supporting its own -personnel in rations, munitions, and stores of all kinds, afforded -very considerable assistance in transport to Dunsterforce. It -maintained all armoured cars which had arrived from England, working -over 1,000 miles from railhead, and had all available personnel in -the fighting-line as a machine-gun company at Baku, some 800 miles -from railhead. The whole time it was solely dependent on its own -efforts. - -The work was entirely due to the magnificent body of officers and men -forming the unit, who have worked throughout unsparingly in whatever -duty they have been called upon to perform. The gallantry shown by -the men of the machine-gun company in the fight of August 26th, when -they stayed with their guns to the last, is enhanced by the fact that -practically all these men had under eight months' service in the Army. - - - - -{274} - - - - - -NDX - -INDEX - - -ADJI-KABUL, 207 - -Afshar tribesmen, 142, 143 - -Agre Petros, 137 - -Akhbar, Lieutenant, 15, 29, 55, 67, 58, 101 - -Alexandria, 10 - -Ali Akhbar Khan, 79, 90 - -Aliullahis, 84-86 - -Ali Elizan Pasha, 159 - -Allen, Mr., 128 - -Alvand Mountains, 112 - -Amarah, 41-43 - -American Presbyterian Mission, 84, 89, 106, 128 - -Amory, Captain, 172 - -Ardabil, 175 - -Armoured cars, 109, 194, 205, 206, 207, 210, 252 _et seq._ - -Ashar, 23 - -Assadabad Pass, 63, 111 - -Azarbaijan, 133, 157, 163 - - - -Bagdad, 47-60 - -Baku, 63, 67, 135, 190, 206, 207, 208, 212, 226 - -Baleshkent Pass, 154, 193 - -Baqubah, 74 - -Baratof, General, 70 - -Basra, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 24, 29 - -Batum, 135 - -Benik Suma, 177 - -Bicherakoff, General, 70, 71, 133, 203, 208 - -Bijar, 227, 232, 246 - -Bisitun, 107 - -Bolshevik activities, 63, 64, 66, 67, 71, 72, 134, 135, 204, 211 - -Bray, Captain, 4 - -Bridges, Colonel, 250 - -Byron, Brigadier-General, 3, 10, 23, 36, 55, 75, 87, 100, 196 - - - -Cachagli Pass, 178, 179, 182, 183 - -Calthorpe, Sergeant, 176 - -Cannibalism, 118, 119 - -Caspian Sea, 62, 63, 68, 71 - -Caucasus, 67 - -Chesney, General, 17 - -Chihar Zabar Pass, 97 - -Cinema, native interest in, 26 - -Cochrane, Captain Basil, 175, 182 - -Cooper, Captain, 15 - -Cowden, Miss, 84 - -Crawford, Colonel, 194 - -Crossing, Captain, 207 - - - -Derhend, 207 - -Dervishes, 98 - -Diala River, 74 - -Donnan, Colonel, 5, 6, 9 - -Dunsterville Force, 2, 60 _et seq._, 74, 112, 133, 198, 212, 225 - -Dunsterville, General, 62, 63, 64, 74, 115, 123, 130, 133, 190, 203, -212, 225 - - - -Edwards, Mr., 128 - -Enzeli, 63, 68, 206 - -Eve, Captain George, 4, 15, 23, 42 - - - -Famine, scenes and relief work, 77, 88, 89, 103, 117 _et seq._ - -Football, native enthusiasm for, 24, 25 - -Funk, Dr., 128 - - - -Gamasiab, 107 - -German activities, 63, 65, 66, 73, 204 - -Gilan, 68 - -Goldberg, Captain, 109 - -Goupil, Lieutenant, 109 - -Gow, Lieutenant, 90 - - - -Haji Agha, 163 - -Hale, Mr., 106 - -Hamadan, 63, 71, 112 _et seq._, 140, 196 - -Hampshire Regiment, 78, 82, 90, 169, 172, 184, 190, 194 - -Harunabad, 94 - -Heathcote, Captain, 172 - -Hinaida camp, 47 - -Hooper, Captain, 172, 236 - -Hussars (14th), 91, 94, 169, 172, 190 - - - -Jamalabad, 154, 193 - -Japanese naval escort, 3, 8, 9 - -Jelus, 136, 137, 165, 219 - -John, Captain, 173 - -Jones, Lieutenant, 170 - -Julfa, 134 - -Jungalis, 73, 116, 204, 205, 209, 254 - - - -Kalhur Kurds, 99 - -Kangavar, 110 - -Kara River, 107 - -Karachaman, 174, 183 - -Karangu River, 189 - -Karasf, 143, 147 - -Kasr-i-Shirin, 77 - -Kasvin, 63, 71, 72, 190 - -Kazemain, 56, 57 - -Kellik (native raft), 51 - -Kennion, Colonel, 106 - -Kerbela, 75 - -Kermanshah, 66, 72, 90, 92, 104 - -Keyworth, Colonel, 214 - -Khaniquin, 75, 99, 104 - -Khaseki, mosque of, 60 - -Khazal Khan, 28 - -Khorsabad, 94 - -Kirind, 82, 83 - -Kizil Robat, 105 - -Kizil Uzun River, 72, 190 - -Koweit, 17, 18 - -Krasnovodsk, 67 - -Kuchik Khan, 72, 73, 116, 127, 133, 158, 198, 203, 208 - -Kufa (native boat), 50, 51 - -Kuflan Kuh Pass, 156, 189 - -Kurdistan, 225 - -Kurds, 100, 228, 239 - -Kut, 37, 44, 45 - - - -L.C.C. Steamers on the Tigris, 38 - -Lincoln, Mr., 35 - - - -McDouell, Mr., 117 - -McKay, "Willie," 244 - -McMunn, Major-General Sir George, 22 - -McMurray, Mr. and Mrs., 128, 129 - -Mahidast, 99, 101 - -Makina, 24 - -_Malwa_ (P. and O. Liner), 1, 3 - -Mandali, 99 - -Manjil, 72 - -Marjanieh mosque, 59 - -Marling, Sir Charles, 122 - -Marriage ceremonies (Persian), 29 _et seq._ - -Mar Shimon, 137 - -Matthews, Colonel, 78, 191, 214 - -Maude, Sir Stanley, 61 - -Mazandaran, 68 - -Mianeh, 155, 156, 161, 186, 187, 188 - -Milman, the "amphibious purser", 6, 7 - -Mohammerah, Sheikh of, 28 - -Mussick (native raft), 51 - -Mustafa Khan, 239 - - - -Nabi Khan, 240 - -Nadari, 239 - -Nestorians, 136, 219 - -Newcombe, Major, 23, 42 - -Niebuhr, 60 - -Nikhbeg, 154 - - - -Orenburg, 67 - -Osborne, Captain, 149, 155, 156, 163, 167, 171 - - - -Pai Tak Pass, 77 - -Parisva, 112 - -Pennington, Lieutenant, 166 - -Persians at cinema, 26 - -Persians at football, 25 - -Persian marriage ceremony, 29 _et seq._ - -Persian native levies, 172, 173, 180, 182, 185, 191, 195 - -Petrovsk, 207 - -Pierpoint, Lieutenant, 153, 155, 158 - -Poidebard, Lieutenant, 153 - -Pope, Captain, 91 - -Poti, 135 - -Presbyterian Mission, American, 84, 89, 106, 128 - - - -Resht, 63, 68, 71, 206, 209 - -Rifle thieves, 79, 80 - -Roberts, Captain, 169 - -Robertson, General Sir William, 2 - -Russia, effect of fall of, on Persian affairs, 70, 135 - -Russian movements, 63 (_see also_ Bicherakoff, General) - - - -Samarkand, 67 - -Sarab, 174, 175 - -Sarcham, 194 - -Saunders, Sergeant, 176 - -Seddon, Lieutenant, 237 - -Senjabi tribesmen, 78, 90 - -Shahsavan tribesmen, 157 - -Sharaf Khane, 135 - -Shatt el Arab, 18, 19, 20 - -Shibley Pass, 156 - -Shi'ite sect, 55, 75 - -Smiles, Colonel, 5, 194 - -Soane, Major, 227 - -Staffordshire (North) Regiment, 213, 215 - -Stead, Mr. and Mrs., 106 - -Stokes, Colonel, 215 - -Surkhidizeh, 79 - -Surma Khanin, 137 - -Suttor, Captain, 218 - -Sweeney, Lieutenant, 170 - - - -Tabriz, 71, 134, 139, 141, 156, 159, 163 - -Taranto, 1, 3 - -Tasbandi, 112 - -Teheran, 71 - -Thompson, General, 75, 225 - -Tiflis, 67, 134 - -Tigris, River, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40 - -Tigris River flotilla, 37, 38 - -Tikmadash, 169, 171 - -Titterington, Lieutenant, 216 - -Townshend, General, 44-47 - -Trott, Captain, 172 - -Turkmanchai, 176, 183, 184 - -Turkish activities, 137, 138, 142, 158, 163 - - - -Urumia, 135, 168 - - - -Van, Lake, 66, 135 - -Voigt, Lieutenant, 237 - -"Volunteers of Islam," 66 - - - -Wagstaff, Major, 141, 150, 153, 161, 169, 176, 189 - -Wallace, Lieutenant, 208 - -Warden, Colonel, 5, 215 - -Williams, Captain, 236 - -Wilson, Gordon, 237 - -Worcestershire Regiment, 191 - - - -"Young Persia" movement, 68, 69,72 - - - -Zinjan, 141, 149 - -ENDX - -BILLING AND SONS, LTD., PRINTERS, GUILDFORD, ENGLAND - - - - - - - - - - - -End of Project Gutenberg's With the Persian Expedition, by M. 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