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Diaries of men of the First AIF and the First NZEF. A Digger History Associate site
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Stalky's Forlorn Hope page 5 (Chapters 26-30) |
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Before leaving England, we had taken from London drafts for the money we required for our operations in Persia and the Caucasus, to be drawn on the Imperial Bank of Persia. At that time we had no conception of the dreadful ravages of the famine, nor did we know of the immense amount of work required in making new roads and repairing the older ones. Before very long it could be plainly seen that our resources would soon come to an end if something was not done to replenish our supply. To raise funds, we decided upon a blockade system, charging a small duty on all goods that were imported to and exported from any of the cities that we held. Captain O'Brien, an Australian, was detailed at Hamadan by General Dunsterville to act as Blockade Officer. He selected for his headquarters a caravanserai near a large vacant allotment, admirably suited for a loading and inspecting place, where all goods would be checked. Examining posts, manned with Persian recruits, under British officers and N.C.O's were established at intervals along the main roads. The Imperial Bank of Persia was asked to assist in representing the Persians. Records were kept of all goods received and forwarded, one copy being sent to Headquarters and another to the Bank. Posts had already been established throughout the most dangerous parts of the country in order to protect the lines of communication. Then the roads were repaired and made safe, and the merchants eager and willing to conduct business. Permits were issued by the various posts permitting the merchant to export his goods. One copy was kept by the officer or N.C.O. in charge, while the other was forwarded by despatch rider to the destination of the convoy, generally reaching there long before the goods arrived, where they were checked by the Commander of the post or by the British Consul residing in the town. It was not necessary that the merchant should be known at the Bank, but, before a permit was issued, some merchant, whose name appeared on the Bank's books, signed as a guarantor of the goods. This was done to prevent any leakage to the enemy. During our occupation, trade increased by leaps and bounds, the second month showing an increase of fifty per cent. over the first. There was only one case where the merchant endeavoured to trick us. Besides collecting the small duty, we inserted in the agreement a clause which gave us the right to purchase a tenth part of any convoy at cost price. Thus we were in a position to keep down prices in the purchase of our own goods. Owing to the great revival of trade, prices immediately dropped, and the poorer inhabitants had a chance of buying the necessaries of life at a reasonable price. In replenishing our treasury, we were enabled to relieve the distress of the Persians themselves by reducing the prices and helping the merchant in his endeavours to build up his business which had been so badly hit during the war. At no other time in their memory of trading had they had such good roads over which to bring their caravans, or did they know at any time in the past what it was to travel through the country without the fear of being raided. The whole populace were loud in their cries in our favor. I have mentioned before that one particular class, the democrats, were not at all keen on our methods, and were riled because we provided the starving poor with free food. Now that relief was being extended, owing to the effects of our blockade system, these democrats, generally the leading citizens of the place who obtained their appointment from the Government at Teheran, actively worked against us, both in an open and in an underhand manner whenever they got an opportunity. They commenced a crusade amongst themselves, hoping to extend it to the lower classes, by stating that we were simply there endeavouring to get in the thin edge of the wedge in order that we might take over the country as a province of the British Empire. The most notorious leaders against us were put under arrest and, in some cases, sent back to Mesopotamia as prisoners of war, with a view of giving a lesson and warning to the other members of their fraternity. This had the desired effect, and little trouble was experienced in the future. In conclusion, it might be worth while quoting the opinion of the merchants themselves as stated by their representative in a report, who said: "Our merchants are very keen on getting their consignments of goods from Baghdad before the winter months, and now that we know the road is safe, we can go straight ahead with our consignments. Before the British came here we lost heavily from the brigands looting our convoys on the route, but, thanks to the British methods, this is now a thing of the past." As soon as the road from Baghdad was constructed and improved, General Dunsterville brought up a Ghurkii Battalion, who, assisted by two armoured cars, completely defeated the Mhutchik Khan forces, who blocked the road between Kasvin and the Caspian. The Ghurkis never had such a day in all their lives. The cars drove the tribesmen from out of the towns into the open where the Ghurkis quickly got to work with their long knives. Khutchik Khan was captured and brought to Dunsterville, who saw in him a possible ally if properly approached. Inviting him to his quarters, they lunched together. Before the meal was completed, Kutchik was much impressed with General Dunsterville, and the latter, when he had obtained the confidence of Khutchik, said: "Now look here, Khutchik, don't you think that we would make better friends than enemies?" Khutchik agreed, with the result that he was, appointed Chief Supply Officer in the District. From then onwards, Khutchik was the most loyal of all our allies and owing to his position was of great service in obtaining supplies for the troops and horses. This is but another example of Dunsterville's farsightedness. Had he sent Khutchik Khan back to India as a prisoner of war, little would have been gained, but, by winning him to our side, much was accomplished in that supplies were at hand for the force about to embark for Baku.
For some time past Headquarters had an idea that there was a large body of Assyrians and Armenians cut off somewhere up north, who were still fighting the Turks. Later on this was confirmed, and we were told that a large body of Assyrians were hemmed in round the city of Urmiah on the edge of the lake of the same name. A great number of Armenians from the vicinity of Lake Van, together with the Christian mountaineers from the surrounding countries, had fallen back, and with the Assyrians had been fighting the Turks round Urmiah for the last six months. On receipt of this news, General Dunsterville got an aeroplane up from Baghdad to Miana, a post north of Zenjan, the most northern post held by our forces. After overhauling the machine and obtaining a plentiful supply of oil, the airman flew across to Urmiah with "Stalky's" message to these people. The plane encircled the city in search of a favourable landing ground, and on deciding on a spot, descended. The people, not having seen one of our machines before, mistook it for an enemy plane, and immediately opened up a heavy rifle fire. On seeing the plane descending, they thought that they had captured their first Turkish plane. The airman, on reaching ground, alighted from his machine, and was immediately surrounded by Armenian and Assyrian troops. He asked if anyone spoke English and there being one present who could, he told these people that he was not an enemy, but a friend sent to ascertain their position and requirements. He was then taken to the house of the Commander-in-chief, Agha Petros, who spoke English fluently. Our man then handed over his despatches wherein the General stated to what extent he was prepared to help, and requiring from the Chief the number and disposition of his troops and exactly what were his requirements. The news of his arrival soon spread, and for a couple of days all the bigger people rushed him with invitations to the various entertainments held in his honor. In these countries the British soldier wears the lightest of clothing, his trousers being replaced by "shorts," which showed bare knees and much of the leg. The people, not having seen a man wearing trousers with legs only about six inches long, thought that the poor fellow was in a frightful plight and had completely run out of all his clothing and was endeavouring to make both ends meet by cutting off the ragged ends of his trousers. The day before he was to leave a deputation of the women folk called on the Commander-in-Chief and craved permission to present to the hero a pair of trousers as a mark of their appreciation for his gallant flight, which brought them the glad tidings that the British would help. It took a great deal of persuasion before they could be made to believe that his shorts were the full regulation size, according to that laid down for the uniform of British troops in tropical countries. After soothing these good ladies' feelings and thanking them for their kind considerations, he received the Commander-in-Chief's reply, examined his machine, and once more took to the air, flying direct to Hamadan, where he placed the reports in the hands of General Dunsterville.
The General's offer of officers and N.C.O's, together with a supply of machine guns, ammunition and money being accepted by the Christians, machinery to carry out the job was at once got moving, and gradually new arrivals put in their appearance at Bijah, the first being Major Moore and Captain Reid, both of the General Staff at Baghdad. They had been touring throughout the north of Persia for the last six months, gathering what information they could in order to help our forces in that far off field. Major Moore spoke several languages fluently, one of which was Persian. Knowing too, the manners and customs of the country he was able to gather a vast amount of information. Captain Reid had, in pre-war days, spent a number of years with the Assyrians, having been sent out their as the political adviser on a missionary staff. When the move forward was contemplated, he was ordered to Bijah in order to take over the political side of the work. Major Moore, thinking it would be an opportunity of gaining more knowledge among the hostile tribes of North-West Persia, took advantage of the chance to continue his labours under the protection of our escort. Two troops of cavalry were then ordered to move forward to Bijah and in due course they put in an appearance, camping in the open paddocks near our billet. Supplies of grain for the horses were at once gathered, and very shortly all was in readiness for the move forward.. The nature of the expedition was kept an entire secret, not one of us knowing exactly what was in the wind, nor what was the strength of the party that would move ahead. Later on I got an inkling that I would be in charge of this expedition on account of being second in command of our post. As we were on the main road that leads to Lake Urmiah it was considered probable that the party would be from our post.
The order itself appeared to be most meagre, and naturally I wanted fuller particulars as to where we had to go, and what we were expected to do, but was again told that special instructions had been received from Hamadan that no details were to be given until well out on the march. On the evening before departing, I was asked to check over the boxes containing £45,000 in Persian silver, 12 Lewis machine guns and 100,000 rounds of ammunition, for which I gave receipts. Each officer was given a horse which cost about £40, in reality only worth £8 in any civilised country. The N.C.O's were to ride mules which were still retained on the hire system, which were to be handed over to the Cavalry for return to Bijah on our joining forces and proceeding further north with the Christians.
We were timed to leave Bijah at five o'clock on the morning of July 19th and at the first streak of dawn, the compound presented a sight of great activity. Gear was being collected and tied into bundles, the money in the boxes carried to the gateway, together with the cases containing the machine guns and ammunition. Horses and mules were being saddled and fed while others were assembled and loaded with our baggage, money, guns and ammunition. After a busy couple of hours everything was in readiness to move. After many handshakes and best wishes from those remaining, the column swung out on to the roadway. Only one troop of cavalry was to proceed with us, and these troops at once took over the protection of the column by throwing out an advance guard, placing a baggage guard and leaving a rear guard to follow on. This was about the longest column we had yet seen, as it required one animal to every two boxes of ammunition and money, and others required to carry the grain, baggage and rations for the cavalry and ourselves. The first few miles out was fairly easy country but at midday we were once again in the heart of the mountains where the track which led north was hardly distinguishable from the hundreds of other caravan tracks that branched off in every direction. Having a good guide, not much difficulty was experienced in keeping on the right track which led up and down over almost impassable ridges, dropping in one place into a valley through which a wide and swift stream flowed, luckily for us was fordable. A fair amount of difficulty was experienced in negotiating the stream, on account of the rocky nature of its bottom, and on gaining the further bank we halted for an hour, during which time we partook of our midday meal. That night we camped on a plateau on the top of a small hill, overlooking the village of Ponja, ruled by a chief whom we had met on the roads some hours before. This was considered to be a hostile locality, but fortunately the chieftain was extremely friendly to us, on account of our assistant-surgeon looking after him when he damaged his country during which time he had acted as McLean's guide. Mac was a typical Canadian, and besides teaching this young hopeful a few words such as roads, creek, house, horse, etc., had added to his vocabulary some choice Canadian swear words. The youth, being quite proud of the fact that he understood English, would rattle off a string of words, both fair and foul, much to our amusement. He was quite emphatic on the point hand a few weeks before. He assured us that no danger would befall any of our party while passing through his territory. Nevertheless the usual precautions were taken, as we had learnt by this time that a Persian's word goes for naught. We set off shortly after dawn next morning and on passing another village a young Persian, the son of the priest with whom we were negotiating for troops, joined the column and informed us that his greatest friend was Capt. McLean, a member of our hundred thousand rounds of ammunition to carry on for the time being. Our contract was to reach a town named Sain Kala, while his was to break through the Turkish forces south of the Lake and join us at the same town on a certain date Bijah party, who had ridden into a portion of his father's that he was a friend of the great English and offered to ride with us that day, in case any robber bands attacked the column, which he could overcome on account of being the son of the High Priest. This proffered help we accepted, as we did not want to get into any fights and waste our ammunition unnecessarily. That night we camped on the high ground overlooking the village of Kizil -Bulahk, and on that evening the objects of the expedition were unfolded to me. Agha Petros, the Leader of the people whom we were going to help, had accepted General Dunsterville's offer to send a few officers and N.C.O's to organise, train and lead his army, a political officer to help him in his government, together with £45,000, twelve machine guns, and one. The cavalry were to escort my party to Sain Kala and, after our junction with the other forces, their orders were to return to Bijah. Our duty on arrival at Urmiah was to organise immediately this irregular army and endeavour, if possible, to keep the southern road open in order that we could be reinforced later on. Such a proposition for adventure was altogether to our liking, and the others on being told of the proposition were full of spirits at the prospects ahead. Realising that at last we were on a big job, and seeing that the irregular forces were fifteen thousand strong, all of whom were armed and that also they had a few field pieces and some armed boats on the Lake, the hope of doing big things ran high. Captain Reid and I immediately set to work in drafting plans for our first dispositions. An officer and a couple of sergeants were to hold a town on the western road at a point where others joined it before running through the passes. By doing this it was hoped that they, with one hundred Assyrians and Armenians, could fortify these passes to such an extent that they would be able to hold up any enemy reinforcements from Turkey. The junction of several other roads with the main highway to Tabriz on the east was to
be held in a similar fashion. The town of Suj-Bulalik on the main road itself was to be held
as an intermediate post where Captain Kingscote, our Intelligence Officer, was to be
installed in order to be in touch with the flank posts, the city of Urmiah, and our
headquarters at Bijah. This town was the central place from which the telegraph lines ran
out and was specially adapted, under the circumstances, for its proposed use. Captain
Scott-Olsen, an Australian, was to move ahead and, being a sea-faring man, was to take The next town of importance was Takan-Tepe, which is the best laid out town in North-West Persia. Some Governor of the past had evidently visited Europe, and being impressed with the beauty of avenues of trees placed along the road, had beautified his town by planting along the roads leading thereto, avenues of poplars. We were timed to be in Sain Kala on the 23rd, and as this town was about fifty miles from Takan-Tepe, the journey of the next couple of days had to be by forced marches. The first was to San jud, a distance of twenty-eight miles over extremely rough country, and on July 23rd we arrived at Sain Kala, our destination.
On arrival at our rendezvous there was no sign of the people whom we were to meet, even although we were a day late. It was decided to wait a few days in the hope that they might come along. As in other places, the first thing necessary was the bribing of the telegraph operator, who, on receipt of a gift of money, was instructed to bring along to us, each day, copies of all the telegrams received and the originals of those sent by him. Thus we soon ascertained that nothing was known of our movements, nor had any word been mentioned of a move on the part of our friends from the north. The people of the town were extremely hostile, and in many instances closed up their places of business in the bazaars. In order to obtain supplies of grain and food, the threat of commandeering our requirements was necessary before we could buy anything at all. Seeing that we were quite in earnest in what we said, the inhabitants considered it was much more profitable to bring. along the goods we ordered, and obtain the prices they themselves would fix, rather than have their goods commandeered and be paid the prevalent prices of the more southern cities. The Governor paid us a visit early next morning and assured us of his friendship and hospitality, but on going through the telegrams that night we discovered that he had informed the Turks that there was a force of about seven hundred British troops, whereas there were not more than one hundred at the outside. In reporting, the Governor was prone to the usual exaggerations of his countrymen and, posing as a strong man able to keep in hand such a big force, exaggerated his report by six hundred per cent. The Turkish Commander's reply, couched in the usual glowing and fantastic language of the East, was to the effect that if the Governor would keep an eye on us for a few days, he would advance with his gallant troops, and show the world how the troops of Allah could smash the infidel troops of England. On the 25th there was still, no sign, nor any word of the movements of the Assyrians
and Armenians. As the grain for the horses was running short and there was little chance
of replenishing our stock, the Colonel in charge of the cavalry, being the senior officer,
decided to return to Bijah on the following day. Such a decision was keenly disappointing
to those of us who were to move forward to Lake Urmiah, and after consulting one
another, we put up a proposal that we would supply a patrol who would volunteer to push
ahead and obtain some news of the people whom we were to meet. The hostility of the
country and its lack of supplies was considered to be sufficient reason for knocking out This was considered to be impracticable and, being soldiers, we had to obey orders, and leave next day with hearts full of disappointment, and trek back again over the road to Bijah. Although foiled for the time we reckoned there must be some way out of the difficulty. In the upward journey as we passed through Takan Tepe, we noticed that the people, who belonged to a particular tribe named the Afsharis, were the finest stamp of men we had yet seen in Persia. Major Chaildecott, the Intelligence Officer, of Bijah, had joined the party at this place, cutting across to the town after doing an out-back job amongst the hills. From there he rode on with us to Sain Kala as a passenger in order to see the start of our show and gauge with what success we commenced the job. The idea of still being able to reach the Christians had not by any means left us, and after consulting with the commander of the party, we ascertained that he was quite willing for us to remain at Takan Tepe, in order to establish a post, with the hope that we would raise a force strong enough to work through to Urmiah should the Assyrians and Armenians fail in their breakthrough. I obtained from Major Chaildecott orders in the name of the commanding officer of Bijah to carry out our project. The Colonel in command of the cavalry allowed portion of his command to remain behind with us in order to protect us, until such time as we raised a force strong enough for our own safety, while he with his staff, together with Major Moore, Major Chaildecott and Captain Reid rode back to Bijah. |
