CAMPAIGNING IN THE CAUCASUS

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 178, 23 April 1919, Page 2

CAMPAIGNING IN THE CAUCASUS

AN UNRECORDED FIELD OF THE WAR • GALLANT EXPLOITS BY SMALL BRITISH ARMY \y ■ q ( From the • Sydney "Sunday Times.") In the last year of tho war a small 13 British Army was dispatched by the War n Office to hold the Turks back- from 0 Persia and the Indian frontier. Little B was ever heard of it, doings, but for 8 months it fought and suffered through ~• the mountainous country of the Cau'e casus. Probably its wonderful deeds s will never be fully recorded, but tho ser--0 vice it rendered the Empire cannot bo over-estimated. In the narrative published below Captain J. it. Sorrell, M.M., 1 a .Sydney officer who hai.just returned \ home, gives an outline of some of.the n achievements of the little force in flght- £ ins the Turks and Germans and relieving 6 the terrible privations of the inhabit- ,. ants of the country, who were dying: in jj thousands from starvation and disease. n "When tho Russian Army went to I pieces after the revolution," ftated | tain Sorrell, to a 'Sunday Times' repre- . sentative. "tho Caucasus was practically r at the mercy of the Germans and Turks, who sousht to exploit their opportunity t by welding the Islamic races of that ? part of the world into what ~was called 5 the Pan-Turanian movement. The . military objective was to move south j through Persia to the Indian frontier P and itir up disaffection with the tribes there. To counter this movement the War Office, early in 1918, organised small parties of officers aiid n.c.o. s in Franco, i Salonika, Palestine, Mesopotamia, arid i india to proceed to the Caucasus to get ' into touch with the Armenian?, Georg- ' ians, Tartars, Assyrians, and other s smaller races, and organise and lead • them against the Turks. The party i from the Western front was composed >" of Canadians. New . Zealariders,. . South Africans, and Australians, with, a few, • British officers with experience in Rus- . Bia and various eastern countries. Alto- • g'ethe'r there were twenty-two Australian • ofJiccrs, and about, the same .number, of • sergeauts. A number of them were from • N.S.W.. Captains C. G. Judge, M.C., E, ■ F. Mills. M.C.; B, J. Stewart, M.C., E. ■ G. Scott-Olsen, M.C., R. B. Withers, \ 'D.C.M., F. ,W. Staokclberg, and mvself from, France, Major Suttor. and Captain O'Brien from Palestine, Sergeant-Major I M'Kane. Sergeants Sehnttz,. Davis (who [ died in Porsia), Bullen, and two or threo . others, whose names I cannot remember, , were also from N.S.W. "The whole force numbered about 200 officers and 300 or 400 n.c.o.'s, and was i uuder the command of Major-General , Dunsterville, of the Indian Army, who, ! by the way, was the original of "Kip-' , liug's Stalky and a specialist in out-of- . the-way jobs. When selected none of us , knew where we were going or what we ■ were going to do. We were told it was to be an irregular force with work alto- •■ Sclhcr new to most of us, it was full of , risk, we would not know friend from ; too. and would probably never return. , The greatest secrecy was observed until ; the day before wo left London, when the whole schomo was expounded to us in a well-guarded room in Cue London Tower, bv a War Office official. Wo loft London on January 29,1918, and ; travelled- overland through France and Italy, by boat inm 'laranto'to Alex- ' audria, by train to Sues, and then' by I | boat "direct to Basrah. ' En, Route' to the Caspian, I "Later wo travelled again by boat up ' the Tigris to Bagdad. On tho way we called at a number of places,' including , Kut. where we saw many things of inter--est associated with General I'ownshend ; and his gallant defence during tho great siege. At Bagdad wo.stopped for somo time making final' preparations,' learning' to speak Russian and Persian, and taking special coures in Lewis and Vickers' gun training, swoi'd drill, tho handling of camels, etc. By train wo went GO mile 3 north of Bagdad, and from there commenced a,300 miles march across the mountains to Hamadan in Persia. Our baggage was carried on mules, but most pf us had to walk.the whole of the distance. \The journey occupied 24 days, and at times was anything but a joy ride. Tho force did this. part of the journey in four or five parties at different times as transport was very limited and difficult. At.times there was a little trouble with the Kurds and continual guard had to be kept in order to ensure safety. ."From Hamadan the lino was pushed on to Resht, where there was considerable fighting with the Gelanis, a hostile native' trite led ' by Germans. These were ultimately crushed by aeroplane bombing and a battalion' of Ghurkhas brought up from Mesopotamia. "Then General Dunsterville reached Enzeji on tho south-west coast of the Caspian Sea, but here he struck trouble in the form of the Russian Bolsheviks, ulio controlled the shipping on. the Caspian and refused to allow our people to proceed to Baku. We now 'controlled the main road running south-west from the Caspian to Mesopotamia. The next niovp was to organise a line of posts north 'of this road, controlling' the three main rnnds running south from the Caucasus. This was successfully done at. Senhah, Bijar,' and Zinjnn bv small parlies of officers and sergeants, who arganispd and trained numbers nf Persian arid Kurdish levies"! "At this time there Were vcrv few British troops in Persia except the Dunsterforce.. as our narty was called.' Coniinuiiicptinn with Mesopotamia was rnaintaiped by' wireless, a nineV .Persian telegraph line, and, motor lorries, ■principally light:, cats, which, in "iiiie of mountain*, found 'their way through (he long line to the Caspian. ' Heavy Finhtinq at Baku. "At Ihe beginning "of August, in rei!r*/nse to an urgent invitation from the various peojiles. in the Caucasus, an atteln'pt was made to force a landing at Baku. By now we had gained control of.one.or two.gunboats on the Caspian und naval personnel were rushed through from India to mail these vessel*. In addition' to the members of otir party, a.imm.W of Locker Lampson's armoured <.nu from .'Russia, which had come out. from England with .us, and a part of a brigade! of the i3th British Division irom .Mesopotamia', Svith a couple of guns,; also took part in this bid. "The landing. va» effected;' aniHienvy (■"jilting followed. A body of Russian Co-sacks ably assisted the British, but a large' force of Russian Armenians, upon whom the British relied a good deal, failed to come up to expectations. The British'- casualties were very heavy, and after six weeks, it was obvious that the position was hopeless, as the Turks had brought two divisions into the Caucasus Our small force was greatly outnumbered, and far from any support. Then it, was decided"that tne only course left was to withdraw to Persia. t This was done with considerable difficulty. I)"* without, great losss. ■"Ahnnt the same time as the Baku binding another force of 20 officers. and 511 sergeants was, dispatched northward til Lake /Urmia to get into touch with I thoAssvrians'anil Jeliis.. and the Armon. imis south of the Black Sea. An advance partv was sent from ii-prol at Kijar, and the main body from Tlama. dun. At this lime the Tui'ks wereliarass. ■ iixt tho Assyrians and Joins near lie lake Tn one nr two encounters the , Assyrians wore miccessfii). but their.am- j munition -wis running short, and iust wlien mi ajlvai'ce partv was pushing through panic took hold of the inhaW. tanls i-r Ihe country, and nwny I lie? eiipie from the snulh, 100,01)0 of thcin fleeing before Jli" Turks, who were beaten off bv the small British party. 'Tor a month these refugees were on the road, over mountains and valleys, before anv attempt could be made to organise and properlv feed I hem. AH available flour was dispatched from our lines of communication, and everv effort mndo to feed the worst, eases and supplv dne•tors and what medieinns wo could get for the sick. Jt was almost a hopeless (a-4, as ihe road for a hundred miles wnv black with refugees. Tho suffering was vcrv groat, ami in spite of all that, mir nenpl" couM do thousands succumbert tn starvation, disease, and exhaustion. It was a ghastlv business, and the trail was well marked with hodiei. of human I.H'i»!rs mid all kinds of animals. "At Hamadan tho situation was taken in hand, and later some 50,000 of the Armenians and Assyrians were ecut to Bakuba, just north of Bagdad, where

they wero at the beginning of the year awaiting repatriation. The men of fighting capacity were organised into four groups—Turkish, Armenians, Persian /'rmonians, Assyrians, mid Jelns. After some training under the British officers and N.C.O.'s in North-western Persia they were v scnt to help hold the line against the advancing Turks, where they remained till the armistice. / " ' , Lived on the Country, "Nearly all the time the Dunsterforce was in Persia wo lived on tho country, and a precarious existence it was at times, food was. very scarce and prices at famine rates. When our people first arrived they found the country in a stato ol' starvation. Eauly in the war tho. Turks overran North-Western Persia, and took all the foodstuffs and othermaterial they wanted.' The Russians drove them out, mid look nearly all of what was left. Then a drought came, and the desolation was complete. ■In ono town along the population was dying' at the rate of a'thousand a; week from starvation. General Dunsterville iinme-. diatol.r set to work to organise and collect, all available food, open' depots and: soup kitchens, and start relief work. In this way 25,000 persons received assistance, and' thousands of lives were saved. "Wo were called on to do all kinds of work. In addition to tho fighting, organising, and training of troops and relief works, the party supplied road engineers, men for supply and transport work, escorts, military police, surveyors, military governors and administrators, etc. Nearly all tho party left Persia about the time of the armistice with Turkey, or a little later. Quite a number never returned. Some were killed in action or died of wounds, and many died of disease. Fever, 'flu, and cholera were our greatest enemies, and collected a large toll. The Mission had many difficulties to contend with, and we were not sorry when we set our faces for Mesopotamia on fhe return journey; but the Turks and Gerniaifs didn't get to India."