“THE DUNSTERS.”

Hokitika Guardian, 23 July 1921, Page 3

“THE DUNSTERS.”

A DARE-DEVIL FORCE

SECRET HISTOftY REVEALED

To the fhilk of New Zealand soldiers and to civilans as well, the name Dunsterforee has no meaning; but to a score of New Zealand “Diggers,” who belonged to that band of dare-devils, it is full of the magic of adventure.

During the first weeks of 1918, a cali was made for volunteers—loo officers and 250 sergeants—from among the British troops in France, for dangerous work, which was kept a close secret by the High Command. Within a month or so. there were gathered together units of a force that resembled Kipling’s lost legion of gentlemen rovers abroad. They were taken from almost every nationality represented in the British armies in the field—Englishmen. Scots. Irish, Canadians, South Africans. Australians and New Zealandors Australia furnished the larger contingent. IS officers and 20 sergeants, the Dominion contingent numbering 20 all told. They were men to whom adventure appealed, and not for the first time. One of them had acted ns chief staff officer to the Mexican pretender. Francises). Villa.

COMMANDED BY “STALKY.” Tim commander of the Dnnsters was Major-General L C. Dunstervllle, of the Indian and Mesoptamian army, said to he the original of Kipling’s Stalky. The force was named after him. Their history has yet t 6 be written, fur inquiries at the Defence Department and Base Records yesterday by a. “Times” representative elicited the information that there were only a few documents of a secret nature about them. Tbe New Zealand Dnnsters are scattered over the Dominion; only one of them is in Wellington. The bare outline of their story affords a glimpse into one of the thrills of the war. Mustered in 1918, for an unknown destination, they were billeted in the Tower of London, where they were issued with fur-lined coats and caps, and fur-lined knee-boots. Slowly news of their task leaked through to them. J Partly as a secret service force, diplomatic in character, and as an organising arm, ready for all emergencies, ( they were to operate in the cold region* of the Caucasus, forming the thousands of peripatetic Cossacks and Armenians ' in Southern Russia into an army. The 1 idea was to create a line of troops from Trcbizoiid, on tlie Black Sea, to Aloxandretta, thereby relieving British troops in Mesopotamia for service in France. A PILGRIMAGE TO BAGDAD. !

Ihe advent of the Bolsheviks into power in Russia caused this plan to be abend cited, tlie cold-weather clothing v, as tocalkd, and the Dnnsters embarked for Basra, on the Persian Gulf. The mauk body pushed through, past Kut-el-A'itara and Bagdad, left the .Mesopotamian raiihead at Ruez. and continued their journey in small Ford cars across the Hamadan Pass, at a height of 13.000 feet. Operations were commenced in the districts round Kermanshah and Hamadan. “It utts summer-time,” says one. of the Dnnsters. “The thermometer registered* 110 degrees, and the had roads made a car journey of seventeen miles in a day something of an accomplishment. From Kormanshah to Hamadan was covered on foot, and the whole journey of 450 miles occupied a month.” WAR, FAMINE AND CHOLERA.

The Dunsters found the country alive with disturbing elements. Austrians, Bolsheviks and German secret service agents were in strong evidence, and their missions and propaganda had to ho circumvented, and prisoners escorted to the coast. Within four months the force constructed a road of one hundred miles, in which four thousand Persians were enlisted, many of them being trained as lighting troops. The greatest task the Dunsters had to faro was the famine, which was decimating Persia. To add to the local distress, about fifty thousand Syrians ami Armenians were fleeing to Hnmadan. These were fed, enlisted in the armed forces, or sent through to the coast. Besides organising food kitchens in the villiigos and towns, the Dunsters had to supervise the re moval and burial of the dead, wide' littered every street, and were fast spreading the dreaded cholera through the country.

The general work of the force was liberally intermingled with fighting. Mirza Kuchik Khan, the leader of the Gilnnis, whose force was in battle with the Dunsters, in July, tit Rcslit, widely praised its qualities. They had the honour of being the first troops to operate in Kurdistan during the war. and the first decoration given in Persia was awarded to an Australian Dun-ster—-Sergeant Murphy—who gained a bar to his Distinguished Conduct Medal. It says much for the diplomatic manner in which the Dunsters were handled, when, oil its being taken over by the Mesopotamia army, in August, 1918, all the natives lamented its withdrawal, am! called down the blessings of Allah on its members.

THE GENERAL’S GOOD-BYE. Taking farewell of his Dunsters, General Dunstervidle said: "I am prouder of Laving had in my command these galland officers and n.c.o’s than of any other command 1 have held, or am likely to hold. Brought together .from every corner of the Empire, all have vied with each other to show the absolute unity of our national aspirations. Their work varied from valuable administrative tasks to daring achievements on the battlefield, and all have striven to do their utmost, evep in circumstances for which they were never prepared, and which they would never have chosen for themselves. They have had tlie proud privilege of showing the vfiried races in the lands they passed through the pattern of the finest army of the present times.”