'MILITARY REPORT ON PERSIA. VOL. IV, PART II.' [‎11r] (26/212)

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the tribes of South Persia with the object of embarrassing the
active operations which were being undertaken in Mesopotamia
by the British Ivxpediiionary borce and also as a direct menace
to India, succeeded in affecting the tribes to such an extent that
in the early part of 1918, fed by false promises and vague hopes,
they began to display a very pronounced feeling of hostility
which took thg form of active brigandage on the main communi*
cations between Shiraz and Bushire and Bandar Abbas and
Kerman. In order to restore confidence in the power of Britain
and to allay the situation a force was assembled at Shiraz
under the command of Brigadier General Sir Percy Sykes,
consisting of two squadrons of cavalry, a mountain battery
and 3 battalions of Indian Infantry. This force which was
known as the Shiraz Column worked in conjunction with
another similar column having its base at Kerman. In addition
a force of three battalions of Indian Infantry, two sections of
mountain artillery and one squadron of cavalry was assembled
at Bushire under Major-General Douglas by October 1918, and
a light railway was built from Bushire to Borazjun. This force
when it advanced to open the road to Shiraz drew off a consider
able number of the tribesmen who were opposing the Shiraz
Column. r ! he country was swept as effectively as possible, but
ow ing to the guerilla tactics of the tribes the operations entailed
heavy marching and counter-marching before the resistance was
finally broken up in March 1919, when the whole Shiraz force
was transferred to Bushire and Bandar Abbas, certain units
of its effectives being amalgamated with the Bushire force and
the rest returning to India. There were no pitched battles of
any importance during the two years’ operations, but several
small skirmishes, in which the enemy as a rule fared badly.
A feature of the advance of the striking force was the exceed
ingly poor resistance put up by the enemy in spite of the great
advantage they possessed owing to the very severe nature of the
country. In three places in particular, the Fil-Fili, Malu and
Tang-i-Turkan passes, it was fully expected that a passage would
only be forced after a severe struggle. The two latter passes
would appear to compare favourably from the point of view
of a defending force with any pass on the North-West Frontier Region of British India bordering Afghanistan.
of India. Actually however the longest time the troops were
held up ;vas a period of 2 —3 hours at the Malu Pass w hich was
finally forced with negligible casualties. Indeed it was made
abundantly clear that the fighting qualities of the Persian
villager of this part of the country, when opposed by a properly