File 3516/1914 Pt 18 'German War: Persia; general situation - 1916' [‎10v] (29/368)

Of these, 500- a quite insufficient number to watch Tehran—are at Yengi Imam, so
that it is a safe conclusion that General Baratof will not entirely denude Kazvin by
sending 10,000, as M. Sazonof stated, to Ramadan, unless large reinforcements are already
landed at Enzeli, of which I have as yet no indication. I have no exaggerated opinion
of the value of 12,000 Persians, even with twenty-five or thirty Germans and Swedes iTv
lead them ; but it does seem unfortunate that General Baratof should have voluntarily
given himself the task of capturing the Sultan Bolagh Pass, when the despatch of a
regiment instead of a sotnia would have secured him the passage. At this moment,
indeed, an indecisive action may be fraught with grave consequences. A severe blow
to the Germans and their supporters might perhaps counterbalance the news of the
reverse sustained by General Nixon outside Bagdad, and so give us time to negotiate the
proposed alliance with Persia; but, politically speaking, the situation will be very
seriously jeopardised by anything short of swift and complete success by the Russians.
f °fher towns of Persia, too, the Germans have shown by their activity how well
they recognise the necessity of neutralising the unfavourable impression produced by
i ^ ie failure of their plans in Tehran. At Sultanabad they have succeeded in driving
our consul and colony to take refuge under the American flag, and have, as usua^
pillaged the Imperial Bank of Persia. At Yezd, where the Bakhtiari Governor, Morleza
Kuli Khan, with an intelligent appreciation of impending difficulties, resigned some
two months ago, the situation has been growing steadily worse, and it is to be feared
that, in spite of stringent instructions from the Minister of the Interior, the Actino-
Governor will not prove resolute enough to prevent the Germans, who arrived there",
with a strong party of partisans, from Ispahan, from making themselves masters of the
town, which, as a jumping-off place for Afghanistan Ga Tun and Tabbas, has particular
importance for them. At Kerman also, Serdar-i-Zaffer, whose hitherto fairly resolute
espousal of our cause has been shaken by the ambiguous messages he receives from the
Bakhtiari khans in Tehran, is not likely to make any serious resistance if the Germans
appear there in force.
In the capital itself there has been an apparent lull. The Turkish Ambassador and
the Austrian Minister returned from Shah Abdul Azim on the 27th November, and
the lesser lights among the German partisans have been timorously following their
example. 1 hey are busy endeavouring to reorganise their forces, which have been
grievously shaken by the defection of Prince Reuss. The conversion of Mustafi-el-
Mamelik and of the Shah to our side must have been a disagreeable surprise to them,
and the two enemy representatives and their friends are now straining every effort to
prevent the proposal of alliance which I have with difficulty coaxed out of the Govern
ment from taking material shape.
But the present despatch, sketchy as it is, has already reached proportions for which
I must respectfully ask your indulgence, while reserving the story of the contemplated
alliance for a future report. 1
I have, &c.
CHARLES M. MARLING.