'HISTORY OF THE GREAT WAR BASED ON OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS. THE CAMPAIGN IN MESOPOTAMIA 1914-1918. VOLUME I.' [‎55v] (115/454)

90 HISTORY OF THE WAR : MESOPOTAMIA
way to preach a Jahad in Afghanistan, Baluchistan and India.
On the same day news was received from Constantinople that
the commandant of the Dardanelles—a German officer—had
closed the straits on the 27th evening.
On the 29th, with reference to the telegrams from the Secre
tary of State of the 26th and 28th, the Viceroy asked to be kept
fully informed of any new complication with Turkey and was
told in reply on the same day that the menacing situation alluded
to referred to evidences of military and naval preparations by
Turkey which could not be ignored, but that the political
situation at Constantinople remained much the same.
In the meantime still further demands for troops had been
made on India from Home. Lord Kitchener had asked on the
17th September that thirty-nine of the forty-two regular British
infantry battalions remaining in India should be exchanged for
territorial battalions from Home. The Government of India
felt, however, that they must retain in India the nine regular
battalions required for the three frontier divisions, which would
only give them sufficient troops to form a containing force on
the long North-West Frontier Region of British India bordering Afghanistan. * and afforded no force for reprisals
or incursions into hostile territory; they held that for '‘open"
warfare on the frontier it was essential to have trained regular
troops. In the end they sent Home or to Egypt in October and
November, in addition to the divisions, etc., already mentioned,
twenty regular horse, field, and heavy batteries,f thirty-two
regular British infantry and twenty Indian infantry battalions ;
these were replaced in India by twenty-nine Territorial field
batteries and thirty-five Territorial infantry battalions, with
obsolete and inadequate arms and equipment. The risks which
the Empire ran in thus depleting India were constantly apparent
to the civil and military authorities there. At this time, there
were rumours of frontier risings, several reports of a Turco-
German mission on its way to Afghanistan—which eventually
proved true—and frequent requests from local administrations
for a further allotment of troops to assure internal security.]:
* It is over one thousand miles long.
f Those remaining in India were reduced to four-gun batteries to assist in
meeting the call for guns from England.
+ The riot near Calcutta on 29th September, by Punjab emigrants returning
from America, causing loss of life to police and rioters, was an indication of
subsequent trouble which added to the difficulties in India. Originating
in a conspiracy by Indians in America and supported by German agents
and German money, some four thousand emigrants returned to the Punjab
in the next few months and by their revolutionary actions and propaganda
gave considerable trouble, necessitating military action and precautions.
In addition, the results of Pan-Islamic propaganda were constantly cropping up
in various directions and showed considerable Musulman sympathy for Turkey.