'HISTORY OF THE GREAT WAR BASED ON OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS. THE CAMPAIGN IN MESOPOTAMIA 1914-1918. VOLUME I.' [‎95v] (195/454)

168 HISTORY OF THE WAR : MESOPOTAMIA
of India replied on the 30th. They protested against protection of
the oil-fields and pipe-line being regarded as one of the principal
objects of Force “ D ” ; it was much more necessary, they con
sidered, to crush any attacks on Qurna or Basra ; for a reverse
at either of these places would also involve the destruction of
the oil-fields and pipe-line. General Barrett should not, in their
opinion, detach any troops to Ahwaz, unless he was confident that
he could spare them, and this they doubted. They were
however, repeating the correspondence to General Barrett and
leaving the decision to him. They would welcome reinforcements
without which they could only send General Barrett three
squadrons of cavalry and possibly aTerritorial battery of artillery.
Lord Hardinge himself emphasised these views very strongly
in a private telegram to Lord Crewe the next day, from Kuwait,
where he had met and discussed the situation with Sir Percy
Cox. He observed that to detach troops to Ahwaz was to fall
in with the desires of the Turks and he minimised the threat
to Ahwaz. He agreed as to the necessity of increasing Force
“ D ” to a strength of two divisions ; this would allow of an
occupation of Amara and Nasiriya should the military authori
ties find this desirable ; from a political point of view Sir Percy
Cox considered it very necessary.
In the meantime, the Comet, after two breakdowns, had
started on the 29th for Ahwaz. On her way there she met a
steamer bringing all Europeans away, as it had been decided
that the risk of their remaining was too great* On the 30th,
the G.O.C. Qurna reported that the Turks showed signs of
advancing south from Ruta ; but on the same day a small force
from Qurna destroyed some Arab villages north of the Barbukh
creek without meeting with serious opposition. To the west of
Basra, on the same day, small detachments of Turkish troops
were encountered seven miles westward of Shaiba, and Arabs
in large numbers were reported to have left Nasiriya on their
way to attack Basra. Nevertheless, General Barrett decided
to send an Indian infantry battalion (7th Rajputs) from Qurna
to Ahwaz, but reported that he could not afford to send more.j
As it was, it would leave Basra and Shaiba with a garrison of
only four and a quarter infantry battalions, two cavalry
squadrons, and two batteries of artillery.
It was significant that the only European who decided to remain was a
• ® m P^°y® °f Wonckhaus. His subsequent arrest by us was fully
justified by the correspondence found in his possession.
,' eneral Barrett agreed with the India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. view that the moral effect
o a lurkish occupation of Ahwaz and a raid on the oil-fields would have
been serious.