'HISTORY OF THE GREAT WAR BASED ON OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS. THE CAMPAIGN IN MESOPOTAMIA 1914-1918. VOLUME I.' [‎167r] (338/454)

KUT ADVANCE SANCTIONED
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The Secretary of State replied to this telegram on the 6th :—
. . . I concur in course of action proposed by Nixon
and recommended by you unless you think fit to qualify
it in view of Marling's telegram of August 3rd* and his
surmise as to objective of Isfahan gathering. What is
strength and distribution of troops on Karun line ? I
presume that there are sufficient with local arrangements
at oil-fields for defence against raiders. . .
This telegram was repeated to General Nixon by India, who
informed him on the 11th that they did not intend that the
course of action he proposed should be modified.
It will be noticed in the above correspondence that H.M.
Government, at the instance of the Admiralty, were specially
insistent on the necessity of securing the safety of the oil
supply. As a matter of fact, after the occupation of Amara
the supply was never again seriously endangered and Arabistan
remained quiet. But it will be convenient here to summarise
further correspondence which took place at this period on the
subject. On the 13th August, General Nixon telegraphed that,
provided the Bakhtiaris held to the arrangement made with
them to protect the oil-fields, the existing British garrison in
Arabistan would suffice. But if circumstances developed
adversely in Persia he could not undertake the responsibility
for operations so far inland as the oil-fields, in addition to
operations in Mesopotamia, with the force at his disposal.
It was only on this understanding that he could undertake an
advance on Kut; and he advocated strongly that arrange
ments should be made to subsidise the Bawi tribe to protect
the pipe-line.
General Nixon concluded his telegram by giving it as his
opinion that there was no better way of counteracting unrest
in Persia than by advancing to Baghdad. This, he said,
“ would sever German communications with Persia, both
road and telegraphic, and also the channel through which
* This telegram from the British Minister at Tehran to the Foreign Office
referred to German activities at Isfahan. The British Consul-General there
reported the existence of a force of some three hundred Germans and Austrian
prisoners of war from Trans-Caspia in a camp outside Isfahan, with large
quantities of rifles and ammunition, besides machine guns, bombs, and a
wireless telegraph apparatus. The Germans had also subsidised and collected
a considerable number of Mujahids (volunteers). It seemed likely, he said,
that the Germans schemed, with Isfahan as their base and in communication
with the Turks at Kermanshah, to throw all Persia into disorder, paralyse
action by the Persian Government by destruction of the telegraph lines, and
try to involve her in war against us. The Germans might, Mr. Marling
thought, be contemplating an attack on the oil-fields or a threat to the
British position at Basra.