'HISTORY OF THE GREAT WAR BASED ON OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS. THE CAMPAIGN IN MESOPOTAMIA 1914-1918. VOLUME I.' [‎186r] (376/454)

APPENDIX I
345
9/1/15.—Depart in the afternoon, 10 boats, i.e., double boats, four of which
for passengers. In our boat, in one half, 3 Turkish officers and the Pathan ;
in the other half. Von Versen, Berghausen and myself. Stop at sunset.
29/1/15.—Arrive Falluja. Wassmuss has already left on his expedition
to the South.
31/1/15.—The Turks have retaken Basra [sic.]
5/2/15 to 7/2/15.—Arrive Baghdad. We find a surprising situation.
Sulaiman Askari forbids for the present any activity of German expeditions
in Iraq vicinity and Persia. Griesinger, W. Paschen and Wagner ....
have been detained and disarmed at Qizil Robat .... arms and ammuni
tion have been taken from us ... . The Turks want to divide us, as we
have too much sympathy for Persia .... Official communications with
Afghanistan do not yet exist .... In a letter to Niedermayer, Sulaiman
Askari orders that various appointments in the army be given to the members
of the expedition .... The Turks on their part have officially given up
entirely the expedition to Afghanistan. Thereupon the Embassy already
before our arrival demanded rendering of accounts for the £ stg. 50,000
which have been paid. The Embassy orders the Consul to take energetic
measures with Askari. The latter .... pretends to believe that the
action and pressure of the Germans might upset the Arabs of South Persia
because the British spread the report that the Germans intend to occupy Iraq
.... The Turks prepare a Perso-Afghan expedition under the command
of Rauf, which ought to be unknown to us.”
10/2/15 to 26/2/15.—The entries in the diary show how the expedition
is divided up. A small group to go via Mosul and Sauj Bulaq to Hamadan.
Others to take the Maxims of the expedition to Basra. Officers to super
intend the reserve organisations in Baghdad and Dr. Zugmayer and Griesinger
to go to Isfahan, travelling as Acting Consul and Secretary respectively for
Isfahan. Germans erect wireless station at Baghdad.
27/2/15.—" Start and reach Baquba.
3/3/15.—Arrive Qasr-i-Shirin.
5/3/15.—Do a great deal of political agitation.
*********
13/3/15.—Kermanshah. One of the " mujtahids ” from Karbala has
arrived. He has received £ stg. 2,000 from the German Government. He
has to preach here ; specially the disbanding of the Persian Cossacks ought
to be effected by this means .... the gendarmerie is already entirely
with us and is in German pay .... the Arabs begin an insurrection
against the British.”
14/3/15.—(The diary also explains how they rifle the British Consul’s waste
paper basket regularly).
28/3/15.—“Thirty sowars leave for the frontier to meet Prince Reuss, Count
Bogothili and Niedermayer and company who are leaving Baghdad to-day.”
(The diary then goes on to describe the journey to Isfahan (reached on
24/4/15), and his anti-British activities in Persia.)
1/6/15 to 3/6/15.—“Niedermayer in a long letter explains to me his,
i.e., the Legation’s policy. In Tehran they do not reckon any more on a
Persian declaration of war but Niedermayer will begin his work in Afghanistan
e ven if Persia remains neutral.
16/6/15.—Arrive Yezd.
4/7/15.—Arrive Kerman.”
(The rest of the diary gives an account of the anti-British and anti-Russian
propaganda and action taken by this expedition and other groups in Persia,
and is no longer relevant to this history.)