Coll 28/67 ‘Persia. Annual Reports, 1932–’ [‎265v] (530/644)

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colleague, was replaced by an able and agreeable young man, M. Smirnov, who
had spent several years in Berlin, first as assistant press attach^, and later as
counsellor to the Soviet Embassy. In Meshed the Soviet military authorities
showed the deepest suspicion of His Majesty’s Consul-General, to such an extent
that an appeal for co-operation had to be made to the Soviet Government by^g^
Mr. Eden, though before the instructions from Moscow, which were eventually «
sent, could reach Meshed, the attitude of the Soviet military authorities there
had altered completely on the arrival from India of the first consignment of jute
and shellac for Russia by the Zahidan route. General Novikov, who was in
command of the Soviet troops in the west, though blandly evasive whenever his
British comrades-in-arms asked for information, was personally full of friendli
ness and hospitality. The Soviet troops, both officers and men, seem to have been
astounded at the easy and friendly relations existing between the officers and
men in the British and Indian forces; it was obvious that the opinions instilled
into them by official Soviet propaganda was badly shaken. The Soviet
authorities, however, found much in our official actions to feed their suspicions.
It was unfortunate that the fact that the Russians are suspicious had apparently
not been communicated to the British military and air authorities. Represen
tatives of the air command would arrive, sometimes unannounced, with the
statement that they were going to reconnoitre the aerodromes in the Soviet zone;
a party of British journalists and photographers from Bagdad went to
Azerbaijan without seeking the permission of the Soviet authorities; and,
finally, three British officers with four lorries filled with Indian troops arrived at
Tabriz from Bagdad, unannounced, to reconnoitre the roads in the Russian zone
up to the Soviet frontier, and had to be ignominously withdrawn in the face of
Russian objection. The argument of the British authorities responsible for these
incidents seems to be that, since the object in every case was the promotion of the
common cause, the Soviet authorities had no need to worry or object. The answer
to this is that the Soviet authorities considered themselves capable of
reconnoitring their own roads and aerodromes, and probably, not having been
allowed by their Government to forget the “ intention ” of Great Britain and
other Powers after the last war, regarded our curiosity on the subject as likely
to be directed against the Soviet Union as much as against Germany. At one
moment the Government of India became slightly alarmed at the advance of
Russian troops to the south of Meshed and secured the acceptance by His
Majesty’s Government of a proposal to send at least a token force to Zabul
or possibly Birjand should it prove necessary, the Russians, however, withdrew
so the project was not carried into effect.
44. About a month after the occupation the economic state of Persia seemed
to be so unfavourably affected by local Soviet policy that His Majesty’s Minister
suggested that a permanent commission should be set up in Tehran with British
and Persian members to deal with all non-military questions arising out of the
occupation. The Soviet Ambassador declared himself to be in favour of this
scheme personally, but was obviously unwilling to take action. What was wanted,
in Sir R. Bullard’s opinion, was a Soviet commissar with wide powers to undo
the knots tied by Soviet stupidity and fear of responsibility. This proposal was
supported bv His Majesty’s Government, but the Soviet Government preferred
to leave such matters to the British and Soviet representatives in Tehran to deal
with. It is possible that the Soviet Government feared to find themselves in a
permanent minority in such a tripartite committee, and, indeed, great discretion
would have been required on the part of the British representative. In point of
fact, His Majesty’s Minister avoided all Persian attempts to drag His Majesty’s
Government into Soviet-Persian disputes, though at times His Majesty’s Secretary
of State had to bring arguments to bear upon M. Maisky in order to effect an
improvement in the behaviour of the Russians in Persia. The British in Persia
were doing their best to assist the Soviet effort by pushing through the largest
possible quantity of goods. The United Kingdom Commercial Corporation, whose
original business had been to buy up goods of which the enemy had urgent need,
now set up a huge road-transport organisation for the carriage of goods to
Russia. Skilled railway officials from India and elsewhere were despatched to
Persia soon after the occupation : by the end of the year they had already effected
great changes for the better in railway administration, and large numbers of
workshops and operational personnel were on the way, and locomotives and
wagons were beginning to arrive. An enormous scheme of road repair and