File 3443/1914 Pt 4 'Persia: East Persia affairs; German agents' [‎129r] (264/368)

Record of an Interview with Dr. Rudolf B/iach on the 1st Lay
1916.
Rudolf B/iach was brought in to KMMK& G-eneral Sykes by
Bakhtiari sowars in the employ of the Sirdar Leader of a tribe or a polity; also refers to a military rank or title given to a commander of an army or division. Zafar from Baft
where he had remained on the break-up of his party. He
reached Bandar Abbas about 6 p.m. on the first of Lay. E^iacd
is a tall thin man, aged perhaps thirty, with dark hair, a
short brown beard, and sharp keen features. He has bad sight
and wears pince-nez glasses and his teeth, though regular and
even, have been stopped with gold in many places. He bore
traces of hardship, complained of the indignities to which he
had been subjected, especially by Bahrain Khan, and later by the
Bakhtiaris, and seemed very tired and glad to be out of the
hands of orientals.
B/iach is a well-educated man and speaks English very well.
He is a graduate of Vienna University and has the degree of
Doctor of Civil Law, and, appropriately enough. Political
Science. He describes himself as rich and never went through
his period of military service with the Austrian Army. Under
instructions from G-eneral Sykes Byiach was admitted to parole,
which was made temporary, to endure only until his arrival in
British India. He appeared very ready to give his parole and
disposed to talk with seeming frankness. In these circumstances
it seemed better to refrain from any set and formal
interrogation, as more could be got out of him by casual
conversation.
His position, as repFesented by himself, was singularly
ill defined. He claimed to have military rank as an officer
in the (reman Army, though an Austrian subject, and his pay
was fixed at a thousand marks a month, out he could not say
exactly what rank he had received. He seems to be one of
those persons picked up by Zugmeyer on terms arranged locally.
As Biach had a long talk with General Sykes on the ^nd
Lay, it is not necessary for me to go into detail about nis
account of his movements. It need only be set down that he
complained
•4.