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'Papers relating to transfer of Middle Eastern Affairs to the Colonial Office and creation of a new Department there, 1920-1921, with Cabinet notes of Milner, Montague, Churchill, self, and others' [‎9v] (18/136)

The record is made up of 1 file (68 folios). It was created in 1 May 1920-10 Feb 1921. It was written in English. The original is part of the British Library: 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. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .

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2
responsibility, their lack of mobility necessitates their dispersal at widely scattered
strategic points, entailing the establishment of long and expensive subsidiary
communications. Moreover, in as much as this policy cannot be carried out
universally owing to the prohibitive expense involved, disturbance in areas not
garrisoned by troops necessitates the despatch of punitive columns : these columns
have to be of considerable strength to overcome opposition and to guard their own
lines of communication. _ .
Operations have invariably to be limited in time, the objective gained as speedily
as possible, and the column withdrawn to its base. Many years of experience on
the North-Western Frontier of India shows that with the retirement of the column
the punishment inflicted is speedily forgotten, and lasting results can ol ten only be
achieved by permanent military occupation over a period of years with coincident
opening up of the country by railways and roads. The difficulties of military action
are enhanced when the enemy is a nomadic tribe; his inability is often greatly m
excess of the regular forces opposed to him, and his independence of settled habitat
removes a definite objective for the operations of the troops.
3. With the Air Power responsible for the maintenance of peace within the
borders of a country many of these difficulties are removed. Only main lines of
communication and a few aerial bases have to be guarded, and this is rendered easier
by the comparative compactness of even powerful air forces. The “ long arm
of the new T weapon renders it ubiquitous, thus obviating the necessity of dispersal
of force, and enabling the most distant and inaccessible districts to be reached
without subsidiary lines of communication. The speed and range of aircraft makes
it practicable to keep a whole country under more or less constant surveillance.
Frequent friendly patrols, dropping leaflets containing suitable propaganda,
disseminating correct news, and preventing the wilful misinterpretation of the
orders of a political officer by intriguing headmen, may often prevent the seeds c:
unrest being sown by irresponsible agitators. It must be remembered that from
the ground every inhabitant of a village is under the impression that the occupant
of an aeroplane is actually looking at him, and the frequent, and perhaps daily,
appearance of aircraft apparently overhead will do much towards establishing the
impression that all their movements are being watched and reported.
4. Should unrest, however, develop, it is possible to obtain early information of
hostile concentrations of marauding tribes. Within a few hours of receipt of sucir
intelligence the Air Force can carry out, at slight risk and at a minimum expense,
punitive operations which might take days and even weeks of preparation before
any forward movement can be undertaken by ground troops. The capacity of the
Air Force to deal a swift and unexpected blow affords the chance of stifling the
outbreak in its early stages, before unrest has time to spread; should, however, such
earlv action not achieve decisive results, it is within the power of the air to continue
its offensive action day after day and week after week, without intermission, until
success is assured.
5. The Air Staff are convinced that strong and continuous action of this nature
must in time inevitably compel the submission of the most recalcitrant tribes without
the use of punitive measures by ground troops, and they hold this opinion even in
the light of recent events on the North-Western Frontier of India.* With certain
stubborn races time is essential to prove to them the futility of resistance to aerial
attack by a people who possess no aircraft, but it is held that the dislocation of
living conditions and the material destruction caused by heavy and persistent aerial
action must infallibly achieve the desired result.
The following up of air attacks by ground troops is only playing into the hands
of the tribesmen by substituting for a foe against whom their efforts can effect little,
an enemy whom they can meet on comparatively favourable terms.
6. Although it is stated above that the Air Staff is opposed to the employment
of ground troops on major punitive operations in supersession of or complementary
to aerial attack, it will be of advantage to have light armoured car units to enable
militarv forces to complete the work of aeroplanes and reap the fruits of their
success. This has been amply demonstrated in Somaliland, where the pursuit of
the Mullah by the Camel Corps, which covered 120 miles in two days, was most
successful in rounding up the demoralised Dervish forces and stock. Aeroplanes
may, by means of wireless, direct armoured cars to a point they could intercept and
round up an enemy column, or. if roads do not exist, it is possible to use aircraft to
transport bodies of infantry with machine-guns for a similar purpose. This type
of aircraft can, and will, be developed to get a maximum power at a minimum of

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Content

The file contains correspondence, minutes, memoranda, and reports concerning the administration of Mesopotamia and other Middle Eastern territories and the transfer of responsibility for Middle Eastern Affairs to a new department within the Colonial Office. Authors and correspondents include Curzon himself, members of the Cabinet, officials from 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. , Foreign Office, Colonial Office, Air Staff, Imperial General Staff, and High Commission in Baghdad.

Extent and format
1 file (68 folios)
Arrangement

The file is arranged in chronological order from the front to the back.

Physical characteristics

Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the first folio with 1, and terminates at the last folio with 68; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio. An additional foliation sequence is present in parallel between ff 1-68; these numbers are also written in pencil, but are not circled.

Pagination: the file also contains an original printed pagination sequence.

Written in
English in Latin script
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'Papers relating to transfer of Middle Eastern Affairs to the Colonial Office and creation of a new Department there, 1920-1921, with Cabinet notes of Milner, Montague, Churchill, self, and others' [‎9v] (18/136), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F112/281, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100076639645.0x000013> [accessed 28 March 2024]

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