File 1341/1921 Pt 1 'Khorassan Intelligence Summaries 1921-1922' [‎180r] (7/1080)

no horses reported. Same day e^-Tashkent and passed to Kushk, 250 men all
Russians, mixed cavalry and infantry, two motor lorries, one wagon containing
several large wooden boxes, three wagons containing dry lucerne and bhoosa.
December 22nd. One hundred cavalry with horses, 100 infantry, all new
recruits ^-Tashkent en route Askabad. Three wagons dry lucerne, three flour
wheat or barley. On this train were also three carts (four wheels). On
December 28th, one goods train with kiln made bricks passed to Kushk.
Kushk,
11. The following information has been received from a very reliable
informant who was in Kushk fort for five days during the first week of November.
The total strength of the garrison was estimated at just under 2,000 men
excluding sick in hospital. A parade strength showed 1,667 cavalry and
infantry.- There is an officer’s school and a school for Non-Commissioned
Officers; these were attended daily by 20 officers and between 60 and 70 Non-
Commissioned Officers. There are large quantities of stores in the fort and the
informant was told by the chief engineer that orders for the removal of these
stores were anticipated very shortly. Asked where they were to be sent the
engineer said as far as he knew e back to Central Russia.’ There are three field gun
batteries in Kushk, each battery having 6—1-inch guns. These are stated to
belong to the 3rd Divisional Turkistan Artillery. There are no Muhammadan
troops in Kushk. The walls of the fort are in very bad repair. The fort is
surrounded by a strong barb| wire fence but there is no trench between the wire
and the fort. * Outside the wire fence only on the Afghan side, beyond the
Poltofsky gate, there are two lines of deep trenches, the first line communicating
with the second. Between the first and second line of trenches (roughly 20
yards) 12 field gun implacements (60 yards between each implacement) have
been very recently constructed. The trenches have also recently been re-dug
and strengthened. (Diary 39, paragraph 10.) The Foreign Office representa
tive at Kushk is Commissar Astanin, who was originally in Tashkent.
Afghanistan..
15. Chihibi-Dukhteran, December 9th.—An important Turkish officer with
several followers and transport consisting of 30 mules passed through Ghihil-i-
Dukhteran, c^-Kabul en route Russia on December 9th. For some reason the |
identity of this Turk was very carefully preserved. Several Indians who stated r
they were Afghan subjects passed through the same day.
16. The present strength of the garrison is 175 men all cavalry, under
Colonel Fakir Mohammed Khan. They are all armed with British L. E. rifles.
There are also four machine guns.
17. Afghan Kushk contains 90 men under Captain Hussain Khan. These
are armed with old pattern Russian rifles.
D. THOMPSON, Major,
Military Attache..
Meshed :
The 2nd January 1923.
Distribution:—
The Chief of the General Staff, Delhi.
The Foreign and Political Department, Delhi.
The British Military Attache, Kabul.
The British Military Attache, Tehran.
His Britannic Majesty’s Consul-General, Meshed.
His Britannic Majesty’s Consul, Sistan.
The Intelligence Bureau, Quetta.
The Intelligence Bureau, Peshawar.