File 1341/1921 Pt 1 'Khorassan Intelligence Summaries 1921-1922' [‎414v] (476/1080)

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50 per cent, are sick. The ration is microscopic on account of the portion
withheld for contribution to the famine stricken..
The pay of the Red Army was 1,200 roubles for the ranks per month
but lately Turkestan has been divided into three zones with respect to rates
of pay, the maximum showing an increase of 300 per cent.
The pay of officers varies from 6 to 36,000 roubles a month. Wireless
operators were graded for pay with the ranks of the army but since they
have been absorbed in the department of Posts and Telegraphs their emolu
ments have been considerably increased. For instance, bmikov tne
English translator at Kushk, who is also a wireless operator, is graded at
"i Ann V\1 act
The supply of forage is beneath all criticism, the result being that
there is a 25 per cent, decrease in the number of horses while of those re
maining 50 per cent, are worthless.
Attitude of the Troops,
Among the troops of the Military Extraordinary Commission and re
gardless of the fact that 40 per cent, of these are Communists, there is
pbservable a universal discontent with the Government, with the komissars,
and with Communists and a “ mass-wish ” to leave the party, . There is
a universal hatred of Jews. There is an atmosphere suggestive of the
impossibility of existence and of expectation of the preliminary impetus to
revolution.
The Soviet Government has realised the trend of feeling and has recently
thrown out all officers who had served in White armies. It has also taken
measures for the registration and expulsion of former members of the ad- ,
ministration and of the police, interning some in concentration camps and
expelling others beyond the confines of Turkestan.
There is intense espionage among the troops but this has produced no
result for the spies are on the side of the masses, Moreover, all Commu
nists are pledged to espionage.
The above would seem to outline the scheme for frontier defence. The
number of infantry and cavalry brigades and light artillery divisions com
prising this frontier organization has yet to be determined, as likewise the
line of cleavage between it and the field army, probably based on Tashkent
and operating in Ferghana.
That the division still exists as an administrative unit is proved by
the office stamp impression, dated 2nd October 1921, of the 1st Turkestan
Rifle Division of the Special Department of the Turkfront, a specimen of
which is attached to the first copy of the current Summary. Moreover, the
Tashkent “ Izvestia ” of the 20th October records the holding of a “ cav
alry holiday ” on the 30th September and 1st October for the benefit of
the famine victims. The acting commander of the Turkfront Genstaff,
A. Belov, and the Chief of Staff of the Turkfront Genstaff, order that
sporting activities ” are to be encouraged in all cavalry units of the Turk-
front. The Inspector of Cavalry of the Turkfront is Palgrem, and the
Commander of the Remount Cavalry Division is Kramerev.
Baku. The Bolsheviks have kept very quiet over events in Baku, no
mention of the insurrections there having been seen 'in the Askhabad or
Tashkent Izvestia. The situation must be unpalatable to them for three
of many reasons- they do not wish their Mussalman populations to know
they are in conflict with Mussalmans, the clock of economic reconstruction
in those regions is again put back, and the supply of oil which they have
referred to before as the “ life’s blood of Soviet Russia ” is imperilled.
Some details are afforded by an arrival.
Before the rising garrison consisted of some 5,000 troops, half of whom
were Azerbaijan Muslims and the rest Russians and Armenians. Trouble
began on the 28th September and the Bolsheviks brought 5,000 more troops
by sea from Astrakhan (probably Perovask),