File 1341/1921 Pt 1 'Khorassan Intelligence Summaries 1921-1922' [‎506r] (659/1080)

Muhammad Taqi Khan has made overtures to this chief and has sent him a robe
of honour.
Discharged men are being recalled.
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The composition of the force is becoming mixed—Persians, Kurds, Turks
Caucasians, some Russians and Armenians, and a German, are serving in the ranks
A distribution statement will be found in the Appendix. The maintenance of
the force is a problem Muhammad Taqi Khan must face. He seizes all revenue and
has begun again to squeeze the wealthy. An entertainment organized by the Gen
darmerie for the benefit of their funds, realized some 5,000 tomans 10,000 Persian dinars, or a gold coin of that value. which substan
tial sum was largely due to large donations by rich citizens. The cash receipts of
the Muhammadabad post and telegraph offices have been raided by Muhammad
Taqi Khan.
Bolsheviks.— Several well known Bolsheviks have been enlisted by Muham
mad Taqi Khan. This, and the subsequent movements of two of them, have given
rise to the belief that Muhammad Taqi Khan is negotiating with the Bolsheviks.
He has denied this and says he is not going to change his attitude of past years with
regard to these people. If, on the other hand, his fortunes suffer a reverse he will,
he says, violate his conscience and “ stretch out his hand for help to whomsoever
will give it him ”. He also foreshadows the possibility of exchanging cereals with
the Bolsheviks for arms and machine guns.
A Gendarme officer, Mirza Ali Khan, and an interpreter by name Krugilov,
son of a Russian refugee in Quchan, were sent to interview Melnikov, the Chief of
the Special Department at Gaudan. Although a sinister motive has been ascribed
to this act, it is probable that the subject of the interview was nothing more than
the sale of agricultural products.
General.— During the week there has been a great influx into Meshed of pil
grims consisting of Kurram Taris and Bangashis. Some return to their hom*s,
others start upon a pilgrimage to Karbela.
Two entertainments were organised in the Public Gardens at which speeches
were given and comedies enacted. The speakers eulogised Muhammad Taqi
Khan, likening him to a second Nadir Shah who also set out from Khorasan to
conquer the world. Disparaging things were said of His Imperial Majesty the Shah
and the Prime Minister. It is satisfactory to realise that these disloyal sentiments
have alienated some amount of public approval from Muhammad Taqi Khan who
was present at the performances.
Four Russians, three being officers who say they are fugitives, have arrived
in Meshed from Transcaspia, having arrived in Askhabad from a concentration
camp at Kazan, via Astrakhan and Krasnovodsk. One of the officers has been inter
viewed and stated he was an aviator, having received his instruction at Upavon in
England. While there, he crashed his machine and was thirteen months in hospital.
He then went to the Archangel front and acted as an interpreter to General Miller.
He was captured by the Bolsheviks during the operations in the Murmansk and
was imprisoned for a year, being released when he consented to join the Red Army.
When Brusilov invited all officers to forget political differences and animosities and
to unite to crush the common enemy, Poland, he was among others to be sent to
that front. Subsequently Trotski enacted that all who had served in White form
ations must be drafted into concentration camps whence deponent made his escape
to Persia by bribing the Komissar of his camp who, being an ignorant man, filled
in the name of destination on the passport at dictation.
The officer expressed his inability to give any details regarding disposition and
organization of troops in Russia but said that the condition of the army was so
deplorable that it is impossible for the Bolsheviks to attempt any campaign.
The men are starved and without footwear, while any attempt to call up reser
vists would fail of success for no one would respond. He is of opinion that the
total strength of the Bolsheviks’ army is now about a million and a half, only
those men born in the years 1896 to 1900 being retained in the ranks. Communists