File 1341/1921 Pt 1 'Khorassan Intelligence Summaries 1921-1922' [‎630r] (907/1080)

called off eastv\ r ards by the Bokharan or Ferghana situation. Units present on
the 28th February are given as :—
3rd Kursk infantry.
1st Army units. (Now 3rd Turkistan division.) About 800.
5th Turkistan infantry.
Gth Turkistan infantry.
2 nd “ Pirdawa ” (?) infantry.
Garrison battalion of infantry.
dst Uzbeg cavalry. *
Cavalry for local duties (150) and police (200).
Adalat troops, 200 strong.
3rd Turkistan Field Battery.
Machine-gun company.
Between the 18th and 23rd February 2 long troop-trains were despatched
eastwards, and it%is reported that one or more troop-trains which had arrived
from Merv were turned back.
In spite of all this there is still much talk of the invasion of Persia and
Khuddu is an honoured guest, having a Bolshevik Russian staff officer attached to
his embryo formation.
Haidar Khan has arrived at Askhabad and is in charge of intelligence and
espionage for Khorasan. He is said to receive constant reports from Meshed,
some of his correspondents occupying official positions here. Nadir Mirza, the
Persian Consul, is very unpopular among his compatriots, and the Bolsheviks,
who are aware of this, have ordered their dgents in Khorasan to sing his praises.
His anti-British proclivities are reiterated and he is even credited with helping
on the plan of the invasion of Khorasan with the aim of ejecting the British.
Posters announce the rupture of In do-Afghan relations and the return to
India “ in disgrace ” of the British Mission at Kabul.
The Afghan Consul is Habibullah Khan son of Muhammad Yakub Khan.
Krasnovodsk. —15th February. 3,000 troops. Andijan, Turkistan, and
Cherniaev units included as well as men of the Persian detachment and some
Young Bokharans, 2 heavy and 12 field-guns were seen. A transport with troops
and guns on board was lying off the pier but had not left before informant’s
departure.
A transport was despatched to Baku on the 14th February with the contents
of 2 troop-trains. Another had sailed on the 13th February but the destination
was thought to be Enzcli or possibly Bandar Gaz.
The number of troops appears to have decreased by the 18th February when
an informant passing through estimated 1,500 only.
79. Baku .—On the 17th February troops at Baku and in the vicinity were
estimated at 12,000, of whom about 'half were in the town itself. Very large
numbers of troops had been directed on the Georgian frontier. I he inhabitants
were kept in the dark as to events there. It was at first rumoured that the
Georgians were doing well, but later Red successes were reported. About 1,000
wounded (possibly exaggerated) had arrived from the Georgian front. Meetings
were still prohibited and martial law 7 w r as still m foice. There was much alaim
among inhabitants and many fled in Turkman craft for Krasnoyodsk and the
South-Ea^t Persian coast. 2,500 troops are estimated to have arrived from
Krasnovodsk between the 7th and 17th February.
Narimanov has returned. Quarantine has been removed.
E. A. F. REDL, Lieut.-Colonel,
General Staff.
British Military Mission, Meshed.