"تاريخ الحرب الكبرى استنادًا إلى وثائق رسمية: العمليات في بلاد فارس ١٩١٤-١٩١٩" [ظ‎‎١‎٢‎٠] (٥٦٦/٢٤٥)

206
OPERATIONS IN PERSIA
The Sykes of Cciptciin Noel, who considered thcit their 3.nti“Russi^ii views
Mission; an( j f ear lest the Russians should force Zil-es-Sultan on
September theTr| were the rnain g ro unds for Bakhtiari disaffection. On
9 ' the 16th and 20th September the Government of India also
recommended that the Sykes column should remain at Isfahan
to support the Russians. For the time being, the greatest
danger to us in Persia, they said, seemed to lie in the German-
Bakhtiari-Turkish threat to Isfahan, as if this materialised it
might not only embarrass us in Mesopotamia but would imperil
the security of the oil-fields in Arabistan. So long as the
Bakhtiaris were kept quiet, any trouble at Shiraz would probably
be purely local and might be left to the responsibility of Saulat
and Qawam. Sir Percy Sykes should, however, be warned to
avoid the possibility of any reverse and the Russians should
be disabused of the idea they had formed that Sir Percy Sykes’s
column was to form part of Baratoff’s force. It should be
clearly explained to them that Sir Percy Sykes’s proper role
was to raise the South Persia Rifles. These views met with
general acceptance at Tehran and in London.
Hitherto Sir P. Sykes had received his orders from the
Government of India, who were responsible for the provision
and maintenance of his regular troops and for a moiety of the
expenditure, personnel and material required in raising the
South Persia Rifles; and who would also be most certainly
called upon to provide any regular reinforcements he required*
Though, as will be evident from the preceding narrative,
previous discussions had shown the difficulty in reconciling
the views of the Indian authorities with those of the British
Minister at Tehran and the delay involved by this difficulty,
the question of a change of the controlling authority did not
arise till the beginning of September, when Sir P. Sykes asked
India if he was to accept orders regarding the movements of his
column direct from the Minister. Without expressing any
opinion the Government of India referred the question to
London, instancing recent orders which the Foreign Office had
sent direct to Sir P. Sykes through the Minister. In reply, the
India Office telegraphed on the 22nd September saying that,
after discussion, they had accepted the Foreign Office view that
to ensure unity of action Sir P. Sykes should take his orders
from the Minister. The Government of India, were, however,
to keep the Minister and the India Office fully informed of their
* During September various recommendations were made by the
at Tehran and Sir P. Sykes that more troops should be sent to Persia
India.