"تاريخ الحرب الكبرى استنادًا إلى وثائق رسمية: العمليات في بلاد فارس ١٩١٤-١٩١٩" [و‎‎١‎٨‎٣] (٥٦٦/٣٧٠)

TREACHERY AT KHAN-I-ZINIAN
317
The long day's operations were a stiff trial for the young
Indian soldiers who formed a great proportion of the column ;
but they stood the test well * .
In the early morning of the 26th May the Burma Mounted
Rifles and a section of mountain guns advanced south-east
from the camp for about three miles, many groups of mounted
Qashqais emerging in flight from the various villages before
them. No other signs of the enemy being seen, they then
returned to camp and the whole column moved to Deh Shaikh,
where it arrived about 2 p.m.
Here it was learned from a group of refugee South Persia Mutiny at
Rifles that Captain Will and Sergeant Coomber had been Tinian*”
treacherously murdered the previous day by the South Persia 2 5 th a May
Rifles garrison of the Khan-i-Zinian post, which had then been 1918 .
surrendered to Qashqais and Kazerunis. Colonel Orton issued
orders for an advance next day to Khan-i-Zinian and sent
Colonel Grant in to Shiraz for explosives which might be
required to blow in the gate of the post.
Returning the same evening, Colonel Grant reported that the
situation at Shiraz was bad. The Democrats were exploiting
the Khan-i-Zinian disaster as a Qashqai victory and, as no
one believed that Saulat had been defeated, were giving out that
he had really surrounded the British column and prevented its
return to Shiraz. The South Persia Rifles at Shiraz were in a
nervous state. Colonel Orton, although he realised the
desirability of striking a blow against the enemy at and around
Khan-i-Zinian, finally decided that, in view of the danger
constituted by the continued absence from Shiraz of the column
of Indian troops, he must leave Khan-i-Zinian alone for the time
being. The column consequently returned to Shiraz on the
27th May, taking with it the South Persia Rifles garrison of the
Deh Shaikh post.
On that and the previous day, in telegrams to India describing Shiraz;
the situation as serious, Sir Percy Sykes said that there was a ?f th "~ 3IS o
widespread plot against us and that strong fanatical feeling had ay 191
been aroused. Saulat was definitely committed, and in spite
of Ws defeat would be so encouraged by the Khan-i-Zinian
affair that he might soon assemble another force. , The South
In these and the subsequent operations the mobility of the Indian
oop s at Shiraz gained greatly by the employment of the Shiraz South
24ftU? '^' u l e C° r P s > whose fifteen-hand mules each carried a load of
owin« + ex P ei “t Persian muleteers were a source of some anxiety
pcmr? t0 n f rv ousness. But they were given extra pay and special
fnr+h S to watch them, with the result that they gave no
er rouble and displayed faithfulness and gallantry in the field.
(27782)
Y 2