The Bichaqchi Turks in Kerman during WWI (Percy Molesworth Sykes, 1921)

The Bichaqchi Turks in Kerman during WWI

The Sirjan Episode, August ― October 1916. ― When I reached Kerman I found Obaydulla Effendi, the so-called Turkish Ambassador to Afghanistan, and one or two Germans who had escaped from Askabad. Obaydulla, a member of the first Turkish Parliament, knew English and had visited England at the head of a deputation. He professed to be bitterly hostile to the British Government but friendly to individual Englishmen; and our relations were as pleasant as was possible in the circumstances. These enemy subjects were naturally making mischief and, with the approval of the Persian authorities, I decided to send them to India; there were also some Austrians left behind wounded at Sirjan whom it was desirable to evacuate. The difficulty was to provide an escort to the coast. It was out of the question to weaken my little force. Farran was naturally averse to my leaving these prisoners at Kerman, his difficulties being sufficiently great as things were. I explained matters to India and reported that, although the arrangement was not satisfactory, I was engaging a Persian Prince whom I had known for years and who lived at Kerman, to go to Bandar Abbas via Sirjan in charge of these prisoners. Unfortunately, after the arrival of the party at Sirjan, news of the Turkish advance was received, while for several weeks the route to the coast was blocked by the Baharlus. The result was the Prince began to waver, and when Husayn Khan, a Buchakchi chief, proposed to carry off the prisoners, he made no objection and even accompanied the party. Husayn Khan accordingly released the prisoners, taking them to the hills, and then began collecting his tribesmen and some robbers with the idea of attacking the British.

Meanwhile the Indian authorities had despatched a platoon of infantry under a British officer to take charge of the prisoners, a second body of seventy infantry to escort a convoy consisting of arms and ammunition for the Kerman brigade, and a third body to strengthen the original escort. The convoy reached Kerman safety, although followed by a band of Baharlus for some distance, and, strengthened by the addition of a mountain-gun and some gunners, the escort marched out 140 strong to Saidabad, the town of Sirjan. A few days later Major L.C. Wagstaff with the other two united detachments, numbering only fifty effective rifles, marched on Sirjan from Baft. Husayn Khan and Obaydulla fled towards Darab, and a pursuit by the Kerman column failed to overtake them. This ended the first part of the episode.

A fortnight after his flight Husayn Khan suddenly occupied Saidabad with a handful of tribesmen and some of the released prisoners. He was undoubtedly in correspondence with a party of the citizens, who welcomed him and opened fire on the camp of the British force. Wagstaff immediately attacked, although the ground round the town was mostly bare and devoid of cover. But on the south side there were some walls, and, by using the gun, the infantry was able to push forward gradually, and at nightfall to enter the town. Husayn Khan and his enemy allies escaped in the dusk. This, the first feat of arms undertaken by Indian troops in the Kerman province, had a most favourable effect upon the situation, exaggerated reports of the action spreading all over Southern Persia.

Percy Molesworth Sykes, A History of Persia, 2nd edition, Vol. II, London: Macmillan and Co., 1921, pp. 464―465.