'Military report on Tehran and adjacent Provinces of North-West Persia (including the Caspian Littoral)' [‎50r] (104/610)

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their advance was spent and then went to Kirmanshah and
subsequently to Baghdad. His villages in Khamseh were
confiscated by the Persian Government and declared btate
property (khaliseh) as a punishment for his treachery to the.
Russians. In 1917 the Russians evacuated Khamseh and in
March 1918, the Amir was permitted to return from Baghdad,
where he had established friendly relations with the British
authorities after their entry into the town.
Durum 1917 the Jangalis were in occupation of the upper
Tarum district of Khamseh in the Kizil Uzun valley and carried
on an active propaganda in the town of Zinjan, which they would
probablv have occupied but for their defeat at Manjil bridge
by Bicherakoff’s column and Dunsterforce m June 1918.
In July 1918 Major Wagstaffe with sixty British officers
and non-commissioned officers with one armoured car and a
small advance party chiefly composed of Persian levies passed
through Khamseh to Azarbaijan, whence the Russian army
had retreated hurriedly in the beginning of January leaving the
province defenceless against the Turks, save for a small Jelu force
at Urumieh. The Jelus repulsed several Turkish attacks unti
the end of July, when the Christians took flight. Tabriz had
been evacuated by the consuls and subjects of the allies on 10th
June, but the Turks had not entered the city and Dunsterforce
hoped to forestall them. The Turks, however,_ arrived first
and drove back the British outposts, occupied Mianeh, captured
the Qaplan Kuh position, and threatened to cut the British L
of Communication from Hamadan to Kazvm. The situati
was critical, when the Turks turned back from Sarcham, on
the Mianeh-Zinjan road, and no further operations ensued m
Khamseh. Amir Afshar meanwhile had. been bidding his m
and his promises of assistance to the British were no ma c le
by his performances.
An Indian battalion was stationed at Zinjan until ike spiing
of 1919, and again in 1920 to prevent the Jangah-Bolshevik
combination, which had penetrated into Tarum, from occupy ing
the town. The population of Khamseh is Turki, fanatical and
inclined to turbulence, and Government authority is weak.
Political parties of Democrats, Social Democrats, etc., are noisy
in the town of Zinjan, but no active opposition was ever offere
to the Russian or afterwards to the British garrison. In 19 ,
during the Governor Generalship of Sipah Salar, Khamse
was attached to Azarbaijan, but after, the recall of his successor
’Ain-ud-Dauleh, in 1920, it again became an independent Pro
vince.