Papers of the War Cabinet's Eastern Committee [‎90r] (179/544)

Minister at Teheran is strongly opposed to these claims (there has been friction
between him and Sir P. Sykes for some little time past) and takes exception to the
instructions which the Government of India have sent to the Consul (their own
officer) on the subject. On general questions of Persian policy, the divergence ot
opinion between the Government of India and the Minister has for months past been
so wide that it was thought necessary at one stage to request the Viceroy to discon
tinue the practice of repeating his telegrams to Teheran, so that the Minister might
not be embarrassed by diversity of counsel. The role of the Government of India in
Persian matters is merely an advisory one, and the non-acceptance of their views does
not, in itself, give them any legitimate cause of complaint; but as they have been
charged with the task of maintaining the “cordon" in East Persia, as well as of
supplying and reinforcing (though not controlling the operations of) the South
Persia Rifles, they have acquired a direct material interest in political developments
with which their influence upon policy can scarcely be regarded as commensurate.
4. Mesopotamia introduces another element of uncertainty. The supreme
authority in the occupied territory is necessarily the General Officer Commanding,
acting under the orders of the War Office. But the civil side of the temporary
administration, which has acquired a position approaching that of semi-indepen
dence, is in subordination—somewhat ill-defined, it is true—to the Government of
India’. Recently the army in Mesopotamia has extended its right flank into Persian
territory, with the result that a part of the political activities of the force have been
brought within the sphere of control of the Minister at leheran. A political officer
attached to General Dunsterville's column on the Kermanshah-Hamadan road is, m
fact under three masters. He is, of course, subordinate to the local high command;
as a’member of the Mesopotamian political service he remains under the Civil Com
missioner at Baghdad, who is subordinate to the Government of India; while as a
political officer in Persia he has to conform to the instructions of the Minister, who
has a general responsibility for all political activities m Persian territory.
Mr. Churchill, late Oriental Secretary to the Teheran Legation, is a case in point. I he
Foreign Office whose servant he is, decided to attach him as a political officer to
General Dunsterville’s force. They acted without formal consultation either from
the War Office or the India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. , and the result was that, when Mr. Churchill
arrived at Baghdad, neither the General Officer Commanding nor the Civil Com
missioner knew anything about his appointment, and had to telegiaph home 101
instructions as to his disposal. , . . x , iv/r-
5 Some clearer definition may also be required of the status of the two Missions
recently sent from India to Meshed and Kashgar respectively, with a view to ultimate
penetration into Russian Turkestan. The Meshed party has been declared to oe a
“military” mission, and will presumably receive its instructions, through the
Military Attache at Meshed, from the Indian military authorities. But so long as
it remains in Persia it must regulate its political conduct by the advice or instruc
tions of the Minister, and there is at least the risk that the same kind of u 11 ^ 1 -
tainties and disagreements may arise, on a smaller scale, as have been experienced m
connection with Sir P. Sykes Mission in South Persia. •
It seems to me to be essential that all the officers giving us political information
in the new war area should be unified Either they should all be Foreign Office
officials, or they should all be India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. officials. They should be organised undei
responsible authorities in order to reduce the conflict of evidence and to prevent the
telegrams and answers to telegrams which evidence their differences of opiniom A.
an area develops into a war area it seems to me to be more and more impoitant t ^
the political officers should be subordinated to that authority which is controlling the
As regards the military operations, I cannot help thinking that decentralisation
ought to bf the main consideration, and that the Director of Military Intelligence at
the War Office ought not to be burdened with all the rapidh increasing detail
work connected with war in the East, which must make such increasing demands
upon him as the war spreads eastwards. I am inclined to consider whethei the hole
war area from Palestine eastward managed from India by the Indian Government,
both militarily and politically, would not be possible even if tins involved some new
war organisation in India, and it seems to me that this need not be mconsistent with
the general control by the War Office ot all military operations. It is foi the War
Office to consider whether their organisation needs strengthening for tlmpur^se or
separating, and if so to what degree, from the organisation nhich de.ds y ith othe
theatres. °This would relieve the home authorities, military and political enor
mously, and having regard to the fact that the men to be used m the whole of this
“ [365—25a] D