Papers of the Interdepartmental Conference on Middle Eastern Affairs [‎81r] (161/290)

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[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty s Government.] ^ ^
Printed for the Foreign Office. July 1919.
SECRET.
[I.D.C.E., 25th Minutes.]
FOREIGN OFFICE.
INTER-DEPARTMENTAL CONFERENCE ON MIDDLE EASTERN AFFAIRS.
Minutes of Meeting held at the Foreign Office on Friday,
July 11, 1919, at 5-30 r.M.
Present:
The Right Hon. the Earl Curzon of Kedleston, K.G., G.C.S.L, G.C.I.E.
(in the Chair).
The Right Hon. E. S. Montagu, M.P.,
Secretary of State for India, 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. .
Lieutenant-General Sir H. V. Cox, K.C.B.,
K.C.M.G., C.S.I., Military Secretary,
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. .
Mr. J. E. Shuckburgh, C.B., 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. .
Major-General Sir P. P. de B. Radcliffe,
K.C.M.G., C.B., D.S.O., Director of Mili
tary Operations, War Office.
Captain C. P. R. Coode, C.B., D.S.O.,
Director of Operations Division (Foreign),
Admiralty.
Mr. S. H. Wright, Treasury.
Mr. Clark Kerr, Foreign Office.
Mr. W. H. Selby, Foreign Office.
Mr. Knatchbull Hugessen, Foreign
Office.
Major H. W. Young, D.S.O. (Secretary).
Position in The Chairman said that he had summoned the Conference to
Trans-Caspia. meet at short notice in view of the urgent representation oi the
War Office that it was desirable to get an early decision as to
the evacuation or continued occupation of Krasnovodsk. The
Bolsheviks were pursuing a continuous and successful advance
towards the Caspian. The so-called Trans-Caspian Government
was reported to have retired to Krasnovodsk, with the exception
of a few individuals who had remained at Askabad. The whole of
Trans-Caspia vras thus apparently at the mercy of the Bolsheviks.
General Milne was of opinion that it was unlikely that they would
consider an advance on Krasnovodsk for some weeks, but that
it was advisable to be prepared for their doing so. 1 he present
garrison at Krasnovodsk was one Ghurka battalion, which he
considered quite inadequate for the purpose of holding the town
if it were attacked ; it would have to be reinforced with infantry
and artillery, but any such reinforcement—if it led to hostilities
with the Bolsheviks—would make a subsequent withdrawal very
difficult.
The Commander-in-Chief, India, had suggested as an alternative
that Denikin should be encouraged and assisted to send a mixed
force of 5,000 troops to recover the whole of Trans-Laspia up to the
line of the Oxus. However desirable this might be, the Chairman
thought it improbable that he would be able to spare so large a
force. The decision which the Conference had to make depended
largely on the fate of the Caspian. While it appeared unlikely
that the Italians would take over the Caspian and the Caucasus,
they themselves would noi acknowledge that they had given up the
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