"تاريخ الحرب الكبرى استنادًا إلى وثائق رسمية. الحملة في بلاد الرافدين ١٩١٤-١٩١٨. المجلد IV". [ظ‎‎١‎٤‎٧] (٥٤٠/٢٩٩)

240 HISTORY OF THE WAR : MESOPOTAMIA
opposite Baku and he estimated their maximum strength at
7,000. All the cavalry were irregulars, but the majority of
the infantry were regulars.* He believed that there were
thirty-two field or mountain guns with the force, though he
himself had only seen four. The 5th Caucasus Division, which
had been concentrated west of Baladjari, had moved over to
the Turkish right and the 15th Division was, he believed, being
moved over to the left. The Turks, whose mtelligence was bad,
believed that there were in Baku 3,000 British, 4,000 Russians
and 6,000 Armenians ; and feeling sure that the Armenians
would’not stand they meant to capture the town. If the
attack failed this time, they would bring up the 10 th Caucasus
Division as a reinforcement.
This information enabled Colonel Keyworth to make some
preparation to meet an attack next day, though he was un
certain whether it would fall on his left or about Baladjari.
It also led General Dunsterville to countermand an operation
against the enemy’s line of communication, which Colonel
Rawlinson was to have left Baku on the 13th to carry out from
Lenkoran.
By 9.30 p.m. on the 13th September the general disposition
of the troops holding the line of defence was as follows. West
ward of Bibi Eibat, “ A ” Company, North Staffordshire (about
60 strong under Captain Bolhngton) held the left of the line,
with an Armenian battalion (about 100 strong) in local reserve;
at Wolf’s Gap was a Russian detachment with two machine
guns ; and Headquarters and “ C ” Company North Stafford
shire (about 80 strong) with 20 rifles Warwicks and Worcester
shire, under Major Ley, had just moved out from general
reserve in the town and had occupied a commanding position
in rear of “A ” Company, near a local battery of field guns
and howitzers. Colonel Keyworth had sent out this reserve to
meet the contingency of a night attack against his left, and
meant to withdraw it in the early morning if not required.
“ B ” Company, North Staffordshire, under Captain
Turkington, apparently about 100 strong, which had just moved
from local reserve south of Baladjari, held about eight hundred
yards of the line north of Wolf’s Gap, near two batteries in
position. Northward of them, for two-and-a-half miles or
more, to the point forming the right of the Left Section of the
defence, the line was held by Armenian troops, with two
* He said that the Turks had not yet begun to employ the irregular infantry
they had recruited.