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Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_).
THE RAIDERS OF THE SARHAD
[Illustration: A TYPICAL GORGE IN THE SARHAD.]
THE RAIDERS OF THE SARHAD
Being the Account of a Campaign
of Arms and Bluff Against the
Brigands of the Persian-Baluchi
Border during the Great War
by
BRIGADIER-GENERAL R. E. H. DYER, C.B.
With Numerous Photographs and Two Maps
London
H. F. & G. Witherby
326 High Holborn, W.C.
1921
PREFACE
With the greatest diffidence I have at last made up my mind to write
the story of my small campaign with the Sarhad Raiders in 1916.
This campaign sinks into utter insignificance when compared with the
great deeds done in other theatres of war by men who said nothing
about them. But, insignificant as it was, it forms part of the mosaic
of the Great War, and for this reason may be of some general interest.
I take this opportunity of paying a tribute to all the officers who
took part in this little campaign. Their untiring devotion to duty,
and their efforts to do their utmost under conditions that were often
more than trying, accounts for its success.
I would like, in particular, to mention Major Landon of the 35th
Scinde Horse, whose great knowledge of the people and their country
was invaluable; Major Sanders of the 36th Sikhs; Colonel Claridge of
the 28th Light Cavalry; Captain Brownlow and Captain Hirst, both of
the 28th Light Cavalry; Major Lang; Captain Moore-Lane; Lieutenant
Bream of the Hazara Pioneers, and Captain English, R.A.
In addition I would mention how much, not only I, but the old country
owes to Khan Bahadur, the Sarhad-dar, and to Idu, non-commissioned
officer of the Chagai Levies.
The photographs are from snapshots taken by various officers during
the campaign.
R.E.H.D.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I
ORDERS FOR THE WEST
PAGE
I receive my orders--German agents and India--Their
routes--A deal in chauffeurs--Concerning an appetite
and sausages--Nushliki--The last of civilisation--Further
information--Sand-holes and digging--Petrol
in the desert 15
CHAPTER II
THE ROAD TO ROBAT
Mushki-chah--The native contractor--An evening
rencontre--Idu of the Chagai Levies--The native idea of an
airship--Idu the invaluable--Robat 30
CHAPTER III
A PLAN OF CAMPAIGN
An "intelligent" officer--Matters political--Three tribes
and a fourth--Their women and inter-tribal laws--Sarhad
conditions--A summons to the Chiefs--A bid
for rank--Telegraph wires and Sheitan--Two first-class
liars--A strategic scheme--An ungazetted
General--Lost kit--Swallows and flies--Forces available--
Communications freed--The Kacha levy and a shock--Mirjawa 37
CHAPTER IV
BLUFF AND ARMS
Ladis and its fort--A force without arms--First sight of
the enemy--Shah Sawar and more bluff--Battle--Bluff
succeeds--Casualties--Bad news from the North--Idu's
proposition--Jiand's stragglers--Jiand's white flag 55
CHAPTER V
KHWASH AND MORE BLUFF
Jiand's surrender--A political lecture--Jiand's
oath--Bluff for Khwash--The army moves forward--Khwash
and its fort--Mahommed-Hassan comes in--Beetles as
scavengers--Halil Khan comes in--Rifle prices, a
comparison--Idu's warning--News of Izzat--Order of
march--Bluff for Bampur--The meteor hole 69
CHAPTER VI
A FULL BAG OF PRISONERS
The march to Kacha--The food supply--Flowers in the
Wilderness--Galugan--Repeated strategy--Juma Khan comes
in--The bag is full--The throne of the dancing
maidens--Landon declines--Idu's doubts--Suspicions
aroused--Halil Khan closes up--Kacha, oaths, and
thumb-marks--The Chiefs depart--Bad news 87
CHAPTER VII
THE RACE FOR KHWASH
Plans and routes--Car versus legs--An equestrian
interlude--The trap in the gorge--More digging--Rendezvous--
Mrs Idu and gastronomy--A reinforcement--A message to
Landon--Izzat's men--Idu's romance--A "British
Bulldog"--The car abandoned 103
CHAPTER VIII
KHWASH AND THE SECOND SURRENDER
Doubts dispelled--Organisation for defence--Idu's
"Exiat"--And its result--Jiand arrives--Idu's second
visit--The Sarhad-dar arrives--Landon at last--Jiand's
visit of ceremony--The Gul-Bibi--Shah Sawar's
treachery--We call on the "Rose Lady"--A carpet and the
Sarhad-dar's advice--Another Durbar--Returned
loot--Temporary peace 122
CHAPTER IX
TREACHERY AND ITS SEQUEL
Further reinforcements--Entrenchments and gardens--
Government inquiries--Food supplies--An offer to
Jiand--Murad and straw--Shah Sawar again--Sentence--Idu's
suggestion--Re-enter the Rose Lady--News of Jiand's
intentions--A vital moment--A round-up--The Sarhad-dar's
advice--A Bhusa hunt--Distrustful wives 143
CHAPTER X
FAILURE AND FRESH PLANS
Slave buying--A diet discovery--Poetic justice--Disposition
of prisoners--Incredible news--The Sawar's story--Disposal
of forces--The march to Kamalabad--Jiand gains his
freedom--Retreat to Khwash 165
CHAPTER XI
SUCCESS IN MINIATURE
The night attack--The Hazaras arrive--Jiand retires--We
march on the Sar-i-drokan valley--Cavalry strategy--
"Gushti's" decision and opinion--"The Hole of
Judgment"--Attack and retirement--A lost and regained
water-supply--The Sarhadis as humorists--The mud
fort--Halil Khan's arrival--The fight at dawn--Exit
Halil Khan--A prophet--The Hazaras' request 181
CHAPTER XII
VICTORY AND PEACE
News of the herds--Towards Dast-Kird--Water!--Mutton for
all--Dast-Kird--A stampede--Back to Khwash--On the track
of the Gamshadzais--Twice a prophet--The Sarhad-dar's
roost--Before Jalk--Rejected terms--More strategy and a
bloodless victory--Remain only terms and sick leave 201
INDEX 221
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
A TYPICAL GORGE IN THE SARHAD _Frontispiece_
IN DIFFICULTIES BETWEEN NASARATABAD AND ROBAT _Facing_ 25
"A GOOD LIAR," LANDON'S ORDERLY AND CHIEF SPY " 49
QUESTIONING A SARHADI PRISONER " 59
JIAND'S MEN COMING IN TO PARLEY " 71
KHWASH FORT " 75
SURRENDERED RAIDERS, (CENTRE) JIAND,
(RIGHT) SHAH SAWAR, (LEFT) HALIL KHAN " 89
CAMEL CORPS SAWARS AT THE TERMINATION OF AN
EXPEDITION " 97
THE DURBAR AT KHWASH " 141
RAIDER CHIEFS AT THE DURBAR AT KHWASH " 141
RAIDED SLAVES ON THE WAY TO THEIR HOMES " 167
A PERSIAN GIRL CAPTURED BY JUMA KHAN " 167
CAPTURED RAIDERS ON THE WAY TO KACHA " 173
ON THE MARCH TOWARDS GUSHT, AND THE MORPEISH HILLS " 185
HAZARAS ON A PICKET POST BELOW WHICH HALIL KHAN
WAS KILLED " 197
WATER! ON THE MARCH TO THE SAR-I-DROKAN " 203
HAZARA PIONEERS WIDENING A PASSAGE FOR LOADED CAMELS " 215
CHAHGIRD FORT IN JALK " 217
MAPS
PAGE
SKETCH MAP OF THE PERSIAN-BALUCHI-AFGHAN FRONTIERS _Facing_ 15
SKETCH MAP OF THE FIGHT IN THE MORPEISH HILLS " 181
[Illustration: _Sketch Map of the Persian-Baluchi-Afghan frontiers_]
THE RAIDERS OF THE SARHAD
CHAPTER I
ORDERS FOR THE WEST
I receive my orders--German agents and India--Their
routes--A deal in chauffeurs--Concerning an appetite and
sausages--Nushliki--The last of civilisation--Further
information--Sand-holes and digging--Petrol in the desert.
Towards the end of February, 1916, General Kirkpatrick, Chief of
Staff at Delhi, sent for me and gave me orders to take charge of the
military operations in South-East Persia.
Although Persia, as a country, was neutral during the War, there is
a certain district in the South-East, abutting on to the frontiers
of Afghanistan and of Baluchistan, and known as the Sarhad, which is
occupied by a number of nomad tribes who claim absolute independence.
At this time these tribes were causing considerable embarrassment and
difficulty to the Indian Government.
The Germans and their agents, who were past masters in the art of
propaganda, were still endeavouring, as they had done for years
before the outbreak of hostilities, to work upon the discontented
portion of the Indian population in the hope of rousing them into
open rebellion. They believed this to be quite possible, in spite of
the magnificent way in which India had offered her resources of men
and money to the British Raj, and hoped thereby to handicap us still
further in our great struggle in the West.
They were pouring their agents, with their lying propaganda, into
India via Persia and Afghanistan. Afghanistan, like Persia, was
nominally neutral, but she was breaking her neutrality by many open
acts of aggression, and was offering every facility in her power
to the German agents in their passage through her territories, and
thence into the Punjab.
To reach Afghanistan, however, the German agents had to pass through
some part of Persia. The Persian Government placed no restrictions on
the movements of either British or Germans, of which fact the latter
took full advantage.
A glance at the map will show that apparently the easiest route for
them to take across Persia was in the North, in the Russian sphere of
influence, and to approach Afghanistan through Korasan; or, failing
this, by a route rather farther South, across the Lut Desert, in the
direction of Birjand. As a matter of fact they had tried both these
routes, but without much success, owing to the inhospitable nature of
the country through which they had to pass and also to the opposition
they met with from the Hazara tribes round Herat, who, belonging
as they do to the Shiah section of the Mahommedan religion, are at
daggers drawn with the Afghans, who belong to the Sunni section.
Therefore the Germans had to try yet another road, and succeeded
farther South where they had failed in the North. By taking the
longer route through Kerman and Narmashir in the South and South-East
of Persia, they found easy ingress into Afghanistan.
To effect this, however, they had to make friends with the nomad
and war-like tribes of the Sarhad. These tribes were traditionally
friendly to the British, but the Germans had bribed them heavily
and had moreover assured them that Germany had turned Islam and
that the Kaiser William himself was a convert to their religion. As
the Sarhad tribes were always out for a good thing for themselves,
and as they believed the lie about the German conversion, they had
allowed themselves to be tricked into helping the Germans. This
they were doing not only by permitting them to pass through their
territory, but also by harassing the lines of communication between
the inadequately small British frontier posts.
The story of Germany having turned Mahommedan, farcical as it was,
was nevertheless a potential source of grave danger for us in India.
It must be remembered that Germany's ally, Turkey, was Mahommedan,
and that in helping us against Germany, the Mahommedans of India were
already being called upon, indirectly, to fight against their own
co-religionists. When, in addition, India was assured that powerful
Germany was winning, so her agents avowed, in every theatre of war,
it was inevitable that in time her loyalty to us must suffer.
It was vital to stop this lying but insidious propaganda, and the
first step was to prevent German agents from entering India at all.
To do this the nomad tribes of the Sarhad must be brought back into
line with their old policy of friendship with Britain. Hence my
orders from General Kirkpatrick.
He instructed me to proceed without a moment's unnecessary delay to
Quetta, where I was to receive more detailed instructions.
On leaving him I hurried, with car and native chauffeur, to the
railway station, and asked for a truck on which to place the car
for entrainment to Nushki. The station-master assured me I was
asking for an impossibility. A great Maharajah, then travelling, had
commandeered every available truck for his suite, luggage and cars.
I told him that the Government business on which I had been sent was
all important, and, by a little persuasion, soon had myself on the
way to Pindi and the car on the way to Nushki.
Arrived at Pindi I found I had exactly one hour left in which to
catch the train for Quetta. There was no time to pack, sort out kit,
or decide what should, or should not, be taken on a campaign which
might last only a few weeks or many months, and which might assume
a political aspect sooner than expected. My servant, Allah-dad, was
therefore directed to take everything for sorting out when time could
be spared, and I rushed off to try and "do a deal" with General Sir
Gerald Kitson, before starting.
I realised that a motor-car might play an important part in this
prospective campaign, as it would be necessary to travel for long
distances in a land of no railways and no regular roads, the best
road to be hoped for probably being a sandy track used by camel
caravans. I had already had some experience of difficult motoring
with an inefficient chauffeur, so naturally wanted to secure the best
man that could be got.
I must here explain that I possessed an English chauffeur, Allan
by name, and that General Kitson employed his brother in the same
capacity. Now, without any disparagement of _my_ Allan, I knew his
brother to be a more practical and experienced man. General Kitson
generously gave his consent to an exchange of chauffeurs.
I may as well say, at once, that it was a lucky day for me that saw
Allan of the 9th Middlesex Regiment enter my service, for, during
the months to come, he was as cheery and full of resource as he was
ready for any event, however untoward. His appetite stood forth as
the only thing that ever caused me uneasiness, and I must admit that
I have never met a man with one of such colossal proportion. As an
instance--on one occasion, when camped out in the desert, between
Nushki and Robat, and supplies were none too plentiful, we cooked
twelve sausages for breakfast.
I had one, and then was persuaded by Allan to attempt a second. I
only succeeded in disposing of half of it. I then got up and left
Allan to have his own breakfast. Allah-dad, being a Mahommedan, of
course refused to touch sausage.
At lunch-time Allah-dad asked what I would have to eat, and got the
answer, "Oh, some of the cold sausages left from breakfast."
Allah-dad replied, "But there are no sausages, Sahib. Allan has eaten
them all."
I expostulated, maintaining that it was impossible. No normal man
could have eaten ten and a half large sausages. But Allah-dad was
not to be shaken. It may be well imagined that the feeding of my
chauffeur during the months to come loomed up as one of my minor
anxieties.
From Pindi I went to Quetta by train, my car, with the native
chauffeur having gone direct to the then rail-head at Nushki, in the
North of Indo-Baluchistan.
At Quetta I laid in a store of petrol, spare tyres, a few personal
necessities, reported to General Grover for orders and information,
and then proceeded to Nushki; which place was reached, and the car
picked up, on, if I remember rightly, the 25th of February.
This day in Nushki was to prove the last in a civilised town for
many months to come. The look of the country lying before us so
intimidated my native chauffeur that he came to me, a short time
before we were due to start, with a countenance torn with grief and,
with lamentations and protestations of sorrow, told me that both his
father and mother were ill, and that it was vital for him to return
and succour them. As I had been in two minds as to the advisability
of taking the rascal with me, this sign of the white feather at the
very outset at once decided the point, and I gave him to understand
that he could go and bury as many of his relations as he pleased.
With a countenance swiftly transformed to cheerfulness he left me.
Just before starting a wire was handed in from a high political
official at Quetta informing me that the Baluch Raiders had already
cut our lines of communication, were right across my path, and he
advised, if not ordered, me not to proceed.
However, as explicit military instructions were to endeavour to reach
Robat (near the Koh-i-Maliksia), a hill at which the Baluch, Afghan
and Persian frontiers meet, as well as that of the district known as
the Sarhad, with the least possible delay, and as I knew the Raiders
were across my path even before I left Quetta, I saw no reason for
altering previously made plans or for delaying my departure.
Accordingly I started on the journey to Robat early on the morning of
the 27th. I reckoned it would take at least five days to reach that
town, as the route it would be necessary to follow would be fully
three hundred and seventy-five miles. I already knew that it would
be essential to make many long détours round freshly formed sand
dunes and other obstacles, for it must be remembered that there was
no proper road but only a rough camel-track continually blown over
and obliterated by sand, along which supplies were taken from India
to Robat, and the small garrison posts which we had established at
various points Northward.
The mention of small garrison posts may lead the reader to suppose
that this area of wild activity was fairly well policed, but, as a
fact, one battalion of Indian infantry, a regiment of Indian cavalry
and, I believe, four mountain guns, constituted the entire force
of regulars holding a front of close upon three hundred miles. It
was small wonder, then, that the Sarhad tribes, commonly known as
Raiders, from their raiding proclivities, who knew every inch of the
country, could climb like cats, and could do long marches on short
rations, had succeeded in cutting our lines of communication, and in
carrying off our supplies.
I could, therefore, look for no further help for the time in the
matter of supplies and so took with me all that I thought would be
necessary for our three hundred and seventy-five mile trek across the
sandy wastes lying between Nushki and Robat.
Petrol was, at the moment, the most important of our needs; we had,
therefore, to carry with us all we should require, making allowance
at the same time for mishaps. Moreover, we had to take enough food
and water to last Allan, Allah-dad and myself for five or six days.
As regards personal luggage we travelled absolutely light, leaving
all kit to follow at a slower pace on camels, together with my horse,
Galahad. I had some compunction in leaving the latter behind, but my
orders were concise and urgent--to reach Robat, endeavour to get into
touch with all our scattered posts, and effect a combination against
the Raiders at the earliest possible moment.
A start was made very early in the morning, but the first day's
journey proved disappointing. Instead of doing the ninety miles
planned, we only accomplished thirty. The track was even worse than I
had expected, for we constantly ran into sand-hills, and had to dig
the car out. I have never done so much digging in my life as I did on
that journey to Robat. Sand-hills were, however, only a portion of
our afflictions, for, in addition, there were many water pools and
small shallow lakes--due to recent rain--which had to be taken at a
rush, or somehow circumvented.
So serious, at last, did our rate of progress become that, as we
approached what seemed to be the hundredth of these wide, shallow
pools, I lost patience and ordered Allan to drive straight through.
He attempted to carry out the order, but about half-way we sank up
to the axle and stuck. No power on earth would induce the car to
budge another inch, and, though we all three got out into the water,
and lugged, pushed and dragged at the wretched car, no impression
could be made upon her.
So we remained till, at last, about two a.m., I caught sight of a
light on a small hill not very far away in the west, and, on going
over to it, found a sort of recluse, or holy man, quietly cooking his
food. After the usual courtesies I asked him to come and help me to
pull my car out. He replied that he was an old man and could not do
much by himself, but that a caravan of nomads, who had arrived the
evening before, were encamped close by. So off I went again, flushed
my "quarry", and, with the help of large bribes, persuaded all the
able-bodied men to come back to the car. Fortunately we carried a
good strong rope as part of our kit, so soon had the car out and
running again.
Allan was never again ordered to drive through water on that route.
[Illustration: IN DIFFICULTIES BETWEEN NASARATABAD AND ROBAT.]
On the second day our troubles recommenced, for we had barely done
a dozen miles than we stuck in another sand-hill, and the laborious
digging-out process had to be done all over again. Fortunately, the
party who had got the car out of the lake the night before were close
behind, and for an obvious reason. They had been given so many rupees
for their timely help that, knowing the difficulties lying ahead,
they had followed in the hope of further largesse. They got it.
Once safely out again I made a tour of inspection round the car, but
only to find more trouble.
"Hullo, what on earth is this, Allan? She's leaking!"
Allan smiled a superior smile. "I don't think so, sir. My cars don't
leak."
But a moment later his superiority turned to consternation, and he
was burying his head in the bowels of the car.
After a moment's inspection he showed a face of such utter dismay
that it would have been comical had not the situation been so serious.
"Great Scott, sir! I must have left the petrol tap turned on, and the
tank is nearly empty."
Here, I'm afraid, my language was violent, and it was some minutes
before Allan was able to ascertain exactly how much petrol we had
left. His calculations established the fact that we had lost some
fourteen gallons. This meant that we should have to walk the greater
part of the last two hundred miles of our journey. A pleasant
prospect in that forbidding country. But orders were to go on, and go
on we did.
That day we made good time, and before evening had done the ninety
miles set as a day's march. But, as we had lost so much ground the
previous day, I determined to go on as long as Allan could stick at
the driving wheel, and we went on--to a post called Yadgar.
I should explain that in this barren, townless, roadless district
there are occasional small rest-houses, very modest types of Dâk
bungalows, established by the Indian Government for the benefit of
travellers, or soldiers on their way to frontier duty. They are quite
bare except for a camp bed or two, a tub, a table, a few chairs and a
wash-hand basin, with a _chokidar_, or keeper, in charge.
Such a rest-house we found at Yadgar, and being not only very tired
and dusty, but filthily dirty, as the result of our struggles with
the car, we pulled up to try and get a superficial wash.
I jumped out and tried the door. It was locked, and I banged loudly
without getting any answer. It would not do to lose an unnecessary
minute, for the many miles we should have to walk later on loomed
unpleasantly ahead, but I knew there were pretty certain to be water
and washing-basin behind that door, and did not intend to leave them
unused if I could help it, _chokidar_ or no _chokidar_. So, I took a
butting run with my shoulder, the door gave, and I set out in search
of the water tub.
An open door on my right showed me a small room, absolutely empty,
except for a row of tins against the wall. Knowing that petrol was
carried in such tin drums I went and examined them. The next moment
Allan heard a shout that brought him hastily inside, wondering
whether I had gone mad, had been bitten by a wild beast, or was
being murdered.
"Look!" I cried, as he came running up to me. "Look at those tins and
tell me what's inside!"
Allan seized hold of one of the drums, read what was written on it,
gave it a shake, and we could both hear the blessed sound of lapping
inside.
"It's petrol, sir," he whispered in an awed voice.
Petrol in the desert--petrol where one would as soon have expected to
find a Bond Street jeweller!
At first we could neither of us believe it. Personally I imagined we
had both got temporary jim-jams, but Allan, with his usual stolid,
common sense, opened one of the drums, tested the contents, and
pronounced it to be first-class petrol. There were seven drums, each
containing four gallons.
"This means we'll motor, not walk into Robat after all, sir," said
Allan, with a grin and sigh of relief. The thought of those miles of
desert--nearly two hundred of them--which confronted us after the
mishap had been haunting us both like a nightmare.
At this moment the _chokidar_ returned, in great trepidation, fearing
a dressing-down for being absent from duty. But I was far too elated
at the turn of events to want to swear at anyone.
I asked him where the petrol had come from, and whose it was. He
shook his head, and said he had no idea. It had always been there. It
belonged to no one, and no one had put it there, so far as he knew.
He had never seen a car there before; in fact, he had never seen a
car anywhere before, and could not understand how it was that men
could travel on a thing which was not alive, which was not like any
horse or camel he had ever seen.
This was all very good hearing, so I proceeded to tell him that the
petrol belonged to me, and, as he quite cheerfully acquiesced, I gave
him a receipt which he could show to any Government official in case
of needed absolution in the future. As we now had means to finish our
journey by car, I decided to spend the night at the rest-house.
After a simple camp meal Allan, worn out with the strenuous work of
the past two days and night, was quickly snoring in the deep sleep of
exhaustion, so I went for a stroll.
As I paced up and down I tried to draw up some preliminary plan
for the coming campaign. But such occupation was somewhat futile,
as, until I could reach Robat, I had no knowledge at all as to the
strength and composition of the force that would be at my disposal.
But upon one thing I made up my mind--even at that early stage--I
would do my utmost to show these Raiders, who were doing us so much
harm, that they could not do this with impunity. The lesson once
driven home, an endeavour should be made to become friendly with
them, to win them back to our side, and, so to speak, appoint them as
doorkeepers of the Baluchistan frontier; but doorkeepers with their
rifles pointed at our enemies instead of at ourselves.
In the midst of these meditations I found myself stumbling with
fatigue, so, with a last look at the beauty of the night, I turned
indoors, and in a few minutes was sound asleep, and making up for the
"whiteness" of the night before.