Sir,
Please allow me to introduce myself more fully and then I’ll acquaint you of the general situation here in Baku. I am Major–general Lionel Dunsterville. You may know me better by my old school nickname Stalky, an epithet given to me by my chum Rudyard Kipling and used in one of his books. Presently I am Officer Commanding His Majesty’s Forces in North Persia and the Trans-Caspia, a formation which for convenience of nomenclature goes by the name of Dunsterforce.
Baku - British position in the oilfield
I set out from Baghdad in January with a small force in Ford cars and was able to make it over snow filled mountain passes through to Enzeli on the Southern shore of the Caspian. Although nominally Persian, the Russian concession there was in the hands of the revolutionaries, who were not in the least interested in our help and indeed even threatened to throw me into gaol!
So by force of these circumstances I was required to spend the next few months in the mountainous country of North Persia. During this period my force began to build up as regular troops and some armoured cars were sent up from Baghdad. About this time I made an alliance with a local Russian Cossack leader by the name of Bicherakov. Splendid chap! With his help were able to re-open the road to Enzeli despite the opposition of the local Jangli warlord Kuchak Khan whom we ousted from his position by coup de main.
I was thus able to open communications with Baku and perhaps I should now explain the situation there. My original orders had been to secure the railway line from Baku to Batumi on the Black Sea. Following collapse of the Tsarist Empire there was every possibility that the Turks, or even the Bosche would attempt to control this region. Baku is a fine city on the Western shore of the Caspian. Its main industry is the extraction of crude oil and the countryside around the city is thickly forested with the drilling derricks which are the outward manifestation of this trade. The population is a mix of Armenians and Tartars but until last year was part of the Russian empire; then a revolutionary committee was set up to support the Bolshevik cause.
Turks approach from the salt lake under observation by British aircraft
It is with great regret that I must report that by the time I was ready to embark for Baku, the Turks under their commander Mursal Pasha had invested that city and it was already under steady bombardment. The situation is now critical; I have under a thousand regular troops, all good men from Midland battalions, and a few colonials. I have some armoured cars, two aeroplanes and some ships in the harbour. I shall not hesitate to use these vessels if the situation becomes intolerable and I need to evacuate my fellows.
Russians send out their armoured train
And become intolerable it will. There is no clear defensive strategy for the city. Administration is in the hands of the soi disant “Committee of Five Dictators”, a Centro-Caspian faction who have recently overthrown the local Bolshevik command. The Dictators are beardless youths, the enthusiasm of whom in no way compensates for their lack of intelligence or experience. Apart from my own men the rest of the Army of Baku consists of Armenians and Russians and I despair to recount that every battalion is in the hands of a committee who must first ratify any orders given to it by its commanding officer. As a result no planned manoeuvre ever takes place as intended. Troops vacate perfectly secure defensive positions for no reason allowing the Turk to inhabit them without loss.
Turks attack the Armenian held village
Last night we captured an Arab officer in Turkish service. He confides that an attack will commence at first light today, the fourteenth of September 1918. The weight of this attack will fall on my men, Warwicks and North Staffs. We hold a good defensive position at the Mud Volcano but I have nothing on my left flank. To my rear I have reserves and an Armenian battalion holds the nearby village but whether they will give me any support or decide to have a Women’s Institute meeting instead, remains to be seen.
I remain your obedient Servant,
Dunsterville, L.C., Officer Commanding H.M. Forces N. Persia and Transcaspia.
Dunsterville advances an armoured car in support of his own well dug in troops
Footnote: The above recently discovered letter explains how the British Army came to fight a battle on the shores of the Caspian Sea in 1918. As Dunsterville feared, the attack commenced at first light, and although his troops put up fierce resistance, the Turks eventually outflanked his position. The Armenians refused to fight and when the Russians sent out an armoured train it was forced back by Turkish artillery fire. He withdrew his men to a defensive line in the oil field amongst the derricks. This position held a little while longer, but in order to preserve his small force he had no option eventually but to retreat further.
Later the Armenians fled the strategic defensive position of Wolf’s gap allowing the Turks to occupy it almost without loss; this put the entire city at risk. Mindful of the fact that he was a long way from home and could not hold out indefinitely against a Turkish force perhaps twenty times his own strength, Dunsterville informed the Dictators of his intent to quit Baku. His men withdrew to the jetties where their transports were waiting. Dunsterforce had sustained more than 200 casualties, 20% of its strength. Two months later, under the terms of the Armistice, a British force occupied Baku, sailing into the port in the same ships that had evacuated Dunsterforce.
Turks close in on the Armenians
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