Online: Caucasus and Transcaspia: Books and articles

[MaureenE]

An online series of articles:

• "With the Dunsterforce Irregulars" by Captain E W Latchford  Reveille, Volume 5, No 11- Volume 6, No 3, August-November 1932. Published by The Returned and Services League of Australia New South Wales Branch

August, page 25, August, pages 74-76 , August page 80, September page 15, September, page 32, October, page 15 October, page 25 (scroll down), November, page 6 reveille.dlconsulting.com

 

The Irregulars were Armenians, Assyrians etc, and Captain Latchford was originally Australian Army.

 

These links are now on the FIBIS Fibiwiki page Norperforce

http://wiki.fibis.org/index.php/Norperforce

 

Cheers

Maureen

Edited 11 November , 2016 by Maureene

[michaeldr]

Thanks for the link Maureene

 

Not WWI it must be admitted, but nevertheless one cannot help noticing that in the extended history the chronology skips from 1942 to 1979, without any mention of the (CIA & British inspired) 1953 coup against PM Mosaddegh [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohammad_Mosaddegh]

regards

Michael

[MaureenE]

35 minutes ago, michaeldr said:

 

 

Not WWI it must be admitted, but nevertheless one cannot help noticing that in the extended history the chronology skips from 1942 to 1979, without any mention of the (CIA & British inspired) 1953 coup against PM Mosaddegh [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohammad_Mosaddegh]

regards

Michael

 Why not WW1 Michael?  The first page of the account has two photographs dated Persia 1918, and I thought Dunsterforce was considered to be WW1.

 The articles were published in 1932, so can't go beyond that date. Perhaps you have been reading something else?

Cheers

Maureen

Edited 17 October , 2016 by Maureene

[michaeldr]

Sorry Maureen,

No doubt my post should have been clearer

After my 'thanks for the link', my second comment referred to the later material in the bottom half of the page

 

regards

Michael

[Guest]

Mates,

 

I record him as

 

LATCHFORD Ernest William  Lt 38Bn BCo prom Capt MC - for his actions near Ypres 12-10-17 F&B to Dunsterforce to Basrah Mesoptamia 3-18 att Staff officer under Maj Henderson VC DSO (Manchester Regt) to train Urmia (irregulars) into a force during operations near Bijar and Baquba later att General Knox's British Mission to Vladivostock Russia 1919 later AIC MBE - reason not stated (A&I Staff PMF) later WWII records Col disch 1980 (not identified)
 

The Army Barracks in Townsville Qld is named after him, If I remember right from my days there in the early Seventies.

 

Cheers

 

S.B

[bushfighter]

Well Done Maureene.

 

You might like to consider referencing this article to the Army of the Black Sea information:

 

http://www.kaiserscross.com/304501/385643.html 

 

Harry

[MaureenE]

Thanks for the link Harry, which however I already had linked from the FIBIS Fibiwiki page Norperforce

 

I will change the title of this  GWF topic (currently Online: With the Dunsterforce Irregulars/Latchford) to a more general title as I have recently added quite a number of links to the FIBIS Fibiwiki page Norperforce, in addition to what was already there. 

http://wiki.fibis.org/index.php/Norperforce

 

Recent editions include  in the section External links a couple of academic theses, and  some articles, and in the section Historical books online, some Journal articles and books, some  which I copy here

• "The Advance to the Caspian" pages 24-44 Loyalties: Mesopotamia; a personal and historical record, Volume II 1917-1920 by Sir Arnold Talbot Wilson 1931. Hathi Trust Digital Library. Also available as a download from Kurdipedia.org 1936 edition. Also published under the title Mesopotamia, 1917-1920; a Clash of Loyalties.
• "Further Adventures of the Armoured Cars: Persia and Baku" pages 285-297 Blackwood's Magazine Volume 205, January-June 1919. Archive.org. The author elsewhere is stated to be A. H. Ruston, who was Temp. Major, Machine Gun Corps (Motor).
• "Memories of the "Hush Hush" Force" by Captain Tom Kelsey, Connaught Rangers and Dunsterforce. Reveille, Volume 9, Nos 8-11, April-July 1936. Published by The Returned and Services League of Australia New South Wales Branch  April, page 36, continuing on page 38 (RHS of page), 39 (bottom of page), May, page 18, 19, June, page 18, 19, July, page 18 reveille.dlconsulting.com.
• "The British Flag on the Caspian: A Side-Show of the Great War" by Percy Sykes Foreign Affairs Vol. 2, No. 2 (Dec. 15, 1923), pp. 282-294. jstor.org. Read online for free, but first you must register, and limits apply, see Miscellaneous tips.
• "The British Military Mission to Turkestan 1918-1920" by Major General Sir Wilfred Malleson Journal of the Central Asian Society Volume 9 1922 No 2 pp 96-110.  Journal pdf download, Pahar Mountains Of Central Asia Digital Dataset.
• "Military Operations in Transcaspia 1918-1919" by Lt.Col.D E Knollys Journal of the Central Asian Society Volume 13, 1926 no 2 pp88-110.  Journal pdf download, Pahar Mountains Of Central Asia Digital Dataset. The author was in charge of the 19th Punjabi Regiment.
• "Bolshevism as I saw it at Tashkent in 1918" by Sir George MacArtney Journal of the Central Asian Society Volume 7 1920 Nos 2-3 pp 42-58. Includes comments on the missions of Colonel Bailey and Captain Blacker (see following). Journal pdf download, Pahar Mountains Of Central Asia Digital Dataset.
• Mission To Tashkent by [Lt Col] F M Bailey 1946. Pdf download Digital Library of India….”the astonishing adventures of a British intelligence officer working in Cemtral Asia, and his escape from the Bolsheviks”. This Mission is also referred to as the Mission of Lt-Col F.M.Bailey to Kashgar, Jul 1918-Jan 1921

 

Cheers

Maureen

 

 

[Sturmey]

Maureen: you really are tremendously helpful and generous to give these links to articles. You helped BBC Tommies with Trumpeter Inwood and now it looks as if you've come to the rescue of a proposed episode about 19th Punjabis and 28th Light Cav saving the day on 15th August 1918. More power to the FIBIS elbow!

[MaureenE]

On 02/03/2018 at 22:07, Sturmey said:

...BBC Tommies ...a proposed episode about 19th Punjabis and 28th Light Cav saving the day on 15th August 1918. More power to the FIBIS elbow!

 

Thanks  for your comments Sturmey.   I hope you will advise if the proposed episode is released, and the date,  (perhaps in August 2018?)  Unfortunately, I probably won't be able to hear it, as I don't live in the UK.

 

Cheers

Maureen

[Steve Kowalewski]

Thank you for posting that extensive Nov 11 list of sources Maureene! I'm not the intended recipient, but I'm grateful - I've been wanting to read more about British spies and activities in Transcaucasia, and I stumbled across your post. Now I can read some of the original sources listed in Hopkirk's books.

 

Sincerely yours,

Steve K.

[James A Pratt III]

The book "Caucasian Battlefields" deals with Russian Army operations in the Caucusus in WW I and earlier.

 

The book "Like Hidden Fire" also has some info on British operations in this area.

 

There is also a book on the operations of the British armored cars in Russia "The Tsar's British Squadron" ?

[Guest]

Mate,

 

The Australian (AIF) part of these forces and shown in two books I have;

 

"With Horse and Morse" in Mesopotamia  edited by Keast Burke deals with the The Australian Wireless Sig Sqn, the Pack Troop, The Cav Div Sig Sqn and the New Zealand Pack troop. Also mentioned are the First half Flight of the AFC. In fact all Australian (& NZ) Troops in Mesopotamia during the war including the Dunsterforce, which arrived later.

 

The other book is;

 

The "Persian Expedition" by Alan Stewart which deals more with Dunsterforce.

 

Cheers

S.B

[Steve Kowalewski]

Thanks for the additional replies! Surprisingly, The Persian Expedition book is not available on Amazon, despite a fairly recent pub date (2006). A detached modernday perspective on these events can be revealing - there is a "reappraisal" of Dunsterforce written by an Armenian author named artin arslanian that's quite critical of the the expedition and its actions. Still, a lot of the original memoirs are available as simple books or pdfs, and they're anything but dry reading.

 

With horse and Morse sounds like Endeavour sleuthing at a racetrack.

 

Steve K.

[Guest]

Mate,

 

Sorry, yes the The Persian Expedition book was published by the "Australian Army History Unit and the Australian Military History Publication" dated 2006 as you say

 

The address on the book is AMHP (as above) 

13 Veronica Place

Loftus

ACT 2232

Australia

 

They give a webb site as

 

www.warbooks.com.au

 

As to Horse and Morse.

 

It was one of those post Great War books written by the men who served.

 

The Australians (& NZ) were there to support the British or Indian forces in country by Comm's and they set up a large number of relay stations across the country as well as in the Indian and British units.

 

Cheers

S.B

[Sturmey]

Hi there

Michael Sergeant's dissertation is well worth a look

https://www.files.ethz.ch/isn/87659/04_apr.pdf

atb j

 

[Steve Kowalewski]

Everybody is providing sources so I better list mine too...

 

The Adventures of Dunsterforce and The British Intervention in Transcaspia 1918-1919 (by Ellis) are both essential and available in currently published editions, as well at www.Openlibrary.org. BTW Anyone intending to PRINT these from PDFs is strongly advised to pick up a reasonably priced book instead – even if printing in double-sided booklet form, the cost in paper, ink, binding material and sweat is not worth it.

 

On Secret Patrol in High Asia by LVS Blacker didn’t have a current pub, but is available at www.Openlibrary.org. It’s a lively and sometimes funny read, marred by racist and anti-semitic comments so be forewarned. Blacker accompanied Etherton across the border at Kashgar.

 

Etherton at Kashgar:Rhetoric and Reality  in the History of the “Great Game.” By Daniel c. Waugh, University of Washington. Assesses Etherton’s  In the Heart of Asia. I haven’t been able to get to a copy of Etherton’s memoir, so I can’t judge Waugh’s work. But he seems objective enough.

faculty.washington.edu/dwaugh/ethertonatkashgar2007.pdf

 

Dunsterville’s Adventures: A Reappraisal by Artin H. Arslanian.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/232026540_Dunsterville's_Adventures_A_Reappraisal

 

The Spy Who Disappeared by Reginald Teague-Jones himself is still available, as is the more recently published Most Secret Agent of Empire by Taline Ter Minassian, also covering RTJ.

 

And Nothing Long by Ranald Macdonell (another agent at Baku) can only be found as a expensive collector’s item.

 

 Riding to War  by Gerald Uloth is commercially available. I THINK its more like a collection of anecdotes than a history of the Transcaspia expedition.

[Sturmey]

Thanks for those. I'm reminded of the clever person who said that digitisation of sources meant that history was getting bigger and more discoverable, rather than less, as time went on  (although they said it more cleverly than that).

 

The idea that we would be able to read these sources at our desks and in our own time rather than in a library possibly the other side of the world is extraordinary, really.

[Steve Kowalewski]

I should add a couple others, very similar to each other.

 

Churchill's Secret War With Lenin by Damien Wright covers UK operations in Russia 1918-20. Contains a lot of info, almost technical in nature, a substantial book printed on heavy acid free paper.

 

Stamping out the  Virus  by Perry Moore is like the above book, only it covers all Allied actions, including a lot of OOB info for the white Russians. Printed in China, it gives the impression that it was "typeset" by someone on a tight schedule (riddled with typos and grammatical errors). Also a heavy quality paper book.