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Malleson mission
The Malleson mission or British intervention in Transcaspia was a military action by a small autonomous force of British Indian troops, led by General Wilfrid Malleson, operating against Bolshevik forces over large distances in Transcaspia (modern Turkmenistan) between August 1918 and April 1919, in the context of the Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War.
In 1918 Russian Turkestan was in chaos due to the Russian Civil War, with many factions engaged in conflict. The Bolshevik Tashkent Soviet was under attack from various groups, including cossacks, who had claimed independence for their respective regions. In addition, there were dealings between the White Russian forces and the British. Geopolitically, from the British point of view, the area was of interest to them because of its proximity to British India and Persia and their general sphere of influence. While the Russian Empire remained an ally this was not an issue for the British, but with the Bolshevik revolution of November 1917, it became one. To add to the complex situation, around 28,000 German and Austro-Hungarian soldiers were in the area, as prisoners of war. By June 1918, the British authorities in London and Delhi, and their Central Asian allies – particularly the Emirate of Afghanistan – still did not have a coherent or consistent vision for what they intended to do with the rapidly developing situation, and what their goals and methods would be if they were to attempt a political or military intervention in the region.
Concerned about the Bolsheviks and German and Turkish military activity, the British Government decided to send a force to the area, from British India towards its base of operations in Meshed (Mashhad), Imperial Persia (modern Iran). The force was to be led by General Wilfrid Malleson. His mission was given as "to combat German and Turkish propaganda and attempts to organise men, railways and resources towards assisting hostile enterprises, aggression or active operations against us or our Allies."
Malleson instructed Reginald Teague-Jones to make preliminary contact with the Ashkhabad Committee, the group in control of the anti-Bolshevik Transcaspian Government which seized power in Ashgabat on 12 July 1918. The first military action occurred on 11 August, when two machine guns of the 19th Punjabis left the Persian town of Muhammabad and crossed the border to Artyk (Artik), where they boarded an armoured train and travelled along the Trans-Caspian railway towards Baýramaly (Bairam Ali, Bahram Ali) to assist local Transcaspian rebel forces in case of a Bolshevik attack.
The Bolsheviks indeed attacked the British-Indian and Transcaspian position at Bairam Ali on 12 or 15 August 1918 with about 3,000 troops. The Transcaspian force however, numbered round 1,000 men (largely Turkmen troops). They were quickly overrun by the Bolshevik army, with the local Transcaspian defenders abandoning their trenches, while the British-Indian machine guns and Punjabi infantry tried defending their armoured train. However, the usage of machine guns by the Indian detachment prevented complete rout, as per the official account.
“These men fired their guns till they became too hot to handle and, according to the Transcaspian account, inflicted 350 casualties on the enemy. Two of the Indian detachment were wounded and one of its machine guns had to be abandoned after two men had been burnt in trying to carry it out of action.”
Despite avoiding disaster, the Anglo-Indians and Transcaspians were compelled to march back without rest and little food and water for 3 days, retreating to Dushak along the railway line. The machine gun detachment returned to Muhammadabad in Persia due to disease and casualties.
After reconstituting his forces in Persia, Malleson moved about 500 men of the 19th Punjabi Regiment commanded by Knollys back across the border into Russian Turkestan, where a Transcaspian rebel force joined them at Kaka (Kaahkha) on 26 August. These local forces of some 1,000 Transcaspians were seen by the British as rather poor quality troops. They were commanded by a Turkmen chieftain, Oraz Sirdar.
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Malleson mission
The Malleson mission or British intervention in Transcaspia was a military action by a small autonomous force of British Indian troops, led by General Wilfrid Malleson, operating against Bolshevik forces over large distances in Transcaspia (modern Turkmenistan) between August 1918 and April 1919, in the context of the Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War.
In 1918 Russian Turkestan was in chaos due to the Russian Civil War, with many factions engaged in conflict. The Bolshevik Tashkent Soviet was under attack from various groups, including cossacks, who had claimed independence for their respective regions. In addition, there were dealings between the White Russian forces and the British. Geopolitically, from the British point of view, the area was of interest to them because of its proximity to British India and Persia and their general sphere of influence. While the Russian Empire remained an ally this was not an issue for the British, but with the Bolshevik revolution of November 1917, it became one. To add to the complex situation, around 28,000 German and Austro-Hungarian soldiers were in the area, as prisoners of war. By June 1918, the British authorities in London and Delhi, and their Central Asian allies – particularly the Emirate of Afghanistan – still did not have a coherent or consistent vision for what they intended to do with the rapidly developing situation, and what their goals and methods would be if they were to attempt a political or military intervention in the region.
Concerned about the Bolsheviks and German and Turkish military activity, the British Government decided to send a force to the area, from British India towards its base of operations in Meshed (Mashhad), Imperial Persia (modern Iran). The force was to be led by General Wilfrid Malleson. His mission was given as "to combat German and Turkish propaganda and attempts to organise men, railways and resources towards assisting hostile enterprises, aggression or active operations against us or our Allies."
Malleson instructed Reginald Teague-Jones to make preliminary contact with the Ashkhabad Committee, the group in control of the anti-Bolshevik Transcaspian Government which seized power in Ashgabat on 12 July 1918. The first military action occurred on 11 August, when two machine guns of the 19th Punjabis left the Persian town of Muhammabad and crossed the border to Artyk (Artik), where they boarded an armoured train and travelled along the Trans-Caspian railway towards Baýramaly (Bairam Ali, Bahram Ali) to assist local Transcaspian rebel forces in case of a Bolshevik attack.
The Bolsheviks indeed attacked the British-Indian and Transcaspian position at Bairam Ali on 12 or 15 August 1918 with about 3,000 troops. The Transcaspian force however, numbered round 1,000 men (largely Turkmen troops). They were quickly overrun by the Bolshevik army, with the local Transcaspian defenders abandoning their trenches, while the British-Indian machine guns and Punjabi infantry tried defending their armoured train. However, the usage of machine guns by the Indian detachment prevented complete rout, as per the official account.
“These men fired their guns till they became too hot to handle and, according to the Transcaspian account, inflicted 350 casualties on the enemy. Two of the Indian detachment were wounded and one of its machine guns had to be abandoned after two men had been burnt in trying to carry it out of action.”
Despite avoiding disaster, the Anglo-Indians and Transcaspians were compelled to march back without rest and little food and water for 3 days, retreating to Dushak along the railway line. The machine gun detachment returned to Muhammadabad in Persia due to disease and casualties.
After reconstituting his forces in Persia, Malleson moved about 500 men of the 19th Punjabi Regiment commanded by Knollys back across the border into Russian Turkestan, where a Transcaspian rebel force joined them at Kaka (Kaahkha) on 26 August. These local forces of some 1,000 Transcaspians were seen by the British as rather poor quality troops. They were commanded by a Turkmen chieftain, Oraz Sirdar.