CHAPTER XX

THE NEW DASH TO BAKU

Treachery in the town--Jungalis attack Resht--Armoured cars in street-fighting--Baku tires of Bolshevism--British summoned to the rescue--Dunsterville sets out--Position at Baku on arrival--British officers' advice ignored--Turkish attacks--Pressing through the defences--Baku again evacuated.

We were soon to discover that we had not cut the claws of the Jungali tiger, and that he was yet capable of giving us serious trouble.

There had been a good deal of unrest amongst the disbanded followers of Kuchik Khan. Men had gone back to their villages to brood over their reverse of fortune. The hotheads amongst them were not at all satisfied at the easy way in which they had been beaten out of their entrenchments on the Manjil road. Various pretexts were put forward with a view of explaining away the sharp reverse they suffered on that occasion. Further, there was a recrudescence of propaganda activity amongst them, carried on by Turkish agents and sympathizers who came and went in the jungle country on the shores of the Caspian.

Bicherakoff and his Russians had gone off to Baku, and a small force of British alone was holding {210} Resht. Admirable for the Jungalis' plan, thought their leaders! This time they would be able to settle their account with the British without any intervening Russian mixing himself up in the business.

Early on July 20th a large force of Jungalis made a surprise attack on Resht. Aided by armed partisans within who, once the attack developed, brought hitherto concealed rifles into play from window and roof-top, the enemy achieved a distinct measure of success. The street fighting was desperate and severe. The attacking force fought with great bravery, determination, and skill. They dug themselves in, and threw up barricades the better to aid them to hold ground they had won.

But, although the greater part of Resht passed into their hands, following their first impetuous dash, the Jungalis were never able to make themselves masters of the south-western section of the town which was held by British troops. They knocked their heads against this in vain. It was left to the armoured cars, moreover, once more to demonstrate their great value in street fighting. The heavy cars of the Brigade and the 6th Light Armoured-Motor Battery were rushed into action, and although the streets had been dug up by the enemy in order to impair the mobility of the Brigade, the latter made short work of the Jungalis, driving them from point to point, and from street to street, until the town was once more in our possession. The enemy found themselves at a complete disadvantage {211} when facing armour-plated fighting machines. The moral effect of these alone, apart from their fire efficiency, proved disastrous to Jungali nerves, and spread panic and disorganization in the ranks of the foe. Profiting by the bitter example of treachery that the Jungali attack had furnished, the British this time were less lenient when it came to imposing terms upon the beaten enemy.

Towards the end of July signs of dissension showed themselves amongst the Bolshevik militants who controlled the political and military destinies of Baku, a matter of which I wrote in the previous chapter. The Turks were without the gates. Bicherakoff had gone north, and the Bolshevik military machine had helplessly broken down. It could neither organize any scheme of defence, nor evolve any offensive plan for relieving the city from the gradually tightening grip of the Turk. The people of Baku found that mediocrity and mendacity were but poor and unsatisfactory weapons with which to attempt to arrest the march of a modern army, and these were about all the Bolsheviks possessed in their mental arsenal. Above the chaos and welter of discordant opinion arose the murmurings of a discontented, fear-stricken people. They had suffered much from Bolshevik oppression and from Bolshevik ineptitude, and clamoured for a new set of _dramatis personæ_ and the recasting of the principal roles in the Baku tragedy. So these political _farceurs_, the Bolsheviks, were figuratively hissed off the boards, and disappeared {212} down the stage trap-door to an oblivion which, alas! was but temporary. They were baffled, but not beaten.

Their places were taken by men holding saner and less violent political views. One of the first official acts of the new Baku Government was to summon the British to their aid.

It was the chance for which Dunsterville had lived and waited, and he lost no time in grasping it. At Enzeli he embarked a mixed force of about two thousand, made up of unattached Imperial and Dominion officers of the original Dunsterforce, a battalion or so of the North Staffords, a detachment of Hants, howitzer and field gun sections, two armoured cars, two sections of the motor machine-gun company, and other sundry units and details which had been commandeered from Resht for the move upon Baku.

The advanced guard disembarked at the Caspian oil port on August 5th, and the remainder speedily followed.

The position in Baku was not one to inspire confidence. There were Bolshevik troops in the town who did not attempt to conceal their displeasure at the arrival of the British. The "Red Committee," too, was gathering fresh strength and planning the overthrow of its successors in office--the Government that had invited Dunsterville to Baku. Muddle and confusion prevailed everywhere. Jealousy, distrust, and bickering were rife amongst the heterogeneous, {213} ill-disciplined mass of Russians and Armenians which passed for an army in Baku. It was computed that there were about 20,000 Russians of various political hues, ranging from bright Bolshevik red to sober Imperial grey, in and around the town, while the number of Armenian auxiliaries was estimated at 5,000. Yet the brunt of the fighting had to be borne by the British infantry, chiefly the North Staffords, for it was rarely that over 5,000 of our more than doubtful allies could be rounded up to assist in holding the far-flung defensive line of Baku.

Despite the stiffening of British troops in the front line, the moral encouragement of British officers, and the active material support of British artillery and British armoured cars, it was found impossible to infuse any real or lasting enthusiasm into the Baku army. It had its own ethics of fighting and stuck to them. War, it was felt, was a job not to be taken too seriously, and must never be allowed to interfere with one's customary distractions, nor with one's business or social engagements. Russians and Armenians would leave a "back to-morrow" message, and casually stroll out of the front-line trenches, whenever they felt in the mood, to go off to attend some political meeting in Baku, or seek refreshment and questionable enjoyment at some of the local cafés.

The position of the unattached British officers was a difficult one in Baku. They were there in an {214} advisory capacity chiefly, but their counsel and presence were alike resented by all parties, political and military. Suggestions for a more efficient co-operation between infantry and artillery, for the filling up of dangerous gaps in the line, the better siting of trenches, or the establishing of observation posts and the employment of "spotters," were usually received in silence and with a disdainful shrug of the shoulders.

While striving to beat off the Turk outside, the British, too, had to sit on the head of the rabid Bolshevik within, and prevent his regaining his feet and running amuck once more.

The economic situation was also serious. Food supplies were lamentably short, and the available stock was running low. A super-commercial instinct had been developed, and gross profiteering was widely practised. It was true that the pre-war standard value of the paper rouble had suffered a heavy depreciation, but this hardly justified the exorbitant tariff of some of the Baku restaurants. It was no uncommon thing for them to exact five roubles for the bread eaten at meals, and about seventy roubles for the very indifferent meal itself.

Colonel Keyworth, R.H.A., was appointed to the command of the troops in the Baku area. His heavy duties confined him a good deal to the port itself, and he was unable to see very much of the defensive perimeter; but he had excellent coadjutors in Colonel Matthews of the Hants, and in Colonel {215} Stokes of the Intelligence Department, an officer who had been for many years British Military Attaché in Teheran. Then, too, there was Lieutenant-Colonel Warden, a blunt, straight-spoken Canadian, and a very keen and efficient infantry soldier whose permanent telegraphic address in Flanders had been "Vimy Ridge." Warden was generally an optimist, but the Baku problem was responsible for his passing sleepless, unhappy nights; and finally he gave up attempting to instil martial ardour into the non-receptive mind of the Baku soldier. In his own racy speech, redolent, of his native prairie, he summed up his efforts in this direction as being as futile as trying to flog a dead horse back to life.

I am not so much concerned with describing the military operations in detail as I am with laying stress upon the many difficulties that beset the path of the British during their first and short-lived occupation of Baku. The wonder is that, instead of giving in after a few days, they were able to cling to the position for weeks.

On August 26th, the Turks, who had been preparing for days, delivered a heavy attack against the Griazni-Vulkan sector. Their advance took place under cover of destructive artillery fire which caused many casualties. The section of the line where the Turks struck first was held by about one hundred and fifty of the North Staffords, supported by four machine-guns of the Armoured Car Brigade. Despite severe losses, the Turks, being reinforced, pressed {216} home the attack, and the auxiliary troops on the right flank were flung back and forced to retire. At this point two of the machine-guns failed to hear the order to retreat, and fought the Turks until their crew were surrounded and cut off. The other machine-gun section, under Lieutenant Titterington, stuck it to the last, and when they withdrew the Turks were already firing upon them from the rear. But the surviving members of the gun crews managed to "shoot" their way through the ranks of the foe.

The enemy, who had suffered very heavily in the attack of the 26th, resumed the offensive on the 31st, when he bit another slice out of the thinly held line and captured the position known as Vinigradi Hill. After this the Turk advanced from success to success, slowly driving back the garrison on the inner defensive line.

His crowning victory was the storming of the Voltchi Vorota sector on the morning of September 14th. An Arab officer who deserted two days previously furnished full particulars of the impending attack, but his information was regarded with suspicion. It proved, however, to be absolutely correct, for the enemy made a feigned attack on the neighbouring Baladjari sector and delivered his main blow against Voltchi Vorota. He got home at once, driving out the Russian troops, who retreated in some confusion. An armoured car, however, intervened between the retiring troops and the oncoming enemy, and, although heavily shelled by the Turkish batteries, {217} it manoeuvred adroitly, paralyzing the advance by its deadly fire and allowing the broken Russians time to reform with a leavening of British bayonets. The Turks later in the day converted the feigned into a real attack, and broke through at Baladjari.

This series of reverses contracted the daily shrinking perimeter still more. It was now clear to Dunsterville that his troubled occupancy of Baku had come to an end, and orders were issued for an immediate evacuation. The Bolsheviks had got the upper hand again. Their attitude was doubtful and, in the first instance, they had objected to the troops being withdrawn, threatening to use the Caspian fleet of gunboats to fire on the laden transports should the latter attempt to sail. It was not exactly altruism, nor the promptings of a generous nature, that led them to do this. On the contrary, it was rather a tender regard for their own cowardly skins. Should the victorious enemy storm the town the British would serve as a useful chopping-block upon which the Turks might expend their fury; and, if the worst came to the worst, and there was no other way out of a disagreeable dilemma, grace and favour might be won from the Osmanli by uniting with him in administering the _coup de grâce_ to the trapped and betrayed remnant of Dunsterville's Army of Occupation.

Although the town lay defenceless and at their mercy, the Turks--victims probably of their periodical inertia--did not follow up their advantage. The {218} Bolsheviks hesitated to strike, and, after the motor-cars, stores, and transport had been destroyed, the evacuation was successfully carried out under the menacing guns of the Caspian Fleet.

Captain Suttor, an Australian officer, and two sergeants, were overlooked in the hurry of embarkation. But they escaped and, boarding a steamer full of Bolshevik fugitives, induced the Captain to land them at Krasnovodsk on the eastern shore of the Caspian and the terminus of the Trans-Caspian Railway. Suttor knew that a British military post had been established there. Of this the Bolsheviks were ignorant, and their fury and amazement were great when they found themselves marched off as prisoners.

The day after the British evacuation of Baku the Turks entered, and for two days the town was given over to pillage, many of the Armenian irregulars being killed in cold blood by the enemy.

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