1918
Two troops of British cavalry arrived at Bijah from Baghdad on 15 July 1918, and two days later Savige was given vague instructions about another important mission. He knew from rumours that it had to do with many thousands of Armenian and Assyrian soldiers and refugees who had fled to Lake Urmia for protection, and were now bailed up by a strong Muslim Turkish force. The Armenians and Assyrians had been subject to genocide by the Turks and Kurds since the start of the war. Both ethnic groups were Christians; the ancestral homeland of the Assyrians covered parts of Iraq, Persia, Syria and Turkey. This was part of a religious struggle that had been running, in various forms, for 800 years.
Savige was put in charge of a contingent that would assist these beleaguered groups against the enemy. He wanted more detail, and was told that the instructions had come from Hamadan, which meant Dunsterville was behind the mission. Then Savige was given a list of hand-picked officers and NCOs who would be under his command.
The night before leaving, he received £45,000 worth of Persian silver, 12 Lewis machine guns and 100,000 rounds of ammunition. Savige realised then that the project was sizeable, probably the biggest of his growing military career so far. He bought horses for the officers and mules for the NCOs. The column would be protected by a cavalry unit, 14th (King’s) Hussars, under Lieutenant Colonel Edgar Bridges, which would form advance and rear guards. They would be accompanied by Major Moore and Captain Reid from the British garrison in Baghdad.
Two days out from Bijah, he was given more information by Major Moore: the silver and machine guns were to help the beleaguered garrison of Urmia, which was under the leadership of 38-year-old Agha Petros.
General Petros had been a loyal Turkish servant in peacetime. A few years earlier this Christian Assyrian ‘strong man’ had been the Turkish representative in the districts around Lake Urmia. When war broke out he had sided with Christian Russians against the Muslim Turks. His reputation as a leader had seen him appointed a Russian commander, but after the November 1917 Russian revolution he had returned to the Lake Urmia region to continue as a leader of the Armenians and Assyrians, in their fight against the Turks.
The plan was for Savige and his small force to organise, train and lead the cornered soldiers and refugees, who would be slaughtered if they were not given military help. Petros was supposed to break through the Turkish blockades and link with Savige at the town of Sain Kala (Shahin Dezh), about 100 kilometres west of Zanjan. Then Savige and two army officers senior to him, Captain E. Crawley-Boevey (British) and Captain R.K. Nicol (a New Zealander), would take command in Urmia.
***
Savige was energised by the responsibility of leading the longest ever column of his Persian venture. After resting in depressing, famine-stricken Bijah, he was pleased to have an assignment, no matter how dangerous.
Savige and his men arrived at Sain Kala a day late, on 23 July, but Petros and the Armenians had not yet shown up.
Savige first bribed the local telegraph operator to bring them all the enemy traffic. Savige read through all the telegrams for the last two weeks and reported to Colonel Bridges. ‘Thus we soon ascertained that nothing was known of our movements . . .’
Savige took an armed cavalry guard into the town. ‘The people of the town were extremely hostile,’ he later noted, ‘and in many instances closed up their places of business in the bazaars. In order to obtain supplies of grain and food, the threat of commandeering our requirements was necessary before we could buy anything at all.’
The local governor arrived to greet the commanders the next morning and ‘assured us of his friendship and hospitality’, Savige would recall.
But that night Savige went through the telegrams for the day. The governor had informed the Turks that there was a force of ‘about seven hundred British troops’ in the town.
Savige appreciated the exaggeration. He had no more than 100 men.
The governor was ‘posing as a strong man’, Savige would write, ‘able to keep in hand such a big force’.
The response from the local Turkish commander was ‘couched in the usual glowing and fantastic language of the East’. In effect he told the governor to keep an eye on the British for a few days. Then the commander would ‘advance with his gallant troops. He would show the world how the troops of Allah could smash the infidel troops of England.’
Savige was circumspect but did not take the threat seriously.
***
Savige was learning much about Eastern ways, and soon absorbed the meaning of ‘never assume’, especially in relation to timing and planning. Petros still had not made it to Sain Kala by 25 July.
This tardiness led to a problem with the travelling animals. Food had to be found for them, but there was no local fodder. Colonel Bridges made the decision to return to Bijah.
Savige saw this as inefficient.
‘I would like permission to stay and patrol with my men along a stream to the lake [Urmia], Colonel,’ he told him.
‘Permission denied, Captain.’
‘Then may I and my men stay at Takan Tepe? It’s about 50 miles from here.’
‘Why, Captain?’
‘To conserve energy, and to attempt to recruit some locals. They look a strong and worthy lot and they don’t like the Turks. They would appreciate the extra silver too.’
‘It’s not because it is the best town in Northern Persia?’
‘It’s purely logistical, Colonel,’ Savige said with a smile, ‘but we do appreciate [the chance to see] the tree-lined boulevards.’
‘And the Persian women, Captain?
‘There won’t be time for any of that, Colonel.’
‘All right, you can stay. Good idea to raise a local band of cut-throats.’
‘I’d appreciate having a dozen of the cavalrymen stay with us, Colonel.’
‘You can have six, Captain.’
‘Did you say 10, Colonel?’
‘Eight and no more.’1
***
Savige moved his smaller force on to Takan Tepe. His first step was to visit the local governor. Following protocol, Savige and his party dined with the man, though unsure of his thoughts about them. Was he for or against the British?
Savige decided to drink Arak, the only alcoholic drink offered, and for three days after it had a hangover. Even though his teetotal days were well behind him, the Arak was enough to put him off spirits for a long time.
Despite the severe headache the next day, Savige managed to supervise patrolling, mapping, levy-making and the setting up of defences with his Lewis guns in case there was a Turkish attack.
On 1 August, Savige received news by wireless that Petros’s Armenians and Assyrians were engaged in a battle against the Muslim Turks, south of Lake Urmia.
Savige was galvanised into action. He relayed Petros’s plea for British assistance to Hamadan. A response came immediately from Dunsterville, since the general knew that if Petros was defeated, the Turks would massacre the 70,000 Christians in Urmia. They were not known for making exceptions.
Petros and his army were in part successful, and cleared a way through to Sain Kala. Petros, his turned-up moustache trim and his general’s uniform neatly pressed, at last met up with Savige and his men.
‘Agha Petros asked if the British Cavalry might ride ahead of his forces through that particular town [Sain Kala], knowing full well that the news of the British and Christians fighting together would be soon spread throughout the country . . . this was agreed to.’2
***
The party rode on for the rest of the day. On arriving at a large valley southwest of Sain Kala, where they were to spend the night, ‘we saw a crowd of people dressed differently from those we had seen in the town before,’ Savige would recall. ‘. . . Shortly afterwards Agha Petros rode up. On seeing these people his face blanched. For a moment or two he was unable to speak. Then turning in his saddle, he said, “My God! Here are my people! What calamity has happened during my absence?”’3
More surprises awaited them the next day.
‘At dawn next morning, it was seen that there were thousands in the valley, and along the road they were still streaming in thousands more,’ Savige would write. To subdue their panic, he and Petros ‘rode out some miles along the road over which they were coming’.
They learnt that, in Petros’s absence, the Turks had attacked and killed many of the Christians in Urmia, who had begun to stream away from the lake in an attempt to reach British protection. An Assyrian doctor who had managed to get out told Savige and Petros that a sizeable body of Turkish troops and Kurdish fighters were also raiding the evacuating column of refugees. They were carrying off young girls for their harems and looting as much as possible.
The refugees were being aided by a small group of brave missionaries, led by 53-year-old American Presbyterian missionary William Ambrose Shedd, who was ‘himself forming a rearguard to protect the column’. Dr Shedd’s father, Dr John Haskell Shedd, had arrived in Urmia as a missionary in 1859, and his son had spent his life in the region supporting the local Christians in their perpetual struggle for survival in hostile Muslim territory.
‘On receipt of this information my party volunteered to go out and act as a rearguard,’ Savige would recall, ‘while the cavalry remained behind to protect the people as they swarmed into the valley.’4
He did a deal with Petros. Savige would supply two officers, six sergeants, three Lewis machine guns and enough food for six days. In return Petros would supply 100 men to help them.
***
Savige’s party took off with Petros the next morning, with Petros now saying that his promised force would come along later. Savige again felt let down by the promises of Middle Easterners.
He and Petros soon ran into a problem: in the first village along the road, Armenian and Assyrian refugees were looting the homes and bazaars of local Persians. Savige sent for British military police at Sain Kala, and instructed them to ask the local governor to sort out the issue.
The group rode on. Further into the valley, the refugee numbers mounted. Yet instead of being concerned, Savige was inspired when the refugee men yelled supportively: ‘The English! The English!’ They fired their rifles in the air and kept voicing their approval of their ‘saviours’. The women just wept, struck their breasts and rushed to kiss anything they could on Savige and his men.
Their Christian ‘blessings’ added to Savige’s sense that he was doing the right thing in their defence. As he and the others continued along through the throng, Savige felt a surge of obligation towards them. Even if he never expressed it, he was riding on as if in the Crusades. He had a cause: to save the Christians from the pursuing Muslims, or as he later put it, ‘the cruel raids of the Turks’.
They rode on for 13 kilometres, and still Petros’s men did not appear.
‘What about those men of yours?’ Savige challenged Petros through an interpreter.
‘They will be here, don’t worry, Captain,’ Petros replied.
‘I want you to make a bigger effort to find them,’ an apprehensive Savige demanded.
Petros smiled.
‘Have faith, Captain, have faith.’
‘Oh, I have faith,’ Savige said, remaining calm, ‘but we’re getting reports that the Turks are close on the heels of the refugees. We hear that Dr Shedd and the other missionaries can’t hold on much longer.’
Petros demurred.
More intelligence reached Savige concerning two other forces of Turks and Kurds – 600 men altogether – who were in the region. They were likely to descend on the fleeing refugees, who would be easy pickings for killing and looting.
‘We must link up with Dr Shedd before he is overwhelmed,’ Savige told Petros. ‘We’ll have to do it without your men.’5