WAR DIARY
ARMY HEADQUARTERS, INDIA
(F. S. R., Part II, Section 140; and Staff Manual, War, Section 20)
I. E. F. D
Volume 60
(From 1st to 31 july 1919)
[1]
The Royal Institution The British Library: Private Papers and Records from the India Office.
The volume contains a chronological list of brief summaries of papers relating to the activities of the Force
Indian D Infantry (also known as Mesopotamian Expeditionary Force) 1–31
July 1919. Attached to the volume are appendices containing copies and extracts from these papers, which include: Telegrams
notes and tables.
An index of the contents of this volume is found on folios 3-7.
The volume deals with:
• Supply of food, weapons, building materials and other materials to Force D.
• Military personnel matters, including reinforcements, demobilization, travel and accommodation arrangements for families
Soldiers
• Establishment of railways in Mesopotamia
• Intelligence regarding plans for a national Islamic uprising after Ramadan.
• Discussion of the activities of the King-Crane Committee
• A discussion of the propaganda issued by Faisal Al-Hussein bin Ali Al-Hashemi in which he calls for “independence.”
the entirety of the Arabian Peninsula.
• British censorship of telegrams, photographs and newspapers
• Action D in surplus weapons
• A report on the situation in southern Kurdistan after the defeat and arrest of Sheikh Mahmoud Barzanji
• Financial management of Mesopotamia
• Issues related to the Mesopotamian government, including: Arab officials' demand for a “national civilian government.”
Khalsa in Mesopotamia”; British opposition to greater involvement of the local population in government;
The value of Mesopotamia in the context of broader British policy in the Middle East
• Assessment of the Political Resident in the Arabian Gulf of the situation in Basra and Nasiriyah (pp. 54-55)
• A discussion about aggression in central Kurdistan, including: the killing of administrative officials by a “local gendarmerie”;
Reports of Kurds near Amadiyah attacking Christian villages; British preparations
to pacify the county
• Appointment of Colonel William Navio Haskell to the position of Allied High Commissioner in Armenia
• Events in Persia, including: the surrender of prominent revolutionaries; activities of the Bakhtiari tribes; Attempts
Britain to recruit Persian Kurds to fight in the event of an invasion by the Bolsheviks.