CAMPAIGN GROUPS AND PAIRS


On 14 July the force began its march on Lhasa, 155 miles away. There was some from slight opposition at Karo La where Gurkhas skirmished with Tibetans at an altitude of over 19,000 feet and a company of 40 Tibetans, led by an officer clad in blue silk, was annihilated by the Pathans. On 19 July they reached Yamdok Tso (the Turquoise Lake) and on the 21st crossed the Khambo La. The week from the 25th to the 31st was occupied in crossing the Tsangpo River, and on 3 August the expedition entered Lhasa. ‘I am wondering how the Dalai Lama feels now,’ recorded Preston in his diary, ‘he must be a bit sick about it all.’


At first the British feared an all-out attack from the 7,000 monks of Lhasa's three great monasteries. Therefore, when two sepoys from the Pathans were caught absent from their posts on sentry duty, an example was made of them; they were promptly court-martialled and sentenced to a flogging, a procedure which Preston found distasteful but necessary; ‘It was a beastly business and I don't want to see another scene like it. They had left their post while on sentry & had got 20 & 40 lashes each. I had to count each stroke and didn’t appreciate it at all. It is a good example to the rest of them and I hope it will be the last.’


A more welcome occupation for Captain Preston was to accompany Colonel Younghusband on his visit to the Chinese Amban (The Chinese Resident); ‘We were seated on chairs with crimson silk cushions and were given tea, cheroots and Huntley & Palmers biscuits. There were about 10 followers to the Amban and besides ourselves, these were the only people admitted. The Durbar lasted about 2 hours & consisted of talking about the Tibetans, their ways & manners, the terms to be imposed and a lot of other things. It was most interesting and one was able to judge what difficult tasks Colonel Younghusband and the Amban have to bring these people to reason.’


Captain Preston was also present at a Durbar when the Tibetans handed over two Sikkimese yak-herders who had been arrested on suspicion of spying for the British. Preston escorted the prisoners to one of the medical officers who inspected them and found no signs of ill-treatment. The two men were then taken back to the Durbar and told they were free; ‘It was good to see their smiles of pleasure’ Preston wrote.


Preston and the other military officers were accommodated in Lhalu Mansion, a three-storey mansion just outside the city. It was the property of one of the country's leading noblemen and had hurriedly been offered to Younghusband after he had let it be known that he was contemplating the requisition of the Norbulinka, the Dalai Lama's Summer Palace. Each officer had his own room; the rooms were described as very clean and spacious, with glass windows, and decorated with paintings considered as grotesque rather than beautiful.


The expedition spent seven weeks at Lhasa as negotiations proceeded. Preston and his comrades were the first Europeans to reach the holy city since two French priests in 1846. The troops occupied themselves in sports, fishing and sight-seeing. At first impressed by the majestic Potala Palace, they were quickly disgusted with the filth and smells of the city. The inhabitants were mostly friendly although a monk wearing a chain mail shirt under his robe stabbed two officers with a sword before being knocked unconscious by a Pathan cook wielding a frying pan.


Younghusband concluded a Treaty with the Tibetans which was signed at the Potala Palace on 7 September. The military escort paraded through the city, led by the pipers of the Gurkhas and Pathans. The treaty was signed in the private audience chamber of the Dalai Lama with the Tibetans, Chinese and Nepalese ambassador in brightly coloured silk robes, the British in their sober khaki uniforms. Following the ceremony, the British had to leave by descending a long, steep stairway which zigzagged down the exterior of the Potala. The flagstones were slippery and the humorous aspect of it did not escape Preston; ‘It was the funniest sight imaginable to see officers hanging on to the walls, Tommies, anything they could catch hold of.’


Towards the end of their stay in Lhasa a mail convoy had been ambushed and robbed, and this was assumed to be the work of Tibetan bandits. However, on the journey back to India one detachment passed by the scene of crime and, on examining the frozen bodies of the mule-drivers, discovered they had been shot by British military rifles. The most likely culprits were a detachment of Pathans attached to the Mounted Infantry. Not for nothing were the 40th Pathans also known as the 40 Thieves.


The expedition left Lhasa on 22 September. The Left Wing of the regiment remained to garrison Gyantse, the Chumbi Valley and Gangtok; the remainder (including Preston) returned to India in October and proceeded to their new station at Jhelum.


The Great War


On 27 February 1909, Preston transferred to the 2nd Battalion, 6 Gurkha Rifles, as a Double Company Commander, and on 9 September of that year was promoted Major. In September 1911 the Battalion marched to Chitral and remained there for two years.


On the outbreak of the Great War 2/6 GR was not one of the battalions immediately mobilised for active service. Many of the officers were assigned to New Army units in the United Kingdom, and throughout 1915 it supplied drafts of officers and men to 1/6 GR at Gallipoli. In 1915 there was unrest on the North West Frontier, particularly in the Mohmand country north of Peshawar and the Swat Valley. From 19 August to 5 September the battalion was on active service against rebellious tribesmen; after marching from Mardan to Rustam, the battalion participated in a minor action at Sarkawi and burnt Soria village. These operations were of interest as both cavalry charges and the first use of armoured cars in India took place.


On 3rd March 1916 2/6 GR left Peshawar by train for Karachi, where it embarked on H.M.T. Chakdara for Mesopotamia. It spent the next two years on this front and participated in successful operations against both the Turks and the local Arabs. However, at this stage Preston, who was promoted Lieutenant-Colonel in September 1917, was not serving with the battalion.


On 16 April 1918, Preston arrived from India to take command of 2/6 GR at Ramadi, near Baghdad. The Battalion remained at Ramadi throughout the summer and occupied itself with leave parties, a Divisional Training School, and fatigue duties. On 9 September the battalion was detached for transfer to Salonika; it arrived at Basra on the 22nd, and on 1 October embarked in H.M.T. Ellenga. As the ship swung around in the stream, the men gave three lusty cheers; few were sorry to see the last of a country of flies, heat and dust. After a voyage without incident, they disembarked at Salonika on 24 October. The Allies had invaded this area of Greece in an attempt to assist Serbia and attack Bulgaria but it had turned into another of the First World War's unsuccessful side-shows. However, by this stage of the war both Bulgaria and Turkey were on the verge of surrender. On 17 December 2/6 GR embarked once more, this time on H.M.T. Malva bound for the Caucasus. For his services in Mesopotamia Preston was mentioned in despatches (London Gazette 21 February 1919).


The Caucasus 1918-19


Throughout the First World War there was heavy fighting in the Caucasus mountains between the Turks and Russians and, in 1915, the Turks carried out extensive massacres of their Armenian population. With the collapse of the Russian front after the 1917 Revolutions, and then the surrender of the Turks, there was widespread anarchy in the area, as local committees declared independence and the Bolsheviks struggled to reassert their control. The British hoped to support an independent, anti-Bolshevik Armenia and committed a Division to Batum in December 1918.


On 23 December 1918, 2/6 GR disembarked at Batum, Georgia, and was billeted in a factory building. For the next few weeks they were occupied in unloading ships, guarding various places, and confiscating loot from the departing Turks. On 5 February they travelled by train to Tiflis. In late March Preston and an escort of 30 went to Kars in Turkish Armenia, where he was appointed Military Governor; the remainder of the Battalion joined him there on 7 March.


At Kars it fell to Colonel Preston's lot to organise and carry out a coup d'etat. At the time the Battalion arrived there was a Government of South West Caucasia exercising jurisdiction, but this entity was not recognised by the British who considered Kars to be under the authority of the Armenian Parliament. At 4-15 pm on 12 April A Company and No. 13 platoon surrounded the new and old Parliament Houses respectively; No. 14 platoon surrounded the houses of suspected persons, and a lieutenant and ten men seized the telegraph office. At the appointed time Colonel Preston strode into the new Parliament House and announced, ‘I declare martial law in this room.’


www.dnw.co.uk


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88  |  Page 89  |  Page 90  |  Page 91  |  Page 92  |  Page 93  |  Page 94  |  Page 95  |  Page 96  |  Page 97  |  Page 98  |  Page 99  |  Page 100  |  Page 101  |  Page 102  |  Page 103  |  Page 104  |  Page 105  |  Page 106  |  Page 107  |  Page 108  |  Page 109  |  Page 110  |  Page 111  |  Page 112  |  Page 113  |  Page 114  |  Page 115  |  Page 116  |  Page 117  |  Page 118  |  Page 119  |  Page 120  |  Page 121  |  Page 122  |  Page 123  |  Page 124  |  Page 125  |  Page 126  |  Page 127  |  Page 128  |  Page 129  |  Page 130  |  Page 131  |  Page 132  |  Page 133  |  Page 134  |  Page 135  |  Page 136  |  Page 137  |  Page 138  |  Page 139  |  Page 140  |  Page 141  |  Page 142  |  Page 143  |  Page 144  |  Page 145  |  Page 146  |  Page 147  |  Page 148  |  Page 149  |  Page 150  |  Page 151  |  Page 152  |  Page 153  |  Page 154  |  Page 155  |  Page 156  |  Page 157  |  Page 158  |  Page 159  |  Page 160  |  Page 161  |  Page 162  |  Page 163  |  Page 164  |  Page 165  |  Page 166  |  Page 167  |  Page 168  |  Page 169  |  Page 170  |  Page 171  |  Page 172  |  Page 173  |  Page 174  |  Page 175  |  Page 176  |  Page 177  |  Page 178  |  Page 179  |  Page 180  |  Page 181  |  Page 182  |  Page 183  |  Page 184  |  Page 185  |  Page 186  |  Page 187  |  Page 188  |  Page 189  |  Page 190  |  Page 191  |  Page 192  |  Page 193  |  Page 194  |  Page 195  |  Page 196  |  Page 197  |  Page 198  |  Page 199  |  Page 200  |  Page 201  |  Page 202  |  Page 203  |  Page 204  |  Page 205  |  Page 206  |  Page 207  |  Page 208  |  Page 209  |  Page 210  |  Page 211  |  Page 212  |  Page 213  |  Page 214  |  Page 215  |  Page 216  |  Page 217  |  Page 218  |  Page 219  |  Page 220  |  Page 221  |  Page 222  |  Page 223  |  Page 224  |  Page 225  |  Page 226  |  Page 227  |  Page 228  |  Page 229  |  Page 230  |  Page 231  |  Page 232  |  Page 233  |  Page 234  |  Page 235  |  Page 236  |  Page 237  |  Page 238  |  Page 239  |  Page 240  |  Page 241  |  Page 242  |  Page 243  |  Page 244  |  Page 245  |  Page 246  |  Page 247  |  Page 248  |  Page 249  |  Page 250  |  Page 251  |  Page 252  |  Page 253  |  Page 254  |  Page 255  |  Page 256  |  Page 257  |  Page 258  |  Page 259  |  Page 260  |  Page 261  |  Page 262  |  Page 263  |  Page 264  |  Page 265  |  Page 266  |  Page 267  |  Page 268  |  Page 269  |  Page 270  |  Page 271  |  Page 272  |  Page 273  |  Page 274  |  Page 275  |  Page 276  |  Page 277  |  Page 278  |  Page 279  |  Page 280  |  Page 281  |  Page 282  |  Page 283  |  Page 284  |  Page 285  |  Page 286  |  Page 287  |  Page 288  |  Page 289  |  Page 290  |  Page 291  |  Page 292  |  Page 293  |  Page 294  |  Page 295  |  Page 296  |  Page 297  |  Page 298  |  Page 299  |  Page 300  |  Page 301  |  Page 302  |  Page 303  |  Page 304  |  Page 305  |  Page 306  |  Page 307  |  Page 308  |  Page 309  |  Page 310  |  Page 311  |  Page 312  |  Page 313  |  Page 314  |  Page 315  |  Page 316  |  Page 317  |  Page 318  |  Page 319  |  Page 320  |  Page 321  |  Page 322  |  Page 323  |  Page 324  |  Page 325  |  Page 326  |  Page 327  |  Page 328  |  Page 329  |  Page 330  |  Page 331  |  Page 332  |  Page 333  |  Page 334  |  Page 335