IOR/L/MIL/7/16933

This file contains correspondence relating to the withdrawal of the Malleson Mission from east Persia [Iran]. It includes:

• Summaries of reports from Major General Wilfrid Malleson concerning Bolshevik activities in Central Asia, including Transcaspia, the Caspian Sea, Afghanistan, Bokhara [Bukhara], Samarkand, and Tashkent, and the best way to counter the Bolshevik advance and influence
• Discussions regarding the extent of British support required to prevent a Bolshevik attack on Persia
• Reinforcements for the Malleson Mission
• Requests for aeroplanes and armoured cars to be supplied to the Malleson Mission, and discussions about the extension of railway lines in the region. It includes a report ‘Trade Routes to Khurasan [Khorasan]’, by Lieutenant Barnard Temple, Vice-Consul at Meshed [Mashhad], dated 14 June 1919 (ff 425-432)
• Concerns about the cost of maintaining the Malleson Mission, and which Government department this should fall upon
• The decision to withdraw the Malleson Mission, and the timescale and expense required for this
• The maintenance of a Consular Escort at Meshed, and the subsequent reduction in its size.

The main correspondents are: the Government of India, the India Office, the War Office, the Foreign Office, and Sir Percy Cox, British Minister at Teheran [Tehran].

The file contains two maps: ‘Archangel-Herat Sketch Map’ (f 423) and ‘Persia and Afghanistan’ (f 433).