num_pages: 380
description: Dunsterforce was named after its intrepid commander, Major-General Lionel Charles Dunsterville. It was a small, secret expedition – known from its clandestine nature as “the Hush-Hush army” – sent to the Caucasus at the end of 1917 in a bid to thwart Turkish encroachment into the region, hinder Russia's Bolsheviks and forestall any Russian attempts to move south into Persia or export revolution to British-ruled India. Small and ill-supplied, Dunsterforce made up for its weakness with the personal dash of its commander, who had already been immortalised in literature as “Stalky” in Rudyard Kipling’s public school tales. Kipling and Dunsterville had been schoolmates at United Services College at Westward Ho! in Devon. Dunsterville’s own book has plenty of derring-do as the general and his subordinate officers (who led sub-expeditions) dealt with the Kurdish, Persian and Cossack tribesmen throughout the vast mountainous area between the Black and Caspian Seas. In the end, Dunsterforce found itself battling in vain to save the oil rich town of Baku from the Turks until lack of resources and the fatal disunity among his allies compelled the force to withdraw with their mission unfulfilled. This colourful memoir, reflecting the charismatic character of its author, is an important source for anyone interested in the great power rivalry between Russia and Britain; in British intervention in Bolshevik Russia, and the unorthodox military campaigns of history.
language: English
title: The Adventures of Dunsterforce
publisher: Naval & Military Press Ltd