IMAGI-NATIONS. PART 32.

 IRAN STRIKES BACK.

In early November 1885 a small force of mostly Iranian regular soldiers led by a Colonel Suleiman was moving carefully to the east of the main road to Tehran foraging for supplies among the deserted villages in the area. They had escaped the slaughter of the battle in October and now sought a suitable target for a revenge strike against UNION supply lines. Suleiman knew that the small amount of  ammunition they had would give them only one or two opportunities for battle so he had to select a target very carefully. The main road was crowded with UNION supply columns and patrolled by UNION field police. In addition UNION Pioneers were sweeping north destroying villages, cutting down trees and blowing up wells in the rear of the UNION front line.  They were accompanied by large numbers of Mexican cowboys who rounded up livestock and drove the herds south, even Mexico would gain revenge on Iran. None of these offered a good attack option. As they moved further north Suleiman noted that some of the columns were pulling off the road, forming camps and then convoys of wagons from the north arrived and supplies were transferred. These camps were clearly "refilling points" for the wagons of front line units.

Just after dawn on 26th November Suleiman's force located a large UNION supply park just being established about a mile from the main road. Wagons started arriving about mid morning from the north to collect supplies. He decided to attack at lunch time. His force of almost 1,000 carefully surrounded the UNION camp and at noon the attack began. The UNION force consisted of two Quartermaster Transport companies together with about 40 wagons from various battalions of the 20th Infantry brigade. In total about 800 UNION soldiers were present.

The first volley of gunfire caused heavy casualties among the UNION soldiers who were busy loading wagons. Chaos and confusion reigned as UNION soldiers rushed to take cover, grab their rifles and return fire on the largely unseen enemy. After several minutes of heavy firing Suleiman's troops started to rush the wagons. Vicious hand to hand fighting broke out in a number of locations around the camp. Soon the battle became a series of confused individual fights around and among the wagons with horses being shot and trying to get away and dragging wagons around, men shouting and screaming. and smoke from wagons catching fire . Gradually UNION resistance faded as more and more fell. After about an hour it was all over. The Iranians maintained the practice now usual in the war of taking no prisoners. The wounded were killed where they lay although none were mutilated, that being the practice of Republican Guards rather than regulars. Some 807 UNION dead were subsequently recovered together with 442 Iranian dead.

Suleiman ordered his troops to dispatch those of their own wounded who could not march, ransack the wagons for supplies especially arms and ammunition and then around 4pm they marched away to the north east. A UNION field police patrol along the main road saw smoke rising from the burning wagons around the same time. They cautiously advanced along the side road to arrive on the battlefield only a matter of minutes after Suleiman's soldiers had moved away. Immediately word was sent to Command of the massacre. The field police platoon followed Suleiman's trail until nightfall then returned to the scene of the massacre. By then a Pioneer battalion had arrived together with UNION medical teams. The dead were buried and Quartermaster units arrived to secure those vehicles not burned and such horses as remained alive.

Next morning the UNION 19th Pioneer battalion was on the trail of Suleiman's force. Over the coming days the pursuit continued until 4th December when the UNION troops fell into a carefully laid ambush. Once again the initial volleys caused considerable losses among the Pioneers but they soon formed defensive positions and their superior firepower began to tell.  Suleiman broke off the battle and continued his withdrawal again dispatching his badly wounded. The rest of the day the Pioneers tended to their 47 wounded and buried 29 dead as well as 42 dead Iranians. On 6th December the pursuit resumed. By then Suleiman was coming close to the UNION front line which was then less than 30 miles from Tehran. He realised that the best route would be to move to the east of the city, around the outskirts and enter the city from the north.

This strategy he carried out and his force of now only 460 entered the city on 8th December. The  UNION Pioneers stopped their pursuit as they came level with the UNION front line. Suleiman was greeted as a hero. His exploits were seen as a great victory against the hated UNION and he was promoted general on the spot and given command of the defense of Tehran. That done the government left the city joining the flood of refugees fleeing towards Iraq.

The exhausted Suleiman now faced the greatest challenge possible. With some 90,000 mostly untrained militia he was expected to holds Tehran against the most powerful army ever seen in Tian.