Page 635 - PERSIAN 9 1941_1947_Neat

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Major Nadir Khani was the Garrison Commander. Khorram-
shahr and Abadan, till 24th August, when he was relieved by,
Major Gulsari, who retained charge of this post for the rest
of the year*
Naw
Some of the Persian craft requisitioned by the British
authorities in 1941 were returned to the Persian Government
during the year. The motor-boat8 "Chinchilla” and "Karan"
were returned at Khorramshahr on the 20th ApriSi and the gun­
boats "Shahbaz", "Simorgh" and "Shahrukh", which were in the
service of the Koval Indian Navy during the war, arrived at
Khorramshahr on the 11th May escorted by the H.M.I.S. "Sona-
vati". They were handed over to a commission of 5 Persian
Naval Officers two days later by the Commanding Officer of
the "Sonavatd0 as representative of the Royal Indian Navy.
Since then, little or no effort has been made by the Persians
to man or nalntain the vessels, which have deteriorated
through disuse and gradually became unseaworthy.

In October, an effort was made by the authorities to
recondition the vessels for naval action against the tribes
around Buuhire, but only one gunboat was persuaded to get up
steam. After she had propelled herself down the Shatt-el-
Arab in a most erratic manner, it was discovered that she
carried no ammunition suitable for her 12-pounder guns, which
were of British make, and she therefore had to return to port.
It was decided during the year, that salvage operations
in respect of the two wrecked vessels - the "Palang” and “Hu-
mai° - should be an Admiralty commitment and, at the end of
the year, arrangements were made to accommodate the salvage
party on arrival.

The former Persian Naval Headquarters at Khorramshahr
were used as Military Barracks throughout the year. The Per­
sian Government however have since decided to revive the Per­
sian Navy and Colonel Zelli was appointed Naval Officer Com­
manding and arrived in Khorramshahr in December.
Security

On the transfer of responsibility for policing this
area from the Allies to the Persians, the sta te of internal
security deteriorated almost immediately. Armed robberies,
violent assaults and actv of hooliganism in Abadan and Khorraa­
shahr towns increased in number and audacity, and the Police
force proved to be quite insufficient in numbers and equipment
for the task of controlling the situation, which reached its
climax during the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company labour strike in
July and the subsequent riots, when British and Indian employ­
ees of the Company were frequently attacked and beaten up on
the roads. The imposition of Martial Law and a curfew did
little to improve the general security position, which was
aggravated by the arrest of the Chief or Police, Abadan, and
his deputy. This undesirable state of affairs was also due
in some measure to the activities of the Tudeh party, at whose
meetings blood-thirsty anti-British speeches,and threats
against the lives of Englishmen were utterea as an encourage­
ment to acts of violence and hooliganism. At one period, it
was suspected that weapons were actually being turned out by
members of the party in the Oil Company's workshops, but
surprise raids by the Company's Security Department failed to
substantiate this.
In October, when lawlessness in the Oil Refinery area

was /-