Battle of Jafarabad (1921)

Battle of Jafarabad
Part of Simko Shikak revolt (1918–1922)
Date 3 October 1921 Location Jafarabad, near Quchan, Khorasan, Iran Result Kurdish victory
Belligerents
Qajar state Government of Khorasan	Shikak Tribe
Commanders and leaders
Reza Shah Col. Pessian †	Simko Shikak Sardar Moazzaz Bojnurdi
Units involved
Gendarmerie	Irregular troops
Strength
150 Gendarmerie	More than 1,000
Casualties and losses
Several Gendarmes escaped, others were killed.	Unknown

The Battle of Jafarabad was part of the Simko Shikak revolt, which took place in Khorasan in 1921. Reza Khan sent 150 gendarmerie, led by Colonel Taqi Khan, to defeat Simko's forces. However, the gendarmerie ran out of ammunition and were defeated by Kurdish tribesmen, who killed all the gendarmerie, including Colonel Taqi Khan.[1][2][3][4][5][6]

Before battle

Mohammad Taqi Pessian On 3 April 1921 in a military coup with his small force of only 200 gendarmes, he had Ahmad Qavam, the Governor-general of Khorasan, arrested and sent him to Tehran where he was imprisoned. He then became head of the provincial Autonomous Government of Khorasan. In June, Ahmad Qavam was released from prison and became Premier of Iran. He was determined to take revenge & suppress Pessian. He did so by gaining the approval of Reza Khan & dispatching the Cossack forces to Khorasan. Having previously been the governor of that province, Qavam had developed a strong relationship with the local chieftains and dispatched them to confront Pessian also.

Battle

Sardar Mo’azez Khan Bojnurdi succeeded in gaining the cooperation of the Shirvan chieftains in mobilizing the kurds in Quchan. To combat this, Pessian gathered his scant forces to face the insurgency in Ja’farabad (near Quchan). In the fight that ensued some of the Gendarmes left the battle field. Many of Pessian's comrades were killed and he was eventually surrounded and beheaded.

Colonel Pessian Death

When the Kurdish tribesmen surrendered Gendarmerie forces, they shot Colonel Pessian in the head and decapitated him to show the government that he had been killed.[7]His head was brought to Tehran to prove that he had been killed.[2]

References

1. Foundation, Encyclopaedia Iranica. "Welcome to Encyclopaedia Iranica". iranicaonline.org. Retrieved 2024-12-03.
2. McDowall, David (2021-03-25). A Modern History of the Kurds. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-0-7556-0077-9.
3. Behnegarsoft.com (2016-01-19). "Colonel Pessian | IICHS". Institute For Iranian Contemporary Historical Studies | IICHS. Retrieved 2024-12-03.
4. Kia, Mehrdad (2023-11-19). The Clash of Empires and the Rise of Kurdish Proto-Nationalism, 1905–1926: Ismail Agha Simko and the Campaign for an Independent Kurdish State. Springer Nature. ISBN 978-3-031-44973-4.
5. Ward, Steven R. (15 January 2014). Immortal: A Military History of Iran and Its Armed Forces. Georgetown University Press. ISBN 978-1-62616-065-1.
6. Başkan, Birol (2014). From Religious Empires to Secular States: State Secularization in Turkey, Iran and Russia. Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-74351-8.
7. Foundation, Encyclopaedia Iranica. "Welcome to Encyclopaedia Iranica". iranicaonline.org. Retrieved 2024-12-03.