the British later used to help decipher the Zimmermann Telegram.
His plan to extend the anti-British campaign to India also had to
be abandoned because of the loss of specially prepared incendiary
leaflets.
After establishing a base of operations in Shiraz, he resumed
contact with his principal allies, the bellicose Tangistani tribesmen,
but proved unable to lure the leaders of the Bakhtiári into hostilities
against the British. A bounty for Wassmuss’s capture was proposed
by Percy Cox, the chief British political officer in Basra, but was
overruled by the Foreign Office in London. When the Tangistani at-
tacked the British residency in Bushire in July, they were repulsed.
Wassmuss’s focus then shifted to Isfahan, the new base of operations,
and Kermanshah, which controlled the supply route from Baghdad
into the country. He next targeted the small, isolated British consulate
in Shiraz relying on the local gendarmerie, which was sympathetic
to his efforts. The British commander, Frederick O’Connor, and his
staff were easily captured and were to be traded for Germans being
held in India. Yet in the process of negotiating with the British, Was-
smuss unknowingly let O’Connor, a former Indian Army intelligence
officer, communicate with his superiors in Bushire employing a
secret code. These officials approached the Tangistani and offered
to trade fellow tribesmen held prisoners for the British hostages.
When the exchange finally took place on 10 August 1916, Was-
smuss vented his deep frustration that his plan regarding the German
hostages had been thwarted. He remained at large in Persia for the
remainder of the war, proving to be primarily a nuisance rather than
a threat to British interests. O’Connor described him as a solitary
figure living “in extreme simplicity in the native manner” and riding
“continuously about the country, from place to place, from tribe to
tribe, in every extreme of climate, and always at the mercy of these
treacherous, fanatical people.”
Apprehended by Persian authorities in 1918 and transferred to the
British in Tehran, Wassmuss escaped but was quickly recaptured.
Despite demands for a trial for war crimes, he was permitted to return
to Germany. Aware of his unfulfilled promises to the Tangistani,
Wassmuss tried to bring modern farming techniques to the tribes-
men and raise their standard of living. His attempt ended badly, and482 • WASSMUSS, WILHELM