pstrongDunsterforce and its campaign across the CaucasusstrongppbrppMost readers know that the principal adolescent who appeared in Rudyard Kipling's tale, 'Stalky and Co', was based on an actual person, Lionel Dunsterville, who was a school friend of the author. Stalky, the ring-leader of a roguish trio, was destined for a military career in India and so it was for Dunsterville. He served on the North-western Frontier and during the Boxer Rebellion in China. In 1917, during the First World War, Dunsterville was a major-general put in command of a small allied force originally of less than 500 effectives including British, Australian, Canadian and New Zealand troops- later joined by the 39supthsup Infantry Brigade together with 500 vans and armoured cars. The mission of this unit was to advance 350 km from Hamdan in the Zagros Mountains across Qajar Persia to gather intelligence and train local forces to replace Tsarist troops following the Russian revolution. In fact, the force actua