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"The information contained in this pamphlet is based on experience of operating eight GPT Coys RIASC [General Purpose Transport Companies, Royal Indian Army Service Corps] under Command of a HQ L of C [Line of Communication] Transport Column RASC [Royal Army Service Corps] on the 'Aid to Russia' route through Persia".
Original black printed white wraps 15x20cm. Printed by Printing and Stationery Services, Paiforce. (2), 19pp including 10 b/w photos taken along the route, complete with b/w folding map (a second copy of this same map is bound in presumably in error). Good with chip to the lower edge of the front wrap (not affecting titles), light creasing and some foxing to the interiors. Map neatly folded. The previous owner, a Captain Rose, has written his name neatly to the front. Extremely rare, with Worldcat locating only 1 institutional copy (OCLC 1385347825: UP enn); not recorded by Library Hub.
This describes the British Army Persia and Iraq Force (Paiforce) contribution to building and running one of the major aid routes to Russia during WW2. It formed part of the Persian Corridor, built and operated with the US Persian Gulf Command, which used it to deliver Lend-Lease supplies. Built at short notice while Germany was threatening the Caucasus, it involved shipping supplies to the Gulf via the Cape of Good Hope, and proved more reliable than the Arctic and Pacific routes. Paiforce was based in Baghdad with Company HQs at Khanaqin.
Dated November 1944 from the map, this was apparently issued to inform ongoing operations. It details the hastily built organisation "to meet the abnormal conditions of the route". The challenges were huge, with the unnamed author noting that "Staging and other facilities on the route were at first almost nil, and repair facilities were available at only two points --- and in view of the lack of medical units en route, the first convoys were accompanied by a MO [Medical Officer] and an ambulance car" (p1). The convoy travelled 688 miles from the Southern Terminal at Khanaqin to the Northern Terminal at Tabriz, which connected with the railway to the Soviet border. Its Road Staging Posts were at Kermanshah, Hamzahabad, Hamadan, Manian, Takestan, Zanjan, and Miyaneh.
The Introduction gives a general description, summarising major challenges including terrain and road building; weather extremes (-10 to 125F, blazing sun, dust storms, heavy snow, blizzards, tropical intensity rain and floods); different administrations traversed (Iraq and Persia under British and Russian control), traffic control (divided between the US, British and Russians coordinated by a Highway Traffic Committee); and administrative arrangements. The chapters detail Organisation, Operation, Maintenance, Recovery, Communications, Staging Posts, Rations, POL (petroleum, oil, lubricants), Clothing, Vehicles, and Topography.
The photos were taken in the desert 10 miles from Khanaqin, and at Paitak-Karind Road, Bisitun Plane, Aveh Pass, Qizil Uzun, Kuh-i-Sahand, and Shibli Pass, indicating their mileages from the Southern Terminal.
The map, approx 40 miles to 1 inch, prepared by 83 Reproduction Group I.E. in August 1944, is here reprinted by them in November. It shows the entire convoy route with railways (metre and 5 ft gauges) and passes with heights. Notes for each Road Staging Post identify Hospital or Medical Post with MO, Medical Post without MO, Recovery Detachment, Workshop, POL Reserve Rations, and mileage from the Southern Terminal.
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