Chapter 9: The Persian Corridor
The rapid advance of Axis armies across the Soviet Union and North Africa in the summer of 1941 threatened the security of the Middle East. In August British and Soviet forces moved into Iran, the former occupying the area from Tehran to the Persian Gulf, and the latter the territory north of Tehran. The British had only recently put down a revolt in Iraq and were busily engaged in expanding their defensive forces in that area. Not yet a belligerent, the United States undertook to bolster the British and Soviet efforts through the medium of lend-lease. In the fall of 1941 U.S. military missions were dispatched to the Iran-Iraq area, as well as to North Africa and the Soviet Union, to provide technical advice and assistance in the receipt, utilization, and transportation of lend-lease materials.
The Significance of the Persian Corridor in Allied Strategy
Initially, the Persian Gulf was more important as an avenue for the support of British forces in Iraq and Iran than as a supply route to the USSR.1 In conformity with the desires of the USSR, the bulk of the Soviet lend-lease materials shipped by the British and Americans to fulfill commitments under the First Protocol of October 1941 moved across the North Atlantic to Archangel and Murmansk or via the Pacific to Siberian ports. Only a limited number of trucks and aircraft were routed to the Persian Gulf for assembly and delivery through the Persian Corridor, the territory between the Persian Gulf and the Caspian Sea. (Map 7)
The U.S. Military Iranian Mission (USMIM), created in September 1941, served as an auxiliary of the British both in supporting their forces and in the delivery of supplies to the USSR. Elaborate projects planned by the mission were designed to accomplish both purposes, but these were severely curtailed by the shipping shortage and the lower priority given the area after Pearl Harbor. Upon arrival of the first small group of American operating personnel in February 1942, the U.S. Army concentrated its efforts on the construction of port facilities at Umm Qasr, in Iraq, a project designed to improve the British Basra–Baghdad line of communications. In April 1942, however, the War Department ordered abandonment of work on Umm Qasr and gave first priority to projects that would assist the British in moving supplies to the USSR, including port and road construction and
Map 7: The Persian Corridor
the assembly of trucks, aircraft, and barges. These activities, performed by American civilian contractors under the supervision of USMIM and its successor, the Iran-Iraq Service Command, were slow in development, principally because of the scarcity of shipping and the area’s low priority.2
The April 1942 decision marked the beginning of an increasing emphasis on the use of the Persian Corridor for the delivery of lend-lease materials to the USSR. In view of the growing difficulty in getting convoys through to Murmansk because of weather conditions and enemy action, the Allies were compelled to place greater reliance on shipments to the Persian Gulf. In May the British and Americans assumed commitments under the Second Protocol to deliver 1,000,000 short tons via the Persian Gulf route during the year ending 30 June 1943.
This movement alone would have necessitated considerable expansion of Iranian transportation facilities, but by midsummer of 1942 a crisis developed that resulted in the imposition of an even greater burden on the supply line. Submarine and air attacks on the Murmansk route, committed to deliver 3,000,000 short tons, had caused the curtailment of convoys in the spring and dictated their discontinuance in July. To complicate matters, the United States and Great Britain found that they would be unable to mount a cross-Channel invasion and decided to undertake a North African campaign. Faced with the problem of confronting the USSR with the postponement of the cross-Channel operation and the discontinuance of convoys on the northern route, Allied leaders intensified their interest in developing other less vulnerable supply routes to the Soviet Union.
Of the various substitute routes, only the Persian Gulf offered a good alternative to the northern one. The Pacific route, the only other sea line of communications capable of rapid expansion, was limited to the movement of nonmilitary supplies since the USSR was not at war with Japan, and there was no certainty that Japan would continue to permit ships to reach Soviet ports. The air ferry routes via Alaska and Siberia and across the Atlantic via Africa and Iran were limited to the delivery of aircraft. On the other hand, the Persian Gulf route, although long and expensive and limited in its overland capacity, was relatively secure and could be used for the shipment of war materials.
The British, who controlled and operated Iranian transportation facilities south of Tehran, possessed neither the manpower nor the equipment required to handle greatly increased tonnage for the Soviet Union in addition to essential British and Iranian needs. Necessarily hasty planning on the highest levels in Washington and London and in Army headquarters in Iran and Egypt was distilled into a plan by the Services of Supply that provided for the transfer to the U.S. Army of the job of maintaining and increasing deliveries to the USSR. After the Combined Chiefs of Staff approved the plan in September 1942, preparations were made to effect the early transfer to Iran of enough American troops and equipment to move Soviet-aid materials in excess of 200,000 long tons a month through the Corridor. On 12 August 1942 the Iran-Iraq Service Command had been redesignated the Persian Gulf Service Command, and a
headquarters was set up in Washington to plan for the movement and take command of the expanded force in Iran.
With the arrival of the first large body of troops in December 1942, the Army command in Iran commenced the process of taking over rail and pertinent port operations from the British, took steps to organize an American motor transport service, and undertook the expansion and militarization of assembly and construction projects already set up to expedite the flow of goods to the Soviet Union. Ultimately, a service force of 30,000 American troops and a considerable amount of American rail, motor, and other equipment were committed directly to or in support of the transportation mission.
For reasons which will be discussed subsequently, the transfer of men and materials to Iran was delayed and there was a lag in the development of the Persian Corridor. The disappointing rate of increase in deliveries to the USSR in the first months of 1943 proved embarrassing for the western Allies in their relations with the Soviet Union, but by midyear transport facilities in Iran were reaching a point of development whence they could go on to meet goals set earlier in the year. In October 1943 Soviet-aid deliveries through the Persian Corridor exceeded 200,000 long tons, roughly the commitment under the Third Protocol for combined monthly shipments via the Persian Gulf and the northern routes. Thereafter, the Persian Corridor was capable of fulfilling its strategic mission of handling the bulk of the war materials destined for the USSR.
The Persian Corridor reached the peak of its development in the summer of 1944, but an improved strategic situation soon robbed it of its importance. The northern route, used only intermittently after July 1942, was reopened on a year-round basis in July 1944, and the Black Sea ports became accessible by the end of the year. Together with the greatly expanded Pacific route and shipments to Soviet arctic ports, these routes could meet and exceed commitments without resort to the Persian Gulf. The possibility of Japanese interference with the Pacific route, however, necessitated retention of Army operations in the Persian Corridor, albeit on a greatly curtailed basis. Beginning in late 1944 successive reductions were made in shipping dispatched to the Persian Gulf, and activities in Iran were scaled down accordingly. The U.S. Army mission of transporting supplies to the USSR through the Persian Corridor was finally terminated on 1 June 1945, leaving only the tasks of evacuating personnel and disposing of surplus property, equipment, and supplies.
The U.S. Army’s role in the Persian Corridor was indispensable in terms of global strategy. Of the nearly 5,150,000 long tons of Soviet-aid materials moved over this supply line between early 1942 and the end of May 1945, over four fifths were delivered during the period of American operation. The Persian Gulf ranked second only to the Pacific route in the movement of Soviet-aid shipments from the Western Hemisphere, and third if United Kingdom and British Empire shipments to the Soviet Union are included.3 Since the Pacific route was confined to shipments of nonmilitary supplies, it was the Persian Gulf and the transport
facilities of the Persian Corridor that made possible the delivery of urgently needed war materials to the Eastern Front during the period when convoys to Murmansk and Archangel were discontinued or operated intermittently.
The Period of British Operation
The Persian Corridor was far from an imposing supply line when Iran was occupied. Situated approximately 12,000 miles from U.S. ports via the Cape of Good Hope, the Corridor contained few good ports and extremely limited transport to the interior. Extremes of climate, desert and mountainous terrain, the presence of hostile tribesmen and bandits, and the pro-Nazi sentiments of a significant number of Iranians all added to the difficulties of the route.4
The hub of British transportation activities in the area was the Iraqi city of Basra, at the southern terminus of a meter-gauge railway leading to Baghdad. Basra was served by the fairly modern port of Margil, situated approximately eighty-five miles north of the head of the Persian Gulf on the left side of the Shatt-al-Arab River. Under British operation, Margil by late 1942 developed a capacity for discharging about 5,000 long tons a day at twelve berths and by lighter from anchorage. The port was used primarily to meet British needs along the Basra—Baghdad line of communications, with incoming Soviet-aid shipments accounting for but a minor part of the total cargo discharged. Lacking direct access to Iranian rail and highway facilities, Margil shipped forward Soviet-aid cargoes by rail, barge, and road to Khanaqin in Iraq for onward movement by truck to Tabriz in northern Iran. Some supplies landed at Margil were transshipped by barge to Cheybassi (Tanuma), an Iraqi lighterage basin on the east side of the river opposite Margil, to supply British military installations in the vicinity.
The only other developed port in the area was on the Iranian island of Abadan, the site of the world’s largest oil refinery, located thirty-two miles below Margil and owned by the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company. Here, the availability of a large floating crane made possible the discharge of heavy equipment from vessels to lighters that then moved upstream to barge docks at Khorramshahr or Ahwaz. Beginning in April 1942, when an American assembly plant was established on the island, the port also discharged cased aircraft.
The remaining Iranian ports were limited in berthing facilities, cargo-handling equipment, and storage space. Khorramshahr, destined to become the principal American port, was in early 1942 little more than an anchorage. Situated southeast of Margil on the east bank of the Shatt-al-Arab just above its junction with the Karun River, Khorramshahr had a single concrete deepwater berth, Sentab Jetty, which in April 1942 was cluttered with construction materials. Cargo was lightered from ships at anchor and unloaded at this berth, landed at Customs Jetty, or moved up the Karun River to Ahwaz, the railhead 110 miles to the north. During 1942 the British took over operations from a civilian firm and assigned port troops to augment native labor and supervise cargo-handling operations. The U.S. Army completed three woodpile berths at Sentab Jetty and started a fourth before the end of the year,
while the British built lighterage facilities at Failiyah Creek about a mile and a half above Sentab Jetty, completed a branch rail line from Ahwaz to Khorramshahr, and built tracks into both vessel and barge berths to permit direct discharge into rail cars. Expansion of port operations, however, was slow because of the construction work and the shortage of cargo-handling equipment, switching engines, and rail cars. In October 1942 Khorramshahr discharged only 23,293 long tons, less than half of it tonnage for the USSR.
Initially the most important of the Iranian ports, Bandar Shahpur was located on the Khor Musa, a Persian Gulf inlet about forty-five miles east of Khorramshahr, and was the southern terminus of the Iranian State Railway (ISR). The port was situated on a small reclaimed area, surrounded except to seaward by mud flats that were submerged at high tides. It had a narrow rail-served jetty, capable of berthing one large or two small vessels, and one lighterage wharf. In March 1942 its estimated receiving capacity was 15,000 tons of general cargo and 2,000 trucks a month. The British began construction of three additional berths, a project scheduled for completion in June 1942 but still unfinished at the end of that year.
At Ahwaz, sixty-seven miles by rail north of Bandar Shahpur, two barge terminals, jointly operated by the British Tenth Army and the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company, handled Iranian civil and British military cargo barged up the Karun River from Khorramshahr, Margil, and Abadan. The only other Iranian port of consequence was Bushire, a small lighterage port on the west coast of the Persian Gulf that was the site of a British truck assembly plant and the southern terminal of a truck convoy route to Tehran. Before the American assembly plant was opened at Andimeshk in the spring of 1942, Bushire received shipments of American trucks and truckable cargo. Thereafter, Bushire was used to discharge trucks that could not be handled at American assembly plants and some cargo.
Control of shipping and port operation was exercised largely through the Basra Port Directorate, an Iraqi agency controlled by the British. In October 1941 the War Transport Executive Committee (WTEC) was established in the Basra Port Directorate Office to take over control of the assignment of ships and schedule their unloading. The WTEC was headed by the British Ministry of War Transport representative at Basra and included representatives of the British Tenth Army. Later, the British Inland Water Transport Agency, the U.S. naval observer at Basra, the American War Shipping Administration, and the U.S. Army were given representation on the committee.5
The principal means of inland clearance from Iranian ports was the Iranian State Railway, a government-owned line placed in operation in 1939. The 865-mile trunk line of this standard-gauge, single-track railroad linked Bandar Shahpur with the Caspian Sea port of Bandar Shah, passing through Tehran en route. Branch lines totaling 468 miles joined Tehran with Mianeh to the northwest and Shahrud to the northeast. The railway
traversed varied and difficult terrain. The main line extended northward from Bandar Shahpur through marshlands and the Khuzistan Desert to Andimeshk. The line north of Andimeshk crossed the Zagros Mountains, climbing to altitudes in excess of 7,000 feet. This section was heavily tunneled, steep, and subject to landslides and snowslides. Emerging on a high plateau, the line went on to Tehran, 575 miles from the southern terminus. After a dip southeastward to Garmsar, the line resumed its northward course, crossing the Elburz Mountains. Then, negotiating steep grades, sharp curves, and numerous switchbacks, the railroad finally descended to fairly level country and proceeded eighty miles to Bandar Shah.
Shortly after the occupation in August 1941, the British took over the portion of the ISR between the Persian Gulf and the north switch at Tehran, and the Russians assumed control of the remainder of the line. During the following year, the British assigned a military force of 4,000 to supervise, regulate, and assist the Iranian operation of the railway. They doubled the ISR’s rolling stock and motive power by importing British and American equipment, completed a 77-mile branch line from Ahwaz to Khorramshahr, and built a 27-mile connecting line from this branch to Cheybassi. In the period from August through December 1942, the daily average of all freight hauled by the ISR was 1,530 long tons a day, over seven times the traffic before the occupation, and in September 1942 the volume of Soviet-aid freight reached a high of 790 long tons a day.6
Highways accounted for the other important form of interior transport. Although the British military hauled some of its own cargo, it relied heavily on the United Kingdom Commercial Corporation (UKCC), a quasi-governmental agency, to provide motor transport for the support of British forces and to deliver Soviet-aid materials. During the period of British operation, the UKCC used four principal routes. The most important extended from the Andimeshk railhead through Khurramabad, Hamadan, and Kazvin to Tabriz. This route, later to be taken over by the Americans, was operated by the UKCC beginning in April 1942 and was probably the most active for Soviet-aid purposes. A second route was used to move assembled trucks 1,179 miles from Bushire via Shiraz, Isfahan, and Tehran to Tabriz, the Soviet transfer point where freight was hauled by rail into the USSR.
The two other UKCC routes originated outside Iran. The so-called Khanaqin Lift involved the shipment of cargo from Basra to Khanaqin in Iraq where UKCC vehicles picked up freight for delivery to Tabriz via Hamadan and Kazvin. At first this supply line was used principally for British military purposes, but beginning in late 1942 the UKCC used the Khanaqin Lift increasingly for Soviet-aid deliveries and ultimately concentrated all its motor transport activities on this route. The fourth UKCC route was the Karachi—Zahidan—Meshed route. Supplies, originating in India, were moved from Karachi to Zahidan by rail and then trucked to Meshed, for delivery to Ashkabad in Soviet Turkestan. Since the delivery point was far distant from the fighting front, shipments were made irregularly during 1942, and finally ceased in late 1943.
A Soviet motor transport operation was inaugurated shortly after the opening of an American plant for the assembly of lend-lease vehicles at Andimeshk in March 1942. Although the British were reluctant to permit Soviet activities in their zone, they accepted the American point of view and permitted Soviet drivers to take over the vehicles at the assembly plant. The trucks were loaded with cargo at Andimeshk, and then traveled north via the CMT (cased motor trucks) route, following the UKCC route as far as Malayer, where they turned northeastward to Tehran.7
All barge and lighterage operations were conducted by the Inland Water Transport (IWT), a branch of the British Tenth Army established in October 1941. To assist in these activities, the U.S. Army established a barge assembly plant at Kuwait, and by the end of 1942 had assembled 186 prefabricated barges that had arrived from the United States. By June 1943, when the plant was closed, 368 barges had been assembled and turned over to the British.8
The Russians moved cargoes from the transfer points to ports on the Caspian Sea for delivery by vessel or barge to Soviet territory, or to Tabriz for rail movement to Baku. All nontruckable supplies and a large proportion of other freight were carried on the Soviet-operated portion of the ISR from Tehran to Bandar Shah, the only Caspian Sea port with rail connections. In some instances freight was shipped northwestward by rail from Tehran to Mianeh and thence trucked by the Russians to Tabriz. Assembled trucks delivered to Tehran moved, after American inspection, to Tabriz or to the Caspian Sea ports of Nau Shahr, Astara, and Pahlevi.9
The improvements effected by the British were noteworthy, but they were inadequate after the decision to use the Persian Gulf as a primary route for the supply of the USSR. The British lacked the facilities, the resources, and the organization to handle the large increases in shipping routed to the Persian Gulf beginning in May 1942. As increasingly heavy Soviet-aid shipments arrived in the fall and winter, they soon outran the capacity of the Persian Gulf ports and the inland transportation facilities. Khorramshahr and, to a lesser extent, Bandar Shahpur became congested. Margil, heavily involved in meeting British military needs, could offer little relief. As a result, ships were tied up for weeks awaiting discharge, the ports were glutted, and the rail line and motor trucks could not clear the cargo discharged. In January 1943 the WSA estimated that by the end of the month twenty-eight vessels would be in the Persian Gulf area. Sixteen of these would be idle awaiting opportunity to discharge 165,000 tons of cargo.10
U.S. Army Assumes a Transportation Mission
By this time, the decision to transfer transportation operations to the U.S. Army had been made and the first large body of American troops had arrived. British and American suggestions that the
U.S. Army should participate in transportation operations had been put forward on various occasions, but none was acted upon until the closing of the northern route became imminent.11 On 13 July 1942 W. Averell Harriman, lend-lease representative in London, cabled Harry Hopkins urging that all trucks, and all aircraft other than those that could be moved by way of Alaska and Siberia, be sent via the Persian Gulf. To this end, he suggested that the United States offer to take over operation of the ISR. Three days later, President Roosevelt sent such a proposal to Prime Minister Churchill. Churchill delayed reply until he had conferred with Stalin at Moscow and visited Tehran, Basra, and Cairo to study the situation on the ground.12
Meanwhile, both American and British representatives were exploring the potentialities. Among others, Brig. Gen. Sidney P. Spalding, personal representative of the Chief of Staff, Brig. Gen. Philip R. Faymonville, lend-lease representative at Moscow, Maj. Gen. Russell L. Maxwell, commanding general of U.S. Army Forces in the Middle East (USAFIME), and Col. (later Brig. Gen.) Don G. Shingler, commanding officer of the Iran-Iraq Service Command, made inspection trips and conferred regarding the capacity of the Persian Corridor and the means for its expansion.
The fact finders used all sources at their disposal but relied mainly on data provided by various British agencies. Much of this information was channeled through Colonel Shingler’s headquarters and became the basis for later recommendations by General Maxwell. In early August Shingler drew up estimates of port and interior clearance capacities to be achieved by June 1943. Through the use of Khorramshahr, Bandar Shahpur, Cheybassi, Bushire, Ahwaz, and Karachi, and the partial use of Basra (Margil), he expected to bring port discharge to 399,500 long tons a month. Rail clearance north of Andimeshk would be brought to 180,000 long tons a month, and, by using all possible motor transport routes, deliveries by British, U.S. Army, and assembled lend-lease trucks to the USSR would reach 139,500 long tons. Attainment of these capacities would make it possible to meet essential British and Iranian needs and to deliver 242,000 long tons monthly to the USSR.13
After a final conference at Cairo with Harriman, Maxwell, and British commanders, Churchill on 22 August 1942 accepted the President’s proposal that the railway should be taken over by the U.S. Army and added that this should also include the ports of Khorramshahr and Bandar Shahpur. He requested the rail personnel and equipment necessary to expand the ISR’s capacity to 6,000 long tons a day, double the British estimate of the line’s performance by the end of 1942. The railway and ports would be operated by the U.S. Army, subject to traffic control by the British for whom the railway was an essential channel of communication for operational purposes.
On the same day, General Maxwell sent to Washington the broad outline of an American plan, which proposed also American operation of Cheybassi and Bushire and the establishment of an
American trucking agency. He set targets of 251,000 long tons a month for the discharge capacity of the four ports, 180,000 long tons to be hauled by the ISR north of Andimeshk, and 172,000 long tons a month by American, British, and Soviet trucking agencies. The use of Karachi and the Zahidan—Meshed route, proposed by Shingler, was not included. To achieve these targets, Maxwell recommended the assignment of two reinforced railway operating battalions, one railway shop battalion, 75 locomotives, 1,200 20-ton rail cars, three port battalions, two truck regiments supplemented by native drivers, and 7,200 trucks of 7-ton capacity.
Following up on Churchill’s message, Harriman on 23 August warned that unless the U.S. Army took over the operation USSR deliveries would shrink as British military requirements increased. He urged that a young, top-flight railroad man be commissioned as a brigadier general and move immediately by air with a small advance party to arrange for the gradual transfer to the U.S. Army of the British portion of the ISR. He also suggested the early shipment of port troops to improve the excessively slow ship turnaround at the Persian Gulf ports. Although he endorsed Maxwell’s proposal for a truck service, he believed it second in importance to the development of the railroad and ports.14
At the direction of the President, the Chief of Staff on 25 August undertook the task of drawing up a plan for the U.S. Army operation of communications facilities in Iran. The job was delegated to the Strategic Logistics Division of SOS, which on 3 September completed a detailed plan setting forth the operations to be assumed by the U.S. Army, the target capacities to be achieved, the amount and availability of troops and equipment needed, and the shipping required to effect their transfer to Iran.
Under the SOS plan, the U.S. Army, subject to British control of traffic, would take over operation of the ISR south of Tehran and the ports of Khorramshahr, Bandar Shahpur, Tanuma, and Bushire. To supplement the railway and existing trucking agencies, an American motor transport service would be established to operate over the Khorramshahr—Andimeshk—Kazvin, the Bushire—Shiraz—Tehran, and probably the Khanaqin routes to Tabriz, Pahlevi, and other delivery points inside the Soviet zone.
In general, the plan accepted the Maxwell and Shingler targets for the capacities of the transport facilities to be operated. With the exception of goals for motor transport deliveries, set by Maxwell at 172,000 long tons a month in contrast to Shingler’s figure of 139,500 tons, the estimates were similar. Both approximated 8,700 tons a day for the discharge capacity of the four ports to be operated and proposed 6,000 tons a day as the hauling capacity of the railway north of Andimeshk. The SOS plan noted that Harriman and Spalding believed the target figures set by Shingler for attainment by June 1943 could be achieved earlier, possibly by February 1943.
To direct the new operations and absorb existing U.S. Army activities in the area, the plan proposed the establishment of a headquarters that would take over the Persian Gulf Service Command (PGSC). An advance party, including the new commanding general and the heads of the rail, port, and motor transport services, would be sent to Iran without delay.
There, they would arrange first for American operation of the railroad and then complete arrangements for the other operations. The commanding general of the PGSC would continue under the command of USAFIME, but was to have wide power in dealing with the British, Iranians, and Russians and in directing operations.15
The plan called for a force of 23,876 officers and enlisted men to take over the operations contemplated. To the 338 troops already in Iran, there were to be added a railway grand division, two railway operating battalions, a railway shop battalion, and a rail transportation company, a port headquarters and three battalions, a motor transport service headquarters, two truck regiments, two automotive maintenance battalions, and miscellaneous supporting service units. There were also included 4,515 troops, primarily road maintenance personnel, who would be shipped if experience on the ground proved them necessary. Since less than one half the troops were immediately available, over 10,400 would have to be diverted from BOLERO and units aggregating 1,501 men activated. The various units were grouped so as to arrive in the order that operations were set up. The first group of 5,000 would consist of troops primarily engaged in railroad operations; a second group of 5,000 would be port troops; and the third group, 8,114 strong, would consist of those necessary for road operations.
Equipment required by the U.S. Army included 75 steam locomotives, 2,200 railway cars of 20-ton capacity, 7,200 trucks of an average of 7-ton capacity, and cargo-handling equipment. Little difficulty was expected in procuring the rail equipment from available stocks or new production, but trucks as heavy as 7 tons were unavailable. Since time did not permit putting them in production, the SOS plan provided that aside from approximately 1,100 lend-lease trucks that might be repossessed from the British or diverted from Karachi, truck tonnage would be provided in the form of 2½-ton trucks with 1-ton trailers then available or in production in the United States. Lacking definite information concerning cargo-handling equipment at the Persian Gulf ports, the SOS plan indicated that a supply of equipment available at the New York Port of Embarkation would accompany the port battalions.
Plans for the movement of the troops and equipment to Iran were based on a shipping schedule drawn up by the Chief of Transportation on 30 August 1942.16 Fifty-one vessels were needed to move approximately 475,000 measurement tons of cargo and some 24,000 troops. Since all ships already had assigned missions, the movement depended on diversions from other projects, principally BOLERO and the northern convoy route. Shipment of 11,000 troops could be made late in October on the West Paint and the Wakefield, while the remainder of the force could be moved in late January on British troopships. It was expected that the initial echelon with a proportionate share of its equipment would arrive and be in operation by the end of December 1942, and that the entire movement would be completed by late February or early March 1943.
The SOS plan concluded by emphasizing the need for immediate action in
increasing the Persian Gulf route’s capacity. Since unforeseen demands for shipping in Europe and North Africa might clash with commitments to Iran, it assumed that deliveries by that route would be assigned the same high priority as other aid to the Soviet Union.
The Combined Chiefs of Staff adopted the basic recommendations of the SOS plan on 22 September 1942, setting forth the maintenance and expansion of the flow of supplies into the USSR as the primary mission of U.S. forces in the Persian Corridor. Over and above minimum requirements for British forces and essential civilian needs, Soviet-aid materials would have highest priorities. The British Persia and Iraq Command would control traffic as part of its responsibility for the security of the lines of communication, but this control was not to be permitted adversely to affect the attainment of the U.S. Army mission. Deviating from the SOS plan in two particulars, CCS added Ahwaz to the ports to be operated by the U.S. Army and cut back monthly cargo sailings from ten to five. The latter decision was made on the recommendation of the Combined Military Transportation Committee, which had reported that the Persian Gulf ports could not handle more than 34,000 long tons of U.S. Army cargo monthly without reducing essential Soviet, British, and Iranian cargoes. Following the CCS decision, the President on 2 October directed the Secretary of War to give the project the priority and support necessary to insure its speedy implementation.17
The first steps to effect the plan were taken before its final approval. Brig. Gen. (later Maj. Gen.) Donald H. Connolly had been selected to assume command of the expanded American force in Iran, and on 14 September he moved to SOS head- quarters in Washington to make the necessary preparations. After organizing Headquarters 1616 to direct the implementation of the SOS plan and act as a rear echelon of his command until completion of the movement, Connolly departed for Basra on 1 October.18
Working in close collaboration with SOS officials, Headquarters 1616 reviewed and modified troop and equipment requirements and set up final movement priorities. Among other changes, personnel and equipment for port operations were given higher priority than those required for the railroad, and the number of troops to be assigned to PGSC was raised to 25,000. This strength included the road maintenance forces originally given only a contingent status. The advance in priority of these forces resulted in the shipment of Engineer dump truck companies that were to prove valuable in motor transportation operations. Continued studies indicated that even with the employment of native labor an additional 5,000 troops would be needed, but action was deferred until General Connolly could determine his needs on the ground. Later increases made on Connolly’s recommendation brought his command’s strength to nearly 30,000.19
A number of modifications were made in plans for the railroad. When a suitable civilian railroader proved unavailable, the task of heading the operation was assigned to Col. (later Brig. Gen.) Paul F. Yount, a
regular Army officer who had accompanied the original Iranian mission as a transportation expert and later had moved to India to assist in the establishment of the Services of Supply in the China–Burma–India theater. As events were to prove, his selection was a sound one.
With regard to rail equipment, it was decided to assign the command only 1,650 cars, but these were to have the same total tonnage capacity as the 2,200 20-ton freight cars originally planned. At the suggestion of W. Averell Harriman, who was an experienced railway man, 57 diesel locomotives were substituted for the 75 Mikado steam locomotives provided for in the SOS plan. The diesels were more suitable for operation on the rail line, which had an inadequate water supply and a large number of tunnels. To maintain the diesels, a railway shop battalion (diesel) was added to the list of railway units. Upon recommendation of MRS headquarters, the two railway operating battalions were reinforced, and the rail transportation company originally called for was deleted. It should be mentioned that the diesels and rail cars were not the only American rail equipment provided, for steam locomotives and rolling stock that had been ordered by the British under lend-lease continued to come out of production and were shipped to Iran.
Plans for motor transport equipment were also changed. In an effort to conserve shipping space, drivers, and maintenance, arrangements were made to secure 820 2½-ton truck tractors with 7-ton semitrailers and 1,046 10-ton trucks that were already stocked or scheduled for early production. These were to be substituted for the 2½-ton trucks with 1-ton trailers. As for port operations, the troops at Karachi, which were to have been transferred to Iran, could not be spared, so that all three port battalions had to be provided from the United States.20
As these changes were being made, headquarters for the operating services were organized, and their commanders and selected staff members departed for Basra. Units already available or diverted from BOLERO were readied for shipment to Iran, while others were activated and given a brief period of training. Equipment was assembled and began moving to the ports of embarkation. By December 1942, key port, rail, and motor transport personnel were on duty with General Connolly. The development of the Persian Corridor now depended on the rate at which American troops and equipment could be delivered in Iran.
From the outset, the movement to Iran was beset by difficulties and delays. When the CCS cut back the number of monthly cargo ship sailings to five, the Chief of Transportation had to readjust his original plan, preparing a new schedule on 4 October 1942 designed to deliver 15,500 troops and 160,000 measurement tons of cargo to Iran between 24 December and 18 February 1943. Troop movements got under way auspiciously when the West Point, carrying 5,430 PGSC personnel among her 8,300 passengers, left New York on 1 November 1942. The transport sailed around the Cape of Good Hope to Bombay, where troops were transshipped to smaller British transports that arrived at Khorramshahr on 11-12 December.
Meanwhile, the submarine threat around the Cape of Good Hope caused the British to cancel the tentative allocation of one of their Queens, scheduled for mid-December sailing. The submarine menace also caused the Ile de France to be dispatched from San Francisco by the longer route across the Pacific via Fremantle, Australia, to Bombay, where 4,600 troops were transferred to British vessels and arrived at Khorramshahr in the latter part of January. No troops arrived in February, so that only 12,868 officers and enlisted men, or about one half the total force, were actually in Iran at the end of the month. The Mauretania, obtained as a substitute for the canceled Queen, departed from San Francisco on 13 January 1943 and followed the same route as the Ile de France. By this means, an additional 6,611 officers and enlisted men arrived at Khorramshahr early in March. Smaller shipments in subsequent months brought U.S. Army strength in Iran to 27,320 by the end of July.21
Delays in cargo shipments were even more serious. The rate of five ship sailings per month was not maintained. In the three months ending 31 January 1943 only eight vessels sailed for the Army, although some space was made available on vessels carrying USSR lend-lease materials. Basically, the difficulty lay in the inability of the War Shipping Administration to allocate enough vessels for the movement of PGSC equipment. In February 1943 the Chief of Transportation reported a backlog of 70,000 tons of equipment for troops en route to or already in Iran, for which shipping was not available, and he complained “the WSA attitude has not been one of intense cooperation.”22 In fairness to the WSA, it should be pointed out that the North African campaign had produced a critical shipping shortage, so that it was difficult to secure vessels even for the high-priority movement to Iran. Moreover, the decision to increase greatly Soviet-aid shipments to the Persian Gulf, made at the highest policy levels, had resulted in a tie-up at the Persian Gulf ports of ships that otherwise could have been available. It is ironic that the increased Soviet lend-lease shipping should have impeded the movement of equipment intended to expedite its handling.
There were also other factors delaying the transfer of cargo to Iran. Routing ships via the Pacific to avoid the dangers of the Cape of Good Hope route added two weeks to the voyage, increasing time in transit to three and a half months. Additional complications arose from using a variety of ports for loading. Hampton Roads had been designated the port of embarkation for all shipments, but the initial lack of heavy lift equipment and the necessity of utilizing the space on Soviet-assigned vessels forced the use of additional ports, including New York, Baltimore, and Los Angeles.
Difficulties in lifting accumulated PGSC cargo continued well into 1943. In April the Chief of Transportation complained to WSA that of twenty-two vessels requested in the previous five months, only twelve were allocated, with space equivalent to four more in Russian-assigned vessels, and
that even with a firm allocation of seven ships for April a backlog of 27,827 measurement tons, including vital rail, port, and motor transport equipment, would remain. At the end of May 1943 only 48 percent of the equipment had arrived in Iran, while 80 percent of the troops were there. Even by August, when virtually the entire PGSC force had arrived, only 74 percent of the equipment was on hand.23
The implications of the delayed arrival of men and equipment were clear. The development of the Persian Corridor to target capacity, set for some time materially in advance of June 1943, would not be effected on schedule. Until the movement was completed, deliveries of lend-lease to the USSR would lag and Protocol commitments would suffer.
The Months of Transition
While the logistical pump was being primed in Washington in the fall of 1942, the U.S. Army in the field prepared to receive the flow of men and materials. General Connolly arrived at Basra on 20 October, took over command from Colonel Shingler, and began laying the groundwork for the transition of operations from British to American control. Colonel Yount, who was to head the American railway service, had arrived from India two weeks before and was already in process of making preliminary arrangements for the transfer of the British portion of the ISR to the U.S. Army. After the arrival of the port and motor transport service commanders and their advance personnel, Connolly in December reorganized the PGSC, setting up seven general staff divisions and five operating services, including Rail, Port, and Motor Transport. He also retained the PGSC territorial districts, with functions similar to service commands in the zone of interior. In January 1943 PGSC headquarters was moved from Basra to Tehran, reflecting the primary emphasis on the deliveries to the USSR.24
Actual transfer of operations was begun with the arrival of the first large body of troops on 11-12 December 1942. American port personnel began work at Khorramshahr under British tutelage, assuming full control of the port on 7 January 1943. Bandar Shahpur came under American operation in the following month. American military railway troops began running trains between Khorramshahr and Ahwaz on 1 January, and during the next three months extended their operations over the entire portion of the railroad between the Persian Gulf ports and Tehran. The third major American transportation operation got under way on 1 March when the Motor Transport Service commenced hauling Soviet-aid cargo from Andimeshk to Kazvin. As will be seen, Cheybassi was not taken over until July, and plans to transfer the ports of Ahwaz and Bushire and to utilize additional motor transport routes were dropped.
Experience in the field dictated numerous modifications in PGSC organization, but a basic pattern emerged by late spring of 1943 that, as it affected transportation operations, continued in force throughout most of the command’s existence. Since PGSC was a command with a predominantly transportation mission, it was not necessary to have a separate transportation service. On the top level, the
commanding general, directly or through his chief of staff, in effect exercised over-all direction of transportation operations. On the general staff level the Operations Division, headed by an assistant chief of staff, performed functions that in other commands were the responsibility of the chiefs of transportation and their immediate staffs. In addition to its duties relating to construction and assembly, the Operations Division planned the movement of shipping to the area, coordinated American transportation operations and related them to British and Soviet activities, and, after 1 May 1943, exercised control over movements on American-operated routes. On the operating level, directly under General Connolly, Military Railway Service, Motor Transport Service, and Port Service directed their own operations and commanded the troops assigned to them. The Port Service was unique in that it was merged with the Basra District, and the director of Port Service was given command of both organizations.
The transition period, January—March 1943, saw an immediate improvement in the Persian Corridor’s capacity. Increases were effected in port discharge and rail hauling, American trucking operations were introduced, and monthly deliveries to the USSR by American and all other agencies rose from 51,285 to 75,605 long tons. But this acceleration of traffic did not match the increased flow of cargo to the Persian Gulf. The first months of 1943 witnessed the most serious port congestion in the history of the command. Ship turnaround time in the gulf averaged over fifty days, with individual ships in some instances waiting over three months for discharge.25 The cargo that was landed could not be moved forward, and large backlogs accumulated in port storage areas.
Much of the difficulty arose out of the situation that prevailed at the time the American troops arrived. The developing port congestion arising from the large increase in shipping dispatched to the Persian Gulf after May 1942 and the delays in completing the construction of port facilities and highways have already been mentioned. In December 1942 Connolly termed the ports “inefficient” and lacking in storage space but capable of more rapid expansion than rail and truck transport. Assuming that ports would be the major bottleneck, he had placed the movement of men and equipment for their operation on a higher priority than those for railway and motor transport. Upon his arrival, he had found that the problem of transport to the interior should have been handled first. Connolly also pointed out that the Persian Corridor could not be developed any more rapidly than the rate at which men and equipment arrived.26 Anticipating their prompt delivery, his estimates of port discharge and interior clearance proved overoptimistic. The arrival of American troops was delayed, and an even longer interval elapsed before their equipment arrived. Consequently, shipments of Soviet lend-lease, based on optimistic estimates, continued to arrive in quantity while insufficient American resources were brought into the area to land the cargoes and transport them inland.
In such circumstances American units, often inexperienced, shorthanded, and ill-equipped, were called upon to take over and rapidly expand British operations that had fallen behind schedule. Even
nature conspired to impede operations. Heavy rains and floods in March washed out the temporary road between Khorramshahr and Andimeshk and slowed rail traffic. The situation inevitably resulted in some inefficiency in operations, continued port congestion, and disappointingly low deliveries to the USSR.
Still another factor producing difficulty was the lack of unified control of movements to and through the Persian Corridor. Although the Americans were responsible for supply deliveries to the USSR, they lacked authority over the flow of those materials, since the British by CCS decision retained over-all control of movements as a necessary adjunct to their responsibility for the area’s security. This problem was solved by British-American agreement, and on 1 May 1943 the U.S. Army assumed control of movements over American-operated routes, subject to final control by the British. The British retained direct authority over the movements required for their military and essential civilian needs. These included inland water transport, the Iraqi ports, the Basra—Baghdad line of communications, USSR deliveries via the Khanaqin Lift, and, with assistance from PGSC, the improvement and maintenance of roads. Also, the allocation of incoming shipping as between Iraq and Iran remained a function of the War Transport Executive Committee. With these exceptions, the Americans were granted control over the movement of PGSC, British, and USSR cargo and assumed responsibility for obtaining disposal instructions and priorities from Soviet officials for all cargo destined for USSR over U.S. Army-operated routes.
Under the agreement, a procedure was set up to coordinate the flow of cargo to and within the Persian Corridor. Early each month, representatives of British and American military and civilian transportation agencies and operating services met to determine capacities of the ports, railway, motor transport, and assembly plants. These estimates were sent to Washington and London so that the proper number of ships could be allocated to the Persian Gulf. Later in the month, American and British representatives were joined by Soviet transportation officials at a target meeting, where the maximum cargo that could be moved by the various transportation agencies was determined. At the meeting, essential requirements of the U.S. Army, the USSR, the local civilian economy, and the British military were worked out and targets set up for port discharge and interior transport. The Assistant Chief of Staff for Operations, PGSC, had staff responsibility for the program. Various branches of the Operations Division drew together information from the operating services, analyzed traffic operations, and compiled information on the number of trucks and aircraft arriving and being assembled, as well as on the cargo that assembled vehicles could carry. British representatives furnished information pertaining to Iranian civil and all British requirements, and consideration was given the requests of Soviet representatives. Alongside this machinery there developed numerous contacts between the Operations Division, the American operating services, and British Army movements.27
The transfer of movements control to the U.S. Army completed the transition from British to American operations. Despite the fact that the Persian Corridor’s
development was behind schedule, much had been accomplished. A sound administrative structure had been developed, the transfer of the major Iranian ports and the ISR had been completed, the American Motor Transport Service had begun operations, and centralization of authority over Soviet-aid deliveries had been achieved.
The Development of American Transportation Operations
Under American operation and control, ports and interior transport facilities continued for some time to lag behind incoming shipping. Personnel shortages, inexperience, and inadequate equipment hindered efforts to dissipate the shipping congestion and to attain scheduled increases in rail and truck deliveries. By mid-1943, however, many of the difficulties were being resolved as troop and equipment arrivals, improved operations, effective movements control, and progress in construction of port facilities and roads began to make themselves felt. In June the PGSC chief of staff admitted that past capacity estimates had been too optimistic, but he pointed to the threefold increase in deliveries to the Soviet Union since the previous January and expressed his conviction that the command was now in a position to meet the targets set for the Persian Corridor.28
The development of operations bore out the accuracy of this estimate. By the summer of 1943 port, rail, and motor transport facilities began regularly to exceed targets set by the command, backlogs in port storage areas were reduced, and USSR deliveries were rapidly accelerated. In October American and other agencies carried more than 217,000 long tons to Soviet transfer points in Iran.29 At this time, cargo discharged monthly at American-operated ports had more than doubled; the ISR was nearing the target of 180,000 long tons a month hauled north of Andimeshk; and although the 92,000 long tons delivered to the USSR by American, British, and Soviet trucking agencies was far below original SOS estimates, it was more than adequate for the achievement of the USSR delivery goal.
From October onward, the transportation facilities in the Persian Corridor generally possessed a capacity greater than the shipments arriving at Persian Gulf ports. Shipping congestion had been greatly relieved, backlogs at storage areas were substantially cleared, and the rare shortfalls in port, rail, and motor transport targets were caused primarily by the lack of available cargo for movement. To be sure, operational problems continued to arise, but the major obstacles had been surmounted.
Operations reached their peak in July 1944 when deliveries to USSR transfer points by American, British, and Soviet carriers totaled approximately 282,000 long tons, some 40,000 tons more than the Shingler goal set in August 1942. The PGC handled two more months of near-capacity traffic, but the diversion of shipping to shorter and more economical routes soon left the Persian Corridor with a far greater capacity than was needed. Since the railroad alone was able to
handle the burden of interior transport, MTS operations were discontinued late in 1944 and, as inbound traffic declined, port operations were concentrated at Khorramshahr. After January 1945 shipping dispatched to the Persian Gulf was negligible, and the principal Soviet-aid traffic carried by the railroad consisted of petroleum products produced in Iran. With the end of the war in Europe, the Army mission was brought to a close, and Army transportation operations other than those involving evacuation were discontinued.
Port Operations
Implementation of the plans for port operations got under way with the assignment of the 9th Port, placed under the command of Lt. Col. (later Brig. Gen.) Donald P. Booth, an Engineer officer, in October 1942. While his headquarters was being readied for movement, Booth visited Washington to discuss his mission and then departed by air with five officers, arriving at Basra on 1 November. The second echelon of the 9th headquarters and the 378th Port Battalion debarked at Khorramshahr on 11-12 December. They were followed late in January 1943 by the rest of the 9th Port and the 380th Port Battalion. The last port battalion originally planned for, the 482nd, reached Khorramshahr in March.30
As approved by the CCS, Army plans called for these troops to take over operations at Bandar Shahpur, Khorramshahr, Cheybassi, Bushire, and Ahwaz, but by January 1943 Booth found that the force to be placed at his disposal would be insufficient to handle all the operations contemplated. Indeed, an additional port battalion would be required for Khorramshahr and Bandar Shahpur.31 As a result, the Army command concentrated on these two ports, deferred operation of the others, which for a variety of reasons were less valuable in carrying out the Soviet-aid mission, and requested a fourth port battalion. The 385th Port Battalion arrived in July 1943. No other port units were provided until February 1945, when the new 380th Port Battalion arrived to replace units being transferred out of the command.
The Organization of Port Service
Shortly after his arrival in PGSC, Booth moved to Khorramshahr, where he set up a skeleton Port Service organization and arranged with the British for the reception of the troops scheduled to arrive. After the first large group landed, Booth left behind a local port commander with part of the 9th Port and the 378th Port Battalion and on 21 December 1942 moved his headquarters to Basra, where the British War Transport Executive Committee and Basra District headquarters were located.
At first there was an overlapping of functions between Port Service and Basra (later Gulf) District, since the latter exercised direct administrative control over individual ports and bore the responsibility for port construction and liaison with the British and WSA in the collection of shipping information. This duplication was eliminated on 3 March 1943 when Booth was made commander of the Basra District, retaining his positions as Director, Port Service, and Commander, 9th Port.
He then consolidated Port Service and Basra District headquarters, using 9th Port troops to staff both. Wearing three command hats, Booth was able to centralize control of operations and bring under unified direction the port organizations established at Khorramshahr, Bandar Shahpur, and, in July 1943, Cheybassi. With minor modification, this organizational structure remained in effect through the major period of activity of the command.
Port Service activities were closely tied in with those of other American operating services and Allied transportation agencies. From the outset, Port Service maintained close cooperation with American rail and motor transport services in relating their activities at docks, terminals, and storage yards. Furthermore, the Operations Division, the agency responsible for coordination of all operations pertaining to USSR deliveries, dealt intimately with port operations. Its Control Branch received data from Port Service and incorporated them into port capacity estimates and port discharge goals. Another Operations Division agency, the Movements Branch, assigned officers to American-operated ports beginning in the spring of 1943. Responsible for implementing monthly movement targets, these officials determined which cargoes were to move and their priority of movement, arranged for the distribution of empty rail equipment, and furnished the port commander information to fulfill traffic and operating requirements. In 1944 most of these functions were turned over to port transportation officers and Movements Branch offices at Bandar Shahpur were closed. A small office staff remained at Khorramshahr to provide liaison among the operating services.
The Movements Branch, through its Ocean Traffic Section in Tehran, also provided liaison with Soviet headquarters to obtain cargo disposal instructions. The section broke down manifests in advance of ship arrivals and drew up itemized lists of cargo according to priorities and destinations desired by the Russians. The listings were transmitted to the ports, which routed cargoes to their proper destinations. At first, the arrangement proved cumbersome since manifests were slow in arriving and the Russians frequently insisted on changes in instructions after listings had been forwarded, but eventually the procedure became efficient and routine.32
Three other agencies, one American and two British, were closely related to port operations. The WSA regional director was important in scheduling shipping to the Persian Gulf and, before the Americans began transportation operations, represented the shipping interests of the United States. As PGSC took over port operations and control of movements, WSA functions became increasingly advisory. The British War Transport Executive Committee, on which were represented the British Ministry of War Transport, WSA, the U.S. naval observer, British transportation and movements officials, and the PGSC Movements Branch, controlled berthing and allocation of ships and set loading and unloading priorities. In January 1943 the American port commander at Khorramshahr became a member. As U.S. Army operations got under way, American members increasingly influenced the committee’s policies and actions. The British Inland Water Transport continued to operate and control barge and lighterage facilities, except for a
few small boats assigned the U.S. Army at Khorramshahr. Shortages of barges and lighters brought American complaints in the first months of operation, but the problem was greatly relieved as additional floating equipment assembled at Kuwait was turned over to the IWT.
Initial Operations
Actual operations began at Khorramshahr on 13 December 1942, when the 378th Port Battalion began work at Sen-tab Jetty under British supervision. On 20 December Maj. James Rattray was named port commander and set up his headquarters with 9th Port troops. The U.S. Army formally took over operations on 7 January 1943, although British personnel stayed on until the 380th Port Battalion was placed on duty at the end of the month.
Bandar Shahpur was transferred to the Americans in similar fashion. After a preliminary survey of operations and facilities, Maj. (later Col.) Harry C. Dodenhoff and an advance party drawn from the 9th Port headquarters arrived from Khorramshahr on 28 January. The main body, including a detachment of the 378th Port Battalion, arrived on 2 February. After sixteen days of studying British operations, Major Dodenhoff took over as port commander. Some British assistance continued until April.
At the time of transfer, Khorramshahr had four berths at Sentab Jetty, with two others under construction. The port’s main lighterage wharf, on Failiyah Creek, measured 1,000 feet in length and had a 100-ton crane, obtained from Ahwaz, to handle heavy lifts such as locomotives and tanks. Another lighterage dock, Customs Jetty, was available when not engaged in handling commercial cargo. Shortly after the Americans took over the port, U.S. Engineer troops with native labor extended the Failiyah Creek wharf 600 feet and installed lighting, and reconstructed Khumba Wharf, a facility used to land Engineer supplies and crated trucks.
Bandar Shahpur still had only one two-berth jetty and a lighterage wharf. British construction of a second jetty, begun in 1942, progressed slowly, the first of these berths not being completed until June 1943. Like Khorramshahr, storage areas were away from the port, one at Sar Bandar, six miles distant, and the other in the railroad classification yard.
At the outset, port operations were conducted by an undermanned organization lacking virtually all the necessities for efficient operation. The 9th Port, containing most of the experienced shipping and longshoremen in the area, was spread too thin to give effective supervision. The 378th Port Battalion, the first to arrive and until June the only white operating port organization in the command, was called upon to provide cargo checkers, crane operators, warehouse foremen, and the like, and to take over operations at the Russian Dump, the staging area, and the motor pool. Lacking sufficient personnel to conduct longshore operations, hatch crews were reduced from twenty-one to five members, and native labor was hired to work under their supervision. With the opening of Bandar Shahpur, the 378th provided a company for that port to engage in similar supervisory duties.
The arrival of the 380th and 482nd Port Battalions did not bring sufficient relief. To curb pilferage, it was necessary to place part of the 380th on guard duty at the docks, sorting sheds, and storage areas. Many of the officers and men of the port
units had little experience in longshore work and had to learn on the job. Native labor was entirely inexperienced and at first extremely inefficient. The personnel problem was more than matched by the lack of cargo-handling equipment. Much of the cargo had to be discharged with ship’s gear and improvised rigging, and at the Russian Dump two small gantry cranes were at first the sole power machinery for loading and unloading rail cars.
Complicating the entire operation was the shortage of rail cars and trucks for local and through hauling. Rail cars and switch engines were unavailable in the number or type desired, slowing operations at docks and storage areas. In the first three months the MTS was not yet ready to operate, although Soviet-operated assembled trucks provided some interior clearance and a locally activated American provisional truck company performed some local hauling and carried PGSC freight to Ahwaz and Andimeshk. Floods north of Khorramshahr in March impeded rail traffic and compelled MTS to load its first Soviet-aid convoys at the Andimeshk railhead. In these circumstances, port backlogs accumulated rapidly. By 10 April 1943, some 52,000 long tons had piled up at the Russian Dump at Khorramshahr, and congestion on a smaller scale was experienced at Bandar Shahpur.33
Despite these difficulties, Khorramshahr increased its cargo discharge from 41,426 long tons in January 1943 to 81,437 long tons in March, while Bandar Shahpur showed a slight improvement. This performance was inadequate to keep pace with inbound shipping, and in the first four months of 1943 the average turnaround of vessels in the Persian Gulf exceeded fifty days. The continued congestion of shipping aroused concern in Washington and Iran alike. Studies, reports, and correspondence in this early period analyzed deficiencies in port operation and emphasized the necessity for improvement. In the spring of 1943 Colonel Allin and Capt. Robert G. Stone, representatives of the Chief of Transportation making a world-wide tour of overseas ports, made a study of operations in Iran. Their findings, submitted to the Commanding General, PGSC, and the Chief of Transportation, called attention to problems of which the command was already aware, and also made several contributions to their solution.34
Allin and Stone concluded that PGSC estimates of future capacities had been overoptimistic and that the two bottlenecks in the Persian Corridor were port clearance and interior transportation, with the latter constituting the major problem. During April 1943 some 200,000 long tons had accumulated aboard ships and in the dumps. Unless one-half month’s shipment to the Gulf, some 100,000 tons, were suspended, this backlog would not be cleared until the following September.
In addition to difficulties already apparent to the command—such as troop and equipment shortages, inexperience, and the dispersion of supervisory personnel—the observers pointed out that the wharves at both ports were so narrow that they became quickly congested unless railway cars or trucks were immediately
available. Thus, lack of enough cars to clear cargo to dumps or northern terminals and delays in switching constituted the greatest single cause of lost time in wharf operation. The absence of storage areas adjacent to the docks created a situation of rigidity. The operation of the dumps at both ports was unsatisfactory, little attention being given to sorting, classification, and recooperage of supplies. Recooperage was also necessary at the docks, where a considerable amount of cargo was damaged due to poor packaging, faulty stowage, and careless discharge methods of native labor.
Allin and Stone also emphasized the need for men with port-operating experience to be placed in key positions. Reference was made to the fact that in late February 1943 the Khorramshahr port commander and his operations officer, both of whom had previous shipping experience, had been replaced with officers who apparently lacked such qualifications. The observers suggested that an experienced stevedore officer be assigned to the command and that the PGSC make such adjustments as were necessary to correct apparent friction among officers.
The difficulties did not arise solely from conditions in Iran. Cargo loaded in the United States was often improperly stowed, causing damage or slowing discharge. It was recommended that heavy cargo be deck-loaded or top-stowed to permit easy discharge at Abadan before the vessels proceeded to other ports, that similar types of cargo be stowed in the same location so that the rigging of vessels would be simplified, and that shipments requiring it be accompanied by special gear for unloading. The report also stated that the failure to provide PGSC with proper notice of Soviet-aid vessel arrivals had prevented efficient advance planning in the command.
The Allin-Stone findings received careful attention. In Iran, the Army undertook a construction project to widen the Khorramshahr docks and instituted a more vigorous recooperage program. In Washington, the Chief of Transportation joined WSA in recommending a temporary reduction of shipments, and in June only 28,786 long tons of USSR cargo sailed from the Western Hemisphere for the Persian Gulf. The problem of delays in the arrival of advance shipping information was also taken up with WSA, and the subsequent improvement of cargo-disposal procedures in PGSC would indicate that this deficiency was rectified. On the basis of the observers’ recommendations, too, an experienced stevedore officer, Maj. Emory C. Creager, was transferred to Iran in July 1943 and placed on duty at Khorramshahr.35
Allin and Stone also reported that the PGSC was the only overseas area they had visited in which the assistance of the WSA was not accepted. That cooperation between the Army and WSA was not close soon became evident when Oscar A. J. Henricksen, the assistant WSA regional director at Basra, let fire a blast at U.S. Army port operations. Writing to his Washington office on 20 June 1943, Henricksen reported that the Army port troops at first had been inexperienced but were willing to learn. Suggestions by WSA representatives had been followed and for a time close cooperation existed between the Army and WSA. With the change in administration in late February, however,
apparently “the one aim in mind was to hit the target at the cost of damage to cargo and expense of vessels,” and suggestions of WSA representatives were no longer accepted “in the same faith in which they were offered.”
The use of native labor, Henricksen wrote, was “more of a detriment to the operation than otherwise.” Furthermore, the majority of the port troops were colored. Their officers had little control over them, and suggestions to the troops from ships’ officers regarding the handling of cargo to avoid damage brought forth insolent answers in some cases. No attempts were made at recooperage, and improper discharge and inadequate supervision had resulted in damage to cargoes and ships’ gear.36
The letter was called to the attention of General Somervell on 8 July and evoked a strong reaction. He instructed the Chief of Transportation to dispatch an experienced officer to investigate port conditions and requested Maj. Gen. Wilhelm D. Styer, his chief of staff then visiting India, to examine the situation at Khorramshahr on his return trip to the United States. At the same time, Somervell wrote to Connolly acknowledging the handicaps under which port operations were begun, but suggesting that, in view of WSA and other criticism, Connolly should personally investigate the matter.37
Within a few days, Styer, in company with Connolly, Henricksen, and others, investigated conditions at Khorramshahr. In effect, Styer reported that Henricksen’s charges had been exaggerated and that valid deficiencies were being corrected. A recooperage program, begun at the time of the Allin-Stone visit, had reduced spillage and waste. To be sure, unskilled native labor and inexperienced Army supervision were responsible along with defective packaging for cargo losses and damage, but there had been no way of avoiding the use of native labor since there were insufficient port troops to handle incoming cargo. Cases of insubordination by port troops were few and had been dealt with summarily. The second port commander at Khorramshahr, like the first, had been relieved by Connolly for his “failure to produce,” and gratifying results had been shown by his successor, who was given command in May. Port targets set by the command had been exceeded in June, and it was evident to Styer that PGSC port operations were “over the hump.”
General Styer was followed by Col. Hans Ottzenn, superintendent of the Water Division of the New York Port of Embarkation, detailed by the Chief of Transportation to inspect port operations. On 5 August Ottzenn reported that all PGSC ports were being run efficiently and that continued improvement could be expected since additional equipment and gear were arriving and training of port troops and native labor on the job was well advanced. Army morale and discipline were excellent, and port operations a credit to the Transportation Corps.
Commenting on the Styer and Ottzenn reports, Connolly wrote Somervell that any unbiased observer would conclude that the entire PGSC operation, including ports, was sound. Despite the heat, delays in troop and equipment arrivals, and other difficulties, morale was high and the
movement of supplies through the Persian Corridor to the Russians was four times greater than before the Americans began their operations. The situation where inexperienced personnel were called upon to take over operations without adequate equipment no longer obtained. The command now had a trained team, and equipment was rapidly being made available.38
“Over the Hump”
The sharp contrast between the Allin-Stone report and the Henricksen letter on one hand and the Styer and Ottzenn reports on the other stemmed from a number of developments that had produced a marked improvement in port operations in the intervening period. The arrival of the 385th Port Battalion and the relief of port troops from guard duty in June had eased the personnel shortage; native labor had gained in experience; and the arrival of cargo-handling equipment in the middle of 1943 had been of great assistance, although much improvisation continued to be necessary.
At the same time, physical facilities were being expanded. At Khorramshahr, the sixth new berth at Sentab Jetty was completed late in May, making a total of seven. The jetty had been lengthened from 400 feet to over 3,000 feet and was being widened from 50 to 100 feet, a project completed in April 1944. In June 1943 the first berth of the new jetty at Bandar Shahpur was put in operation. By the end of August all three berths had been completed, making a total of five, and a second lighterage wharf opened.
Increases in troops, equipment, and port facilities were accompanied by operating improvements. Upon assuming command of the Khorramshahr port late in May 1943, Col. Bernard A. Johnson introduced a highly effective competitive system whereby each company was assigned a regular berth. Each day numbered flags were flown from the berths showing relative discharge performance. Other innovations included the direct loading of assembled Soviet-operated trucks at ship-side as well as at the Russian Dump and the use of additional fork-lift trucks and tractors with four-wheel trailers. At Bandar Shahpur the 482nd Port Battalion was brought in to work the three berths at the new jetty, while one company and a detachment of the 378th Port Battalion performed technical tasks and supervised native labor at the old jetty. Ships in the stream were worked either by soldiers or by native labor.
Port clearance by truck and rail also improved. During May 1943 flood damage was sufficiently repaired to enable MTS to extend its operations to Khorramshahr and load directly at the docks, lighterage berths, or the Russian Dump. Rail traffic was accelerated under American control, and the availability and variety of cars increased. In June improved interior transport permitted the Russian Dump at Khorramshahr to reduce its backlog by 17,445 long tons, while Bandar Shahpur cleared 3,000 tons more than had been discharged.39
By this time the situation had improved sufficiently for the Army to begin operations at the Cheybassi lighterage basin. The port was officially taken over on 1 July 1943 by a detachment of 120 men
drawn mainly from the 9th Port and the 378th Port Battalion. Cheybassi handled petroleum products barged from Abadan for transshipment to the Soviet Union, nontruckable USSR cargo lightered across the stream from Margil, and a small volume of British military stores. USSR supplies were forwarded from Cheybassi by rail. Operations were carried on at three rail-served wharves, using native labor with enlisted men supervising, checking, operating cranes, and performing other skilled work.40
The other two ports at which American operations had been contemplated were never taken over. Low water, slow turnaround time, and unsuitable cargo-handling equipment caused abandonment of attempts begun in early 1943 to increase shipment of Soviet lend-lease and U.S. Army cargo via the Karun River to the Ahwaz barge terminal. In July PGSC ceased river shipments to Ahwaz, diverting traffic to other lighterage ports. Bu-shire similarly proved of limited value to the command, Possessing poor facilities and a long, unimproved trucking route to the interior, the port received only small numbers of crated trucks and truckable cargo during the first half of 1943, and after July was no longer used for the entry of USSR cargo.
Beginning in June 1943, cargo landed monthly at American-operated ports, with few exceptions, exceeded PGSC targets. In August more cargo was being discharged and forwarded than could be handled by Soviet-operated facilities to the north, and by October the ports’ capacity for landing and clearing cargo exceeded the amount available. In the latter month there were vacant berths at Sentab Jetty for the first time since the beginning of American operations, and the Bandar Shahpur jetties were not being used to capacity.41
The increase in port capacity did not immediately reduce ships’ turnaround time to normal. The opening of the shorter Mediterranean route in May 1943, the substitution of 14-knot and 15-knot ships for five Liberty vessels, and the shipment of 40,000 tons of cargo from the United Kingdom earlier than anticipated caused a bunching of vessels in the late summer and fall. During September 1943 the average turnaround time of ships was twenty-six days, a considerable improvement over the fifty-eight-day average of the previous January, but still excessive. In January 1944, the average number of ship days in port had been reduced to fifteen by more efficient coordination of port activities, increased quantities of mechanical equipment and gear, and better operating methods. Of assistance, too, was the decision to discharge planes at Khorramshahr and Bandar Shahpur and then lighter them back to Abadan, thereby eliminating delays of three to five days for ships that previously had stopped first at Abadan to offload aircraft for the assembly plants. General Gross wrote in February 1944 that the Persian Gulf at one time had been “quite a headache,” but that Connolly’s command was now doing “a superb job” that was “of benefit to the entire world-wide shipping problem.”42
After setting a record of 226,942 long tons discharged in December 1943, the two major ports discharged tonnages fluctuating between 71,358 and 213,534 long tons a month during the first half of 1944. The reason for this less than capacity performance lay in the over-all strategic situation. Protocol commitments were being exceeded. The Pacific route had expanded beyond expectation, and opportunities arose in late 1943 and early 1944 to run convoys to Murmansk, making it unnecessary to keep the Persian Gulf pipeline full. In April 1944 both Bandar Shahpur and Khorramshahr reported slack periods caused by a shortage of ships at the port. Average ship turnaround time was reduced to seven days and, although it again increased as more shipping arrived, the release of ships never again became a serious problem.
In this period the ports consistently improved the efficiency of their operations. Khorramshahr had topped the SOS plan’s discharge goal of 120,000 long tons a month in November and continued to exceed that figure when cargo was available. In April 1944 the port discharged the William Byrd in 4.4 days, averaging 1,529 long tons per day. Bandar Shahpur did not reach its discharge goal of 90,000 tons until July, but only because its capacity was not fully used. In May the port set a record for the command when it discharged 4,475 long tons in a single day from the SS Dorothy Luckenbach, a remarkable performance made possible by the employment of an unusually large number of personnel and amount of equipment discharging easy cargo—bagged sugar—from eight hatches instead of the five found on a Liberty ship.43
Port operations reached their peak in July, after the closing of the northern route in the spring had brought a heavy increase in shipments to the Persian Gulf. Despite temperatures exceeding 100 degrees in the shade, Khorramshahr discharged 192,761 long tons. During the month Sentab Jetty completely discharged 28 vessels at the berths or in the stream; Failiyah Creek wharf landed over 70,000 tons; and Khumba Wharf and Customs Jetty together handled some 11,000 tons. The Russian Dump, now equipped with seven large gantry cranes, unloaded 90,000 long tons and loaded close to 50,000 long tons. Altogether, over 180,000 long tons were cleared from the port. Under similar climatic conditions, Bandar Shahpur discharged 95,156 long tons and cleared 93,119 long tons from its five berths, two lighterage wharves, and storage areas. Over 90 percent of the cargo handled by both ports was destined for the Soviet Union.44
After another month of heavy operations, port traffic began to decline. Monthly USSR shipments to the Persian Gulf from the Western Hemisphere after June 1944 did not exceed 157,000 long tons and in December totaled only 67,497 long tons.45 As ship arrivals fell off, secondary ports were closed, and continuing activities were concentrated at Khorramshahr.
Cheybassi was the first port to close. Originally intended to develop a capacity of 30,000 long tons a month, the lighterage basin was never called upon to handle more than 19,840 long tons, mainly tanks and nontruckable equipment lightered
from Margil and petroleum products barged from Abadan. The immediate cause for closing Cheybassi was the end of Soviet-aid activities at Basra, the chief source of its cargo. Basra had discharged approximately 446,000 long tons of USSR cargo over the Margil wharves between June 1943 and September 1944, forwarding truckable tonnage over the Khanaqin route and moving heavier equipment across the river to Cheybassi. With the abandonment of the Khanaqin route in the fall of 1944, all USSR cargo was assigned to Khorramshahr and Bandar Shahpur. Continuing traffic, consisting of drummed alkylate and cumene barged from Abadan, was diverted to Failiyah Creek, and effective control of Cheybassi was returned to the British late in September. Formal transfer was made in November.46
Bandar Shahpur was the next to terminate operations. The failure to receive any USSR cargo in October 1944 gave notice that the ports’ active days were numbered. Only light traffic was handled in the following month, and in December 35,876 long tons of USSR and British cargo were discharged, all USSR cargo was cleared from the port, and preparations were made to evacuate men and equipment. Port operations ceased in January 1945, and personnel departed for Khorramshahr or Ahwaz, leaving behind only a small caretaker detachment.47
In February 1945 the Gulf District, which had moved from Basra to Ahwaz in September 1943, was abolished and a separate Port Service headquarters was established at Khorramshahr. Colonel Dodenhoff was appointed director of Port Service and, in addition, was authorized to perform most of the duties formerly carried on by the commander of the Gulf District.48 The 9th Port, which had staffed Gulf District headquarters, moved to Khorramshahr where it was merged with its detachment there, ending the dispersion begun in December 1942. Previously, detachments from Cheybassi and Bandar Shahpur had returned to their parent unit.
The concentration of activities at Khorramshahr did not halt the general decline in traffic handled by that port. In March 1945 the port discharged only 30,216 long tons from seven ships at Sentab Jetty; Failiyah Creek activities were at a low ebb; operations at Customs Jetty and Khumba Wharf had been discontinued; and the Russian Dump had been cleared of all USSR cargo. The evacuation of surplus American equipment was assuming some importance but drew on only a small part of the port’s capacity.
As traffic decreased, operations were curtailed and port units were shipped out. By 31 May the 9th Port had been alerted for overseas movement and only one of the four port battalions, the 378th, remained on active duty. With the official end of the Soviet-aid mission in June, Failiyah Creek wharf was returned to the British and arrangements were completed for a civilian stevedore firm to handle British and civilian cargo. Sentab Jetty was retained by
the U.S. Army for the evacuation of American troops and equipment.49
In the period from January 1943 through May 1945, Khorramshahr and Bandar Shahpur discharged a total of 3,900,815 long tons, the bulk of which was consigned to the Soviet Union. In addition, Cheybassi, while in American hands, landed 234,922 long tons initially discharged elsewhere. The U.S. Army had inherited a backlog of shipping, partially developed port facilities, and an inadequate interior transport system. These factors, together with shortages of men and equipment, at first retarded expansion of port operations but after the first months of 1943 the ports steadily improved their performance, providing in time an efficient bridge between the seagoing vessel and rail and truck transport to the interior.
The Military Railway Service
The existence of a railroad connecting the Persian Gulf with the Caspian Sea was a basic consideration in the decision to develop the Persian Corridor as a primary supply route to the USSR. Counting on the Iranian State Railway to bear the brunt of mounting Soviet-aid tonnages as well as civilian and British and American military traffic, the CCS approved a goal of 6,000 long tons a day, nearly four times the line’s performance in the latter part of 1942, as the total to be hauled northward from Andimeshk. To implement this decision, the U.S. Army provided a railway force ultimately numbering approximately 4,000 and imported substantial amounts of motive power and rolling stock.50
In assuming control and operation of the ISR, the U.S. Army undertook a formidable task. Notwithstanding the railroad’s recent construction, it presented many obstacles to expanded operations. Equipment had been augmented under British operation, but was insufficient to handle the greatly increased traffic. Locomotives were without headlights and some of them were almost toylike in comparison with American equipment. The majority of the freight cars lacked brakes, while many of the others were hand-braked. The entire line was laid with light rail, which under heavy wartime traffic kinked, buckled, and ran. Communications between stations were poor. Lacking an automatic signal system, the railroad was operated on the block system, whereby a train was not permitted to pass from one section to the next until the stationmaster had ascertained by telephone that the line ahead was clear.
Other difficulties arose from climatic and geographic conditions. The desert section in the south was subject to rains and floods in the spring and was hot and dry in the summer and fall. The mountainous section north of Andimeshk was a bottleneck affecting the entire line. Trains arriving from the south had to be “rebuilt” to provide sufficient braked cars to assure safe operation. Trains moving north had to be pulled by two engines and were limited in the tonnage they could carry. Snow in the high mountain passes, landslides, and long, poorly ventilated tunnels all impeded effective operation. Throughout the line the chronic water shortage made it difficult to obtain an adequate supply for locomotives.
Moreover, the U.S. Army was faced with the task of supervising a civilian railway force averaging 15,000 in number and consisting of 30,000 employees at its peak. Not only were the Americans required to overcome language difficulties and gain the cooperation of the ISR management and workers, in order to keep trains running they also found it necessary to enter such fields as the sale and distribution of food, local procurement, and accounting. The Iranians, accustomed to practices often archaic and lax, did not always appreciate American efforts to increase the efficiency of operations.
The Iranians were but one of four interested parties. Close cooperation with the British was required during the transitional period, and afterward, although the British were primarily responsible for the security of the line, the Americans found it necessary to supplement their effort to prevent sabotage, brigandage, and pilferage. The Russians, as the recipients of the bulk of the tonnage carried by the line, also were vitally interested in security measures. Even more important, the Americans had to coordinate their operations with those of the Russians, who controlled the ISR north of Tehran. Failures in the north could delay the return of cars to the south and handicap the line between Tehran and the ports. The necessity for dealing with Iranians, British, and Russians inevitably made operations far more complicated than if the Americans had assumed sole responsibility.
These difficulties make the ISR’s performance under American operation all the more remarkable. During 1942, while in British hands, the railroad had hauled 212,000 long tons north of Andimeshk, of which 162,655 tons were delivered to the Russians at Tehran. Taking over the entire British portion of the line on 1 April 1943, the MRS reached the CCS goal of 180,000 long tons a month in November, and in the month of September 1944 delivered more tonnage to the Russians than they had received in all of 1942. Of the 5,149,376 long tons delivered to the Russians through the Persian Corridor in the period from 1 January 1942 through 31 May 1943, a total of 2,989,079 tons was carried by rail. Roughly nine tenths of the rail deliveries were made during the period of American operation.51
The Organization of American Rail Operations
Active preparations for American rail operations began with Colonel Yount’s arrival at Basra on 5 October 1942. At this time military railway units were being set up in the United States for duty in Iran. The 711th Railway Operating Battalion, activated in June 1941, was ready for shipment. A second operating battalion, the 730th, had been activated in May 1942 and was in training. Each battalion was reinforced with three extra track maintenance platoons. The 702nd Railway Grand Division and the 754th and 762nd Railway Shop Battalions were all activated on 15 October 1942 and given brief military training before shipment.52
As these units were activated, selected personnel departed by air for Basra. With this advance party, Yount undertook a
preliminary survey of the line, studied operations, selected camp sites, and arranged for the gradual process of taking over. In December, as the time for beginning operations drew near, Yount moved his headquarters from Basra to Ahwaz.
Operations were begun soon after the arrival of the 711th Railway Operating Battalion at Khorramshahr on 12 December 1942. The battalion took over the line between Khorramshahr and Ahwaz on 1 January 1943 and gradually extended its activities until by the 18th it was operating 363 miles of main and branch line between Dorud in the north and Bandar Shahpur in the south. The 730th Railway Operating Battalion arrived late in the month and moved into stations along the line between Dorud and Tehran, taking over that division between 27 and 29 March 1943.
Meanwhile, the 702nd Railway Grand Division, assigned as the Military Railway Service headquarters, had arrived late in January and moved to Tehran, where Yount finally made his headquarters. On 9 February Yount formally assumed command as Director and General Manager, Military Railway Service, and Commander, 702nd Railway Grand Division. Staff sections were established to handle administration, transportation, engineering, supply, and equipment. To deal with problems peculiar to the ISR, additional sections were created to handle security and safety, labor and public relations, and, later, accounting.
Yount’s headquarters immediately swung into action. A new book of operating rules was prepared to coordinate Iranian operations with American practices. Switch engines were assigned and track improvements were started at the ports and rail yards to expedite car han dling. Surveys were made of water facilities, truck construction, sidings, tunnels, and bridges, and plans were laid for the installation of diesel fuel oil storage tanks. MRS also took over responsibility for the erection of locomotives and rolling stock and prepared for the introduction of the new diesels into ISR operations.
The two shop battalions arrived in Iran early in March. The 754th Railway Shop Battalion moved to Tehran, taking over the ISR’s principal locomotive and car repair shops. The 762nd Railway Shop Battalion (Diesel), leaving a detachment at Khorramshahr to handle the erection of diesel locomotives that were beginning to arrive, moved to Ahwaz and took over the shop and wagon assembly facilities there. Detachments were sent to Bandar Shah-pur, Andimeshk, and Sultanabad to instruct battalion engine men in the use of the diesels. In mid-April both shop battalions were reported to have taken hold in excellent fashion.53
Although the U.S. Army took over full responsibility for the operation and maintenance of the ISR between the Persian Gulf ports and Tehran on 1 April 1943 and one month later, when the Anglo-American movements control agreement went into effect, also assumed control over priorities, the scheduling of trains, and the distribution of rolling stock, these transfers left unresolved two vital matters. One involved the question whether the Americans had also taken over from the British responsibility for guaranteeing the ISR an annual net profit. The matter of financial responsibility was the subject of prolonged controversy, but it never interfered with railway operations.54 Of greater
consequence was the fact that since the United States was not a signatory to the Tri-Partite Treaty of January 1942, it had no legal basis for its presence in Iran. Both the Russians and Iranians questioned whether this was not a breach of Iran’s sovereignty.
Efforts to arrive at a four-power agreement defining the status of the American command in general and the railway operation in particular were inconclusive, and the matter was never settled satisfactorily. In effect, the Americans in Iran were guests of the British and dependent on the acquiescence of the other two powers. On occasion, this proved embarrassing. Colonel Yount reported in April 1943 that the Russians were refusing to admit that the Americans were in operational control pending a formal agreement.55 In time, however, Russian suspicion diminished and few difficulties arose on this account. With regard to the Iranians, the Americans were fortunate in finding in the ISR director-general, Mr. Hossain Nafisi, an official who, despite criticism from many governmental quarters, gave his full cooperation to the U.S. Army.
The MRS organization was rounded out on 1 May 1943. Until that time the 711th Railway Operating Battalion had jurisdiction over 363 miles and the 730th operated 289 miles. Since the normal operating battalion was set up to handle from 60 to 120 miles of single track, it was self-evident that these units were overextended. The command therefore activated the 1st Provisional (later the 791st) Railway Operating Battalion, drawing on railway units already in the field. The rail line was then divided into three divisions, each under the jurisdiction of a railway operating battalion. The divisions, supervised by battalion headquarters at Tehran, Andimeshk, and Ahwaz, respectively, varied from 199 to 266 miles in length. These operating divisions were directly responsible to the MRS director, as were the shop battalions.56
By the end of June 1943 almost all of the MRS force, aggregating 3,821 troops, was on the ground. Thereafter, troop strength fluctuated, reaching a peak of 4,051 in late 1944. The staff sections and operating divisions continued in existence until the completion of the U.S. Army mission. Only one other important change was effected. From its arrival in Iran, the 702nd Railway Grand Division had acted as MRS headquarters. This was officially recognized by the War Department on 10 April 1944, when the 702nd was inactivated and reconstituted as the 3rd Military Railway Service.
Command of MRS continued to be exercised by Colonel Yount until May 1944, when he left to head American rail operations in CBI. Yount had seen the organization through its most critical period and left MRS ready for peak operations under his successor, Col. (later Brig. Gen.) Frank S. Besson, Jr., who stayed on as director until May 1945. Besson was succeeded in turn by Col. Audrey M. Bruce and Lt. Col. L. D. Curtis, who headed the MRS operation in its final stages.
The Development of Operations
During the first months of operation MRS, like Port Service, experienced difficulty in meeting PGSC targets. ISR traffic north of Andimeshk and deliveries
to the Russians fell short of estimates, and rail clearance failed to keep pace with port discharge. Although effecting moderate increases in traffic in early 1943, the ISR fell short of its target for USSR deliveries in March, hauling only 28,181 long tons of Russian-aid supplies north of Andimeshk in contrast with 33,585 tons in February.
The March shortfall was in part caused by a flood that washed out a section of the Khorramshahr—Ahwaz line. This catastrophe, together with a train wreck and a second flood crest, virtually halted traffic northward from Khorramshahr during the last ten days of the month. At the same time, the scarcity of food in this area made it almost impossible to recruit native labor to repair and maintain the line. MRS solved this problem by providing rations for ISR employees south of Ahwaz.
While the Americans were coping with wrecks and floods in the south, the Russians were having serious difficulties in the north due to heavy rains and snowstorms. They refused to accept trains from Tehran for 24-hour to 48-hour periods, thereby delaying car turnaround and causing a shortage of empty cars in the south.57 To deal with this problem, Yount and three other American officers met with Soviet officials in Tehran on 22 March. The representatives of both nations agreed to take all possible steps to reduce car turnaround. In order to place damaged sections of the line back in service, joint approval was given immediately to the temporary assignment of railway cars to haul track-ballasting materials for repairs on the Khorramshahr and Bandar Shahpur lines as well as those north of Tehran. The Americans agreed to furnish locomotives to assist Soviet train movements and offered to turn over, upon their repair, deadlined locomotives belonging to the ISR.
At this meeting, Yount also proposed a system of car assignment by territory and according to types of car and freight. The Russians professed general satisfaction with the allocations, but apparently were reluctant to recognize the Americans’ authority to make car assignments pending a formal operating agreement. At a second meeting on 19 April, car assignments were again considered. The Russians requested that the target for tonnage north of Andimeshk be increased, but the U.S. representatives maintained that the target assumed a turnaround of twenty-two days between the ports and Soviet transfer points to the north, a figure below current turnaround time. Until over-all car turnaround improved, MRS could not use a lower figure for estimating purposes. Despite the inconclusiveness of these meetings with regard to car allotments, they marked the beginning of closer cooperation. In time, car assignments and tonnage targets were worked out satisfactorily, and MRS officers were permitted to observe loading practices and other operations on the northern portion of the line.58
After the March setback, rail traffic mounted steadily. In April the USSR received at Tehran more rail freight than in any previous month, although only 85 percent of the target was attained. Targets for deliveries were exceeded during the next three months, but the heavy increase in traffic from the south proved too much for the Russians to handle. The Tehran yards became congested, loads had to be stored south of Tehran, car turnaround
lagged, and a critical car shortage developed at the Army-operated ports. To give the Russians an opportunity to catch up, an embargo on the loading of cars for Bandar Shah was placed on the American ports between 8 and 18 August. With the relief of congestion in the north, the embargo was lifted, and a more normal flow of traffic was resumed.59
Although it never again reached such serious proportions, the problem of getting the Russians promptly to lift the tonnage delivered by MRS persisted. The Americans continued to loan locomotives to the Soviet sector of the ISR, providing a total of seventy-six in 1943, and made available an increasing number of air-braked cars for operation over the Elburz Mountain section. To make these air-braked cars available without placing an unduly heavy burden on reclassification facilities in the Tehran yards, MRS began to make up trains at Andimeshk consisting of cars destined for the same locations in the Soviet zone. By this and other means, MRS increased the percentage of air-braked cars for Soviet operation from fifteen to seventy. In the case of tank cars, average turnaround time from Khorramshahr was reduced from thirty days in July 1943 to ten days in 1944 by organizing them into special trains and giving priority to the movement of gasoline for the USSR. These measures, together with a tightening of Russian operations, resulted in a gradual improvement in over-all car turnaround and a continued increase in traffic.
After August 1943 MRS never again failed to meet monthly targets for deliveries to Tehran or, with minor exceptions, for total tonnage movements north of Andimeshk. The ISR began to outstrip the combined USSR deliveries of American, British, and Soviet trucking agencies, and rail and motor transport increasingly exhibited an ability to keep pace with port discharge. The original goal of 6,000 long tons a day was exceeded in December, when the ISR hauled 199,255 long tons north of Andimeshk. The railroad was now able to handle all tonnage offered.
The ISR’s improved performance during 1943 reflects the application of American “know-how” to ISR operations. New operating and safety rules had been introduced and an effective waybilling system instituted. Although the Iranian block system was retained, American personnel took over dispatching duties at main and wayside stations.60 To facilitate operations at the Tehran yards, a procedure was introduced whereby the “consist” of each train leaving Andimeshk was teletyped to Tehran, the message showing the number, contents, and destination of each car in the train. This procedure facilitated assignment of tracks to trains, inspection, and make-up of trains according to destination and braking requirements. The making up of trains at Andimeshk, already mentioned, further simplified operations at Tehran and speeded car turnaround.
These operating improvements were accompanied by an improvement of the physical plant. Water facilities and diesel storage tanks were built or improved; additional passing tracks were installed and new trackage was constructed at freight yards, ports, and rail-to-truck transfer points; and engine sheds, sanding houses, and warehouses were erected. Early attention was given to renewing ties, reballasting, anchoring rail, and repairing
damaged tunnels and bridges. With the arrival of Signal Corps troops, work was begun on improving or installing railway signal communications. By the end of the year telephone, teletype, and telegraph communications were satisfactory, although hampered by wire thefts along the line.
Meanwhile, American shop battalion troops, with native labor supervised and trained by them, had placed a greatly increased amount of equipment in service through erection and repair. By 10 July 1943 all of the fifty-seven 246-ton 1,000-horsepower diesel locomotives ordered for Iran had arrived from the United States and had been assembled and placed in operation. From the outset, they lived up to expectation. Because of their low water consumption they were not handicapped by the inadequate water facilities along the route, and their light exhaust made for safer passage through the tunneled mountain section. American lend-lease Mikado steam locomotives had begun arriving late in 1942, and assembly was started by the British. The Americans took over this job, and by August 1943 had erected the eighty-ninth of ninety-one Mikados shipped from the United States. By the year’s end all motive power had been erected, except eight small switch engines which arrived later, and in addition 2,100 freight cars were assembled.61
The railway shop personnel also turned out a growing volume of repair work and introduced modifications in equipment to assure safer and more efficient operation. During 1943 the number of cars repaired increased from 144 in June to 2,404 in December. Although the latter were largely light running repairs, they indicate the increasing productivity of the MRS shops. In the same period 854 cars were provided with air brakes, 1,076 were equipped with heavy coupling and friction gear, and cabooses were converted for use as Red Cross, PX, dental, and chaplains’ cars. Modifications were made in the Mikados to adapt them to the difficult operating conditions. In the beginning the shop battalions, short of tools and spare parts, had to rely on ISR tools and much improvisation to keep work going. The arrival in mid-1943 of parts and tools relieved shortages, although such items as car wheels and axles continued scarce.62
Rail traffic increased through January 1944 and then fluctuated with cargo available at the ports. During July, when MRS celebrated the delivery of its 1,500,000th ton to the USSR, the railroad hauled a record of 233,132 long tons north of Andi-meshk. On the ISR traffic was heavy during the rest of the year, limited only by the amount of cargo being discharged at the ports. With the discontinuance of the Motor Transport Service on 1 December, the railroad carried all tonnage delivered to the Soviet Union, other than assembled trucks and cargo moved along the highway by the Russians.
During 1944 operational practices were standardized and perfected, and increasing attention was given to the maintenance of way and the improvement of equipment. One innovation, designed to cut car turnaround time, involved making up trains at the ports instead of Andimeshk. Also, Iranians were trained on diesel locomotives and operated them under the supervision of American conductor-pilots. Language difficulties diminished, and MRS and ISR personnel were working cooperatively side by side.
Factors in the MRS Achievement
The ISR’s impressive record under American operation can in large measure be attributed to improved operating methods and maintenance, but augmentation of motive power and rolling stock also played a significant part. In the spring of 1943 there were 240 locomotives and 5,088 freight and work cars on the ISR. By the summer of 1945, there had been added 2,906 American railway cars, the majority of them air-braked, 57 U.S. Army diesel locomotives, 91 lend-lease Mikado steam engines, and 8 U.S. Army 45-ton diesel switchers.63
In part, the success of the rail operation was also the result of the favorable solution of several unanticipated problems for which no provision had been made in setting up the MRS organization. One of the most chronic of these was the prevention of pilferage, banditry, and sabotage. Although the British were primarily responsible for this function, MRS found it necessary to set up a supplementary Security and Safety Section in February 1943. Arms and ammunition, tires, copper wire, brass, sugar, and other U.S. Army and Soviet-aid materials were inviting loot and were highly prized on the black market. Moreover, the threat of sabotage was ever present. In August 1943 British security forces arrested some fifty ISR employees, including a number of key officials, for active pro-Nazi sympathies. As a result of these arrests, not a single official remained in charge on the Sultanabad division, on which 3,000 Iranians were employed.
Although sabotage was held in check, car pilferage persisted, becoming increasingly serious in the latter part of 1943. Some Americans were involved, and when detected they were court-martialed. Far more serious were thefts by organized bands and individual Iranians. To deal with this situation, Iranian Army units were stationed along the line, Soviet guards were placed on trains running north of Andimeshk, and monthly security meetings of American, British, and Soviet representatives were held. Self-locking American car seals were put into use in February 1944, and later American guards were assigned to trains carrying PGC cargo. Security in shops and camps was tightened by installing a system of button and card identification for Iranian laborers.
These measures had some beneficial effects, for in April 1944, for the first time, no PGC cargo was pilfered in transit. That the over-all problem was not solved was indicated by the resumption of looting raids south of Andimeshk and continued large-scale thefts of wire along the line. Wire thefts were finally curtailed after the Signal Corps installed a “tattle tale” system giving instant warning of interrupted circuits. Although pilferage was never completely eliminated, the Russians were able to report in August 1944 that it was currently at the lowest point since USSR supplies had started moving over the ISR.
MRS early encountered a problem in labor relations.64 When the Americans took over, they found a disgruntled civilian force on the ISR. The scarcity of food,
spiraling inflation, unwieldy regulations, and poor personnel administration had produced much discontent and threatened to result in work stoppages and decreased recruitment. Because of these circumstances, MRS created a Labor and Public Relations Section in February 1943.
The section’s first task was to deal with the labor shortage in the desert section south of Ahwaz, caused principally by a lack of food. The problem was solved when the Labor Section in March 1943 arranged for ISR employees in the area to purchase at a nominal charge a ration of sugar, tea, and flour provided by the Army. Later the charge was eliminated and the ration was provided free. No serious labor shortage again developed on the lines south of Ahwaz.
The food problem was acute all along the line. At Tehran, where the lack of bread and other subsistence caused a large number of worker absences, the Labor Section arranged for the ISR to distribute government-rationed bread to its employees. This distribution, supervised by the Labor Section, reached a peak of 12,500 loaves a day. The Labor Section also reorganized the previously inefficient ISR Food Department, extending its activities to include the purchase and resale of cloth, clothes, and fuel as well as food. In twenty months after the reorganization, sales totaled 67,116,000 rials ($2,147,700). The program helped keep wages down, encouraged labor recruitment, and kept employees healthy enough to work.
Other Labor Section efforts were aimed at correcting inequities in the ISR’s wage and classification system. Many skilled and semiskilled employees were drifting away because their wages had not kept pace with rising living costs. Older, experienced employees received low wages, while new employees, who were hired in a competitive market, were engaged at higher levels. Thus, men doing the same job side by side were receiving different wages. MRS arranged with the ISR to adjust wages up to the authorized minimum for each job classification, and, as evidence of good faith, immediate adjustment was made in the wages of one category of workers.
The task of adjusting wages required a complete reorganization of the job classification system. When the Americans commenced operation, there were no satisfactory lists of workers or statistics regarding such information as date of employment, salary, and job classifications. Lists, prepared by Iranians, were full of errors and omissions, and those who paid were put down at higher grades. Under the Labor Section’s supervision, personnel files were reorganized, new lists were compiled, and orders were issued for promotion, pay increase, and wage adjustment covering 8,899 employees.
Another difficulty arose from excessive employee transfers and dismissals, in some cases contrary to the best interests of the MRS. In July 1943 the Labor Section secured an agreement with the ISR requiring mutual consent on all hirings, transfers, and discharges. Later, MRS adopted the practice of transferring to its payroll any employee whom the ISR wished to discharge but whom MRS deemed essential.
A new problem arose in late 1943 when several strikes were threatened, due primarily to fear that the ISR would not pay a high cost-of-living bonus authorized for all government employees. The strikes were averted by having the ISR publish a notice promising payment. The first
monthly installment was paid in December and the crisis passed. At this time attempts were being made to organize ISR employees, but the unions apparently were opposed to strikes or to interference with the movement of war materials to the Soviet Union. MRS personnel occasionally met with union leaders, reported few unreasonable requests, and acted on some of their recommendations. Only two strikes, both minor, occurred during 1944. These were confined to Tehran and were speedily settled.
The varied labor problems encountered by MRS were solved by a competent though improvised staff, assisted by civilian interpreters and other employees. Nevertheless, MRS experience indicated that the War Department should make provision for trained labor and personnel men in MRS units in the field whenever a large group of civilians was used in railway operation.
MRS also found it necessary to interpret its services to the Iranian public. To correct the widespread misapprehension, fostered by a segment of the press and some government officials, that Allied operation of the ISR had disrupted the civilian economy and damaged the railroad, MRS in December 1944 arranged for a tour of the Tehran yards and shops by representatives of sixty-five Iranian newspapers, along with Soviet officers and officials of the ISR and the Ministry of Roads. During the tour, ISR accomplishments under Allied operation were pointed out, and the visitors were able to see the railroad at work. Another tour was arranged in May 1945 for the Shah and other Iranian dignitaries and officials.
As in the case of security and labor and public relations, there was no provision for accounting personnel in the initial MRS organization. The need early became evident. ISR accounting was inefficient, erroneous, and considerably in arrears. Requisitioning four qualified officers from the United States, MRS set up an Accounting Section in June 1943. Under its guidance the ISR effected numerous improvements. Material accounting, previously six to eight months in arrears, was centralized and brought up to date; banking procedures were improved; records were made current and more accurate; and a new time system was introduced in two ISR departments whereby employees were paid only for the time worked. The section also instituted a program for authenticating ISR waybills to facilitate the checking of charges; and to insure final settlement of accounts, it abstracted all waybills prepared at ISR stations since the beginning of Allied traffic, eventually compiling a complete transcription of all bills rendered against the Allied governments and of all payments received.
One other activity in which MRS engaged was that of local procurement. Lacking a dependable source in Iran, MRS relied largely on the United States for railway maintenance supplies. These were requisitioned through Army channels from the Charleston Port of Embarkation and paid for by the ISR. Arrival of tools, spare parts, and other supplies in mid-1943 relieved many of the acute shortages, but it still proved necessary to supplement these materials through local purchase. Under supervision of the MRS Stores Department and later a separate Purchase Section, ISR purchases were facilitated through the elimination of time-consuming routines, and overpayment was avoided through a study of price trends and other marketing data. In addition, a variety of common items of supply was
obtained from the Iranian Government State Supply and Service Corporation and other state agencies, permitting MRS to avoid purchasing in the local market or requisitioning from the United States.
A radical change in procedures appeared in the offing when the War Department in early 1944 recommended that railway maintenance supplies be procured from U.S. lend-lease materials provided to the Iranian Government. To this proposal General Connolly vigorously dissented, arguing that the resultant interjection of Iranian politics and business methods might well jeopardize his command’s mission. As a case in point, he reviewed the efforts to obtain railway ties, begun in September 1943. It had been necessary to deal in turn with the ISR, the Ministry of Communications, under which the ISR operated, and the Ministry of Agriculture, which controlled the cutting of lumber. Primarily because officials in each of the three agencies were interested in getting their so-called perquisites, no ties had been delivered by February 1944. In the end, the PGC procurement officer purchased the ties on the open market, turned them over to the ISR, and requested reimbursement. At Connolly’s request, MRS continued to rely mainly on Army channels for the railroad’s supply, supplemented by local procurement.65
The Termination of MRS Operations
As 1945 opened, substantial tonnages were still being moved by the ISR, but the sharp decline in ship arrivals soon made itself felt. In February USSR freight deliveries were the smallest since August 1943. By this time MRS personnel had been removed from the terminals at Cheybassi and Bandar Shahpur, and only limited rail service to those ports was being maintained. During April 1945 traffic was at its lowest ebb since the Americans had begun operations. Indeed, as surplus rail and other PGC materials began moving to Khorramshahr for evacuation, southbound traffic for the first time was comparable to northward movements.66
Upon the termination of the PGC mission on 1 June, MRS speedily ended its operations. The ISR was transferred on 25 June to the British, who promptly returned it to the Iranian Government. With the exception of a small detachment assigned to handle the dismantling of equipment, all railway personnel were readied for evacuation. The 3rd MRS was discontinued on 15 July and the job of disposing of locomotives and rolling stock was assigned to the new Military Railway Division at PGC headquarters.
The Motor Transport Service
The third major American transportation activity, motor transport, was designed primarily to supplement the ISR and British and Soviet operated trucks in hauling Soviet-aid goods from the Persian Gulf to Soviet transfer points in northern Iran. Providing additional interior transport capacity, the American trucking service also afforded a measure of protection against interruption to the railroad and made possible deliveries to destinations not served by rail. Secondary missions of the service included the transport of U.S. Army supplies that could not otherwise be carried, the performance of
heavier maintenance work on all PGSC vehicles, and the supervision of all vehicle maintenance in the command.67
Preparations for the establishment of an American trucking operation in Iran got under way on 9 October 1942, with the activation of a Motor Transport Service headquarters at Camp Lee, Virginia. Col. Mark V. Brunson assumed command and, with the assistance of two other regular Army officers, quickly brought the unit up to its authorized strength of 121 officers and enlisted men. Three civilians experienced in commercial trucking operations and maintenance were commissioned and assigned to the unit. Remaining personnel were drawn from Army sources.
After setting up MTS headquarters Brunson, accompanied by his transportation experts, proceeded to Washington to confer with Headquarters 1616 and SOS officials. There, it was decided that the extensive use of native labor that was contemplated would require white truck units to provide the necessary supervision and control. Consequently, the War Department granted authority to recruit two white truck regiments, less one battalion, through truck associations in the United States. In order to get some drivers to Iran as soon as possible, PGSC accepted one trained Negro battalion that was available for early shipment. This organization, the 3rd Battalion, 26th Quartermaster Truck Regiment, left the United States in December and arrived in Iran late in January 1943.68
Following this decision Brunson arranged with the American Trucking Associations to recruit white personnel through its affiliates. The 516th Quartermaster Truck Regiment was activated in November 1942 and, with the exception of the regimental commander and a cadre provided by the Army, was filled to authorized strength with experienced ex-civilian personnel. Less fruitful results befell efforts similarly to recruit a second truck regiment. Early enlistments had been made under the misapprehension that the volunteers would be exempt from certain features of military training and would be eligible for early advancement. When this impression was corrected, enlistments fell off drastically. The 517th Quartermaster Regiment (less one battalion), organized in December, received only 200 affiliated enlisted men, making it necessary to fill the regiment from Army sources. After a period of military training, the regiments moved to Iran, the 516th arriving at Khorramshahr in May and 517th in July 1943.
Having set the recruitment machinery in motion, Colonel Brunson and his three motor transport officers flew to Basra and joined General Connolly, who on 17 December established the MTS as an operating service of PGSC. In January 1943 Brunson and his staff moved with PGSC headquarters to Tehran. The rest of the MTS headquarters, moving to Iran by water, joined Brunson in the following month.
The first American trucking operations got under way early in 1943, when a locally activated truck company and the 429th Engineer Dump Truck Company were assigned to MTS to ferry new trucks received from the British at Bushire and
Tehran and to drive administrative vehicles for PGSC districts. In February a second provisional truck unit was activated at Khorramshahr to perform local hauling and carry U.S. Army cargo to depots at Ahwaz and Andimeshk.
Meanwhile, Brunson and his staff had made a reconnaissance of potential routes and were preparing for the initiation of Soviet lend-lease hauling. By mid-January 1943 plans took on definite shape. USSR cargo hauling was scheduled to begin on 1 March, and a target of 40,000 tons monthly hauled northward from Khorramshahr and Andimeshk was set for attainment in December. Agreement was reached with the United Kingdom Commercial Corporation, which was already using the route, whereby that agency arranged for all loading and unloading under PGSC supervision and made available to MTS its maintenance and communications facilities. It was further agreed that when American installations were completed and the main body of MTS troops arrived, PGSC would assume control of the route. At that time, UKCC temporarily would augment the MTS fleet until PGSC determined that UKCC vehicles could be released for transfer to other Soviet-aid routes. American use of the Bushire–Tehran and Khanaqin routes, called for in the SOS plan, was considered impracticable because of the limited number of men and trucks available and the fact that Khorramshahr was the only American-operated port served by road.
There was one major problem involved in the determination of the route. Initial plans, approved by the Russians, called for the delivery through Kazvin to Tabriz and later to the Caspian Sea ports at Nau Shahr and Pahlevi. But upon making preparations to move advance parties to stations near Tabriz, Brunson found that the Soviet authorities would neither confirm their locations nor permit movement beyond Kazvin. As a result, the command decided to make Kazvin the northern transfer point.69 Although the Russians again changed their minds soon after operations were begun, this decision stood until the final months of MTS hauling, when a number of special convoys were sent into the Soviet zone.
The MTS route was a two-lane, gravel highway extending 636 miles from Khorramshahr to Kazvin. The first 170 miles—from Khorramshahr to Andimeshk—crossed a flat desert area, characterized by intense heat and dust storms in summer and rains and floods in winter. A temporary highway had been completed by American construction forces in late 1942, but much of this road was washed away in March 1943. From Andimeshk to Hamadan, 338 miles distant, the road traversed rugged Mountain country, climbing three passes up to 7,000 feet high. In this section, grades up to 12 percent were encountered, land and rockslides interfered with traffic, and heavy snow storms often blocked the high mountain passes. Between Hamadan and Kazvin, 128 miles, the route traversed high plateau country with long stretches of straight roadway. The only serious obstacles in this section were sub-zero temperatures and heavy snows at Avej Pass, over 7,700 feet high. Despite some British improvements, the road north of Andimeshk was in a poor
state of repair and required much construction and maintenance work.70
Other preparations were also in progress. In January 1943 a school for civilian interpreter-instructors was opened at Tehran, and during the following month thirty-eight graduates and twenty-four MTS personnel opened the first civilian drivers school at Andimeshk. Meanwhile, the 429th Engineer Dump Truck Company, the 1st Provisional Truck Company, and the four companies of the 3rd Battalion, 26th Quartermaster Truck Regiment, were readied for Soviet cargo hauling at Andimeshk. The six companies were assigned 400 of 600 lend-lease 2½-ton truck-tractors with 20-foot semitrailers of 7-ton capacity that had been assembled by the British and turned over to MTS.71 The remaining vehicles were employed for PGSC and district use and driver training. The 3430th Ordnance Medium Maintenance Company was assigned to MTS and established temporary relay, service, and repair stations at Khorramshahr, Ahwaz, Andimeshk, Khurramabad, Hamadan, and Kazvin. At the end of February 1943, the first trucks of the small MTS fleet were loaded and stood poised at Andimeshk.72
The MTS Organization
The organization set up to handle MTS operations consisted of the director, his staff, and a decentralized field service. At Tehran, the director had a control officer to coordinate staff and operating divisions; an executive officer, who supervised administration; Training and Supply Divisions; and a manager, who directed and coordinated field activities through an Operations Division and a Maintenance Division. On the basis of experience in the field, the organization underwent some change. In time the Control Division was eliminated, and its functions were absorbed by the executive officer. To the Administration, Operations, Maintenance, and Supply Divisions was added an Engineering Division, which performed liaison with the PGSC Construction Service regarding plans for MTS facilities and later took on traffic control functions. As construction neared completion, this division was abolished and traffic control was turned over to Operations. With the increase in civilian employment, a separate division was established to handle such matters as payment, housing, and feeding, and driver training.
In the field, the route was divided into the Northern Division and the Southern Division, with commanders directly responsible to the director exercising jurisdiction over all MTS troops and activities within their respective areas. Under them, officers were appointed to command MTS stations within the divisions and direct operations on the road between stations. After the arrival of the two truck regiments, their commanders headed the divisions, and battalion commanders generally served as MTS station commanders, each responsible for operations on the portion of the route, the “block,” extending from his station to the next one to the north. Both divisions and stations were provisional organizations staffed by regimental and battalion personnel.
The Development of MTS Operations
The first convoy of forty-six truck-trailers left Andimeshk on 1 March 1943. Brunson and two of his staff preceded the convoy to arrange with Soviet authorities for its reception. The vehicles arrived at Kazvin on 4 March and were unloaded by the Russians on the next day. Regular departures of USSR, PGSC, and MTS cargoes from Andimeshk followed daily.
Operations during the first month were performed under severe handicaps. Heavy snows hampered movements in the north, while heavy rains and floods washed out sections of the road between Khorramshahr and Ahwaz, forcing all USSR cargo hauling to originate at Andimeshk. A shortage of troops and equipment and inadequate station facilities added to the difficulties. In an effort to increase deliveries, another dump truck company was assigned, a third provisional truck unit was activated, and overhead personnel were pressed into service as drivers. The 3430th Medium Maintenance Company, its personnel and equipment spread over six main stations, was able to keep the fleet rolling only by borrowing tools from truck organizations and working around the clock. Only limited relief was afforded by the 68th Ordnance Medium Maintenance Battalion, which arrived without its organizational equipment. Its men were assigned to MTS stations to assist the 3430th and to perform administrative and housekeeping duties, while others were temporarily assigned as drivers. Not until May did the battalion receive all its organizational equipment. A Quartermaster service company was also assigned to MTS, and was used for vehicle servicing and general shop labor.
Other early problems involved traffic control and pilferage. Although a military police company was attached to MTS on 17 March, the first platoon was not actually placed on the route until April. Not until June was the full company on duty with MTS. In the absence of traffic control and road patrol troops, road discipline of American as well as Soviet, British, and Iranian vehicles was poor, traffic was unregulated, and a certain amount of pilferage occurred.73
this difficult period, a change of command occurred. On 13 March Brunson was transferred to a new command and was succeeded by General Shingler, a member of the original Iranian mission and U.S. Army commander in Iran between Wheeler’s departure and Connolly’s arrival. Although he was not an experienced motor transport man, Shingler was an able administrator and was completely familiar with the local situation. Upon assuming command, he made only minor organizational changes, but effected a basic modification in fleet operation. At first, standard unit convoy operations were in effect, with each driver making a complete round trip from his own station. Since MTS was operating over a fixed route and the vehicle shortage was more acute than the shortage of personnel, Shingler believed that the maximum possible tonnage could be delivered by the “block” system, whereby trucks operated continuously with changes of drivers en route. Under this type of relay operation, adopted on 28 March, drivers took trucks from their home station to the next adjoining station, eight to twelve hours travel time away, and returned the next day with empty trucks. After servicing and repair, the loaded trucks with new drivers
proceeded over the second block to the next station.
Reorganization of operations, the advent of better weather, and the arrival of additional vehicles brought a significant improvement. In March MTS hauled 6,464 long tons, of which 3,705 tons represented USSR cargo.74 Although no additional operating troops were made available in April, both PGSC and USSR freight hauled by MTS doubled. Road conditions in the south were improved sufficiently in May to permit loading at the Khorramshahr docks and dumps as well as at Andimeshk, and after June all loadings were made at Khorramshahr, except when truckable cargo was unavailable there. This development, together with the arrival of the main body of driver personnel, reduced the railroad’s burden and eliminated much double handling at Andimeshk.
By the fall of 1943 personnel arrivals had been completed, equipment greatly augmented, operations standardized, security and traffic control tightened, and construction of facilities and roads had gone forward. When on 4 September Shingler was recalled to the United States, U.S. Army and USSR freight hauled monthly by MTS was about to pass the 40,000-long-ton mark.75 Under his successors, MTS deliveries continued to climb, reaching a peak in December 1943. In that month MTS vehicles, operating 8,027,496 truck-miles, hauled 52,143 long tons. Of this total, 34,385 long tons were USSR supplies delivered to Kazvin. The remaining tonnage consisted of U.S. Army supplies hauled within the command.
One of the major factors in the improvement during 1943 was the increase in MTS personnel. By the end of July virtually all troops planned for shipment had arrived, and provisional truck units had been eliminated. Driver organizations were rounded out in August with the local activation of a third truck battalion for the 517th Quartermaster Truck Regiment. There were now on duty under MTS two truck regiments, seven truck battalions, and a total of twenty-nine truck companies. Also assigned to MTS were two Ordnance medium maintenance battalions, a total of seven Ordnance medium companies, and a military police company. Assignment of a second MP unit completed the MTS organization, which in November aggregated approximately 5,200 officers and enlisted men.
American troops were supplemented by Iranian civilian drivers. To the first MTS drivers school established at Andimeshk were added others at Hamadan and Kazvin. These turned out a steadily growing number of graduates in six-week to eight-week courses. At first the lack of separate quarters and messing facilities at stations caused MTS to restrict the use of native drivers to hauling at Khorramshahr and for PGSC deliveries to Ahwaz and Andimeshk, but by July there were sufficient facilities available to permit their employment over the entire route.76 Each Quartermaster truck company was eventually assigned from 105 to 120 graduate drivers, who operated under Army supervision as part of serial teams.
Large-scale training and employment
of native drivers involved many difficulties. A short, intensive course taught through interpreters to students unfamiliar with machines obviously could not and did not turn out graduates comparable to American drivers. As will be seen, the use of native drivers was a major cause for the high MTS accident rate. Nevertheless, close supervision in time produced a large number of passable civilian drivers. Indeed, the Andimeshk school in December 1943 opened a section to teach experienced MTS civilian drivers to operate 10-ton Mack diesel trucks and graduated several hundred men.77 A problem never satisfactorily solved was the high employee turnover, caused principally by losses of drivers to competing agencies, particularly to the Russians. Over 7,500 civilian drivers were graduated during the course of MTS operations, but the number on duty at any one time never exceeded 3,155.
Although no schools were set up for civilian mechanics, a large number were employed and trained at MTS stations. Civilians used by MTS during peak operations included 1,200 mechanics, 1,300 engine attendants, 90 canvas repairers, 200 technical supervisors, and 20 welders. Others were hired to operate civilian messes and perform other overhead duties, and native laborers were used extensively in operations, housekeeping, and maintenance. Civilian employees, including drivers and mechanics, reached a high of 9,275 in November 1943.78
The development of MTS operations also depended on the rate at which vehicles were delivered to the command. Initially, all vehicles were Studebaker 2½-ton 6x4 truck-tractors with 20-foot semitrailers of 7-ton capacity. These continued to arrive, and in addition Studebaker 2½-ton 6x4 trucks, 1-ton 2-wheel trailers, and 10-ton Mack diesel trucks were received, the latter eventually becoming the standard replacement vehicle for the command.79 Deliveries to the command, reaching a peak in the summer and early fall of 1943, increased the vehicles assigned to MTS from the original 600 truck-trailer units to a total, in December, of 4,183 trucks and trailers, of which 2,770 were in fleet operation. Arrivals during 1944 were to bring the number of MTS vehicles to 3,430 trucks and truck-tractors and 2,779 trailers in July, of which 5,644 were available for fleet use.
The vehicles proved satisfactory, but not entirely suitable for MTS operations. The Studebaker trucks and truck-tractors were serviceable for at least 50,000 miles, surprisingly good in view of the severe operating conditions and driver abuse, and the basic chassis was sound. But their motors were insufficiently powered for operation over mountainous terrain, and many parts and minor assemblies were not sturdy enough for such hard usage and therefore deteriorated rapidly. In addition, the bodies of the truck and the semitrailer drawn by the truck-tractor were too small to carry bulky cargo. The semitrailer also had a number of structural weaknesses, while the one-ton trailer exhibited a high mortality rate.
The Mack diesel truck was capable of giving good service for 100,000 miles before repair became uneconomical, parts consumption was fairly low, and failures were less frequent. The vehicles, however,
had many shortcomings, including small and structurally weak bodies, clogged fuel lines, and excessive failures of such parts as radiators, cowls, starter and series parallel switches, fuses, emergency-brake linings, and generators. More desirable than the vehicles provided, in the opinion of MTS officers, would have been an air-braked 6x4 tractor capable of operating 100,000 miles over mountainous terrain. Powered by a 150-horsepower engine with 10 forward speeds, the tractor would be able to attain a speed of 45 miles per hour and move 15 tons of net cargo up grades of 15 percent. The tractor would haul a 28-foot, dual-axle, air-braked, van-type semitrailer.
The provision of unsuitable vehicles, together with poor road conditions, vehicle abuse, and a high accident rate, resulted in a high vehicle mortality rate and required extensive servicing, maintenance, and repair. In the beginning, undermanned and widely dispersed Ordnance units were required to perform all first, second, and third echelon work. Maintenance facilities were lacking, organizational equipment was delayed in arrival, and few tools and parts could be procured locally. In order to keep the fleet rolling, maintenance units relied on such field expedients as welding with iron wire, and manufactured parts such as cylinder heads, distributor rotors and caps, cowl sides, emergency-brake linings, and series parallel switches and bolts.
The situation began to improve with the arrival of the two truck regiments and additional Ordnance units. Their assignment helped relieve the personnel shortage and permitted the transfer of all first and second echelon work to the truck companies in August 1943. Service lines and second echelon maintenance installations at each station were manned by truck company mechanics and supervisory personnel. Both Ordnance and truck units were augmented by civilian mechanics, helpers, and laborers. By this time most organizational tools had arrived, and other equipment, such as lathes, large air compressors, and pneumatic hammers, was borrowed from the Andimeshk Ordnance Depot. Parts began to arrive in quantity in September, and resulted in improved vehicle maintenance, although as late as August 1944 over 680 fleet vehicles were deadlined for lack of parts.80
Of considerable assistance in improving the output of maintenance units was the provision of station facilities. By October 1943 construction of permanent main stations at Khorramshahr, Andimeshk, Khurramabad, Hamadan, and Kazvin was substantially completed. In addition to parking areas and American and native quarters and messes, there were provided refueling points, grease pits, open sheds for second and third echelon repair, and storage space. Secondary camps for refueling and messing had also been erected between main stations at Ahwaz, Jelogir, Burujird, and Avej. In the desert section, water points were established, which materially reduced failures due to cracked cylinder blocks. During 1943, too, radio communications were improved or installed at all main and midway stations, and much progress was made in installing telephone and teletype lines. The latter were completed by March 1944, eventually supplanting radio service.
Meanwhile, American Engineers had completed a permanent, black-topped road from Khorramshahr to Andimeshk,
and together with British forces and native labor improved or rebuilt much of the highway between Andimeshk and Kazvin. At the close of 1943, less than fifty miles of road remained unpaved. When construction was completed in 1944, the entire highway had been surfaced with bitumen and was comparable to an American secondary road.
Along with construction projects, steps were taken to develop an effective system of traffic control. Early operations had been characterized by a lack of coordination of motor vehicle movements of the various using agencies. The unregulated use of the highway led inevitably to congestion which in turn was aggravated by poor road discipline. Some relief was afforded on 1 July 1943 when the UKCC removed its vehicles to the Khanaqin Lift, but the problem of congestion was far from solved.81 The Khanaqin route merged with the MTS highway from Hamadan northward, and both MTS and Soviet vehicles operated on the road north of Khorramshahr.
By agreement with UKCC, British military, and USSR representatives, MTS received authority to regulate all traffic on the highway between Khorramshahr and Takistan, twenty miles south of Kaz-vin, and set up a traffic regulation system as of 1 September 1943. The new system provided for certain time bands, or allotments of operating time, during which each using agency would have priority of movement over given sectors of the road. Within any given time band, a maximum of ten vehicles of other agencies could operate in a twenty-four-hour period. A Highway Traffic Committee, composed of USSR, UKCC, British military, and MTS representatives, met monthly to supervise the agreement and discuss traffic problems as they arose; traffic control officers were appointed at each station to coordinate the movement of traffic; and enforcement of the system was placed in the hands of the two military police companies on the route.82
Another difficulty that appeared early was pilferage. In time, foodstuffs, cloth, and other “hot” cargoes were loaded almost exclusively on semitrailers with tarpaulins tied down over their steel sides and sealed. At main stations heavy interior guards were posted and cargoes spot-checked. On the road, serial commanders posted guards at each routine halt and midway station, and MPs either accompanied convoy serials or patrolled a given sector during convoy movement to discourage pilferage and banditry. Thieves discovered among MTS employees were discharged, black-listed from further employment by any Allied agency, and turned over to Iranian authorities for punishment. Although pilferage was never eliminated, it was cut down to minor proportions. One report places total losses from all sources, wrecks and misbillings as well as pilferage, at .5 percent of all tonnage moved.83
One aspect of MTS operations that worsened steadily during 1943 was the occurrence of accidents. Although such factors as speeding, vehicle failures, blinding desert sand storms, poor road conditions, driver fatigue, and inadequate traffic control were partially responsible, the accelerating accident rate can in large measure be attributed to the large-scale employment of native drivers. In September 1943
soldier drivers had an accident rate of 22.2 per million truck miles, while the rate for civilian drivers stood at 189.9. To check the growing number of accidents, which in November attained the alarming rate of 103 per million truck miles, MTS late in 1943 undertook an intensive accident-prevention campaign, stressing safe-driving methods and such inducements as trips to Palestine for soldier drivers and nominal pay increases for deserving civilian drivers. The accident rate was soon brought under control, reaching the low point of 6.7 per million truck miles in October 1944.
The steady increase in MTS traffic was halted in January 1944 when a shortage of truckable cargo developed at Khorramshahr. During the next three months, as incoming tonnage fell off and the railroad lifted an increasing proportion of the cargoes discharged at the ports, MTS delivery targets were cut drastically. Heavy cargo arrivals at Khorramshahr in the summer again brought an upswing in MTS traffic. Although the total tonnage hauled monthly by MTS never exceeded that carried in December 1943, USSR cargo movements in July reached a peak of 36,727 long tons. After another month of large-scale operations, less-than-peak cargo arrivals and the railroad’s increasing ability to handle them resulted in a sharp drop in highway traffic.84
Operations under the block system were suspended on 28 August 1944 and once more a driver operated his vehicle over the entire route. Although fleet vehicles operated only half the time they would have in continuous day-and-night operations under the block system, maximum tonnage deliveries were no longer required. The standard convoy system, on the other hand, required fewer station overhead personnel, and through assignment of one driver to a vehicle improved maintenance and reduced accidents and pilferage.85
With only light USSR tonnages available for truck transport, the MTS was able to undertake a number of special missions. In August and September MTS drivers took lend-lease vehicles from Haifa and Cairo to Tehran, for delivery to the Iranian Government. During the latter month, MTS operated trucks north of Kazvin for the first time, delivering generator parts to Pahlevi and, in October, carrying vehicle assembly equipment to Tabriz. On return trips, MTS trucks picked up American cargo at Tabriz for movement to depots at Andimeshk and Ahwaz; carried grain for the Iranian Government; and backhauled supplies of the Eastern Command, U.S. Strategic Air Force, which had engaged in shuttle bombing from Soviet bases.86
Meanwhile, the entire scope of U.S. Army operations in Iran and its relation to over-all Protocol commitments had been placed under review in Washington. On 3 November 1944 General Somervell informed the Operations Division that the Persian Corridor’s interior capacity, exclusive of MTS, exceeded the shipping scheduled to arrive, and that discontinuance of MTS would make available for redeployment more than 9,000 service troops. By War Department directive, MTS was disbanded on 1 December and command of its troops was transferred to the districts. MTS personnel were then redeployed, some of them moving in the “Lux” convoy, destined to play an important part in revitalizing motor transport in
China, while others shipped out to the European theater.87 Since the UKCC had ceased operating in September, the elimination of MTS left as a continuing motor transport operation the delivery of Soviet-operated vehicles assembled by the Americans, an activity terminated in April 1945.
During its existence MTS hauled a total of 618,946 long tons, two thirds of it Soviet-aid materials, and operated 99,967,863 truck-miles. Conceived as a supplementary service, MTS had received a priority lower than either port or rail operations. Delays in the arrival of personnel and equipment and the lack of suitable heavy vehicles hindered the development of the MTS operations, so that it failed to provide the additional interior clearance required to lift the cargo being laid down at the Persian Gulf ports during the period of greatest congestion. Beginning in the summer of 1943, however, MTS increasingly was able to fulfill its mission of plugging the gap between port discharge and interior clearance until it was bridged by the railroad.
The Close of U.S. Army Transportation Operations
By 1 June 1945, the date set by the War Department for the termination of the PGC’s Soviet lend-lease mission, much had already been done in that direction. MTS had long been disbanded; American operations at Cheybassi and Bandar Shahpur had ceased; and MRS had begun to disassemble excess rail equipment and was preparing to evacuate one of the railway operating battalions. Troop strength in the command had been cut from a peak of 30,000 to approximately 16,000.88 With the exception of the operation of Sentab Jetty at Khorramshahr, which was retained to handle the evacuation of supplies, equipment, and troops, remaining U.S. Army transportation activities were then speedily concluded. Failiyah Creek facilities and the railroad were transferred to the British, MRS was inactivated, and railway troops other than those engaged in disassembling equipment departed the command.
The last USSR cargo was discharged at Sentab Jetty in July 1945, only insignificant U.S. Army tonnages arriving thereafter. The principal activities of Port Service personnel at the port involved loading out from 10,000 to 12,000 long tons of supplies and equipment a month to the United States, and staging and embarking of troops. By the end of September only 6,922 troops were still in the command.
Meanwhile, PGC installations were being closed, and with the exception of caretaker detachments troops moved to Tehran, Andimeshk, and Khorramshahr, eventually falling back on the last city. In mid-September, PGC headquarters itself moved to Khorramshahr, where it assumed direct responsibility for port operations. Port Service was abolished on 10 October, and its functions were transferred to the Operations Division’s Transportation Branch.89 Ten days previously, the PGC had been redesignated Persian Gulf Service Command and placed under Headquarters, Africa-Middle East Theater.
Final evacuation was hastened when
uprisings in Azerbaijan caused the President in November to order the return by 1 January 1946 of all U.S. Army troops except military attaches and those assigned to two small missions. In the interim, the U.S. Army was to evacuate all U.S. property possible and make provision for Iranian agencies to care for such property as remained behind. This job involved the loading of eleven vessels and the evacuation of 4,200 troops. By the close of Army port operations in late December, PGSC troops assisted by a civilian contractor had loaded two and a half vessels. Cargo loadings were completed by the American Iraqi Shipping Company, the last vessel leaving Iran for China in February 1946. Meanwhile, caretaker detachments had been called in, and by mid-December 1945 all U.S. Army personnel were in Khorramshahr being readied for departure. About 1,000 troops were lifted by aircraft or freighter during the month, and remaining personnel left for the United States aboard the General W. P. Richardson on 30 December. On the next day, the command was officially discontinued.90