Railways in the Middle Eastern Theatre

Railways in the Middle Eastern Theatre during the First World War

16,241 railway workers were released from the Indian railways or were specially recruited for military duty or military railway work overseas

Persia

In Persia , "in 1915, at the time of the revolt of Tangestan, [British military] reinforcements were sent [to Busehr (Bushire, the main port)] in order to counteract the moves of the German consul,… .On that occasion a narrow-gauge railway 37 miles long was constructed to link Busehr with Borazjan, on the way to Shiraz….At the same time a factory for constructing railroad equipment was established at Busehr. The evacuation of the town by the British in March 1919 put an end to these attempts".

Mesopotamia

"Without the work of the Indian auxiliaries on the Mesopotamian railways – which supplied almost every requisite for fighting and for everyday living on campaign –the Allied forces would never have enjoyed the victory they achieved."

Major Frederick Cole and his unit from India built the railway from Basra to Baghdad in Iraq, then Mesopotamia. (Major Cole was Inspector of Railways in India from about 1915 to 1930).

Rail track was sent from India. “For Mesopotamia, we pull up existing lines.”

Trains were sent from India, including fourteen military trains in 1916. In 1918 the entire (locos, rolling stock, track, and all fixtures and fittings) Powayn Steam Tramway, in Bengal was sent for use on the Bushire Light Railway in Persia.

The Iraq Railways and the Indian Railway Department were a Unit and Regiment of the Indian Army in Mesopotamia during World War 1 according to a soldier’s record on the CWGC. First World War medal card indexes (refer The National Archives Documents Online: First World War Medal Index Cards ) mention Mesopotamian Railways, Iraq Railways and Railways Baghdad as corps, with Mesopotamian Railways being mentioned more frequently, but it is not known by us to what extent these three differ. In addition, there are other railway units mentioned, which may be Mesopotamian based, but which could be in other theatres. Refer separate list.

Also see

• Prisoners of the Turks (First World War) for information about the Baghdad Railway.

External links

• British Library APAC Catalogue reference , Official Publications A history of Mesopotamian railways during the War. Bombay, 1921 IOR/V/27/720/40 1921. Also available through the Integrated Catalogue.
• The National Archives catalogue reference War Diary of 2 Indian Railway Construction Battalion WO 95/5246. (Probably, but not definitely, a unit in Mesopotamia). A War Diary was a daily record of events kept by units in active service.
• Armoured car on rails in Mesopotamia from Railways of Iraq. (archive.org link). Photo originally from flickr.com
• "The Railways of Mesopotamia" by Richard Coke from The Railway Magazine April 1928 from fuchs-online.com. html version (archive.org link)
• Article "The Bagdad Railway" by H. Charles Woods The North American Review Vol. 208, No. 753 (Aug., 1918), pp. 219-228 jstor.org. Transcribed version jfredmacdonald.com/archive.org. Discusses the Turkish railway system.

For more about the Baghdad Railway see Prisoners of the Turks (First World War)

• Baghdad Railway Wikipedia
• Iraqi Republic Railways Wikipedia
• Entry from cwgc.org Commonwealth War Graves Commission

Monks, D E. Rank: Major. Date of Death: 11/12/1918

Regiment: Bengal North Western Railway. Service: Railway Survey Siestan (Persia)

• The Great War - Borht Projects The British Overseas Railways Historical Trust. Includes images of models of War Department locomotives and rolling stock and details of the Trust WW1 book project.

Historical books online

• Railways in Western Asia by Lieutenant-Colonel H Picot Indian Army (Retired). Published by the Central Asian Society, London 1904 Archive.org.
• Mesopotamian Transport Commission. Report of the Commission appointed by the Government of India... to enquire into questions connected with the organisation and administration of the Railway and River Transport in Mesopotamia 1918. IOR/L/MIL/17/15/125/1. This book is also available to read online on the Digital Library of India website, as a pdf download. Archive.org version.
  • 2 Maps issued with the report including "Railway Map of Basra and Magil". IOR/L/MIL/17/15/125/2. Qatar Digital Library.