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'REPORT on the Working of the Line of Communication AND ON THE Withdrawal of the British Military Mission IN EAST PERSIA, 1919-20. GENERAL STAFF INDIA. [‎50v] (107/168)

The record is made up of 1 volume (87 folios). It was created in 1921. It was written in English. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .

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78
are on the road. This I attribute not so much to any inherent defects
in the vehicles themselves, as to the deplorable inefficiency of the drivers.
During April and May, just when the withdrawal from East Persia was about
to take place, some sixty Eord drivers were sent from the Mechanical Transport
Training School at Dehra-Dun.
The majority of tnese men had no idea of driving at all and many of
them had had only three days’ training. This meant that many vehicles had
to be used to train them—the vehicles suffered badly in the process and much
personnel, which should have been otherwise employed, had. to be detailed
for training purposes. It was quite imposTbie to spare time for thorough
training and many drivers had to be sent on to the road for convoy duty while
still only partly tiained which resulted in many aecidents and much further
damage to the vehicles of the Company.
Special Points tor PiEport or Consideration.
Provisions of Supply and Transport Personnel.
In pointing out to what extent the Supply and Transport personnel
fell short of requirement, it is not intended to make any complaint. It is
recognised that the provision of personnel for post-w ar operations has been
a very difficult problem, and that East Persia could only get its share of
establishments available. The Supply and Transport services on the Lines of
Communication were, however, at times very hard hit by the shortage of
personnel. The crisis came in the winter of 1919-20 when the demobiliza
tion of all demobihzable British ranks became impervative, even though no
reliefs were immediately available.
The Supply and Animal Transport duties at the base of each section of
the line could not be carried out efficiently without two Supply Officers, a
Transport Officer of the section (whose duty was to arrange convoys and
control hired transport), and a Commandant and an Assistant Commandant
for any organised camel corps that might have its headquarter there. The
volume of supplies coming into the supply depbt was so great that an Assistant
Supply Officer was required to give all or nearly all his time to the responsible
vork of superintending the receiving duties, thus leaving the senior officer
to superintend the whole dep6t and control the office w T ork and keep in
personal touch with the Administrative Commandant. A really experienced
and reliable British ether rank, preferably a warrant officer, was also wanted
to superintend despatches. Instead, it was more often the case that there
was only one Supply Officer on the strength of the Supply Depot and the
senior Butish other rank was an acting serjeant. In some cases, for con
siderable periods, a single Supply and Transport Officer, more or less new to
is vork, and with little or no knowTedge of Hindustani or Indian customs,
and assisted in his supply work by equally inexperienced acting serieants had
o command the Supply Dep6t, be Transport Officer of the section and also
com man ^ a camel corps single-handed. On one occasion for several weeks all
these duties had to be entrusted to a warrant officer.
n r» ’ Was a good deal of office work to be done by the transport officer
hltr?. V S * aS - a £ 00 d deal of harassing work in connection with
thp rnm me d a f C * 611 es ^ a ^^ ls ^ men ^ hnd if, as nearly always was the case,
the commandant of an organized camel corps w^as also transport officer of the
^ aS C ^ t ! n ’ UalJy be 1 m ^ torn in two directions. The lack of assistant
i , W n Ch was , 01lly ver y recent ty remedied, also made it impossible
Varrhv p™ * ^ be VT0 ^ r] ^ s YP ervised convoy. The commandant could
as n get aw a y / r0m lllS headc L uar ters while single-handed. As soon
connecW ^ mandaats ^ er e available, it was made their duty to accompany
imnrovement in nl* ]° T 116 greater P art of ever y month, and a considerable
to *the mneitv nT 116 . nia j ia o ement on ^e march at once resulted Owing
Quartermaster^ Tp anl 1 m ? d transport officers the scheme inaugurated by the
9 q a ^ master General m India m his letter l (Q. M. G.-7) of
brln^n^SdTran 919 ’/ 0 ^ lieral , 0mcer Commanding, Baluchistan Force, for
0 0 red trans Port under “ the general scheme of command of transport

About this item

Content

The volume is titled Report on the Working of the Line of Communication and on the Withdrawal of the British Military Mission in East Persia, General Staff India . The volume is marked confidential and was printed in Delhi by Superintendent Government Printing, India, in 1921.

The report is from the General Officer Commanding, Baluchistan District to the Chief of the General Staff; the report contains preliminary remarks on 'The withdrawal of the troops of the British Military Mission at and beyond Meshed, and of the Lines of Communication'. There follows the substantive report from the Inspector-General of Communications, East Persia, Duzdap to the General Staff, Baluchistan District, Quetta. This report is divided into two parts:

  • Part I - 'A brief report on the working and organization of the Line of Communications, East Persia, in April 1920'
  • Part II - 'The withdrawal' which has the following sub-sections: general; supply and transport services (including some special points for consideration); medical; ordnance; works; posts and telegraphs; vetinary.

The report is accompanied by nine maps:

  • 'APPENDIX 1. SKETCH MAP SHOWING POSITION OF POST AND COMBINED OFFICES IN EAST PERSIA' (folio 10)
  • 'APPENDIX 1. L. OF C.E.P. INTELLIGENCE SYSTEM' (folio 12)
  • 'APPENDIX 2. AREA ON THE EAST PERSIA L. OF C. COMMON TO RAIDING (folio 15)
  • 'APPENDIX 1. GRAPHIC MAP ILLUSTRATING THE NORMAL SOURCES FROM WHICH THE TROOPS IN EAST PERSIA WERE SUPPLIED AND THE CONTINUOUS MOVEMENTS BY WHICH THE SUPPLIES WERE NORMALLY DISTRIBUTED TO THE FORCE AT MESHED AND TO THE GARRISONS OF POSTS ON L. OF C.' (folio 18)
  • 'APPENDIX 1. LINES OF COMMUNICATION EAST PERSIA' (folio 33)
  • 'APPENDIX 3. DIAGRAM SHOWING POSITIONS OF TELEPHONE, TELEGRAPH AND COMBINED OFFICES IN EAST PERSIA' (folio 35)
  • 'COLUMNS AND CONVOYS WOKRING IN CONNECTION WITH WITHDRAWAL FROM EAST PERSIA' (folio 55)
  • 'DAYS AFTER ZERO' (folio 62)
  • 'PLAN showing ORGANIZATION OF LINE OF COMMUNICATIONS (ADMINISTRATIVE AND DEFENCE TROOPS) (folio 77)
Extent and format
1 volume (87 folios)
Arrangement

The volume is arranged in three parts: preliminary remarks; part I; and part II.

Physical characteristics

Foliation: the foliation sequence for this description commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 78; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio.

Pagination: the volume also contains an original printed pagination sequence.

Written in
English in Latin script
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'REPORT on the Working of the Line of Communication AND ON THE Withdrawal of the British Military Mission IN EAST PERSIA, 1919-20. GENERAL STAFF INDIA. [‎50v] (107/168), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/MIL/17/15/35, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100041423675.0x00006c> [accessed 28 March 2024]

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