THE IRAN ROUTE

Greymouth Evening Star, 14 May 1942, Page 7

THE IRAN ROUTE

SUPPLIES FOR RUSSIA.

SYDNEY, April 18. As Winter thaws inot Spring and the struggle on the Russian front intensifies, I have been walching thousands of tons of supplies of all kinds from America and Britain pouring across Iran to swell Russia’s strength, says the “Sydney Morning Herald’s** correspondent at Teheran. In one day at Bandar Shahpur I saw 1000 tons of materials landed ana Bandar Shahpur is only one of several distribution heads. I travelled over hundreds of miles of newlymade roads with jolting, heavilyladen lorry convoys to a point in , northern Iran where sturdy Russian ’ soldiers took over the supplies they carried. From that point the supplies , pushed farther north by road, rail and sea into Russia. I stood on the footplate of a locomotive—incidentally one of those the Australian Government sent to Iran last year—which w r as pulling a long line of trucks across the deserts of southern Iran into the fertile uplands of the north. I have seen clumsy flat-bottomed river craft moving slowly up the inland waterways, their decks awash with the loads they carried. Speed’is the watchword and supplies are being hurried to Russia by every available means; The expedition with which the cargoes are landed in Persian Gulf ports and handled and despatched northward is a tribute to the efficiency of the British organisation. 1 was amazed at the wide range and variety of these cargoes. I had expected to see war material, and I saw it, but I also saw tons of less obvious, but no less vital, “sinews of war.” They included leather, wheat, jute, shellac, wool, lead, wolfram, quinine, rubber, mercury, tin, brass, sugar, copper and aluminium. One of the most surprising features [Of the Iran supply route is the remarkable improvement in communications achieved in such a short time. It was the old Shah’s deliberate policy to keep the roads in bad repair in order to prevent competition with his railway. To-day thousands of labourers and peasants are working continuously on the roads, and so much has been done that I was able to cover the 500 miles from Bagdad to Teheran by car in two days. The main highways are now in excellent condition. REGULAR CONVOYS.

This improvement in the Iranian road system means that lorry convoys carrying supplies can travel fast and regularly. The United Kingdom Commercial Corporation—a huge Government-controlled organisation, runs these convoys, and the roads to the north are daily jammed with heavy lorries carrying the yellow nameplate of the U.K.C.C., with the Union Jack on one side and the Red Flag on the other. The railway system also has been gingered up, and an important new iine is being constructed to open up another port on the Shatel Arab.. Deficiencies in rolling stock at first caused a great strain on Iran’s railway resources, but locomotives and rolling stock sent from Britain and Australia relieved the situation. In order to conserve manpower, the Iranian railways administration is being used as far as possible, under British supervision, and the railways, in spite of abnormal demands on them, appear to be functioning smoothly. The British arc working in the closest co-operation in the delivery of supplies to Russia. It is the British responsibility to unload supplies and despatch them northward, where the Russians take over their handling at various points. Some of the supplies are then sent to the Caucasus, and others are shipped across the Caspian into Russia proper. The main points of entry for supplies into Iran are, of course, tne ports of the Persian Gulf, but there is another and less publicised supply route which recenly lias come into operation. This is the old railway ouilt during the last war from India across Baluchistan to Zahedan, in Iran. . |

One hundred and forty miles of hack which had been taken up has now boon relaid, and Iran is thus linked with the Inctian railway system.

From Zahedan supplies are sent to Meshed by road. This road has been greatly improved. I talked in Teheran with a senior British 01'licer controlling transportation supplies. He expressed himself as satisfied with the present position. Initial difficulties had been largely overcome, he said, and there was no delay between the arrival of supplies and "their transfer to Russian hands.