'Despatch by Lieutenant-General R. Wapshare, C.B., C.S.I. on the Organization and Working of the East Persian Line of Communications. From 1st April 1918 to 15th January 1919'

Content

The file consists of a despatch from Lieutenant-General Richard Wapshare, General Officer Commanding, 4th (Quetta) Division to the Chief of General Staff, Army Headquarters, Delhi, dated 8 March 1919, concerning the organization and working of the East Persian line of communications, covering the period from 1 April 1918 to 15 January 1919.

It includes topics such as topography; the East Persian Cordon Field Force; administration; troop movements; railway defence troops; work on the railway; financial problems; road and rail lines of communications; supply areas; transport; trade; the capacity of the railway; supplies; medical and veterinary arrangements; and ordnance services.

Appendices 1 and 2 consist of maps and sketches not reproduced in this file.

Appendix 3 – Report on the working of the Nushki Extension Railway from 1st April 1918 to 15th January 1919 , by Colonel Frederick Warner Allum, Engineer-in-Chief, Nushki Extension Railway, dated 6 February 1919.

Appendix 4 – Note on the Field Work of the Nushki Extension (Railway) Reconnaissance, June 1918 to January 1919 , by Major Lewis Egerton Hopkins, Engineer-in-Chief, N. E. Reconnaissance, dated 6 February 1919. Covering the object and length of the survey; wells, tanks and water supply; transport; illness; list of officers and subordinates, etc., who served in Persia; and caravan routes.

Appendix 5 – Report on the working of the line of communications East Persia from September 1918 to January 15th 1919 , by Brigadier-General William Edmund Ritchie Dickson, Inspector General of Communications, East Persia, dated 5 February 1919. It is broken down into the following topics: general; supply and transport; medical; ordnance; veterinary; works; surveys; finance; ecclesiastical; and posts and telegraphs.

It also includes a series of seventeen annexures with various tables covering: administrative standing orders; the transport situation and forecast of transport requirements; instructions for moving stores along the line of communications; the chain of supply and transport responsibility; transport units; distribution of supply units; supplies carried on lines of communication; medical requirements; clothing and ordnance stores; progress of building works; and finances.

Extent and format

1 file (65 folios)

Arrangement

This file consists of a single document.

A contents page for Appendix 5 is included on folio 18.

Physical characteristics

Foliation: the foliation sequence commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 67; 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 file also contains an original printed pagination sequence.

Written in

English in Latin script

Type

Archival file

Access & Reference

Original held at

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.

Access conditions

Unrestricted

Archive reference

IOR/L/MIL/17/15/34

Former external reference(s)

Serial No. 8 Case No. 4002

History of this record

Date(s)

1919 (CE, Gregorian)

Subjects

Communication methodsAdministrationSuppliesReportsTransport

Places

Persia

People & organisations

General Officer Commanding, 4th (Quetta) DivisionInspector General of Communications, East PersiaAssistant Quartermaster General, Communications, East PersiaNushki Extension RailwayGovernment of India, Engineer-in-Chief, N. E. ReconnaissanceNushki Extension Railway, Engineer-in-ChiefChief of the General Staff, IndiaEastern Persian Cordon Field Force

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'Despatch by Lieutenant-General R. Wapshare, C.B., C.S.I. on the Organization and Working of the East Persian Line of Communications. From 1st April 1918 to 15th January 1919', British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/MIL/17/15/34, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100000000239.0x000148> [accessed 13 March 2025]

Link to this record

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