Persian Corridor

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The Persian Corridor is the name for a supply route through Iran into Soviet Azerbaijan by which British aid and American Lend-Lease supplies were transferred to the Soviet Union during World War II.

Map of Iran & Borders with former Soviet Republics of Armenia, Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan
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Map of Iran & Borders with former Soviet Republics of Armenia, Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan

Contents

[edit] Background

Note: The nation of Iran has been referred to as "Persia" in the West since the time of the Persian Wars. The earliest Iranian peoples known to recorded history are the Parsua mentioned in an Akkadian text. For hundreds of years, Persia was the proper English term for Iran, and the name stuck in the minds of many foreigners long after Reza Pahlavi asked, in 1935, that his country be referred to by its native name. English-language official documents from the Persian Corridor period continue to make the word "Persia" completely interchangeable with name of the nation-state of "Iran." Additionally, some of the corridor routes passed through the abode of Iranian-language minorities in Turkic areas, who might be described by the wholly acceptable adjective form Persian. Thus, many British and American veterans of the corridor are likely to speak of their time in "Persia" rather than "Iran". See Iran/Persia naming controversy for more details on this topic.

[edit] Overthrow of the Shah

See main article Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran

Following Germany's invasion of the USSR in June 1941, Britain and the Soviet Union became allies. Both turned their attention to Iran. Britain and the USSR saw the newly opened Trans-Iranian Railway as an attractive route to transport supplies from the Persian Gulf to the Soviet region. Britain and the USSR used concessions extracted in previous interventions to pressure Iran (and, in Britain's case, Iraq) into allowing the use of their territory for military and logistical purposes. Increased tensions with Britain especially led to pro-German rallies in Tehran. In August 1941, because Reza Shah refused to expel German nationals and come down clearly on their side, Britain and the USSR invaded Iran, arrested the monarch and sent him into exile to South Africa, taking control of Iran's communications and coveted railroad.

In 1942 the United States, by now an ally of Britain and the USSR in the war, sent a military force to Iran to help maintain and operate sections of the railroad. The British and Soviet authorities allowed Reza Shah's system of government to collapse and limited the constitutional government interfaces. They permitted Reza Shah's son, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi to succeed to the throne.

The new Shah soon signed an agreement pledging full non-military logistical cooperation with the British and Soviets, in exchange for full recognition of his country's independence and a promise to withdraw within six months of the war's conclusion. In September 1943, the Shah went further and declared war on Germany, and signed the Declaration by the United Nations entitling his country to a spot in the original United Nations. Two months later, he played host to the Tehran Conference.

The presence of so many foreign troops accelerated social change and roused nationalist sentiment in the country. In 1946, Hossein Gol-e-Golab published the nationalist song Ey Iran; it was reportedly inspired by an incident during the war in which Golab witnessed an American GI beating up a native Iranian greengrocer in a marketplace dispute.

[edit] Anders' army

Meanwhile Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, under pressure from the British and the Polish Government-in-Exile, began releasing some surviving Polish prisoners of war captured in 1939 and Polish citizens subsequently deported by the occupying Soviets to Soviet republics, with the aim of forming a Polish army to fight on the Allied side. General Władysław Anders was released from Lubianka Prison and began assembling his troops; however, continued friction with the Soviets and their refusal to adequately supply the Polish troops with equipment and food, as well as the Soviets' insistence on dispersing the not yet combat-ready Polish units along the front, led to the eventual evacuation of Anders' troops, along with a sizable contingent of Polish civilians, to Iran. The Polish 2nd Corps went on to serve in other theaters of war, but some civilians settled permanently in Iran. Some Polish refugees who continue living in Iran today were featured in the 2002 independent film, A Forgotten Odyssey.

[edit] Supply efforts

The Allies delivered all manner of materiel to the Soviets, from Studebaker US6 trucks to B-24 bombers. Most supplies in the corridor arrived by ship at Gulf ports and were carried north by rail or in truck convoys. Some goods were reloaded onto ships to cross the Caspian Sea, others continued in trucks.

United States forces in the corridor originally under the Iran-Iraq Service Command, later renamed the Persian Gulf Service Command (PGSC); this was the successor to the original United States Military Iranian Mission, which had been put in place to deliver Lend-Lease supplies before the United States had entered the conflict. The mission was originally commanded by Col. Don G. Shingler, who was replaced late in 1942 by Brig. Gen. Donald H. Connolly. Both Iran-Iraq Service Command and PGSC were subordinate to U.S. Army Forces in the Middle East (USAFIME).

[edit] Statistics

The Allied supply efforts were enormous. The Americans alone delivered 175.5 million long tons (178.3 million metric tonnes) to the Soviets during the war, via numerous routes, including the ports of Murmansk and Vladivostok. The Persian Corridor was the route for 4,159,117 long tons (4,225,858 metric tonnes) of these; however, this was not the only American contribution, not to mention those of all the other allies like Britain, British India, South Africa, Bahrain and numerous other independent nations and colonies and protectorates of Allied nations. All told, about 7,900,000 long tons (8,000,000 metric tonnes) of shipborne cargo from Allied sources were unloaded in the Corridor, most of it bound for Russia, but some of it for British forces under Middle East Command or for the Iranian economy, which was sustaining the influx of tens of thousands of foreign troops and Polish refugees and the development of new transportation and logistics facilities. The figure does not include transfers of aircraft nor cargo delivered by air, which amounted to several millions of tons more[citation needed].

[edit] Supply routes

Supplies came from as far away as India and were unloaded in Persian Gulf ports in Iran and Iraq.

Iranian women watch an Allied supply convoy halted somewhere on the Corridor
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Iranian women watch an Allied supply convoy halted somewhere on the Corridor

The main ports in the Corridor for supplies inbound to Iran were: in Iran,

in Iraq,

The main overland routes were from the ports to Tehran, and then

or, alternatively,

The main port for outbound supplies (via the Caspian Sea) was Nowshahr. Ships ferried supplies from this port to Baku or Makhachkala.

[edit] Other Locations

Important smaller ports and transit points on the routes included:

[edit] in Azerbaijan

[edit] in Armenia

[edit] in Georgia

[edit] in North Ossetia-Alania

[edit] in Iran
An Allied supply train enroute bearing supplies for the Red Army
An Allied supply train enroute bearing supplies for the Red Army

Ports

Cities

[edit] in Turkmenistan

Ports

Cities

[edit] Personnel

Cargo principally handled by special British and American transportation units from the nations' respective combat service support branches, such as the Royal Army Service Corps and the Quartermaster Corps. Many Allied civilian workers like stevedores and railroad engineers were also employed on the corridor. Many skilled engineers, accountants and other professionals who volunteered or were drafted into the armed services were made warrant officers who helped oversee the complex supply operations.

In addition to providing logistical support to the Iranians, the Allies offered other services as well. The Americans in particular, viewed as more neutral since they had no colonial past in the country as did the British and Russians, contributed special expertise to the young shah's government. Col. Norman Schwarzkopf, Sr, who at the outbreak of the war was serving as superintendent of the New Jersey State Police was in August, 1942 put in charge of training the Imperial Iranian Gendarmerie, eventually earning a promotion to general. His son, Norman Schwarzkopf, Jr would make his own mark on the Middle East almost fifty years later.

[edit] See also


Campaigns and theatres of World War II
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Contemporary wars
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French-Thai War | Anglo-Iraqi War


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[edit] External links

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