The Importance of Indian Railway Troops
The war effort in Mesopotamia was utterly dependent on the Indian auxiliaries and Railway units. As one snippet notes, "Without the work of the Indian auxiliaries on the Mesopotamian railways... the Allied forces would never have enjoyed the victory they achieved."
- Location: The main area of this work in 1918 was Mesopotamia, where Indian Railway Construction Battalions (units like the Railway Construction Company RLY. C.C. and Railway Battalion Sappers & Miners) extended the line from Basra north towards Baghdad following the British advance.
- Purpose: The railways were essential to supply the troops, cutting travel times dramatically (e.g., Kut to Baghdad from 2 days to 8 hours).
2. The Broad Gauge Connection
While the main line connecting Basra and Baghdad was ultimately completed as a metre-gauge line (which was the gauge of the existing lines in India), the connection to broad gauge is significant:
- Materials from India: Track, locomotives, and rolling stock were shipped from India—in some cases by pulling up existing lines there and transporting them to the Middle East. India primarily used broad gauge (1,676 \text{ mm} or 5 \text{ ft } 6 \text{ in}) and metre gauge (1,000 \text{ mm}).
Therefore, the Indian soldiers were heavily involved, and the materials they were handling, particularly the sleepers, were often sourced from the broad-gauge system of India. The final track laid in 1918 was most likely metre gauge, but the term "broad gauge" would correctly describe much of the underlying material and the troops' experience, as they were drawn from India's broad-gauge railway system
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