Re: Military Trains on the Narrow Gauge

705th Railway Grand Division: US Army meter gauge

Prompted by this thread, I did further reading about the WWII Military Railway Service meter gauge operations in India.

The British/Colonial Indian transportation network struggled to meet demand, and so agreed to let the US Military take over logistics in the CBI Theater. In addition to river barges and fuel pipelines, materiel was moved from the Port of Calcutta on a broad gauge trunk line, due north for 275 miles. Then the freight was transshipped to the meter gauge Bengal and Assam Railway for eastward transit to the railhead supply stations, crossing the Brahmaputra River by car ferry at Pandu.

The American railroaders arrived in India in January 1944 and took over operations of the meter gauge in March 1944 as the 705th Railway Grand Division. Despite improving communication wires, they retained the local token system to authorize train movements... not as efficient as CTC, but apparently a very safe system. The main hazards came from occasional sabotage and heavy monsoon rains from May to October. Good quality coal was available, but clean water was harder to find, so a constant regime of boiler-scrubbing kept the shop crews busy. Similar to the MRS operation in Iran, at first many of the local freight cars had vacuum brakes and/or hand brakes, or none at all. But they gradually upgraded the car brakes, and received US-made air-brake equipped cars and locomotives.

The Allies achieved a number of successes in the CBI Theater in 1944-45, and logistics was a crucial factor in that success. As Heimburger and Kelly write in Trains to Victory, "A measure of the improvement in service which took place under American direction is seen in that between March 1944 and May 1945, the volume of U.S. freight delivered to the Ledo area by rail increased more than 300%." (p.320)

Here is a link to a 1950 article from a CBI veterans' journal which has a nice collection of railroad photos (albeit low resolution). The same website hosts additional articles with photos including the following Railway Operating Battalions: 748th Operating Bn, 758th Shop Bn, another 758th, and 725th Operating Bn -- note that a 2-8-2 photo on this page is mislabed as a "standard British locomotive", but is clearly a US-made War Department S118 MacArthur, like the White Pass 190 class. In my opinion, these look sharper with the smokebox-center headlight mount.

Another source is the book Rails of War by Steven James Hantzis, whose father James Hantzis served in the 721st Operating Bn based at the main transshipment yard at Parbatibur. The author describes the Colonial-India social context well, and includes good summaries of major CBI combat operations, mixed in with the account of the 721st. The account includes many fascinating railroading details, although less photos than I hoped for.

Tank movements on the meter gauge Bengal & Assam Ry

I have not yet found photos showing tanks on CBI meter gauge, but have found several text sources indicating that the meter gauge did indeed haul tanks.

In direct support for the Battle of Kohima/Imphal and the subsequent south thrust, there was a massive railhead supply depot at Dimapur (labeled 'Manipur Road' on the map below). Hantzis describes it on p.55: "The supply dump [at Dimapur] was a mile wide and eleven miles long and contained everything from dried eggs and potatoes to combat boots and battle tanks." Those tanks were mainly British M3 Medium Grants, like in David's Nov. 1 posting. Barge to convoy might be a possible route to Dimapur in the dry season, but rail transit is more plausible. The rail was relatively heavy, and the Americans continuously improved the strength and drainage of the right-of-way.

The 725th link above includes an anecdote which confirms the presence of tanks on the meter gauge: "The US-made locomotives [S118 2-8-2s] were uncomfortable because they only had a wood seat with no seat back... Several engineers obtained seat cushions from tanks being shipped on the railroad."

In the American Ledo/North-Burma area, the 1st Provisional Tank Group was a joint American-Chinese unit that used M3A3 Light Stuart tanks and M4A4 Medium Sherman tanks. The article in the link includes a couple accounts of the meter gauge being used to transport the Shermans: "On April 19, 1944 the 1st Battalion received the first shipment of 12 M4A4 Sherman tanks. The tanks had been shipped by rail from Calcutta to Assam, under the direction of the 705th Railway Grand Division." I would be eager to see the sourcing for this document, but see no reason for doubt. Concerning the title question of whether M4 Sherman tanks were hauled by narrow gauge, the answer appears to be Yes.

So far I have not found a source indicating that tanks were transported by river barge. They did haul aircraft to the Ledo area but generally were used for bulk commodities such as fuel and dredge mud.

Tank notes: the M3 Light Stuart is completely different than the M3 Medium Grant/Lee tanks. With its angled sides, the M3A3 is in my opinion the most attractive version of the Stuart line. It was typically an export model, so rarely saw official U.S. use. As Bruce already noted above, the M4A4 was also mainly an export model, so its use by U.S. forces in CBI is unusual.

Here is a map showing the late-war configuration of the CBI supply chain:


Salute to the 705th and all who served the U.S. on this Veterans' Day.

Salute to our Commonwealth brothers in arms on this Remembrance Day.



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 11/11/2020 08:26PM by Shavano479.