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ThePersian Corridor (Persian: دالان پارسی) was a supply route throughIran intoSoviet Azerbaijan by which British aid and AmericanLend-Lease supplies were transferred to the Soviet Union duringWorld War II. Of the 17.5 millionlong tons of US Lend-Lease aid provided to the Soviet Union, 7.9 million long tons (45%) were sent through Iran.[1]
This supply route originated in the US and the UK with ships sailing around theCape of Good Hope to thePersian Gulf. From there, themateriel transited Iran to the Soviet Union. Other supply routes included theNorthern route across theArctic, and thePacific Route which handled US cargo atVladivostok and then used theTrans-Siberian Railway across the Soviet Union.
This Persian Route became the only viable, all-weather route to be developed to supply Soviet needs.
English-language official documents from the Persian Corridor period continue to make the word "Persia" interchangeable with thename of Iran. In correspondence by the government of the United Kingdom, usage of "Persia" over "Iran" was chosen byWinston Churchill to avoid possible confusion with neighbouringIraq.[2]
Following Germany'sinvasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941, Britain and the Soviet Union became allies. Britain and the Soviet Union saw the newly openedTrans-Iranian Railway as an attractive route to transport supplies from the Persian Gulf to the Soviet Union. Both countries used concessions extracted in previous interventions to pressureneutral Iran (and, in Britain's case, Iraq) into allowing the use of their territory for military and logistical purposes. Increased tensions with Britain led to pro-German rallies in Tehran. In August 1941, becauseReza Shah refused to expel all German nationals and come down clearly on the Allied side, Britain and the Soviet Union invaded Iran, arrested the monarch, sent him into exile toSouth Africa and took control of Iran's communications and the coveted railway.
In 1942 the United States, now an ally of Britain and the Soviet Union in World War II, sent a military force to Iran to help maintain and operate sections of the railway. The British and Soviet authorities allowed Reza Shah's system of government to collapse and limited the constitutional government interfaces. They installed Reza Shah's son,Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, onto the Iranian/Persian throne.
The new Shah soon signed an agreement pledging full non-military logistical co-operation with the British and Soviets in exchange for full recognition of his country's independence, and also a promise to withdraw from Iran within six months of the war's conclusion (the assurances later proved essential insecuring his country's independence after the war). In September 1943, the Shah went further by declaring war on Germany. He signed theDeclaration by United Nations entitling his country to a seat in the originalUnited Nations. Two months later, he hosted[citation needed] theTehran Conference between Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin.
The presence of so many foreign troops in Iran accelerated social change and it roused nationalist sentiment in the country. In 1946,Hossein Gol-e-Golab published the nationalist songEy Iran, which was reportedly inspired[citation needed] by an incident during the war in which Golab witnessed an AmericanGI beating up a native Iraniangreengrocer in a marketplace dispute.
After theDunkirk evacuation and the agreement withVichy France, Germany was essentially without any military opposition in mainland Europe until Hitler launched Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941. To relieve pressure from the Soviets, British, and later American, leaders sought to opena Second Front in Europe. Realizing that would take time, the Western Allies made the strategic decision to provide Stalin with material support substantial enough to ensure that the Red Army could continue to engage the bulk of the German military. The Allies establishedprotocols that defined the type and amount of material that would be delivered and when. German military action onthe Arctic route, prevented the US from meeting the first protocol. That caused increasing pressure on the Allies to develop the Persian Corridor.
The Allies delivered all manner ofmateriel to the Soviet Union ranging fromStudebaker US6 trucks to American canned food. Most of the supplies transiting through the Persian Corridor arrived by ship at various ports in thePersian Gulf and were then carried northwards byrailroad or in long truck convoys. Some goods were later reloaded on board ships to cross theCaspian Sea and others continued their journey by truck.
The United States Army forces in the corridor were originally under the Iran-Iraq Service Command, later renamed the Persian Gulf Service Command (PGSC). That 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 World War. The mission was originally commanded by ColonelDon G. Shingler, who was replaced late in 1942 by Brigadier GeneralDonald H. Connolly. Both the Iran-Iraq Service Command and the PGSC were subordinate to theUS Army Forces in the Middle East (USAFIME). The PGSC was eventually renamed simply thePersian Gulf Command.
Of the 17,500,000 long tons (17,800,000 t) of US lend-lease aid provided to Russia, 7,900,000 long tons (8,000,000 t) (45 per cent) were sent through Iran.[1] In addition to the Persian Corridor the Americans used Arctic Convoys to the ports ofMurmansk andArkhangelsk and Soviet shipping carried supplies from the west coast of the US and Canada toVladivostok, in theFar East, since the Soviets were not at war withJapan until August 1945. The Persian Corridor was the route for 4,159,117 long tons (4,225,858 t) of the cargo.[3] That was not the only allied contribution via the Persian Corridor. About 7,900,000 long tons (8,000,000 t) of shipborne cargo from Allied sources were unloaded in the Corridor, most of it bound for the Soviet Union and some of it for British forces, under theMiddle East Command, or for theIranian economy, which was sustaining the influx of tens of thousands of foreign troops and Polish refugees. Also, supplies were needed for the development of new transport and supply facilities in Persia and in the Soviet Union. The tonnage figure does not include transfers of warplanes via Persia.
Supplies came from as far away asCanada and theUnited States, and those were unloaded in Persian Gulf ports in Iran andIraq. Once the Axis powers were cleared from theMediterranean Sea in 1943 - with the Allied capture ofTunisia,Sicily, and southernItaly - cargo convoys were able to pass through the Mediterranean, theSuez Canal, and theRed Sea to Iran for shipment to theSoviet Union.
The main ports in the Corridor for supplies inbound to Iran were:inIran,
inIraq,
The main overland routes were from the ports toTehran, and then
or, alternatively,
The main port for outbound supplies (via the Caspian Sea) wasNowshahr. Ships ferried supplies from this port toBaku orMakhachkala.
Important smaller ports and transit points on the routes included:
Ports
Cities
Ports
Cities
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Beyond the Persian Corridor and across the Caspian Sea is theVolga River, flowing into the Caspian from the north. It was a major route for Lend-Lease supplies to reach the Soviet heartland.
One of the objectives ofthe 1942 German summer offensive wasStalingrad, at the easternmost turn of the Volga. The Germans captured part of the city, which blocked river transport of materiel from the Persian Corridor. Soviet victory in theBattle of Stalingrad (23 August 1942 – 2 February 1943) reopened the Volga route.
Cargo was principally handled by special British and American transportation units from the nations' respective combat service support branches, such as theRoyal Army Service Corps and theUnited States ArmyQuartermaster Corps. Many Allied civilian workers, such asstevedores andrailway engineers, were also employed on the corridor. Many skilled engineers, accountants, and other professionals who volunteered or were drafted into the armed services were madewarrant officers to help 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 were viewed as more neutral since they had no colonial past in the country as did the British and Soviets. The Americans contributed special expertise to the young Shah's government. ColonelNorman Schwarzkopf, Sr., who at the outbreak of the war was serving as superintendent of theNew Jersey State Police was in August 1942 put in charge of training theImperial Iranian Gendarmerie (his son,Norman Schwarzkopf, Jr., would command coalition forces fifty years later during the PersianGulf War.)
To help operate trains on the demanding Trans-Iranian Railway route, the US supplied large numbers ofALCOdiesel locomotives, which were more suitable thansteam locomotives. About 3,000 items of rolling stock of various types were also supplied.[4]
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