Evening star., 1941-11-16
By Clarke Beach.

ranean.
Xerxes built his empire in Iran $500
years ago. In these lands Cyrus, Darius
and Alexander the Great fought their
campaigns and worked out their own
military transportation problems. Sim
bad the Sailors home town was Basra,
the port at the head of the Persian Gulf,
where trucks. munitions, guns. railroad
equipment and food already are being
landed in great quantities.
Up In Northeastern Iran is Nishapur,
where Omar Khayam lived. And farther
north. above Afghanistan, is Samarkand,
once the capital of Tamerlane's empire.
Through this region passed the ancient
caravan routes and the silk road, where
traders, walking for months and years,
bore cargoes between the Mediterranean
countries and the Far East.
Other Routes May Be Closed.
Here, briefly, is the situation which has
made the traffic problems of these age
old, slumbering countries live issue:
About 80 per cent Of the American war
supplies now being sent to Russia are
going by way of Archangel port on the
White Sea which is about 700 miles north
Of Moscow. This port will be ice
bound shortly if it isn't already, but the
Russians claim they can keep a channel
open with their ice breakers United
States Army men, remembering how the
frozen sea blocked communications with
the expedition they stationed there one
winter in the World War. are skeptical
The sea approach to Murmansk an
other railhead above Finland. does not
freeze up, although it is farther north
than Archangel. Warm ocean currents
keep it ice-free. But this rail route has
been cut, probably in several places
Vladivostok. Pacific Ocean terminal of
the Trans-Siberian Railroad. was the
first port at which Russia received war
materials it bought from the United
States; but shipping has been discon-
tinued to Vladivostok in order to avoid
friction with Japan. The vessels had to
pass through japanese waters, and Toxic
strenuously objected.
Persian Gulf Ports Needed.
Goods shipped to Russia across the
Pacific now are deposited at two more
northern ports, one on the Kamchatka
Peninsula and the other Nagayo, on the
mainland. This is inoffensive to Japan
at present, the route being outside the
Nipponese sphere of influence But in
case of japanese war with either Rus
sia or the United States, the route prob
ably would have to be abandoned.
Far to the southwest of sprawling Rus
sia, at the Red Sea port of Suez, the
United States is landing a great deal of
military equipment for Great Britain,
much Of which Britain is transferring
to Russia, it is believed, by rail through
Turkey. This route is within striking
distance of German bombers
If all these inlets were blocked, only
the ports on the Persian Gulf and other
ports still farther east would give access
to Russia. And even if one or all Of the
other ports can be used, the Persian Gulf
still will be greatly needed for the vast
transportation job which lies ahead.
U. S. to Send Rolling Stock.
British and American military engi-
neers in the Near East are struggling
now with the maddening problems Of
| transporting over railroads of different
gauges, unloading and loading where the
tracks meet; shipping by truck across
| gaps in railroads that end in a wilderness.
Before long large quantities of materials
can be shipped through the ports of
Basra and Bandar Shahpur, the southern
terminal of the Trans-Iranian Railroad
United States railroad equipment and
rolling stock will greatly increase the
capacity of these routes.
But If the Nazis swept into the Cau-
casus, the gulf ports, as we'll as Red
Sea ports. would be cut off from the
main routes into Russia which pass
through that we'll developed area be-
tween the Caspian and Black Seas.
Then the engineers would have to
tackle transportation problems which
might well make them yearn for flying
carpets and Alladins magic lamp. The
job would be to get material from the
Persian Gulf and the Arabian Sea up
into Central Asia and deliver 1t to the
Russians In the Ural industrial region