American and Soviet troops celebrate the transportation of war materials through Iran

U.S. Army Gulf Command. Souvenir of an Accomplishment.

€ 950,00

A celebratory pamphlet issued to soldiers deployed in the vital Persian Gulf Command, established in WWII to facilitate the supply of U.S. lend-lease war material to the Soviet Union through what was called the Persian Corridor. Troops were tasked with moving supplies from port cities on the Gulf through the difficult terrain of Iran's interior to the border with the Soviet Union until the end of the war in Europe.

The pamphlet is packed with photographic illustrations of celebrations for the "(censored) 000,000th ton of war freight to be delivered to the Russians by the 3d Military Railway Service Persian Gulf Command", carried with much pomp on a special celebratory train.

The text describes the mix of personnel at work in and around the Persian Gulf Command: "tanned Americans in wilted khaki and faded denim fatigues, rugged Russians with tommy-guns slung across their backs, turbaned Indian troops in British shorts, dark-skinned Iranians in skull caps and string sandals". Illustrations show photographs of tanks being unloaded off ships at Khorramshahr and onto the celebration train (bearing a plaque which does in fact have the tonnage censored for the cameras), and the progress of the train through the Persian Corridor. A Russian guard poses on one American tank, Iranian children and civilians gather with American GIs to watch the procession, and both Major General Donald H. Connolly (1886-1969), head of Persian Gulf Command, and Major General Ivan V. Kargin (1898-1980), chief of the Soviet Transport Department, give speeches in honour of the occasion, the texts of which are printed here. The latter also shakes the hand of Valentina Verbanova, described as "the Russian 'fireman' for the run north of the Caspian Sea"; another photo shows Verbanova accepting an offered cigarette from an American serviceman.

Light waterstains and discolouration, well-preserved.