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Railroaders in Olive Drab: The Military Railway Service in WWII


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#1 CNJRoss

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Posted 22 February 2018 - 11:11 PM

The National Museum of the United States Army:
 

 

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Railroaders in Olive Drab: The Military Railway Service in WWII

  • January 19, 2017

In July 1861, Confederate Brigadier General Joseph E. Johnston dramatically demonstrated the importance of railroads in modern warfare when he moved 12,000 troops by rail from Piedmont Station (now Delaplane), Virginia, to Manassas Junction, a distance of about fifty miles, to reinforce the Confederate forces assembled southwest of Washington, DC.  The move took only about one-third the time it would have taken for the troops to cover that distance by marching, and they arrived ready to fight.  The reinforcements surprised the Union forces and contributed to the rebel victory on 21 July at the First Battle of Bull Run.  It was but the first effort to transport large numbers of soldiers during the Civil War by rail.  Railroads were so important that the War Department organized the U.S. Military Railroads and the Railroad Construction Corps to repair, operate, and maintain rail lines as the Union Army moved into Confederate territory.  Both organizations relied heavily on experienced railroad executives and engineers who were commissioned as volunteer officers and worked under the supervision of the Quartermaster General of the Union Army, Major General Montgomery C. Meigs.

 

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The concept of commissioning experienced railroad men into the Army continued in World War I under the auspices of the Military Railway Service (MRS) operated by the Corps of Engineers.  Regular Army colonels commanded engineer regiments organized as railroad units.  Professional railroaders commissioned as lieutenant colonels served as the regimental executive officer.  Between World Wars I and II, the Corps of Engineers determined that the regiment was not the best organization for operating railroads. Engineer Reserve officers who were railroad men in their civilian careers helped design appropriate units for military rail operations.  They decided to use the lowest organizational element of American railroads, divisions, as the basis of the new organization.  In a railroad division, a superintendent had the responsibility to maintain mainline tracks, sidings, terminals, shops, and structures required to operate trains over a designated section of rail line. The division also maintained and operated the locomotives and cars.  Professional railroaders and Army engineers designed a railway operating battalion that mirrored the functions of the civilian railroad division.

 

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