United States Military Railway Service: America...
United States Military Railway Service: America... --->>> https://shurll.com/2tl1Vd
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.
The mission of a railway operating battalion was to manage and maintain a designated section of a military railway in a theater of operations. Unlike civilian railroads, however, the battalions also had to be prepared to destroy the line it operated. In general, a railway operating battalion could maintain and operate between ninety and 150 miles of single-track railroad, although its actual area of responsibility in wartime depended on the military situation. When conducting rail operations in friendly areas or occupied territory, the battalion used local civilian technical and skilled railway employees to augment its capabilities, but they had to be supervised by military personnel to safeguard against possible sabotage. It also presented challenges to the English-speaking American soldier-railroaders who were not always familiar with how other countries operated their railways.
As the war effort increased, the War Department activated additional railway units including grand divisions to coordinate operations in overseas theaters of operations and shop battalions to support the operating battalions. In November 1942, the Transportation Corps assumed responsibility for the MRS. During World War II, the MRS operated in every theater of operations where there were American forces. At its peak, it included eleven grand divisions, thirty-three railway operating battalions, and eleven railway shop battalions. A variety of engineer, signal, and military police units provided support to the railroaders.
In May 1945, when the war in Europe ended, the MRS included seven grand divisions, twenty-four operating battalions, seven shop battalions, and a variety of depot and maintenance units as well as eight battalions and two separate companies of military police. Between D-Day at Normandy and V-E Day, MRS loaded and moved more than eighteen million tons of military freight. On 7 June 1945, American railroaders were operating 1,937 locomotives, 34,588 freight cars, and 25,150 miles of track in western Europe. Demobilization of railway units began shortly after V-E Day. The largest contingent of American soldier railroaders was in western Europe with more than 26,600 officers and enlisted men serving there by the end of the war. The last MRS unit, the 716th Railway Operating Battalion (Southern Pacific Company) left Europe in February 1946.
In addition to Europe and North Africa, MRS units operated railroads in India, Burma, and the Philippine Islands. Railway units in India supported construction of the Ledo Road and the airfield used for the airlift over the Himalaya Mountains that provided logistical support to the Chinese. They also supported British and the American forces fighting the Japanese in Burma. The 705th Railway Grand Division (Southern Pacific Company) oversaw military rail operations in India and Burma. The division, along with five railway operating battalions, the 721st (New York Central Railroad), 725th (Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad Company), 726th (Wabash Railroad Company), 745th (Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad), and 748th (Texas and Pacific Railway company) all sailed from Los Angeles aboard the SS Mariposa in December 1943. After thirty-one days at sea they arrived at Bombay, India, in January 1944 to begin operation of sections of the Bengal and Assam Railway.
Unlike the Russian Federation, NATO forces do not enjoy the same unrestricted freedom of movement for military forces across friendly territory. Currently, the Baltic states operate Russian-gauge railroad tracks, while other European NATO members utilize a standard European gauge (a single line from Poland to the Lithuanian city of Kaunas is the sole exception). This incompatibility means that trains carrying military equipment and supplies from larger NATO bases in Germany or Poland would have to transfer their cargo to Russian-gauge trains or proceed via ground convoys to their destinations. Not only are both options time-consuming, they require trained personnel and significant military resources (e.g., heavy equipment transporter systems, military police and security elements), as well as proficiency and familiarity in conducting such operations.
If there is one thing that operations in Crimea and eastern Ukraine show, it is the Russian propensity to use all available means to leverage their position. In both cases the combination of conventional military use and massive disinformation campaigns facilitated the successful achievement of Russian strategic aims. Though presently conditions in the Baltic region are not as ripe for the full extent of active measures Russia has employed in Ukraine, numerous vulnerabilities still exist and railways are at the center of them.
A rapid surge capability using improved railway networks in the Baltic states would create immediate benefits for the alliance. Prepositioned stocks and increased permanent or rotational troops in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania could easily be perceived as an escalating measure to Russia (a nation already preoccupied with the notion of NATO enlargement as tantamount to aggressive encroachment). Improved rail capabilities gives NATO a third option: moving heavy forces rapidly in advance of major Russian provocations or exercises (such as Zapad), while retaining the ability to remove them once a situation has defused.
The Uniformed Services of the United States generally are not subject to the commerce clause of the Constitution. Therefore, military shipments, transported on military vehicles or aircraft are not subject to Federal jurisdiction. However, many states require military movements by highway to conform to 49 CFR or compatible state regulations. DOD and Service Regulations also require compliance with 49 CFR Parts 100-180. When in peacetime, the military services procure commercial transportation, (offering into commerce), the military is engaged in commerce and required to comply with 49 CFR
Although a lack of records makes it difficult to precisely measure the role of Latinos in the U.S. military during World War I, documentation demonstrates their important, though largely unrecognized, contribution to the war effort. Many Latinos from states such as Texas and New Mexico served during World War I. 59ce067264
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