ROD OF STEEL

摘要

The Railway Operating Division of the Royal Engineers was created in 1915 to build and run railways to and from the battlefields of northern France. In the early months of the war, it had naturally been assumed by the British that the French and Belgian railway administrations would operate the lines on their own territory and no thought was given to sending British locomotives or rolling stock across the Channel. However, as the Great War dragged on, it became clear that the French were losing heart at the amount of stock being lost to enemy action and they began to insist that the British army provide more rail transport to serve the Western Front, part of their justification for that appearing to be that most of the soldiers fighting on it were from the British Empire!