arthur kirby and the last years of palestine railways. 1945 - 1948.

418 Pages·2017·2.26 MB·English

ARTHUR KIRBY AND THE LAST
YEARS OF PALESTINE RAILWAYS.
1945 - 1948.
By Rabbi Dr. Walter Rothschild.
Berlin.
Based upon a Doctoral Thesis presented to King’s College, London.
December 2007.
Prepared for Private Publication April 2009.
Author: Passauer Strasse 4,
D-10789 Berlin.

Dedication.
Manypeopleassistedwiththeresearchandproductionofthiswork.Dr.RoryMillerand
Prof.EfraimKarshofKing’sCollege,UniversityofLondon,MediterraneanStudies
Programme,weretheacademicadvisorswhobroughtthePhDthesistoasatisfactory
conclusion.Itwasorally‘defended’beforeProf.MosheGatofBar-IlanUniversityandDr.
ColinShindlerofSOAS,London,on20th.December2007,resubmittedshortlythereafter
with a few minor alterations.
However,therigoursoftheacademicsubmissionmeantthatavastamountofmaterial
hadtobeomitted,lengthydocumentscouldbequotedonlyinsmallsegmentsor
paraphrased,andalengthlimitandcertainstylisticruleshadtobeobserved.Inconsequence
Ihavedecidedtoproduceafullerversion,incorporatingtheadditionalmaterialsandtopics,
onthebasisthatalmostnoneofthesehadbeenpublishedandmanyofthosethathad,had
beenpublishedonlybymyselfinthesmallamateurmagazine‘Harakevet’-andyetthereis
clearlyavastdegreeofignorance,confusionanddownrightfalsificationaboutmanydetails
surroundingthisverycomplexperiodofhistory.Soitwasimportanttometomakethis
material more widely available, even if the work as such is not ‘commercial’.
MymainthanksmustbetothelatePaulCotterell,whopassedawaysuddenlyinQishon
WorkshopsinMay2007-whilstinthemiddleoffurtherresearchintotheirrecords.Heis
regardedasthedoyenofresearchersandhistoriansinthisentirefield,hisbookinformedme
andinspiredmetocontinue,andhebecame agoodfriend.Hisduties-alabouroflove-in
effectivelyrunningandexpandingtheIsraelRailwayMuseumatHaifaMizrachandthe
‘archive’mademuchofwhatfollowspossible.(Therewasinitiallyjustapileofpapers
underpigeondroppings,itwasthankstohimandhisteamofvolunteerhelpersthattheterm
‘archive’evenbecameappropriate.)Iamgratefulthatheread,beforehisuntimelydeath,
one of the initial drafts of my thesis.
Ithankalsothenumerouscorrepondentswho,overtheyears,providedmewiththeirown
eye-witness accounts or guided me to obscure archival resources.
AndofcoursemyParents,EdgarandEstherRothschild,whosupported,financed,urged
andpushedmeonmywaysothattheytoocouldeventuallyproudlysay“Myson,the
Doctor”!
Walter Rothschild.

CONTENTS.
p. 11. Introduction.
p. 21. Chapter 1. Palestine and its Railways in the Mandate Period.
p. 43. Chapter 2. Palestine Railways During World War 2.
p. 71. Chapter 3. The Management of P.R. in 1945.
p. 95. Chapter 4. The Management of P.R. in 1946.
p.111. Chapter 5. The Management of P.R. in 1947.
p.129. Chapter 6. Disposal of the Haifa - Beirut -Tripoli Railway.
p.149. Chapter 7. Disposal of the Kantara - Rafa Railway.
p.169. Chapter 8. Disposal of Hejaz Railway lines in Palestine and Transjordan.
p.205. Chapter 9. Acquisition of Rolling-Stock 1945-1948.
p.231. Chapter 10. Plans for Withdrawal: P.R. in January - April 1948.
p.303. Chapter 11. May 1948, The Last Days.
p.312. Appendix 1 Transcript of Letter by I. Nissenbaum to Kirby, 1948.
p.313. Appendix 2 What Rolling Stock was inherited by I.R.
p.329. Appendix 3 History of Khoury House as Palestine Railways Headquarters.
p.335. Appendix 4 Some Staff and Financial Arrangements at the Termination.
p.338. Appendix 5 Memoirs of Capt. Mapstone, Royal Engineers.
p.343. Appendix 6 ‘Origins of the Hebrew Railway’; Article by Isaac Nissenbaum.
p.353. Appendix 7 Epilogue: Early days of Israel Railways.
p.370. Appendix 8 Notes on British Military Involvement in P.R. 1939 - 1948.
p.397. Appendix 9. The American Military Railroad Contribution in Middle East.
p.402. Appendix 10. Some Correspondence with and from Arthur Kirby.
p.408. Bibliography.
p.413. Glossary.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Note to the Website Version:
Onceuponatimeonewroteatextbyhand,oronatypewriter,andnowadaysone
writesuponanelectronicdevice,perhaps a'WordProcessor'or'Notebook'.This
meansthatonewritesnotWordsbutelectronicBytesthatarethenpreserved
magicallyas''wps''or''rtf''or''odt''or''txt''or''doc''or''docx''or''pdf''or
anythingelseinvariousversionsthatonlyspecialistsunderstand.WhattheLAY
personunderstandsisthateverytimeacopyismadeorstoredortransferredto
someoneelse''SomethingHappens''andthepagenumbers,footnotes,inserts,layout,
formatorwhateveraresubtlyandmagicallychanged.Gapsappearwheretheywere
notbefore,apagetakesonelineoftextlessthanitusedto,Tablesaresuddenlydivided
acrosstwopages,Footnoteschangeformattobecomewiderornarrowerthanthey
were, and similar phenomena appear - to create headaches for those concerned.
TheversionofmyPhDthesiswhichismadeavailableherehasbeenchangedand
adaptedandre-formattedseveraltimes.Theoriginaltextwassubstantiallyshortened
forsubmissiontotheuniversity,butthelongerversionwasretainedandispresented
here.
Whilstmythanksgotothefriendwhoisplacingthelinktothistextuponmy
websiteinJuly2016,neitherhenorIbearanyresponsibilityforwhatfinallyappears
onyourscreens.TheCONTENTisallthere,butthelayoutmaydifferfromwhatwe
last saw. We beg for your understanding. Walter Rothschild.
LIST OF TABLES.
Table 1. Palestine’s Postwar Population. p. 22
Table 2. P.R. Freight Stock in 1939. p. 38
Table 3. P.R. Motive Power in 1939. p 39
Table 4. P.R. Goods Traffic 1939-1945. p. 46
Table 5. P.R. Staff Statistics. p. 47
Table 6. Locomotive Failures 1940-1946. p. 57.
Table 7. W.D. Wagons Available for Use. p. 61.
Table 8. Foreign Wagons Available for Use. p. 64.
Table 9. Civil Goods Traffic Egypt-Palestine, 1942-5. p. 66.
Table 10. P.R. Traffic Statistics. p. 68.
Table 11. P.R. Working Results 1939-1945. p. 69.
Table 12. Military Owned Stock on P.R. System. p.206.
Table 13. Disposal of Military Stock. p.208.
Table 14. Expenditure on freight Stock. p.224.
Table 15. Incidents on P.R. January 1948. p.250.
Table 16. Incidents on P.R. February 1948. p.267.
Table 17. Incidents on P.R. March 1948. p.285.
Table 18. Incidents on P.R. April 1948. p.299.
_______________________________________________________________________
LIST OF MAPS.
MAP 1. Railways in the Middle East, showing Palestine Railways and its links with
neighbouring systems. 1945.
MAP 2. Palestine Railways system. (Source: Cotterell op. cit. p.96).
MAP 3. The Hedjaz Railway System at its fullest extent, 1918.
(Source: Noll, Bickel, von Denfer: op. cit. p. 16.)
MAP 4. UNSCOP (United Nations Special Committee on Palestine) Map of proposed
Partition. 1946. (N.B. There were different versions.)
MAP 1. RAILWAYS IN THE MIDDLE EAST,
SHOWING PALESTINE RAILWAYS AND ITS LINKS; 1945.
MAP 2. PALESTINE RAILWAYS. (Source: Cotterell p.96).
MAP 3. THE HEDJAZ RAILWAY SYSTEM ITS FULLEST EXTENT, ca. 1918.
(Source: Noll, Bickel, von Denfer: p. 16.)