General Dickson, late Inspector-General of Communications in East Persia, gives
an interesting and spirited account of the work on the East Persian Line of Communications during and after the War. The object of the East Persian Cordon, which lay along the Persian side of the Afghanistan border, was to guard against the possibility of a Turco-German wave across Persia towards Afghanistan with the object of rousing that nation against the Allies, to • fill the gap caused in the northern section by the disappearance of the Russian forces as a result of the Russian Revolution, and in general to prevent communications by the enemy with Afghanistan or with .unfriendly elements in Persia itself. The problem was a formidable one. Not only had roads to be _made in an exceed- ingly difficult and inhospitable country, but transportation had to be effected over a length of 770 miles not only of supplies for the force operating at the extreme limit and the troops which guarded and administered this long line, but also of emergency supplies in case it 'should be necessary to rush a large force up the line to cope with the emergency of a Turco-German advance. How this problem was solved is the substance of General Dickson's most readable book.
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