[Railway reconstruction Italy 1943-1946 published by Royal Engineers, 1946]

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Chapter I
ORGANISATION AND ADMINISTRATION OF THE RAILWAY CONSTRUCTION EFFORT

Section III.
Stores Supply


4. - Control of Stores.

In order to ensure that the best and most economical use was made of the stores available it was necessary to control from Tn. Headquarters, the issue of certain types of stores. The principal items of stores so affected were track, bridging, trestling, bridge erection equipment, plant, and cement of all kinds. Other stores could be obtained by the unit on indent on the stores depot and issue was made, if available, without reference to higher authority.

This principle was criticised continually by the units in the field, on the grounds that it was an unnecessary formality which was a considerable hindrance to their work. In actual fact the delay between a unit lodging an indent for stores at a depot and the depot receiving a release for the stores was rarely more than 24 hours and in many cases was considerably less owing to the excellence of communications. In these circumstances any actual holdup in the work arising from this cause could in the majority of cases be attributed to lack of foresight on behalf of the unit.

In spite of all protests the control of stores was retained throughout the campaign and after. The main reasons in support of this action being:
a) Owing to the fact that all stores were in limited supply, it was necessary to ensure that each job was executed in the most economical way possible. Control of major items of stores ensured this.
b) In those cases where particular items were in very short supply, it was essential to ensure that priority jobs were supplied first and that adequate reserves were kept for forthcoming jobs.
c) The system prevented a unit or group starting a job to which local agreement had been given (particularly depot construction) before the approval of all the necessary higher authorities had been obtained.
d) As stated above, any delay resulting from the system was negligible, and in such cases as delay was caused, it could usually be traced back to lack of foresight or planning on behalf of the unit concerned.


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[Railway reconstruction Italy 1943-1946 published by Royal Engineers, 1946]

Alessandro Tuzza