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

Chapter I
ORGANISATION AND ADMINISTRATION OF THE RAILWAY CONSTRUCTION EFFORT

Section II.
Regimental Organisation

8. - Labour.

Labour employed on Railway Construction in Italy falls broadly into two categories - Military and Civil. The military labour which usually took the shape of formed labour units was drawn from many nationalities - British, Indian, African Native and Italian were all used at various times, although by far the greatest preponderance was of Italian units. Italian infantry units were also used for labour purposes on occasions.

The methods for procurement of military labour, and the terms under which it was held, were virtually the same as those outlined for R.A.S.C. transport in the previous sub-section. As in the case of transport, no agreement was ever given by Theatre Command for a permanent allocation of labour to Railway Construction, although to all intents and purposes the allocation became virtually permanent and was reviewed from time to time in the light of changing circumstances.

Civil labour employed, in general fell into three categories - Italian State Railways employees, Italian State Railways Contractors' employees, and casual civilian labourers. The Italian State Railways employees were the normal maintenance personnel of the area under reconstruction and in many case were already at work on track repairs when Construction troops arrived. During construction their efforts were directed by the R.C.E. towards the final plan, and on completion they were left behind as maintenance gangs. I.S.R. contractors were not used to any great extent under the direct control of R.C.Es., for, as is explained elsewhere, their control was more properly a function of the Allied Commission. Exceptions occurred where a contractor had started on some work, and the work having increased in priority and the contractor failing to make satisfactory progress, he was suspended from control of the job and his plant and workers taken over by the R.C.E. Other cases occurred where the I.S.R. let contracts for supply of labour for maintenance in rear areas.

Ordinary civilian casual labour merits no particular comment. It was hired by the local civil Labour organisation and was collected from nearby villages in unit transport and conveyed to job sites. The labour was paid by the unit out of imprest.

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

Alessandro Tuzza