Railroad troops
Railroad troops are military divisions also known as railroad pioneers . They build, repair, operate or destroy military-relevant railway lines and the associated infrastructure .
history
The formation of railroad troops was prompted by most of the great powers with the advent, rapid expansion, and growing importance of the railroad network , when the railroad's advantages for transporting troops, heavy weapons and supplies were recognized. Originally this happened in German-speaking countries under the name of "field railways". In many countries there were no units of this kind, or only very small ones, during peacetime.
Civil War
During the Civil War , the northern states placed all railway lines under General McClellan's full authority. Initially, MacClellan formed a construction corps of simple soldiers, but he soon realized that the troops' inadequate training for technical work required a militarily organized corps with technically trained civil engineers and workers. In the course of the war this troop grew to around 25,000 men. It was divided into construction departments with subdivisions for route and bridge construction as well as operational departments.
The construction departments had the task of building new lines, repairing destroyed railway systems or, if necessary, destroying them. The operating departments took care of the procurement and correct use of operating materials and operations. Civilian workers may have been called in for larger structures, for example up to 1,400 carpenters for the construction of the Etowah and Chattahooche bridges .
The great and often decisive influence that these railway departments exerted on the course of the war during the Civil War prompted the European states to form similar formations.
Germany
Prussia
In 1866, when it mobilized for the German War, Prussia created three railway departments, each consisting of twelve railway technicians provided by the Ministry of Commerce and a military detachment of around 50 men. The II. Railway Regiment was connected to the Royal Prussian Military Railway near Berlin. This railway belonging to the military treasury was administered by the Royal Direction of the Military Railway .
The activity of the railway regiments was similar to that of the American construction departments, while special works commissions formed by the Department of Commerce regulated the operational service on the occupied railways.
The experiences from the German war led to the planning of a permanent military organization of the field railways, with which a trunk of personnel trained in the railway system was to be kept ready in peacetime, but this could not be achieved until the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War in 1870
Bavaria
In Bavaria there was the Royal Bavarian Railway Battalion until World War I. A memorial on the grounds of the Bundeswehr Administration Center in Munich , Dachauer Strasse at the corner of Hedwig-Dransfeld-Allee, commemorates the Bavarian Railway Troops. It is open to the public.
German Empire
In 1870 field railway departments were formed again, five Prussian and one Bavarian. However, these were much better equipped than in 1866: 20 civil engineers, 4 officers and around 200 foremen and soldiers were available per department. In addition, civilian workers were employed for larger construction projects. The operation on the occupied railway lines was again taken over by operating commissions. The railway departments were used many times during the Franco-Prussian War, for example in the repair of destroyed bridges and in the construction of the railway to bypass the Metz fortress .
In Prussia, a railway battalion was formed on October 1, 1871, the trunk for the later railway regiment and for the railway brigade set up on April 1, 1890, which consisted of three regiments of two battalions each with four companies . The railway brigade was assigned a depot administration and an operations department for the operation of the Royal Prussian Military Railway , the officers and men of which were alternately provided by different units of the brigade.
The railroad troops had been part of the transport troops since October 1, 1899 and were therefore subject to the inspection of the transport troops. The teams were trained in railway construction and railway operations service and were intended to replace both the former field railway departments with railway companies, as well as the works commissions with railway companies and military railway directorates. During the war, the railway troops were reinforced by reserves and land forces.
In order to train the railway troops , the army was given the management of the Berlin - Zossen - Jüterbog ( Royal Prussian Military Railway ) line. The knowledge transfer took place at the Sperenberg airfield , which was reached via a siding branching off from the military railway south of the station of the same name .
In addition to these facilities for the construction and operation of standard-gauge railroads, the railroad troops administered materials to build and operate field railways .
First World War
During the First World War, the railroad troops were used on a large scale behind the front to transport troops and material. The field railways were subordinate to the head of the field railways (FECH). In the occupied territories of France and in occupied Belgium , three military railroad divisions were set up to manage and operate the railway facilities captured there :
- Military Railway Directorate 1 in Lille
- Military Railway Directorate 2 in Sedan
- Military Railway Directorate 3 in Charleroi , from September 1916 in Hirson
Second World War
Railway troops were also deployed on the German side during the Second World War . (see also SS railway construction brigades )
Federal Republic of Germany and GDR
The Bundeswehr introduced shortly after its founding a Eisenbahnpionierlehr- and testing company, which in 1961 (Sp) PiLVsuKp 872 from Spezialpionierlehr- and attempt Battalion 870 of the Territorial Army was taken over. The company was disbanded in 1974. Other pioneer units then took over their tasks .
In the NVA , however, there were still railway pioneer units. The history of the railway troops in Germany only ended with the dissolution of the NVA in 1990.
Switzerland
In the Swiss Army there was the military railroad service until 2003 and beyond that the so-called railway sapper companies for a few years. In Zurich he operated the ten-story underground command system K85, which was accessible through the Hirschengraben tunnel. Today the facility serves as an emergency exit from the tunnel and cannot be viewed publicly.
Railway troops in the present
- Russia still maintains railroad troops today. For example, they moved into Abkhazia in May 2008 to rebuild and repair destroyed railway lines there.
- Italy maintains a railway pioneer regiment , today the only regiment of its kind in NATO .
Web links
literature
- Christian Kräuchi, Martin Wicki: The history of the military railway service MED. 134 years of military railway service - an important branch of the Swiss Army says goodbye! = L'histoire du service militaire des chemins de fer SMC. Swiss Museum of Transport, Lucerne 2003, (exhibition catalog).
- Paul Winter: Swiss railways under flags. The history of the military railroad service. New edition expanded with images. Minirex, Lucerne 1988, ISBN 3-907014-02-2 .
- Horst Rohde (Hrsg.): The German field railway system in the First World War. The railways at the beginning of the war (Reprint 2009) a. End of the war (vol. 2). ES Mittler & Sohn, Hamburg 2010, ISBN 978-3-8132-0884-9 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ The little book of the German army. Lipsius & Tischer, Kiel and Leipzig 1901, p. 203.
- ^ Eisenbahndirektion Mainz (ed.): Official Gazette of the Royal Prussian and Grand Ducal Hessian Railway Directorate in Mainz of November 21, 1914, No. 62. Nachrichten, p. 394.
- ^ Eisenbahndirektion Mainz (ed.): Official Gazette of the Royal Prussian and Grand Ducal Hessian Railway Directorate in Mainz of September 23, 1916, No. 48. Nachrichten, p. 300.
- ↑ Paul Winter: The history of the military railway service. Description of the connections between the use of the railways for national defense purposes from the beginning of the state to the present day. Command of the Military Railway Service, Bern 1985.
- ↑ The History of the Military Railroad Service MED. 134 years of military railway service - an important branch of the Swiss Army says goodbye! Swiss Museum of Transport, Lucerne 2003.
- ↑ The hidden high-rise. NZZ, December 25, 2012.
- ↑ Russian troop strength in South Ossetia and Abkhazia remains unchanged - Deputy Minister of Defense. on the RiaNowosti website. 4th October 2010.