Military railroad
A military railway , military railway or shortened military train is from the military -funded and / or operated railway . On the one hand, this includes railway lines that are operated by railway troops in peacetime for training purposes, as well as railway lines within areas used by the military, such as larger barracks or military training areas , which are used to transport military personnel and military goods. On the other hand, field railways that are temporarily or permanently built and operated by the military during military maneuvers or in the event of war are also referred to as military railways.
Both types of military railways were mainly operated from around the middle of the 19th century to around the end of World War II . During the Cold War era , such railways were almost exclusively built and operated by Warsaw Pact railway troops . Since the end of the Cold War, apart from connecting railways for barracks and military training areas, railways operated by the military have largely lost their importance.
The military railways do not include strategic railways , which as a rule were not built and operated by the military, but by private or state railway companies. Although they were built primarily because of their assumed use in the event of war, they are otherwise primarily used for civil purposes.
history
Military use of the railways began only a few years after the first railroad lines were built. Troops were transported by rail for the first time in Prussia as early as 1839, and other European countries soon followed. During the Italian Wars of Independence , the railroad was already being used intensively, and France owed its victory over Austria in 1859 to the faster deployment of its troops thanks to the well-developed French railroad network. As a rule, however, the military initially only used the railways in a similar way to civilian shippers, without worrying about construction and operation. The British finally built a first military railway with a length of around 23 kilometers in 1855 during the Crimean War during the siege of Sevastopol to transport supplies from the port of Balaklava to the positions .
The first "railroad war", in which the rapid repair and use of railroads was a decisive factor and the operation of military railways became important, was the American Civil War from 1861 to 1865. Both sides had problems coordinating the large number of private railroad companies accordingly. The northern states therefore founded the United States Military Railroad (USMRR) in 1862 under its first director, General Daniel McCallum . This, previously a successful railway manager, mainly took over the administrative management, Herman Haupt became the head of the construction department . The USMRR took over the operation of hitherto private routes in all theaters of war. Towards the end of the war, the USMRR operated almost 2,000 kilometers of railway lines and had performed tremendously in the construction and repair of lines and bridges in particular.
The American experience was carefully registered in Europe. As early as 1866, Prussia raised its first railway troops, which were supposed to take over the repair and construction of railway lines in the event of war. The new field railway departments were able to gain their first experience in the same year in the German war against Austria . The Prussian railway troops then took on extensive tasks in the Franco-Prussian War from 1870 to 1871. This included the construction of various provisional bypasses and the operation of railway lines with a total length of around 4,000 kilometers in the occupied parts of France.
After the war, the Prussian army set up the Royal Prussian Military Railway for its field railway troops , whose route from Berlin to the Kummersdorf artillery firing range , built from 1873 to 1874, was operated by the railway troops, but which was also available to general traffic. The Kingdom of Bavaria also set up its own railway troops.
Examples
Chile
The Ferrocarril Militar de Puente Alto al Volcán was a 60 km long military narrow-gauge railway with a gauge of 600 mm from Puente Alto to El Volcán.
Germany
In Germany, the Royal Prussian Military Railway from Berlin to Jüterbog, belonging to the royal Prussian military administration, served to train the railway troops . The construction of their first, 45 km long section from Berlin (Schöneberg military station) via Zossen to the Kummersdorf shooting range began in 1874 and went into operation in October 1875. In 1895 the military line was extended to the Jüterbog shooting range, and operations on this route were opened in 1897. Their total length was 71 km. It had 14 train stations . There were track connections with the Prussian State Railways in the start and end stations as well as in Marienfelde and Zossen . Civilian passenger traffic also took place on the railway, which was carried out by the military.
Another example is the Brotterode – Wernshausen field railway , the forerunner of the Trusebahn . In the years 1896/97 the Schöneberg Railway Regiment operated this field railway to promote the reconstruction of the completely burned-down Brotterode . The material that was subsequently stored was partly used again in German South West Africa .
France
In France, one of the railway companies operated the 75 km long Orléans – Patay – Voves – Chartres state railway with two stations and eleven stops for training purposes . Only those services where communication with the audience, such as B. the ticket sales, were essential, were provided by civil servants. The officers, non-commissioned officers and men who were replaced on a regular basis received a certificate as station master, engine driver, stoker, train driver, etc. on their return to the troops.
Greece
The Kodza-Déré-Decauville was a 13.5 km long military narrow-gauge railway built by the French army during the First World War in Peonia near Polykastro in the Greek part of Macedonia .
Italy
In Italy the four railway companies of the Turin Garrison operated the Turin – Torre Pellice line, the two in Rome the Rome – Frascati line. In addition, special courses were held for officers to train them in railway service, and after a 15-day preparation period they were on duty at individual train stations.
Libya
The Senussi Cave Railway was a 1941 during the Siege of Tobruk built almost 400 m long military narrow gauge railway in Senussihöhle near Tobruk .
Austria-Hungary
In Austria-Hungary , the 101.5 km long Banjaluka-Doberlin railway was operated as a military railway by the railway regiment.
Russia
In Russia, special emphasis was placed on training railway troops in railway construction. They therefore had a large number of new buildings, e.g. B. participated in the Trans-Caspian Railway , the Ussuri Railway, the Trans-Siberian Railway and the Baikal-Amur Mainline. A number of railway lines, namely the Caucasian and Trans-Caspian railways, were also available to them for training in operational service. The actual military railway was the 57 km Kovel – Vladimir – Volynsk line, which had also had an officers' railway school since 1910.
Thailand and Myanmar
One of the best-known examples of a military railway is the Thailand-Burma Railway , the construction of which was strategically as well as tactically motivated.
See also
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f Röll, Freiherr von: Military Railways. In: Enzyklopädie des Eisenbahnwesens, Volume 7. Berlin, Vienna 1915, pp. 277–278.
- ^ Andreas Knipping: Railway in War , Geramond, Munich 2005, p. 16
- ^ Andreas Knipping: Railway in War , Geramond, Munich 2005, p. 19
- ^ Andreas Knipping: Eisenbahn im Krieg , Geramond, Munich 2005, p. 29