Eastern Railway (Generalgouvernement)
The Ostbahn was the state railway of the Generalgouvernement during the Second World War from 1939 to 1945. It is often regarded as part of the Deutsche Reichsbahn . In fact, there were also several attempts to integrate the Eastern Railway into the Deutsche Reichsbahn. Despite all the cooperation with the Deutsche Reichsbahn, the Ostbahn always remained independent and under the economic control of Governor General Hans Frank .
history
After the conquest of Poland by the German Wehrmacht in 1939, the Generalgouvernement, controlled by Germany, was founded on the area between the newly established borders of the German Empire and the Soviet Union . Following this establishment, the Eastern Railway was also established on November 27, 1939. The basis for this was the “Ordinance on Railways in the Eastern Territories” published on that day. The railways in the German areas of Poland until 1919 and the other Polish areas annexed as part of the Reichsgaue Wartheland and Danzig-West Prussia were organized as new Reich Railway Directorates in Posen and Danzig and integrated into the Reichsbahn.
Since the Polish troops had destroyed a large part of the railway facilities when they withdrew, the main focus of activity in the early days was the reconstruction, with close cooperation with the Wehrmacht and the Deutsche Reichsbahn. At the same time, operations were resumed, although passenger traffic made up a very small proportion. "Volksdeutsche" (ethnic Germans) were recruited to fill all management positions at all levels and later also the locomotive driver positions - to a large extent from Austria . Poles were only allowed to exercise functions without decision-making powers on the Eastern Railway.
After the German attack on the Soviet Union in 1941, the Generalgouvernement and with it the Eastern Railway expanded to the east. The part of the conquered area was taken over, which had belonged to Poland before the takeover by the Soviet Union in 1939 and to Austria-Hungary before the First World War . Here, too, the preparation of the lines was necessary, as most of the lines and vehicles had meanwhile been switched to Soviet broad gauge and now had to be retraced.
The vehicle fleet, which the Ostbahn completely took over from the Polish State Railways (PKP) , consisted predominantly of formerly Prussian and Austrian and some formerly Soviet vehicles. In addition, there were a number of Polish and American new build vehicles. Most of the vehicles taken over by the Soviet Railways (SZD / СЖД) from 1941 onwards were also taken over by the Polish State Railways in 1939. In addition, the Ostbahn continuously expanded its vehicle fleet with new vehicles that were taken from deliveries to the Deutsche Reichsbahn and were therefore identical to the German vehicles produced during the war. There was also a lively exchange of vehicles between the Ostbahn and the Deutsche Reichsbahn. French rental locomotives were also used on the Eastern Railway.
The highest administrative level of the Ostbahn was the general management of the Ostbahn , briefly called Gedob . Your president was u. a. Adolf Gerteis . Like the Deutsche Reichsbahn, the Gedob was subordinate to the Ministry of Transport of the German Reich. The administrative and organizational structures of the Eastern Railway were also gradually aligned with those of the Deutsche Reichsbahn. This went so far that from 1941 the steam locomotives of the Eastern Railway received operating numbers from the number system of the Deutsche Reichsbahn. All of this very likely happened in preparation for a possible takeover of the Eastern Railway by the Deutsche Reichsbahn. However, such a takeover never took place, although there had been several attempts in this direction.
In the summer of 1944, the first areas of the General Government were conquered by the Soviets. From this point on, the catchment area of the Eastern Railway also shrank. Until the end of January 1945, the entire General Government was in Soviet hands, which also ended the existence of the Eastern Railway. After the end of the Second World War, the former Eastern Railway was divided between the re-established Polish State Railways (PKP) and the Soviet Railways (SZD / СЖД).
The relation to the Deutsche Reichsbahn
The Deutsche Reichsbahn was the state railway of the German Reich and was therefore only responsible for serving the German Reich territory. Governor General Hans Frank managed to ensure that the Eastern Railway remained legally outside the Reichsbahn and represented a separate fund of the General Government. Reich Minister of Transport Julius Dorpmüller managed to get the Ostbahn to take over the organization of the Reichsbahn during the war, but otherwise the Ostbahn remained largely independent of the Reichsbahn. Financially and economically it was primarily responsible to the Governor General, who did not want to give up this instrument of power. The Reichsbahn only had to provide rolling stock if the vehicle fleet taken over by PKP was insufficient. The Reichsbahn also provided staff for all management levels, Polish staff were only allowed to take on subordinate positions. The technical supervision was also with the Reich Minister of Transport, the economic management was taken over by the GG. In the close, day-to-day collaboration, this repeatedly led to friction and disputes over competence. Dorpmüller was unable to assert himself against Frank in the long run with Hitler, even if operational control was increasingly transferred to the Reichsbahn in the following years.
Designations and vehicle lettering
abbreviation
The abbreviation Gedob is often used synonymously for the Eastern Railway. In fact, this stands for General Management of the Eastern Railway and thus only for the top management level of the Eastern Railway, but not for the Eastern Railway as a whole. There was never an official abbreviation for the Ostbahn.
Vehicle lettering
Initially, all vehicles were simply marked with the additional word “Deutsch” on the sides of all vehicles. The rest of the lettering on the vehicles remained unchanged as they had been adopted by the Polish State Railways. It was not until February / March 1940 that the Polish emblems and the letters "PKP" were also removed. Until then, the lettering was identical to the vehicles taken over by the Deutsche Reichsbahn.
From March 1940, the vehicles in the Generalgouvernement also received the inscription "Ostbahn". The lettering "Deutsch" was later removed so that the lettering "Ostbahn" was retained as the only property feature. In 1941 the lettering of the steam locomotives of the Eastern Railway was brought into line with that of the Deutsche Reichsbahn, although the "Eastern Railway" property was retained. The steam locomotives were also included in the operating number scheme of the Deutsche Reichsbahn.
Eastern railway emblem
The emblem of the Eastern Railway shows the imperial eagle with outstretched wings standing on a laurel wreath with a swastika. Was added the emblem to the lettering Ostbahnstrasse wherein East below the one track below the other wing, both of which were written at the height of the swastika.
This emblem was only used on very few vehicles - especially on the newly acquired class 50 locomotives.
Numbering systems
In addition to the company numbers, all vehicles except small locomotives were given a generic designation from 1941.
- Polish vehicle type scheme for steam locomotives
- Classification scheme for steam locomotives from 1941
- Company numbering scheme for passenger coaches
- Company numbering scheme for freight wagons
The route network
Right-hand traffic prevailed on multi-track lines on the Ostbahn; Signals were usually to the right of the track.
Gauges
The standard gauge of 1435 mm was the gauge primarily used on the Eastern Railway.
In 1940 the Deutsche Reichsbahn initiated the conversion of 16 formerly Polish locomotives to Soviet broad gauge 1524 mm in order to cope with cross-border traffic with the Soviet Union. These locomotives were used on the Ostbahn.
In 1941 the Eastern Railway took over parts of the Soviet Railways (SZD / СЖД) which had belonged to the Polish State Railways until 1939; these had mainly been converted to Soviet broad gauge. The Ostbahn, however, put them back on the regular track.
The Ostbahn also operated several narrow-gauge railways in 760 mm, 750 mm and 600 mm gauges.
Electrical operation
The Ostbahn took over the approximately 100 km long Warsaw network from the Polish State Railways (PKP), which was electrified with 3 kV direct current between 1933 and 1936 and operated with 76 multiple units and 10 electric locomotives. There was no further expansion of this network.
See also
literature
- Michael Reimer and Volkmar Kubitzki: Railway in Poland 1939–1945 - The history of the general management of the Eastern Railway ; transpress Verlag, Stuttgart 2004. ISBN 3-613-71213-X
- Paweł Terczyński: Atlas Lokomotyw 2007 ; Poznański Klub Modelarzy Kolejowych, Poznań 2007. ISBN 978-83-920757-7-6
Individual evidence
- ↑ Gottwaldt, Schulle: "Jews are prohibited from using dining cars" ; P. 67.