Armored train
An armored train is a train that is armored against fire and is itself armed. Armored trains were mainly used in the first half of the 20th century, World War I , the Russian and Chinese Civil Wars , and the Soviet Union during World War II . First experiments with armored trains were made during the American Civil War .
In the course of the Kapp Putsch , in March 1920 , the Reichswehr deployed around 40 armored trains to fight against democratically -minded workers' troops. The PZ IV was initially relocated from the Kummersdorf training area to Berlin , where it was used against workers' associations until the end of the month. Then he was brought to the Ruhr area , where the Reichswehr fought heavy battles with workers' troops. At the end of 1920 he returned to Kummersdorf and was dismantled like the other armored trains in accordance with the Versailles peace regulations .
Armored train types
- The armored train in the front line with shell-proof armor, armor-piercing and anti-aircraft weapons
- The line protection train (for use in the own hinterland) with bullet-proof or shatterproof armor, machine guns , around 100 men disembarkable infantry (which in turn has heavy machine guns and grenade launchers ) and resilient light tanks for the pursuit of enemies off the tracks
- the armored reconnaissance train as a special form of the line protection train, composed of several bulletproof armored cars with machine guns (also for anti-aircraft defense) as armament and their own motor. The term Spähzug is misleading, because these traits were not acting as a scout ( reconnaissance ), but proved themselves in their own hinterland because of the enormous coverage width when the train was split into individual vehicles.
Front and line protection trains drove with steam locomotives , scout trains with diesel engines . An example of a line protection train is the armored train 21 , which - composed of Polish booty wagons - was used by the German Wehrmacht from 1940 to 1944 .
Purpose of armored trains
Armored trains are mainly defensive. They secure their own hinterland or seal off enemy troops that have broken through (when deployed at the front).
During the Manchurian Crisis , the Kwantung Army used several armored trains on November 27, 1931 as the main means of attack against the Jinzhou region. The Chinese forces again sent their own armored train to defend it . The two armored trains met and fought a bitter battle lasting several hours on the same track.
The attempts by the German Wehrmacht to use armored trains to attack Poland on September 1, 1939 and the Netherlands on May 10, 1940, failed without exception. Armored trains had appeared during the Second World War in Eastern Europe and the Balkans, where long railroad lines ran through sparsely populated areas and were ideal objects for partisan activities. The protection of the railway connections and the escort of transport trains (grouped in convoys) became the main task of the German armored trains from 1942 onwards. Due to their deployment, the Soviet partisans did not succeed (except for a short period in May 1944) in achieving their goal of cutting off supplies for the German front. Another area of application for armored trains was the mobile protection of the headquarters of the German army groups.
An armored train was successfully used in the Battle of Breslau . The armament of this train consisted of four hulls for heavy tanks, which were equipped with four 8.8 cm anti -aircraft guns, one 3.7 cm anti-aircraft gun and four 2 cm anti-aircraft guns and two MG 42 guns. The train also had a radio station.
The British Army began during the war on the Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway , one built in the gauge of 381 millimeters Liliputbahn on the southern English coast , probably the smallest ever built armored one as Streckenschutzzug. It served to protect the wide coastal strip in front of the flat Romney Marsh, which was estimated as a possible landing place for a German invasion .
At present nothing is known of the existence of armored trains. Only the North Korean ruler Kim Jong-il used an armored but unarmed train to travel safely.
The protected transport trains for medium-range and ICBMs with a launch platform used by the Soviet Strategic Missile Force are a special form.
Advantages and disadvantages of armored trains
advantages
Armored trains are fast and, thanks to their size and armor, can safely transport large troops over long and short distances. In addition, armored trains do not need specially trained personnel to operate, since the difference between the control of armored trains and other trains is small and therefore train drivers who have already been trained can be used. Another advantage is that the wagons can be coupled to different locomotives, which means that they are independent of a special resource as fuel when moving. Armored trains can be powered by a diesel , electric or gas locomotive .
In addition, it is possible to connect exactly the number or type of wagons that are required in the respective war period. If the opposing army is superior in air combat, anti-aircraft or rocket wagons can be coupled more often, for example. If a low transport capacity is required, the train can be shortened. Another important advantage is the ability to install or remove various weapon systems. An armored train can, for example, be equipped with rockets , anti-aircraft guns, machine guns and light guns .
Since there are no buildings or other types of vehicles on the railway line, only trains that can be overtaken, an armored train usually has free travel.
While armored trains were used as a means of attack directly against enemy forces until the First World War, during the Second World War, in which they were used for the last time, they were only used to secure rearward areas and rail transport.
disadvantage
Armored trains have decisive disadvantages, which is why they have not been used militarily since the end of the Second World War . The armored trains are completely dependent on the track system, which can easily be destroyed. This dependency makes them unsuitable for use at the front today. In addition, there is a risk that the train will derail , which means that it can no longer travel completely or, in the worst case, at all, and furthermore blocks the respective route. If the train becomes too heavy, for example because of too thick armor, there is a risk that the track system will no longer support the train or the train will seriously damage the route. In distant areas, the track system may have a different gauge than that in the home country, which means that the train can only run through special devices, if at all possible.
Trivia
Armored trains in the media
An armored train, especially its inner workings, is shown in great detail in Mikhail Kalatosov's agitprop film The Nail in the Boot (Gwosd w sapoge) from 1931. Armored trains are also featured in the films Doctor Zhivago , James Bond - 007 - GoldenEye , The Train , the 1999 film Wild Wild West , The Day That Does n't Die , in the Japanese anime film The Castle in the Sky and in the Russian film Armored Train to Stalingrad to see.
In the game Metro Exodus , an armored train serves as a base for the player.
In the anime Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress , an armored train serves as a means of transport and as a base for the characters.
A German armored train appears in the strategy game Rush for Berlin .
In Call of Duty WW II you play a mission in which you have to stop an armored train.
In Battlefield 1 the losing team gets an armored train to support them in some game modes.
Armored train suspected in Wałbrzych
In the Polish town of Wałbrzych (German: Waldenburg in Schlesien ) from 2015 to 2017, widespread media attention was drawn to the search for the supposed gold train from Wałbrzych , which was supposed to be hidden in a tunnel towards the end of the Second World War, laden with valuable objects. The search followed a legend from the 1970s and was unsuccessful.
See also
literature
- Wolfgang Sawodny: The armored trains of the German Empire. 1899-1945. EK-Verlag, Freiburg (Breisgau) 1996, ISBN 3-88255-678-1 , ( Eisenbahn-Kurier ), also: revised new edition, ibid 2006, ISBN 3-88255-678-1 .
- Heigl's paperback of tanks. Part 1. Revised by OH Hacker, RJ Icks, O. Merker and GP von Zezschwitz, JF Lehmanns Verlag, Munich 1935, pp. 701–716.
- Steven Zaloga: Armored Trains. Osprey Publishing, Oxford 2008, ISBN 978-1-84603-242-4 , ( New Vanguard 140).
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Kapp Putsch. Armored train in Berlin in: Lok Magazin 5/2020, p. 65.
- ↑ James Simpson, The Canine Heroes of the Imperial Japanese Army , published on February 6, 2014 (here: August 1, 2017) on warisboring.com , last accessed on August 1, 2017.
- ↑ About RH&DR: Those early years , accessed June 3, 2015.