Trotsky's move
Trotsky's train was Leon Trotsky's personal armored train , created on his initiative in August 1918. From then until 1920 he traveled from one front of the civil war to the next.
“During the most strict years of the revolution, my own personal life was bound up inseparably with the life of that train. The train, on the other hand, was inseparably bound up with the life of the Red Army. The train linked the front with the base, solved urgent problems on the spot, educated, appealed, supplied, rewarded, and punished. "
“During the toughest years of the revolution, my private life was inextricably linked to the life of the train. The train, on the other hand, was inextricably linked with the life of the Red Army. The train connected the front with the base, solved urgent problems directly on site, instructed, made an impression, supplied, rewarded and punished. "
strategy
Armored trains were of great strategic importance in the Russian civil war . The war took place on the edge of civilization, the fronts stretched over 8,000 km through barren, deserted landscapes, the troops often cut off from the outside world for months. Because of the often poor road conditions, transport over the tracks was all the more important. Trotsky's train was one of only 38 armored trains in 1918, compared to 103 armored trains by the end of 1920. The region between Moscow and Petrograd , which was important for the civil war, was very well developed for the railroad, so that Trotsky was able to personally take over and communicate commands in endangered areas. Through this mobility - and his courage - he succeeded in being regarded as one of them not as a distant leader, but as one of the troops, few of whom had ever seen a high-ranking Bolshevik in person. Regarding the creation of the Red Army, he said:
“It needed good commanders, a few dozen experienced fighters, a dozen or so Communists ready to make any sacrifice, boots for the bare-footed, a bath house, an energetic propaganda campaign, food, underwear, tobacco and matches. The train took care of all this. "
“It took good commanders, a couple of dozen skilled fighters, a dozen or so communists, ready to make any sacrifice, boots for the barefoot, a bathhouse, a vigorous propaganda campaign, food, underwear, tobacco and matches. The train took care of everything. "
Trotsky not only knew how to form the army, but also how to raise the morale of the troops at the front in the long term by delivering boots, tobacco, medicines, watches, food, binoculars and machine guns. Apart from the material deliveries, the psychological effect of the train on friend and foe should not be underestimated. Trotsky reports in his biography that even his most nervous troops once again mustered all their strength when they were informed of the approaching train by a shock troop. His commanders assured that the presence of the platoon alone was as valuable as a reserve company. For the opposing troops, however, the train was shrouded in legend: "The mysterious train looked infinitely worse than it really was," is how Trotsky describes its effect on the enemy.
Furnishing
On the night of August 7, 1918, the procession was quickly organized and the very next day Trotsky set off on the journey to Sviiazshk, near Kazan , the strategic gateway to the Volga , which had fallen to his enemies the day before. The train was so heavy that it needed two locomotives. Later the train was divided into two parts; when they were at the front, part of them were sent on messenger services, while the other part was always ready to go so as not to take any risks.
When Trotsky began his travels, his train had not yet been finalized, so the equipment was constantly being worked on. The train was a "flying administrative apparatus" ( Leon Trotsky : My Life. Chapter 34 "The Train"). On board the train there was a secretariat, a power station , a telegraph station , a library , a printing shop , a radio station , an automobile garage , a restaurant, which also served as a club for the soldiers, a bathroom and even a small air squadron . The individual sections were connected to one another by telephones and a signal system. Trotsky was able to pass direct replenishment orders on to Moscow via the telegraph station, so that in time a system would emerge that no longer required personal interference. Glasman, Sjermuks and Nechayev, the men in the telegraph station, were indispensable for this achievement. With steady hands, despite the jolting movements, they wrote on the cards hanging from the ceiling exactly, which demanded admiration from their leader. The garage was so big that it could hold several automobiles and a fuel tank. The cars were used to drive off the tracks into the country, always accompanied, of course, by heavily armed vehicles.
.png)
The train was also an important tool for propaganda work :
"The strongest cement in the new army was the ideas of the October revolution, and the train supplied the front with this cement."
"The strongest cement in the new army were the ideas of the October Revolution, and the train supplied the front with this cement."
On the train, not only posters and brochures could be printed, a separate newspaper was also published with the appropriate name “W Puti” ( Russian В Пути ), in German “Unterwegs”, which was used for propaganda and information about world events for the Reds Army served "because the newspaper is also a weapon" ( Leon Trotsky : How the Revolution Armed as quoted by John M. Kelsey ). Furthermore, not only Trotsky's platoon, but others as well, had a cinema on board that showed propaganda films.
Fellow travelers
Both military and civilian procurement specialists traveled as employees on the train. Every crew member knew how to use a weapon. They were all dressed in leather, which not only offered practical advantages, but also "looked very impressive." ( Leon Trotsky : My Life. Chapter 34 "The Train") The valuable train and its passengers were protected by a special elite unit, the so-called "Red One Hundred", whose uniforms, with eye-catching headgear, were made of red leather. In total, the community lost about 15 men killed or injured, not counting those who joined forces in the field.
Fellow travelers from the old army taught Trotsky his new way of thinking in everyday war situations, which met the entourage at eye level and not, as before, from above. During the Russian Civil War , the train was visited by many prominent Bolshevik leaders , including Joseph Stalin .
Derailments
It is not surprising that Trotsky's opponents tried several times to destroy the train; it was bombed from the air or an attempt was made to derail it. But what actually derailed the train was a misaligned switch in the Gorky station. The wagons were so damaged that Trotsky was forced to climb out of his compartment through the window, in the pitch dark night, with a gun in hand, not knowing what had caused the disturbance. Despite property damage to several compartments, no one was seriously injured. Another time, on February 9, 1920, the train got stuck on its way through the Urals in meter-high snow and derailed, just under three kilometers from the next station. Although Trotsky was one of the most powerful men in the country, no one inquired about his whereabouts for almost 24 hours. The station staff did not notice the absence of the train because the workers responsible had left their posts. Trotsky was shocked by the failure of the railroad and criticized the lack of discipline of the staff in various publications.
Itinerary
Trotsky himself later could not remember the exact route, but was certain that the most journeys were made in 1920. One of his notes speaks of 36 journeys with over 105,000 km; one of his traveling companions said that they had done more than double that in three years. According to Trotsky, it is very easy to follow the route of travel which front was most important at what point in the war. On the basis of the articles published in the on-board newspaper, he enumerated exemplary cities such as Samara , Chelyabinsk , Vyatka , Petrograd , Balashov , Smolensk , Rostov-on-Don , Kiev , Zhytomyr , "and so on, without end." ( Leon Trotsky : My Life. Chapter 34 "The Train"). The exact movements of the train were meticulously reconstructed in a diagram by Trotsky's assistants and attracted great interest in exhibitions on the civil war.
literature
- JW Daly, LT Trofimov (Ed.): Leon Trotsky's Armored Train. Russia in war and revolution, 1914–1922: a documentary history. Hackett, Indianapolis 2009, ISBN 978-0-87220-987-9 .
- NS Tarkhova, T. Brotherstone, P. Dukes (Eds.): Trotsky's Train. Unknown Page in the History of the Civil War. The Trotsky Reappraisal, Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh 1992, ISBN 9780748603176 .
- R. Winsbury: Trotsky's War Train. History Today Magazine. 1975, August, Vol. 2, No. 8, pp. 523-531.
- NM Heyman: Leon Trotsky and the Birth of the Red Army. Army Quarterly and Defense Journal. 1975, Vol. 105, No. 4, pp. 407-418.
- NM Heyman: Leon Trotsky: propagandist to the Red Army. Studies in Comparative Communism: Trotsky and Trotskyism in perspective. Cal .: University of Southern California, Los Angeles 1977. Volume 10, Nos. 1-2, pp. 34-43, doi : 10.1016 / S0039-3592 (77) 80073-2 .
Individual evidence
- ^ History Today: Trotsky's War Train. (English), accessed on March 16, 2017
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Leon Trotsky: My Life. Chapter 34 "The Train" , accessed March 17, 2017
- ↑ a b Warfare History Blog: Odd Fighting Units: Trotsky's Red 100 and Armored Trains of the Russian Civil War. (English), accessed March 17, 2017
- ↑ BBC History: The Russian Civil War. (English), accessed March 17, 2017
- ↑ a b c BBC History: Reasons for the victory of the Reds in the Civil War. (English), accessed March 17, 2017
- ^ A b John M. Kelsey: Lev Trotsky and the Red Army in the Russian Civil War, 1917-1921. Claremont McKenna College, p. 41. Retrieved March 18, 2017
- ^ A b History Learning Site: Leon Trotsky. (English), accessed March 17, 2017
- ^ John M. Kelsey: Lev Trotsky and the Red Army in the Russian Civil War, 1917-1921. Claremont McKenna College, p. 39. Retrieved March 18, 2017
- ^ John M. Kelsey: Lev Trotsky and the Red Army in the Russian Civil War, 1917-1921. Claremont McKenna College, p. 80. (Accessed March 19, 2017)