Armored Trains. A short history

[_Katyusha_ 1,829]

Probably one of the strangest aspects of World war Two, and to some degree, World War One, was the inclusion of armored trains into the mix.  Most people dismiss these things as being effectively useless, or great sinks which material and men went into which could have been used elsewhere.  Others, assume that the armoring was done to deal with aerial attack on munitions and troop vehicles.  While both assumptions do have some truth in them, the fact remains that by and large, the driving idea behind an armored train was less about protection; and more about offense.  

 

The idea behind armored railway carriages, and locomotives, is one that actually dates back far longer than just the first two world wars.  The first recorded armored train, was one utilized during the American Civil war. Mind you the armoring was less around the locomotive, and really only consisted of a simple wooden caisson built on a flatcar to protect a naval gun, but the idea was sound. It wasn't until the first world war though, that the idea came to its first realization.

 

Now it may shock you to find out that while railroads were used extensively during the war, it wasn't the Germans or the English that actually fielded the first armored train. In all honesty, it was the Polish.  Near the end of the war, before starting a war of independence with the Soviet Union, the Polish fielded no less than eight armored trains. Of them, seven were purpose built, while one was more cobbled together from what they had on hand.

 

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_cI4J6wAo_NQ/TTYAP2ckx5I/AAAAAAAAAC8/1RRkmwPN9Ek/s1600/Pol-1919-SmialyTrain.jpg

 

 

As you can see from the above, The Polish trains were relatively short, consisting of a tank locomotive, armored car, and "artillery" wagon. In operation, the locomotive would push the other two cars, with the turreted artillery wagon being located in the front. These short armored trains were used in essence as mobile fortresses, which would act as command posts for military groups, and adding support fire where needed. Since they were always on the move, it made it very difficult on the Soviets to actually destroy the fortresses.  

 

Germany apparently learned a great deal from this, for by the start of World War Two, they had further expanded on the armored train concept, creating a number of purpose built units; the most famous of which being the BP-42 series.

 

 

http://ts2.mm.bing.net/th?id=HN.608050773800259117&pid=15.1

 

The BP 42 series consisted of a train of roughly twelve cars. Each one specialized in its operation and duty. In the midst of the train, an armored locomotive was found, with two tenders and special couplings that gave the train greatly extended range.  The armored cars weren't the only things found with this train though. As the picture shows, tanks were often included, with the Panzer 38(t) variants being the most common, though in later years, Panzer IV ausf. G, and even Tigers found their way to support the armored trains.  

 

Taking off of the Polish practice, the Germans took things one step further. Each train had a number of armored wagons which carried four platoons of soldiers each, as well as AAA defenses, and anti armor defenses.  All told, what had begun in the Polish era as just a simple mobile command post, became a full size moving fort.  One which could patrol and safeguard hundreds of miles of track and territory. With the addition of tank units that could be quickly unloaded and sent to battle, as well as heavy AAA defenses, and effective "artillery" from the train itself, assaulting one of these vehicles became VERY difficult.  That's not to say it was impossible, as the Soviets did manage to knock out several of the BP 42, and their upgraded BP 44 variants, but it was a costly endeavor to say the least.  Made worse by the fact that the train could simply leave if the fighting became too heated.

 

Interestingly enough, the BP42's, though their artillery (anti tank really) wagons were well built, the Germans quickly realized that their firepower wasn't always up to the task of dealing with soviet tanks.  So, in what must be the most curious decision in the war German high command set about rearming the trains.  Not with german weapons, but instead guns from captured soviet T34's!  In fact, as the war progressed, Turrets from Tigers and Panzer IV's found their way into use in the armored trains. More often than not being placed on a low, special modified flat car with armor plating around it.  

 

Interestingly enough, the German armored trains proved to be quite the headache for the Soviets. To the point that the German High Command saw fit to build more. Though, with the shortages of materials as the war dragged on, the grander trains like the BP42 and 44 variants gave way to lighter, smaller versions.  One of these was the curious "Panzerzug" 201.

 

The Panzerzug 201 variant consisted of several small self propelled units, which could operate independently of each other, or together in a train.  Many of these were armed with obsolete Panzer IV ausf. C turrets, producing vehicles that looked like this:

 

http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47b7d702b3127ccec27a2dfec96700000020O08AatWLJm2auQe3nw4/cC/f%3D0/ps%3D50/r%3D0/rx%3D550/ry%3D400/

 

The smaller panzerzug 201's actually proved quite effective as scout and patrol vehicles, and often went into primary service around key bridgeheads. These units would allow troops to quickly patrol a rail area, while at the same time, respond to any attack should one arise.

The last armored train Designs developed by the Germans, were the MBV type (which later ended up captured by the soviets), and a curious one off articulated unit. (The one articulated armored train is currently in a museum in Poland I believe.)

 

Now the Soviets had armored trains as well, though they didn't work as well as the German ones.  The main problem the soviets had, beyond material and manpower, was trackage.  You see, the German trains all operated on a "standard" gauge of 4'8.5". However soviet trains rain on a "broad" gauge of 5 feet.  So it was impossible (and still is I might add) for a soviet train to run on German track, without either a.) having their wheelsets swapped out, or b.) regauging everything to fit. In a somewhat curious choice of action, the Soviet army actually spent time changing the gauge, rather than changing their trains gauges. As such, Soviet armored trains saw little use outside of the Soviet Union.

 

Believe it or not, both the Germans and Soviets had armored trains present at the battle of Kursk. For the Germans they were more in a support role, to help guard one flank. The soviets however used theirs as mobile artillery batteries, with some limited success.  Limited as in they did fire, but it's not known if they actually hit anything.  

 

Design wise, the soviet armored trains tended, at least in the early days, to be cobbled together. In fact, there's one report of an armored train consisting of a soviet army truck on blocks, with a chain to drive the axle of a short flatcar, and a single towed anti tank gun on the front of the car.  Redneck engineering at its best.  Over time, however, as they began capturing or destroying German armored trains, the soviets were quick to realize the tactical advantage these mobile fortresses had, and designed their own. (Sadly, no photos or data on the types. Sorry.)  Where they didn't design their own, they would often take captured German units and convert them to  their own uses. In the case of the MBV types, which Germany built several of, the Panzer IV turrets were removed, and replaced with T34 turrets.  In other cases, they went so far as to replace an armored train's turret, with one from a KV2! 

 

 

http://albumwar2.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/39417.jpg

 

However, for reasons that remain unknown the Soviets didn't include AAA defense for the train, leaving it to be knocked out by a bomb through the tracks. (Sources aren't sure, but this may have been one of the Kursk trains.)

 

By war's end, Armored trains in Germany were quickly being rendered unusable. Most were simply bombed into submission, while some were trapped between destroyed bridges. A few did continue fighting, though they weren't able to sustain the fight very long, running out of ammunition and fuel and surrendering.

 

After the war, the Soviet army continued to use armored trains rather extensively until the mid 1950's, taking many of the German armored trains and using them to "protect" areas of territory that the soviets had recently captured. Once all territory was consolidated, most of the armored trains were scrapped where they sat, with a few of them being sent to museums.

 

With the end of the last great World War, and the advent of ICBM, and cruise missles; as well as long range bombers, and bunker busting munitions, the useful life of the armored train vanished.  There are still a few bouncing around, with China having between five and six special armored trains (reports are unclear), and some nations in Africa using rebuilt trucks and military vehicles as cobbled together armored trains.  Beyond those however, the rest of the world has moved away from this curious bit of history. Leaving us with pictures and sometimes wondering how effective something could have been, if  it were always tied to a set path.

Edited June 2, 2014 by _Katyusha_

[SirDandyCatfish 934]

Good Read. +1

[Francine_Stigler 294]

Awesome, and nice research! :good: 

 

Now I want to see a mission with one of these in game.

[Wenin 2,654]

Very nice read, thanks =)

[_Katyusha_ 1,829]

Awesome, and nice research! :good:

 

Now I want to see a mission with one of these in game.

 

 

I agree that they would make for a very interesting mission. Both Ground and Aerial forces dealing with them could prove interesting.  From an aerial point of view, I could see a historical type mission where players on one team, say the Soviets, are tasked with either destroying key bridges, or the train itself; while German units must defend it.  From a ground point of view, I could see a soviet assault aimed at caputuring or destroying key points; preventing a train from progressing.  

[_Katyusha_ 1,829]

Minor edit on my part to replace a missing image.

 

Edit: 

 

I write for a living. (I've actually written a historical fiction novel, and can send you a copy if you ask) If you have any curiosities or strange vehicles of World War Two you would like an article on, send me a message. My next article is already planned to cover the subject of the curious "Mistel" bomber of World War Two.

Edited June 2, 2014 by _Katyusha_

[Chedo 1]

The read is very nice, but as for Soviet part, it is not accurate at all. Soviets had their own very specific history of armored trains and we can definitively say that armored  trains reached pick of their popularity and legendary status during Russian civil war (November 1917—October 1922). This is why there were still very popular and more than 300 Armored trains used during the WWII. During WWII Soviet Armored Trains had no need to copy anything from Germans, we can speculate that it was other way round. Before of WWII Soviets had standard designs and classifications for armored trains so they entered war with quite impressive number of armored trains.  Of course during the war many new trains and designs were quickly put together, there were many that were improvised for specific purposes  etc. However there ware also proper new standardized designs like for example OB-3 http://wio.ru/rr/ob3.htm and BP-43 http://wio.ru/rr/bp43.htm armored trains. There was huge amount of very interesting armored Railcars too http://wio.ru/rr/ww2bdr.htm.

 

Also as for AA capabilities of Soviet armored trains should not be understated, each locomotive had DShk or Quad Maxim AAA mount on tenders and there were specially designed AAA platforms like the ones on the below pictures:

 

37mm 61-k guns

 

 

AAA Platform "SPU-BP" with Quad Maxim mount

 

 

AAA platform PVO 4 with DshK machine-guns.

 

[extestpilot 1]

+1  nice read