List of armoured trains

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This is a list of armoured trains of different countries.

Contents

Canada

During World War II, the Canadian high command implemented this armoured train for protection of the Canadian National Railway line between Prince Rupert, an important naval port for the Aleutian Island campaign, and Terrace, from potential attack by Japanese aircraft, submarines/gunboats, and infantry. The train eventually was composed of a gondola with a WWI-era 75mm gun and searchlight, a gondola with two 40mm Bofors anti-aircraft guns, a troop boxcar, a kitchen car, and a steam locomotive, with all the cars outfitted with armour. A diesel engine was also experimentally outfitted with armoured plate but by the time it was finished, the train had been taken out of service as the Japanese threat was no longer an issue. [1]

Croatia

Croatian Army possesses one armoured train which mounted French Hotchkiss H38 turrets.

Cuba

Battle of Santa Clara (1958)

Estonia

Estonian War of Independence (1918-1920)

Broad-gauge:

Narrow-gauge:

Finland

1918

A handful of armored trains were in use by both parties during Finnish Civil War (1918), including trains supplied to the Reds by the Russian Bolshevik government.

1939-1940, 1941-1944

Finnish Army employed two armored trains in limited use even during the Winter War and Continuation War (WWII), at the later stages mainly for AA support. One train composed of surviving cars of Civil War and WWII vintage is now an exhibit at Parola Tank Museum. Armored train at Parola Tank Museum

France

First Indochina War (1946-1954)

(Nazi) Germany

Asien - a VIP trainset used by Hermann Goering had two cars armed with two sets of Oerlikon anti-aircraft cannons. [2]

Schwerer gustav - a massive 1,350 ton artillery train. it had 80 cm 7,100 kg with 250 kg explosive filling (concrete piercing); or 4,800 kg with 700 kg explosive filling (high explosive.) it served in the war in France in 1941. it was destroyed before capture on D-day.

Hungary

1939-1945

101. sz. páncélvonat - high train:[ citation needed ]

102. sz. páncélvonat - flat train:[ citation needed ]

103. sz. páncélvonat - high train:[ citation needed ]

104. sz. páncélvonat - self-propelled, motor-driven train ( 1 x 36M 20mm AP gun, 1 x 22M 8 cm field gun, 2 x 31M 8mm machine gun)

"Éva" - improvised armoured train, later renamed to "Botond" [1]

Indonesia

The debut of the Panser Rel V16 (English: Rail Panzer V16) was during the DI/TII conflict in West Java in the period 1955 – 1962, designed and produced by Bengkel Peralatan Angkatan Darat (English: Army Equipment Workshop) now Pindad. This Rail Panzer was used to escort the train from Ciawi to Cicalengka (PP) which was often disturbed and overthrown by DI/TII Troops. Panser Rel V16 is capable of traveling at a maximum speed of 80 km per hour. [4]

Iraq

During the Anglo-Iraqi War the British reported capturing an Iraqi armoured train near Basra in May 1941.

Japan (for use in Manchukuo)

Armoured vehicles and auxiliary support vehicles

Railway Heavy Cannon

Armoured trains

Type 94 Armoured Train was built in 1934 and was deployed in Manchuria. It first operated with 8 cars and later an additional car was added. For armament, it had two Type 14 10 cm AA guns and two Type 88 75 mm AA guns. [5]

Special Armoured Train

An armoured train built in 1933 was designated "Rinji Soko Ressha" (Special Armored Train). It had 12 cars and armament consisting of one Type 14 10 cm AA gun, one Type 4 15 cm howitzer and two Type 11 AA guns. It was deployed in Manchuria with the 2nd Armored Train Unit. [6]

Others types of Japanese Armoured trains

In the 1920s, the Japanese built some improvised armoured trains converted from regular passenger trains. They were used to guard the railways in Manchuria. [7]

Lithuania

Armuored trains:

North Korea

Poland

Before regaining independence in 1918

Battle of Lwów (1918)

Polish-Soviet War

Names of fifty trains have been confirmed, but it is hard to be sure the exact number that remain to be found. Near the end of the war, on December 1, 1920, twenty-six trains formed the part of the armoured train Polish forces:

Other:

Lost in 1920:

In mid-1921, twelve trains were disbanded, and others were standardized. The twelve were retained and formed six divisions (dywizjon), which were attached to three regiments (pułks) of train sappers:

In 1924 those divisions were disbanded, and their equipment deposited in mobilisation reserve stores. For training purposes a training division was created (attached to the 2nd Regiment of Train Sappers in Jabłonno). This division retained two trains:

In January 1925 this division was renamed 'Armoured Train Training Division'.

Third Silesian Uprising (1921)

June 1921: 1 dywizjon

2 dywizjon

3 dywizjon

4 dywizjon

5 dywizjon

6 dywizjon

7 dywizjon

8 dywizjon

Other:

September 1939

Polish armoured trains in United Kingdom (1940-1943)

Armoured trains of Railway Defence Service (Służba Ochrony Kolei, SOK) after 1945

Retired from service after 1950.

Train artillery

Surviving units

Republika Srpska Krajina

The Serb army of Krajina used an armoured train with M-18 and a AA cannon M-55 20/3mm

Russia

Slovakia

Soviet Union

United Kingdom

World War II

13 armoured trains were formed in June 1940 for coastal defence. They were typically formed by a small locomotive between two armoured wagons, usually small steel coal wagons with extra armour, and other wagons carrying ammunition. Each armoured wagon carried a mounted QF 6 pounder Hotchkiss gun and a Vickers machine gun or Lewis Gun. The infantry section on each wagon was also armed with a variety of small arms including Bren light machine guns, Thompson submachine guns and Lee–Enfield rifles. With the threat of invasion over, armoured trains were disbanded in November 1944. [15]

The trains were initially operated by Royal Engineers crews and armoured wagons were manned by Royal Armoured Corps troops. From late 1940 until 1942 they were operated by railway company crews and armoured wagons were manned by troops of the Polish Armed Forces in the West. [15] From 1942 they were operated by Home Guard units, composed of employees of the railway companies, until they were disbanded in November 1944.

Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch armoured train, October 1940 Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch armoured train.jpg
Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch armoured train, October 1940

The narrow gauge Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway also had a miniature armoured train. Due to its small size it could not carry Hotchkiss guns and instead carried two Boys anti-tank rifles and four Lewis guns. It was manned by the 6th Battalion, Somerset Light Infantry and credited with shooting down a Messerschmitt Bf 109, a Heinkel He 111 and a Dornier Do 17. [15]

Royal Train

Armoured saloons were constructed by the London, Midland and Scottish Railway for King George VI and his wife Queen Elizabeth in 1941.

Battle of Malaya

In Malaya in 1942, an armoured train was part of Operation Krohcol, the British advance into Siam to resist the Japanese attack.

United States

At least one armored diesel locomotive was built by Alco as #10001 for use during the First World War. However, with the Armistice 14 days away when it was ready, it never left the country.

While not a train intended for fighting, between 1957 and 1987 the United States Department of Energy operated the armored "White Train" carrying nuclear warheads between the Pantex Plant near Amarillo, Texas and various nuclear weapons storage facilities and US Navy submarine bases in the United States. The train consisted of flat cars with armored covers built by Thrall Car Manufacturing Company in 1957 and 1960, armored guard escort cars rebuilt from US Army hospital train kitchen cars that had been built by the St. Louis Car Company in 1953, plus power, support and buffer cars. Locomotives were supplied by the carrying railroad, commonly the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe or Burlington Northern. The armored escort cars had elevated observation cupolas with gun ports and carried armed security couriers from the Office of Secure Transportation. Each train was assigned two or three armored escort cars. The train's cars were initially painted white, but individual cars were subsequently repainted into different colors to make them less conspicuous and frustrate anti-war demonstrators, who began tracking the train in order to blockade its progress, however it continued to be known as the White Train. The train was withdrawn from service in 1987, replaced by highway vehicles and newer rail cars that could be marshalled into any freight train. Some of the White Train cars are preserved at the Amarillo Railroad Museum, [16] while a few others are preserved at the Pantex Plant.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bogie</span> Chassis for wheels and suspension under vehicles

A bogie is a chassis or framework that carries a wheelset, attached to a vehicle—a modular subassembly of wheels and axles. Bogies take various forms in various modes of transport. A bogie may remain normally attached or be quickly detachable. It may include a suspension component within it, or be solid and in turn be suspended ; it may be mounted on a swivel, as traditionally on a railway carriage or locomotive, additionally jointed and sprung, or held in place by other means.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Railroad car</span> Vehicle used for carrying cargo or passengers on rail transport system

railroad car, railcar, railway wagon, railway carriage, railway truck, railwagon, railcarriage or railtruck, also called a train car, train wagon, train carriage or train truck, is a vehicle used for the carrying of cargo or passengers on a rail transport network. Such cars, when coupled together and hauled by one or more locomotives, form a train. Alternatively, some passenger cars are self-propelled in which case they may be either single railcars or make up multiple units.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Armoured train</span> Military railway train

An armoured train or armored train is a railway train protected with heavy metal plating and which often includes railway wagons armed with artillery, machine guns, and autocannons. Some also had slits used to fire small arms from the inside of the train, especially in earlier armoured trains. For the most part, they were used during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when they offered an innovative way to quickly move large amounts of firepower into a new location. Most countries discontinued their use – road vehicles became much more powerful and offered more flexibility, train tracks proved too vulnerable to sabotage and attacks from the air, and air transportation was an even more flexible way to relocate firepower to a new location. However, there were occasional uses in the late 20th century and early 21st century Russian Federation used improvised armoured trains in the Second Chechen War (1999–2009) and the Russian invasion of Ukraine (2022–present).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Transporter wagon</span>

A transporter wagon, in railway terminology, is a wagon (UIC) or railroad car (US) designed to carry other railway equipment. Normally, it is used to transport equipment of a different rail gauge. In most cases, a transporter wagon is a narrower gauge wagon for transporting a wider gauge equipment, allowing freight in a wider gauge wagons to reach destinations on the narrower gauge network without the expense and time of transshipment into a narrower gauge wagons.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Railway gun</span> Form of large artillery

A railway gun, also called a railroad gun, is a large artillery piece, often surplus naval artillery, mounted on, transported by, and fired from a specially designed railway wagon. Many countries have built railway guns, but the best-known are the large Krupp-built pieces used by Germany in World War I and World War II. Smaller guns were often part of an armoured train. Only able to be moved where there were good tracks, which could be destroyed by artillery bombardment or airstrike, railway guns were phased out after World War II.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2 cm Flak 30, Flak 38 and Flakvierling 38</span> Family of Light Anti-aircraft guns

The Flak 30 and improved Flak 38 were 20 mm anti-aircraft guns used by various German forces throughout World War II. It was not only the primary German light anti-aircraft gun but by far the most numerously produced German artillery piece throughout the war. It was produced in a variety of models, notably the Flakvierling 38 which combined four Flak 38 autocannons onto a single carriage.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bogie exchange</span> System for operating railway wagons on two or more gauges

Bogie exchange is a system for operating railway wagons on two or more gauges to overcome difference in the track gauge. To perform a bogie exchange, a car is converted from one gauge to another by removing the bogies or trucks, and installing a new bogie with differently spaced wheels. It is generally limited to wagons and carriages, though the bogies on diesel locomotives can be exchanged if enough time is available.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Krauss-Maffei ML 4000</span>

The Krauss-Maffei ML 4000 is a road switcher diesel-hydraulic locomotive, built between 1961 and 1969 by German manufacturer Krauss-Maffei in Munich, Germany. It generated 3,540 horsepower (2,640 kW) from two Maybach V16 engines. 37 examples were built for two North American railroads and one South American railroad.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anoa (armoured personnel carrier)</span> Armoured personnel carrier

The Anoa is a 6x6 armoured personnel carrier developed by PT Pindad of Indonesia. The vehicle is named after the Anoa, which is a type of buffalo indigenous to Indonesia. The prototype was first unveiled at the 61st anniversary of TNI on October 5, 2006, in TNI HQ at Cilangkap, east of capital Jakarta.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Piłsudczyk (armoured train)</span>

Piłsudczyk was a Polish armoured train of the early 20th century. It was among the first armoured trains serving the Polish Army and took part in the Polish-Ukrainian War of 1918-1919, the subsequent Polish-Soviet War and the Silesian Uprisings. Kept in reserve during the inter-war years, it was mobilised again in 1939 to be used during the Nazi-Soviet Invasion of Poland. "Piłsudczyk" was destroyed by its crew on 20 September 1939 at the train station at Mrozy.

Armored trains of Poland mostly date to the World War I period. Many of them were modernized over the next two decades, and took part in most military conflicts of the Second Polish Republic, namely the Greater Poland Uprising, the Polish-Ukrainian War, the Polish-Bolshevik War, the Silesian Uprisings and the Polish September Campaign in World War II. Armored trains were also used by the Polish Armed Forces in the West as well as in the post-war period by the Polish Railroad Guards and the People's Army of Poland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sumida M.2593</span> Weapon

The Sumida M.2593 was an armoured car produced by the Empire of Japan in the 1930s. It could operate on both the roadway and railway lines. There were two main versions of the Sumida M.2593 made. The Type 91 armoured railroad car was used by the army and the Sumida Model P armored car was used by the Special Naval Landing Forces (SNLF) of the navy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Krajina Express</span> Armored train

The Krajina Express was an improvised armored train used by the Krajina Serb army during the Croatian War of Independence and the Bosnian War, from 1991 to 1995.

The Russian armoured train Yenisei is an armoured train currently in use by the Russia in their ongoing invasion of Ukraine in 2022. According to Ukrainian sources, Yenisei was constructed out of parts stolen from Ukrainian Railways in the Kharkiv region.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Armored Train Regiment (Estonia)</span> Former military unit of Estonia

The Armored Train Regiment was an armored regiment of the Estonian Defense Forces from 1934–1941. In 1939, the strength of the regiment was 544 men. The symbol of the regiment was a skull with wings on train wheels, symbolizing how armored trains fought in the Estonian Independence War. The symbol was nicknamed "Flying death on the railway".

The Russian armoured train Volga is an armoured train currently in use by Russia in its ongoing invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Unlike its sister train Yenisei, which is built primarily for logistics and refugee ferrying, Volga is primarily used for engineering, reconnaissance, mine clearance, restoration of damaged railway tracks, and escorting cargo within the Ukrainian combat zones.

The Russian armoured train Amur is an armoured train currently in use by Russia in its ongoing invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Unlike the trains, Yenisei and Volga, Amur was already built long before the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Both Amur and its sister train, Baikal was reactivated back in 2016, originally for rear-line logistical purposes.

The Russian armoured train Baikal is an armoured train currently in use by Russia in its ongoing invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Unlike the trains, Yenisei and Volga, Baikal was already built long before the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Both Baikal and its sister train, Amur was reactivated back in 2016, originally for rear-line logistical purposes.

References

  1. Lucy, Roger V. The Armoured Train in Canadian Service. Service Publications, 2005.
  2. "Larger Than Life: The Infamous Hermann Göring". June 2016.
  3. Nagy Pál visszaemlékezései
  4. "Pindad Panser Rel V16: Ranpur Lapis Baja Pengawal Kereta Api". 6 February 2017.
  5. Taki's Imperial Japanese Army page: Type 94 Armored Train
  6. Taki's Imperial Japanese Army page: Special Armored Train
  7. Taki's Imperial Japanese Army page: Improvised Armored Train
  8. "Šarvuotieji traukiniai" (PDF). Ministry of Defense (in Lithuanian).
  9. Armoured trains of Lithuanian Army (2018-12-19). "Lietuvos kariuomenės šarvuotieji traukiniai 1920–1935 m." Vytauto Didžiojo karo muziejus (in Lithuanian). Retrieved 2021-03-04.
  10. Simpson, James (17 July 2015). "War Is Boring: A Remarkable Armored Train Fought Its Way Across Eurasia". medium.com. A Medium Corporation. Retrieved 12 December 2019. Fighting not only Russian Bolsheviks but foreign volunteers in Simbirsk, the Legion captured Zaamurets and renamed it Orlík, a.k.a. "Young Eagle." The Czechoslovakians gave the train a refit, replacing the Nordenfelt guns with three-inch Model 1902 Putilov field guns, for which they had more ammunition.
  11. "Russia has released video of an armoured train moving through Ukraine".
  12. 1 2 3 https://www.railtarget.eu/freight/video-russia-sent-an-armoured-train-into-battle-2010.html
  13. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_DhiMhVKSQ
  14. https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/weapons/a39386078/russian-armored-train-in-ukraine/
  15. 1 2 3 G. Balfour (1981). The armoured train: its development and usage. Batsford. ISBN   0-7134-2547-4.
  16. "White Train". Amarillo Railroad Museum. Archived from the original on 2012-06-22. Retrieved 2022-09-07.