Czechoslovakian Armored Train in Siberia, 1918.Russian Depiction of air assault from the Luftwaffe
Russian.
Union Railway Battery to protect workers, 1861.
British Railway transporting British troops in Egypt, with a Hardenfeldt machine gun, 1882.
Russian Zaamurets with 57 mm cannons during WW1
Russian Zaamurets.
Russian MBV-2, Antiaircraft, WW2
Russian MBV-2, 1942
Russian MBV-2 Tank Killer Version.
Russian, MBV-2, Howitzers Version
German captured MBV-2
Polish Book of Russian Armored Trains from 1930s to WW2
Russian BP35, 1942
Russian Railgun TM-3-12Russian TM-3-12TM-3-12 on display outside Moscow.TM-3-12a, displayed outside St. Petersburg.Russian Anti-aircraft and a TM-3-12Russian Zheleznyakov, used to defend Sevastopol in WW2, lettering states ” Death to Fascism.”
Polish Armored Trains after German invasion.
Polish Drasines, used to escort trains.
Captured from Germans, Panzertriebwagon, used by Polish forces in 1942.
German Railgun and a BP42
BP42 Command Car and Rail Cruisers.
Slovakian Resistance Hurban Trains, 1942.
10 thoughts on “Old Train Thursday… Armored Trains”
Very cool
I should dig up my photos of The Armored Ammo Train in Bosnia. Got a cute one of my LT sticking his head out the exit hole from a tank round.
I wonder how these armored trains dealt with the weakest link, the tracks over open country? Seems like the enemy or partisans or spies could render these expensive lumbering giants useless by destroying a bridge or a few rails from the track.
They were meant to protect against infantry or horse-cavalry on rail lines near the front line. To protect supply lines.
Nothing could be done against partisans and other saboteurs, but besides the heavy trains there were also lots of armored cars running on the rails in between the heavy armored trains.
Sometimes something as simple as an up-armored truck with a machine gun and some rifle-armed troops was enough to keep the rails mostly clear.
Of course, the American Way during WWI and WWII was to shoot with artillery or aircraft anything that moved via rail. Armored or not, Death from the Sky was the way to do it.
Think of choke points, like in the Crimea today. Hit the bridge, keep hitting the bridge with artillery and air strikes (and the occasional vehicle-borne explosives) and water strikes and all the defenses the enemy has won’t stop the bridge from getting damaged or destroyed.
Badass shit right thar.
Nice set!
I’d love to see the inside of some of those.
Great set of photos, Cederq. Your source for the illustration of British troops misspelled Nordenfeldt. Gun Jesus has a video on them, 3 or 5- barrel units a not-uncommon addition to Gatling guns as part of light artillery units among Commonwealth forces until replaced by Maxim or Hotchkiss guns near the turn of the last century.
Third pic from the end, on left, that was one of two Krupp Meter-Bore Railway Guns from WWII. That pic I’ve not seen before, it is in the Krupp Yard, and the Gun does not have the (longer) 850-MM Barrel Sleeve installed. They were designed to Crush any Fortification in the Maginot Line, but ended up captured (and then Scrapped) by the Russians. They ran on a Double-Track Line, but were Modular and could be dis-assembled and run on a Single-Track Line. Left and Right Frames, and another Car for the Gun itself.
That MBV-2 looks like a small submarine!
What? No US armored trains from the American Civil War to fight Northern aggression and Southern Separatism? No American rail-mounted Naval batteries?
Very cool
I should dig up my photos of The Armored Ammo Train in Bosnia. Got a cute one of my LT sticking his head out the exit hole from a tank round.
I wonder how these armored trains dealt with the weakest link, the tracks over open country? Seems like the enemy or partisans or spies could render these expensive lumbering giants useless by destroying a bridge or a few rails from the track.
They were meant to protect against infantry or horse-cavalry on rail lines near the front line. To protect supply lines.
Nothing could be done against partisans and other saboteurs, but besides the heavy trains there were also lots of armored cars running on the rails in between the heavy armored trains.
Sometimes something as simple as an up-armored truck with a machine gun and some rifle-armed troops was enough to keep the rails mostly clear.
Of course, the American Way during WWI and WWII was to shoot with artillery or aircraft anything that moved via rail. Armored or not, Death from the Sky was the way to do it.
Think of choke points, like in the Crimea today. Hit the bridge, keep hitting the bridge with artillery and air strikes (and the occasional vehicle-borne explosives) and water strikes and all the defenses the enemy has won’t stop the bridge from getting damaged or destroyed.
Badass shit right thar.
Nice set!
I’d love to see the inside of some of those.
Great set of photos, Cederq. Your source for the illustration of British troops misspelled Nordenfeldt. Gun Jesus has a video on them, 3 or 5- barrel units a not-uncommon addition to Gatling guns as part of light artillery units among Commonwealth forces until replaced by Maxim or Hotchkiss guns near the turn of the last century.
Third pic from the end, on left, that was one of two Krupp Meter-Bore Railway Guns from WWII. That pic I’ve not seen before, it is in the Krupp Yard, and the Gun does not have the (longer) 850-MM Barrel Sleeve installed. They were designed to Crush any Fortification in the Maginot Line, but ended up captured (and then Scrapped) by the Russians. They ran on a Double-Track Line, but were Modular and could be dis-assembled and run on a Single-Track Line. Left and Right Frames, and another Car for the Gun itself.
That MBV-2 looks like a small submarine!
What? No US armored trains from the American Civil War to fight Northern aggression and Southern Separatism? No American rail-mounted Naval batteries?