The Great Train Robbery

Victorious German infantry sit astride a captured Soviet armoured train artillery car

The Great Train Robbery:
Former Polish Armoured Trains in German Service
by Wayne Turner

Though armoured trains had been prominent during the post World War I period, by the 1920s the Germans had
stopped using their last armoured trains with the disbanding of the free corps operating in the former Russian Empire.

However, both the Soviets and Polish continued to develop and use armoured trains. The Germans began once again to consider armoured trains at the end of the 1920s with the introduction of ‘track-guarding trains’ for internal use during civil unrest. These trains were simply lightly armoured locomotives with armoured box cars and in no way a match for the heavily armoured and powerfully armed trains of the Poles and Soviets.
Above left: Victorious German infantry sit astride a captured Soviet armoured train artillery car.
Below: The crew of German Armoured Train No. 21 stand before an artillery car, assault car and locomotive.

The crew of German Armoured Train No. 21 stand before an artillery car, assault car and locomotive
The Germans had good reason to not consider armoured trains as essential. The German military leadership thought armoured trains were made obsolete by the development of air power and tanks. It wasn’t until 1939 that they reconsidered their position.

The Germans set up seven armoured trains, but because of the short time available, they could only assemble improvised designs. These early trains used the armoured locomotives from the ‘track-guarding trains’ and used captured Czech cars. The 7.5cm guns were in casements, rather than the turrets of the Poles and Soviets, and had only limited traverse. However, six of these seven trains remained in service until 1944, though with regular modification and improvement over the years.

Below: In Flames Of War the new German Tank-hunter car can be combined with Battlefront’s Polish Armoured train to field a Captured Armoured Train from Grey Wolf. 
In Flames Of War the new German Tank-hunter car can be combined with Battlefront’s Polish Armoured train to field a Captured Armoured Train from Grey Wolf
The Polish Trains
With the defeat of Poland in 1939 the Germans were able to capture a number of superior designed Polish armoured trains. The Germans were quick to realise the potential of the Polish design and salvaged the best of them and pressed them back into service. They captured Polish trains ‘Grozny’, ‘Pilsudczyk’, and ‘Danuta’ and assembled Armoured Trains No. 21 and No. 22 from them.

Armoured Train 21 (in German—Eisenbahn Panzerzug 21) was made from the captured train ‘Grozny’, with one
artillery car from ‘Pilsudczyk’ and the infantry car from ‘Danuta’ with a mix of 10cm and 7.5cm guns. Armoured Train No. 21 initially served in occupied France in 1941, but it was sent to the Eastern Front in November 1942 and served with the Ninth and Second Armies.

Below: Armoured Train Panzergrenadiers jump out of of a former Polish Assault Car.
Armoured Train Panzergrenadiers jump out of of a former Polish Assault Car
During the German Kursk offensive in 1943, Armoured Train No. 21 was engaged in several artillery and infantry actions on the rail line between Basy and Kharkov on the southern flank of the Kursk Salient in early August. It was eventually forced to fight its way through Red Army forces near Boromlya, just south of Basy. It fought as a rear guard, destroying rail line as it withdrew, before retiring to the rear on 11 August.

At the beginning of 1944 Armoured Train No. 21 was stationed with Army Group Centre. They were engaged in
anti-partisan duties, as such activity had increased dramatically before the Soviet Bagration offensive. During May to June they operated along the Minsk/Orshaline. In late June Armoured Train No. 21 provided protection for the headquarters of Army Group Centre. In early July 1944 the train was engaged in defensive fighting near Molodechno, north of Minsk. On 8 July the train’s locomotive was knocked out by Soviet tanks in an attempt to break through to Vilna, Lithuania, but the rest of the train was recovered, towed by a unarmoured loco back to Kovno. By August Armoured Train No. 21 was withdrawn to Tilsit to reconnoitre lines towards Vidukle, Lithuania, but soon discovered the bridge blown.

Below: Armoured Trains No. 11 and No. 21 Operations in 1944.
Armoured Trains No. 11 and No. 21 Operations in 1944
On 16 August 1944 Armoured Train No. 21 supported the 12. Panzerdivision attack on Autz (Auce), Latvia. The town was taken on 24 August and the train stayed in the area afterwards.

In early October the Soviets were on the advance again and Armoured Train No. 21 was moved to Moscheiken (Mažeikiai), Lithuania where it tried to reopen the line to Weinoden linking with Army Group North. However, the attempt was halted near Venta, Lithuania when the bridge over the Windau River was destroyed. The crew fought on foot to defend the city of Moscheiken (Mažeikiai), but they were eventually forced to withdraw on foot and could only destroy part of the train on 30 October 1944.

In Flames Of War the new German Tank-hunter car can be combined with Battlefront’s Polish Armoured train to field a Captured Armoured Train from Grey Wolf
Armoured Train 22 was made from cars from the Polish trains ‘Pilsudczyk’ and Grozny’ and was only armed with 7.5cm guns. Armoured Train No. 22 spent up until late 1944 in France when Allied air power rendered its operations impossible and it was moved to the Eastern Front. In November 1944 Armoured Train No. 22 arrived in Slovakia. It remained in Slovakia and was engaged in the fighting as the Soviets pushed into Slovakia in December. At the start of 1945 it had joined Army Group Centre and was moved to Silesia where it fired on Soviet bridgeheads over the Oder River. On 11 February it was attacked by Soviet tanks while covering the retreat of a refugee train from Sprottau and severely damaged. It was probably disbanded on 27 February.

During 1944 these trains also received some cars from the German built BP44 trains in the way of Panzer IV H turret tank-hunter cars.
Below: A freshly painted former Polish artillery car.
A freshly painted former Polish artillery car
Other Trains using Polish Cars
The components of German Armoured Trains 10 and 11 had a long a varied history, serving with the Soviets, then Russian White (anti-communist) forces, before being captured by the Poles. The train ‘Imeni Shaumyana i Dzhaparidze’ was built in 1919 by the Soviets and used on the southern front during the Russianm Civil War. It was captured by White Russian forces and renamed ‘Dobrovolets’ (the Volunteer). It was recaptured by the Soviets who renamed it again after communist leaders from Baku.

Below: Seen here are an assault and artillery car from Armoured Train No. 11. Though the design is a Soviet type, it is armed with the same weapons as the Polish built artillery cars from Armoured Trains Nos. 21 and 22.
In Flames Of War the new German Tank-hunter car can be combined with Battlefront’s Polish Armoured train to field a Captured Armoured Train from Grey Wolf
During the Soviet-Polish war of 1920 the train was used against Poland. During the Polish Kiev Offensive, on 28 April 1920 near village Kotyuzhyntse, after being shot with artillery, the train was abandoned and captured by the Polish troops. After repairs, it was manned by the Polish crew and entered service as ‘Strzelec Kresowy’.

By 1939 the Train had been designated No. 51 and had undergone some rearmament with Polish weapons. On 22 September 1939, after three weeks of combat, it was abandoned by the crew near Kovel after being damaged by Soviet Aircraft. The Soviets repaired the train and converted it to broad gauge (1524 mm), and put it into the Soviet service as an armoured train of the 77th NKVD Regiment from the 10th NKVD Division, known as the Armoured Train No. 77.

Below: The two artillery cars from Armoured Train No. 11 in the winter of 1942/43.
In Flames Of War the new German Tank-hunter car can be combined with Battlefront’s Polish Armoured train to field a Captured Armoured Train from Grey Wolf
Armoured Train No. 77 was captured by German units on 7 July 1941 in Kopychyntsi, south of Tarnopol. After repairs in Germany, the train was put into German service in December 1941. It was initially combined with another, former Polish, captured Soviet train to form Armoured Train No. 10 (Eisenbahn Panzerzug 10). Although the new train was treated as one unit, it consisted of two independent parts, 10a and 10b.

The trains had been refitted by the Soviets to be used on Soviet broad-gauge lines. They used a mix of captured Polish and Soviet rolling stock. Each train was armed with two Polish artillery cars. Armoured Train 10a had four 7.5cm FK(p) guns and Armoured Train 10b had two 7.5cm FK(p) guns and two 10cm FH(p) guns. They operated together as a unit on the eastern bank of the Dnepr River, near Kiev, but were split up in August 1943. 10a became Armoured Train 10, and 10b became Armoured Train 11. However, as the Soviets destroyed track in their retreat, the Germans just re-laid the replacement tracks in standard-gauge, leading to broad-gauge trains being converted back to standard-gauge.

Below: Crew rides on top of an artillery car from Armoured Train No. 11.
Crew rides on top of an artillery car from Armoured Train No. 11
Armoured Trains 10 and 11 were in Army Group South in 1944 engaged in fighting of early 1944. Armoured Train 10 was badly damaged on 21 March, but it wasn’t officially disbanded until June. Armoured Train 11 fought around Tarnopol during February and March 1944, unlike its sister train, it survived and was relieved on 18 March and it retired to the rear areas. After repairs it was next in combat on the line between Cholm and Lublin in July, but retired to Krakow for repairs in early August. It was eventually knocked out during fighting in Eastern Germany by Soviet tanks on 13 January 1945.

Armoured Train 23, while made up of ex-Czech cars also received some Polish cars and Russian two-turret artillery cars of a similar design to the Polish models. Armoured Train 23 was stationed in the Balkans in 1944, where it was engaged in anti-partisan duties to keep the lines open between Croatia, Albania and Greece.

You can field a former Polish Captured Armoured Train in Grey Wolf. An armoured train option can be taken in a number of forces as a support, usually as an alternative to fielding another form of artillery support. The captured Armoured Train has options for a variety of weapons and cars to represent the trains in various stages of armament. You can field up to two Light or Heavy Artillery Cars armed with 7.5cm or 10cm guns, an Assault Car with a Panzergrenadier Platoon, two Panzer 38(t) tanks and up to two Tankhunter cars armed with Panzer IV H turrets for anti-tank work. In Flames Of War the guns of the Artillery Cars count as two guns when firing bombardments, so a Captured Armoured Train has formidable firepower. You can also swap one of your gun turrets out and replace it with a 2cm FlaK(V) or 3.7 FlaK43 anti-aircraft gun.

Ex-Soviet Armoured Trains
I thought it also worth mentioning the trains that used components from captured Red Army armoured trains. Like the Poles, the Soviets also preferred heavily armed two-turret artillery cars. Initially these trains were used to form broad-gauge German trains, but as the Germans converted the lines they too were converted to standardgauge. Though visually different from the Polish designs (the turrets were usually fully cylindrical), they were armed in a similar manner and can be represented in Flames Of War by using the rules for the Captured Armoured Train in Grey Wolf.

Learn more about Grey Wolf here...

Grey Wolf
Armoured Trains 26-31 were equipped with one or two captured Soviet artillery cars from 1942. The captured Soviet artillery cars were armed with two 7.62cm FK295(r) (76mm ZIS-3) guns. Some were alternatively armed with 10.7cm guns. During 1944, some of these cars still in service received BP42 or BP44 German built artillery cars to bring the trains up to this standard. I’ll take a look at the BP42 and BP44 armoured trains in a future article.

~ Wayne.


Last Updated On Monday, March 26, 2012 by Blake at Battlefront