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Products mentioned in this Article
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Russian Armoured Train:
The Polish Armoured Train in Soviet Service
by Mark Hazell
I fell in love with the Polish Armoured Train as soon as I saw the great job Evan had done on it. While I don't play Poles (currently), I decided to do some research and see if any Polish trains were captured by either the Germans or the Russians (since these are the two armies I collect and play). As it turns out, I was in luck as one particular train had not only served in the Polish campaign but survived to be captured by the Russians. This same train was then was bombed by the Germans and captured and put into German service in December 1941.
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Background
On 22nd September 1939, the Polish armoured train Nr. 51 (former I Marszałek) was abandoned by the crew near Kovel (Poland), after three weeks of combat with Soviet units invading the Polish eastern territories. The train was captured and repaired and placed into Soviet Service as the Bepo (Bronyepoyezd, BP - Armoured Train) of the 77th NKVD Regiment from the 10th NKVD Division, otherwise known as the BP Nr. 77. It retained its Polish armament of four 75 mm guns wz.02/26 and a 7.92 mm machine guns wz.08 Maxim (up to nine in artillery wagon).
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As an interesting side note the train’s artillery wagons were actually
former Soviet wagons of a standard type built in Krasnoye Sormovo plant
in Nizhny Novgorod (Gorki) around 1919 during the Russian Civil War.
They were captured by the Poles in 1920 and used afterwards in the
Polish-Soviet war but by 1939 such wagons were completely extinct in the
Soviet military. Apparently the Soviets didn't use the train's assault
wagon, since a standard composition of the Soviet armoured trains
consisted of two artillery wagons only. |
I
only managed to find one black and white photo of BP Nr.77, apparently this
photo was taken just after it had been captured by the Germans. This photo seems to indicate that the only
cosmetic change the Russians had made was to remove the Assault Wagon and
repainting the three colour Camouflage in a single colour. (I think it’s safe to
assume that colour would be green).
Right: The reference photo of the train in Soviet service.
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Although I couldn’t find any evidence of Russian stars on either the engine or the artillery wagons I decided to add them in to add a little colour to the model.
Overall. I'm happy with how it turned out. ( Now all I have to do is convince Phil to write me some rules for Early-war Russians so I can use it in a game).
~ Mark.
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Last Updated On Monday, June 22, 2015
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