Armoured Train

[David]

Armoured trains were no novelty in 1914. They had been used since the late 19th century, in the American Civil War, the Franco-Prussian War, the Boer Wars, and in the early 20th century in the Russo-Japanese War. The advantage of armoured trains had already been made clear: they could be quickly moved across great distances, while at the same time carrying large quantities of supplies (including ammunition and materials for track repairs). Still, the conservative Austro-Hungarian Army had no Armoured Trains in their service at the outbreak of war.

However, the need for these train soon became obvious. Already in september of 1914 hauptmann Fritz Schober, commander of the 15th k.u.k. Eisenbahnkompanie, built an improvised armoured train in Galicia. He covered the engine with 8-12 mm thick boiler-plates, strenghtened the open waggons with rails and thin iron plates, and placed machine-guns in loop-holes. A hauptmann Kossowicz, commander of the 5th k.u.k. Eisenbahnkompanie made a second armoured train at the Munkacs-Stryj line. It consisted of two units, that could fight covering each other, equipped with two field guns. This train was used in combat in September-October, and proved so successful, that the Army HQ immediately ordered the of new Armoured Trains, but now following a standardized design.

The order to design and build there was given to MAVAG in Hungary (Magyar Állami Vas-, Acél- és Gépgyárak = Hungarian State Iron, Steel and Machine Works). The basis for these trains was engines of Type 377, armoured, plus two types of armoured waggons: 1. a so called Infanteriewagen and 2. a so called Kanonenwagen. The Infanteriewagen was equipped with five M.07 Schwarzlose MG’s (to use in four big slanted loopholes on the sides), holders for the cooling water plus rifle loopholes with armoured shutters. The Infanteriewagen had two floors: the ground floor with the MG’s, plus a (very low) top floor, for the riflemen. In addition to this most of these waggons had a special armoured observation cupola on the roof. The Kanonenwagen had a big turret with a 7cm gun, a smaller turret for one M.07 Schwarzlose MG (plus an armoured observation cupola), plus two big slanted loopholes on the rear sides for two more M.07 Schwarzlose’s. The wagons were also well equipped with big food supplies, sand in containers (to increase adhesion when the tracks were slippery), heating, toilets and snow plows. Later searchlights were added.

These three units – engine, infantry waggon and cannon waggon – were put together in different combinations, all depending to the needs and the circumstances. Heavy Trains consisted of five units: one Infantry Waggon in the middle, flanked on each side by an engine, and on both ends a Cannon Waggon. (Every armoured train also had a service train with a more powerful engine, which carried the ammunition and other goods for the armoured train. During long transports it pulled the whole combation, to increase speed and save the type 377 armoured engine. The 377 engine was used primarily in battles.) Light Trains for the most time consisted of one 377 engine flanked by two Infantry Waggon. Other combination also existed, like Panzerzüg IV, that added a Cannon Waggon at the front of this Light Train combination, etc. (Note however that Cannon Waggons could only be used on lines that lacked tunnels, which meant that they in practice was only used on the Russian Front.) In these new Armoured Trains the attached Eisenbahnkompanie only had responsibility for the maintainance and repair of the train and the tracks, while all the fighting was done by special Infantry detachments.

The first Armoured Train, Panzerzüg I, arrived at Maramarossziget at 5th december 1914, and was immediately used in combat. The others were put in service during 1915. These Armoured Trains were used on all fronts, all through the war. It didn’t escape criticism: the armament was thought to be too light, and the trains were seldom employed offensively, but made good service in covering retreats. All in all they could only be used in special tactical conditions: so one Armoured Train, no. VII, saw combat in just ten days during a period of seven months. (There were some re-designs made during the war, a new type of engine was introduced - the type 2001 - and also a new Cannon Wagon with engine was introduced, that could move by itself.)

When the war ended in 1918 there were nine Armoured Trains in k.u.k. service (the two improvised trains from 1914 had then been scrapped) of which five were in active service, and four were in storage. These were soon taken over by the new states that rised in the ashes of the Austro-Hungarian empire: no. II and no. VIII were captured by the Czechoslovaks, and used by them. No. V and no. III were given to the new Polish Army by the 2nd Army Division, and they were used by them. No’s IV, VI, VII and IX were taken over by Hungary, and in 1919 the Hungarian Army ordered six more trains from MAVAG. All these trains were often used in the small wars that followed in the years juat after the war: so was one of the Hungarian Armoured Trains destroyed in the fighting with Rumania and another destroyed in skirkishes with the Czechoslovak army. One Austro-Hungarian Armoured Train, no. XIII, was used by the Austrians in the fighting in Kärnten in 1919. One of these trains (probably of Czechoslovak origin) were taken over by the Wehrmacht, and used by them in the Balkans. The Hungarian Armoured Trains were again employed in the occupation of Slovakia in 1939, in the taking of Ruthenia in 1940, and in the attacks on Transsylvania, Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union in 1941. In 1944 all the four Hungarian Armoured Trains fought in Hungary, and the last recorded usage of one of these Armoured Trains was actually at the northern side of lake Balaton in 1945!