edgars Posted January 20, 2002 Share Posted January 20, 2002 I was studying the "Hand book of German military forces" (March 1945, downloaded from here) , and found a section on armored trains, which got me thinking... First, i'll quote the section: <blockquote>quote:</font><hr> CHAPTER VII: WEAPONS. Section IX: Other weapons. 2. Armoured Trains a. GENERAL. At the outset of the Polish and Dutch campaigns, German armored trains actually preceded the main forces and seized and held key railroad stations or brifhes. More recently the Germans maid exrensive use of armored trains, pariculary in Easter Europe. Their main function has been to patrol and keep open railroads in areas of partisan and guerrilla operations, and their usefulness has been confined largely to operations against enemies who lack heavy weapons. Armored trains are under the direct control of the General Staff and are alloted to army groups. Each train carries a train commandant, who is usually also the infantry commander; and artillery commander; and a techical officer, responsible for the operation of the train itself. b. COMPOSITION. The following details apply to a typical armored train with the nomenclature Epz.Bp.42: • Two armored gun tracks (37 to 41.5 tons), each carrying one 10cm F.H. (feld haubize?) • Two armored anti-aircraft gun trucks (37 to 41.5 tons), each carrying one 20-mm quad-Flak and one 7.62cm F.K. (feld kanone?) • Two armored infantry trucks, each carrying two 81-mm mortars, one heavy machine-gun, 22 light machine-guns and one flamethrower. • One armored steam locomotive (in the middle of train) • Total personell - 113. • Armor - 15-30mm. • Max speed - 35 miles per hour (approx.) • Range - 110 miles. In addition, composition of the train may include two tank transporter trucks, each carrying a Czech 38 (t) tank; two light armored Panhard reconnaissance vehicles, capable of traveling either on railroad tracks or across country, and two spare-part trucks. Various other types of armored trains may be encountered, some incorporating components of an imporovised nature, and in these the armor maybe anything from boiler plate to railroad ties. <hr></blockquote> Pretty decent firepower, i'd say. Will these beasts be included in CM:BB? Well, probably not, because of limited tactical potential and major coding difficulties. But in my childhood i remeber watching Soviet war movies about partisans and it appeared that blowing rails was the main task of partisan detachment , there was even a whole TV movie in multiple series called "Eshelony" (Echelons) about the train blowing action (i was wondering then, why the partisans allways had to wait for the train to approach close, and then run to the rails in a mad "rail-rush" to set up the mine, gunned down in the process, but still completing the task, recieving the medal "Za hrabrostj" post-mortal...). So in my mind there's no use of partisan battles if there's no rails, and where's rails and partisans, there surely is an armored train. Search on this forum revealed only one topic about armored trains - this one. If there has been other discussions, please point me to them. And for addition info on German armored trains go to this site. [ 01-20-2002: Message edited by: ciks ]</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bfamily33 Posted January 20, 2002 Share Posted January 20, 2002 Sure would be an interesting addition. I doubt it though. Remember the troop trains in Enemy at the Gate and Breakthough. At least in the movie, those things wouldn't hestitate to be very near the front lines. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edgars Posted January 20, 2002 Author Share Posted January 20, 2002 Imagine a crew of 113 bailing out of the knocked-out train Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Londoner Posted January 20, 2002 Share Posted January 20, 2002 LOL ciks I wouldn't need to buy infantry just wait till the train gets whacked and hey presto you got a company! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chad Harrison Posted January 20, 2002 Share Posted January 20, 2002 <blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by ciks: Imagine a crew of 113 bailing out of the knocked-out train <hr></blockquote> hey, they would make some great scouts. imagine how many times you could split them! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shadow 1st Hussars Posted January 20, 2002 Share Posted January 20, 2002 Would it still be gamey to have them near a VL even though there are 113 of them? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullethead Posted January 21, 2002 Share Posted January 21, 2002 I was just reading Glantz's book about Operation Mars. During this battle, a mounted Russian cavalry corps was trying to cross a railroad track just as a German armored train came along. How's that for unconventional warfare? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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