Vader12
Member
Author: Wolfgang Sawodny
Publisher: Schiffer Books
Reviewed By: Steven Weakley
The first real use of trains in a military setting was during the American Civil War and although it was shown that trains had a broad spectrum of uses, general staffs in Europe for the most part generally disregarded the American development of this technology. It wasn’t until their use in the Boer War of 1899-1902 that the major powers of Europe began to take notice of their importance and began developing their plans for future use of railroads in a wartime setting. The Boer War produced two separate types of military railroad developments which were expanded upon during WW1. The use of trains as long range artillery platforms and armored trains for direct combat action at the various fronts. During WW1, the western allies used armored trains primarily as artillery platforms while in Russia armored trains were used as an offensive weapon with artillery trains being used in small quantities, primarily for coastal defense.
Records of the wartime activities of the armored trains during World War I is sparse. At the outbreak of war, the German military had 9 armored trains ready for use and quickly realized their importance for reconnaissance work and mobile support of the army and in combating Belgian guerrillas in the early phases of the war. As the war progressed it became apparent to the Germans that the trains they started the war with were woefully under armored and the weapons systems on board almost useless against superior enemy firepower. Thus began the construction of a new generation of German armored trains that would see them through the end of the war.
Post WWI saw extensive use of armored trains in both the Russian and Chinese Civil Wars. Due to the vast distances over which parts of the Russian Civil War were fought, the armored trains were ideally suited for this type of warfare and were used by both the Reds and the Whites to try to gain control of the Trans Siberian Railway. By the end of the Russian Civil War, the Communists had 103 armored trains of all types in service. Armored trains were also used in China in the twenties and early thirties during the Chinese Civil War by the various warring factions while elsewhere in the world they had generally fallen out of use after WWI.
Within postwar Germany, there were about 40 armored trains remaining from WWI which initially were disallowed by the Versailles Treaty and were to be destroyed along with the other offensive weapons of the defeated Germany. But, by 1921, the allies had changed their minds and allowed the Reichsbahn to maintain armored railroad protection trains with newly manufactured ones added to supplement the WWI era trains. These armored trains of this period would form the basis of the large scale expansion of both artillery and armored trains by the Wehrmacht in WWII.
Although this new release from Schiffer Books covers German armored trains from the years 1904-1945, its primary focus is on all the various types built and used during the Second World War on all fronts, with emphasis on their usage in Russia and the east. And, as with all other Schiffer books, this one contains an enormous amount of photos from all periods covered, many of which have never been seen before. Although not a uniform book per se, the photos alone give a myriad of ideas for vignettes for the scratch builder who may want to try their hand at creating their own train wedgies with 1/35 scale figures. There are also commercially available 1/35th scale German armored trains in both plastic and resin with Azimut Productions, Trumpeter, and CyberHobby being the manufacturers I was able to find on the internet.
Not counting the Forward, Preface and an Afterward, the book is divided into just 2 chapters, entitled “From the Beginning to 1921” and “From 1921to the End of World War II. Each of these two chapters are comprised of a multitude of sub-chapters dealing with every phase of both world wars and the interwar period. As I mentioned above, the chapter “From the Beginning to 1921” comprises only 50 or so pages while the period dealing with 1921to the End of World War II is made up of about 390 pages. Although this represents a huge difference, I attribute it to the fact that much of the documentation on these trains, both written and photographic was just plain lost in the chaos of postwar Germany and secondly, the Germans just did not build as many trains on the scale that they did during World War II. During the Second World War, Germany manufactured not only their own trains, but used trains captured from the various occupied countries of western and eastern Europe including Polish, Czech and Russian armored trains so that overall, the Germans had in service over 120 armored trains comprised of both their own and captured trains.
The text makes for very interesting reading as it describes all the different uses the trains were put to during both world wars and the inter-war period. Troop and supply transport, combat operations, partisan warfare and to patrol the vast expanses of the Russian steppes. It also describes the train’s construction along with schematic drawings. Besides showing the trains in all phases of usage, there are a large number of internal photos of the trains, both of the equipment and the troops. Many of the photos are close-ups of German soldiers manning the weapons including tank turrets, machine guns of all types, artillery, etc. and the trains themselves in both combat and everyday use. I found this unusual book highly interesting for both its written text and the photographs.
Publisher: Schiffer Books
Reviewed By: Steven Weakley
The first real use of trains in a military setting was during the American Civil War and although it was shown that trains had a broad spectrum of uses, general staffs in Europe for the most part generally disregarded the American development of this technology. It wasn’t until their use in the Boer War of 1899-1902 that the major powers of Europe began to take notice of their importance and began developing their plans for future use of railroads in a wartime setting. The Boer War produced two separate types of military railroad developments which were expanded upon during WW1. The use of trains as long range artillery platforms and armored trains for direct combat action at the various fronts. During WW1, the western allies used armored trains primarily as artillery platforms while in Russia armored trains were used as an offensive weapon with artillery trains being used in small quantities, primarily for coastal defense.
Records of the wartime activities of the armored trains during World War I is sparse. At the outbreak of war, the German military had 9 armored trains ready for use and quickly realized their importance for reconnaissance work and mobile support of the army and in combating Belgian guerrillas in the early phases of the war. As the war progressed it became apparent to the Germans that the trains they started the war with were woefully under armored and the weapons systems on board almost useless against superior enemy firepower. Thus began the construction of a new generation of German armored trains that would see them through the end of the war.
Post WWI saw extensive use of armored trains in both the Russian and Chinese Civil Wars. Due to the vast distances over which parts of the Russian Civil War were fought, the armored trains were ideally suited for this type of warfare and were used by both the Reds and the Whites to try to gain control of the Trans Siberian Railway. By the end of the Russian Civil War, the Communists had 103 armored trains of all types in service. Armored trains were also used in China in the twenties and early thirties during the Chinese Civil War by the various warring factions while elsewhere in the world they had generally fallen out of use after WWI.
Within postwar Germany, there were about 40 armored trains remaining from WWI which initially were disallowed by the Versailles Treaty and were to be destroyed along with the other offensive weapons of the defeated Germany. But, by 1921, the allies had changed their minds and allowed the Reichsbahn to maintain armored railroad protection trains with newly manufactured ones added to supplement the WWI era trains. These armored trains of this period would form the basis of the large scale expansion of both artillery and armored trains by the Wehrmacht in WWII.
Although this new release from Schiffer Books covers German armored trains from the years 1904-1945, its primary focus is on all the various types built and used during the Second World War on all fronts, with emphasis on their usage in Russia and the east. And, as with all other Schiffer books, this one contains an enormous amount of photos from all periods covered, many of which have never been seen before. Although not a uniform book per se, the photos alone give a myriad of ideas for vignettes for the scratch builder who may want to try their hand at creating their own train wedgies with 1/35 scale figures. There are also commercially available 1/35th scale German armored trains in both plastic and resin with Azimut Productions, Trumpeter, and CyberHobby being the manufacturers I was able to find on the internet.
Not counting the Forward, Preface and an Afterward, the book is divided into just 2 chapters, entitled “From the Beginning to 1921” and “From 1921to the End of World War II. Each of these two chapters are comprised of a multitude of sub-chapters dealing with every phase of both world wars and the interwar period. As I mentioned above, the chapter “From the Beginning to 1921” comprises only 50 or so pages while the period dealing with 1921to the End of World War II is made up of about 390 pages. Although this represents a huge difference, I attribute it to the fact that much of the documentation on these trains, both written and photographic was just plain lost in the chaos of postwar Germany and secondly, the Germans just did not build as many trains on the scale that they did during World War II. During the Second World War, Germany manufactured not only their own trains, but used trains captured from the various occupied countries of western and eastern Europe including Polish, Czech and Russian armored trains so that overall, the Germans had in service over 120 armored trains comprised of both their own and captured trains.
The text makes for very interesting reading as it describes all the different uses the trains were put to during both world wars and the inter-war period. Troop and supply transport, combat operations, partisan warfare and to patrol the vast expanses of the Russian steppes. It also describes the train’s construction along with schematic drawings. Besides showing the trains in all phases of usage, there are a large number of internal photos of the trains, both of the equipment and the troops. Many of the photos are close-ups of German soldiers manning the weapons including tank turrets, machine guns of all types, artillery, etc. and the trains themselves in both combat and everyday use. I found this unusual book highly interesting for both its written text and the photographs.
