Trains in WWII

Who fired the flak guns. DId they have units on the train or did infantry fire them?

 

From the article above,

"g. Organization Railway Flak units are organized into regiments, battalions, and batteries; the precise composition of the units is not known. It is believed that the regimental organization forms a pool from which units may be drawn as the necessity arises, either for mobile defense or for train protection. The unit most frequently met with is the battery, which in mobile defense probably moves and operates as a unit; in the case of train protection, the battery headquarters presumably administers detachments allocated to different trains. Although railway Flak units are part of the German Air Force and are administered through the usual GAF channels, it is probable that train protection detachments are operationally subordinate to the transport authorities; there is some evidence that guns provided for the protection of military trains may in certain circumstances be manned by army personnel."

 

A drawing of an artillery wagon of "Bartosz Glowacki", built in Warsaw. As it was described above, the train was equipped with three such wagons, probably after Polish-Soviet war. In 1939 the train should have only two artillery wagons, as other Polish trains. This drawing is a copy of some photograph (note, that the proportions are deformed), showing the wagon's look in the early thirties (AAMG turret added, early "sharp" camouflage). [source 5]

http://derela.republika.pl/glowacki.htm





The captured armoured locomotive Ti3-13 (from former train nr.52 "Pilsudczyk") in German train Panzerzug 21. On the left the assault wagon from former nr.54 ('Grozny') train, on the right the assault wagon from nr.11 ('Danuta') train (without aerials).
[SIZE=-1]The photo is taken probably in 1940-41, because the mountings for Polish HMGs in assault wagons are not removed yet. Looking at the boiler top, this locomotive apparently has a dome closer to the chimney and further to the sandbox, than most of other locomotives series Ti3 (which is evident on drawings). The locomotive is wearing German camouflage.[/SIZE]

http://derela.republika.pl/ti3.htm

 

Throughout WWII, the Axis transportation system remained a focus of Allied air attacks. Shown below are two photographs of destroyed railroads in Germany from our collection. The left photograph is labelled as Duren, March 1945; and the right photograph is labelled as Weisbaden, April 1945.


http://www.lonesentry.com/features/f25_destroyed-trains.html

 

German train commemorating Holocaust children arrives at Auschwitz - International Herald Tribune

 

Who could forget the transport of the poor innocent human cargo that the German railways carried to death,misery and slavery?

 

The TKS on a rail runner as an armoured draisine.

 

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(German armored rail car with tank cannon turret - a French officer who has written on armored trains in the past described this vehicle as a 'turreted self propelled rail car (Schienenpanzerspahwagen) built by the Steyr Company for use in the Balkans. '
In his response to album owner, Kim Fields, this officer further stated "Part of a set of only 4 that were built, none have survived. Apparently this photo is one of only a few photographs that exist of this machine.

In 1943 Germany introduced light armored scout cars to the Balkans to secure the railroad lines against partisan attacks. As a result of their deployment, cars with greater firepower were requested, these were fielded in the fall of 1944.

The concept was to permit an armored train consisting of 12 cars with varying armament (four cars with Panzer III N turret mounting a 75mm L/24 cannon, two cars carrying a quadruple 20mm anti-aircraft gun, and six cars armed with machine guns carrying infantry, command, communication, and medical sections. Since each car by powered by a 76h.p. Steyr motor, disabled units could be assisted by other operating cars, an improvement over other armored trains generally powered by a single steam engine.

Due to material shortages, only eight trains were operational, these contained only eight scout cars (two cars with Pz III turrets, two command cars with fixed antenna, and four infantry cars). Six other cars were also included: two flak cars carrying the quad 20mm guns on a flat car, two panzertragerwagens (tank carriers) with a Panzer 38t tank, and two flat cars carrying track maintenance equipment, which was used to detonate mines on the rail bed. Each train could be operated as two sections of four scout cars each, depending upon the mission."

http://www.508pir.org/album_barger/combat_4.htm

 

"On September 1, 1939, railwaymen of Szymankowo stopped a German armoured train before its arrival on the bridge over the Vistula River and blew up the bridge. After the Soviet invasion of eastern Poland on September 17, 1939, most of Polish rolling stock fell into Soviet hands.
The Polish railways on Silesia, Wielkopolska and Pomorze are adopted to German railways Deutsche Reichsbahn after September 25.
To the last moment before attack of Germany on the Soviet Union in 1941, the cargo trains transported goods from the Soviet Union to Germany. The beginning of German attacks on the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941 resulted in the possession of railway and rolling stock by Ostbahn and the possession of PKP rolling stock with broad gauge track and the reconstruction to standard gauge. The beginning of organized sabotage by the Polish resistance movement on railways took place about the same time.
In 1942, global production of simple military steam locomotives, DR Kriegslok BR52 (PKP class Ty2), in Poznań and Chrzanów, and of steam boilers for these locomotives started in Sosnowiec.
The Warsaw Uprising caused widespread damage of Warsaw rolling stock, network and electric traction; both bridges over the Vistula River and the underground tunnel on the Warsaw Cross-City Line were destroyed.
In 1944, productions of first steam locomotive BR52 in Chrzanów starts.

History of rail transport in Poland - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia"

 

Borrowed this from a post from Mikebatzel LOL.

US Hospital trains

Hospital Trains:

HOSP TRAIN No. 1 – 8 Feb 44 England – ETO Rhineland - Ardennes-Alsace
HOSP TRAIN No. 3 – 20 Apr 44 Wales – 19 May 44 England – ETO Rhineland
HOSP TRAIN No. 4 – 2 Feb 44 England – 23 Apr 44 Scotland - ETO Rhineland
HOSP TRAIN No. 5 – 7 Mar 44 England – 23 Apr 44 Scotland
HOSP TRAIN No. 6 – 7 Mar 44 England
HOSP TRAIN No. 7 – 3 Jun 43 England – ETO Rhineland
HOSP TRAIN No. 8 – 13 Mar 44 England
HOSP TRAIN No. 9 – ETO 31 Oct 45 Northern France - Rhineland
HOSP TRAIN No. 10 – ETO Normandy – Northern France
HOSP TRAIN No. 11 – 31 May 44 England – ETO 4 Aug 44 Normandy – Northern France – Rhineland – Ardennes-Alsace (first improvised HOSP TRAIN, consisting of French freight cars fitted with litter brackets, ran between St. Lô and Cherbourg, 4 Aug 44)
HOSP TRAIN No. 12 – 21 May 44 England – ETO Normandy – Northern France - Rhineland
HOSP TRAIN No. 13 – 21 May 44 England – 24 May 44 Wales - ETO Normandy – Northern France (later redesignated 7th Hospital Train)
HOSP TRAIN No. 14 – 21 May 44 England - ETO Northern France – Rhineland – Ardennes-Alsace
HOSP TRAIN No. 15 – 30 May 44 Wales – ETO Northern France – Rhineland – Ardennes-Alsace – Central Europe
HOSP TRAIN No. 16 – 7 May 44 England – 30 May 44 Wales – ETO Northern France – Rhineland
HOSP TRAIN No. 17 – ETO Northern France – Rhineland – Ardennes-Alsace
HOSP TRAIN No. 18 – 26 Mar 44 England – 10 Jun 44 Scotland – 8 Sep 44 Wales – ETO Rhineland – Ardennes-Alsace
HOSP TRAIN No. 20 – 30 May 44 Wales – ETO Rhineland – Ardennes-Alsace
HOSP TRAIN No. 21 – 24 Oct 44 England – Wales - ETO Northern France – Rhineland – Ardennes-Alsace
HOSP TRAIN No. 22 – 30 May 44 Wales – 15 Jun 44 England – ETO Rhineland – Ardennes-Alsace
HOSP TRAIN No. 23 – 14 Sep 43 England – 24 Mar 44 Scotland – ETO Sep 44 France -Central Europe (partly destroyed by German bombing, at the Gare St. Lazare, Paris, 26 Dec 44)
HOSP TRAIN No. 24 – 14 Sep 43 England – ETO 29 Sep 44 Rhineland – Ardennes-Alsace – Central Europe
HOSP TRAIN No. 25 – 6 Jul 44 England – 25 Jul 44 Scotland – ETO Northern France – Rhineland – Central Europe
HOSP TRAIN No. 26 – 6 Jul 44 England – ETO Rhineland – Ardennes-Alsace – Central Europe (inactivated 10 Sep 45)
HOSP TRAIN No. 27 – ETO 14 Aug 44 France (FIRST Hospital Train to reach the continent, disembarked in France 14 Aug 44, carrying the 43d GEN HOSP on board, also the very FIRST one to reach Paris 2 Sep 44, with part of the 203d GEN HOSP)
HOSP TRAIN No. 31– ETO 5 Jul 45 Rhineland – Ardennes-Alsace – Central Europe
HOSP TRAIN No. 34 – ETO Rhineland – Ardennes-Alsace
HOSP TRAIN No. 37 – ETO Rhineland – Ardennes-Alsace
HOSP TRAIN No. 38 – ETO Oct 44 Belgium
HOSP TRAIN No. 41 – MTO Naples-Foggia – Rome-Arno – North Apennines - ETO Ardennes-Alsace
HOSP TRAIN No. 42 – MTO Rome-Arno – Southern France - ETO 10 Sep 44 Rhineland – Central Europe
HOSP TRAIN No. 43 – 11 Mar 43 England - ETO 14 Aug 44 Northern France – Rhineland – Ardennes-Alsace
HOSP TRAIN No. 44 – 13 Nov 43 Northern Ireland - 17 May 44 England - ETO Northern France - Rhineland
HOSP TRAIN No. 45 – 26 Jun 43 England - ETO Northern France – Rhineland – Central Europe
HOSP TRAIN No. 47 – 6 Apr 44 Scotland – ETO Rhineland – Ardennes-Alsace
HOSP TRAIN No. 49 – 6 Apr 44 Scotland
HOSP TRAIN No. 55 – 27 Jul 44 England – 2 Aug 44 Wales - ETO Northern France – Rhineland – Ardennes-Alsace
HOSP TRAIN No. 56 – ETO 20 May 45 Rhineland – Central Europe
HOSP TRAIN No. 57 – 25 Feb 44 England (inactivated 12 Nov 45)
HOSP TRAIN No. 58 – 25 Nov 44 England
HOSP TRAIN No. 59 – 6 Sep 44 England
HOSP TRAIN No. 73 – ETO Rhineland
HOSP TRAIN No. 74 – ETO Rhineland
HOSP TRAIN No. 76 – ETO Rhineland – Central Europe
HOSP TRAIN No. 77 – ETO Ardennes-Alsace
HOSP TRAIN No. 79 – ETO Rhineland
HOSP TRAIN No. 80– ETO Rhineland
HOSP TRAIN No. 82 – ETO Rhineland – Ardennes-Alsace
HOSP TRAIN No. 83 – ETO Rhineland – Ardennes-Alsace

 

World War II: French Rail Roads



France at the onset of World War II had one of the finest rail systems in Europe. French railroads fully supported the defences of the Maginot Line. The Great German Western Offensice unfolded so quickly that the French rail system had little impact on the War. We do not yet have detasils, but I believe that under the terms of the World War II Armistice, the French rail system was placed under German control. I am not sure if this true at first in the unoccupied zone. The French rail system, ironically, was critical for the German war effort. War materials produced in not only France, but Portugal and Spain moved to the Reich over the French rail system. The French rail system as the rail system in other occupied countries plasyed a key role in the NAZI Holocaust. Thousands of French Jews were deported over the French rail system.As the War turned against Germany, the French rail system was used to build up the Atlantic Wall. It was used to move troops, equipment, and supplies. It was also important in the German strategy to repell the invasion. The problem for the Wehrmacht was that there was no roof on Festug Europa. The Allies set about destroying the Luftwaffe. As a result the Luftwaffe by 1944 was no longer capable of depending German cities, let along French rail lines. The French rail system after the Liberation proved important in supplying the Allied armies that pentrated the Siegfried line and drove into the Reich.
French Rail System


France at the onset of World War II had one of the finest rail systems in Europe.
Fall of France (June 1940)


French railroads fully supported the defences of the Maginot Line. The Great German Western Offensice unfolded so quickly that the French rail system had little impact on the War. The rail system had facilities to support the Maginot Line which was France's primary defense. The Germans driving through Belgium allowed them to simply go around the Maginot Line. The Germans struck first at the Dutch. The British and First French Army, France's best equipped formaton, moved north into Belgium to reach the Dutch. The German Panzers then strik in the Ardennes and crossed the Meuse . They then cut accross northern France reaching the Channel. This cut off the British and First French Army. After Dunkirk the Whrmacht turned south and encountered only minor resistance as they entered Paris and crossed the Seine. The only major role the ril system played was to bring out the same railcar in which the Germans signed the World War I Armistice at Compaigne.
German Control


We do not yet have detasils, but I believe that under the terms of the World War II Armistice, the French rail system was placed under German control. I am not sure if this true at first in the unoccupied zone.
Importance


The French rail system, ironically, was critical for the German war effort. War materials produced in not only France, but Portugal and Spain moved to the Reich over the French rail system. This of course included the sizeable production of French industry. The Germans for some reason did not use the potential of French industy. French plants generally produced at only a fraction of their potential during the War. Shipments also included Tungsten (Wolfram) from Portuguese and Spanish mines which was important for German steel production. As the War turned against Germany, the French rail system was used to build up the Atlantic Wall. It was used to move troops, equipment, and supplies. It was also important in the German strategy to repell the invasion. France did not have sper highways. There were no autobahns in France. The only way of rapidly moving troops and equipment was the rails. Also Panzers had to use the rails. Panzers traveling by road from Germany would not only take much longer to reach the invasin beaches, but require significant maintenance bfore going into battle. And petroleum shortages were beginning to be a factor impairing the German war effort. Aonther factor was that the Germans did not have the trucks needed to move men and supplies into France. The Germans from the begimmng of the War did not have adequate motor transport. Even at the time of Barbaross (June 1941) were still using horse transport to move supplies and equipment. German industry did not have the capability to produce the trucjls needed by the Wehrmacht. And the problem got worse as the War progressed because of the huge demand in the East and the enormous losss of equipment there. Thus the Wehrmact in France was heavily reliant on the French rail system.
French Resistance


The French Resistance played an important role in disrupting German use of the French raillines. After the fall of France (June 1940), Gen. Charles de Gaulle in London formed a special staff ordered to organizing, directing, and supplying resistance units that began to form spoteneously. Churchill also provided support. At first the French people were stunned by the German victory an resistance was minimal. This escalasted as the German occupation continued as was extended to the unoccupied Vichy zone (November 1942). The German decession to begin conscripting French workers for war work in the Reich was a primary reason for the growth of the Resistance (1943). At the same time German reverses in the East, North Africa, and Italy convinced many French that the Germans could be defeated.
The Holcaust


The French rail system as the rail system in other occupied countries plasyed a key role in the NAZI Holocaust. Thousands of French Jews were deported over the French rail system. A French court in Toulouse ordered the State and the National Railroad Company (SNCF) to pay $80,000 to a Jewish family whose members were delivered to the World War II transit camp at Drancy, outside Paris. Jews there were deported to NAZI death camps in Poland. This was the first court case in which SNCF had been found liable for their role in the deportation of French Jews. The suit was brought by two brothers in 2001. They were arrested by the Gestapo and transported to Drancy in 1944, where they remained until it was liberated when the Allies reavhed Paris (August 1944). a few months later. According to the plaintiffs' lawyer, Ré mi Rouquette, the Toulouse court found that the state did nothing "when it had a chance to" and that the railway did not object and in fact billed the state for third-class travel despite using freight and cattle cars to deport the Jews. [Bernard]
Festug Europa


NAZI propaganda trumpeted Festug Europa--Fortress Europa. This was the Atlantic Wall that the NAZIs bragged could necer be breached. The German focus in 1941 was on Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the Soviet Union. The Whermacht was shifted east. Despite failing to achieve victory in the Battle of Britain, the Luftwaffe was also shifted east, reloeving pressure on hard-pressed Britain. At first during 1941-42 the NAZIs concentrated on protecting the harbors. German artillery, anti-aircraft guns, and armor were positioned beginning in 1942 along the French coast. German armored divisions are transferred to France. Only in late 1943, however, with defeats in Russia and North Africa and the increasing build up of Allied forces in Europe did Hitler give real priority to the Atlantic defenses. Hitler's Atlantic Wall is perhaps the most massive fortified position in history. more extensive even than France's Maginot Line. It was a formidable obstacle that Allied planners had to confront. Construction was ordered by Hitler in Führer Directive No. 405. The French rail system plyed an important role in both the consruction of the Atlantic Wall and in plans to defend it against invasion.
Invasion Planning


The Chief of Staff to the Supreme Allied Commander (COSSAC) assumed opeational direction of French partisan and underground movements capable of supporting the D-Day invasion (fall 1943). Both SOE and OSS operations thus were subordinated to COSSAC. When General Eisenhower was appointed Supreme Commander, the resistance coordination passed to the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF) which absorbed COSSAC. SHAEF wanted use the French Resistance, but here there were dangers. The Resistance had to operate in great secrecy. Thus there were diffivulties communicating a coordinating operations. The strength and deployment was difficult to assess as was exerting control and command. And it all could change very quickly. The NAZIs were make an intense effort to root out and destroy the resistance. German arrests could very quickly uncover Resistance cells. In addition, direct attacks on Geran soldiers would result in horific retributions on civilians. SHAEF thus decided to use the Resistance as a adjunct to Allied military actions rather than a key component. As a result the Resistance was used primarily to collect and transmit intelligence, sabotage (war industries, transportation lines, and communication links (telephone and telegraph lines). Of special importasnce to the Wheremacht was the French rail system. SHAEF in 1944 instructed the Resistance to accelerate its sabatoge of the rail system. The Resistabce focused on German troops and supply trains. Operatives cut tracks, destroyed bridges, and damaged locomotives. These efforts were conducted at the same time that the Allies unleased their growing air strength on the rail system.
Allied Air Offensive (April 1944)


The problem for the Wehrmacht was that there was no roof on Festug Europa. The Allies set about destroying the Luftwaffe. As a result the Luftwaffe by 1944 was no longer capable of depending German cities, let along French rail lines. As Supreme Commeander Eisenhower demanded control over all Allied air forces took control of the strategic air forces (April 1944). Eisenhoiwer directed the 8th Air Force and Bomber Command to redireect ther operations to France. This was a difficult decesion because with the P-51 fighter esports the Allies were inflicting damage on both the Luftwaffe and German war industries. Under Eisenhower targeting shifted to destroy the Luftwaffe and Liftwaffe facilities in France, the German petorelum industry, and to disrupt rail communications, especially rail lines lsupporting the German forces manning the beach defenses. Here the Allies had to bomb lines leading to both Pas de Calais and Normandy so as not to reveal where the landings would take place. The Wehrmact depended heavily on the French railroads to move men and equipment. Bombing raillines was not very effective as the Germans became very expert in raspidly replaing rails. Destroying locomotives, rail junctions with maintnance facilities, and bridges was much more effective. After hitting these facilities hard in April, Eisenhower ordered the Allied air forces to sever the bridges over the Seine, Oise, and Meuse rivers (May). These attacks were largely successful so that at the time the Allies landed, the French rail system was near collapse. Which mean that the beach defenses were largely cut off from supply depots in Germany.
D-Day (June 1944)


The Western Allies on June 4, 1944 in a dareing amphibious and airborn operatrion opened the long awaited second front on the Normandy beaches which as become known as D-Day. The invasion of Normandy, code named Overlord, was the single most important battle fought by the Western Allies in World War II. It was made possible by arguably the most successful military deception campaign in history. The opening of the second front finally releaved pressure on the Red army in the east. The D-Day invasion, however, meant much more. On the outcome of the battle hinged no less than the future of democracy and Western civilization in Europe. Failure at Normandy would have meant that the future of Europe would have been settled by the titantic struggle in the East between Hitler and Stalin, cerainly the two most evil men in European history. An invasion of France had been the primary goal of American military planners and President Roosevelt since the entry of America into the War in December 1941. Churchill was less convinced. And largely at urging, the first joint Allied offensive was in the Meditteranean. The invasion was an enormous risk. All Allied victories in Europe were achieved by the weight of overwealing superority of men and material to badly over streached German forces. In France, the Allies faced some of the strongest units in the Gernany Army who would until several weeks into the battle be able to amass far superior forces. The Allies had to plan on naval and air superiority to protect the inital beach lodgements until powerful land forces could be landed and deployed. For over two years the Allies had been building a massive force in England which on June 6 was unleased on Hitler's Fortress Europe. The Allies struck withbthe largest armada ever assembled. First paratroop landings inland and then at after dawn came British, Canadian, and American landings on five Normandy beaches. It was a complete surprise, an incredible accomplishment for an operation of this scope and magnitude
Supplying the Allies


The Allies followed up Overlord with Operation Dragoon, landings along France's Mediterranean coast (August 15). The Dragoon force moving north joined up with southern advance from the D-day landings near Dijon (mid-September). Operation Dragoon in addition to the amphibious landings included a glider landing (Operation Dove) and a deception (Operation Span). A major accomplishment of Dragoon was the seizure of Marseilles and its important port. The Allied advance after Operation Cobra which desrtoyed the German 7th Army slowed as the Allies moved into Belgium an northern France and approached the borders of the Reich (September). The major provlem was gas (petrol) and other supplies. Allied units consumed enormous quantities of supplies, much greater quantities than comparable German units. Marseilles and the southern French railways became an important conduit of supplies because of the limited port access the Allies had at the time in northwestern Europe. The Allies brought back the Port of Marseilles and its railroad trunk lines back into service despite the destruction sustained by Allied bombing and German demolition. The southern supply route became very important to the Allies as they prepared to penetrate the Siegfried Line (West Wall) and enter the Reich. The southern route delivered about a third of Allied supplies.
Sources

Bernard, Ariane, "Railway Fined For Holocaust Deportations." New York Times (June 7, 2006).

World War II France French rail system

 

"And now back to our main theme. As previously highlighted, Hungarian reporters were detached directly to the advancing Hungarian troops, therefore they were able to move forward constantly, using all transportation means available. However, it has to be emphasized that most important instrument of this diplomatic triumph was a Hungarian State Railway (MÁV). Between September 5th trough November 27th MÁV has worked extremely well, being capable to carry over more that 29.144 waggons, jam-packed with army personal, equipment, food, fuel, ammunition etc. For these transportation purposes Hungarians have separated more than 178 steam locomotives (14 sequestered ones!), 926 regular pay-hauling MÁV waggons, 1103 privately owned standard cargo-cars, 300 specialized railway platforms, and 126 passenger wagons. All those transportation units were segmented into 492 railway compositions, assembled in a way that every single composition represented an independent mobile army unit, equipped with all necessary equipment (sappers, infantry, artillery, military police, intelligence units, etc.), and leaded by a armored train vanguard, that was capable for all-independent instant action if necessary, as well as for support of independently grouped motorized units, which were used as independent rammers, mainly useful as show-off propaganda instruments. The whole concept was quite a risky one, because of extremely impassable mountainous terrain conditions, with little usable roads and practically without normal transportation opportunity for continuous road-way fuel and spare parts supply. However, railway midpoints, previously successfully occupied by those railway-striking army components, were used as pipelining loops, accomplishing admirable triumph.

Of course, like in every operation, all those results were achieved due to a small group of high-professionals, namely a specially shaped squad of MÁV composed of 14 hauling engineers, 1 bridging engineer, 15 locomotive experts, 12 organizational managers, 386 railway-gauge technicians and 322 skilled railway-construction workers. Their outstanding accomplishment was a key for successful realization of this mission.



Inscription: Sepsiszentgyörgy, September 13, 1940. - Our armored train on Transylvanian soil - Pancélvonatunk Erdély földjén – (Photo taken by Balogh Rudolf)

Hungarian military in WWII - WW2inColor Talk

 

Finland


Captured Soviet Train


Finnish

Tincross Militaria - Wartime Photos of Armored Vehicles

 

TKS tankette used as an armoured reconnaissance draisine

 

The most famous of hungarian trains would have to be the gold train
the route or destination of stolen gold...

and how this treaSURE WAS STOLEN BY THE us aRMY IS APPALING

final proof of US plundering

from source....http://judicial-inc.biz/Gold_Train.htm

 

The Hungarian victims robbed

 

Soviet Union

World War II


"After the Nazi-Soviet Nonaggression Pact of 1939, the Soviet Union occupied Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, eastern Poland, and portions of Finland and Romania (see Prelude to War , ch. 2). Consequently, before Germany's 1941 attack on the Soviet Union, the size of the Soviet rail network increased by the assets located in these areas and countries. During the Soviet-Finnish War (November 1939 to March 1940), Soviet railroads supported military operations. Over 20 percent of the rolling stock was used to supply the operations against the Finnish forces. Although military cargo shipments originated in many parts of the country, they all fed into the October and Murmansk railroads in areas where few highways were able to handle motor transport. This fact and the distance that freight had to travel to the front combined to cause unloading bottlenecks at final destination stations and yards. Although delays were substantial, civilian and military railroad authorities learned important lessons from the Finnish campaign.
During World War II, railroads were of major importance in supporting military operations as well as in providing for the increased needs of the wartime economy. Because of their importance and vulnerability, trains, tracks, yards, and other facilities became the prime targets of the German air force and, in areas close to the front, of German artillery.
Railroad operations during the war corresponded to the main phases of military operations. The first phase extended from the German offensive on June 22, 1941, to the Red Army's counteroffensive, which culminated in a Soviet victory at Stalingrad in February 1943. During this phase, the railroads evacuated people, industrial plants, and their own rolling stock to the eastern areas of the country. From July to November 1941, some 1.5 million carloads of freight were moved eastward. The railroads also carried troops and military matériel from rear areas to the front. All of the operations were accomplished under threatened or actual enemy fire.
The second phase extended throughout most of 1943, when the Red Army slowly advanced against strong German resistance. The railroads coped with increasing demands for transportation services as industrial plants increased production. In addition, the Red Army relied heavily on the railroads to move personnel and supplies for major operations. Thus, during the first three months of the Kursk campaign (March to July 1943), three major rail lines averaged about 2,800 cars with military cargo per day, reaching a daily peak of 3,249 in May. Moreover, as the Soviet forces regained territories, military and civilian railroad construction teams restored and rebuilt trackage destroyed by the retreating enemy.
In the third phase, from early 1944 to the end of the war in May 1945, the Red Army rapidly extended the front westward, causing the distances between production facilities (in the Ural Mountains and Siberia) and military consumers to grow accordingly, thereby further straining railroad resources. The Red Army's Belorussian offensive, which was launched on June 23, 1944, required, during its buildup phase, 440,000 freight cars, or 65 percent of Soviet rolling stock. In early 1945, the Red Army pursued German forces into neighboring countries, requiring the railroads to cope with different track widths, which went from 1,520-millimeter-gauge track to 1,435-millimeter-gauge track in Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, and eventually in Germany itself. Despite the effort made to haul men and matériel to the front and to provide at least some service to the civilian sector, as well as to restore operations in war-damaged areas, the Soviet Union managed to build 6,700 kilometers of new lines during the war years. The new lines tapped areas rich in the mineral resources that were required for the war effort or shortened the distances between important economic regions. Of the 52,400 kilometers of Soviet main track roadway damaged during the war, 48,800 kilometers were restored by May 1945. About 166,000 freight cars were destroyed, and the number of locomotives decreased by about 1,000, although almost 2,000 were furnished by the United States as part of an agreement authorized by its Lend-Lease Law (see Glossary). "

Soviet Union - World War II