Red Army Anti-Aircraft Armored Train Of The Second World War 1/72 Scale UMT 696

Armored train (abbreviated armored train, bepo, BP) - a product, an armored (armored) railway vehicle (combat vehicle), a train (train) for combat operations in the railroad lane, in the armed forces, in tank and other military branches.

Armored trains were widely used in armed conflicts of the late 19th century and the first half of the 20th century, especially in states with a developed railway network.

In Russia, the "boom of armored trains" fell on the Civil War. This is due to its specifics - the virtual absence of clear front lines, a large number of irregular troops and the struggle for railways as the main means for the rapid transfer of troops, ammunition, and bread. Almost all warring parties had armored train units. In addition to the Red Army, they were also in the White Guard Volunteer Army (later in the Armed Forces of the South of Russia (VSYUR)) General Denikin, the Czechoslovak Corps (bepo "Orlik"), the army of the Ukrainian People's Republic (bepo "Glory of Ukraine", "Sechevik") and others. The widespread combat use of armored trains during the Civil War showed their main weakness. The armored train was a large, bulky target, vulnerable to artillery (and later air) strikes. In addition, it was dangerously dependent on the railway line. To immobilize him, it was enough to destroy the canvas in front and behind. Therefore, in order to restore the destroyed tracks, armored trains included platforms with track materials: rails, sleepers, fasteners. The rate of restoration of the path by the soldiers of the armored trains was quite high: an average of 40 m / h of the track and about 1 m / h of the bridge on small rivers. Therefore, the destruction of the tracks only for a short time delayed the movement of armored trains.

Part of the armored trains went to the Red Army from the Russian Imperial Army, while mass production of new ones was launched. In addition, until 1919, the mass production of "surrogate" armored trains, assembled from improvised materials from ordinary passenger cars, in the absence of any drawings, continued; such an "armored train" could be assembled literally in a day.