Continuing the theme of Soviet armored trains, the authors faced a problem that, in principle, was already voiced in the previous article. This is a variety of trains. Each PSU is unique in its own way. It would be a stretch to talk about the identity of even two armored trains of the same series, especially considering that in fact BPs were built according to the principle "I blinded him from what was," and the real combat path of real armored trains confirms this.
In this situation, for a detailed description of this weapon, literally every train must be "disassembled". Starting from locomotives and ending with passenger cars in the base. But even this approach will not give readers a complete understanding of the composition of a particular power supply unit and its purpose.
It is for this reason that we will go the other way. Let us take as a basis the postulate that an armored train is, first of all, a train! If we take the analogies that arose among readers after getting acquainted with the military equipment of the time, this is a ship divided into compartments.
The only difference between a ship and an armored train is that the ship compartment is part of the entire ship, and the railway compartment is more or less autonomous and can be easily replaced with an identical one. Moreover, the railway "compartment" is identical only in purpose.
Thus, you can easily identify any armored train yourself and independently determine not only the purpose, but also the main specialty of this weapon.
So, the main component of any armored train is the locomotive.
More precisely, locomotives. At least two, sometimes three. The armored locomotive itself and the so-called black locomotive.
The purpose of the locomotive is clear. The main mover of the entire system. The armored locomotive is responsible for the warhead of the BP, and the black (civilian) steam locomotive is designed to work on moving the BP during redeployment and withdrawal of the base from the danger zone in the event of an enemy breakthrough, damage to the armored locomotive, or to increase the speed of the train.
In some pictures, especially during the Civil War, the BPs look like that. Just part of the train. Even an armored locomotive in this train is just another car.
Locomotives of the "O" series were used for booking. This series of steam locomotives in the Russian Empire and the USSR was the most massive. If we consider specific steam locomotives, of which there are a lot of them today as monuments at railway stations, you can see additional letters in the name. This is the result of numerous upgrades to this machine.
A distinctive feature of locomotives for armored trains is their low axle load and low silhouette. There was no special production of "military steam locomotives"; serial machines were used. The first condition was necessary in order to avoid a significant excess of the axle load after booking. Second, the locomotive should not stand out against the background of other components of the train.
Exactly the same rules were in effect for another necessary element - the tender. Armored locomotives are quite "gluttonous" and the locomotive needs a special carriage to transport coal. It was this car, armored in the same way as the main steam locomotive, that was called the tender.
Thus, the locomotive of the armored train consisted of two elements: an armored locomotive and an armored contender. It is in this form that it is presented on all armored trains.
The black steam locomotive was generally an ordinary steam locomotive. It was not even included in the delivery of the armored train. In practice, black steam locomotives were assigned to the BP commander already at the station of direct deployment.
The next necessary element of the armored train was armored cars or armored platforms. These are the cars where the main armament of the armored train is concentrated. It was the armored cars that determined the firepower of the entire BP. Depending on the weapons, that is, on the armored cars (armored platforms), the armored trains themselves were divided.
Armored cars (like armored trains) are dependent on the railroad. More precisely, on the availability of appropriate carts. In the first BPs, you can see the presence of light armored platforms on biaxial bogies. It is problematic to place a heavy tool or two tools on such carts.
Only in 1933 the designers of the military warehouse # 60 began to use the new carts of the Bryansk plant "Krasny Profintern". These bogies were four-axle and could withstand a weight of 50 tons. They became the basis of armored platforms, which can be seen today in the form of PL-35 (light platform, model 1935).
Such armored cars can be easily recognized by several signs. First of all, booking. The military warehouse did not have the opportunity to weld armor plates when assembling armored cars. Therefore, booking was traditional for these designs. The sheets were bolted to the frame.
If the side armor could withstand such an attachment, then the designers had to reinforce the rear and front sheets with corners. These 4 corners are perfectly visible on any PL-35.
The booking of this submarine is also interesting. The fact is that the military warehouse specialists have created a combined booking with an air gap! Outer armor plates, 15 mm thick, were connected to 12 mm regular steel sheets through an air gap.
Subsequently, there were references in the documents, in the manufacture of some armored trains they thought of filling the space between the sheets with concrete. And the result was something very heavy, two-part, with different densities, but try, break through.
The next characteristic feature of the PL-35 is the presence of two towers on the edges of the platform and the central commander's cupola. However, sometimes there are submarines with one turret. Instead of the second, a charger with Maxim machine guns was installed.
PL-35 was created in the pre-war period and, naturally, the designer had to create special turrets for guns. By the way, this also gives out the specifics of the PL-35. Towers for mounting a 76-mm cannon mod. 1902 were welded from armor plates (15 mm) in the form of a 20-sided.
Thus, the designers not only reduced the angles, but also changed the layout of the entire tower. She became lower. Even the panoramic turret on the roof of the tower has become less visible and vulnerable.
The commander's cupola underwent the same modernization. It also decreased due to the use of the PTK tank panorama. Moreover, the commander received internal communication not only with the tower commanders, but also with the machine gunners. Moreover, the power supply of the communication device became autonomous due to the installation of 10 batteries. They were also used for emergency lighting.
For the first time, they "took care" of the machine gunners. When firing from loopholes, Maximov's casings often got holes and fell into disrepair. In addition, the onboard installations "Vertluz", used earlier, gave the enemy more opportunities to attack because of the sufficiently large "dead zones".
It's hard to say how cool you need to be a machine gunner to get anywhere at all. For nothing is visible at all.
Now the machine guns received armored casings and ball mounts. The firing angles for each machine gun have increased significantly. The depth of the "dead zones" is minimized.
The next armored platform is a continuation of the PL-35 concept. She received the name PL-37. And it is also found on the PSU quite often. True, it is quite difficult to distinguish this submarine.
The fact is that the military warehouse # 60, after the creation of the PL-35, began to develop more secure platforms. But they put the protection of the fighting compartment at the forefront. Simply put, it was necessary to strengthen the armor of the towers. And this in itself caused the need to strengthen the booking of the entire armored car.
The intermediate link between PL-35 and PL-37 was PL-36. It was supposed to strengthen the armor of the hull to 20 mm. The armor plates were supposed to be welded together, but the fastening to the frame remained bolted. Towers with guns, 76-mm cannon mod. 1902/30 (barrel length 40 calibers) must be inclined (at least 8 degrees in the vertical).
Machine-gun armament was seriously strengthened. At the ends of the armored platform, two turrets with machine guns were installed (4 in total), but most importantly, the modernized turrets for artillery guns allowed firing at angles from -5 to +37 degrees, which made it possible to fire defensive fire at aircraft.
The leadership of ABTU RKKA decided to take a simpler path. Use the developments of two submarines at once. From the PL-35, they took a hull, reinforced with armor up to 20 mm. From PL-36 - cannon towers. It was this "hybrid" that was named PL-37.
The PL-37 armored platforms were equipped with steam heating from the steam engine of the locomotive, interior lighting and batteries for emergency lighting. Under the floor, there are stowages of trenching tools, spare parts for guns and machine guns, tools for repairing armor, demolition and communications equipment.
In addition, viewing slots in the turret of the commander of the armored platform, in the entrance doors and gun turrets were equipped with viewing devices with Triplex bulletproof glass.
By the way, this is the question of whether we were preparing to fight the German, or rather the European, army. Talk is talk, and reality is reality. All PL-37 armored platforms fit into the Western European railway gauge and are prepared for the transition for operations on 1435 mm gauge railways.
And another bad news for the "thirty-two", in 1938-39, PL-35s were actively upgraded to PL-37 at the same military warehouse # 60. True, by this time the workshops and design bureau of the warehouse were already an independent enterprise - an armored repair base No. 6 (June 1937).
Let us recall the firepower of this submarine.
The artillery armament of the PL-37 consisted of two 7b, 2-mm cannons of the 1902/30 model, mounted on modernized column mounts of the 1937 model of the Krasny Profintern factory with an elevation angle of 37 degrees.
Thanks to new weapons and installations, the PL-37's firing range has increased to 14 km (for the PL-35 - 12 km, at the site of the military warehouse type No. 60 - 10 km).
In addition, unlike the PL-35, the guns on the PL-37 were equipped with a foot trigger, which facilitated firing. Machine guns were installed in ball mounts like on the PL-35. Ammunition 560 rounds and 28,500 rounds (114 boxes), stacked in special racks.
It remains to tell about the peak itself. About the light armored platform PL-43. It's not even that this submarine is really good. Just looking at armored trains in their development, you come to a strange, at first glance, conclusion. The development of technology takes place according to the same laws as the development of living beings. In a spiral …
The first thing that comes to mind when you see the PL-43 armored platform … the Chechen wars of the late 20th century. Later, I remember the German armored trains that destroyed the European armies before the war with the USSR. Why?
Yes, simply because the PL-43 is no more, no less, but a T-34 tank on a railway platform! Even the outlines of the platform itself to some extent repeat the well-known tank outlines. The same power of fire and armor from above. And the same weak protection from below.
The experience of the first battles and losses of the Red Army showed the weakness of platforms such as PL-35 or PL-37. In an effort to increase the firepower of the platforms, the designers followed the same path as the tank builders. More guns, more machine guns, more armor.
However, two PL-35 (37) turrets on one platform were a tasty morsel for any artillery battery or any tank. The destruction of one platform resulted in a 50% loss in firepower! And given the entire armored train, practically to the loss of the armored train's ability to maneuver, since throwing such an armored platform off the rails was not an easy task. Moreover, in a battle.
It cannot be said that the authors know for certain the reasons why the new platform has appeared. This, we note, is a personal conclusion drawn from conversations with historians of the railway business.
The return to the old, 20 tonne platform could have happened for many reasons. Most likely, this is the presence of a large number of such platforms in the railway system and the lower weight of the armored platform, which was obtained at the exit.
The tragic statistics of the first years of the war certainly played a role. We produced and lost "Thirty-fours" in huge quantities. And, taking into account the most vulnerable spots of these tanks, the repair factories had a sufficient supply of serviceable tank towers ready for installation on a new chassis. Those removed from the tanks, which were blown up by mines, received a shell in the engine compartment, and so on.
A tank tower and a fairly light trolley gave the designers room to solve the problem of the protection of the crew of the armored platform. Even in the case of hitting a submarine, the BP crew always had the opportunity to conduct further hostilities, since one crew / crew of one armored platform perished (and even then it is not a fact that the entire one), and the rest practically did not suffer.
In addition, the heavily damaged submarine could be simply thrown off by the crew and the entire train was freed. Agree that it is somewhat easier to do this with a lighter single-turret submarine than with a two-turret one, which is twice as heavy.
If you take a closer look at the PL-43, you can even see that the booking was made according to the "tank principle". Tank tower. Powerful (up to 45 mm) armoring of the hull and the armored train armoring of the bogie itself.
So, the PL-43 armored platform was made on the basis of a 20-ton biaxial platform. The axle load is about 18 tons, the length of the platform along the buffers is 10.3 m. The armor plates of the bow sides and the feed of the armored platform are 45 mm thick, the roof is 20 mm.
In the tank turret, with a thickness of the frontal side and stern walls of 45-52 mm, a 76-mm F-34 and 7 tank gun was installed, a 62-mm DT tank machine gun. Two more DT machine guns were installed on the sides of the armored platform.
Ammunition of one submarine was 168 shells and 4536 rounds. Quite promising potential, thanks to the ability to fire in almost all directions, the presence of tank sights. Plus a pretty effective cannon.
The next element of the armored train is the air defense armored platform. There are at least two such sites. Ahead and behind the submarine armored platforms.
When considering the BP-35 armored train, this platform attracts attention by the fact that, unlike the PL-35 armored cars (37), it is 2-axle. And it looks obviously rather weak. Indeed, the SPU-BP platform was developed in the workshops of warehouse # 60 as an addition to the existing "air defense system" on armored trains, a pair of "Maximov" located in the steam locomotive tender.
So, the usual 20-ton platform. In the center is a hexagonal tower. Reservation 20 mm. Inside the tower is the installation of M4 (quadruple memory of the "Maxim" machine guns). Ammunition - 10,000 rounds in ribbons. For the evacuation of a crew of three, there is a hatch inside the tower. The crew is evacuated under the platform. How it looks when moving is difficult to imagine.
It is much more common to see anti-aircraft platforms PVO-4 with 37-mm automatic anti-aircraft guns mod. 1939 K-61. Also used were anti-aircraft armored platforms with 25-mm anti-aircraft automatic guns 72-K, two 12, 7-mm anti-aircraft machine guns DShK, options with one cannon or one machine gun.
As you can see, the anti-aircraft platforms included everything that could fire at planes. At the same time, it was impossible to use anti-aircraft guns against enemy infantry due to the side armor of the platform.
At this we will temporarily stop the story, but in the next part we will continue the story about other components of armored trains during the Great Patriotic War.
Armored trains that have become participants in the photo session (as well as all subsequent ones) are on display in museums in Verkhnyaya Pyshma and in the memorial at the Moscow railway station in the city of Tula.
