GERMAN ARMORED TRAIN

The sketches on the following page show some views of a German armored train. The guns, as far as can be distinguished, seem to be either 75- or 105-mm caliber (see figure 1). One of these sketches (figure 2) shows a four-barreled 20-mm Flakvierling 38 on a standard mount. Two light tanks are carried as "baggage", and a scout car, apparently a four-wheeled armored radio car (see figure 3) equipped with flanged wheels, a machine gun and a 37- or 50-mm AT gun, scouts the track ahead. The complete absence of any camouflage painting is noticeable but may be explained on the theory that there was no way of telling against what sort of background the train would operate. Apparently, engineers or trained antimine personnel are carried in the crew. The guns fire from the halt.

According to the scanty information available, one of these trains has been stationed in South Russia, where the crew lived, and from where they took the train out as emergency calls came in by wire or radio. Presumably, a detachment of infantry was carried, to combat partisan or guerilla attacks with the aid of the tanks.