Quote:
Originally Posted by Pursuivant
Armored trains were relatively rare units, and were mostly useful for defending strategic points along rail lines, and for anti-partisan ops (to defend against saboteurs attempting to destroy rail lines). There were used by Germany and the USSR on the Eastern Front and by Japan in China.
As air power got better, armored trains became less effective both because they could more easily be destroyed by air, and because larger bombs could easily destroy railroad tracks.
Once "locomotive busting" ops got really well developed in the later war years, locomotives and rolling stock had to be well camouflaged and/or hidden in tunnels or deep culverts to hide them from view.
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There was one lucky armored train during seige of Sevastopol in 1941-1942.
It has survived from Nov 1941 until the days of the 3rd (and final) German
sturm in June 1942. 100mm marine guns, 7.62mm and 12.7 mm machine guns, mortars. Two engines, workshop and team of repairmen. Camouflage adapted to season and terrain. Local landscape and tunnels (there are 5 of them near the city) allowed the train to escape and hide after raids.
It has been damaged and blocked inside of rail tunnel after another Luftwaffe attack. Germans has restored and requipped the train and used it until May 1944.
Wiki (Russian):
https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%96...D0%B7%D0%B4%29