Past articles
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Lenin's Mausoleum in Red Square: A mysterious chamber of secrets, the mystery of unsolved horns
1999 Egyptian Archaeology: Draining groundwater and excavating the crypt of Osiris, the king of Pluto
In 1911, there were about 9,000 kilometers of railway lines in China, including the 2,450 kilometers of Eastern China Railway built by Tsarist Russia in the northeast, the "Middle East Railway" named after Russia. From 1912 to 1916, the Beiyang government and warlords built 3436 kilometers of new railway lines, and an important reason why the warlords actively built railways was that troops could be quickly mobilized.
During the Sino-Japanese War, Zhang Zuolin was a cavalry sentry commander of the Qing Army, and at the beginning of the Russo-Japanese War, he asked the Russian army to serve as the commander of the Chinese detachment, but the Russian army refused, and Zhang Zuolin made overtures to the Japanese army.
Zhang Zuolin's good friend, who had worked as a road builder and panned for gold in Siberia, could be said to be fluent in Russian, Zhang Zongchang, who could speak fluent Russian, successfully entered the Chinese detachment of the Russian army, became a captain of the Russian army, and was responsible for purchasing military equipment in Vladivostok.
In 1921, Zhang Zongchang, who had defected several times in the warlord melee, was defeated and defected to Zhang Zuolin, the "king of the northeast", and joined the Fengshi army as a military adviser.
↓ Zhang Zuolin was the first Chinese army to purchase a Stokes-Brant mortar in the United States.
In 1922, after Vladivostok was occupied by the Japanese, several armored trains laden with White Russian soldiers fled to northeast China, 300 of whom joined Zhang Zuolin's army, and Zhang Zongchang commanded the "Russian Battalion" of foreign soldiers. The other warlords composed of bandits were naturally not opponents of these Maozi troops who had been fighting for many years, and Feng Yuxiang's troops were about to collapse at a touch.
↓ White Russian mercenaries and armored personnel carriers.
Zhang Zongchang soon became Zhang Zuolin's Five Tiger General, promoted from battalion commander to brigade commander. Zhang Zongchang tasted the sweetness and gathered exiled White Russian soldiers everywhere in China, and as many as 2,000 exiled White soldiers formed the "Fengtian First Brigade". On September 28, 1924, the Russian mercenary brigade, crossing Shanhaiguan, cut off the railway to Lanzhou and seized a train from Wu Peifu, which had 2 carriages containing silver dollars, 3 flatbed cars and other carriages containing a large amount of military equipment.
↓ 75 mm field gun
75 mm field gun
The Russian mercenaries spent a day laying out the captured weapons on the train, every 2 75 mm field guns, and four machine guns arranged on a railway flatbed, without steel plates, stacked on all sides with sandbags, this train became the first armed train used in actual combat in China, on the 30th, the train arrived at the Shanhaiguan railway station, where the four Wu Peifu troops assembled surrendered.
↓ Wu Peifu's troops
Thanks to Zhang Zuolin's industrial strength and deep pockets in the northeast, Zhang Zongchang hired Russian engineers who fled to China after the Russian Civil War, and the first large-scale construction of armored trains in Chinese history began.
From the beginning of 1925, three armored trains were built at the Jinpu Railway Factory in Jinan, Shandong Province (built in 1910), named "Yangtze River", "Great Wall" and "Hubei".
In January 1925, the second armored vehicle was incorporated into the Russian brigade under the command of artillery colonel Kostrov, with about two hundred Russian mercenaries on board the armored train. According to artilleryman Mlachkowski, when the train appeared on the position, the other side put down its weapons and fled as soon as it saw it, shouting "Old Maozi!" （Ламеза!）”。
↓ Zhang Zongchang's Russian armored train and Russian mercenaries.
Zhang Zongchang's Russian armored train and Russian mercenaries
A clear example of the old warlord's fear of new weapons was the invasion of Shanghai by two armored trains. At the end of January 1925, armored trains under the command of Kostrov entered Shanghai, and on February 3, armored trains advanced another 250 kilometers to occupy Wuxi. The fame of the armored train spread throughout China, and its military role was envied by all warlords. In April 1925, Feng Yuxiang also built an armored train in Zhangjiakou, the tower and the half tower were installed with two 75 mm guns and a total of 8 machine guns, in order to observe and control the firing of the machine guns, an observation tower was installed on the roof. On May 10, after being painted with camouflage paint and test-fired outside the city, Feng Yuxiang's first armored train was put into service. The next month, Feng Yuxiang built the second column.
On December 8, Feng Yuxiang's forces began to deploy to attack Tianjin. A camouflaged armored train (12 carriages carrying 6 infantry companies) suddenly attacked Tianjin Yangcun Station, but when it continued to attack, it found that the Hankou Line had been occupied and fortified by the enemy, and the armored train was attacked by field artillery and had to retreat.
At that time, soviet foreign minister Chicherin (Чичерина) wrote in a document: "White mercenaries roamed unscrupulously throughout China, using their high military skills, and won victory." A German agent based in China, Kunst, wrote: "I often hear Chinese talk about the 'old maozi' and think that the reason they are so difficult to defeat is due to a special weapon, the armored train. ”
↓ Russian "Hun" armored train.
The armored trains were most likely built under the supervision of Russian experts hired by Zhang Zongchang. Because, for example, in the design of the "Hubei", it is very similar to the Russian "Hun" armored train, which is equipped with 6 cannons and 24 Maxim machine guns. Inside the gun car compartment, a 75 mm Japanese field gun was mounted in the turret at a swing angle of about 270°.
↓ The gun car of the "Hubei" armored train, its layout is similar to the layout of the carriage of the Russian armored train "Hun" - there is a 270-degree rotating turret at the front.
The turret was in front of the carriage, and behind the carriage was a machine gun turret with four machine guns. There is also another 360° rotating cylindrical tower on the roof. A small-caliber gun was exposed outside the command compartment. Few photographs of these armored trains have survived, and the article collects multiple sources, including French archives and private photographs of German military advisers to the Nanjing General Teaching Corps. These Chinese-made armored trains have been in service for a long time, often changing hands and undergoing many upgrades. For example, after the Nationalists captured these armored trains, the 75 mm gun was replaced by a 105 mm gun.
↓ Similarly designed artillery armored vehicles also appeared on the Nationalist Armored Train "Huguang", which may have been photographed below on the Jinpu Railway in 1932, and the "Huguang" armored train was used to transfer troops to the battlefield of the Battle of Songhu in Shanghai.
In October 1925, Sun Chuanfang violated the armistice agreement and attacked the "Fengtian System", and the armored train once again entered the war. However, Zhang Zongchang's Mao zi soldiers failed to break up near the city of Suzhou. In retreating from Suzhou, three armored trains had to break through on their own along tracks that had not yet been cut and destroyed. Armored trains were ambushed, rails were blown up, blocking chains appeared in the bushes on both sides of the railway, and armored trains were surrounded and shelled. The Chinese troops in the first armored vehicle rebelled, shelling the Maozi troops in the second column of armored vehicles behind them, the second armored vehicle was severely destroyed, and almost all the White Russian mercenaries, including the commander, were killed; 50 Cossacks on the 3rd column, which served as a cover for the retreat, arrived and repelled the first armored vehicle.
↓ The "old Maozi" soldiers on the Chinese armored train and the Chinese soldiers on the platform.
On the same day, the driver of the fourth armored train did not notice that the bridge in front of it was dismantled and the armored train fell into the abyss. Except for one silo jumping out of the car to escape, it was full of troops of the Russian brigade, and they were all dead.
From the end of 1925 to the beginning of 1926, the Jinan Jinpu Railway Factory built four armored trains for Zhang Zongchang: "Shandong", "Yunchu", "Henan" and "Taishan". These armored trains were equipped with up to 9 guns of different calibers and 24 Maxim machine guns. Each column of armored vehicles consisted of 8 units: 7 armored vehicles (2 artillery, 2 machine guns, 2 flatbeds, 1 command vehicle) and 1 steam locomotive. Initially, these armored trains were wrapped in 7 mm thick steel plates in ordinary wagons. In addition to the machine gunners and mechanics, the crew included an engineering team and a support cover squad.
The modernized turret shape of the "Henan" armored vehicle is close to rectangular and no longer cylindrical as usual. Improved armored train composition:
At the front is a flatbed with a small armored chamber that provides protection for the crew monitoring the rails, and is also a location equipped with air brakes. There is a searchlight at the front of the platform, and most of the space is filled with spare rails and sleepers for repairs.
The second armored heavy gun car, the carriage consisted of two multi-layered structures of 25 mm thick steel plates, the gap was filled with cement, and the maximum cement thickness in the middle was up to 300 mm. This composite armor can withstand the impact of 75 mm shells. At one end of the carriage was a Japanese 75 mm Type 38 turret, and at the other end was a 75 mm Japanese howitzer. (In 1932, the armored train patrolling the Shanghai-Nanjing Railway was changed to a 105 mm cannon with a firing angle of 270°; a 75mm cannon that could be raised and lowered at a firing angle of 360°; in addition to six water-cooled machine guns.) ）
The third was a light armored gun car, mounted near the end of the turret height raised, two small turrets that could rotate 360 ° with machine gun firing holes on both sides of the hull
The 4th Assault Armored Vehicle had no machine gun turret on the roof and carried a support commando inside.
The 5th was an ordinary passenger car with 25 mm thick steel plate armor, with equipment supply and kitchen.
↓ The 6th is an armored steam locomotive with a generator installed.
The 7th was an unarmoured command vehicle, connected to the other carriages by telephone lines for the use of officers.
The 8th, 9th, and 10th were, in turn, light armored gun trucks, heavy artillery vehicles, and flatbed trucks.
↓ After the modernization of the "Yangtze River" armored train, the cylindrical turret was changed to a rectangle.
The growth of the combat effectiveness of armored trains is obvious to all. First, in addition to the usual armored gun cars (double turrets, which began to be called "heavy"), armored trains also added "light" gun cars with turrets (guns). In addition, there is a transition to a larger caliber. From the earlier standard 75 mm caliber, on the armored train modified in 1930, two 105 mm guns were installed, plus four 75 mm guns. The number of armored train troops also increased – as many as 180.
Other technical improvements were also introduced, for example, in order not to expose the smoke from the locomotive chimney to the action, a special stealth device was installed to disperse the smoke under the wheels of the train.
Beginning on February 19, 1926, some of the armored trains of the "Shandong" and "Henan" armored trains were transferred to the northern front against Feng Yuxiang. One of the columns was hit directly at Xi'an Station and had to be repaired.
On March 11, 1926, four columns of armored vehicles gathered around Tianjin to attack Feng Yuxiang. Feng Yuxiang was defeated, and the armored vehicle went to Beiping,
↓ After conquering Tianjin, a large number of troops of the Feng clan passed through Tianjin Station to Beiping.
↓ The "Hubei" armored train is at Tianjin Station, and the front flatbed is loaded with spare rails, followed by a gun car, followed by an armored steam locomotive.
In April 1926, Peiping was conquered.
On June 28, 1926, the leader of the Zhifeng clan took a group photo at the palace of Shuncheng County, Peiping, and Zhang Zongchang was the tallest one (foot mark 2), standing between Zhang Zuolin (1) and Wu Peifu (3).
Fighting around Peiping continued until May 1926, when, according to the Daily Mail, in early May, an armored car was on the position, and three cars loaded with stones came at high speed to knock the armored train over. At a distance of 300 meters, the commander ordered the armored train to retreat. However, the collision was not completely avoided, and the impact force was not violent. Only one carriage was damaged and seven occupants were injured. After the armored carriage was decoupled and abandoned, the train returned to Peiping. The battle showed that attacks on armored trains were ineffective without the support of infantry and cavalry; armored trains fought in the mountains and were more easily protected.
On July 15, 1926, another armored vehicle "Peiping" was built, commemorating the occupation of Peiping in April 1926 and named). It must be emphasized that the armored train has undergone many modernization improvements and repairs. Staff captain HiroKogolov, who served on the Hubei armored train, said that "the armored train has been completely different from last year (1926), and there are many technical improvements." All of this greatly affected the composition, armament and appearance of the armored train. For example, in March 1927, "Henan" was rebuilt and artillery was improved in Jinan.
↓ Round machine gun ball on the body.
Round machine gun ball on the body
There were not many armored trains left in the battle, and Zhang Zongchang kept one at his side just in case.
↓ Zhang Zongchang's guards, all carrying shell guns that can be fired continuously, known as "Mauser guards"
After the general success of the armored train, Zhang Zuolin further expanded, and three brigades formed the armored train division. Zhang Zuolin dismissed Liu Shi'an from his post as division commander and commented on him: "General Liu Shi'an was an unreliable man, uneducated, with little knowledge of Russian, and did not obey commands. the above, and therefore unfit for the position of commander of the Panzer Division". Chekhov was appointed division commander.
Chekhov commanded the 1st Brigade, including the latest armored trains "Peiping" and "Taishan".
The second brigade was commanded by Liu Shi'an and included "Henan" and "Shandong".
The Third Brigade was commanded by Yang Dayu and included the earliest armored trains "Yangtze River" and "Great Wall".
Zhang Zongchang's subordinates, Chu Yupu's armored trains "Directly Subordinate" and "Hubei", even surpassed Zhang Zuolin's armored trains in performance.
In mid-March 1927, nationalist forces under bai chongxi attacked Fengzhi forces near Shanghai, threatening to blockade the Shanghai-Nanjing railway. The "Great Wall" armored train stationed at Shanghai North Railway Station was besieged with 500 Fengshi troops at the station, and the armored train maneuvered back and forth along the railway tracks to open fire. After two days of fighting, Bong Was hopeless to provide support, and on the night of 23 March, the remaining 64 armored train troops abandoned the train and fled to the British Concession.
↓ Cover illustration of an Italian magazine in 1927 depicting the battle of Chinese armored trains during the Northern Expedition.
The Fengzhi warlords dispatched "Hubei", "Taishan" and "Shandong" armored trains from Bengbu, Shandong, to Pukou (located at the northern end of the Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge), a railway station (Beiyang and the Republic of China period) 200 kilometers away, and launched a battle with the Nationalist Army for Nanjing, although the Nationalist army made various ambushes, such as laying mines, blowing up bridges, shelling, after nearly ten days of marching, all arrived. Cleared the road from the north to the Yangtze River.
↓ Zhang Zuolin's armored train, the roof of the car can see the rotating machine gun turret, spare rails for track maintenance are placed in front.
However, Feng's victory did not last long, 6 armored trains on the Suzhou Railway, in the direction of Shanghai in columns, were ambushed and hit by steam locomotives, the troops abandoned 4 of them to escape, these 4 trains were collected by Feng Yuxiang, Feng had joined the Nationalist Army at this time.
↓ Elite nationalist army - German military adviser of the General Teaching Corps (tie-in-the-middle), visiting the captured "Shandong" armored train in Nanjing, which was renamed "Zhongshan".
↓ Light gun car and heavy gun car on the top and bottom, with a towering observation tower on the light gun car.
After the defeat of the Feng dynasty, Zhang Zongchang built two new armored trains in Jinan, also named "Taishan" and "Henan", and prepared to counterattack, however, on June 4, 1928, Zhang Zuolin was killed on an ordinary train, and if he had taken an armored train, the history would have been very different.
The situation took a sharp turn for the worse, and Zhang Xueliang, the heir to the northeast, openly opposed Zhang Zongchang and wanted to deprive him of his military powers. At this time, the Russian mercenaries had been reduced to a few hundred, and the Chinese troops in the "Hubei" armored train rebelled, attacked the Russian mercenaries in the car, and then drove at full speed to Tianjin and surrendered to Feng Yuxiang, and the "Hubei" was sent to Shanxi.
↓ The Nationalist Army's "Zhongshan" armored train was originally Zhang Zuolin's "Shandong", taken in 1942.
Zhang Zongchang had to divide his troops into two routes, two armored trains commanded by Makarenko and Semenov's cavalry regiment against Zhang Xueliang, and three armored trains against Chiang and Feng Yuxiang's nationalist army. Unfortunately, these five columns of armored vehicles each surrendered to their respective enemies.
↓ "Taishan" armored vehicle on the platform of Jinan Railway Station.
In 1928, Zhang Xueliang still had two armored trains left to surrender to the "Zhili" and "Huchuan", and they originally belonged to his own troops, while the Bai brother Lao Jiang obtained almost all of Zhang Zuolin's armored trains. By 1932, there were about 20 armored trains available for Chiang Tou.
↓ Armored train division in the northeast.
Soviet military experts say the success of armored trains in China is first of all that the Chinese military does not recognize the new weapon and is unprepared. Second, the command of armored trains and supporting infantry was concentrated in the hands of a single man, and armored trains supplemented infantry attacks with firepower; however, once armored trains received independent orders or were sent to operate jointly with Chinese infantry, they failed.
In 1931, the Japanese army occupied Tohoku and used the railway armored vehicles of the fengbu troops as a trophy. A year later, the Japanese army developed the Type 94 armored train, which was heavily used in the war of aggression against China.
↓ The Japanese climb the armored train of the Northeast Army.