Armored train "Ilya Muromets" - a unique rolling stock that went through the whole war and met a victory in Berlin. This article is dedicated to his heroic history.
Armored trains in service with the RKK
By the beginning of the Second World War, the Red Army had 53 armored personnel, of which 34 were light. In total, they consisted of 53 armored locomotives, 106 artillery and 28 air defense armored sites. In addition, the RKK was armed with more than 160 armored vehicles that were adapted for movement on railways, several armored cars moving with diesel engines and 9 armored tires. Such railway trains, consisting of 25 pieces, were also among the operational forces of the NKVD. In their arsenal also consisted of 7 armored vehicles.
The story of the creation of "Ilya Muromets"
In 1941, the RKK suffered heavy losses, including in terms of technology and weapons. In all parts of the country, fundraising for the purchase of weapons began to be carried out. In addition, the working collectives of enterprises manufacturing military equipment, on their own initiative, began to stay late in the shops until tanks, artillery installations and armored personnel were put into service of the Red Army an hour earlier.
The workers of the carload depot of the Murom railway junction joined this initiative. They were joined by casters from Kulebak supplying armor. At a factory named after F. Dzerzhinsky in Murom, she was sheathed by a steam locomotive. Initially, it was decided to give the armored train the name of the hero Ilya Muromets. Colonel Neplyuev came to “pick up” the armored train, who had the serious intention of calling it “For the Motherland”. However, on February 8, a rally was organized at which the workers announced that they would lead an armored train to the front of the Murom brigade, offering it their name. They put on board the image of the hero and the inscription "Ilya Muromets" in advance. Neplyuev was adamant and ordered to remove the traces of "amateur", and assign the number 762 to the combat vehicle. Nevertheless, the builders and crew remained in the consciousness of the builders as the Ilya Muromets armored train.
Ivan Efimovich Seryakov (engineer), Victor Smirnov, Ivan Kozmin, Alexei Biryukov - these are the names of some members of the first railway brigade, which went from Murom to the front on a self-assembled train.
At the front
Armored train Ilya Muromets started a war with fascist invaders on the Bryansk Front in the spring of 1942. The composition was armed, as they say, to the teeth, with heavy guns, machine guns and anti-aircraft guns. In addition, Katyusha rocket-propelled mortars were installed on it, which in those days was an absolute innovation.
Thanks to its mobility, the armored train Ilya Muromets quickly went to enemy positions and destroyed warehouses of weapons, fuel, artillery batteries, as well as fascist infantry and equipment.
In April, he took his first fight at the Vypolzovo railway station, showing himself to be the best. Later, the armored squad received orders to raid the city of Mtsensk, captured by the Nazis in order to paralyze the work of the railway station, where there was an intensive unloading of the German echelons.
During this operation, the armored train Ilya Muromets destroyed a large number of wagons and warehouses. At the same time, he managed to return from the mission without loss.
The German command was furious from the daring attack and declared a hunt for Ilya Muromets. The German Luftwaffe tracked the train on the way and at the stations. In May 1942, the head car was damaged from the air. Major Ya.S. Grushelevsky, who served as commander of the 31st division of armored trains, as well as the chief of staff of the division S. Pisemsky and the military commander of the newspaper Gudok A. Bukaev.
Fortunately, the armored train Ilya Muromets, whose photo you already saw, is not out of order. And this despite the fact that according to German propaganda, the “Luftwaffe angels" threw phosphorus bombs on it. The composition was quickly returned to duty, and he continued to be fascists, terrifying them of his unexpected appearance on the hottest sections of the front.
The battle of armored trains "Ilya Muromets" and "Adolf Hitler": a few words about the opponent
Battles of armored trains in world history were infrequent. One of them took place on June 4, 1944. Then, “Ilya Muromets” and “Adolf Hitler” met in battle. Very little information has been preserved about the last train. Basically, it is gleaned from eyewitness accounts and surviving photographs taken after the Volyn region was under the complete control of the Red Army. So, the structure of the German armored train was the BP 42 artillery car, which housed a 76.2 mm FK 295 / L gun and a 20 mm anti-aircraft gun. Regularly there were two such cars, one command and two more auxiliary.
Background battle
Kovel during the war years was a major railway junction, which had important strategic importance. In the summer of 1944, echelons of retreating Germans began to pass through it, as well as armored trains or, as they were called, “armor-plows”. It is known that on this section of the front during this period armored convoys No. 74 and No. 63 were destroyed. According to information from English-speaking sources, the “armored platforms BP 44”, on which towers from Tiger tanks stood, were present in the 74th armored train.
Duel
In early June 1944, the RKK facilities near Kovel began to undergo 2-3-minute morning shelling. Moreover, they occurred at the same time. Soviet ground and air reconnaissance could not find out where the enemy’s battery was located. This gave our command the idea that this was the enemy’s armored train.
The vaunted German pedantry and terrain features played into the hands of our military. It was decided that right at the beginning of the battle, artillery would disable the railroad track in order to cut off the enemy’s armored personnel retreat path. The battle of the armored train "Ilya Muromets" against the "Adolf Hitler" was supposed to start without shooting, so as not to frighten off the enemy.
Soon, observers noticed enemy armored personnel, which was clearly on schedule moving to firing positions. But the enemy also noticed "Ilya" and shots were fired from both sides. The shell hit the German armored train from the very first salvo. However, he managed to answer, although his shells did not reach the goal. The defeat was completed by Katyusha and soon it was all over.
The end of the trip
Armored train "Ilya Muromets" (armament: 2 artillery armored sites, each with two 76-mm F-34 guns and 6 DT machine guns, four 25-mm conventional and 276-mm Lender anti-aircraft guns, 4 M-8-24 rocket launchers) reached Berlin, 50 km from the city he found himself in front of the destroyed bridge over the Oder. Nevertheless, this train and its crew honorably fulfilled the mission assigned to them.
In 1971, the Ilya Muromets armored train became an eternal parking lot in the city, from which it once went to beat the Nazis.