German Railways in the East

Discussions on the economic history of the nations taking part in WW2, from the recovery after the depression until the economy at war.
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Sergo66
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Re: German Railways in the East

#451

Post by Sergo66 » 30 Mar 2015, 09:21

Eisenbahn LOK Lokomotive, Gniloje - Jewdakowo 1942
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Eisenbahn LOK Lokomotive, Gniloje - Ewdakowo.JPG

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Der Alte Fritz
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Re: German Railways in the East

#452

Post by Der Alte Fritz » 30 Mar 2015, 13:33

From Lexicon der Wehrmacht
http://www.lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de/Gli ... Reg602.htm
Im September 1942 wurden die 4., 6., 7. und 10 Kompanie von Forchstadt (Belaja Kalitwa) nach Tschir verlegt, und bildeten die Betriebsspitze der Eisenbahntransporte im Bahnhof Tschir und den Bahnhof Ssurowikino, Tschir war ein Versorgungs-Stütz-Punkt der 6. Armee, da die lange Eisenbahnbrücke über den Don zwischen Rytschow und Loshki noch nicht fertiggestellt war, übernahmen die Einheiten des Transport-Regiments 602 den Transport vom Versorgungs-Stütz-Punkt Tschir zum Versorgungs-Stütz-Punkt bei Karpowskaja. Die Bahnhöfe Tschir und Ssurowikino wurden zwischen den 27. September und 04. Oktober 1942 mehrmals von russische Fliegerkräfte bombardiert. Die III./Kw.Trsp.Rgt. 602 wurde dem Kraftwagen-Transport-Regiment-Stab z.b.V. 984 in Morosowskaja unterstellt, dem bereits die Kraftwagen-Transport-Abteilung 353 zugeteilt war. Ein weiterer Versorgungs-Stütz-Punkt den das Regiment bediente, befand sich in Nishne Alexejewskij mit Armee-Verpflegungs-Lager (A.V.L.), Armee-Betriebsstoff-Lager (A.B.L.) und Armee-Munitions-Lager (A.M.L.), das A.B.L. wurde nach Karpowka und das A.M.L. in eine Kiesgrube südlich Karpowka verlegt. Eine Kompanie des III./ Kw.Trsp.Rgt. 602 wurde mit mindestens 180 t Transportraum für die Dauer von zwei Wochen zur Kraftwagen-Transport-Abteilung 979 in Millerowo abgestellt.
In September 1942, the 4th, 6th, 7th, and 10 company of Forch city (Belaya Kalitva) were transferred to Chir, and formed the peak operating times of rail transport in the Chir station and the Ssurowikino Station, Chir was a supply support point of 6 . Army, as the long railway bridge was not yet completed over the Don between Rytschow and Loshki, the units of the Transport Regiment 602 took over the transport from the supply support point Chir to supply support point at Karpowskaja. The stations Chir and Ssurowikino were bombed several times between 27 September and 04 October 1942 by Russian air forces. The III. / Kw.Trsp.Rgt. 602 was the Motor Transport Regiment Staff zbV 984 assumed in Morosovskaya that already has the Motor Transport Department was assigned 353. Another supply support point to operated the regiment was in Nishne Alexejewskij with Army Catering Available (AVL), Army Service Products bearing (ABL) and Army Ammunition Storage (AML), the ABL was after Karpovka and A.M.L. south Karpovka laid in a gravel pit. A Company of the III. / Kw.Trsp.Rgt. 602 was turned off at least 180 tons cargo space for a period of two weeks Lorry Transport Battalion 979 in Millerowo.

These units were all part of the Grosstransportraum.


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Re: German Railways in the East

#453

Post by Der Alte Fritz » 04 Apr 2015, 15:34

From 1941, quite a nice scheme showing the Wehrmacht Transportwesen command structure across the whole of Europe.
The third picture is mid 1942, where the officer is trying to keep up with the changes in Russia.
rail 2.jpg
rail 3.jpg
rail 1.jpg

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Re: German Railways in the East

#454

Post by Der Alte Fritz » 11 Apr 2015, 11:36

FMS C-078 Report on the 6. Armee during the fighting on the Mius River August 1943
http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic. ... 4#p1939484
http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?t=111743

Expenditure of artillery ammunition
May - 2,329 tonnes
June - 3,870 tonnes
July - 17,753 tonnes

Expenditure of fuel
17 June - 2 July - 135 cm daily
17 July - 29 July (defence) 586 cm daily
30 Juy - 2 August (attack) 1870 cm daily (1500 tonnes)

For June - start of August, fuel supply amounted to 11,062 cm of which 10,000 cm were used. (1.25 cum equals 1 tonnes)

Supply Train Traffic (mainly motorised supply columns)
17 July - 29 July:
5,313 tonnes ammunition moved
167 tonnes fuel
330 tonnes of personnel (a Jewish deportation train of 1,000 souls was reckoned at 200 tonnes net weigh so 1,500 soldiers)
30th July - 2nd August
3,142 tonnes ammunition
105 tonnes of fuel
80 tonnes of signals supplies

So over 17 days (17 July to 2 August)
9,129 tonnes of supplies and personnel were transported compared to 5,321 tonnes during June
that is an average of 537 tonnes a day (June is 178 tonnes a day):
comprising
8,455 tonnes ammunition
272 tonnes of fuel
330 tonnes personnel
80 tonnes signals gear

Army employed 2,160 tonnes of lift 1,738 tonnes for 6 Armee and 422 tonnes for attached units.
If all the lorries were moving material at the same time and averaged 537 tonnes a day this would indicate a round trip of 4 days including loading and would travel out to 200 km distance. If this total includes unservicable lorries at a rate of 80% availability then this would indicate a round trip of 3 days or out to a distance of 150 km.

Note that the lorry columns are only moving forward 537 tonnes a day while the artillery ammunition expenditure for the period 17th July to 2nd August was 840 tonnes a day or an average of 572 tonnes over July. So the attack had to be launched using some stored ammunition as the lorries would not bring it forward fast enough and as usual other supply demands have to be met from stores at the units during the course of the offensive as motor transport is reserved for ammunition fuel and a few essentials.

Railway lift was

ammunition 42,492 tonnes (70 trains or 4 a day)
supplies 17,509 (29 trains or 1.7 a day)
fuel 28,342 (47 trains or 2.8 a day)
coal 7,698 (12 trains or 0.8 a day)

so the trains are delivering 9.3 trains a day for this attack (compare with Stalingrad situation) or 5,580 tonnes day but that the Army lorries are only able to move 1/10th of this forward.

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Re: German Railways in the East

#455

Post by Der Alte Fritz » 11 Apr 2015, 23:50

Brückenbauleitung Dr. Ertl

R 50-I/132
Druckansicht
Bd.: 2
Enthält u.a.: Bericht über den Bau einer Straßenbrücke über den Don bei Rostow
Report on the construction of a road bridge over the Don at Rostov

R 50-I/130
Druckansicht
Durchführung von Bauvorhaben im Bereich der OT-Einsatzgruppe Kaukasus
Enthält u.a.: Bau der Straßenbrücke über den Don bei Rostow Dammbau über Wasserstraßen Kertsch, Einsatz der Firmentrupps Ihle & Co. (Tr. 621) und Zehetmayr (Tr. 626 B)
Construction of the road bridge over the Don at Rostov
Dam construction on waterways Kerch, use of corporate teams Ihle & Co. (Tr. 621) and Zehetmayr (Tr. 626 B)


R 50-I/407
Druckansicht
Die Straßenbrücke über den Don bei Rostow.- Bericht 1942
The road bridge over the Don at Rostow.- report

Dann Falk
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Re: German Railways in the East

#456

Post by Dann Falk » 12 Apr 2015, 18:59

Railway lift was

ammunition 42,492 tonnes (70 trains or 4 a day)
supplies 17,509 (29 trains or 1.7 a day)
fuel 28,342 (47 trains or 2.8 a day)
coal 7,698 (12 trains or 0.8 a day)
I might be wrong but these values imply the Germans were overloading their supply trains, with over 600t/train vs the standard 450-500t/train.

ammunition 42,492 tonnes / 70 trains = 607 tons per train
supplies 17,509 / 29 trains = 603 tons per train
fuel 28,342 / 47 trains = 603 tons per train
coal 7,698 / 12 trains = 641 tons per train

Could this be due to the use of fully outfitted German trains, with both cars and engines, running along improved tracks and road bed? Or maybe they were running unit trains with just one type of cargo?

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Re: German Railways in the East

#457

Post by Der Alte Fritz » 12 Apr 2015, 21:39

It is me Dann, the original document states the amount only in tonnes. I used an average of 600 tonnes between the 400 tonnes minimum and the 850 tonnes maximum. I do not have an accurate weight for ammunition trains other than individual wagon weight was in the 11 - 15 tonne load range for Munitionszug.

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Re: German Railways in the East

#458

Post by GregSingh » 24 Apr 2015, 04:40

Some info about disruptions to railway services in the Warsaw area, 1942-44.
Based on Bogdan Kobuszewski's articles "Walka z transportem kolejowym w dystrykcie warszawskim" (Bogdan Kobuszewski - Attacks against rail transport in the district of Warsaw, parts 1-3).

Importance of Warsaw as a railway hub
Warschau 1942.jpg
Importance of Warsaw as a railway hub
Number of attacks against trains, railway tracks and bridges registered in German sources: 219
German sources.jpg
Number of attacks - German sources
Number of attacks registered in Polish sources: 151
Polish sources.jpg
Number of attacks - Polish sources
Here is what I found interesting:

Author compared data from both sources and 106 incidents were confirmed (mentioned by both sides), 113 were mentioned only by Germans, 45 only by Poles.

61 acts of sabotage were organised by Home Army (Polish government-in-exile in London) and 74 by Polish communists armed resistance.
At least some acts from a large number of "no ownership" could be contributed to Soviets partisans.

72% of all incidents were train derailments caused by blown up tracks. They caused 1-26 hours delays in traffic, damaged/destroyed locomotives/wagons and some fatalities per each incident.

Mostly military passenger trains were targeted, not too many freight ones, although derailment of a freight train usually caused longer delay on the rail line.

Number of fatalities varied so much in German and Polish reports that any conclusion is hard to reach.

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Re: German Railways in the East

#459

Post by GregSingh » 24 Apr 2015, 06:22

Found some video footage taken by medical officer of 254.ID
Among other stuff there is a loading trucks on rail wagons in France and then rail travel by Hamburg, Dirschau, Danzig to East Prussia in early 1941.
At 12:19:29 he captured a rare DRB Class 01.10 locomotive on Dirschau bridge!
Looks much better on video than on this photo...
DRB Class 01.10.jpg
DRB Class 01.10 Dirschau bridge 1941
DRB Class 01.10.jpg (22.51 KiB) Viewed 1564 times
Source: http://www.archiv-akh.de/

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Re: German Railways in the East

#460

Post by Der Alte Fritz » 02 May 2015, 23:40

If you ever wanted to know how a bridge was built then you can see here :
http://www.archiv-akh.de/filme/205#1

Of interest is the images here:
Image1.jpg
Image1.jpg (35.27 KiB) Viewed 1474 times
of Eisenbahn Pioniere Bde 2 equipped with lorries fitted with railway buffers, presumably to allow them to push trains. I am no expert in German military vehicles but they may be Mercedes Benz 4.5 tonne L 4500 S. Any other suggestions?

Around 19:20 you see a visit by Gen. d. Inf. Rudolf Gercke Chef des Transportwesens accompanied by Befehlshaber des Eisnebahntruppe Gen. Lt. Otto Willi and commander of Eisenbhanpioniere Bde Stabs 2 Oberst Otmar Krupl

Towards the end you see a rail capable FAUN 9 tonne Type L900 lorry mounted crane
Image

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Re: German Railways in the East

#461

Post by GregSingh » 03 May 2015, 09:37

Nice video! They finished all off in less than 20 minutes! Power of the motion pictures...

And here is the place:
Guderian bridge.jpg
Münsterwalde (Opalenie) Brücke

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Re: German Railways in the East

#462

Post by GregSingh » 03 May 2015, 10:21

Eisenbahn Pioniere Bde 2 equipped with lorries fitted with railway buffers, presumably to allow them to push trains.
Lot's of pictures in this topic: Vehicles on rails

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Re: German Railways in the East

#463

Post by Der Alte Fritz » 03 May 2015, 19:34

There is this account of the history of bridge. To paraphrase

The bridge lies in the province of West Prussia which was part of the Reich during the Kasier and the bridge was downstream from the important railway junction at Thorn with its crossing over the Vistula. The technical problem facing a crossing at this point was that in the 7 km width of the river valley, one bank was 43 metres higher than the other which necessitated expensive grading work in the approaches. None the less the traffic grew so that a single track steel bridge was constructed between 1905 and 1909. Military demands during the Great War saw the start of double tracking the bridge but this remained uncompleted by 1918. Presumably the long panning shots of the bridge and countryside are to show the approach works.

With the creation of Poland in 1920, Marienwerder joined East Prussia while the other bank went to Poland, so the resultant drop in traffic saw the bridge closed and dismantled between 1927-9 which parts of it being used at Thorn.

The site was ignored during the Otto reconstruction programme in West Prussia in 1940/41 as the bridges at Thorn were more than up to the task but the military necessity saw reconstruction planned in August 1944 with the bridge opening on the 6th October (which is presumably the date of the film during Gerckes inspection.)

The bridge was 1,000m long but they could use the former bridge's approach works so most of the time was spent in actually building the bridge rather than in ground works. Eisenbahnpioniere Stabs 2 fielded 1,430 men but as the film shows there were units deployed from the DRB as well.

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bahnstreck ... rienwerder
Last edited by Der Alte Fritz on 03 May 2015, 19:44, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: German Railways in the East

#464

Post by Der Alte Fritz » 03 May 2015, 19:42

The lorry is a Mercedes-Benz type L 4500 A

Image

Image

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Re: German Railways in the East

#465

Post by GregSingh » 05 May 2015, 06:44

While on subject of bridges and General Gercke....
Here is a photo from J.Piekalkewicz "Die Deutsche Reichsbahn im Zweiten Weltkrieg".

This bridge seems to be on Southern Bug river in Pervomaisk (Mykolaiv Oblast), on Slobodka - Podgorodnaja line, part of Ostbau 1943 upgrades.
Pity small print is unreadable. Also what's the other language used? Shouldn't Ukrainian use Cyrillic script?
Pervomaisk.jpg
General Gercke-Brücke - Pervomaisk

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