The German army had an almost perverse love of railroads. During the lead-up to WWI, it was said that the German General Staff spent every waking moment working out the shortest route to move mobilized troops across the excellent Imperial rail network and into France, or Russia, or Denmark or wherever as needed. By shaving ten minutes off a troop train here, or thirty seconds off an artillery convoy there, a war could be won.
In the end, the legend has it, that when the balloon went up in 1914, German trains only narrowly missed colliding with each other at rail crossings by scant seconds– so tight was the schedule to make the trains run on time.
With that the Germans understood how important the rails were to their enemies as well. Afterall the first “modern war,” the U.S. Civil War, made extensive use of railways to move men and supplies from place to place at speeds that would have made Napoleon squee with joy.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
The Germans therefore obsessed about tearing up the enemy’s rail system if they themselves couldn’t use it, or they retreated tactically withdrew. That’s where the Schienenwolf (‘rail wolf’) or Schwellenpflug (‘rail plow’) came in at.
Pulled behind a locomotive, the German army could detail a team of railway engineers to rip up rail lines at a rate of several miles per hour as long as the coal and steel held out.
Clik here to view.
A railroad plough (also known as a Schienenwolf (‘rail wolf’) or Schwellenpflug (‘sleepers plough)
They proved so successful in the tail end of WWI for the Kaiser that old Adolph revamped them for use in Europe when falling back from the Allied advance 1943-45. If it wasn’t for these rail chompers, Berlin likely would have fallen more rapidly. Afterall, while the soldiers could march on their feet, and the vehicles could keep up, both needed large amounts of food/fuel to keep rolling forward which meant who owned the (working) railroad lines won the war.
One of these beasts in action
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
