The most unique armored motorized wagon in history
Motorized armored wagon "Zaamurets". Model in scale 1:87. Work of Y. Pivkin. Company "Major models", Penza. Photo by the author
Thus I saw in the vision horses and riders on them, who had on them armor of fire, hyacinth and sulfur; the heads of the horses were like the heads of lions, and from their mouths came fire, smoke and sulfur.
Revelations of John the Evangelist, 9: 17
Revelations of John the Evangelist, 9: 17
History weapons. I have already encountered on "VO" the opinion of some readers who claimed that in Tsarist Russia there was nothing worthwhile, no world-class scientists, no discoveries of world significance, and the technology was just limping, and in part this was true. But only in part. Our engineers knew how to surprise and sometimes created real technical masterpieces. And something similar happened during the First World War...
The armored car in its original form. The armament in the domed turrets is the Nordenfeld guns of 57 mm caliber with a high rate of fire. Due to the peculiarity of the turret mounts, these guns could be used to fire at airplanes. In other words, we have before us not just a motorized armored car, but also an anti-aircraft motorized armored car!
And it was so that the experience of the first year of the war showed that the armored train, as a weapon of war, has a number of significant shortcomings. It is large, that is, a good target, gives itself away with clouds of smoke and steam, and most importantly, despite its large size, it is rather weakly armed. The conclusion suggested itself to make an armored train in the form of a single carriage with a diesel engine and weapons in the turrets.
And already in the autumn of 1915, Lieutenant Colonel Butuzov, the head of the department of railway troops and field railways of the military communications department of the Southwestern Front, presented a project for such a self-propelled armored car. The engine is diesel, which means there is no smokestack and clouds of smoke and steam, fire control, which on ordinary armored trains in the event of damage to the armored platforms could not be disrupted here in principle, well, and powerful weapons and reliable armor should have further increased the value of this war machine.
The work was undertaken by the former Zaamur repair brigade, which had worked in the Odessa workshops of the Southwestern Railway. The importance of the work is evidenced by the fact that the construction of the armored car was supervised by Major General M. V. Kolobov, and reports on its progress were sent to the Supreme Commander-in-Chief's Headquarters on a weekly basis. As early as November 16, the motorized armored car, named "Zaamurets" in honor of its creators, was sent to the Tsar at Headquarters for a demonstration.
Due to the peculiarities of its armament, the Zaamurets was used as a self-propelled anti-aircraft gun in the area of the 1917th Army of the Southwestern Front in the spring and summer of 8. After which, in September, it left for Odessa for repairs, where it met the October Socialist Revolution.
When the Odessa Bolsheviks began their uprising in January 1918, the Zaamurets also entered the battle and actively supported the Red Army. But then it fell into the hands of anarchists, who used it to travel along the Southwestern Railway and collect "contributions in favor of the Soviet government" in the form of vodka and lard. These outrages ended when it was recaptured by the revolutionary sailors of A. V. Polupanov and began to be used as part of armored train No. 4 "Freedom or Death" (another name is "Polupanovtsy").
Until May 1918, the Zaamurets, together with armored train No. 4, Freedom or Death, operated near the cities of Odessa and Melitopol, and then left for the Eastern Front. There, on July 22, in the battle for Simbirsk, the motorized armored car and the armored train were lost by the Reds, but the Zaamurets did not disappear, but ended up in the hands of the Czechoslovaks. And they, in turn, attached it to the armored train of the Czechoslovak corps, Orlik, and rearmed it (the 57-mm Nordenfeld guns in its turrets were without shells) with three-inch guns of 1902. In this form, the motorized armored car circulated along the Trans-Siberian Railway in the summer of 1919, ensuring its safety.
Model of a motorized armored car after modernization. The guns are still old, but the turrets are new, with increased volume, and equipped with commander's cupolas. The number of machine guns has been reduced, but they are equipped with armored shields...
It should be noted here that the Zaamurets was a true masterpiece of military-technical thought at that time. It had two Fiat diesel engines, a dynamo, telephone communication, two rapid-fire guns and ten machine guns. Despite its heavy weight, it easily overcame steep climbs, had a speed of 45 km/h and could even move on one engine! The armored platforms of the Zaamurets received new armored turrets - still hemispherical in shape, but taller.
Inside the machine gun casemate of the Zaamurets armored car
Having become a combat unit of the Czechoslovak Corps, Zaamurets (now Orlik) also worked in the diplomatic field – it accompanied the American diplomatic mission to a meeting with Admiral Kolchak in Omsk. Participating in battles, it showed itself from the best side. It could change its position faster than a regular armored train, it was more difficult to detect and, therefore, destroy.
It is interesting that there is even a film shot in those years in which this armored car is clearly visible in motion...
When the Czechoslovak Corps began its evacuation from Russia in 1920, the Orlik fell into the hands of the Japanese invaders, but did not stay with them for long, as they handed it over to the local White Guards. Interestingly, it hardly needed any repairs, although it traveled thousands of kilometers from Kyiv and Odessa to Moscow, Simbirsk, Irkutsk, Chita and Vladivostok, participating in hundreds of battles. As part of the White Rebel Army of General V. Molchanov, it took part in the Khabarovsk Campaign and the capture of Khabarovsk on December 22, 1921. But the general was unable to hold the city for long and began to retreat. At the same time, the commander of the armored car, Colonel Chekhov, decided not to fight anymore and took the armored train to Harbin, along with its entire crew.
Before leaving for China
M. Kolomiets and I. Drogovoz wrote in their book "Armor of the Russian Army" that in 1924, the "Zaamurets" together with the Czech "Orlik" under the command of the same Colonel Chekhov as part of the troops of Zhang-Zhu Chang participated in battles against the People's Revolutionary Army of China. And Soviet military advisers as part of the NRA reported that Chekhov's armored trains brought downright horror to the Chinese soldiers. Then, already in 1925, an American military attaché photographed a motorized armored car with a Russian crew. Well, and in 1931, it was apparently captured by the Japanese in Manchuria and then served for some time in the Kwantung Army!
Vladivostok, 1920.
"Orlik" in China, 1925
In any case, this armored motorized wagon traveled about 9300 kilometers along the Trans-Siberian Railway from Moscow to the Pacific Ocean with the Czech legionnaires alone. It played an important role in escorting no less than 259 trains with legionnaires from Penza to Vladivostok. It hardly makes sense to talk about how much was taken out of Soviet Russia, but history will never forget that all this wealth had such a wonderful "escort"!
As for the model itself, it is made in a very modern way - printed from special plastic using 3D technology. The chassis is standard from similar railway models: a frame adjusted to the dimensions of the body, pairs of wheels, a micro-electric motor, current collectors and a gearbox. The rails are purchased, as well as gravel and grass.
There is another option for making a similar model for those who do not have the opportunity to use 3D technology. All the parts of the hull, and even the hemispherical towers, are made of thin sheet polystyrene, which is glued with polystyrene glue. All the rivets are stamped on the hull from the inside before cutting into "armor sheets", which allows you to not crumple the edges along the cutting line. That is, first stamp from the inside, and then cut. Similarly, the hull can be made from a thin brass sheet: first stamp the rivets, and then solder everything.
Hemispherical towers are easily squeezed out using wooden balls of the appropriate size, and these balls are sold in the Leonardo store. A sheet of polystyrene is raked over a gas or candle, and then a ball is taken and pressed into the polystyrene. The excess is cut off, and the tower is almost ready. Thin rods are Chinese toothpicks or extracts from sprues from prefabricated plastic models. The model is painted with an airbrush, but this can also be done with a brush, using acrylic paints for this.
P.S. The author and the site administration express their deep gratitude to Yu. Pivkin for the provided photographs of the model of the armored car "Zaamurets" that he made.
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