Chapter 17
During the Warsaw Uprising, a German Panzerzug 75, under the command of Captain Franz Edon, operated along the rail line circling from the West Station to the Warsaw-Danzig Station (by having seized the Postal Terminal at the junction of Ulica Chmielna and Ulica Zelazna, the resistance fighters had gained control of the rail line going directly through the city) and probably some further distance to the Wisla’s right bank, with the mission of bombarding targets at the front.Another train, designated Panzerzug 76, may possibly have sporadically participated in the fighting.
Both armoured trains mentioned belonged to the BP 44 model classification. And both were manufactured and in service by 1944 and, after their crews received their training in April 1944, both trains were transferred to the operational area within Heeresgruppe Mitte, albeit behind the front. In every train of this type, there were two armoured coaches (or gun-cars): Artilleriewagen, model BP 44, with 75 mm or 76.2 mm calibre guns, or a 105 mm calibre howitzer, along with a four-barrelled anti-aircraft gun firing 20 mm rounds, called the Flakvierling 38, a Kommandowagen (command car), and so-called Panzerträgerwagen (platform cars) which were used for transporting PzKpfw 38(t) reconnaissance tanks. A i. significant difference between the BP 44 and the earlier BP 42 model was that the BP 44 had an additional two cars, with each car housing its own PzKpfw IV. With this addition, model BP 44 armoured trains gained t significantly enhanced firepower, as well as a greater capacity to take on enemy tanks. These trains also consisted of Geschützwagen (so-called, assault cars) which transported infantry.
Based at the Warsaw-Danzig Station, the train (trains) bombarded the Old Town and Żoliborz from the so-called, circle line. Panzerzug 75 made a determining contribution to ensuring that the resistance fighters’ attacks against the Warsaw-Danzig Station, and their attempts to establish an open link with the Old Town and Zoliborz, failed. Not infrequently, they also shelled resistance fighter positions in other city districts of Warsaw, as for example, in Powiśle. Sometimes, Panzerzug 75 was denoted in German staff documents as “armoured school train No. 5”.
“Kubus” after the war.