The ''Danuta'', also called ''Armoured Train Number 11'', was a Polish

armoured train An armoured train is a railway train protected with armour. Armoured trains usually include railway wagons armed with artillery, machine guns and autocannons. Some also had slits used to fire small arms from the inside of the train, a facili ...

used by the

Polish Army The Land Forces () are the land forces of the Polish Armed Forces. They currently contain some 62,000 active personnel and form many components of the European Union and NATO deployments around the world. Poland's recorded military history stre ...

during the German invasion of

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

in September 1939.

History

The ''Danuta'' was built in

Poznań Poznań () is a city on the River Warta in west-central Poland, within the Greater Poland region. The city is an important cultural and business centre, and one of Poland's most populous regions with many regional customs such as Saint John ...

in 1919. In August 1920, the train participated in the Battle for Warsaw, as part of the Polish 1st Army. In 1924, the ''Danuta'' was assigned to the armoured train training unit located in

Jabłonna, Legionowo County Jabłonna is a village in Legionowo County, Masovian Voivodeship, in east-central Poland. It is the seat of the Gmina Jabłonna, Masovian Voivodeship, Gmina Jabłonna (administrative district). It lies approximately south of Legionowo and ...

. Like most other Polish armoured trains, the ''Danuta'' was modernised in the early 1930s by receiving a Ti3 type locomotive, additional guns and AA machine guns.

Second World War

After the

was mobilised in 1939, the train was assigned to the

Poznań Army Army Poznań ( pl, Armia Poznań) led by Major General Tadeusz Kutrzeba was one of the Polish Armies during the Invasion of Poland in 1939. Tasks Flanked by Armia Pomorze to the north and Łódź Army to the south, the Army was to provide f ...

. In the first days of the war, the ''Danuta'' supported various Polish infantry units. On 4 September, the train was bombed by the ''

Luftwaffe The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German ''Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabtei ...

'', but received only minor damage. Next the train participated in the

Battle of the Bzura The Battle of the Bzura (or the Battle of Kutno) was the largest Polish counter-attack of the German invasion of Poland and was fought from 9 to 19 September.''The Second World War: An Illustrated History '', Putnam, 1975, Google Print snippet ...

. On 16 September, the train helped to halt the advance of the German 24 Division and tried to withdraw towards the Polish 16 Infantry Division, but was ambushed by the German anti-tank artillery. The damage received in the ambush and the fact that the train's ammunition supplies were almost depleted forced the commander of the train, Captain Korobowicz, to order the train to be blown up, together with the assaulting German infantry, to prevent German capture. Out of the tanks used to scout on and off the rails, five

tankettes A tankette is a tracked armoured fighting vehicle that resembles a small tank, roughly the size of a car. It is mainly intended for light infantry support and scouting.

TKS The TK (TK-3) and TKS were Polish tankettes developed during the 1930s and used in the Second World War. Design and development The TK (also known as the TK-3) tankette was a Polish design produced from 1931 based on the chassis of the British ...

were evacuated successfully and two

FT-17 The Renault FT (frequently referred to in post-World War I literature as the FT-17, FT17, or similar) was a French light tank that was among the most revolutionary and influential tank designs in history. The FT was the first production tank to ...

tanks blown up.

The composition of the train in 1939

* Flatcar * Artillery Wagon * Assault Wagon * Armoured Locomotive * Artillery Wagon * Flatcar

History

Second World War

The composition of the train in 1939

See also