Railroad Plough on:
[Wikipedia]
[Google]
[Amazon]
A railroad plough is a
A similar device, which ripped the rail off the ties, had been used by railway troops of the ''Pre-war fortification of Czechoslovakia in Czech Switzerland''
(entry for 24 September 1938) (Retrieved: 15 November 2007) and by German ''
Schwellenpflug, the rail wolf used by Germans in retreat.Photos of "rail wolf" in action and resultant damageVideo of German soldiers using a rail plough.
Andrew Grantham's blog
Military railway equipment Area denial weapons Ploughs Railway weapons
A railroad plough is a rail vehicle
The term rolling stock in the rail transport industry refers to railway vehicles, including both powered and unpowered vehicles: for example, locomotives, freight and passenger cars (or coaches), and non-revenue cars. Passenger vehicles can be ...
which supports an immensely strong, hook-shaped plough
A plough or plow ( US; both ) is a farm tool for loosening or turning the soil before sowing seed or planting. Ploughs were traditionally drawn by oxen and horses, but in modern farms are drawn by tractors. A plough may have a wooden, iron or ...
. It is used for destruction of sleepers
''Sleepers'' is a 1996 American legal crime drama film written, produced, and directed by Barry Levinson, and based on Lorenzo Carcaterra's 1995 book of the same name. The film stars Kevin Bacon, Jason Patric, Brad Pitt, Robert De Niro, Dustin H ...
in warfare, as part of a scorched earth
A scorched-earth policy is a military strategy that aims to destroy anything that might be useful to the enemy. Any assets that could be used by the enemy may be targeted, which usually includes obvious weapons, transport vehicles, communi ...
policy, so that the track becomes unusable for the enemy.
In use, the plough is lowered to rip up the middle of the track as it is hauled along by a locomotive
A locomotive or engine is a rail transport vehicle that provides the Power (physics), motive power for a train. If a locomotive is capable of carrying a payload, it is usually rather referred to as a multiple unit, Motor coach (rail), motor ...
. This action breaks the wooden ties (sleepers) which forces the steel rails out of alignment, making the line impassable by later rail vehicles. Bridges and signalling equipment also suffer serious damage.
Deployment
A similar device, which ripped the rail off the ties, had been used by railway troops of the Imperial Russian Army
The Imperial Russian Army (russian: Ру́сская импера́торская а́рмия, tr. ) was the armed land force of the Russian Empire, active from around 1721 to the Russian Revolution of 1917. In the early 1850s, the Russian Ar ...
in World War I, during their retreat from Galicia and 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 ...
. Railroad ploughs were in use by the Czechoslovak Army during the German occupation
German-occupied Europe refers to the sovereign countries of Europe which were wholly or partly occupied and civil-occupied (including puppet governments) by the military forces and the government of Nazi Germany at various times between 1939 an ...
in 1938,(entry for 24 September 1938) (Retrieved: 15 November 2007) and by German ''
Wehrmacht
The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previous ...
'' armed forces retreating northward through Italy and westward from the Eastern Front in World War II.
The German author Arno Schmidt
Arno Schmidt (; 18 January 1914 – 3 June 1979) was a German author and translator. He is little known outside of German-speaking areas, in part because his works present a formidable challenge to translators. Although he is not one of the p ...
(1914–1979) in his post-war novel ''Leviathan'' uses the image of a railroad plough as a symbol of evil.
Surviving vehicles
See also
*Sherman's neckties
Sherman's neckties were a railway-destruction tactic used in the American Civil War. Named after Maj. Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman of the Union Army, Sherman's neckties were railway rails destroyed by heating them until they were malleable and ...
– A railway destruction tactic used in the American Civil War by the Union to prevent the Confederacy from using the tracks by making them difficult to repair.
* Nero Decree
The Nero Decree (german: Nerobefehl) was issued by Adolf Hitler on 19 March 1945, ordering the destruction of German infrastructure to prevent its use by Allied forces as they penetrated deep within Germany. It was officially titled Decree Con ...
– Hitler's unfulfilled plan to destroy German infrastructure, during retreat, to avoid it being used by the Allied forces
References
External links
{{Commons category, Railroad ploughsSchwellenpflug, the rail wolf used by Germans in retreat.
Andrew Grantham's blog
Military railway equipment Area denial weapons Ploughs Railway weapons