Key to the PL-37's design was its armament of 2 x 76.2mm Mod. 1902/30 field guns, each gun and its applicable mounting hardware held in traversable turrets at the front and rear ends of the car. 560 x 76.2mm projectiles were carried in High-Explosive (HE) and Armor-Piercing (AP) flavors to suit the mission need. The Soviets found out that their 76.2mm guns were quite effective against many forms of German armor so the Mod. 1902/30 did not disappoint in its intended role. Beyond the cannon armament, the PL-37 was also given a battery of 6 x 7.62mm Maxim water-cooled machine guns - two along each hull side and the remaining pair as coaxial mounts in each turret. These weapons could provide suppression fire of infantry forces attempting to overtake the train or support allied offensives as needed. The water-cooled nature of the machine guns ensured proper cooling of the barrel so long as a water supply was available.
Armored trains still held some battlefield value in World War 2, particularly in hard-to-reach areas of the Russian Empire. However, as the strike aircraft threat continued to grow throughout the conflict, the value of the armored train was realized and, in turn, dwindled in its active use. Armored trains were relatively easy pickings for incoming dive bombers for their speeds were contained and their paths constrained to the available tracks. Knocking out a whole bridge could render the reach of armored trains useless or downright limited overall. An incoming bomber need only content with defensive machine gun or cannon fire as it swooped down with machine guns, cannon fire, drop bombs, or rockets of its own. While the interwar years marked the technological apex of the armored train, World War 2 served as its swan song though the Soviets kept a stock of such pieces for security purposes into the Cold War years.
Many Soviet armored trains fell in the opening salvos of the German invasion of the East.
Content ©MilitaryFactory.com; No Reproduction Permitted.