Hungarian Armored trains
Drawing of the Hungarian armored trains (above).
Originally these vehicles were used in WW1 by Austro-Hungary. The Monarch had 11 armored trains, out of them 4 made it back to Hungary after the war. The ones numbered IV., VI., VII. and IX. In 1919 Hungary re-numbered them to I., II., III. and IV. (IV. was later re-numbered to V.) and modified 8 civilian trains into armored trains so Hungary had 12 armored trains by that time, then two of those were destroyed by the Romanians and the Czechslovakians.
Armored trains I., II., III. and V. which were the veteran armored trains of WW1 and were constructed as such were kept in service. In 1932 the armored trains were re-numbered again to 1., 2., 3., 4., then they were re-named again in 1939. The new and final designations were "101. sz. magas szerelvény", "102. sz. alacsony szerelvény", "103. sz. magas szerelvény" and "104. sz. önjáró, motoros szerelvény" ("Tall train No. 101", "Low train No. 102", "Tall train No. 103", "Self-propelled, engined train No. 104"). 101., 102., and 103. were towed by MÁV 377 series locomotives while 104. had it's own built-in gasoline-engine. All 4 trains participated in the Occupation of Yugoslavia and Operation Barbarossa in 1941. After that they fought in the battles of Hungary in 1944-45.re-numbered again to 1., 2., 3., 4., then they were re-named again in 1939. The new and final designations were "101. sz. magas szerelvény", "102. sz. alacsony szerelvény", "103. sz. magas szerelvény" and "104. sz. önjáró, motoros szerelvény" ("Tall train No. 101", "Low train No. 102", "Tall train No. 103", "Self-propelled, engined train No. 104"). 101., 102., and 103. were towed by MÁV 377 series locomotives while 104. had it's own built-in gasoline-engine. All 4 trains participated in the Occupation of Yugoslavia and Operation Barbarossa in 1941. After that they fought in the battles of Hungary in 1944-45.sz. magas szerelvény", "102. sz. alacsony szerelvény", "103. sz. magas szerelvény" and "104. sz. önjáró, motoros szerelvény" ("Tall train No. 101", "Low train No. 102", "Tall train No. 103", "Self-propelled, engined train No. 104"). 101., 102., and 103. were towed by MÁV 377 series locomotives while 104. had it's own built-in gasoline-engine. All 4 trains participated in the Occupation of Yugoslavia and Operation Barbarossa in 1941. After that they fought in the battles of Hungary in 1944-45.
Tall train No.101. and No. 103
They had 1 armored locomotive, 2 armored cars and 2 empty wagons against mines. The leading armored car was equipped with one 8 cm Feldkanone M. 18, one 20 mm 36.M heavy gun in the turret and two 8 mm 31.M Schwarzlose machine guns on the sides. The rear armored car was armed with a 3.7 cm PaK 36, one 20 mm 36.M heavy gun in the turret and four 8 mm 31.M Schwarzlose machine guns on the sides. It's possible that the PaK 36 was changed sometime in the war to a Hungarian 40 mm 40.M AT gun, because Hungary started to use the 40 mm as it's standard caliber and supplying the armored trains with 3.7 cm shells could be hard when Hungary did not manufactured any.
No.101
No. 101. armored train with camoflague painting
No.103
Low train No. 102.
This armored train had 1 armored locomotive, 2 armored cars and 2 empty wagons against mines. The leading armored car was equipped with one 8 cm Feldkanone M. 05/08 in a turret which was re-modified in 1922 and was designated as 8 cm 22.M field cannon, one 20 mm 36.M heavy gun in another turret and two 8 mm 31.M Schwarzlose machine guns on the sides. The 22.M cannon had a high elevation so it could be used as an AA gun too as can be seen on the picture which was taken during an AA drill in Debrecen. The rear armored car was armed with a 3.7 cm PaK 36, one 20 mm 36.M heavy gun in the turret and four 8 mm 31.M Schwarzlose machine guns on the sides. It's possible that the PaK 36 was changed sometime in the war to a Hungarian 40 mm 40.M AT gun, because Hungary started to use the 40 mm as it's standard caliber and supplying the armored trains with 3.7 cm shells could be hard when Hungary did not manufactured any.
We do know that No. 102 participated in Operation Spring Awakening in 1945 but the fate of the vehicle is unknown. It was probably destroyed or scrapped.
Self-propelled, engined train No. 104
As mentioned before, this armored train had it's own built-in gasoline engine so it did not need a locomotive. We do know however that it had 2 empty wagons against mines. It was armed with one 8 cm Feldkanone M. 05/08 in the turret which was re-modified in 1922 and was designated as 8 cm 22.M field cannon, two 20 mm 36.M heavy guns on the rear and four 8 mm 31.M Schwarzlose machine guns on the sides. We don't know much about this armored train, all we know is that it was stationed somwhere near Lake Balaton in 1945 so it probably participated in Operation Spring Awakening. Fate of the vehicle is unknown.
Drawing of No. 104 which shows how the crew was located.
Black circle with flag: train commander
1-4: cannon crew
5: driver
6-7: heavy guns
8-15: machine guns
16-17: engineer crew
18-19: radiomen