Note for simplicity sake:

AH = Austro-Hungarian empire

K.u.K. = The AH's state railway.

The AH Panzerzugs used Roman numeral designations.

Much can and has been said about the problems and failures of the Austro-Hungarian military in ww1, however they did make some SEXY armoured trains, many of which saw significant post war service under new ownership.

So let's start first with the original beautiful Austro-hungarian Panzerzugs. Broadly speaking, they had 3 types: the improvised types, and later on the Light and Heavy Panzerzugs which where high quality factory builds ordered after the need for armoured trains became clear on the eastern front.

The borderlands between the AH and Russian Empire was very poor and often deliberately underdeveloped due to its status as a buffer zone between the AH and Russian Empires. Due to the much smaller population density and much less developed infrastructure everything on the eastern front was much more dependent on railways or rivers to get anywhere or do anything especially in large numbers.

The wide open sparsely inhabited spaces with limited rail networks also meant that the trench warfare that made armored trains useless on the western front failed to develop and a war of mobility was the rule, with huge amounts of territory traded regularly as armies advanced and retreated, generally following either the railways or rivers for obvious logistical purposes.

This in turn meant that capturing train stations was very important and major battles frequently revolved around them. These battles often started with an armoured train storming into a station with guns blazing.

To prove better protection and mobility for troops on the railways, especially in the partisan riddled Baltic's and Italian fronts, improvised trains were built by railroad engineering companies using whatever was on hand. One of the first was "Captain Shumans" train, named after it's designer. The success of these units let to state orders for more impressive factory built models.

The one main problem that the AH panzerzugs had was their terrible underpowered 377.116 locomotives, meaning that in most trains, these locomotives had to be paired up, complicating operations.

SO: first some photos of the Austro-Hungarian panzerzugs of the three categories:

[ Panzerzug X, Tarvis Tarvisio, Italian Front, 21 May 1916. One of the original more improvised Panzerzugs built by railroad engineers at a local depot. it had no artillery armament and relied completely on the rifles and MGs of the infantry it carried for firepower.](

The improvised armoured trains proved effective but lacked real firepower and their home spun designs were less efficient. However the K.u.K. made some truly beautiful panzerzugs all with integrated artillery. The surprisingly futuristic streamlined design of the "light" panzerzugs their artillery had a limited firing arc as can be seen. Both designs used the same style of infantry/machinegun wagon.

[ this is an \"Light Panzerzug\" Panzerzug II in Kolomea 1916 photo credit: Ulster Irish ](

and the much more steampunk looking riveted rail battleships the "Shwere Panzerzug" or heavy armoured trains that were armed with 75mm guns as standard in turrets with much wider firing arcs on unique looking artillery cars at each end of the train.

[Austro-Hungarian Shwere Panzerzug No. VIII, these were the more powerfully armed of the two main types of panzerzug.](

and the self-propelled coffee pot looking contraption known as the "MotorKannonWagon" which was almost always seen with Pz No. IX in photos

[close up of the Shobet Motorkannonwagen](

Anyways now unto some of their known fates after the empire was broken up:

Hungaria: Hungaria got a mixed bag of the more improvised units such as PZ No. Ix and it's MotorKannonWagon with some of the state designed trains.

Some were modernized and went on to live a surprisingly long life despite being stuck with the underperforming 377.116 locomotives.

[Hungarian armored trains between 1940 and 1945, MotorKannonWagon at bottom Illustration by András Illés](

[the Modernized Hungarian MoterkannonWagon rearmed with a 76mm field gun in a new turret, the favored weapon of armoured trains](

Czechoslovak Republic (not the Czeck and Slovak legion, the guys who ruled the Trans-Siberian).

They got mostly the light panzerzugs:

[This one seen unfortunately after capture by Nazi Germany. Czeckslovak republic armoured trains are easily identified by a distinct three color splinter como schem. the design of the artillery car is essentially unchanged.](

Poland: probably the most famous and well photographed former Ah Panzerzug was SMIAŁY a former Shwer Panzerzug.

[front half of P.P. No. 2 SMIAŁY with the crew, no locomotive as far as i can tell. The platforms are from an Austro-Hungarian heavy armoured train.](

[P.P. No. 2 SMIAŁY with an odd looking tank locomotive, the more improvised wagons can be seen on the left side.](

[same photo from further away, giving a better view of the safety wagon carrying rails.](

what makes these photos so interesting is that it shows in very good detail the front cars, a infantry/MG wagon and modified artillery wagon from a former Austro-Hungarian "Shwerer Panzerzug". However more interesting are the other platforms behind the locomotive, which are clearly of a more improvised character. Given that Poland inherited two complete Austrian "Shwerer-Panzerzugs" it is safe to say they split the better quality cars from those trains up among their other more improvised units to spread them around more instead of concentrating it all in just two trains.

[the quite odd looking P.P. No. 1 Piłsudczyk - Sept 1920, with a polish built 122mm artillery platform. However one of the Austro-Hungarian MG\/Infantry wagons can be seen behind the locomotive.](