🔍
Oddly Satisfying German Railroad Unzipper Footage - The WW2 Schwellenpflug - YouTube
Channel: Dark Footage
[1]
Near the end of World War 2, brief footage
shows an example of one of Germany's most
[5]
notorious tools as they undertook a scorched earth
strategy in retreat. As the war turned in the
[10]
Allies' favor, the Germans sought to hamper their
pursuers by destroying any and all transportation
[15]
infrastructure in their fallback to their
homeland. Thus, they turned to the Schienenwolf
[20]
or Schwellenpflug, Rail Wold, or Sleeper Plough.
The device, appearing similar to a small train,
[26]
efficiently “unzipped” the rails behind
it, leaving only rubble in its wake...
[39]
Scorched Earth
[41]
The Union of Soviet Socialists Republic (USSR)
had multiple district governments adopt a partial
[48]
scorched-earth policy in June of 1941 after
Germany's attack. That way, they would deny the
[53]
enemy access to telecommunications, railways, and
industry and electricity resources. At the time,
[58]
they destroyed their telegraph network sectors,
making sure the Germans had to bring their own
[62]
communications equipment. The Soviets collapsed
mine shafts. They blew up infrastructures such as
[68]
bridges and electrical generators, often
causing more damage than the invaders.
[74]
The German forces of the Army Group North
and Army Group Don also adopted the technique
[78]
once they destroyed food supplies during military
operations. They forcibly sequestered crops,
[82]
razed settlements, and burnt down farms. The idea
behind the German destruction of the countryside
[87]
was to slow the Soviet Army to slow down and
help save civilians. The policy, too, meant to
[92]
keep the Soviet Army from taking resources from
civilians. The best-documented case may be the
[96]
razing of Novgorod. This historical city was
scorched by the Germans during the Winter of
[101]
1944 as they retreated from Leningrad. All
their historical monuments were destroyed.
[108]
Towards the beginning of Fall in 1944, Finland
had to kick out the German troops stationed in
[112]
the country, fighting in the North as part
of a peace agreement between Allied forces.
[116]
Up to that point, Finnish troops had been
fighting side by side with the Germans.
[123]
General Hjalmar Siilasvuo led the Finnish Army
into an aggressive attack against the Germans
[128]
in August of 1944 at Tornio. This
forced the Germans to retreat rapidly,
[132]
and by the end of the year, most Axis power troops
withdrew from northern Finland. As a result, the
[137]
Germans reconsidered. They decided to implement
a scorched earth policy on their way to Norway.
[142]
They devastated portions of the country, burning
down over a third of the homes in their path.
[147]
The capital of the Lapland province, Rovaniemi,
was obliterated to the dismay of its citizens.
[152]
All the bridges in the region
were destroyed except for two,
[154]
and the roads were mined to no end. The massacre
was later referred to as the Lapland War.
[161]
When the Soviets started entering Northern Norway,
the Germans also pursued a scorched-earth policy
[165]
for their retreat. They blew up any building
that could offer shelter to the enemy—the goal:
[170]
to create a buffer zone
between them and Soviet troops.
[174]
Adolf Hitler himself ordered Albert
Speer, minister of armaments,
[177]
to commence nationwide destruction of
infrastructure through his 1945 Nero Decree.
[182]
The most chilling part of the decree is
at its very beginning and reads: [QUOTE]
[186]
"It is a mistake to think that
transport and communication facilities,
[189]
industrial establishments and supply
depots, which have not been destroyed,
[192]
or have only been temporarily put out of action,
can be used again for our own ends when the lost
[197]
territory has been recovered. The enemy will leave
us nothing but scorched earth when he withdraws,
[201]
without paying the slightest regard
to the population. I therefore order:
[205]
All military transport and communication
facilities, industrial establishments
[208]
and supply depots, as well as anything
else of value within Reich territory,
[212]
which could in any way be used by
the enemy immediately or within the
[215]
foreseeable future for the prosecution
of the war, will be destroyed."
[220]
Yet even Speer refused to follow
the decree. Once earlier in the war,
[223]
he had refused to destroy the French
industrial system during the German retreat.
[227]
He had gotten away with disobedience in
France, even with Hitler's knowledge of it.
[232]
One of the most valuable pieces of technology
during the German destruction of its own resources
[236]
was the Schienenwolf or Schwellenpflug,
the railroad plow used in Germany,
[240]
Czechoslovakia, and other occupied territories.
[245]
Schwellenpflug or Schienenwolf
[250]
The German Schwellenpflug or Schienenwolf
is a type of railroad plow. As the vehicle
[254]
travels down a railroad, its massive hook-shaped
plow pulls up tracks virtually destroying it.
[259]
Used to implement Hitler's scorched earth policy,
[262]
it destroyed several sleepers by the end
of the war. The enemy couldn't use them.
[267]
To rip up the track, the plow was lowered
from its center. This broke the wooden ties,
[272]
bending the rail's steel. The Germans made sure
no enemy rail vehicle could enter their territory.
[277]
Bridges and signaling equipment were also
severely damaged as it tore through its path.
[283]
The Imperial Russian Army used a device
similar during the First World War.
[287]
As they retreated from the German
Gorlice–Tarnów Offensive, the Russians
[290]
implemented this strategy in Poland. Maybe
it even gave the Germans the idea. Likewise,
[296]
the Czechoslovak Army used similar
technology during its occupation in 1938.
[301]
The Germans themselves used a railroad plow
for the first time in retreat from Italy
[305]
and the Eastern Front. Their plows were designed
and built by Krupp, a company from Essen beginning
[310]
in 1942. The way it worked was a mounted platform
featuring a giant hook. It would shred everything
[315]
it passed by at 7 to 10 kilometers per hour.
To load the hook, Germans needed only 6 to 8
[320]
minutes and a small team of 10 people. By the time
the machine left an area, the railway sleepers
[325]
would be completely destroyed with the rails
themselves taken to 73 to 93 percent of disrepair.
[335]
Surviving Models
[339]
Few models of the German Schwellenpflug
survive to this day. The Belgrade Military
[343]
Museum in the capital of Serbia hosts one in
a permanent outdoor exhibit. At the Historical
[347]
Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina, one is on
permanent display at the museum's entrance.
[353]
For several years after the end of the war,
the recovered vehicle was housed at Hampshire,
[356]
Britain, at the Longmoor Military Railway.
Since then, it has been reportedly placed in
[360]
the care of the National Army Museum. Still,
it is not up for display to the public.
[366]
A replica of the railroad ripper-upper was
built at Victory Park, an open-air museum on
[370]
Poklonnaya Hill, Moscow. Although German retreat
and the Allied attacks managed to damage much of
[376]
the German railroad, today the Germans house
one of the most efficient rail transportation
[379]
systems in the world, and the largest rail
operator in all of Europe, Deutsche Bahn.
Most Recent Videos:
You can go back to the homepage right here: Homepage