[烛光生存狂]-波罗的海国家的坦克装甲车辆和装甲列车

http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?f=47&t=153645

The following articles have been on my computer for more than 10 years and were copied from a now defunct website on the Baltic states' AFVs and armored trains. Unfortunately I did not record the name(s) of the original author(s):

"ESTONIAN ARMOR 1918-40

爱沙尼亚

In November 1918, 9 months after that Estonia had declared itself independent, the Bolsheviks invaded Estonia and the Estonians could do nothing. However, Estonia quickly formed an army and found a very competent commander in General Johan Laidoner. Great Britain and Finland provided them with arms, and volunteer soldiers arrived from Sweden (Swedish Estonian Corp), Denmark and Finland. In early 1919 the Estonians managed to throw back the Russians and continued the war on Russian land. Johan Pitka, who later became an admiral and chief for the Estonian Navy, formed the Estonian armored forces during November/December of 1918, when Estonia were near to be defeated by the Bolsheviks.

Armored Trains

Pitka equipped the 3 first armored trains, which later played a decisive role in the Estonian victory over the Bolsheviks in January of 1919. During the war, a further 10 armored trains were built, and a few were also captured from the Bolsheviks. 4 of the armored trains were small-track trains and could only be used against partisans in the western areas of Estonia. The other 6 trains which were wide-track trains, was reinforced with 3 elite infantry battalions and they together formed the Armored Train Division. This was the most powerful weapon of the Estonian army at that time, and it saw action in every major operation

of the war.

First Armored Cars 1918/19

Johan Pitka headed the production of 6 armored cars, which was built during 1918-19. 5 of those were built on 3-ton AEG heavy truck chassis and they had a crew of 11 men (7 in combat); Officer, 2 drivers, 1 artillery man, 1 reserve artillery man, 2 MG gunners, 2 reserve MG gunners, 1 Madsen gunner and a reserve Madsen gunner. Armament consisted of a 37mm Maxim gun in a fully traversal turret, 2 Maxim MGs and a Madsen-cannon. Ammo load was approx. 250 shells for the 37mm gun. They were named; "Estonia", "Kalewipoeg", "Toonela", "Vibuane" and "Wahur". All of them remained in service until 1940 (!). The 6th armored car - "Tasuja" - was a lighter vehicle, and it was lost in action in March of 1919. Estonia captured 3 Russian Putilov-Austin and 1 Putilov-Garford (this was armed with a short 76mm gun) armored cars during the war. With this, Estonia had 9 armored cars when the war ended. However, the quality of the armored cars was poor, and its usability limited. All of them were built on 4x2 trucks and were only lightly armored. They could only drive on roads, and due to this they often played a minor role in the battle.

However, there are some combat articles with "Kalewipoeg", "Toonela" and "Vibuane" in action, which are very interesting to read as they describe how powerful (especially for the morale) the armored cars were in the right conditions. A Swede - Einar Lundborg -commanded the "Kalewipoeg", and he was later called "The King of Pskov" due to a famous action just outside Pskov when Lundborg and the rest of his crew on the "Kalewipoeg" totally cleared the way for the following Estonian infantry who then took Pskov. Otherwise those armored cars were mostly used in "clean-ups", anti-partisan service and guard duties. They were organized into an Armored Car Squadron, commanded by August Nieländer.

General Yudenitch and Tanks, 1919 -1920

In August of 1919 a British tanksquad arrived to Tallinn, consisting of 6 Mk V "Composite" tanks. These were provided to support General Yudenitch attack on Petrograd. The left sponson was armed with a machine gun, and the right sponson with a 57mm gun on all 6 tanks. The tanks were named; "Brown Bear", "Brown Bear II", "Capt. Cromie", "Deliverance", "First Aid" and "White Soldier". The training of White Russian tank crews had begun, but when the tanks entered combat in September/October of 1919 they had British crews. The British tanks played an important role in General Yudenitch offensive on Petrograd and saw intensive combat; however they were often abandoned by the following White-Russian infantry supporting them.

Some Swedish volunteers replaced the White Russian infantry and performed very well. On October 25th of 1919, Yudenitch offensive on Petrograd collapsed and the white guardist troops fled. As the offensive failed, the tanks were quickly transported back into Estonia by rail. Estonia was later allowed to keep 4 tanks, while the 2 remaining vehicles were handed over to Latvia. General Yudenitch had borrowed 3 Renault FT-17 tanks from Finland, but they never saw any combat, and they were later returned to Finland in April of 1920.

Renault FT-17 tanks, 1920

In 1920, Estonia bought 12 light Renault FT-17 tanks, 4 of these were armed with a 37mm Hotchkiss gun and the 8 remaining were armed with a single MG. The FT-17 tanks were used to halt a commie uprising in Tallinn on December 1st of 1924.

Crossley Armored Cars, 1927-1928

During 1927-28, 13 armored cars were built, based upon the 4x2 Crossley truck chassis. These armored cars could only drive on roads, and not in terrain which was a major drawback. 4 of them were armed with a 37mm gun and weighed 6 tons, whilst the other 9 were armed with a 7.7mm Madsen-MG and only weighed 5 tons. All of them had a crew of 5 men. The three 37mm gun armored cars were issued to the home guard (Kaitseliit), and the MG armored cars were issued to the army.

Polish TKS tankettes, 1934/35

The only tracked vehicles purchased in the 1930s were 6 Polish MG-armed TKS tankettes that was bought from Poland in 1934. They were delivered in February of 1935 and were used by "Autotankirugement". On 17th of June 1940, Estonia was occupied by Soviet Union and the Estonian army became a part of the Red Army as the 22nd Territorial Corp. The TKS tankettes were then used in reconnaissance battalions.

Landsverk L-180 armored car, 1936/37

Estonia's most modern armored vehicle was bought by the police force in Tallinn in 1936, and was a L-180 armored car built by AB Landsverk in Landskrona, Sweden. It was marked with Landsverknumber #108 and was delivered in 1937. It was armed with a 20mm Madsen automatic-cannon and two MGs, and it gave an extra edge to the (mounted) police force in Tallinn. Its main purpose was to halt communist uprisings.

Anti-tank guns, 1940

No other purchase of tanks and armored cars was planned further on, and the anti-tank arm was expanded. As of early 1940, 3 anti-tank companies had been organized, and each one of them were equipped with 12 x 37mm Rheinmetall PAK anti-tank guns from Germany. Estonia had built another 4 wide-track armored trains during the 1920s as a replacement to the older ones. In 1939-40, 3 of them together with a battery of railroad artillery were organized into an Armored Train Regiment in Tapa. However ideas were laid down to replace the armored trains with railroad artillery as the Estonians had found out that armored trains were obsolete.

Organization in 1939/40

1st Armored Company, Tallinn

9 x armored cars (Model 1918/19).

2nd Armored Company, Dorpat (Tartu)

3 x Renault FT-17, 9 x Crossley (MG) armored cars

3rd Armored Company, Tallinn

9 x Renault FT-17, 6 x TKS tankettes

An attempt to list the name of most armored vehicles and armored trains in Estonian service 1918-1940:

3 first armored trains: #1 ?, #2 ?, #3 ?

4 small-track trains built after the war: #1 "Suur Tõll", #2 ?, #3 ?, #4

6 wide-track trains built after the war:

#1 "Pisuhãnd", (Captain Irv, 120mm main gun),

#2 ?,

#3 "Onu Tom" ("Uncle Tom"),

#4 ?,

#5 ?,

#6 ?

Captured armored trains: ?

6 armored cars 1918/19: "Tasuja", "Estonia", "Kalewipoeg", "Toonela", "Vibuane", "Wahur"

4 capt

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