Today, the most famous mobile headquarters of the head of state is Air Force One. This powerful plane houses, among others the Cabinet of the President of the United States of America, the crisis command center, living quarters, and is a flying state management center. Before the machine with this code name took to the air, another mobile headquarters reigned on the ground. It was the Amerika train belonging to Adolf Hitler, on board of which many important decisions were made that had a significant impact on the fate of World War II.
Probably on the ground
Hitler did not trust planes too much, and he was also not a fan of moving on the water. He most confidently felt on the ground, so he decided to live up to his times and build a train worthy of his position and the power of the Third Reich.
In 1937, he founded the Deutsche Reichsbahn, commissioning the creation of a machine that became a legend on railroads. Work on its construction lasted two years and in August 1939 the hangar of the German Reich Railways left the Amerika train depot.
One theory is that Hitler's personal turn was named after a French village in which the chief fought during World War I. Another, more controversial one, says that the name of the composition was related to Adolf's fascination with America. The history of the conquest and extermination of the Indians was for him a reference to the plans to conquer Europe and exterminate non-Aryans.
The train itself was the real king of railroads. Traveling countless kilometers and hosting the leaders and important personalities of the time, he was distinguished not only by his status, but above all by the level of technological advancement.
Hauled by two locomotives, it developed speeds of up to 120 km / h . The weight of the wagons did not drop below 60 tons, and the modern design and technological innovations with which it was equipped made it an ideal headquarters. Hitler felt in it not only safe but also confident. Thanks to modern solutions, America allowed him to efficiently manage military operations from every front he was on.
Adolf Hitler on an inspection visit during the September campaign.
City on wheels
Depending on the needs of a given journey, as well as the number of people taken on it, the Amerika train consisted of approximately 8 to 16 cars and could reach a length of up to 430 meters. There were over 200 people on board at its peak moments, making the train a real city on wheels.
Care was taken to ensure that the inner carriages were always in the same order. This allowed for the maintenance of fluent communication between communication and command cars.
The wagons of the Führersonderzug, i.e. the special Führer train, were made by German entrepreneurs. Their external appearance did not differ much from their civilian version. However, the vehicles made of steel had modern interiors, decorated in accordance with Hitler's requirements. They were designed by a company from Munich, which became famous for presenting the Art Nouveau style to the Germans . It was also unusual for those times to install heating and air conditioning in the carriages.
Adolf's private car was 63 tons. However, it did not result from the additional armor of the structure, but from the fact that the Führer arranged a bathroom in it entirely made of natural marble. As a result of this decision, the floor of the wagon had to be additionally reinforced with a reinforced concrete slab capable of supporting such a weight. Apart from this extravagance, the quarters of the leader of the Third Reich were elegantly furnished, but very modestly and, above all, functional . There was a lack of glamor and glitz, as the Führer himself considered these elements superfluous.
Always in third place from the front of the train, the wagon, apart from Hitler's bedroom and private bathroom, also contained a living room with a council table, guest bedrooms and toilets. The car was opened and closed by rooms where at least two guards were always on guard.
In addition to private security, the train also had secretaries, cooks, engine drivers, the chief's personal doctor, his barber and soldiers operating anti-aircraft batteries. The service for the comfort of travelers was one of the best of the best and world-class hotels would not be ashamed of it.
Guests traveling on the Amerika train could also enjoy amenities such as baths, for which a separate car was allocated. It weighed 78 tons, which was due to the installation of two tanks with a capacity of 2,000 liters each. The vehicle also contained a changing room and five bathrooms, including two with marble and steel bathtubs and three marble showers.
Shelter tunnel in Stępin-Cieszyn to protect Hitler's staff train
Armored train
Shortly after the outbreak of World War II, America became Adolf's second home and headquarters from which he watched his victories in Poland, France and other parts of Europe. On board, apart from the dignitaries of the Third Reich, he hosted, among others, General Franco or Marshal Pétain . The latter, after visiting Hitler's train, announced the famous declaration regarding the collaboration of the Vichy state with the Third Reich.
Each trip to the Führersonderzug was a military operation, meticulously prepared in every way. Everything was planned, from soldiers checking and marking the route, through specially prepared ghost trains that played the role of America's understudy, to a wide-ranging disinformation campaign regarding the route. In addition, the train was protected both from the air and the ground, and Adolf himself always had an evacuation route ready in case of an emergency.
In order to ensure maximum safety, stations with tunnels were selected as the stopping places for the convoy. In some cases, even special bunkers were built that could accommodate a train in case of an emergency, as was the case in Stępin-Cieszyn.
America itself was not defenseless either. The composition always consisted of two independent anti-aircraft wagons, armed with 20mm caliber guns . This infamous WWII weapon, despite its name, could successfully hit both ground and air targets. The range of its destruction was about 4.7 km for ground targets.
What ensured the success of Adolf's squad as a mobile command center was a modern communications wagon. There were teleprints, coding machines (including the famous enigma), a telephone exchange and a radio compartment. All of this allowed for real-time communication with the military and supported Hitler's success. However, once with the deepening paranoia of the commander of the Third Reich and the failures on the Eastern Front, the commander's headquarters was later moved to the bunkers - the only place where he felt safe at the end of the war.
Hitler's birthday
End of tour
After Hitler's death, the SS decided to blow up his private wagon. They were driven by the fear that after the end of the war the machine would become one of the symbols of the Allied triumph over the Reich and would be presented as a war trophy.
However, America, whose name was changed to Brandenburg with the US entry into the war, was not the only special train of the Third Reich. Hitler initiated the fashion for them among German dignitaries. A total of 25 special trains were created, ridden by people such as Hermann Göring, Heinrich Himmler or Joachim von Ribbentrop . It is thanks to them that we know what the private Adolf car looked like, because they were all built in the same style, and the trains of Göring and Hitler were almost identical.
After the war, the trains were divided between the US and Great Britain and were used by military commanders to navigate the Allied-occupied zones. In the 1950s, however, they returned to the Federal Republic of Germany. They were renovated and used as special warehouses for the chancellor and important state guests. She drove them, among others Queen Elizabeth II or The Beatles. Eventually they were decommissioned at the beginning of the 1980s.