Landships II

Very interesting MarkV. Railways were as essential to landpower as ships were to seapower and all the "great powers" were heavily into documenting each others' fixed/permanent railways in the pre-war years - maps, timetables, locomotive and rolling-stock identification and counting/estimation, the whole "train-counting" thing and a little bit risky for the agents involved. The ability to rapidly build tracks and deploy men and materiel along them was a critical part of any substantial conflict and this would have been a significant exercise to develop, refine and prove the capabilities and methods which came to be used in "the big one" half a generation later.

Despite the rise of airpower as an interdiction method, rail remained a critical part of force projection right up to WW2 and beyond (think "The Bridges at Toko-ri" - Korea). These 1892 exercises were part of the whole story and one I was not at all aware of before you brought them to life. Thanks.

Steve

Neat summary in that link James. All sorts of forgotten tales of intrigue, bravery and unknown heroes, ingenuity and Herculean effort underlie the story of military railways (and civilian railways in wartime) but none of our "favourite" wars would have even remotely resembled what they were, without that rapid transit and heavy lifting capacity that could (ideally, at least) move an army and all its various arms and supplies across the breadth of a continent in a matter of days.