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