In Murom, in the park named after the 50th anniversary of Soviet power, a monument-armored train "Ilya Muromets" is erected on a pedestal. It was built in 1941-1942 by railway workers of the Murom branch of the Gorky railway.
Brief history and description
In addition to the main hard work during the hard times of war, the workers in their free time devoted all their strength to the construction of a combat vehicle, and many of them on the same armored train left for the front as volunteers. Foundry workers from the neighboring cities of Vyksa and Kulebaki supplied metal, and the workers of the Dzerzhinsky plant tempered it. The carriages and anti-aircraft towers were brewed by the employees of the carriage depot.
View of the armored train from the Vladimir highway
In the locomotive depot, the locomotive was sheathed with armor. In a short time, people who had no experience in the construction of combat vehicles created a real fortress on wheels. The people of Murom decided to give the steam locomotive the name of the legendary hero, but Colonel Neplyuev, who took the train into operation, came up with his own name for it: "For the Motherland." On the eve of sending the steam locomotive to the front, the workers staged a rally, decorating the multi-ton giant with the inscription “Ilya Muromets"And the image of the head of an epic strongman. As a result, the combat vehicle was assigned number 762, and the inscription and drawing were ordered to be painted over. However, the name "Ilya Muromets" remained both in the documents and in the memory of the workers and front-line soldiers.
Military achievements of the armored train "Ilya Muromets"
On February 8, 1942, the Ilya Muromets armored train set off for the front from the Murom-II station... The wives of the drivers, seeing off the front-line soldiers, hoisted a huge red canvas over the steam locomotive, on which the coat of arms of the USSR was embroidered. In the city of Gorky, the armored locomotive "Kozma Minin" joined Ilya, after which the formation of the 31st special Gorky division of armored trains was completed.
The locomotive crew drove the Ilya so well that during the entire war the armored train did not receive a single hole. For the first time in the history of Ilya Muromets armored trains, they were armed with Katyusha rocket launchers. Silent running, high speed and colossal firepower made the Ilya a truly formidable force.
In 60 seconds, the armored train hit an area of 400 by 400 meters within a radius of one and a half kilometers. "Ilya Muromets" made 150 fire raids on the enemy and with the help of artillery and mortar fire destroyed 14 guns and mortar companies, 7 aircraft, 36 firing points and 875 fascists. In June 1944, near Kovel, a large junction center of the Volyn region of the Ukrainian SSR, a head-on battle broke out between the Ilya Muromets armored train of Murom and the German armored vehicle Adolf Hitler. The Murom gunners turned out to be more accurate, and the enemy "Adolf" was crushed to smithereens. Having traveled almost 2.5 thousand km, from the Oka to the Oder, the armored train "Ilya Muromets" only 50 km did not reach Berlin and met a victory in Frankfurt an der Oder.
Combat path of an armored train
In 1971, in honor of the 26th anniversary of the Victory over Nazi Germany, a monument to the Ilya Muromets armored train was erected in the glorious city of Murom. This is a life-size model of a steam locomotive, similar to the original that went through the Great Patriotic War. A memorial plaque was erected next to the monument, which shows the entire combat route of the armored train.
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