Railway sabotage was one of the main tactics used by the resistance to German occupation during World War II. Partisans and rail workers used sabotage to harass and confuse the invaders, misdirect, destroy, and lose their troops and supplies, and to damage railroad infrastructure, denying the occupiers its use.
The new methods of mobile war heavily relied on military logistics, for fuel, food, ammunition and other supplies. Germany was especially dependent on Deutsche Reichsbahn and captured railways on the Eastern Front of World War II, fuel being scarce for road transport and horses in World War II died at a high rate, as in earlier wars.
Gordon L. Rottman noted that "railroad sabotage was one of the most frequent partisan activities in all theaters of the war". In addition to violent attacks by organized resistance, acts of rail-related sabotage also included actions by railway workers such as causing minor accidents and delays, misdirecting and misrouting trains, and other similar acts.
Name
In Polish and Russian historiography, the attacks are often called "Battle for the railways" () or "War of the Rails". These terms have been used in the Polish historiography as early as in 1975 and at first was used to describe the operations of Polish and Soviet partisans in 1943. Newer Polish works, however, use it more broadly in the context of all partisans operations in occupied Europe directed against the German-controlled railway infrastructure in the period of 1939–1945.
By country
Denmark
Railway sabotage has been described as very successful in Denmark.
France
In 1944, before D-Day landings, Britain and the French Resistance coordinated a series of railway sabotage actions known as Plan Vert. French resistance railway sabotage, with a focus on the Résistance-Fer organization, was the subject of the 1946 French documentary The Battle of the Rails.
Greece
A major incident of railway sabotage in Greece took place in November 1942, when the Greek resistance fighters demolished a chain of three viaducts on the Thessaloniki-Athens line. Later they also blew up the Gorgopotamus Viaduct (Operation Harling) and the Asopos Viaduct.
Norway
Among the most notable acts of railway sabotage in Norway was the Thamshavn Line sabotage.
Poland
Occupied Poland became an important transit area connecting Germany to the Soviet Union territories, and rail transport was the main method of transportation of resources for the German war effort. Following the end of organized Polish resistance in October 1939, Germans started to rebuild the damaged infrastructure, and then improve it beyond the pre-war level. Following the German invasion of the Soviet Union, close to 100% of the German supplies to the Eastern Front lines passed through the former Polish territories.
The Polish resistance attitude towards railway sabotage was complicated. On one level, it was seen as a viable target of opportunity, disrupting the German war effort. At the same time, the Soviet Union, which had also invaded Poland in 1939, was seen as another enemy of the Polish state, and therefore there were debates within the Polish resistance loyal to the Polish government-in-exile as to what extent efforts aiding Soviet Union were in the best interest of Poland. As a result, the decision was made by the majority of the Polish resistance, affiliated with the government-in-exile and the Polish Underground State, to conduct only limited railway sabotage, while a plan for a wide-scale action aiming to totally disrupt it, codenamed "Akcja Bariera" was drawn up but shelved. The smaller communist-affiliated resistance, however, rejected this and supported extensive attacks at the German supply lines.