A tachanka (Russian and ) was a horse-drawn

cart A cart or dray (Australia and New Zealand) is a vehicle designed for transport, using two wheels and normally pulled by draught animals such as horses, donkeys, mules and oxen, or even smaller animals such as goats or large dogs. A handcart ...

(such as

charabanc A charabanc or "char-à-banc" (often pronounced "sharra-bang" in colloquial British English) is a type of horse-drawn vehicle or early coach (vehicle), motor coach, usually open-topped, common in UK, Britain during the early part of the 20th ...

) or an open wagon with a

heavy machine gun A heavy machine gun (HMG) is significantly larger than light, medium or general-purpose machine guns. HMGs are typically too heavy to be man-portable (carried by one person) and require mounting onto a weapons platform to be operably stable or ...

mounted on the rear side. A tachanka could be pulled by two to four mules and required a crew of two or three (one driver and a machine gun crew). A number of sources attribute its invention to

Nestor Makhno Nestor Ivanovych Makhno (, ; 7 November 1888 – 25 July 1934), also known as Bat'ko Makhno ( , ), was a Ukrainians, Ukrainian anarchist revolutionary and the commander of the Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine during the Ukrainian War o ...

Etymology

At least two plausible hypotheses account for the origin of the word ''tachanka''. Vasmer's

etymological dictionary An etymological dictionary discusses the etymology of the words listed. Often, large dictionaries, such as the ''Oxford English Dictionary'' and ''Webster's Third New International Dictionary, Webster's'', will contain some etymological informat ...

suggests that the word derives from Ukrainian ''netychanka'' ("нетичанка"), Polish ''najtyczanka'', a type of a

carriage A carriage is a two- or four-wheeled horse-drawn vehicle for passengers. In Europe they were a common mode of transport for the wealthy during the Roman Empire, and then again from around 1600 until they were replaced by the motor car around 1 ...

named after the town of Neutitschein, present-day

Nový Jičín Nový Jičín (; ) is a town in the Moravian-Silesian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 23,000 inhabitants. The historic centre of Nový Jičín is well preserved and is protected as an Cultural monument (Czech Republic)#Monument reservati ...

in the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

. Another account references a Ukrainian

diminutive A diminutive is a word obtained by modifying a root word to convey a slighter degree of its root meaning, either to convey the smallness of the object or quality named, or to convey a sense of intimacy or endearment, and sometimes to belittle s ...

or endearing form of the word ''tachka'' (, meaning "wheelbarrow'"). Still another etymology postulates a contracted form of the word ''tavrichanka'' - used for rugged carriages known in Southern

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

and

Crimea Crimea ( ) is a peninsula in Eastern Europe, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, almost entirely surrounded by the Black Sea and the smaller Sea of Azov. The Isthmus of Perekop connects the peninsula to Kherson Oblast in mainland Ukrain ...

, and derived from the name "

Taurida The recorded history of the Crimean Peninsula, historically known as ''Tauris'', ''Taurica'' (), and the ''Tauric Chersonese'' (, "Tauric Peninsula"), begins around the 5th century BCE when several Greek colonies were established along its coast ...

" for this area. However the latter derivation remains dubious: the ''tavrichanka'', a large, rugged agricultural carriage, has a completely different design.

Adoption

A regular civilian horse cart could be easily converted to military use and back. This made the tachanka very popular during the

Great War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

on the Eastern Front, where it was used by the Russian cavalry. The use of tachankas reached its peak during the

Russian Civil War The Russian Civil War () was a multi-party civil war in the former Russian Empire sparked by the 1917 overthrowing of the Russian Provisional Government in the October Revolution, as many factions vied to determine Russia's political future. I ...

(1917–1920s), particularly in the peasant regions of Southern

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

and

, on fronts where fluid

mobile warfare Mobile warfare () is a military strategy of the People's Republic of China employing conventional forces on fluid fronts with units maneuvering to exploit opportunities for tactical surprise, or where a local superiority of forces can be realiz ...

gained much significance. With up to 4 horses abreast pulling a tachanka, it could easily keep up with cavalry units and support them with mobile firepower. Tachanka tactics were centered around taking advantage of its speed to surprise the enemy. Tachankas, before the introduction of the tank or automobile to the battlefield, were the only way to provide high-speed mobility for the heavy, bulky machine guns of World War I. The speed of the horse-drawn cart would be used to move the machine gun platform to a favorable firing position, and then the enemy would be fired upon before they had a chance to react. Since the machine gun pointed towards the rear of the cart, the tachankas also provided effective suppressive fire onto pursuing enemy cavalry after raids and during retreats. Ukrainian anarchist leader Nestor Makhno pioneered the use of the tachanka en masse during the Russian Civil War. Makhno's forces relied so heavily upon the use of the tachanka that one Makhnovite referred to himself and his fellow troops as "a republic on tachanki". The Revolutionary Insurrectionary Army of Ukraine used tachankas mainly against enemy cavalry. Makhnovists also used tachankas to transport infantry, thus improving mobility of the army (about 100 km each day). Tachankas soon became used by the Red Army, with the famous example of

Vasily Chapayev Vasily Ivanovich Chapayev (; 5 September 1919) was a Russian soldier and Red Army commander during the Russian Civil War. Biography Chapayev was born into a poor peasant family in a village called , now part of Cheboksary. During World War I ...

. Later, it was adopted by a number of armies, notably the

Polish Army The Land Forces () are the Army, land forces of the Polish Armed Forces. They currently contain some 110,000 active personnel and form many components of the European Union and NATO deployments around the world. Poland's recorded military histor ...

which used it during the Polish-Soviet War. Initially mostly improvised, with time the Polish Army also adopted two models of factory-made ''taczanka''s, as they were called in Poland. They were used during the

Invasion of Poland The invasion of Poland, also known as the September Campaign, Polish Campaign, and Polish Defensive War of 1939 (1 September – 6 October 1939), was a joint attack on the Second Polish Republic, Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany, the Slovak R ...

of 1939 to provide cavalry squadron support. They were attached to every cavalry HMG squadron and HMG company of infantry.

Armament

Despite a certain degree of standardisation, the tachanka's armament was, in most cases, improvised. In Russia, the

PM M1910 The Pulyemyot Maksima M1910 (), or PM M1910, is a heavy machine gun based on the Maxim gun, that was used by the Imperial Russian Army, Navy and Air Service during World War I, then by the Red, White and Green armies during the Russian Civil Wa ...

was often used. The Polish cavalry of the Polish-Soviet War often used all kinds of machine guns available, including the

Maxim Maxim or Maksim may refer to: Entertainment *Maxim (magazine), ''Maxim'' (magazine), an international men's magazine ** Maxim (Australia), ''Maxim'' (Australia), the Australian edition ** Maxim (India), ''Maxim'' (India), the Indian edition *Maxim ...

, Schwarzlose MG M.07/12,

Hotchkiss machine gun The Hotchkiss machine gun was any of a line of products developed and sold by Hotchkiss et Cie, (full name Société Anonyme des Anciens Etablissements Hotchkiss et Cie), established by United States gunsmith Benjamin B. Hotchkiss. Hotchkiss mo ...

and

Browning machine gun Browning machine guns are a family of machine gun designs by John Browning, a prolific weapon designer. These include: *M1895 Colt–Browning machine gun, based on a design dating to 1889, was the first successful gas-operated machine gun to ente ...

. The late models of standardised tachankas of the Polish Army were all equipped with Ckm wz.30, a Polish modification of the M1917 Browning machine gun which was also suitable for anti-air fire.

Cultural references

One of the songs glorifying the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

during the Russian Civil War was called '' Tachanka''. The concluding lyrics, roughly translated, run: :''And to this day, the foe has nightmares'' :''Of the thick rain of lead,'' :''The battle-chariot'' :''And the young machine gunner.'' Tachankas can be seen in the classic Soviet films such as '' Chapayev'' and ''

The Burning Miles ''Miles of Fire'', ''The Burning Miles'', or ''The Fiery Miles'' (, Transliteration, translit. ''Ognennye versty'') is an early Ostern, Red Western directed by Samson Samsonov in 1957. Often considered the earliest of the 'Red Westerns' (or ...

''. A modern variant of tachanka can be seen in a cult Russian film '' Brother 2''. In modern Russian slang the word "tachanka" is used for any heavily armed non-standard tactical vehicles. On 7 November 1987, some tachankas marched within Soviet Army historical segments during the

October Revolution Day October Revolution Day (officially Day of the Great October Socialist Revolution, ) was a public holiday in the Soviet Union and other Soviet-aligned states, officially observed on November 7 from 1927 to 1990, commemorating the 1917 October Re ...

Parade in Moscow, which commemorated the 70th anniversary of the

October Revolution The October Revolution, also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution (in Historiography in the Soviet Union, Soviet historiography), October coup, Bolshevik coup, or Bolshevik revolution, was the second of Russian Revolution, two r ...

. In the video game ''

Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege ''Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege'' is a 2015 tactical shooter game developed by Ubisoft Montreal and published by Ubisoft. The game puts heavy emphasis on environmental destruction and cooperation between players. Each player assumes control o ...

'', there is a playable Russian operator by the name of Alexsandr "Tachanka" Senaviev, who operates a DP-27 light machinegun (which was originally on a tripod and had a bulletproof glass shield), and an incendiary grenade launcher. In

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders China and Russia to the north at the Yalu River, Yalu (Amnok) an ...

, the

Korean People's Army The Korean People's Army (KPA; ) encompasses the combined military forces of North Korea and the armed wing of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK). The KPA consists of five branches: the Korean People's Army Ground Force, Ground Force, the Ko ...

showed Tachankas during the 2023 parades held in

Pyongyang Pyongyang () is the Capital city, capital and largest city of North Korea, where it is sometimes labeled as the "Capital of the Revolution" (). Pyongyang is located on the Taedong River about upstream from its mouth on the Yellow Sea. Accordi ...

, one is commemorated the 75th anniversary of the founding of the Korean People's Army on 8 February, another is commemorated the 70th anniversary of the end of the

Korean War The Korean War (25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) was an armed conflict on the Korean Peninsula fought between North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea; DPRK) and South Korea (Republic of Korea; ROK) and their allies. North Korea was s ...

on 27 July.

References

External links