train was then used for patrolling the rails in the vicinity of Łódź, being able to fend off many more air attacks. On 6 September it withdrew towards Warsaw with a special mission of escorting a transport of gold deposits from the banks of Poznań. It reached the capital on September 8. Attached to the Wyszków Operational Group, the train operated near Legionowo, Tłuszcz, Rembertów, Mińsk Mazowiecki and Siedlce. As the German motorised units outflanked the Polish defenders and captured both Mińsk and Siedlce, the train was caught in the resulting traffic jam in a large operational "cauldron" to the east of Warsaw. Encircled by the Germans in the same "cauldron" were the supply train of Generał Sosnkowski, the 17th Railway Company and 17 different evacuation trains. An ad-hoc battle group was formed by the crews of the trains and commanded by Col. Mikołaj Prus-Więckowski, who defended the area. Unable to escape encirclement, the train patrolled the Sosnowe-Mrozy line, where it defeated numerous German attacks. However, in a skirmish on 17 September one of the artillery cars was knocked out and in the evening had to leave the town of Mrozy. The following day the crew retook the town from the Germans, but in a reverse on 19 September the assault car was lost too. Cut off from Polish lines, by 20 September the train had only one gun and 3 machine guns operational, and no more than 6 shells for the single artillery piece. The train had to be abandoned at Mrozy and was destroyed by its crew so as not to fall into German or Soviet hands. Later, armoured train was captured by Soviet NKVD troops, repaired, and put in service as NKVD armoured train №77 http://nkvd.borda.ru/?1-17-0-00000028-000-0-0-1158599937 The crew of "Piłsudczyk" tried unsuccessfully to reach Warsaw on foot, but joined the Independent Operational Group Polesie instead, and fought-on against the Germans and Soviets until the battle of Kock, at the end of the Polish defensive war of 1939. References Citations Bibliography Armoured trains of Poland