The role of the Military Crew Train is to ensure the supply of provision and ammunition as close as possible to the area of operations. This logistics and movement support mission is initially provided by convoys of carriages pulled by oxen or draught horses.
A TRM 10000 convoy crossing a floating bridge on the Rhine. (ECPAD)
During the First World War, under Colonel Doumenc's impulse, the automotive service of the armies is created. This is the beginning of the military transport mechanization: little by little the horse-drawn convoys are replaced by motorized trucks.
Widely used for external operations, to project all equipment by land, sea or air, the train weapon continually meets challenges. From the 1914 Berliet CBA to GBC 180, from Latil to Saviem, ARQUUS and its ancestors have provided for a century the majority of the train weapon vehicles.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION :
Video : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nc-cL4CiXwY
Book : 19e escadron du Train des Equipages militaires, historique, guerre 1914-1918, Paris, 1921.