This is a Deutsche Reichsbahn DRB Class 52 (nr. 52 4966) German wartime steam Kriegslokomotive. These locomotives were real workhorses during the Second World War. This type of steam locomotive was produced in large numbers from 1942 until the end of the war in multiple German factories, 7794 units in total. The locomotive on the photo’s below is from 1944 and photographed in Deutsches Technikmuseum Berlin.
The Locomotives were produced in three countries, Germany, Austria and in occupied Poland. In Poland they even used forced laborers from Auschwitz. It is a simplified version of the DRB Class 50 which was produced before the war, with less materials and less construction time. The materials used were exchangeable with other Kriegslokomotiven (Eng: war time locomotives), therefore the Germans called them “Einheitsdamplokomotieven” (Eng: unity steam locomotives).
Many of these locomotives changed ownership after the war, they were used throughout Europe, Russia, Romania, Bulgaria, Norway, Poland and Yugoslavia. About a dozen classes of locomotive were referred to as Kriegslokomotieven; however, the three main classes were the Class 52, 50 and 42. They were numbered 52 001 to 52 7794 . A total of 20 are preserved in Germany.
