Tachanka

The tachanka (Russian: тача́нка) was a horse-drawn machine gun platform, usually a cart or an open wagon with a heavy machine gun installed in the back. A tachanka could be pulled by two to four horses 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.

There are at least two plausible hypotheses about origin of the word tachanka. The etymological dictionary of Vasmer suggests that the word derives from Ukrainian netychanka ("нетичанка"), Polish najtyczanka, a type of a carriage named after the town of Neutitschein, now Nový Jičín in the Czech Republic. According to another opinion, it is a Ukrainian diminutive, or endearing form of the word tachka (Russian: та́чка, meaning 'wheelbarrow'). Still another opinion is that it is a contracted word 'tavrichanka' for rugged carriages known in Southern Ukraine and Crimea, derived from the name "Taurida" for this area. However the latter derivation is dubious because the 'tavrichanka', a large, rugged agricultural carriage, is of completely different design.

A regular civilian horse cart could be easily converted to military use and back. This made the tachanka very popular during the Great War on the Eastern Front, where it was used by the Russian cavalry. The use of tachankas reached its peak during the Russian Civil War (1917–1920s), particularly in the peasant regions of Southern Russia and Ukraine, where the fronts were fluid and mobile warfare 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.

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