Tachanka The tachanka ( ) , ( ) 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 . Origin . 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 " ( , 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 . 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 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 . 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 . Nestor Makhno pioneered the use of the tachanka en masse . 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 . Later , it was adopted by a number of armies , notably the Polish Army 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 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 was often used . The Polish cavalry of the Polish - Soviet War often used all kinds of machine guns available , including the Maxim , Schwarzlose MG M . 07 / 12 , Hotchkiss machine gun and Browning machine gun . 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 . Tachankas were also used by both the Reichswehr and the Wehrmacht , under the generic name " MG Wagen " . Officially these were part of the series ( abbreviated If ) , most of which were simply carriers rather than battle wagons . In culture . One of the songs glorifying the Red Army during the Russian Civil War was called " Tachanka " . The concluding lyrics , roughly translated , run : Tachankas can be seen in the classic Soviet films " Chapayev " and " The Burning Miles " .