How did German forces adapt Soviet railroads for use in World War II?

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logistics Orange and Alexandria Railroad wrecked by retreating Confederates, Manassas, Virginia, photograph by George N. Barnard, March 1862.

During the invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941, German forces adapted captured Soviet railroads to support their logistics by converting the tracks from their original wide gauge to a narrower gauge. This conversion was necessary to accommodate German rolling stock, allowing the Wehrmacht to extend supply lines into the combat zone and supplement their limited motor transport by paralleling vehicle roads.1