The Gustav 'railway gun' moved on two parallel tracks. 10,000 lbs projectile out to an effective range of 30 miles. Took about 30 minutes between firing.
Another example of what looks good on paper is a dud in the field. Oh, it worked as intended but it required an extraordinary amount of gun crews and material dedicated to defend the gun. Due to its size it was easily spotted and it could travel only on the (specialized) twin parallel tracks.
It was actually moved disassembled on a 25-car train on a single track. At the firing location, a special spur line was constructed of 4 curving, parallel sets of tracks. The inner two were to support the gun carriage, for the gun to be aimed (the bearing the gun pointed depended upon where along the track it was positioned). The outer pair of tracks were for the cranes that were used to construct the gun.
Do an image search of Schwerer Gustav. If you're like me and have never seen it before it'll blow your mind. If you plug Schwerer Gustav into Wikipedia there's a pretty cool picture of Hitler and Albert Speer (no relation to Vernon) admiring the Big Gun.
Standard 20th century Germans... Like many other weapons they made, it was too large to be practical. Hitler never came to understand that little fact, which lead to highly impressive, very cool, and absolutly useless weapons like this. The P1000 and P1500 Ratte and Monster (planned, but never built) tanks and the Bismark Battleship are other prime examples of the Nazi drive to impress, coupled with the Germanic "nature to build it because we can." Had the nazi war machine concentrated on developing existing technology, rather than building things like the V2, that war may well have lasted longer, or even ended with a nazi-controled Europe, including Britain. -Just A Chemist
Hitler should have left Russia alone, western Europe and England would have been his but the dumbass was to greedy! And yes if he would have stuck to tried and true tech the world would be a hole different! If he would have let the ME-262 be a fighter like the designers made it instead of a bomber like he wanted it would have come into service a lot sooner and possibly have defeated the bombing campain against Germany!!!!! Grayman
germany would have run out of gas before he ran out of pilots and aircraft. the closest oil was at Polesti, and that would have been the main target if germany was too tough to crack. shut that down and germany runs out. the planes become sitting targets with no gas.
a good series I've been following is the youtube channel World War Two, which does week-to-week reports as if the war was going on in real time. I've learned a lot from it.
One thing that strikes me about the name "Schwerer Gustaf" is that, if my memory of high school German serves, is that it translates to "Heavier Gustav." Which means that somewhere out there, Gustav has a smaller brother/father/cousin.
I know that the German army did have a number of very heavy siege guns and mortars, dating back to before WWI, if not to the Franco-Prussian War. These guns were their solution to the tactical problem presented by the French and Belgian border forts - big guns (many of them actually mortars, which, though relatively short ranged, had a more advantagous trajectory, coming almost straight down on the target) to smash the concrete fortifications.
If you look at pictures of that Gun (there were two built) it appears that the Barrel is Sleeved- that there is a smaller Tube that fits into the Base Barrel that is in the Trunnions. I have seen a single picture of German Artillerymen standing next to a Shell that was quite a bit Larger than this one. It is possible that the Gun could have also been used as a Howitzer, for a Heavier Shell, fired in Upper Register Elevations, as this has a substantial advantage for attacking Underground Fortifications.
Went to a conference in FL years ago. One of the Army Generals from TRADOC got up and talked about the german wonder gun and how it was fired at Paris in front of Prince Rupert and other nazi bigwigs. One of them asked the gun crew officer in charge, "well, what did you hit." It being 30 miles away he had no idea. A young gunner said he would get the answer and went to the nearest town to Paris in German hands and bought a newspaper. I suppose that was back when you could trust the newspapers.
The Gustav 'railway gun' moved on two parallel tracks. 10,000 lbs projectile out to an effective range of 30 miles. Took about 30 minutes between firing.
ReplyDeleteAnother example of what looks good on paper is a dud in the field. Oh, it worked as intended but it required an extraordinary amount of gun crews and material dedicated to defend the gun. Due to its size it was easily spotted and it could travel only on the (specialized) twin parallel tracks.
It was actually moved disassembled on a 25-car train on a single track. At the firing location, a special spur line was constructed of 4 curving, parallel sets of tracks. The inner two were to support the gun carriage, for the gun to be aimed (the bearing the gun pointed depended upon where along the track it was positioned). The outer pair of tracks were for the cranes that were used to construct the gun.
DeleteThe tiles in that floor look to be 12 x 12". It looks like the base of the shell is right around 2.5', or 30".
ReplyDeleteIf my high school math serves, 800mm = 31.5".
DeleteDo an image search of Schwerer Gustav. If you're like me and have never seen it before it'll blow your mind.
ReplyDeleteIf you plug Schwerer Gustav into Wikipedia there's a pretty cool picture of Hitler and Albert Speer (no relation to Vernon) admiring the Big Gun.
Standard 20th century Germans...
ReplyDeleteLike many other weapons they made, it was too large to be practical. Hitler never came to understand that little fact, which lead to highly impressive, very cool, and absolutly useless weapons like this. The P1000 and P1500 Ratte and Monster (planned, but never built) tanks and the Bismark Battleship are other prime examples of the Nazi drive to impress, coupled with the Germanic "nature to build it because we can." Had the nazi war machine concentrated on developing existing technology, rather than building things like the V2, that war may well have lasted longer, or even ended with a nazi-controled Europe, including Britain.
-Just A Chemist
Hitler should have left Russia alone, western Europe and England would have been his but the dumbass was to greedy! And yes if he would have stuck to tried and true tech the world would be a hole different! If he would have let the ME-262 be a fighter like the designers made it instead of a bomber like he wanted it would have come into service a lot sooner and possibly have defeated the bombing campain against Germany!!!!! Grayman
Deletegermany would have run out of gas before he ran out of pilots and aircraft. the closest oil was at Polesti, and that would have been the main target if germany was too tough to crack. shut that down and germany runs out. the planes become sitting targets with no gas.
Deletea good series I've been following is the youtube channel World War Two, which does week-to-week reports as if the war was going on in real time. I've learned a lot from it.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCP1AejCL4DA7jYkZAELRhHQ
One thing that strikes me about the name "Schwerer Gustaf" is that, if my memory of high school German serves, is that it translates to "Heavier Gustav." Which means that somewhere out there, Gustav has a smaller brother/father/cousin.
ReplyDeleteI know that the German army did have a number of very heavy siege guns and mortars, dating back to before WWI, if not to the Franco-Prussian War. These guns were their solution to the tactical problem presented by the French and Belgian border forts - big guns (many of them actually mortars, which, though relatively short ranged, had a more advantagous trajectory, coming almost straight down on the target) to smash the concrete fortifications.
What museum is this, would love to visit.
ReplyDeleteImperial War Museum in London, England, England.
DeleteWell worth a visit. Search online first.
If you look at pictures of that Gun (there were two built) it appears that the Barrel is Sleeved- that there is a smaller Tube that fits into the Base Barrel that is in the Trunnions. I have seen a single picture of German Artillerymen standing next to a Shell that was quite a bit Larger than this one. It is possible that the Gun could have also been used as a Howitzer, for a Heavier Shell, fired in Upper Register Elevations, as this has a substantial advantage for attacking Underground Fortifications.
ReplyDeleteWent to a conference in FL years ago. One of the Army Generals from TRADOC got up and talked about the german wonder gun and how it was fired at Paris in front of Prince Rupert and other nazi bigwigs. One of them asked the gun crew officer in charge, "well, what did you hit." It being 30 miles away he had no idea. A young gunner said he would get the answer and went to the nearest town to Paris in German hands and bought a newspaper. I suppose that was back when you could trust the newspapers.
ReplyDeletehmsdefiant