Schwerer Gustav

Posted: Fri Dec 28, 2007 4:42 pm

Schwerer Gustav and Dora were the German 800mm railway guns. They were developed in the late 1930s by Krupp in order to destroy large, heavily fortified targets. They weighed nearly 1,344 tons, and could fire a shell that weighed more than 7 tons at distances up to 37 km (23 miles). Designed in preparation for World War II, they were intended to be used against the Maginot Line. But instead of a frontal assault, the Wehrmacht outflanked the line during the Battle of France. One of the guns was used in the Soviet Union at the siege of Sevastopol during Operation Barbarossa. It was destroyed near the end of the war to avoid capture.

It is the largest calibre rifled weapon in the history of artillery and fired the heaviest shells of any artillery piece. It is only surpassed in calibre by the American 36-inch Little David mortar and a handful of earlier siege mortars which all fired smaller shells

Posted: Fri Dec 28, 2007 4:45 pm

those shells were fairly large Smile

look at them next to a RUSSIA

T34

Posted: Fri Feb 15, 2008 2:47 am

Here a video of the German Dora gun, not as large as good old Schwerer Gustav

Link

Posted: Sat Apr 11, 2009 12:46 pm

Schwerer Gustav

Link