In the battlefield, fire suppression can control the situation of the battle very well. But "in the face of absolute numbers, fire suppression is not worth mentioning"!
So is there a weapon that can perfectly suppress the opponent in front of the absolute number? The answer is, of course there is! It's the Gustav Cannon!
As we all know, Germany in World War II was very fond of developing unusual heavy weapons, such as the 188-ton "rat-type" super heavy tank! The "MG42" universal machine gun with a rate of fire of 1200 bullets per minute! And, of course, this 800 mm caliber super cannon "Gustav".
The 188-ton rat super heavy tank and MG42 machine gun have been described in detail in the past, and interested friends can go to the home page to view. Today we will talk about this "Gustav" cannon.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="6" > Gustav train gun</h1>
As early as Hitler came to power, Hitler asked for the development of a heavy artillery that could destroy the French Maginot Line. It is required that its range must reach more than 32 kilometers, and it must be able to penetrate 2.5 meters thick reinforced concrete and 1 meter thick steel plate. In 1936, it was finalized that the caliber of this gun was 800 mm.
After 6 years of research and development, in early 1942, this 800 mm caliber cannon was finally successfully manufactured. And was named "Gustav". The next is the test firing, the 1488-ton gun is not so easy to carry, in order to get it to the test site, 3 giant transport trains were specially made for handling. After arriving at the destination, the base, gun mount, and barrel were all reinstalled with a crane, and it took more than 1400 people 21 days to complete the installation process alone!
After installation, the cannon is about 12 meters high, and the total length of the battle is 53 meters! Because of its large size, the Germans were afraid of being discovered by Soviet aircraft, and they also deliberately deployed a large number of anti-aircraft guns and aircraft around the site, and a large number of personnel patrolled day and night within a radius of 10 kilometers. For this test, the Germans invested more than 4,000 people!
< h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="10" > Gustav's campaign</h1>
This Gustav cannon was originally a "gift" for the French Maginot Line, but after its development, France had been defeated. In this way, is this giant cannon not developed in vain? No! This cannon is actually needed on the Soviet-German battlefield!
In the summer of 1942, the Germans of 237 divisions were preparing to launch a fierce attack on the Soviets on the east bank of the Don River. The Soviets also built an ammunition depot 30 meters underground at the strategic site of Sevastopol, and the ground of the ammunition depot was also poured with a reinforced concrete wall several meters thick. The ammunition depot contained a large amount of ammunition needed by the Soviets against the Germans.
In June 1942, gustav cannons were transported to "Crimea" to counter soviet underground ammunition depots in Sevastopol, and on June 5, 7.1 tons of armor-piercing shells were hoisted by cranes and placed in the barrels of Gustav cannons. A loud noise resounded throughout the German positions, followed by a loud noise of the Soviet positions, because the shells accurately penetrated the several meters-thick fortifications built by the Soviet Union and fell into the underground ammunition depot built by the Soviet army! From June 5 to 17, Gustav cannon fired a total of 48 shells at Sevastopol, and under the bombardment of 48 shells, the place was almost flattened!
From service to destruction, gustav's cannon fired 300 shells at the Sevastopol region and 30 shells at Warsaw, Poland.
In 1945, just before Germany was about to be defeated, the Germans blew up Gustav's cannon 50 kilometers south of Chemnitz.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="16" > Gustav cannon parameters</h1>
The Gustav cannon is 42.97 meters long, 7 meters wide, 11.6 meters high, weighs 1350 tons, has a caliber of 800 mm, has a barrel length of 32.48 meters, and a barrel weight of 400 tons. The maximum firing angle is 53 degrees. 7.1-ton armor-piercing shells and 4.8-ton high-explosive ammunition can be used. The range is 28 to 60 km.
Overall, the Gustav Cannon was the largest of all the weapons involved in world war II. Its advantage is nothing more than its great power, and its disadvantage is that it is too maneuverable.