On June 22, 1941, Germany tore up the Treaty of Non-Aggression between the Soviet Union and Germany, gathered an army of up to 5.5 million people, and officially launched a war of aggression against the Soviet Union.
Because the war was launched by a surprise attack strategy, Germany caught the Soviet Union by surprise, and the Soviet army could only fight all the way and retreat all the way. It was not until the summer of 1942 that Soviet troops retreated to the east bank of the Don River and deployed at strategic points in the southern part of the Crimean Peninsula. It housed the Soviet Black Sea Fleet and the strongest defensive fortress of Sevastopol.
Sevastopol, which leads to Moscow in the north and the Black Sea in the south, is strategically important, and if lost, the entire Soviet Union is in jeopardy. The Soviets dispatched up to 100,000 troops from the navy and army, reinforced the entire defensive fortress, and filled the entire underground warehouse with ammunition.
However, on June 5, there was a sudden loud noise from the underground ammunition depot, the ammunition depot was bombed, all the ammunition exploded one after another, and the entire strategic site of Sevastopol was instantly engulfed in flames.
So, what exactly caused the fortified fortress to be exploded in an instant?
<h1 class = "pgc-h-center-line" > unveiled, the giant cannon unveiled, built for France</h1>
The strategic site of Sevastopol has a thousand-year history of operation, with generations of people constantly building and reinforcing, its surface poured with thick reinforced concrete, and the ammunition depot is thirty meters deep underground. The Soviets boasted that they could withstand any enemy bombardment in the world, but they were swallowed up in an instant.
As soon as such appalling news came out, it caused the world to shake. There has been a lot of speculation about the bombing of the Sevastopol ammunition depot, and many people believe that the most reliable claim is that Germany sent spies to infiltrate Sevastopol and blow it up. For the solidity of Sevastopol in the hearts of the peoples of the world cannot be destroyed by the bombing of the planes of the heavens.
However, during the day's bombardment, the fortified fortress was reduced to rubble by only 6 shells, which had been unheard of in previous wars. Thus, the 800 mm super cannon made by the German army, the "Gusta Cannon", was unveiled.
Germany is a country with great national pride, and conquering Europe and dominating the world has always been the dream of Germans. After Hitler came to power, he encountered the Great Depression that rose from the United States and later swept across European capitalism, so the Fuehrer was bent on conquering the world and regaining German hegemony over the whole world.
At this time, Germany set its sights on France, the largest country in Western Europe. But if france is attacked, the Maginot Line is the biggest challenge facing Germany.
France's Maginot Line cost 5 billion francs, took 12 years to take shape, was specially used to prevent German invasion, and was built of reinforced concrete, which was very strong. But the Fuehrer was determined to win france and ordered the creation of huge heavy artillery capable of bombing the Maginot Line.
This order was taken by the famous Krupp Arsenal, the Krupp family through the in-depth study of the world's existing weapons, believe that only 700 mm caliber heavy cannons can break through the Maginot Line, so the Fuehrer issued a military order, to create the world's largest giant cannon, its caliber must reach 800 mm.
In the spring of 1942, the Krupp Arsenal built it and named it after the prefix of the Krupp family, and the "Gustav Cannon" was immediately introduced. Since the name of the engineer who designed the cannon was "Dora", the name of the second cannon was also Called Dora.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-center-line" > second, super jumbo, there are also drawbacks</h1>
The heavy cannons that were originally used against France were built and France had surrendered. At that time, Germany's greatest enemy became the Soviet Union, so Gusta's cannons were transported to the Soviet Union from thousands of miles away to participate in the Soviet-German War, the largest and most deadly Soviet-German war during World War II.
The Gustav Cannon is the largest cannon ever built, weighing 1344 tons, reaching a height of four floors, 6 meters wide, 43 meters long, and the whole shape is very impressive. The Gustav Cannon has always been likened to a super monster, a well-deserved giant of cannons.
The Fuehrer's requirement for it was to be able to penetrate a meter of steel, seven meters of concrete, thirty meters deep of dirt, and it did. The 30-meter gun has a range of up to 47 kilometers. Gustav's cannon fired a total of 300 shells at the Battle of Sevastopol, inflicting heavy casualties on the Soviet defenders and fortifications of the fortress. However, it had a fatal drawback, that is, for every 48 shells fired, the entire barrel would be damaged and the barrel could only be reloaded.
In addition, the other shortcomings of the Gustav cannon are even more difficult to describe. Because of its huge size, it requires three specially designed giant transport vehicles to load it, and the roads along the way need to be paved with tracks, and the bridge cannot bear its weight, and can only be transported around the places where the bearing capacity is weak. And it is extremely difficult to load and unload, plus operation and command, defense requires at least 4,000 soldiers to barely complete. After all, the base of a cannon alone would require two giant cranes to barely lift.
Moreover, because of its grand size, this "Big Mac" needed to be vigilant everywhere, afraid that the Soviet Air Force would find out and blow it up. As a result, the German army was equipped with chemical soldiers, and every time there was a danger warning, they quickly released smoke bombs.
Therefore, although such a heavy firearm is extremely lethal, and the fuel for propulsion can even reach two tons, it is too eye-catching, and the transportation and gunpowder volume consume huge manpower and material resources, which is a specific weapon, and the comprehensive price is not high.
< h1 class = "pgc-h-center-line" > third, the cannon was badly destroyed</h1>
A giant weapon like the Gustav Cannon usually ends badly. Just like the reason why the nuclear bomb was developed, although it has deterrent power, it is only the United States that has really used it so far.
The Gustav cannon was used only twice, once in a German war against the Soviet Union, which attacked Sevastopol's ten-meter-thick reinforced concrete ammunition depot, leading to the Soviet Union's crushing defeat in the battle. The front then moved to Stalingrad, but Before Gustav's cannon could be fired, Germany was defeated in the battle. Forced to do so, Germany quickly dismantled the Gustav cannon and pulled it back home.
The second time Gustav's cannon was fired was in 1944, when the Warsaw movement in Poland was suppressed. At that time, the soviet union's heavy troops were already suppressed, and the Polish people took advantage of the situation to revolt and vowed to resist to the death. In this regard, the Fuehrer was murderous, and despite the tightness of the front, he insisted on firing thirty shells at the Polish rebel army with Gustav's huge cannon, instantly moving the entire Polish barracks to the ground.
Later, in a battle, the US army captured this cannon, in order to prevent future troubles, the US military directly turned the entire cannon into a pile of scrap iron, and this super giant disappeared in the long river of history. Nazi Germany still had a thief's heart, and built an identical Gustav cannon to try to save Germany from defeat.
However, Nazi Germany has long caused the world's outrage, and it has become weaker, and it is not something that one or two giant beasts can save. In April 1945, the victory of the world anti-fascist war was in the hands of the anti-fascist Allies, and the Fuehrer, seeing that the defeat was decided, ordered its ruthless destruction on the way to the retreat. Later, while cleaning up the Hilreben range in Germany, the Allies picked up the steel pipes of Gustav's cannons and 800 mm in diameter shells. Although the war in Europe was over and the atomic bomb had sharpened its knives against Japan, the wreckage still surprised the Allied technicians.
In the history of the world, especially in World War II, there have been so-called "black technology" weapons that have emerged, but these weapons have been invariably beaten into the cold palace. As mentioned earlier, the fate of the atomic bomb only served as a deterrent, and morality forced these weapons to be hidden in the snow. The Gustav cannon is also a microcosm of the fate of Nazi Germany, which was huge and terrifying, but could not avoid being dismembered. That's because the unjust side of the war is destined to be spurned by the whole world, but weapons are the same as war, and who is righteous in the existence of the two?
Resources:
1. "Gustav's Roar- 800 mm Super Heavy Railway Artillery Battle Record in World War II", Zhao Tun
2. "The Giant of artillery - Train Cannon Gustav", Ma Xiaorong