Author Topic: Schwere Gustav(Colourful)  (Read 1380 times)

Offline Fongman

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Schwere Gustav(Colourful)
« on: May 06, 2005, 08:00:08 AM »

Offline frank3

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Schwere Gustav(Colourful)
« Reply #1 on: May 06, 2005, 09:35:44 AM »
I wouldn't want to be the one standing behind it when it fires!

(Schwere is German for heavy)

Offline Krusty

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Schwere Gustav(Colourful)
« Reply #2 on: May 06, 2005, 11:31:14 AM »
There's no picture?

Offline JB73

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Schwere Gustav(Colourful)
« Reply #3 on: May 06, 2005, 11:36:57 AM »
Quote
Originally posted by Krusty
There's no picture?
takes a long time to load from asia
I don't know what to put here yet.

Offline frank3

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Schwere Gustav(Colourful)
« Reply #4 on: May 06, 2005, 12:38:12 PM »
Fongman downloads too much stuff like your avatar Jb ;)

Offline Tails

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Schwere Gustav(Colourful)
« Reply #5 on: May 06, 2005, 04:33:05 PM »
Big gun...

Anyone know how effective railway guns like that actually were?

Especially the Gustav which, I believe, actually needed the railway built as it went (ran on two sets of side-by-side tracks)
BBTT KTLI KDRU HGQK GDKA SODA HMQP ACES KQTP TLZF LKHQ JAWS SMZJ IDDS RLLS CHAV JEUS BDLI WFJH WQZQ FTXM WUTL KH

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Offline MiloMorai

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Schwere Gustav(Colourful)
« Reply #6 on: May 06, 2005, 04:56:11 PM »

Offline Angus

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« Reply #7 on: May 06, 2005, 05:30:51 PM »
Wasnn't there also "Big Bertha"?

I know the Gerries had guns that fired across the channel to Britain. They were primary bomber targets naturally.
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Offline Tails

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« Reply #8 on: May 06, 2005, 08:04:46 PM »
I dont know which gun that was, but I do recall one of the UK-targetted guns. It was unaimable, and used multiple impulses to accelerate the shell. Pretty neat design actually, but useful only as a terror weapon, as it could only be 'aimed' by adjusting the firing impulses, and thus range.
BBTT KTLI KDRU HGQK GDKA SODA HMQP ACES KQTP TLZF LKHQ JAWS SMZJ IDDS RLLS CHAV JEUS BDLI WFJH WQZQ FTXM WUTL KH

(Yup, foxy got an Enigma to play with)

Offline frank3

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« Reply #9 on: May 07, 2005, 05:03:36 AM »
Quote
Originally posted by Tails
Anyone know how effective railway guns like that actually were?


I recall someone said it was as effective as a heavy-bomber raid.

Offline indy007

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« Reply #10 on: May 07, 2005, 07:57:56 AM »
Quote
Originally posted by frank3
I recall someone said it was as effective as a heavy-bomber raid.


The first time a "Paris Gun" shell landed, the citizens in Paris thought it was a terrorist bombing. It blew up a water-treatment plant. It also took a battalion of men to operate a single gun. iirc, it also de-railed itself everytime it fired. Typically German. An ultimately ineffective marvel of engineering :)


ahhh, here's what I'm thinking of.. WW1! The precursor to the Dora & Gustav.

« Last Edit: May 07, 2005, 12:22:21 PM by indy007 »

Offline MANDO

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Offline Tails

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Schwere Gustav(Colourful)
« Reply #12 on: May 07, 2005, 05:40:41 PM »
Quote
Originally posted by indy007
The first time a "Paris Gun" shell landed, the citizens in Paris thought it was a terrorist bombing. It blew up a water-treatment plant. It also took a battalion of men to operate a single gun. iirc, it also de-railed itself everytime it fired. Typically German. An ultimately ineffective marvel of engineering :)


ahhh, here's what I'm thinking of.. WW1! The precursor to the Dora & Gustav.



I remember that gun. Needed external support, because the barrel was so long and heavy.

Also, each round was stacked in a sequence, with each following round in the sequence larger in calibur than the first. This was because the firing charge would eat away the inside of the barrel from the heat involved, increasing the inner diameter and requiring a larger shell to fire. (kinda like some of the Mosin-Nagants that I've bought sight-unseen :eek: )
BBTT KTLI KDRU HGQK GDKA SODA HMQP ACES KQTP TLZF LKHQ JAWS SMZJ IDDS RLLS CHAV JEUS BDLI WFJH WQZQ FTXM WUTL KH

(Yup, foxy got an Enigma to play with)

Offline Seeker

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« Reply #13 on: May 07, 2005, 09:30:13 PM »
I was watching some thing on Discovery that mentioned one of these things.

Used at the Battle of Sebastopol; it managed to pierce the main fortress magazines and store rooms; which were mined from the coast out under the sea.

It actually dropped shells that managed to go through the sea bottom to the structures below.

However; the program concluded that in total; the resources devoted to guns of this kind; over all; could actualy be seen to be detrimental to the war effort.

They did the sprecialist job they were designed to do; but then so could an extra thousand Fw190's.

Offline Kurfürst

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Schwere Gustav(Colourful)
« Reply #14 on: May 08, 2005, 11:12:16 AM »
Quote
Originally posted by Tails
Big gun...

Anyone know how effective railway guns like that actually were?

Especially the Gustav which, I believe, actually needed the railway built as it went (ran on two sets of side-by-side tracks)


The Gustav only needed a two sets of angled tracks at it`s firing position (to set the horizontal firing angle), this was typical as railway guns go; otherwise it was sent into it`s deployment place broken down in pieces and assambled on the spot on the normal RR lines.

The Gustav itself was an uber-example, build and designed originally to deal with the Maginot line, but it wasn`t ready before France was overrun. And in the 30s it was seen as the only solution, bombers did not have the payload. In fact, it was not until 1945 when bombers could do the same job, but more cheaply, and then only the specialized Lancaster types.

Otherwise, I think the normal railway guns were very useful and practical in Europe, all large continental armies had them. Bringing such heavy arty piece into action and serve it was much simplier in Europe`s dense RR network then transporting it on road. Think of the efforts that would require a 50 ton gun into position in the muddy russian roads, an artyman`s nightmare.. Of course, they were specialized, high performance heavy pieces for special tasks, and did not neccesary offer much advantage vs ordinary field howitzers in ordinary task, like, bombarding entranched infantry. But some special tasks, like quickly overcoming fortifications absolutely required them, and nota bene, there was no other weapon that could do the same! Their enourmous firepower had more effect on moral than physical, just think of 'Anzio Annie', which was actually one example of the standard 280mm Wehrmacht RR guns.

Re the 'Paris gun' aka the 'Big Bertha', it was actually a highly modified German naval gun. The British tried to come up with their own version of it in WW1, with similiar background ie. based on a 380mm RN naval gun, named 'Bruce'. I think they wanted it to fire accross the Channel. From memo, it had less range than the Big Bertha but did not see action. The US also came up with a short ranged, but huge caliber howitzer in the end of WW2. It was a towed weapon, and said to be highly mobile, but didn`t see action either. IIRC it was the 'Little David'.
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