Schwerer Gustav

  Schwerer Gustav was an
extremely heavy railway gun with a caliber of 800 mm.
The gun was developed by Krupp in the 1930s at the
direct request of Adolf .Hitler.

The gun weighed 1350 tons and was able to fire 7,1 ton
shells with a maximum range of 38 km. The lighter
high-explosive shells even had a range of 48 km. Tests
showed that the force released from the shots was so
great, that windows and doors burst open at
barracks 4km away.

The construction and assembly was done by 2,000
men and took about 6 weeks. The gun belonged to the
so-called "Wunderwaffen" and was originally intended
for use against the deep fortresses of the Maginot
Line. However, it was not yet deploy-able when the
Wehrmacht flanked the line during the Battle of
France.

Gustav was deployed to the Soviet Union in June 1942
during the Battle of Sevastopol where it fired 48 shots.
After this, the cannon was sent to the front at
Leningrad, but was not deployed anymore. Gustav
returned to Rugenwalde where it was eventually
destroyed to avoid falling into Allied hands. The
cannon was the largest piece of artillery in history and
fired the heaviest shells ever.

The second 800 mm gun was named 'Schwerer Gustav
2', or 'Dora', named after the wife of Erich Muller, head
of the new design team. On 08th August 1942, the firing
tube was delivered in Hillersleben and on 23rd February,
for the first time, it fired a number of test shots in its
entirety in Rugenwalde. It was sent to southern Russia
to Stalingrad in August 1942, but as fierce fighting
grew, it was soon withdrawn as the Red Army
threatened the area with a counterattack. It would
never become operational anymore.

The construction of the third cannon with the name
"Lange Gustav" was given low priority by Krupp. The
barrel of this gun was expected to be between 43 and
48 meters long with a 520 mm caliber.