German Artillery of World War Two, Ian V. Hogg. Schwerer Gustav was the largest-calibre rifled weapon ever used in combat and, in terms of overall weight, the heaviest mobile artillery piece ever built. It was a railway gun created during the late 30s and could fire a 7-ton projectile 29 miles! Krupp put eight of these barrels on E.u.B. Hence the gun could only fire at targets tangential to an existing railway track. The artillery unit looks to be a Krupp 5E railway gun. Successful implementation was done for firing these from the K5Vz. It was designed to destroy the French Maginot line, however, the Wehrmacht’s Blitzkrieg offensive around the Maginot line through Belgium made the gun unnecessary. Initial tests were done with a 150 mm barrel under the designation K5M. Leopold was shipped to the United States Aberdeen Proving Ground, (Aberdeen, Maryland) where it underwent tests and evaluations. A later version, the K5Vz, fired a rocket-assisted shell with 31 pounds of explosive. Gustav Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach (7 August 1870 – 16 January 1950) ran the German Friedrich Krupp AG heavy industry conglomerate from 1909 until 1941. Free delivery and returns on eligible orders of £20 or more. The Monster was to be a 1,500 tonne mobile, self-propelled platform for an 80-cm K (E) gun, along with two 15 cm sFH 18 heavy howitzers, and multiple MG 151 autocannons normally used on combat aircraft. The Krupp Gun Pavilion (also known as the Krupp Gun Exhibit) was impressive on its own. 1 Description; 2 History; 3 Projectiles; 4 Surviving guns; 5 See also; 6 Notes and references; 7 External links; Description . Hitler approved of what he saw, and the German Army High Command (Oberkommando des Heeres) commissioned Krupp to build three guns under the designation 80 cm Kanone (E). These were originally 10 mm (0.39 in) deep, but were made shallower to rectify cracking problems. K5 railway gun in France circa. This gondola was then mounted on a pair of 12-wheel bogies designed to be operated on commercial and military railsbuilt to German standards. The main barrel of the K5 is 283 mm (11.1 in) in calibre, and is rifled with twelve 7 mm (0.28 in) grooves. Many countries have built railway guns, but the best known were made by Krupp and used by Germany in World War I and World War II.Smaller guns were often part of an armoured train.. Railway guns are no longer used. In February 1942, Heavy Artillery Unit (E) 672 reorganised and went on the march, and Schwerer Gustav began its long ride to Crimea. (en) Die 28-cm-Kanone 5 (E) (kurz: K 5) war ein Eisenbahngeschütz der deutschen Wehrmacht im Zweiten Weltkrieg. The guns were then reliable until the end of the war, under the designation K5 Tiefzug 7 mm. Schwerer Gustav (English: Heavy Gustaf) was a German 80-centimetre (31.5 in) railway gun. Krupp gun ; A 75mm Krupp gun used during the War of the Pacific. 22 people could sit aligned on the barrel of the gun. [1] The gun was designed in preparation for the Battle of France, but was not ready for action when the battle began, and in any case the Wehrmacht's Blitzkrieg offensive through Belgium rapidly outflanked and isolated the Maginot Line's static defenses, eventually forcing the French to surrender and making their destruction unnecessary. This gondola was then mounted on a pair of 12-wheel bogies designed to be operated on commercial and military railsbuilt to German standards. The Krupp K5 was a heavy railway gun used by Germany throughout World War II. Seven of the railway guns, six 28 cm K5 guns and a single 21 cm K12 gun with a range of 115 km, could only be used against land targets. [8] The following targets were engaged: By the end of the siege on 4 July the city of Sevastopol lay in ruins, and 30,000 tons of artillery ammunition had been fired. Krupp explained that a 33.5 in (80 cm) railway gun could be constructed and would be able to defeat the Maginot Line.