Schwerer Gustav
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Schwerer Gustav (English: Heavy Gustaf, or Great Gustaf) and Dora were the names of two German 80 cm K (E) ultra-heavy railway guns. They were developed in the late 1930s by Krupp as siege artillery for the explicit purpose of destroying the main forts of the French Maginot Line, the strongest fortifications then in existence. The twin guns weighed nearly 1,350 tonnes, and could fire shells weighing seven tonnes to a range of . The guns were designed in preparation for the Battle of France, but were 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 World War I-era static defenses, forcing them to surrender uneventfully and making their destruction unnecessary. Gustav was later used in the Soviet Union at the siege of Sevastopol during Operation Barbarossa, with good effect, including destroying a munitions depot buried in the bedrock under a bay. They were moved to Leningrad, and may have been intended to be used in the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising like other German heavy siege pieces, but the rebellion was crushed before it could be prepared to fire. Gustav was later captured by US troops and cut up, whilst Dora was destroyed near the end of the war to avoid capture by the Red Army.
- Related: Supergun, Sturmtiger, Karl-Gerät, V-3 cannon, Paris Gun, Project Babylon
| Internet archive of transportation and firing imag... Internet archive of transportation and firing images www.highpowerrocketry.blogspot.com/.../schwerer-gustav-and-dora-railway-siege.html - Web |
| Internet archive copy of panzerlexikon.de video of... Internet archive copy of panzerlexikon.de video of Dora loading and firing web.archive.org/.../dora2.mpg - Web |
| Internet archive copy of panzerlexikon.de video of... Internet archive copy of panzerlexikon.de video of Dora web.archive.org/.../dora.mpg - Web |
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| Website with additional information Website with additional information www.aopt91.dsl.pipex.com/.../Dora%20index.htm - Web |
