Great Guns Continued from Page 4)
To the east was Mother Russia and in the Crimea was the port of Sevastopol which deemed itself ready for a siege by the German army. Gustav now had a target worthy of her ability and she was sent to Russia. Logistically, the trip was more than a challenge for her crew. The mighty gun’s caravan included 25 trainloads of equipment and the entire train in movement stretched out over three quarters of a mile. Gustav rode on eighty wheels distributed over forty axles. She could not be moved in one piece but had to be re-assembled with the help of two, 10-ton cranes that moved on tracks on either side of her. Preparing the site that would accommodate her, and putting her together took about six weeks. It was safe to say that Gustav could not be rushed into battle. Her record in combat against the reluctant city is remarkable. Not for the number of shells fired—48 in less than two weeks, but for the destruction that she caused.
She spoke first on June 5, 1942, targeting coastal batteries that had, up until that time, survived the rain of over half-a-million artillery projectiles fired at the city. After eight rounds the coastal fortifications were demolished. Gustav then turned her attention to Fort Stalin, that target was destroyed in six rounds. The next day’s encounter was the most spectacular and clearly demonstrated the gun’s tremendous power. The day’s first target was Fort Molotov, which succumbed to the gun’s shells after seven rounds. An area known as the White Cliff on Severnaya Bay was next. The Soviets had carefully and skillfully placed an ammunition depot deep in the earth and (what is even more impressive) angled the galleries so that they ran out under the bay. The ammunition would have been safe from any conventional weapon in the enemy’s arsenal, except Gustav. She fired nine shells at the target, with tiny Storch observation planes circling overhead, radioing back the results. The shells passed through 100 feet of seawater, tunneled through the seabed, and exploded in the ammunition depot. By the 17th of June, Gustav had exhausted all of her target opportunities around Sevastopol and she was dismantled and returned to Germany. There was simply nothing left for her to do.
Later on she was moved to Leningrad in hopes of supporting German attacks against that city but by that time it became apparent that Hitler’s desire to conquer the Soviets was never to be realized. Once more Gustav was returned to Germany, and except for a brief foray to assist in quelling the uprising in Warsaw, she never saw combat again. It had been considered by the German high command that she could have been encased in a specially constructed tunnel on the English Channel, and her seven-ton shells used against England. It was not practical, first because the range was too great, and second, because the only way to train the big gun horizontally was to aim the entire gun carriage. This could be done only with tracks built toward a variety of targets, something not practical in a tunnel. This was one of the gun’s great defects; she could aim vertically, the height of the muzzle and strength of the charge determining the distance, but she was unable to move horizontally unless tracks were especially constructed to move her in the desired direction.
Smaller guns such as “Anzio Annie” could be
traversed on turntables. That 360 degree capability greatly increased
the guns ability to hit multiple targets.
This 280mm monster had a range of about sixteen miles and was served by a crew of less than 30 men. Compared to the 500 men serving Gustav, it seems almost ridiculously to be too few men to serve a railroad gun. The Americans trapped on Anzio Beach probably didn’t think so.
Like many weapons developed for warfare, the railroad guns were really products of the last war and anachronisms of the next. Although they could be used successfully against fixed fortifications, especially those that survived attack from the air, they were too cumbersome and far too costly. They were a luxury embraced by generals whose technological short-sightedness prohibited them from seeing the truth; like Hannibal’s elephants they could strike fear into the hearts of one’s enemies. But, like those magnificent beasts, their day had passed.
