The Schwere Gustav is the best in the world of extreme engineering. This wasn’t just a big gun. It was an indication of what occurs when power is a more important factor than common sense. Gustav, a Krupp construction, was approximately 1,350 tons. That is no weapon--that is a factory upon wheels.
It was too big to be dealt with on ordinary ground. Gustav was not only forced to sit on two parallel railway tracks in order to function. It was 107 feet in length, its barrel 800mm in caliber, or broad enough to swallow a manhole cover. Sacking it was not that easy either. What it required was more than 1,400 soldiers and engineers to transport, guard and operate the monster.
And what it fired wasn’t ammo. It launched small trucks that had steel-wrapped covers. Shells that were loaded with high-explosives weighed 4.8 tons and were able to strike 29 miles. The concrete-piercing rounds weighed 7.1 tons and could be used to penetrate reinforced concrete 23 feet thick before they blew up. You were finished, had it been upon your side. No debate.
The thing is, however, that Gustav was a nightmare. The assembling required weeks, it could not be concealed, and shouted in the air bomb me. It was strength that lacked elasticity. Big. Loud. Slow. An ideal representative of an age that thought that bigger was better- until reality showed it to be false.
Who was the most disliked member of the Nazi regime among the German population during World War II?
World War 2 was a difficult time not knowing which of the leaders of the Nazi party Germans disliked most. The government was highly strict.(Read Full)