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when the german army reached the
outskirts of paris in march of 1918 they
unraveled the biggest long-range siege
gun ever produced
it was called the paris gun weighed
about 256 tons and fired 106 kilogram
shells at a range of 130 kilometers
the shells fired by this colossus weapon
achieved an altitude of 43 kilometers
the greatest height by a human-made
projectile to that day only surpassed by
the future v2 rocket
the distance was so impressive that
german engineers had to consider the
rotation of the earth to hit their
intended targets
it took three minutes for the shells to
hit paris and when they finally struck
from the stratosphere the locals thought
they were being attacked by invisible
zeppelins or bombers
little did they know that the shells
were being fired from a hidden cannon
only 130 kilometers away
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railroad guns
[Music]
railroads were of utmost importance for
the european powers and the outbreak of
world war one in 1914
besides being the fastest way to carry
troops into battle trains also delivered
weapons food and other essential
supplies for trent's warfare
armored trains also proved their worth
of the front lines to defend vast
landscapes from advancing enemy armies
mounted with machine guns and lethal
cannons they became a sight to behold
with their thick layers of armor
germany france and england all
experimented with different designs of
railroad weapons
the french mounted large artillery
pieces meant for warships on railroad
carriages to transport them from one
battlefield to another
they were also in place with 200 155
millimeter howitzers
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the austro-hungarian and german armies
had also conducted secret tests of
railroad guns and armored trains and
they eventually put them to good use
against their enemies the most famous of
these early designs were the skoda's 305
millimeter skinny emma and crops four 20
millimeter big bertha howitzers
these dinosaur-sized steel monsters were
deployed with great success in belgium
and france to pummel enemy
fortifications
big bertha was a 42 centimeter short
naval cannon it was still in the
prototype phase when the german army
decided to employ it for use against the
french forts pontisse and lossa in 1914
other big bertha guns were made in the
following years and participated in
other gruesome battles of the great war
with every developed gun professor fritz
rosenberger who oversaw krupp's
development team kept improving the
design of the new and powerful cannons
as the war raged on professor began to
experiment with different naval guns and
railroad mountings to develop a series
of long-range naval cannons
for use of the battle of verdun in 1916
rosenberger employed two 380 millimeter
max e guns that shredded the city of
verdun was 32 kilometers away
this led the professor to propose the
development of an ultra long-range gun
that could fire 100 kilogram shells at
distances of up to 100 kilometers
with the help of colonel bauer the idea
was taken directly to generals
ludendorff in hindenburg who immediately
approved the project
rosenberger then started to work on his
most ambitious project to date
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the paris gun
the german high command gave rosenberger
and the krupp team a year to develop the
largest cannon ever produced
as they did not have the time to study
and produce an artillery system from the
ground up rosenberger and his assistant
dr otto von eberhard concluded that they
had to make use of existing naval guns
as the basis for their super cannon
rosenberger proposed to use the 35
centimeter naval guns intended for the
creek's marine's erzatz freya battle
cruiser as the ship's construction had
been suspended in the autumn of 1916
after the battle of jutland and there
were nine new barrels that krupp could
use
the barrels would be filled with a 21
meter long 21 centimeter caliber rifled
liner with a modified chamber to accept
the standard 28 centimeter cartridge
case
for a quick replacement of worn liners
they would be rebored to 224 and 238
millimeters
in addition if the navy resumed the
construction of the battle cruisers the
barrels could be converted back without
issues
it was initially agreed that the cannon
would have a muzzle velocity of 1500
meters per second for 100 kilometer
range however krep received orders to
increase the range to 120 kilometers by
mid-1917
upgrade would bring several problems
with it
rosenberger's team had to correct the
calculations to find a way of increasing
muzzle velocity to 1610 meters per
second and achieve the 120 kilometer
range
it was then decided to extend the rifled
barrel of the gun with a smoothbore tube
for the 24 meters of travel length
required to achieve the expected muzzle
velocity
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the total barrel length was now 34
meters of which 18 came from the rifled
section one from the breech ring
assembly three from the chamber and a
maximum of 12 meters of smoothbore
extension
such a large device presented another
problem
barrel droop
to straighten out the gun's slender
barrels a suspension bridge like truss
was built to apply tension to the barrel
and keep it steady at all times
the gun was then mounted on a special
rail transportable carriage and it was
fired from a concrete emplacement with a
turntable
[Music]
after months of experimentation with
different shell designs
the crep team settled for shells made of
two sets of rifling ribs one towards the
front and another towards the rear
each shell with 106 kilograms had a
diameter of 216 meters and contained
seven kilograms of tnt roughly six
percent of the shell's weight
upon impact the shell would explode in a
number of large fragments
although the destruction was planned to
be limited the psychological effect
would be greater when used against the
enemy
barrel wear was considerable due to the
high pressure and temperature from
firing such a high caliber at tremendous
speeds while each shot wore away a small
amount of steel from the rifled bore
consequently each shell was numbered
according to its increased diameter and
had to be fired in numerical order to
prevent the colossal cannon from
exploding
when development finished the gun was
named kaiser wilhelm gershwitz or kaiser
wilhelm's gun but it then earned a more
iconic name when the crop team was told
where the gun would be used for the
first time
it would be in the city of lights
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shelling paris
in early 1918 the french and british
armed forces were exhausted after the
brutal combat on the western front
meanwhile the german imperial army was
reinvigorated after the peace treaty was
signed with russia which allowed general
hindenburg and lutendorf to transfer
seasoned divisions to the western front
the kaiserschlacht or german spring
offensive of 1918 was brutal and
effective
highly trained stormtroopers pushed the
enemy beyond the marn and reached the
outskirts of paris in early march
the imperial army and then decided to
put their new gun to good use and shell
paris from 100 kilometers
the massive device was soon transported
to the hill of le monde near kapi
after assembling the paris gun its crew
of 80 imperial navy sailors under the
command of vice admiral maximilian roga
got ready to target paris
the first shell was fired at 7am on
march 23 1918 and more were fired every
15 minutes until reaching
21.
according to historian adam hawk's child
quote it took about three minutes for
each giant shell to cover the distance
to the city climbing to an altitude of
25 miles the top of its trajectory
this was by far the highest point ever
reached by a man-made object so high
that gunners in calculating where the
shells would land had to take into
account the rotation of the earth
for the first time in warfare deadly
projectiles rained down on civilians
from the stratosphere
there were 20 casualties and 60 wounded
but the psychological effect was the
german's real victory
the french quickly began shouting in the
streets and paranoia went rampant
throughout the city
no one was safe anymore
as no sound was heard when the bombs hit
straight from the stratosphere the
scared locals thought they were being
hit by bombers or zeppelins flying above
the clouds
days later the french authorities began
to collect fragments from the explosions
and were baffled when they discovered
the germans had been able to develop a
cannon that was pummeling the city from
more than 100 kilometers away
however they were unable to find out
where the paris gun was hidden in the
french countryside
then on good friday march 28 1918 a
shell struck the roof of strange gervais
and some church during the solemn
religious service
the roof immediately collapsed causing
90 casualties and wounding another 70.
it became the worst recorded incident
involving the paris gun
by the time the last shell was fired in
early august of 1918 the paris gun had
cost 300 casualties and 700 wounded
the germans then made sure to destroy
the cannon and its schematics before
signing the peace treaty in november of
1918 and when the french british and
english forces attempted to seize the
gun they only found one of its
emplacements
krupp would go on to develop a more
powerful and lethal railway gun the
gustav cannon which would wreak havoc
against french and soviet fortifications
until world war ii ended
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