The Largest Artillery Ever Built — 80cm Shells That Penetrated 7 Meters of Concrete скачать в хорошем качестве

The Largest Artillery Ever Built — 80cm Shells That Penetrated 7 Meters of Concrete

In 1936, Adolf Hitler asked Gustav Krupp a simple question: "What weapon can smash through the Maginot Line?" The answer was Schwerer Gustav—an 80-centimeter railway gun that would become the largest artillery piece ever built by mankind. 1,350 tons of steel. A 150-foot barrel. Shells weighing 7 tons each. A range of 29 miles. It required 2,500 men to operate and 5 weeks to position for firing. It cost 10 million Reichsmarks—enough to build 97 Panzer IV tanks. And in its entire combat career, it fired exactly 48 rounds before the barrel wore out. The result? One spectacularly destroyed ammunition dump, a few damaged fortifications, and zero strategic impact. This is the story of Nazi Germany's most expensive failure, the ultimate monument to "bigger is better" thinking taken to its most absurd extreme, and a weapon that arrived too late to do the job it was designed for. From conception to destruction, this is the complete story of Schwerer Gustav—the gun that was supposed to win the war but instead became a footnote in military history. 📊 KEY STATISTICS: Caliber: 80cm (800mm / 31.5 inches) Total length: 47.3 meters (155 feet 2 inches) Barrel length: 32.5 meters (106 feet 7 inches) Total weight assembled: 1,350 tonnes (1,490 short tons) Height: 11.6 meters (38 feet) - as tall as 4-story building Width: 7.1 meters (23 feet 4 inches) Cost: 10 million Reichsmarks per gun Personnel required: 1,420-2,500 men Assembly time: 3 weeks Total positioning time: 5 weeks Transport: 25 railway cars, 1.5km train length Rail system: 4 parallel tracks required Bogies: 8 total with 5 axles each = 40 axles, 80 wheels 🔍 SOURCES & FURTHER READING: German Federal Archives (technical specifications) US Army Intelligence reports (post-war analysis) Soviet military archives (Sevastopol siege records) Krupp company records "German Artillery of World War Two" - Ian V. Hogg Imperial War Museum archives Operation Störfang battle reports Wehrmacht operational records Post-war Allied technical assessments This was Schwerer Gustav: engineering excellence without strategic wisdom, raw power without tactical purpose, the largest gun ever built and one of the most useless. A monument to hubris, a cautionary tale about technological overreach, and proof that sometimes the most impressive weapon is also the biggest failure. #SchwererGustav #WWII #NaziGermany #MilitaryHistory #Artillery #RailwayGun #SiegeOfSevastopol #MaginotLine #Krupp #Hitler #WorldWar2 #WeaponryHistory #GermanEngineering #MilitaryFailures #OperationBarbarossa #EasternFront #Crimea #HistoryDocumentary #WWIIWeapons #EngineeringFails #WarHistory #1940s #ThirdReich #Wehrmacht #MilitaryTechnology #LargestGun #RailwayArtillery --- 🔔 Subscribe for more deep-dive WWII weapon documentaries 👍 Like if this story of expensive failure surprised you 💬 Comment: What's the biggest waste of military resources you've heard of? 🔗 Share with history enthusiasts who appreciate engineering disasters --- CORRECTIONS POLICY: Historical accuracy matters. If you spot an error, comment with timestamp and source. Verified corrections will be pinned and noted in description. Rest in pieces, Schwerer Gustav (1941-1945). The gun that cost as much as 97 tanks, fired 48 rounds, and changed absolutely nothing.