When we look at the history of humanity, we will come across countless inventions that make us all proud. Unfortunately, among these are many inventions whose only job is to kill people. Among the countless killing machines we come across when we examine the history of world warfare, there is one called the Gustav cannon, big and powerful enough to give us goosebumps just the moment you see it.
To no one’s surprise, the Gustav ball was made by the Nazis. The first reason for making such a huge weapon was the invasion of France, but because the French surrendered easily, this imposing cannon was used on the Russians. Let’s take a closer look at the answers to the questions such as where was the Gustav gun, the killing machine, which weighs even a single bullet and took days to install, and what are its features.
Hitler smells the Second World War:
The year is 1937. The German National Socialist Workers Party, briefly the Nazis, came to power and Adolf Hitler started to show his teeth little by little. There was no sign of war yet, but Hitler, already devastated, could smell war. After the little friction that started, France decided to take measures to protect itself against a possible attack by Germany.
France; Switzerland built a wall that ran along the border with Germany, Luxembourg, and was called the Maginot Line. This wall consisted of 7 meters of concrete and 1 meter of steel. It provided undisputed protection against all known German weapons until that time. Does Hitler stop, pasted the answer; pierce that wall!
Hitler met with Gustav Krupp, one of the most powerful ammunition manufacturers of that time, and asked him to make an unprecedented weapon. At that time, guns called railway guns were being made because easily transportable guns were weak. Of course, these weapons, which were a Nazi invention, were bulky machines transported by rail. But their power was deadly.
Work begins: unique features of the Gustav cannon
Receiving Hitler’s orders, Gustav Krupp began inspecting the French wall they were targeting. At most, such a strong wall could be destroyed by a barreled gun with an inside diameter of 80 cm and a length of 33 meters. The gun to carry such a barrel would be 1350 tons, and the shells would average 7 tons. Having a height of 12 meters and a length of 48 meters, the gun would shoot at a speed of 720 m/s and its effective range would be approximately 50 kilometers.
Krupp quickly completed the planning of the weapon and work began in 1937. His name was set to Gustav, which is both the name of its maker and meaning heavy. It was a railgun so it could only be carried on rails. Therefore, the production factory was built on the railway line. Such a weapon could only be drawn with a train of 25 wagons. In fact, additional rails had to be added parallel to the existing rails.
It took 2,500 people to lay the tracks on which the Gustav cannon would be carried alone. 5 thousand people, including many engineers, worked in the construction of the weapon. The Gustav ball was to be transported in pieces. It took over 500 people to assemble it. With hard work, the gun was completed in 1941. However, the purpose of the weapon had disappeared.
France surrendered, so where was the Gustav cannon used?
The Nazis, who started the Second World War with a thump, instead of destroying the Maginot Line in 1940, they calmly walked around it and entered Paris to the French applause without encountering much resistance. But wasn’t that what Gustav cannon was made for? So what will happen to that big ball? Will the man the Nazis attack come to an end? Gustav’s cannon was on its way to be used against the Russians.
The Nazis launched Operation Barbarossa in 1941 to invade the Soviets. In February 1942, the siege of Sevastopol began, and Gustav’s cannon appeared on the scene. A big ball like Gustav was moving up and down but couldn’t turn left or right. For this, an additional curved rail system was lined up and the first bullet was fired on 5 June 1942.
Gustav was literally murderous. He fired 14 bullets at the Stalin Fortress and its surroundings. The next day, 7 more shells were fired into the Molotov area. Later, a Russian submarine with 10 meters of concrete protection 30 meters below the ground was shattered by 9 shells. In the weeks that followed, 17 more rounds were fired, and the area eventually fell under Nazi control.
The performance of the Gustav cannon pleased the Nazis. Therefore, he moved to the next destination, Stalingrad. The barrel, which had fired a total of 48 rounds until that day, was now worn out. Therefore it was replaced with a new one. Just when death was about to begin to vomit again, finally the end of the Nazis and thus of the Second World War came. Well, what happened to the Gustav ball?
Gustav ball is no more:
All that remains of Gustav’s cannon is the story of the areas he destroyed and the people he killed. He is no longer there. How it ended is not exactly known. According to some experts, realizing that they would lose the war, the Nazis destroyed this huge weapon so that it would not fall into the hands of the enemy. This possibility may be true, as it is known that the Nazis did not have the habit of leaving information, documents and tools behind.
Some experts claim that the Gustav cannon fell into the hands of the Russians. The Russians studied and then destroyed this cannon, which we have to admit is an engineering marvel, no matter how terrifying it may be. According to another claim, it was destroyed by the Americans, who intervened in the Second World War and brought an end to it. As a result, Gustav ball is no more.
The Gustav cannon is known by everyone as it is perhaps the largest weapon used in wars, but the Nazis made countless more weapons like this. Fortunately, we’d love to say that humanity no longer spends trillions of dollars killing each other and that’s why it doesn’t make weapons this big, but that’s not the case.
With the development of aircraft technology, much more deadly ammunition than the Gustav cannon is now carried by aircraft. While people are starving in one part of the world, trillions of dollars are spent in another part of the world, and death machines continue to be made. We think that Mustafa Kemal Atatürk said the best word on this subject as well: If the nation’s life is not exposed to danger, war is a murder. You can share your thoughts on the subject in the comments.
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