Schwerer Gustav - Rail Super Gun (Behemoth) — Transcript

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1. 0:03The Schwerer Gustav, Rail Super Gun, World War 2.
2. 0:08The Schwerer Gustav was the largest artillery gun ever made. Before the second World War had started, Hitler required a
3. 0:16devastating weapon for the invasion of France that could destroy the Maginot Line
4. 0:20penetrating at several layers of concrete and steel
5. 0:23The Schwerer Gustav was designed in 1934 by the German Arms manufacturer, Krupp. This giant railway gun weighed
6. 0:311350 tons and had an overall length of 47 point three meters or
7. 0:37155 feet two inches it was mounted on a railway chassis running on specially constructed tracks and had to be
8. 0:44Disassembled and assembled to set up even a set of outer tracks were required for the cranes to achieve this
9. 0:50its barrel length was 32 and a half meters or
10. 0:53168 inches and could only move up or down at an elevation of 48 degrees with horizontal
11. 0:59targeting achieved by a curved tracks the weapon caliber was 80 centimeters or 31 inches and the heavy concrete piercing or
12. 1:08High-explosive shells weighed seven tons making them the largest and heaviest shells of any artillery piece in the world
13. 1:15The gun could fire over a range of 47 kilometers or 29 miles
14. 1:20After a number of shells were fired the barrel would wear away and need replacing
15. 1:25the artillery gun required a staggering number of crew
16. 1:29250 crewmen were required to assemble the gun which took three and a half days while 2,500 crewmen were needed to lay the tracks
17. 1:37Flak battalions were also a necessity to protect the gun from air attacks as it was highly visible due to its size
18. 1:44The Schwerer Gustav would be constructed throughout the 30s
19. 1:47But it would not enter service until
20. 1:491941 there for missing the French invasion the gun would be transported to the Eastern Front and used at the siege of Sevastopol where
21. 1:574,000 men were required to set it up in position
22. 2:00It fired 300 shells at several enemy positions including Soviet fortresses and ammunition magazines
23. 2:07After this the Schwerer Gustav was transported to Leningrad, but the attack was canceled
24. 2:12It is unknown whether there was a second gun constructed or whether it was a nickname by the German artillery crew but in 1942
25. 2:19Dora as it became known was operational at Stalingrad, but withdrawn by the Germans
26. 2:25During 1942 the Germans proposed to construct a new version of the gun mounted on a self-propelled platform that could move without
27. 2:33Railway tracks called the landcruiser P. 1500 monster, however the idea was eventually scrapped as
28. 2:39The war was coming to an end the Schwerer Gustav some sources say, was destroyed by the Germans to prevent capture on the 14th of
29. 2:46April 1945 and it's ruins studied by Soviet specialists
30. 2:51Overall the Schwerer Gustav was quite an impractical weapon demanding a large number of crew and setup to become operational
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