Why the Biggest Gun built was Useless

The "Dora" also known as the "Schwerer Gustav" was the largest gun ever built in terms of weight (not caliber). It was originally designed to be used against the French Maginot-Line, but was not ready in May 1940. As such it was used in the Siege of Sevastopol by General Manstein. Yet, later on, it was not used again. Jens Wehner and I discuss various other aspects of the "Dora" gun in this video.

Disclaimer: I was invited by the Militärhistorisches Museum der Bundeswehr Dresden.

Cover by vonKickass.

»» GET OUR BOOK ««

»» SUPPORT MHV ««

»» MERCHANDISE ««

» SOURCES «

Hogg, Ian V.: German Artillery of World War Two. Green Hill Book: London, UK, 2013 (1997, 1975).

Hahn, Fritz: Waffen und Geheimwaffen des deutschen Heeres 1933-1945. Dörfler Verlag: Eggolsheim, o.J.

#BiggestGun #Useless #WW2

[endlesnights]

Lets be frank, we all know the real reason Germany makes all these crazy machines of war was to make playing tabletop and other forms of wargames waaaay more interesting in the post war period.

[cleanerben]

But it wasn't useless. It kept rail track layers in business!

[RoBlackW]

As a Dora Guy, who tried to gather all possible intel about the gun, I'd like to make some additions:
1. The Size of Schwere Artillerie Abteilung (E) 672 - the Unit directly operating the Gun was approximately 500. The Number 5.000 is often quoted to underline the gigantic efforts required not only to operate the gun, but also to protect it (as it was a high valuable target as everyone could imagine). Included in these 5.000 are - apart from the 500 of the swArtAbt (E) 672 - approx 1.000 Hiwis ("Volunteers") to prepare the position, a reinforced AAA Batallion (500), 2 reinforced guard companies (300) and and and... up to (and inlcuding) Fighter Cover by the Luftwaffe.
2. Despite the limited military value, I tend to say that this gun was a masterpiece (with some flaws... but hey, who's perfect ;) ) in engineering. The whole gun for example was rebuild and made ready at Sewastopol in just 54 hours.
3. The second gun was kept in the Reich for Crew training.
4. By the end of the operations in Sewastopol, Dora has fired all available ammunition and the barrel was already worn out (and it was reported that it needs to be replaced). I think that was the main reason preventing the guns use at Leningrad. By the time this was fixed the situation around Leningrad has changed - preventing the use of the gun.

Anybody who wants some further reading: "Deutsche Eisenbahn Geschütze - Rohr Artillerie auf Schienen" by Gerhard Taube
which contains a very detailed photographic coverage about erecting the gun at sewastopol (and which I just pulled from the shelf to grab the numbers.

P.S. I might be a bit biased towards the gun... ;)

[algore]

1 dislike? Looks like Hitler made it to Argentina

[Drachinifel]

The 57cm version mentioned that could have been built for Channel gun duels would've been fascinating.

[Turiargov]

Giving away a super heavy, slow-firing and ineffective gun that binds one third of a division as a gift sounds like a really clever form of sabotage.

[ponddipper]

Been to this museum, it's totally worth going, very modern with many artefacts

[FreedomFox]

This looks like the set for a Bond villan.

[Treblaine]

It's weird the comparison with Tallboy bomb dropped from heavy bombers. The tallboy was almost the same weight as Dora's shell, hit with the same impact velocity while Tallboy eventually demonstrated far better accuracy than Dora's best theoretical accuracy. But Luftwaffe didn't have much faith in heavy bombers, it was all about that dive bombing (in theory at least).


Dora seemed to have been made because Krupp wanted to build a gargantuan gun, not because there was serious thought of how to deliver a bunker-buster weapon.


Anzio Annie seemed to have been far more effective because it could be used even when Germany totally lost air supremacy, it could pop out of a railway tunnel, blast away, then as soon as there was counter battery fire or an air-raid then it could reverse back into the railway tunnel and be all but immune. Although ultimately futile, it had substantial strategic effect on the progress of that campaign.

[TheLastSterling]

As one chef said, "all it takes is a couple of guys with thermite and that thing will become unusable".

[cdfe]

I always heard that the gun wasn’t necessarily a gift to Hitler, but rather that Krupp’s long-standing policy was “First gun’s on the house, you can buy more if you like it.”

[Otokichi]

Barnes Wallis' 6 Ton Tallboy "earthquake bomb" shook down bridges, reduced U-Boat bases to rubble, and sank a capital ship. All that was needed was an Avro Lancaster bomber to deliver it with fewer personnel and less fuss than "Gustav" or "Dora." (The "V3 Gun complex' was also destroyed by "an earthquake" before it could fire any rounds at London.)

[pickeljarsforhillary]

Krupp: Furher, we haz dis 380cm kanon.
Hitler: Nein! Viel größer!!!!

[frederik]

Too bad they blew it up. Just imagine if it had survived the war. It could have gotten its very own museum.

[kopfauftischhau]

they really should have put it on the tirpitz; it wouldnt have been usefull in any way, but to stick it to the japanese with their "big" 46cm guns on yamato

[Shhtteeve]

What a lovely bloke! would love to sit and chat with him over a beer. Great work both of you, very informative. There is a lot of information out there on these 'pet project' guns that is sensationalised it's nice to have a calm communicative look at such an impressive feat of manufacturing.

[brianreddeman]

Trying to merge Dorah The Expolorer with this but failing. "Dora, Dora the exploda?"

[princeofcupspoc]

Remember the cube law. If a round is twice the diameter, it's mass is eight times. It's about 25% increases in diameter to get twice the mass.

[LikeUntoBuddha]

Wait a second. The whole thing only looks like it is 3 feet long. How does a 15-foot shell fit in it?

[rickschuman]

I talked to a fellow at Fort Miles who served there early in WWII. He said he got bored being there with the National Guard so he transferred to the Army and was assigned to our version of Huge big gun because of his experience with the 16 inch guns at FM. By the time he got to where the action was Germany was in full retreat. He said they never actually fired the gun because it took so long to strike it, move it, and set it up again that the Germans had moved out of effective range.