about Skoda heavy guns

[Dan Po]

I wonder if the heavy rail way guns Skoda cal 380mm and 420mm was ever used by romanian army ? I thinking at Odessa for instance ...

http://muzeu.mapn.ro/arhf.htm

Dragos do you know something about this ?

[dragos]

Tun greu pe cale ferata sistem Skoda, md.1916, cal.380 mm. Botezat de catre constructori "Gudrun", a fost capturat de armata romana in campania din 1919.



Tun greu pe cale ferata sistem Skoda, md.1916, cal.420 mm, capturat de armata romana in 1919. Piesa este unicat in lume.

Captions are from the page of the museum (http://muzeu.mapn.ro/colectii2.htm)

They were never used in combat by Romanian Army.

[Dan Po]

I wonder why the romanian army didn t use those heavy guns at Odessa s siege ...

Wasn t them operational ? They didn t have amunition? - but I think that is not such a big problem to produce a limited number of heavy shelds ....

Maybe you know better ...

[C-2]

Those pieces were to be use against heavy fortifications.I don't think Odessa wwas so .
And like you see in the picture ,they were transported by rail.The railway in Russia in 27cm????wider.....

[Dan Po]

See the heavy siege guns deployed by germans at Sevastopol - they use railway to trasport those guns too ...

[Von Maybach]

QUOTE

See the heavy siege guns deployed by germans at Sevastopol - they use railway to trasport those guns too ...

You are talking about the 80 cm Schwere "Gustav" railwaygun... -the largest ever build? ... the problem with railway superguns is logistics. The "Gustav" (or Dora, as it had been called) needed a staff of more than 1000 people (2000, to properly operate, protect and maintain it...), and the gun was commanded by a full Colonel. Besides the gun itself it needed a full maintainance infrastructure, including cranes larger than the gun itself, makeing it a logistical nightmare and a hard to miss target for enemy aircrafts. And the superguns in general, in WW2, had only a psyhological and propaganda role, since aircraft bombers were just as good to use, rather than such a complex gun.

[Florin]

Von Maybach,

What happened with Gustav/Dora after war?
I read some accounts mentioning it was lost / dissapeared...

Wasn't too big to dissapear?

[Von Maybach]

You might say it dissapeared, ...

QUOTE

By May 1945 'schwere Gustav' was scattered all over central Europe. The carefully-planned trains had been attacked constantly by Allied aircraft and what parts were still in one piece were wrecked by their crews and left for the Allies' wonderment. Today all that is left of 'schwere Gustav' and 'Dora' are a few inert projectiles in museums.

I remember I've once seen a picture with Dora's broken barrel and some US troops inspecting it... It's a shame it ended this way, instead of beeing preserved in a museum... I consider Gustav to be the most outstanding piece of military kit ever build.

http://www.aopt91.dsl.pipex.com/railgun/

[toniyona]

Gentlemen:
Just so I have this right, Romania had at least 1-15 inch and 1-16.2 inch railway guns?
From the caption I take it they captured them from the Autro-Hungarians in WW1 given the reference to 1919 or had Romania bought them earlier?
Did they have more than 1 each?
From the pictures these seem to be more howitzwer than gun?
Yes / No?

[Florin]

QUOTE

......I remember I've once seen a picture with Dora's broken barrel and some US troops inspecting it... It's a shame it ended this way, instead of beeing preserved in a museum...

Let me tell you a better one.
The US repaired and kept operational an U-Boat from the last German generation (those which never saw combat, as they were ready in May 1945).
Even president Truman was in that revolutionary U-Boat during a submerge under water.
Then, without any reason, the modern German submarine, perfectly operational, was destroyed in 1951. Instead of being preserved in a museum, as you wrote about Dora.
What kind of museum? Well, like the one I just saw 3 days ago near Charleston, South Carolina. There is the famous aircraft carrier Yorktown, a destroyer, a smaller patrol vessel, and a submarine. I lost myself for hours in them. (Sometimes I literally lost myself... :roll: )

[Victor]

[quote]Gentlemen:
Just so I have this right, Romania had at least 1-15 inch and 1-16.2 inch railway guns?
From the caption I take it they captured them from the Autro-Hungarians in WW1 given the reference to 1919 or had Romania bought them earlier?
Did they have more than 1 each?
From the pictures these seem to be more howitzwer than gun?
Yes / No?[/quote]

The pieces on display in the museum were captured in the 1919 campaign in Hungary.

[Dan Po]

This kind of heavy railguns was used also in northen Italy (1944-1945) and in a few situations, very succesfull.

I don t think that somebody want to be near a 800 mm shell explosion :shock:

[Von Maybach]

[quote]This kind of heavy railguns was used also in northen Italy (1944-1945) and in a few situations, very succesfull.

I don t think that somebody want to be near a 800 mm shell explosion :shock:[/quote]

The guns used in Northen Italy were smaller in calliber..., the Gustav/Dora was the only gun with 80cm calliber.

[Dan Po]

[quote]"Von Maybach"
The guns used in Northen Italy were smaller in calliber..., the Gustav/Dora was the only gun with 80cm calliber.[/quote]

I think that u re right. Those guns were smaller in calliber.

[Florin]

The super canon used in Italy, against the Anzio pocket, was nicknamed by the Americans "Annie". It is possible that Annie to be the same piece with the one captured in the Ruhr pocket in March 1945 (The famous photo with 10...12 American soldiers standing in row on the barrel.)