Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!pacific.mps.ohio-state.edu!linac!att!cbnews!cbnews!military From: james@castle.ed.ac.uk (J Gillespie) Newsgroups: sci.military Subject: German 80cm supergun Message-ID: <1991Feb7.014816.2931@cbnews.att.com> Date: 7 Feb 91 01:48:16 GMT References: <1991Feb6.030909.19969@cbnews.att.com> Sender: military@cbnews.att.com (William B. Thacker) Organization: Edinburgh University Computer Services Lines: 25 Approved: military@att.att.com From: J Gillespie griffenj%db1_pdx@ncube.com (Griffen) writes: > It was thought that logistics killed these guns. They required two > antiaircraft regiments to defend it. The commander was a major- > general. ~500 men were required to load and fire the gun. Sixty > trains were required to set it up and service it. It was not deemed > worth the effort. I have read about these guns in a set of magazines called "War Machine"; the article included some rather impressive pictures (one of a man standing next to a shell sticks out in my memory). To the point: another logistical difficulty with these weapons was that they required two parallel railway tracks to travel along, which in the case of the Sevastopol siege meant specially building a large amount of railway specially for the job. James Gillespie, /~~~~~~~~\ "Looks fast!" Edinurgh University. / @ @ \ "Yeah. That's the stripes, man." james@ed.ac.uk / < \ -- Fandango ____________________/ \________/ \__________________________________________