A Really Big Gun: Schwerer Gustav

Gustav. Workers seen closest to the gun show scale

In Sevastopol during the summer of 1942, the city was under siege from the Axis powers that had invaded the Soviet Union during Operation Barbarossa. At this siege, the world got its first and possibly only look at the largest field artillery piece in existence: the Schwerer Gustav (or Great Gustav). This railway-mounted cannon weighed around 1,350 tons and the shells it fired weighed around 7 tons. This cannon is the largest example of field artillery to see actual combat ever, and what an effect it had.

The Gustav was originally designed in 1934 to destroy the fortresses in the French Maginot Line, the fortifications at the French-German border. The gun was developed with a caliper of either 70cm, 80cm, or 1m, of these the gun fired either a 7 ton shell or an 11 ton shell. The 11 ton shell was never used, because Hitler was so awestruck by its destructive power that he ordered the 11 ton shell not to be used except with his express permission, which never came during the war.

There were actually two guns built of this type, Gustav and Dora. However, Gustav was the only gun to see real combat at the siege of Sevastopol. According to records of the siege, the gun fired only 48 rounds. However, with 7 tons coming down at a ballistic trajectory, there was chaos. Reportedly, the Gustav was able to fire shells into Severnaya Bay, through the water, through almost 100 feet of seabed and into a Soviet ammunition magazine protected by 30 feet of concrete and thought to be invulnerable.

An 80cm shell compared to a Soviet tank

Dora was constructed and deployed shortly after the Battle of Stalingrad in 1943. However, by this time the Red Army had begun its long counterattack, and when Dora's emplacement faced encirclement, the big gun was destroyed to prevent capture. Gustav, on the other hand, was captured by US troops at the end of the war and eventually cut up. Besides these two guns, there were actually plans to make a rail gun firing rocket projectiles and another gun that weighed 1500 tons, but these designs never left the drawing board or were cancelled before any real progress could occur.

Other field artillery have had slightly larger calibers and fired slightly smaller rounds, but the Gustav has secured its place as the largest caliber field cannon ever to see battle, and what a cannon it was. Until next time, take care, and thank you.