It towered over 38 feet (11.6 metres) high. It weighed 1,490 US tons (metric 1,350 tonnes) or
about the same as 198 male African elephants. It’s barrel was 106 feet
and 8 inches (32.5 metres) in length and fired 12-foot-long (3.6 metre) shells.
Schwerer Gustav or Heavy Gustav, the largest artillery gun ever built. An
immense weapon of war designed with one major purpose--to knock out France’s Maginot Line.
Haunted by how their country was occupied during World War I and alarmed by how Germany seemed to
be rearming in violation of the Treaty of Versailles, in 1929 the French began
building the Maginot Line, a complex defensive network. Over the next 9 years France built some
900 miles (1,448 km) of fortifications, with 280 miles (450 km) of defenses specifically
on the border with Germany. The Maginot Line included bunkers, above and underground
fortresses as well as concrete gun emplacements, observation posts, depots and rail lines.
Realizing that the Maginot Line would make it tough to invade France, in 1934 Germany
set out to make an artillery gun that could fire from beyond the range of the French artillery.
Furthermore, to take out larger fortifications, the gun’s shells had to be able to penetrate 23
feet (7 meters) of reinforced concrete or 3.28 feet (1 meter) of steel armour plate.
However, it took German weapons manufacturer Krupp AG far longer to design,
prototype and construct such an immense artillery gun than originally planned.
Unfortunately Schwerer Gustav wasn’t ready when Germany attacked France in the spring of 1940.
However, in the end Germany successfully invaded France by going around the Maginot
line and sending troops into France through Belgium and the Netherlands.
But Gustav’s wrath would still be felt by the Allies.
It wasn’t until 1942 that Gustav was ready for duty. By this time, Germany was invading the
Soviet Union. Gustav was sent to Sevastopol, a well fortified port city in Crimea. Due to the
size of the gun, it took 25 rail cars to ship it. Once Gustav arrived in the region, over
3,000 German soldiers spent over 3 weeks laying a special railway spur line used for assembling the
gun and positioning it to strike at targets. They also dug a 26-foot (8 meter) tunnel for sheltering
the weapon as it would be vulnerable to aerial attack. Additionally, two anti-aircraft battalions
set up positions surrounding Gustav to help protect it. It took a 500 man crew of engineers,
scientists and workmen some 54 hours to set the gun up and prep it for firing.
Meanwhile, on June 2, 1942 the Germans launched a new operation on Sevastopol,
simultaneously attacking the encircled Soviet forces by land, sea, and air. Finally,
on the third day after the battle had already begun, Gustav was ready for use.
It had two shelling options: it could fire a high explosive shell weighing around 10,000 pounds
(4,536 kg) with muzzle velocity of nearly 2,700 feet per second (820 m/s) over a range of about 30
miles (48 km). These shells contained around 1,543 pounds (700 kgs) of explosives. On impact they
could create a crater 30 feet (about 9 meters) wide and 30 feet deep (about 9 meters) deep!
Also Gustav could launch a 15,400 pound (7,000 kg) concrete piercing shell at
a muzzle velocity of around 2,362 feet per second (720 m/s) up to 23 miles (37 km) away.
Packed with about 550 pounds (250 kg) of explosives and an aluminum alloy ballistic
nose cone it could penetrate 23 feet (7 meters) of reinforced concrete at maximum elevation.
So did Gustav live up to the hype? Kind of.
During its first day of battle, Gustav fired and took out some coastal artillery. It
also fired 6 shells at Fort Stalin, a concrete fortified bunker, but failed to neutralize it.
The next day Gustav fired 7 shells at Fort Molotov with mixed results.
But then Gustav utterly decimated White Cliff.
Also known as ‘Ammunition Mountain’, White Cliff was an undersea ammunition magazine
nearly 100 feet down (30 meter) at the bottom of Severnaya Bay.
Also it was encased in nearly 33 feet (20 meter) of protective concrete. Gustav penetrated and
destroyed the arsenal, blowing it apart with 9 shots. Also some of the boats in the bay sank.
Over the next several days Gustav continued to provide heavy duty artillery support
to help decimate other important targets around Sevastopol. At times it was rough going,
it took a 300 man crew about 45 minutes to load each shot. On the best days, Gustav
was able to fire 14 shots. Notably the railway gun bombarded and destroyed Fort Siberia with 5 shots.
Also Gustav fired on the Maxim Gorki Fortresses. With just 5 shells,
Maxim Gorki 1 was left in smouldering ruins and Maxim Gorki 2 damaged.
By the time Sevastopol surrendered to the Germans on July 4th, Gustav had 13 days of
operational use and had worn out its original barrel. It had been fired nearly 50 times in
battle and another 250 or so times during quality control checks during manufacturing.
The gun was fitted with a spare barrel and the original barrel was returned to the factory
Schwerer Gustav was a technical marvel, but also a boondoggle. Although its fire power
was impressive, the technical and logistical limitations of the gun restricted its use. It was
incredibly labor intensive to build; it required more than 1,000 tons of steel, thousands of
man-hours and an estimated 7 million Reichsmarks (upwards of 24 million USD in today’s money). All
this for just 48 shots in a war where resources were in limited supply.
Gustav was temporarily dismantled and then later shipped to the northern region of the
eastern front, where it was rebuilt in anticipation of an attack on Leningrad.
The Russians pushed the Germans back and the attack never happened. The gun, pending
further service, was warehoused near Leningrad in the winter of 1942-1943. It’s not clear where
Gustav was shipped after that, however there are unconfirmed reports of it being used in Warsaw.
Ruins of the artillery gun were found in April 1945.
The German had stripped Gustav for parts and used demolition charges to destroy what they
couldn’t take with them so it wouldn’t fall into the hands of the advancing US troops.
German weapons manufacturer Krupp AG was actually in the process of making an even larger,
longer range artillery gun to be called "Langer Gustav"--Gustav Long. The weapon was found
unfinished in a workshop when the American forces took the town the company was in.
For even more insane weapons,
go watch “Weapons Even The Military Made Illegal” or check out this one instead!