28 cm schwere Bruno Kanone (E)

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28 cm schwere Bruno Kanone (E)
Type Railway Gun
Place of origin Germany
Service history
In service 1937–45
Used by Nazi Germany
Wars World War II
Production history
Designer Krupp
Manufacturer Krupp
Produced 1937–38
No. built 2
Specifications
Weight 118 tonnes (116 long tons; 130 short tons)
Length 22.8 metres (74 ft 10 in)
Barrel  length 11.08 metres (36 ft 4 in) L/42

Shell separate-loading, cased charge
Caliber 283 millimetres (11.1 in)
Breech horizontal sliding block
Recoil hydro-pneumatic
Carriage 2 x 5-axle bogies
Elevation +10° to +45°
Traverse 20' on mounting
360° on Vögele turntable
Muzzle velocity 860 m/s (2,800 ft/s)
Maximum firing range 35,700 metres (39,000 yd)

The 28 cm schwere Bruno Kanone (E - Eisenbahnlafette (railroad mounting)), often abbreviated as s.Br.K, was a German railroad gun used during World War II in the invasion of France and on coast-defense duties in Occupied Norway for the rest of the war. Two were built using pre-World War I coast-defense guns during the 1930s.

World War II 1939–1945 global war

World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. The vast majority of the world's countries—including all the great powers—eventually formed two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis. A state of total war emerged, directly involving more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. The major participants threw their entire economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities behind the war effort, blurring the distinction between civilian and military resources. World War II was the deadliest conflict in human history, marked by 50 to 85 million fatalities, most of whom were civilians in the Soviet Union and China. It included massacres, the genocide of the Holocaust, strategic bombing, premeditated death from starvation and disease, and the only use of nuclear weapons in war.

Battle of France Successful German invasion of France

The Battle of France, also known as the Fall of France, was the German invasion of France and the Low Countries during the Second World War. In the six weeks from 10 May 1940, German forces defeated Allied forces by mobile operations and conquered France, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands, bringing land operations on the Western Front to an end until 6 June 1944. Italy entered the war on 10 June 1940 and invaded France over the Alps.

Contents

Design

As part of the re-armament program initiated by the Nazis after taking power in 1933 the Army High Command (Oberkommando des Heeres - OKH) ordered Krupp to begin work on new railroad artillery designs, but they would take a long time to develop. Krupp pointed out that it could deliver a number of railroad guns much more quickly using obsolete guns already on hand and modernizing their original World War I mountings for which it still had drawings available. OKH agreed and authorized Krupp in 1936 to begin design of a series of guns between 15 and 28 cm (5.9 and 11.0 in) for delivery by 1939 as the Emergency Program (Sofort-Programe). [1]

National Socialism, more commonly known as Nazism, is the ideology and practices associated with the Nazi Party – officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party – in Nazi Germany, and of other far-right groups with similar aims.

<i>Oberkommando des Heeres</i> Supreme High Command of the German Army during World War II

The Oberkommando des Heeres (OKH) was the High Command of the German Army during the Era of Nazi Germany. It was founded in 1935 as a part of Adolf Hitler's re-militarisation of Germany. From 1938 OKH was, together with OKL and OKM, formally subordinated to the OKW, with the exception of the Waffen-SS. During the war, OKH had the responsibility of strategic planning of Armies and Army Groups, while the General Staff of the OKH managed operational matters. Each German Army also had an Armeeoberkommando, Army Command, or AOK. Until the German defeat at Moscow in December 1941, OKH and its staff was de facto the most important unit within the German war planning. OKW then took over this function for theatres other than the German-Soviet front. OKH commander held the title Oberbefehlshaber des Heeres. Following the Battle of Moscow, after OKH commander Field Marshal Walther von Brauchitsch was excused, Hitler appointed himself as Commander-in-Chief of the Army.

Krupp German family dynasty

The Krupp family, a prominent 400-year-old German dynasty from Essen, became famous for their production of steel, artillery, ammunition, and other armaments. The family business, known as Friedrich Krupp AG, was the largest company in Europe at the beginning of the 20th century. It was important to weapons development and production in both world wars. One of the most powerful dynasties in European history, for 400 years Krupp flourished as the premier weapons manufacturer for Germany. From the Thirty Years' War until the end of the Second World War, they produced everything from battleships, U-boats, tanks, howitzers, guns, utilities, and hundreds of other commodities.

Two aged 28 cm Küsten Kanone L/42 (42 caliber Coastal Cannon) guns seized from the Belgians on the outbreak of World War I had survived the war and were placed on new mounts that were shared by all of the 28 cm "Bruno" railroad guns. The gun could traverse only enough on the mount itself for fine corrections, coarser adjustments had to be made by turning the entire mount on the Vögele turntable. The turntable (Drehscheibe) consisted of a circular track with a pivot mount in the center for a platform on which the railroad gun itself was secured. A ramp was used to raise the railway gun to the level of the platform. The platform had rollers at each end which rested on the circular rail for 360° traverse. It had a capacity of 300 tonnes (300 long tons; 330 short tons), enough for most of the railroad guns in the German inventory. The gun could only be loaded at 0° elevation and so had to be re-aimed for each shot. Both guns were delivered by 1938. [2]

It fired nose- and base-fused high-explosive 284 kg (626 lb) shells with a ballistic cap (28 cm Sprenggranate L/4.4 m KZ m BdZ m Hb) filled with 22.9 kilograms (50 lb) of TNT. [3]

Shell (projectile) projectile

A shell is a payload-carrying projectile that, as opposed to shot, contains an explosive or other filling, though modern usage sometimes includes large solid projectiles properly termed shot. Solid shot may contain a pyrotechnic compound if a tracer or spotting charge is used. Originally, it was called a "bombshell", but "shell" has come to be unambiguous in a military context.

Combat history

During the Battle of France schwere Brunos equipped Railroad Artillery Battery (Artillerie-Batterie (E.) 689 for which the only known activity was firing on targets in southern Alsace from Lörrach between 14 and 17 June 1940. [4] The battery was later transferred to Nærbø, Norway for coast defense duties under the command of Artillery Group Stavanger-South (Artilleriegruppe Stavanger-Süd). Lastly they were moved East along the coast to guard the port of Fredrikstad, Norway, when four 24 cm (9.4 in) ex-French railroad guns were transferred in from Narvik in 1944. [5]

Alsace Place in Grand Est, France

Alsace is a cultural and historical region in eastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine next to Germany and Switzerland.

Lörrach Place in Baden-Württemberg, Germany

LörrachGerman pronunciation: [ˈlœrax] is a city in southwest Germany, in the valley of the Wiese, close to the French and the Swiss borders. It is the capital of the district of Lörrach in Baden-Württemberg. The largest industry is the Milka chocolate factory. The city had a population of 10,794 in 1905 and of 47,707 in 2007.

Nærbø Village in Western Norway, Norway

Nærbø is the largest village in Hå municipality in Rogaland county, Norway. The village is located in the district of Jæren, about half-way between the town of Bryne and the village of Varhaug. The village sits about 38 kilometres (24 mi) south of Norway's fourth largest city, Stavanger. The village was the administrative centre of the old municipality of Nærbø from 1894 until 1964 when it was merged into Hå.

Notes

  1. Gander and Chamberlain, p. 231
  2. François, p. 80
  3. Hogg, p. 129
  4. François, p. 53
  5. Francois, p. 63

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References

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