Railway Guns of World War II

Railway Guns of World War II
Author: Steven J. Zaloga
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 52
Release: 2016-02-25
Genre: History
ISBN: 1472810694

World War II marked the zenith of railway gun development. Although many of the railway guns deployed at the start of the conflict were of World War I vintage, Germany's ambitious development programme saw the introduction of a number of new classes, including the world's largest, the 80cm-calibre Schwerer Gustav and Schwerer Dora guns, which weighed in at 1,350 tons and fired a huge 7-ton shell. This book provides an overview of the types of railway guns in service during World War II, with a special focus on the German railway artillery used in France, Italy and on the Eastern Front, and analyzes why railway guns largely disappeared from use following the end of the war.

Railway Guns

Railway Guns
Author: John Goodwin
Publisher: Pen and Sword
Total Pages: 123
Release: 2016-08-30
Genre: History
ISBN: 1473854148

In the nineteenth century the War Office showed little interest in developing large heavy artillery for its land forces, preferring instead to equip its warships with the biggest guns. Private initiatives to mount a gun on a railway truck pulled by a steam engine were demonstrated before military chiefs in the Southern Counties, but not taken up. However, the development of longer-range guns, weighing up to 250 tons, to smash through the massive armies and trench systems on the Western Front in 1916, led to a rethink. The only way to move these monsters about quickly in countryside thick with mud was to mount them on specially built railway trucks towed by locomotives. The railway guns were to be put on little-used country lines where they could fire on beaches, road junctions and harbors. The locations and cooperation given by the independent railway companies is explained, as are the difficulties of using the same lines for war and civilian traffic. The First World War also saw the emergence of large training camps for railway men. When the war ended most railway guns were dismantled and lost in ordnance depots. The Army Council was uncertain about artillery needs in a future war, so training, and development stopped. This book largely concentrates on the realities of the time, the type of gun, the locomotives, artillery targets, locations, and what it was like when firing took place. It is fully illustrated with pictures, maps and plans covering different aspects of railway guns their locomotives and equipment.

Railway Guns of World War II

Railway Guns of World War II
Author: Steven J. Zaloga
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 108
Release: 2016-02-25
Genre: History
ISBN: 1472810708

World War II marked the zenith of railway gun development. Although many of the railway guns deployed at the start of the conflict were of World War I vintage, Germany's ambitious development programme saw the introduction of a number of new classes, including the world's largest, the 80cm-calibre Schwerer Gustav and Schwerer Dora guns, which weighed in at 1,350 tons and fired a huge 7-ton shell. This book provides an overview of the types of railway guns in service during World War II, with a special focus on the German railway artillery used in France, Italy and on the Eastern Front, and analyzes why railway guns largely disappeared from use following the end of the war.

Railway Guns of World War I

Railway Guns of World War I
Author: Marc Romanych
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 49
Release: 2017-08-24
Genre: History
ISBN: 1472816412

World War I was the Golden Age of the railway gun. Even though at the start of the conflict none of the armies possessed any railway artillery pieces and the very idea was comparatively new, more railway guns were used during this war than in any other conflict. Designed to break the stalemate of trench warfare, the first railway guns were simple, improvised designs made by mounting surplus coastal defence, fortress, and naval guns onto existing commercial railway carriages. As the war dragged on, railway artillery development shifted to longer range guns that could shell targets deep behind enemy lines. This change of role brought much larger and more sophisticated guns often manufactured by mounting long-barrel naval guns to specially-designed railway carriages. This book details the design and development of railway guns during World War I from the very first basic designs to massive purpose built "monster" railway guns. Accompanying the text are many rare, never-before-published, photographs and colour illustrations depicting how these weapons were used during World War I.

Railway Guns of World War I

Railway Guns of World War I
Author: Marc Romanych
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 49
Release: 2017-08-24
Genre: History
ISBN: 1472816404

World War I was the Golden Age of the railway gun. Even though at the start of the conflict none of the armies possessed any railway artillery pieces and the very idea was comparatively new, more railway guns were used during this war than in any other conflict. Designed to break the stalemate of trench warfare, the first railway guns were simple, improvised designs made by mounting surplus coastal defence, fortress, and naval guns onto existing commercial railway carriages. As the war dragged on, railway artillery development shifted to longer range guns that could shell targets deep behind enemy lines. This change of role brought much larger and more sophisticated guns often manufactured by mounting long-barrel naval guns to specially-designed railway carriages. This book details the design and development of railway guns during World War I from the very first basic designs to massive purpose built "monster" railway guns. Accompanying the text are many rare, never-before-published, photographs and colour illustrations depicting how these weapons were used during World War I.

Weapons

Weapons
Author:
Publisher: JHU Press
Total Pages: 164
Release: 1954
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780801862298

Describes in text and pictures weapons used through the ages, from the stones of prehistoric man to the bombs of modern times.

Weapons of World War II

Weapons of World War II
Author: Matt Doeden
Publisher: Capstone
Total Pages: 33
Release: 2017-08
Genre: Juvenile Nonfiction
ISBN: 1515779173

Countries from all over the globe fought in World War II. Check out this book to find out more about the weapons used in World War II.

Materiel (Weapons).

Materiel (Weapons).
Author: Field Artillery School (Fort Sill, Okla.)
Publisher:
Total Pages: 250
Release: 1934
Genre: Artillery, Field and mountain
ISBN:

The V-Weapons

The V-Weapons
Author: Winston Ramsey
Publisher: After the Battle
Total Pages: 288
Release: 2020-04-30
Genre: History
ISBN: 1399076566

"London and southern England has for weeks now been the target of our V1, which is only the first link in a chain of new and strongest German weapons." So wrote the editor of Der Adler, the "house" magazine of the Luftwaffe, in August 1944. The first of the German V-weapons had crashed on English soil two months before in the early hours of June 13, and for the next ten months Britain was subjected to a relentless bombardment from Hitler’s Vergeltungswaffen or "revenge weapons". Beginning with the V1 flying bombs, colloquially dubbed in Britain as "doodlebugs," thousands of which had to be fired from fixed sites in northern France, the V2 rocket had the advantage of being mounted on a mobile trailer so it could be launched from any level piece of ground. The first pair of over a thousand rockets, fired from a street corner in Holland, arrived like a double thunderclap on the evening of September 8. Heralding a new form of warfare in which there was no warning and no defense, nevertheless huge efforts had been made by the Royal Air Force and US?Army Air Forces to blunt the threat of the new supersonic weapon. Based on a formerly classified RAF narrative, this book covers the detailed story, from the very first intelligence reports in 1943, through the various counter-measures carried out, both to mitigate manufacturing and destroy suspected V-weapon construction sites. Day-by-day listings are included covering the locations in Britain where every V1 was either destroyed or where they impacted, plus those for all the V2s. Illustrated with many censored photographs from the period, "then and now" comparisons bring history alive to illustrate the passage of time over the intervening years.

Naval Weapons of World War One

Naval Weapons of World War One
Author: Norman Friedman
Publisher: Seaforth Publishing
Total Pages: 409
Release: 2011-12-12
Genre: History
ISBN: 1848321007

Although the Great War might be regarded as the heyday of the big-gun at sea, it also saw the maturing of underwater weapons – the mine and torpedo – as well as the first signs of the future potency of air power. Between 1914 and 1918 weapons development was both rapid and complex, so this book has two functions: on the one hand it details all the guns, torpedoes, mines, aerial bombs and anti-submarine systems employed during that period; but it also seeks to explain the background to their evolution – how the weapons were perceived at the time and how they were actually used. This involves a discussion of tactics and emphasises the key ‘enabling’ technology of fire control and gun mountings. In this respect the book treats the war as a transition from naval weapons which were essentially experimental at its outbreak to a state where they pointed directly to what would be used in World War Two. Based largely on original research, this sophisticated book is more than a catalogue of the weapons, offering insight into some of the most important technical and operational factors influencing the war at sea. In this respect it is more broadly significant than its title might suggest.