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The Tragic Fate of the World’s Largest Cannon: The Gustav Gun
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After Hitler rose to power in 1933, he renounced the Treaty of Versailles, boosted the economy domestically, and expanded military armaments. The British and French were well aware of Hitler’s actions but adopted a policy of appeasement to avoid provoking Germany. France even built the Maginot Line along the Franco-German border in preparation for a potential German invasion.
Aware of France’s measures, Nazi Germany was equally informed. In 1934, the German Krupp company received a letter from the German Army High Command requesting the design of a heavy artillery piece capable of destroying the fortifications of the Maginot Line. Ideally, it would penetrate 7 meters of concrete or 1 meter of steel plate from a distance beyond enemy retaliation.
After calculations, Krupp realized that to meet the German Army’s brief yet ambitious request, the cannon would need to be extraordinary: each shell would weigh eight tons, the caliber would be approximately 800 millimeters, the barrel about 30 meters long, and the entire apparatus would weigh around 1,000 tons. The cannon would have to be transported by train.
In an era that embraced the principle of “bigger is better,” Hitler and his Nazi regime were no exception, especially with war looming. Consequently, the…
