Adolf Hitler Inspecting and Critiquing His Massive 800mm Railway Gun
The German Heavy Schwerer Gustav from the late 1930s was the largest gun ever built. It was more than 149 feet long, 40 feet tall, and weighed an astounding 1,500 tons. The steel factory-made only two of them by design, and none of them ever actually worked well enough to be used in battle. The weapon derived from past experiences of the first world war.
After witnessing the success of other railway guns, the German High Command asked Krupp’s engineers to design a weapon that’s able to destroy and break the French border fortifications known as the Maginot Line.