By Marc Romanych, Martin Rupp, Henry Morshead
Within the early days of worldwide struggle I, Germany unveiled a brand new weapon – the cellular 42cm (16.5 inch) M-Gerät howitzer. on the time, it used to be the biggest artillery piece of its style on the earth and a heavily guarded mystery. while battle broke out, of the howitzers have been rushed without delay from the manufacturing unit to Liege the place they speedy destroyed forts and forced the castle to give up. After repeat performances at Namur, Maubeuge and Antwerp, German infantrymen christened the howitzers ‘Grosse’ or ‘Dicke Berta’ (Fat or massive Bertha) after Bertha von Krupp, proprietor of the Krupp armament works that equipped the howitzers. The nickname was once quickly picked up through German press which triumphed the 42cm howitzers as Wunderwaffe (wonder weapons), and the legend of massive Bertha used to be born. This ebook info the layout and improvement of German siege weapons earlier than and through international conflict I. Accompanying the textual content are many infrequent, never-before-published photos of ‘Big Bertha’ and the opposite German siege weapons. color illustrations depict crucial points of the German siege artillery.
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Extra info for 42cm 'Big Bertha' and German Siege Artillery of WWI
5cm projectiles were not particularly effective against the concrete of the forts at Antwerp, although direct hits from Beta mortar projectiles did destroy two armored cupolas. (M. com most of their ammunition and had to cease fire. For its part, KMK Battery 3 heavily damaged Fort Suarlée and forced its garrison to surrender after hitting it with 26 rounds. Namur was captured after five days of bombardment. Rapid fall of the fortress was the result of the siege artillery. Three forts were reduced by 21cm howitzers which fired a total of 6,763 rounds and five fell to the siege guns which fired 699 rounds.
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However, the measures were inadequate, and on September 5, the VII Reserve Corps launched an assault. French troops resisted stubbornly and only the interval works of Bersillies and La Salmagne were seized. However, the next day, Fort Boussois and interval work Rocq fell to German infantry, creating a gap in the fortress ring. But the advance was suspended because the 21cm howitzers, having expended huge amounts of munitions at Liège and Namur, had now depleted their ammunition. It was up to the siege guns, which still had ammunition, to widen the gap in the fortress ring by reducing the adjacent forts.