Famous German Guns

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 226, 24 September 1938, Page 8 (Supplement)

Famous German Guns

Mighty Artillery Pieces. By S. COLEMAN IN these days of war and rumours of wars when European nations are working day and night turning out weapons of destruction, it may be interesting to recall those monster guns which Germany used in the World War.

Apart from the massive 17 -i iu-h how it /it.-, which were so successfully used to destroy the Belgian forts of Liege. Nainur and Antwerp, there wenreally threw outr-ta nding long-range guns on the Western Front, \ i/.., Hi Bertha, which shelled l'anis, tlie 11inch mobile railway gun which caused so much destruction in Amiens, and the great e.-t of all, the Leugenboom gun which bombarded Dunkirk.

To the student of artillery the most amazing gun of all was the one which was installed to shell Dunkirk, aniaz ing because of the thoroughness of :ls emplacement and equipment in contrast to the very slight loss of life which it caused. The Great Leugenboom. Known as the Leugenboom gun, it was situated near the small Belgian village of Moere and there to-day it still remains, being open for public inspection and cared for by the Government as a 'Vite de guerre." It was brought into being for the sole purpose of preventing the use of the harbour of Dunkirk. Mounted in an enormous concrete pit. -- yards in diameter and constructed almost entirely by Russian prisoners, a special railway track nearby, three miles long, was laid to bring it to its emplacement, and this was certainly needed, for no Flanders' roads could have withstood the passage of its ."itift long barrel, which alone weighed tons. It fired a shell of l.'iin. nearly ttft high, weighing liicwt. and was reported to have an extreme range of 4ti miles.

And yet, this huge weapon, rn carefully installed and magnificently equipped, failed to achieve it* purpo.-e. for Dunkirk observed the normal life nf a tnw'ii in close proximity to the tiring line. Although -Ml shell* were actually tired, thi.' resultant ca-ualtie.s were amazingly small, 114 persons ki 11» ■< 1 and IS.) injured, but the material damage was considerably greater, so much so that the town was publielv decorated by the I reiich '.^.iverninent. Germans Obliged to Retire However, In the autumn of 101S the tide began to turn and on October I*> the last .-hell fell on the long suffering town to kill two women and wound one male civilian. As the Allied troops advanced, the harried (•erinans were obliged to retire from the Flanders coast and the gun crew loaded the big gun for the last time, this time for the purpose of self destruction. They lowered the gun sn that the muzzle nearly touched the concrete surround and fired it. but the powerful shell failed to explode and it merely tore its way through the reinforced concrete to bury itself in the surrounding countryside.

After that the gun's crew thought of self-preservation ami that i* why the hi-' Leugenhoom gun stands intact to I' -come one of the most visited wonders of the Western Front.