Chapter 317 Open Fire

One day ago, April 30, 915.

General Eric von Shipling, commander of the 11th Army, is inspecting the deployed railway gun positions.

He had to hold his head high to see the muzzle of the Gustav cannon.

Shipling: "Does this stuff really work?"

The major general in charge of the artillery nearby replied: "If it doesn't work, you can only hope for the Air Force's Fritz bomb."

"Oh my God, then it still works." General Shipling looked around, and finally fixed his eyes on the No. 2 tank on the cannon support: "Why does the cannon have to carry a No. 2 tank on its back?"

Major General: "Because the tractor we used to push the shells into the gun barrel was broken, and the large tractor used to reset the artillery could not fit on it, so we used the No. 2 tank with the turret removed to take on this task. The size was just right."

Admiral Shipling frowned: "How big are the artillery shells? Do you have to get on the tank to push them?"

"The weight of the warhead is four tons, and the weight of the propellant is seven tons. There is also an armor-piercing projectile with a specially weighted warhead, which is used to attack the enemy's solid concrete fortresses."

Admiral Shipling was speechless: "It sounds powerful, but no matter how powerful the attack is, it's not a big deal as long as it misses."

The artillery major general patted his chest and said: "Don't worry, relying on the experience accumulated on Leopold, we can ensure that the error is within 300 meters."

"Half a kilometer?" Admiral Shipling was shocked, "Do you actually think this error is acceptable?"

Major General of the Artillery: "Believe me, General, high-explosive bombs can ensure that exposed soft targets within a radius of 500 meters are incapacitated. The error of 300 meters is not a big deal.

"And the error can be corrected through calibrated shooting. We have established an observation post on the commanding heights and are connected to this side through the phone. By the third and fourth shots, we will have relatively good hits."

Admiral Shipling pursed his lips, stared at the cannon for a while and said, "How many rounds can you fire on that day?"

"If you shoot continuously at a target with only fine-tuning in between, you can fire 14 rounds a day."

"Fourteen rounds! How come there are so few?" Admiral Shipling asked.

The artillery major general explained: "This is because after shooting, you need to use a tractor to reset the thing, and the entire reset process takes so much time."

"Okay, you're convinced. Fourteen rounds a day doesn't seem unacceptable." Admiral Shipling sighed, "What if it's against different targets?"

"It depends on the distance between the two targets, mainly the distance in the north-south direction. The greater the distance, the greater the angle the cannon needs to rotate. Currently, it takes 12 seconds for the cannon to rotate 1 degree. If something happens during the rotation If there is a fault, it will take a long time to troubleshoot it.”

Admiral Shipling: "Don't tell me this, give me a rough range."

"Nine to ten rounds, Admiral. We still recommend attacking only one important target a day. After destroying the target, stop and let us inspect the cannon. It is better than having to evacuate the cannon after it is completely broken."

Admiral Shipling: "Well, since you all asked for it, so be it. I'm going to climb up this big thing and take a look!"

"Please come this way." The artillery major general quickly made a gesture of invitation.

Soon Admiral Shipling climbed up the back of the cannon through the gangway, looked closely at the special loading tank modified from the No. 2 tank, and then turned around to look at the gun barrel facing the tank.

"So big! What's the caliber?"

"80 centimeters, Admiral."

Admiral Shipling praised: "This should be second only to the Urban cannon. If it is limited to the range of modern barrel artillery, then this is the largest artillery and the embodiment of the industrial power of the empire! We want Use it to destroy the resistance of the Ant people!"

After saying that, the admiral looked around, suddenly stopped, pointed at something that looked like a giant fly swatter not far away, and asked, "Is that a radar?"

"Yes, air warning radar. Although the Air Force has guaranteed not to let any Ant Air Force aircraft reach the sky above the cannon, we still spent a lot of money to equip radar stations and related power generation equipment so that our Anti-aircraft guns are prepared in advance.”

Shipling nodded: "Very reasonable. The air force is unreliable, so let's rely on ourselves for air defense. The artillery will start firing at eight o'clock tomorrow morning. By then, the fire preparations will be over, and the enemy will enter the position, just in time to give them a taste of their power."

"As ordered." The artillery major general saluted.

General Shipling warned again: "Don't fire any armor-piercing shells, just high-explosive shells. Our infantry should have already set off when you open fire. The huge dust cloud created by high-explosive shells will boost morale."

————

At half past four the next day, fire preparations for the coastal fortress began.

From the Gustav cannon position, you can hear the sound of artillery firing in the distance.

The giant cannon quietly waited for the time to fire.

During this process, hundreds of maintenance personnel carefully checked every part of the system to ensure that this behemoth could operate normally.

Then the shells began to be loaded.

Six gunners worked together to push a flatbed truck and sent the shells to the crane, where they were then lifted by the crane and placed on the loading track on the back of the gun body.

Then the No. 2 tank converted into a loading tractor pushed the huge warhead into the gun barrel, then backed away again, waiting for the crane to place the propellant on the rails, and then dutifully pushed the cartridge into the gun barrel.

This cannon requires different amounts of propellant depending on the target.

The first launch required two propellant packs, so the No. 2 tank retreated again and repeated the previous steps.

The last step is to lock the barrel. The locking device of such a huge cannon requires three people to operate at the same time to complete the locking operation.

After the cannon was loaded, there were still 40 minutes before the end of the fire preparation.

Despite this, the operators of the cannon stood still in their respective positions, with no intention of deserting their posts, and waited attentively for the end of the artillery preparation.

At eight o'clock, the phone rang, and the signalman immediately came to the major general with the phone and handed over the receiver respectfully.

As soon as the major general picked up the receiver, he heard Shiplin say in a calm voice: "Fire."

Shiplin's words made the entire position active from a dead silence, and the engineers and technicians who were just busy and idle started moving again to conduct the last inspection before firing.

The major general climbed directly onto the platform on the side of the cannon, where there was a control console for controlling the cannon.

The engineers who had completed the final inspection left the cannon like flying, lined up next to the cannon, and quietly waited for the moment of firing.

The major general checked the firing parameters for the last time, and after confirming that there was no problem, he turned his head and saluted the Plossen flag hanging in the west of the cannon position.

As he saluted, the gunners lined up below covered their ears in a uniform manner.

After the ceremony, the major general turned around, pulled up a rope next to the control console, shouted something, and pulled it hard.

The cannon muzzle spewed out bright flames, and the muzzle storm swept around in an instant.

The gunners covered their ears just to suppress the cap of the operating cap, so that the cap was not blown away by the shooting storm.

As the storm swept across the entire position, the huge gun body and the platform below recoiled along the rails, converting the energy provided by the gunpowder into work on the gun body.

After the recoil, the cannon stopped directly.

The gunners who had just lined up to cover their ears immediately took action, drove over three tractors, and began to tow the cannon.

The three tractors pulled hard to reset the railway cannon weighing more than 1,000 tons, and then began the second round of loading.