Arc of Gunfire

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 connected it via 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 modified 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 kind of cannon has different amounts of propellant loaded depending on the target.

The number of propellant packs that needed to be loaded for the first launch was two, 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 it at the same time to complete the locking operation.

After the cannon is loaded, there are still 40 minutes left before the fire preparation is completed.

Despite this, the cannon operators still stood firm at their respective positions, with no intention of deserting, and were concentrating on waiting for the completion of the artillery preparations.

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

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

Shipling's words brought the entire position from a dead state to life. The engineers and technicians who were busy just now started moving again to conduct the last inspection before launch.

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

The engineers who had completed the final inspection left the cannon as fast as they could, lined up next to the cannon, and waited quietly for the moment of firing.

The major general checked the shooting elements for the last time, and after confirming that there were no problems, he turned his head and saluted the Prosen flag hanging just west of the artillery position.

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

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

The cannon's muzzle spurted out bright flames, and a muzzle storm swept across the surrounding area in an instant.

The action of the gunners covering their ears just suppressed the hat flap of the operating hat, so that the hat would not be blown away by the shooting wind.

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 ended, the cannon stopped directly.

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

Three tractors pulled hard to reset the railway gun, which weighed more than 1,000 tons, and then started the second round of loading.