42 cm Gamma Mörser

Infobox Weapon
name=42 cm Gamma Mörser


caption=Side view of a Gamma-Gerät during WW I
origin=Germany
type=superheavy siege howitzer
is_ranged=
is_bladed=
is_explosive=yes
is_artillery=yes
is_vehicle=
is_UK=
service=1912-1945
used_by=flag|German Empire
flag|Nazi Germany
wars=World War I, World War II
designer=Krupp
design_date=1909-1912
manufacturer=Krupp
production_date=
number=
variants=
weight=convert|140000|kg|lb
length=
part_length=convert|6723|mm|in L/16
width=
height=
crew=
cartridge=separate-loading, case charge
caliber=convert|420|mm|in
action=
rate=1 round per 8 minutes
velocity=420 m/s
range=
max_range=convert|14200|m|yd
feed=
sights=
breech=interrupted-screw
recoil=hydro-pneumatic
carriage=
elevation=+43° to 75°
traverse=46°
blade_type=
hilt_type=
sheath_type=
head_type=
haft_type=
diameter=
filling=
filling_weight=
detonation=
yield=
armour=
primary_armament=
secondary_armament=
engine=
engine_power=
pw_ratio=
suspension=
vehicle_range=
speed=

The 42 cm Gamma Mörser or, more formally, the 42 cm kurze Marinekanone L/16 (42 cm short Naval gun with 16 caliber barrel) was a German siege gun used in World War I and World War II.

Design & History

Well before World War I Krupp began development of a series of super-heavy siege guns intended to crack the armored fortresses being built by its neighbors. The Gamma was the third major design in this series, hence the name of Gamma-Gerät (Gamma-equipment), and was basically an enlarged 30.5 cm Beta-Gerät. It was a Bettungsgeschütz (bedding-gun) that fired from a concrete platform. This was a real tactical limitation and demanded extensive planning since the concrete had to cure, which could take up to a week, before the Gamma could be assembled. Even then assembly took a couple of days before it was ready to fire, even with the aid of a rail-mounted traveling crane.

Like its predecessor it was unique among German World War I artillery in using a Welin interrupted-screw breech. Oddly it used a cartridge case even though its breech design didn't require one to provide the necessary seal to prevent the escape of combustion gases. Possibly this was done to speed up its rate of fire, or simply because virtually every other German artillery piece used cartridge cases rather than bagged powder. It used an interesting (chain-driven?) loading system to move ammunition from the ground up to the breech, which is the diagonal structure on the left in the picture to the right. It broke down into ten train loads for transport. An armored gunhouse could be fitted, although it's not clear if this happened during World War I, but Gamma had one at Warsaw according to photographic evidence. The surviving gun gained a much more elaborate firing platform, as can be seen from the photos in the photo gallery linked to below. It's unclear what other changes the Germans made to the surviving gun, but the data presented here is for the howitzer in its World War II incarnation, without the gunhouse.

Sources disagree on the number of Gammas built, although numbers up to ten are cited, but it is clear that only one survived the cutting torches of the International Military Control Commission that enforced the dictates of the Versailles Peace Treaty. It was hidden at Krupp's proving ground at Meppen and was recommissioned during the Thirties to test concrete-piercing rounds. The Germans deployed it against the Maginot Line, the Siege of Sevastopol and the Warsaw Uprising in 1944.

Ammunition

Details are lacking on it's ammunition used during the First World War, other than it used two different shells, the original HE shell of convert|1953|lb|kg at some convert|1200|ft|m per second and a lighter convert|1680|lb|kg shell that it shared with its successor, the 42cm howitzer commonly called Big Bertha.In World War II it used a concrete-piercing shell weighing convert|1003|kg|lb, propelled by up to four increments of powder, weighing in total convert|77.8|kg|lb.

References

* Englemann, Joachim and Scheibert, Horst. "Deutsche Artillerie 1934-1945: Eine Dokumentation in Text, Skizzen und Bildern: Ausrüstung, Gliderung, Ausbildung, Führung, Einsatz". Limburg/Lahn, Germany: C. A. Starke, 1974
* Gander, Terry and Chamberlain, Peter. "Weapons of the Third Reich: An Encyclopedic Survey of All Small Arms, Artillery and Special Weapons of the German Land Forces 1939-1945". New York: Doubleday, 1979 ISBN 0-385-15090-3
* Hogg, Ian V. "German Artillery of World War Two". 2nd corrected edition. Mechanicsville, PA: Stackpole Books, 1997 ISBN 1-85367-480-X
* Jäger, Herbert. "German Artillery of World War One". Ramsbury, Marlborough, Wiltshire: Crowood Press, 2001 ISBN 1-86126-403-8

External Links

* [http://www.waffenhq.de/panzer/dickeberta-bilder.html Picture gallery of a Gamma Mörser]