What was the Schwerer Gustav, and why was it essentially useless despite being the largest gun ever built?
Answer
An 80-cm caliber railway gun weighing 1,350 tonnes built by Krupp that fired shells weighing 7 tonnes — it required 250 men to operate, took 3 days to assemble, and could only fire 14 rounds per day
Did You Know?
Gustav fired only about 300 shells in its entire war service during the Siege of Sevastopol. It required an entire railway network to transport and was so slow to set up that it was nearly useless in mobile warfare. It was the most expensive weapon per use in the entire war.