28 cm cannon 5 (E)
| 28 cm cannon 5 (E) | |
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| General Information | |
| Military designation: | 28 cm cannon 5 (E) |
| Manufacturer country: | German Empire |
| Developer / Manufacturer: | Krupp, Hanomag |
| Development year: | 1934 |
| Production time: | 1937 to 1945 |
| Number of pieces: | 25th |
| Weapon Category: | Railway gun |
| Technical specifications | |
| Pipe length: | 20,548 m |
| Caliber : |
28.3 cm |
| Caliber length : | L / 76 |
| Elevation range: | 0 ° to +50 degrees |
| Side straightening area: | Turntable 360 °, mount 18 ° |
The 28 cm cannon 5 (E) (short: K 5 ) was a railway gun of the German Wehrmacht in World War II .
history
The K 5 was developed by Krupp in Essen from 1934 and manufactured in cooperation with Hanomag in Hanover from 1937 onwards. Eight K 5s had been built by February 1940 and a total of 25 by 1945 .
This made the K 5 the standard gun used by German railway artillery in World War II. It is generally regarded as the technical high point of this weapon concept, which, however, had survived through the development of the air war, since bombers could achieve a similar effect more economically. In addition, Allied bombers threatened the rail network, on which this type of weapon was imperative.
The gun had a caliber of 28.3 cm and could be driven on a large part of the normal rail network without major modifications.
The 21.538 m long tube itself was the first in Germany specially designed for this purpose, apart from special designs such as the Paris gun and the K 12 . It was initially provided with 10-mm deep-drawn sections , the depth of which, however, was reduced to 7 mm after cracks appeared. It was stored in a tubular cradle on a frame carriage that rested on two six-axle bogies . The durability of the tube was about 240 shots, after which it was considered worn.
The gun was powered by its own generator and powered for the aiming device.
After unsatisfactory attempts to increase the range with the use of shells with additional rocket drives, which had been carried out on the Rügenwalde-Bad firing range in Western Pomerania, some tubes were drilled out into smooth tubes with a caliber of 31 cm in order to use sub-caliber sabot bullets ("Peenemünder arrow bullet").
The maximum range of the 255.5 kg bullet was 62,400 m. The shells with additional rocket propulsion reached 86,500 m, the sub-caliber sabot projectiles with stabilizing wings for the 310 mm tube had a range of 160,000 m. It took three to five minutes to load a projectile.
The K 5 was u. a. used in the 712, 713 and 765 railway artillery batteries.
Types
- 15 cm cannon 5M (trains with curved ribs, prototype)
- 15 cm cannon 5MKu (prototype)
- 28 cm cannon 5 T 10 (E) (10 mm draw depth, 12 draws)
- 28 cm cannon 5 T 7 (E) (7 mm draw depth, 12 draws)
- 28 cm cannon 5 Vz (E) (7 mm draw depth, 60 draws)
- 31 cm cannon 5 gl (E) (smooth barrel cannon)
(the "(E)" stands for railway gun)
Whereabouts
Two copies of the K 5 (E) can still be viewed today. "Leopold" and "Robert" are the nicknames of the K 5 (E) used on the Anzio front in Italy in 1944 . They were captured by US troops after the railroad connections were destroyed and shipped to the United States. "Leopold" was restored with corresponding parts by "Robert" and was in almost complete condition in the United States Army Ordnance Museum in Aberdeen / Maryland . Since the restructuring of the American military bases in 2010, the museum has been located in Fort Lee , near Petersburg, Virginia. "Robert" was later scrapped.
A second preserved gun is in the Batterie Todt Museum near Cap Gris-Nez , near Audinghen, France.
As an evolution from the time of the Cold War that is M65 gun viewed, but which has been transported by road and for use with nuclear grenades was provided. However, this gun had a shorter range of about 29 km.
Krupp K 5 (E) in Audinghen, Battery Todt Museum
Krupp K 5 (E) in Audinghen
K 5 (E) in a dome bunker in the Hydrequant quarry
Model by Leopold on a straightening turntable
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literature
- Terry Gander, Peter Chamberlain: Encyclopedia of German Weapons 1939-1945. 2nd edition, special edition, Motorbuch-Verlag, Stuttgart 2006, ISBN 3-613-02481-0 .
- Joachim Engelmann: The book of the artillery. 1939-1945. Edition Dörfler in Nebel-Verlag, Eggolsheim 2004, ISBN 3-89555-179-1 ( Dörfler Zeitgeschichte ).
