The absolutely massive Earth-shattering German railway gun

The absolutely massive Earth-shattering German railway gun - Schwerer Gustav

Рет қаралды 38,473

Жыл бұрын

In today's video, we take a look at the absolute size of the Schwerer Gustav, Germany's most powerful railway gun
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Пікірлер: 194

@TrainFactGuy Жыл бұрын

Du Vollidiot! Die deutsche Wissenschaft ist die beste der Welt!

@TheDarkSlayer415 Жыл бұрын

ドイツの化学は世界一!! Loving the back to back JoJo references.

@tha_tram_man Жыл бұрын

Don't give in to wheraboos

@darthgaster Жыл бұрын

Fakten meine Freunde, der Engländer spricht Fakten.

@BIG_RED_PRODUCTIONS_official Жыл бұрын

OK you know what I'm not gonna lie I kind of wished you did a video on the Gustavo rail cannon and my wish has come true I'm gonna be honest I love German railway history

@terrier_productions Жыл бұрын

@symarvel4836 Жыл бұрын

When the quiet train enthusiast pulls up with one of these

@sharanventure Жыл бұрын

German engineering is not only about industrys you know!

@symarvel4836 Жыл бұрын

@@sharanventure does it matter it’s still impressive

@ceciliavaldez843 Жыл бұрын

The guy must really hate a artist collage a lot

@l0rdapophis Жыл бұрын

"Don't come to the station tomorrow..."

@FunAngelo2005 Жыл бұрын

@@l0rdapophis aaaaaahhhhhhhh

@ValentineC137 Жыл бұрын

I will never be able to get over the fact that Germany built the biggest mobile artillery gun in history.. And then *_built a second one._*

@countluke2334 Жыл бұрын

It was so nice they built it twice

@lyokianhitchhiker Жыл бұрын

These units

@yuki_foxsoul8425 9 ай бұрын

And almost built a even bigger one.

@Thatonesaddletank Жыл бұрын

In absolute awe of the size of this lad *ABSOLUTE UNIT*

@SeverityOne Жыл бұрын

They strike me a bit as similar to Tsar Bomba: yes, they were very effective, and did exactly what was expected from them, but in the end they were impractical to use. And they would have been a very inviting target to a couple of determined ground attack planes.

@_Beamish Жыл бұрын

I dare you to neutralise a Tsar Bomba with as many and much explosives you wish, from 5000ft

@SeverityOne Жыл бұрын

@@_Beamish Well, there was a heavily modified Tu-95.

@_Beamish Жыл бұрын

@@SeverityOne And what are you gonna do with them? Drop bombs. On a Nuke. To prevent the nuke detonating. Am I going completely mad?

@SeverityOne Жыл бұрын

@@_Beamish You're missing the point. What I said was that both the Tsar Bomba and the Schwerer Gustav/Schwere Dora were not very practical. I've also said was that such a huge object like this railway gun would be an easy target for a ground attack aeroplane. Why you would construe this to mean that one could disable a 53 MT thermonuclear device with a ground attack aeroplane is beyond me, but go ahead, keep arguing the point.

@_Beamish Жыл бұрын

@@SeverityOne I agree with the former, and partially on the latter insofar as the US and Soviets both possessing the power to make one 20,000 nukes go boom bigger slightly redundant in a MAD scenario

@Hybris51129 Жыл бұрын

I will admit that one of the few undying model railroad dreams I have had since childhood is to hook up my HO scale Big Boy to one of these and have it go around the family Christmas tree. Sadly models of this gun seem to limited to custom jobs for eye watering amounts.

@fallingwater Жыл бұрын

Hmm. Seems like it'd be a great use for a 3d printer...

@Hybris51129 Жыл бұрын

@@fallingwater That would make it easier to justify making the gun into a Christmas themed one. Sometimes Santa needs to give out lots of coal at considerable distances. :)

@fallingwater Жыл бұрын

@@Hybris51129 Christmas, Valentine's (how huge and heavy a big red heart can we throw 100km in the distance?), and let's not forget new year's fireworks...

@roadwarrior114 Жыл бұрын

Make one out of scrap metal and put some HO bogies on it.

@SynchroScore Жыл бұрын

One other thing puts into perspective how tremendously huge these were. This was the only artillery piece where the Gun Captain held the rank of Major General.

@stephenphillip5656 Жыл бұрын

"Schwerer Gustav" & "Dora" were only usable in areas of combat where there was total German air superiority. One decent Russian air raid whilst it was being assembled would've destroyed it but the Russians were very much on the back foot at Sevastopol & couldn't mount such a raid, even if they had knowledge of what & where it was being assembled.

@BurningmonkeyGTR Жыл бұрын

In the Yu-Gi-Oh TCG there is a deck of trains, the 3 boss monsters being; Superdreadnought Rail Cannon Gustav Max Number 81: Superdreadnought Rail Cannon Super Dora Superdreadnought Rail Cannon Juggernaut Liebe This explains the first 2, can you shed any light on the origins of Liebe? The most I can find is that it's supposedly related to the Landkreuzer Monster

@shirokumaotaku Жыл бұрын

Do I see a fellow Earth Machines player?

@BurningmonkeyGTR Жыл бұрын

@@shirokumaotaku nope, but you do see another player of all the dumb, random decks (currently have Bystial Lightsworn Ishizu Synchron Tear as one deck, Crystal Beasts, F.A. and Red-Eyes FTK)

@bullstrode5875 Жыл бұрын

@@shirokumaotaku Not currently a earth machine player, but absolutely a earth machine appreciator!

@kaitlyn__L Жыл бұрын

I still always think of those from their one anime appearance when I see the actual trains. Still kinda weird subject choice for a trading card game suitable for children, but hey ho

@bullstrode5875 Жыл бұрын

@@kaitlyn__L It was yugioh zexal, anna kaboom i believe who had the trains and gutav max

@JennyBlaze253 Жыл бұрын

Gustav may not have seen its full potential in the war, but needless to say Yu-Gi-Oh players definitely took advantage of its firepower! Also, for some reason Dora's card version makes its target immune to card effects for the turn... Your guess is as good as mine on why Konami chose that for the effect.

@bullstrode5875 Жыл бұрын

Superdreadnought rail cannon Gustavo max is an essential in any deck that can put it on the board. I think Dora effect is probably more like it provides covering fire against other cards. Then, superdreadnought rail cannon juggernaut liebe, well liebe isn’t the German word for love for no reason!

@mattevans4377 Жыл бұрын

Now I want to build a deck around Gustav.

@JennyBlaze253 Жыл бұрын

@@bullstrode5875 Yep, nothing says love like blasting your opponent with a 6k massive attack.

@bullstrode5875 Жыл бұрын

@@mattevans4377 i would reccomend it, i don't know how cheap the cards are currently but i know a lot of the train support has had quite a few reprints so you can find the cards for cheap on tcgplayer

@SkyFire2112 Жыл бұрын

Fun fact: this cannon was given a Yugioh card. It’s called Superdreadnaught Rail Cannon Gustav Max and it’s ability was to hit your opponents life points directly without any direct confrontation, referring to its real life purpose of hitting battles from far away. Why a children’s trading card game needed a Nazi cannon is beyond me but I used it and the other train cards all the time.

@SkyFire2112 Жыл бұрын

Come to think of it Dora had a card too but it wasn’t as good as Gustav so I never used it

@yuki_foxsoul8425 9 ай бұрын

Japan and germany were allies in WW2. And it's a very impressive gun.

@TheBadlandsSandvich Жыл бұрын

Schwerer Gustav, or at lease a weapon of striking similarity, was featured in Lost Planet 2. And it was in one of the most badass cutscenes in gaming history.

@BHuang92 Жыл бұрын

What about covering the most produced steam locomotive class in history, the Russian E class?

@0riginal_panda_child249 Жыл бұрын

108 mile range is insane

@Eye_Exist Жыл бұрын

This gun forever reminds me of Railgun-mission from Enemy Territory, where we had to take down Gustav's twin sister Dora, or load the ammo and fire the gun depending if you played German or Allies.

@Gheeotine Жыл бұрын

Unless I'm mistaken, I read somewhere that these massive rail cannons were so powerful that their barrels could only be used to fire about 10 shots before needing reworking or replacing. If true, it created another tremendous logistical hurdle in their prolonged use.

@OleJanssen Жыл бұрын

As far as I know, the chamber was designed to be replaced every few shots, but not the barrel itself.

@stephenphillip5656 Жыл бұрын

I've read that the batch of shells supplied for use were slightly different (incremental increase) sizes to take account of the wear in the barrel in use. That's German thoroughness for you....!

@BandanRRChannel Жыл бұрын

You might be thinking of the "Paris Gun" used against France during WWI. Not as big, but similar idea.

@SynchroScore Жыл бұрын

@@stephenphillip5656 Yes, the Paris Gun did have that issue. The other thing was, in order to withstand the acceleration, the shells only contained about 15 pounds of explosive and were more of a nuisance/terror weapon than anything. There was one shell that hit a church and caused the roof to collapse, killing about a hundred. But it couldn't hit anything much more accurate than "Paris".

@alfredshort3 Ай бұрын

That is correct, the amount of propellant used melts the rifling of the barrel. Lookup Gerald Bull and Project Babylon in the 90s, still had a barrel wear out issue.

@dragonblaster-vu8wz Жыл бұрын

So the Russains make an engine that can't really be used due to its size, yet the Germans make an engine probably 10 times the size that actually works. Goes to show that size only matters if function is factored in

@naerbo19 Жыл бұрын

Feel like either this railway gun or another large caliber gun was the origin of the gun that could shatter windows many km away. "Residents, please open your windows to prevent a loss of windows."

@BabyWarship Жыл бұрын

Probably one of the most intriguing pieces of rolling stock, Just imagine seeing this in 2023. I'm surprised The US didn't do this 🤣

@roadwarrior114 Жыл бұрын

America also didn't build our own Kettenkrads, which is frustrating, because I'm American and I want a Kettenkrad.

@EthanTheEngine7 Жыл бұрын

Meet Thomas the Tank Engine's new friend, Gustav the Rail Gun.

@MatthewChenault Жыл бұрын

Here’s a good topic for a video: Cover the “Land Merrimack,” the first railway gun to be used in combat. She was first (and only) used during the Battle of Savage’s Station during the Seven Days Battles of the American Civil War on June 29th, 1862.

@harrisonallen651 Жыл бұрын

These would’ve made gigantic museum pieces

@alfaalvis_trainz Жыл бұрын

Try talking about an Indonesian train name the cc50 or the dd52 one of the last mallet still working (well it was) Context: the dutch east indies ask alco and a swiss i think company some stuff for there company the statspoorwegen one of them are large loco like dd50,51,52 and cc50 they were all work except for dd50,51 until 1970-79? And dd52 were scrapped and 2 cc50 are preserverd at museum There are footage of them ALOT

@canada_on_youtube4245 Жыл бұрын

I remember see that on simply history about this BIGGUN is nice to reseagain

@jacobramsey7624 Жыл бұрын

My grandfather walked on anzino aney in Italy after the Germans abandoned it, and it was still impressive. He also met one of his friends on the gun from his home city of Berlin NH U.S.A. We unfortunately don't know who that friend was, but if someone knows about a similar story, perhaps there the friend my grandfather met.

@danielchick1 Жыл бұрын

Train of Thought calm British man... BIG GUN TRAIN

@ivoryfields2631 Жыл бұрын

its about time! woulda guessed you would do it earlier than later, but thats as true as thomas being usefull. but no shit this video is slightly better than the others!

@dotmbarricade3424 Жыл бұрын

Well you finally talked about armoured trains after a long time. I hope you make more vids of them

@CS-ri1eo 9 ай бұрын

I appreciate the choice of song in the background

@eshanthetrainlover8609 Жыл бұрын

YOU KNOW WHAT THEY SAY "ドイツのエンジニアリングは世界最高峰!"

@grumpybollox7949 Жыл бұрын

such a cool video man I love it

@ThomasFarquhar2 Жыл бұрын

finally, my 2 favourite things (WW2 weapons and trains) combine

@AndrewG1989 Жыл бұрын

Imagine having these still around today. As used for special events. No wonder these trains were used during the war. Great archive.

@voltsiano116 Жыл бұрын

500 men just to operate one cannon? GEEZ, that really helps put it into perspective. 0-0

@mrsaturngamingandstories Жыл бұрын

Thats a Big Ass Gun right there!

@ConstantlyDamaged Жыл бұрын

Indeed. A big ass-gun!

@telhudson863 7 ай бұрын

The Germans had a bigger gun: The V-3. This was a static device that was built inside a cliff near Calais and would have had the ability to shell London. However the RAF dropped some 10 ton Grand Slam bombs that completely wrecked it. Not only did the earthquake bombs ruin the tunnels but they actually twisted the barrels that were built through solid rock. That was the lesson that rendered the railway gun obsolete. Why construct something that takes weeks to get anywhere and then weeks to build when a Lancaster bomber can fly there and deliver a heavier payload.

@PaperThinArmor Жыл бұрын

Ah yes German wunderwaffes terrifyingly impressive but practically useless considering the amount of manpower used just to protect it (antiair duties etc) and the fact it was barely used.

@kirgan1000 Жыл бұрын

It did work very well at the siege of Sevastopol, then it destroyed a number of Russian fotifications.

@PaperThinArmor Жыл бұрын

@@kirgan1000 Of course a giant gun will always kill whatever it’s pointing at but the resources to man it wasn’t worth it for a army that’s dwindling on resources

@LukeVilent 8 ай бұрын

The team maintaining the gun was travelling along in a dedicated train. This train included a dedicated brothel car.

@thelicensednerd1626 Жыл бұрын

Anyone seen the legend of korra? I feel like I'm having deja-vu

@ThatScottishAtlantic57 Жыл бұрын

These things were bloody mad!

@bakercobb8871 Жыл бұрын

Stroheim's theme at the end is great lol

@brandonbaggaley2317 Жыл бұрын

And add the fact that this machine was the inspiration behind a Yu-Gi-Oh card called Super Dreadnaught Rail Cannon Gustav Max.

@brenlc1412 Жыл бұрын

“I am Heavy Weapons Flatbed.”

@andthenhedead6076 6 ай бұрын

“It costs 50000 reichmarks to fire this weapon..for 1 second”

@sebastianucero7535 Жыл бұрын

The Osprey Publishing magazines have many editions on German WWII rail cannons for anybody interested in digging in the subject. The S.Gustav was the biggest but not the most important of them. In Italy and France several Trainguns caused havoc on allied forces in 1944. They where smaller, more accurate and slightly more manouverable. It truly was a massive weapon, the peak of cannon tech. Sadly, it was also absolutly oudated and obsolete by the very star of the war. Air power had rendered this tech a very expensive target mannequin. The same happend with the battleship Yamato (and the Hood/Bismarck). Gigantic weapons that will have ruled the waves... in WWI, but where outdated by the Airforces in 1939. Thank You for the video. Cheers!

@ONGZHIYIMoe 9 ай бұрын

That is powerful

@connormoroney1106 19 күн бұрын

…and here is Gustav!

@punkypink83 Жыл бұрын

really looks like something straight out of 40k, and totally something the imperium would build

@1_railfan Жыл бұрын

I think another one fit's nicknames was "The Gustav Canon". But anyways, that hulking canon on rails was some serious black Air Force energy!

@brianbarker2551 Жыл бұрын

Iraq had a similar idea with the Babylon guns, but they never went anywhere. These super guns seem to have fallen out of favour when the nuclear club became a thing. And it's a giant metal hunk on a track you can follow to find it, so not the most stealthful thing

@SynchroScore Жыл бұрын

The Iraqi idea was even sillier. It would be a stationary weapon built into a hill, lobbing shells at Israel. Would only get off a few shots before the Israelis would figure out where it is and drop a laser-guided bomb at the muzzle.

@_ort Жыл бұрын

can you do a video on the gt3 gas turbine

@kaitlyn__L Жыл бұрын

I was just wondering what the sci-fi equivalent of this in space would be. Maybe the Death Star? It’s kind of mobile but the support to move it is vulnerable. Still feels more like a stationary emplacement though.

@Leon_der_Luftige 9 ай бұрын

The Wave Motion Cannon from Spacebattleship Yamato

@trevorgray4697 Жыл бұрын

Now go watch the insane cutscene from Lost Planet 2 where they use a Schwerer Gustav-inspired railway gun to fight sandworms from Dune.

@bo9591 Жыл бұрын

Imagine your husband coming home from work and telling you he and the guys named a massive, unwieldy gun that takes weeks to get ready after you

@lillywho Жыл бұрын

Imagine that as a TTE character....

@whatdoyouexactlymeanbyhandle Жыл бұрын

TTTE*

@roadwarrior114 Жыл бұрын

Victor Tanzig should get on that.

@OfficialTrainzGod Жыл бұрын

yes *gun*

@ChessieSystem2101 Жыл бұрын

There were also plans to put the gun on tank tracks. It would have been called the landkreuzer p.1500 monster.

@ianjackson4721 Жыл бұрын

So basically they put a gun that was as strong as / stronger than many battleships, on land.

@birdboy1092 Жыл бұрын

It is a literal rail-gun

@Big3Productions694 11 ай бұрын

Hello, ToT. this got me thinking. could you make a video on the Breitspurbahn (German for broad-gauge railway) subject. in case you didn’t know, there were proposed routes in Germany that we’re going to be developed with a track gauge of 3,000 mm, more than double the width of the common standard gauge track! while it was only a proposal and never built, paintings exist of what monsters could’ve road those rails if it was built. Apologies for any false information. Thank you.

@mattevans4377 Жыл бұрын

Good thing they never made a tracked version....

@roadwarrior114 Жыл бұрын

That would need tracks at least 4x bigger than the rocket transport crawler NASA uses and a at least 2 diesel ship engines.

@mattevans4377 Жыл бұрын

@@roadwarrior114 Look up P.1500 Monster. Probably a fake design, but terrifying to think about.

@bigblue6917 Жыл бұрын

All that expense and effort for just 13 days of combat. And photoreconnaissance of Savastobal would show that Schwerer Gustav's effect was negligible. Also the cost of all three guns could have paid for some 250 Sturmgeschutz which would have been much more useful to the German war effort.

@stephenphillip5656 Жыл бұрын

A shell from Gustav destroyed a Russian underwater ammunition dump which was under the sea, 30 metres (100 ft) under the sea floor. The destruction wreaked by this gun was prodigious but yes, its overall strategic usefulness was limited by the massive manpower required to transport, assemble and operate it and its vulnerability to aerial attack. Smaller railway guns (K5) were operated near railway tunnels which gave the gun and crew some protection, but owing to the immense size of _Schwerer Gustav_ & _Dora,_ this wouldn't be possible - it could only be operated in combat areas where total air superiority was guaranteed.

@kirgan1000 Жыл бұрын

How do you judge the effect negligible? It destroyed a ammunition dump, and destoyed/crippled a fortress heavy artillery turrets. Do I think it was cost-effective no.

@bigblue6917 10 ай бұрын

@@kirgan1000 Sorry I missed your comments. I did not judge the effects of the gun but the Germans did. And it was judge that overall, apart from the ammunition dump, it added little to what the Luftwaffe had achieved.

@bigblue6917 10 ай бұрын

@@stephenphillip5656 Sorry I missed your comment. It was the Germans who decided that overall the gun added little to the siege. Aerial photography showed them that, apart from the ammunition dump, bombing was much more effective. And bombing was much more versatile as it could be moved much more easily. The problem with railway guns, and armoured trains for that matter, is that they are restricted to the rails. During the American Civil War the north mounted a raid into the south using a train. During the raid they realised their error on relying on the use of the train when it became obvious that the south had became aware of what they were doing and would set up an ambush. So instead of just taking the train back north they had to abandon it. They were hunted down and killed or captured.

@theenchiladakid1866 Жыл бұрын

There is a tiny bit of film of it in use

@nickthompson9697 Жыл бұрын

I'll take two please.

@FailureMan1130 Жыл бұрын

Why would anyone build a gun like this!? They had to use fricking railroad tracks!! This probably partly why they lost the war. Because they used a lot of metal to build the gun, when the metal could have been used for something else, like tanks or something. Also, it could only be fired a certain amount of times before the barrel was completely destroyed.

@kirgan1000 Жыл бұрын

How mutch are you willing to pay to remove a fortification that stop your advance? A expensive super gun, is cheaper then to drown the fortress in blood....

@johncreed9433 7 ай бұрын

to quote a wise man FOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLL!!!!! GERMAN SCIENCE IS THE WORLD'S FINEST!!!!!!!

@redwolfcorprevamped8266 Жыл бұрын

Imagine finding one of these playable in World of Tanks. Schwerer Gustav Tier XV German Premium Artillery

@mcbombernuggets Жыл бұрын

I want one as a thomas character!

@catlerbatty Жыл бұрын

Could it be, Metal Gear?!

@marcosacceleronhotwheels2806 Жыл бұрын

they have to aim it nearly straight up to hit something that ISN'T 40 miles away does that tell something about it?

@terrancekmcculloughko686 Жыл бұрын

That's overkill

@nzardoin Жыл бұрын

Fun fact this was made into a Yu-Gi-Oh card. It’s called Gustav Max.

@GSimpsonOAM 11 ай бұрын

Dora must have been scary. The senior engineer's wife, not the gun.....

@Steamgames2006 Жыл бұрын

Man i knew about Gustav because of a Yu gi oh card, who in the World would think a card could show me about history

@cleanerben9636 Жыл бұрын

"Thomas meets Gustav"

@tsuaririndoku Жыл бұрын

Fun fact there were initial plans to use this gun on H-Class Battleships. If this gun were mass produced and place on H-Class. London wouldn’t even survive in a single day.

@SynchroScore Жыл бұрын

Trouble is, apart from the lack of money and resources, Germany didn't have any drydocks large enough to build such a ship. And if it tried to attack London, it would become target practice for the RAF Bomber Command. Or a T-class submarine.

@tsuaririndoku Жыл бұрын

@@SynchroScore Yes that is the main factor why Germany lose the war pretty much. Because of lacking resources to do other things

@silvermoonlight4520 Жыл бұрын

My favorite overkill weapon of world war 2

@agustincampanelli7706 Жыл бұрын

I mean, German engeneering is the world's finest. If you get what I mean ;)

@davidty2006 Жыл бұрын

OH lAWD HE COMIN

@jimmypetrock Жыл бұрын

jeez

@tsoiyumanthomas3291 Жыл бұрын

Why are you uploading video every Friday ?

@good_deeds_always_get_punished Жыл бұрын

Wargaming be like - That would be a nice addition as a TierX German Premium for black market.

@Cyperstudio Жыл бұрын

Railgun but literally

@skychaserthedragon2046 9 ай бұрын

The T U R B O M O R T A R

@garryferrington811 Жыл бұрын

What monsters. You sort of hint at what they might have happened if they had been deployed on the French coast. Thankfully the air force ruled out that possibility.

@starhusky797 Жыл бұрын

Who would win? The Gustav canon? Or a thermite grenade the side of a Monster can.

@jenasjordan1237 Жыл бұрын

Funny you mentioned a Breaking Bad reference, lmao

@GKuriboh Жыл бұрын

Search Super Dreadnought Rail Cannon Gustav Max

@ScrapyardStudios Жыл бұрын

THIS ISN'T JUST A TRAINZ THING???

@manicmechanic448 Жыл бұрын

Shy low.

@dark_one1337 Жыл бұрын

the main problem with Gustav was after 86 shots the barrel was done that's why the germans destroyed it after stalin grad. Hind side: would the left it at normandy the story would be very different told today.