What artillery piece was used by Germany durimg World War 1?

Answer 1

Like all the other major combatant nations Germany had artillery in a number of different calibers (sizes), from the 77mm rapid fire cannon Allied soldiers called the "whiz bang" for the sounds it produced, up to giant railroad guns, which were so large they had to be mounted on a train car and moved only over railroad tracks. The most famous was "Big Bertha", one of the gigantic railroad guns, also called the "Paris Gun". It was built by the Krupp Works in Germany, and the daughter of the president of Krupp was named Bertha, hence the gun's nickname. There were actually five or six of these built. These railway guns were about the same size as the main guns on a battleship. Big Bertha was situated about 75 miles from Paris when in action, and could fire a shell about every twenty minutes. It took the shell almost two and one half minutes to get to Paris after it was fired, and it went up into the stratosphere on the way. The shells arrived supersonically, so there was no warning whoosh or shriek heralding its arrival - just a sudden explosion. These I believe were the first objects humans had managed to propel to supersonic (faster than the speed of sound) velocity. French authorities soon discovered that they were under bombardment by a long range gun, but tried to tell people the explosions were bombs dropped from high-flying airplanes, fearing panic among the populace. The shells did little real damage except for one that hit a church during Sunday morning services, with great loss of life. Little military damage was done. The big guns could only fire a few dozen times before they needed to be sent all the way back to the Krupp Works to have a new barrel liner installed, to replace the one quickly worn out by firing those few times. The guns had a crew, including railroad personnel, of over 3000 men - more than an infantry regiment. So all in all Big Bertha was not cost-effective. The Germans have always had a fascination with massive artillery, which continued in WWII with their huge siege guns Gustav and Dora, and railroad cannons such as "Anzio Annie" and the "Anzio Express".