Big Bertha When I was a student, I lived in a Methodist Theological College. Principal of the college was Norman Snaith, one of the world's foremost Hebrew scholars. It was Norman who translated the whole of the book of Daniel for the New English Bible. Norman's first degree, however, was neither in Hebrew nor in Theology, but in, of all things, ballistics. He was brilliant at that, too. During the first World War, the French authorities were anxious to pinpoint the location of the gun that was lobbing shells into the suburbs of Paris. Norman was called in, and asked for a map of Paris showing the location of all the shell-bursts so far. From this pattern he was able to tell the French authorities exacty where the gun was located. This piece of artillery was actually a howitzer, and, though the weight of the projectile and its range are a bit overstated, they're close enough. By using the link below, you can get specifics and even see a picture of this field piece.
The nickname of this World War II weapon was "Dicke Berta" in German "Fat Berta," or as Allied soldiers soon came to know it "Big Bertha." Technically, it actually was a mortar, not a cannon.
Big Bertha
the thunder gun packapunched
Big bertha
Small cannon man
Cannon Ball
Uncle Joe
The distance is 132 miles from Corvallis, Oregon to Cannon Beach, Oregon.
A flak cannon is an anti-aircraft gun, the word 'flak' being derived from the German 'Fliegerabwehrkanone', or 'aircraft defence cannon'.
The name of the German cannon that fired on Paris in World War 1 was the "Paris Gun" or "Kaiser Wilhelm Geschütz." It was a long-range artillery gun designed to shell targets from a distance of over 120 kilometers.
You're probably thinking of "Big Bertha", the German cannon which bombarded Paris from 75 miles away. More formally they were called the "Paris Guns". The "Big Bertha" nickname was from the daughter of Krupp, the German industrialist who built the guns.
Bobby Hebert (1985-1992)