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V-3 cannon
*** Shopping-Tip: V-3 cannon
Like the
V-1 flying bomb and the
V-2 rocket, the '''V-3 cannon''' was one of the three "vengeance weapons" (
German language German: ''
Vergeltungswaffe'') planned by
Nazi Germany during
World War II. Unlike the V-1 and the V-2, however, the V-3 was not a
guided missile, but a huge underground complex located in
Mimoyecques,
France. Some sources erroneously report the
Wasserfall Wasserfall Missile as being the V-3.
Description
The complex contained five hidden batteries, each containing a single buried super-
howitzer. The guns, with a barrel length of about 120 m, were the largest Axis artillery pieces, surpassing the ''Dora'' or ''
Schwerer Gustav'' railway propelled 800 mm super-cannon, the ''
Mörser Karl'' (''Gerät'' 040) 600 mm tracked siege
Mortar (artillery) mortar, and the ''
Krupp K5 Leopold'' and ''Robert'' 320 mm railway cannons.
The technological innovation employed by these huge guns was the use of multiple propelling charges, placed along the barrels' length and timed to explode as soon as the projectile passed them by, to provide an additional boost. Due to their higher suitability and ease of use,
rocket boosters were used instead of
explosive charges, arranged in symmetrical pairs, attached to the barrel with a low (below 30º) angle. This layout spawned the German codenames ''Hochdruckpumpe'' ("high-pressure-pump") and ''Tausendfüßler'' ("
centipede").
These guns had a muzzle speed of 1100 m/s and the whole complex was designed to be capable of shooting 300 shells every hour, with a maximum range of over 90
kilometre km.
It was of course very hard to aim even a single gun, but that was not much of a problem since the complex had been built and oriented with the sole purpose of attacking
London from a safe distance. This leads to its alternate name, the '''''London Gun'''''.
The complex was never used for its intended role, and only fired test shots before being destroyed by
bunker buster Tallboy bombs dropped from British
Avro Lancaster Lancasters of the
No. 617 Squadron RAF No. 617 Squadron, the "Dambusters" on
6 July 1944. However, the success of the July 6 bombing raid remained unkown to the allies who continued their efforts to destroy it until the complex itself was captured. For instance, one of the intended targets of the failed
Operation Aphrodite (using remote controlled aircraft filled with explosives) was the Mimoyecques V-3 complex.
The destruction of the Mimoyecques complex was not the end of the V-3 however as two shorter-barreled cannons were setup in Lampaden 13 km southeast of
Trier in Germany. From
December 30 1944 to
February 22 1945 the two guns fired some 183 shells at
Luxembourg (range 43 km) killing 10 civilians and wounding 35. Soon after the last shell had been fired the firing site along with the disassembled cannons was captured by advancing American forces and the equipment was sent back to the US were the cannons were tested and evaluated at the
Aberdeen Proving Ground before being finally scrapped in
1948. {{ref|RAF}}{{ref|nat-military-museum}}{{ref|astronautix}}
Along with the V-1 and V-2 missiles, the complex was a desperate attempt to retaliate against the Allied heavy bombing raids over Germany. The resources available to the German V-rocket project were unable to compete with the devastating impact of the
Avro Lancaster and
B-17 Flying Fortress heavy
bombers, and clearly show the serious problems faced by the
Luftwaffe during the last years of the war.
References
*
David Irving, ''The Mare's Nest'' (Little, Brown; Boston; 1965) covers it, although not in great depth.
*''The Dam-busters'',
Paul Brickhill; ISBN 0-330-37644-6 -(First published in 1951. Tells the story of the 617 Squadron and their weapons.)
#{{note|RAF}}[http://www.raf.mod.uk/bombercommand/jul44.html RAF web site: RAF Bomber Command: July 1944] Entry for July 6.
#{{note|nat-military-museum}}
#References References Museum of Military History
#{{note|astronautix}}
#References References Encyclopedia Astronautica
External links
-
Fortress Of Mimoyecques (French)
-
Encyclopedia Astronautica: V3-Gun
-
National Museum of Military History in Diekirch/Luxembourg
Category:Fortification
Category:Superguns
Category:Vergeltungswaffen
Category:World War II German guns
de:V3
nl:V3 (kanon)
ja:多薬室砲
uk:V-3
zh:V-3炮
*** Shopping-Tip: V-3 cannon
