German Railroad Guns

Railroad guns are a very interesting part of the history of artillery development since the American Civil War. Modern technology has made these giant weapons obsolete, but for a number of years, in different conflicts, railway artillery played an important role in providing military forces with mobile heavy guns capable of breaching heavy fortifications or shelling strategic targets at long range. Movable coastal defense batteries were also used to supplement fixed defensive guns during invasions. The railroad was the first development in transportation with the rise of the Machine Age, and allowed the movement of mounted heavy guns long before self-propelled carriages, engines, or roads existed. Railroad artillery was dependent on the availability of an extensive railway network for the greatest mobility--a disadvantage never entirely overcome-but in the later years of railroad gun development, this was offset to a great extent by the greater destructive effect of ever larger projectiles and by significant increases in maximum range, which often allowed large areas to be controlled by only a few guns. Characterized by relatively long barrels compared to other forms of artillery-many of these taken over from naval weapons production-and mounted on specially-modified or purpose-built railroad cars or carriages, the railroad guns proved to be excellent heavy artillery pieces, and were moved relatively easily despite their size.

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