Technology of World War I
Artillery
The German advance through Belgium in the summer of 1914, early in the war, illustrated the value of attack artillery in particular, and all artillery in general. The huge German Krupp 42cm howitzers (Big Berthas) and Austrian Skoda’s pounded the outskirts fortresses into submission in only a few day’s time. The race to build and employ bigger and better artillery started to have full attention.
There are two types of large artillery - the cannon and the howitzer (or mortar). The cannon fires a shell over a large distance in a long arc and mostly hits its target head-on. The howitzer launches the shell over a high arc so it lands directly on top of its target. The choice of artillery depends on the job you need accomplished.
Large guns, like handguns, are measured in caliber. This is the diameter of the barrel, and roughly, the shell it fires. Sometimes this measurement is given in inches, other times in centimeters or millimeters. The shells on naval ordnance are separate from the powder charge used to propel them which is contained in a powder sack whereas with smaller artillery, the powder charge is built into the shell much like a bullet. The advantage to a separate powder charge allows it the same shell type to be used over a wider range of distances by changing the charge.
The guns of the Dreadnoughts
In World War 1, the largest artillery was the naval variety (the guns of the dreadnoughts). These were enormous guns for the time, in the 12 to 16 inch class. These represented powerful and highly accurate production of the naval arms race and the industrial revolution. The battleship made a perfect platform for guns of such size. The water cushion on which the battleship sat also helped absorb the massive recoil generated by these weapons. Even with such high gross weights, many battleships employed lockout mechanisms that prevented two gun turrets from firing at the same time and flipping the ship. Several of the large siege guns used against the Belgian fortifications had to be set in concrete before they could be fired due to their massive recoil.
The guns they used were as a tool that could help break the settlement of the trenches - especially when used against the concrete fortified German positions near the Somme and later, the Hindenburg line. While advanced recoil mechanisms allowed for some success, deployment was still slow and bulky. The guns could only be moved slowly by large tractors.
The rail gun
Rail presented the perfect transport and firing platform for land based naval ordnance. The gun could be moved relatively quickly along the rail system and the recoil could be dispersed by allowing the carriage to roll down the tracks. These guns could fire up to thirty miles and were capable of reaching far into the enemy’s rear positions. The extremity of the rail gun was the massive French Schneider 520mm howitzer. The shells this gun fired were over 24 inches in diameter and weighed 3,100 pounds. They were fused in such a way as to allow the shell to penetrate its target before detonation. Luckily for all involved in the war, the war ended before the French Schnieder could be brought into service.
Probably the most discussed of all of the big guns of the Great War is the infamous Paris Gun. Also known as Lange Max (Long Max), Big Bertha and William’s Gun; this gun was strategic, rather than tactical in nature, it was a terror weapon meant to demoralise the citizens of Paris. This forerunner to the Iraqi supergun could fire a shell 70 miles in about 170 seconds reaching a maximum altitude of 24 miles. On the down side, the payload was only 15 pounds of explosive, accuracy was non-existent, and the whole gun would have to be rebored after 65 firings.
A School Link Article. Courtesy of Danny Dupuis, LCCHS, March 10, 1999 .
