38 cm Siegfried Kanone (E)

[jopaerya]

Thanks to Natter

A other 38 cm Siegfried Kanone (E) was found at Ahlen ( Germany ) , this must be the third or fourth 38 cm (E) gun .

Regards Jos

[Manuferey]

Nice find ! Thank you for sharing, Jos.

Emmanuel

[jopaerya]

Thanks Emmanuel

Could be used in this unit E 686 .

Regards Jos

[Manuferey]

Jos,

Yes. According to the table on page 52 of Guy François' book "Eisenbahnartillerie", E.686 had 2 x 38 cm Siegfried in December 1944.

I have found a mention of a 380 mm railway gun firing from Germany towards Alsace at the end of 1944. It could be one of these two guns assuming the report is correct on the gun caliber:
"Anzio Annie, the huge German Railroad Gun that was first encountered at the Anzio landings in Italy. The 79th ran into this one--probably not the original, but the same model--in Alsace Lorraine. It was of 380mm. caliber and from the East Bank of the Rhine could reach the city of Saverne, at the foot of the Vosges Mountains 30 miles away."
Source: http://www.463rdaaa.com/historyPhotos.html

Emmanuel

[jopaerya]

Thanks Emmanuel

[jopaerya]

Here the document from post 2 .

Regards Jos

[Janef]

Thanks to Natter

A other 38 cm Siegfried Kanone (E) was found at Ahlen ( Germany ) , this must be the third or fourth 38 cm (E) gun .

Regards Jos

The US INTREP on the Ahlen gun reports the serial number to be No. 86. According to recent litterature the (four) guns is supposed to be numbered 81 through 84, the two in France claearly identified as nos 81 and 82. Given a series of 7 guns the reported number (86) would be the last of the Eisenbahn series.
All E-series guns seems to be provided with mechanism opening to the right due to construction adaptions, the equivalent naval guns normally had even numbers opening to the right and odd numbers opening to the left as they originally was constructed for use in twin turrets with the ammunition hoist between the two barrels. Maybe someone can clarify if both serial no 81 and 82 had mechanism opening to the right.
This is a interesting matter relative to the 38 cm SKC/34 at Hanstholm (ex Vogelnest) with serial number 89 (odd) and having the mechanism opening to the right. All guns up to no 79 follows the odd/even "rule".
JEF

[JABIER]

Hello,

I have read in the book “BATTLE BRIDGES”, by john b. wong that the 2nd Battalion, 414th Infantry Regiment command post was situated in a stone masonry building in Sindorf (10 Km west of Cologne). On 1 March 1945, a large caliber artillery shell (estimated as 16 inch) fell on the building. Although the shell did not explode, it destroyed much of the building.

Sindorf was in the Army Group B area. Were there 38cm railway guns attached to HGr B at this date?

Regards,

[jopaerya]

I know it's very hard to read the Sutterlin text on the barrel , but who can help me . Photo from Ebay .

Regards Jos

[Manuferey]

It is a known fact that a 28 cm K5 was positioned next to the Ebersviller tunnels in the Metz area in October 1944 (see drawing here from Steve Zaloga's book "Metz 1944": http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic. ... 9&start=75 ). According to an article in “The Field Artillery Journal” of December 1945 (and reused for instance in the 1954 US manual “Tactical Interpretation of Air Photos”), the Germans also brought a 38 cm K(E) railway gun near Metz’ main train station but it was detected by an Allied agent (we can think of someone from the Resistance), bombed and destroyed before firing a shot.

Are there any other Allied reports confirming this? Some recent books, including stories from veterans, merge the two guns into just one. It would be similar to “Anzio Annie/Anzio Express” where the Allied thought a single railway gun was firing at them on Anzio beach while there were actually two guns.

Here is the story of the 38 cm K(E) gun near Metz in October 1944:

"An American corps artillery photo interpretation team ordered to locate a reported newly arrived 380-mm railway gun train in the Metz area, searched the latest sorties of the area without success. Relying on the accuracy of the report, the photo interpretation officer in charge of the team estimated the train to be about 500 feet in length and found what he considered to be the only likely place where the train could be hidden. His finding was also based on the premise that the Germans would probably keep the train intact, rather than break it up and hide the individual cars in the Metz rail network. The premise was based on the fact that a 280-mm gun which had been firing into the American zone had been constantly on the move so that it never could be located by sound and flash or on aerial photos, at least not long enough for counterbattery or air attack to knock it out of action. Immediately to the south of the main railway station in Metz was a narrow 1,000-foot-long freight station or warehouse. On the west side of the building, a railroad track led in under a weather overhang which completely covered the track from above and provided ample concealment for the reported gun and train. Using the freight station as the recommended target, artillery fire reduced the area to a shambles. Within 24 hours the same secret agent in Metz who had reported the arrival of the 380-mm gun and its train, reported its complete destruction."

Emmanuel

[Bunkerfreak]

Hey Jos, the last four letters are, i think, "dorn", the first look like a "B", i'm looking on Google for 'Dornpflanze", but there are many...

[jopaerya]

Does somebody knows if these guns ( E 698 ) were actually placed in Pas de Calais early 1944 and where exactly ??

Regards Jos

[jopaerya]

I have read somewhere the guns should be placed between Wissant and Warcove ??

[JABIER]

A message intercepted by the allies:

General of Artillery ZBV 2 informed via Army Group B on 16 March 45 that 200 rounds special ammunition had been despached to railway batterie 686 to Lollar G6020 (near Wettenberg). General of artillery to arrange fordwarding.

Regards,

[jopaerya]

Not sure, but could this be the location of the 38cm (E) 698 at Pas de Calais early 1944

Dirk Peeters and IGN