The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1915-11-30
FIRST DESCRIPTION
Of BIG TEUTONGUN
Details Given of Germans Forty
Two Centimeter Field
Weapon

Although the forty.twO CentimeteF
guns used by the Germans in battering
down the Notifications at Liege and
Namur attracted worldwide attention
during the early stages Of the war, tho
secret Of its dimensions and other fea-
lures have been so jealousy guarded
that practically nothing has been made
public in. regard to this monster NOR.
tar. beyond the terrible destruction
wrought by 1t. .., -.
At recent meeting Of artillery en-
gineers at Dusseldorf, Germany, an en-
gineer Of the krupp works delivered a
lecture on the making of heavy artil-
lery, and particularly on the making of
the fortytwO centimeter guns, or the
Big Berthas, as the Germans call
them, and an apparently reliable re-
port Of this lecture has been transmit,
ted to this country. y
According to the report, the gun
weighs about nihety.seven and a half
tons, or 1850 pounds, while the base
on which It stands when in firing posi-.
tion weighs forty-One and a half tons.
or $4,000 pounds, the, total weight Of
the gun and base .,bfiHg about PIT 900
pounds The baffel Is sixteen feet
long, and tire shell fred from IL Is
about Fifty inches long and weighs $50
poundS The weapon is far too big to
he Transported on any kind of . gun
carriage. II is made mp of consider.
ably more than one hundred pieces, and
must be taken apart and placed on
motor trucks, of which twelve huge
ones are said to be required, when il
Is being moved.
Unloading, assembling and mounting
the big gun is big undertaking that
can only be done by specially trained
workmen. and that requires more
than twenty six hours of continuous
work. A pit of large diameter and
about twenty-six feet deep is first dug
and In this a massive foundation is
built of heavy wooden beams. On this
the base of the gun is mounted. With
| in the foundation are placed specially
prepared packages of dynamite for
blowing up the gun and its aceOutre-
ments in case the enemy gains control
of the position. For this purpose cleo,
| trio wires are led to a concealed and
protected position more than a mile
| from the site of the gun.
Owing TO the terrific conclusion the
gun can only be fred by electricity and
from a distance exceeding three hun.
| dred yards. Even at this distance the
crew must wear eye, ear and mouth
protectors, and must lie prone when the
shot is fred. There are said to be
| twenty-five of these mortars in exist
ence at the present time. A crew OF
about two hunAfed men is required
and each shot costs about $2750.
A large part Of the destruction attri
buted to the "Big Berthas" was in
fact caused by the less ponderous 30.f
en-. approximately twelve inches)
Krupp and SkodD mortars. The forty
two centimeter guns have been fired
only a few times, but on these occasions
the destruction has been almost un
believable. The first shot. which was
fred at one Of the Gruson turrets al
Liege, killed 1900 men, the shell strik
ing about fifteen feet in front of thu
cupola and exploding with such terri
fc force that the turret and the armor
ed chamber below were literally torn tt
| pieces. -
This shot was fred from a distance
of more than thirteen miles. The sec
ond shot fred is said to have killed OF
disabled more than $500 men. No one
not connected with the German artin
cry is ever permitted near the forty.twt
centimeter gun when it is in firing
position. 1t is said that no photo
graphs ever have been made of it, the
pictures purportiIg to represent THU
gun, widely published at the beginning
of the war, being in fact photograph
Of the 3O.5 en-. Krupp and Skoda NOR
tars.