28 cm SK L / 40 " Bruno " The 28 cm SK L / 40 " Bruno " ( SK — Schnelladekanone ( quick - loading cannon ) L — Länge ( with a 40 caliber barrel ) was a German railroad gun . Originally a naval gun , it was adapted for land service after its ships were disarmed beginning in 1916 . It served on the Western Front and on coast defense duties in Occupied Flanders during World War I . Belgium received four guns as reparations after the war . The Germans used two of those guns in World War II after Belgium ' s surrender during the Battle of France and on coast - defense duties on the Gironde Estuary for the rest of the war . Design and history . These 28 cm SK L / 40 gun s were used as the main armament of the and pre - dreadnought battleship s , but they were transferred to the Army from the Navy ( " Kaiserliche Marine " ) when those ships began to be relegated to training duties in 1916 after the Battle of Jutland had proved that they were not suitable for contemporary naval combat . One change made for land service was the placement of a large counterweight just forward of the trunnions to counteract the preponderance of weight towards the breech . This , although heavy , was simpler than adding equilibrators to perform the same function . In 1917 , the first four guns , formerly used on , were placed in firing platform ( " Bettungsschiessgerüst " ) mountings for coast defense duty as part of " Batterie Graf Spee " on the island of Wangerooge . The firing platform was a semi - portable mount that could be emplaced anywhere after several weeks of labor to prepare the position . It rotated on a pivot at the front of the mount . The rear was supported by rollers resting on a semicircular rail and was generally equipped with a gun shield . Twenty guns , from the battleships , , , , , and were mounted on the railroad and firing platform ( " Eisenbahn und Bettungsschiessgerüst " ) ( " E . u . B . " ) mounts successfully used by other German railroad guns . The " E . u . B . " could fire from any suitable section of track after curved wedges were bolted to the track behind each wheel to absorb any residual recoil after the gun cradle recoiled backwards . It also had a pintle built into the underside of the front of the mount . Two large rollers were fitted to the underside of the mount at the rear . Seven cars could carry a portable metal firing platform ( " Bettungslafette " ) that had a central pivot mount and an outer rail . It was assembled with the aid of a derrick or crane , which took between three and five days , and railroad tracks were laid slightly past the firing platform to accommodate the front bogies of the gun . The gun was moved over the firing platform and then lowered into position after the central section of rail was removed . After the gun ' s pintle was bolted to the firing platform ' s pivot mount , the entire carriage was jacked up so that the trucks and their sections of rail could be removed . The carriage was then lowered so that the rear rollers rested on the outer track . Concrete versions were also used . It could have up to 360° of traverse . Ammunition . Ammunition was moved by means of an overhead rail from which a shell trolley carried individual shells to be placed in the loading tray fixed to the breech . An extensible rail could raised and braced in place to allow the shell trolley to reach shells placed on the ground or in an ammunition car behind the mount . This ammunition car sometimes had its own overhead rail to move the shells forward to where the trolley in the mount could reach it through a hatch in the roof . The shell and powder were manually rammed into the gun . The gun had to be loaded at zero elevation and thus needed to be re - aimed between each shot . It used the German naval system of ammunition where the base charge was held in a metallic cartridge case and supplemented by another charge in a silk bag which was rammed first . Combat history . The Navy kept most of the " Brunos " and used them on coast - defense duties , mainly in Occupied Flanders to protect the ports of Ostend and Zeebrugge . " Sailor Artillery Regiment ( ) " 1 defended the latter with " Batteries Hessen " ( 3 or 4 guns ) and " Braunschweig " ( 4 x " Brunos " ) . Those same sources disagree about the number of guns assigned to " Batteries Hannover " ( 3 or 4 " Brunos " ) and " Preussen " ( 4 guns ) defending Ostende under the command of " Sailor Artillery Regiment " 2 . " Battery Rossbach " , with 2 guns , saw service against the British during the Spring Offensive in March – April 1918 . Only two " Brunos " were given to the Army - they served in " Battery 746 " and " Bavarian Battery " ( ) 1005 . The latter gun , on " E . u . B . " mount No . 7 , formerly carried by " Hessen " , was captured by the Australian Army on 8 August 1918 . Its barrel is preserved today in Canberra , Australia , as the Amiens Gun . After the Armistice was signed on 11 November 1918 , a battery of four " Brunos " stationed in Belgium sought asylum in the Netherlands . They were given to Belgium as reparations . Six were destroyed in 1921 – 22 by the Military Inter - Allied Commission of Control . After the surrender of Belgium on 28 May 1940 , two " Brunos " were used by " Battery 655 " between 8 and 10 June to fire on Brimont and Reims from Amifontaine . One gun was destroyed when a shell detonated prematurely in the barrel while firing on those targets . By the end of 1941 , two " Brunos " were assigned to " Battery 721 " and stationed at Le Verdon - sur - Mer defending the mouth of the Gironde Estuary under the command of " Artillery Group Gironde - South " ( ) . The battery was able to retreat to Germany by 1 September 1944 after the invasion of Normandy began in June 1944 , but nothing is known of its activities afterwards .