Big Bertha ( howitzer ) Big Bertha ( ) — literal translation " Thick ( or fat ) Bertha " — is the name of a type of super - heavy howitzer developed by the famous armaments manufacturer Krupp in Germany on the eve of World War I . Its official designation was the L / 12 , " i . e . " , the barrel was 12 calibre in length , 42 - cm ( 16 . 5 inch ) Type " M - Gerät 14 " ( M - Equipment 1914 ) " Kurze Marine - Kanone " ( " short naval gun " , a name intended to camouflage the weapon ' s real purpose ) . Name . The howitzer was mainly designed by Krupp ' s Director of design , Professor Fritz Rausenberger , and his predecessor , Director Dräger . Many sources say that " Bertha " is a reference to Bertha Krupp , heiress and owner of the Krupp industrial empire . However , not all accept this connection . During the war , the Germans gave numerous other nicknames to the M - Device . ( " Dicke " , meaning fat or big in German , is apparently not a reference to the physical aspect of Mrs . Krupp . ) The name " Big Bertha " subsequently came to be applied generically by the Allies to any very large German gun , such as the railway - mounted battleship guns known as " Langer Max " and the ultra - long range " Paris Gun " . Strictly speaking , however , Dicke Bertha , or Big Bertha , is only applicable to the 42 - cm M - Gerät howitzer . Design history . It had its genesis in the lessons learned by the Germans ( and Austrians ) from the Russo - Japanese War of 1904 – 1905 . During the war , the Japanese had dismounted some of their coastal defence 28 - cm howitzers and used them to help break their siege of the fortified Russian naval base at Port Arthur . This was a complete novelty as , until that time , it had been assumed by military experts that the largest transportable siege guns were around 20 cm in calibre . Nevertheless , most Europeans completely failed to draw the lessons the Japanese had taught — apart from , as mentioned , the Germans and Austrians ( the latter also developed a series of road - mobile superheavy guns , including the 30 . 5 - cm " Schlanke Emma " howitzer , the 38 - cm " Barbara " and " Gudrun " howitzers , and their own 42 - cm howitzer ) . During the early 1900s , therefore , Krupp began to develop a series of road - mobile heavy mortars and howitzers , ranging from 28 cm calibre to 30 . 5 cm . These , in turn , built upon Krupp ' s experience with building coastal defence mortars ( " Küstenmörser " ) , such as the 30 . 5 - cm Beta - Gerät , the first model of which had been introduced in 1897 ( though other nations , including Britain and the United States , also built similar weapons ) . A new version of the 39 . 5 - cm Beta - Gerät howitzer , vastly superior to the 1897 model , was developed in 1908 , but finding it wanting in offensive power , the APK ( " Artillerieprüfungskommission " , or " artillery testing committee " ) asked Krupp to build a larger gun capable of smashing modern fortifications . Krupp first investigated the possibility of building a 35 - cm weapon , but instead jumped to 42 - cm as this was the smallest shell that could carry the large bursting charge required to fulfil the APK ' s requirements . The first 42 - cm design was the massive L / 16 ( the barrel was 16 calibres in length ) Gamma - Gerät howitzer , which was basically a scaled - up version of the Beta - Gerät . Unusually for Krupp , both the Beta and Gamma weapons eschewed the usual sliding - wedge Breech mechanism in favour of a screw - type breech , after the practice common in Britain and France . Gamma fired shells weighing up to 1 , 160 kg . It weighed 150 tons , and was what the Germans called a " Bettungsgeschütz , " or " bedding gun " , " i . e . " , it was mounted on a stationary carriage that was emplaced in a concrete foundation , which took days to prepare . It had to be transported in sections on ten railway cars — six for the gun and another four for the bedding . Moving Gamma and preparing it to fire required significant resources . Consequently , the APK asked Krupp for a more mobile version , and ordered one gun on 15 July 1912 . Even before it was delivered in December 1913 , the APK went ahead and ordered a second example in February 1913 . The first howitzer was demonstrated to Kaiser Wilhelm II in March 1914 , who was greatly taken by the new weapon , and the second was delivered in June 1914 . The new howitzer was a road - mobile weapon mounted on a two - wheeled field type carriage of conventional , if massive , construction . It was a completely different weapon from the Gamma - Gerät . The barrel was shorter than Gamma ' s by 4 calibres length , and reverted to the conventional Krupp sliding - wedge breech . With thinner walls , the barrel was of generally lighter construction than Gamma ' s and fired lighter shells of around 830 kg . Fully assembled it weighed 43 tons , much less than Gamma , and did not have to be emplaced in concrete . Special steel " mats " were developed , onto which the wheels were driven , with a steel aiming arc at the rear of the carriage that allowed limited traverse . This aiming arc was fitted with a massive " spade " that was buried in the ground and which helped anchor the weapon . To prevent the weapon bogging down in muddy roads the wheels were equipped with " Radgürteln " , pedrail bands with feet to spread the load . Krupp and Daimler developed a tractor for the Bertha , though Podeus motorploughs were also used to tow the guns , which were broken down into five loads when on the road . Service history . Only two operational M - Geräte were available at the beginning of World War I , although two additional barrels and cradles had apparently been produced by that time . The two operational M - Geräte formed the Kurze Marine Kanone Batterie ( KMK ) No . 3 ; the 42 cm contingent contained four additional Gamma Geräte organized in two batteries , and one more Gamma became operational two weeks into the war as " half - battery " . They were used to destroy the Belgian forts at Liège , Namur , and Antwerp , and the French fort at Maubeuge , as well as other forts in northern France . Bertha proved very effective against older constructions such as the Belgian forts designed in the 1880s by Brialmont , destroying several in a few days . The first shot in anger of an M - Gerät was fired against Fort Pontisse on the outskirts of Liege on August 12 . The most spectacular success was against the nearby Fort Loncin , which exploded after taking a direct hit to its ammunition magazine . The concrete used in the Belgian forts was of poor quality , however , and consisted of layers of concrete only , with no steel reinforcement . Big Bertha gained a strong reputation on both sides of the lines due to its early impressive successes in smashing the forts at Liege . The German press went wild with enthusiasm and declared the Bertha a " Wunderwaffe " . When used later during the German assault upon Verdun in February 1916 , however , it proved less effective , as the newer construction of this fort , consisting of concrete reinforced with steel , could mostly withstand the large semi - armour - piercing shells of the Berthas . Only Fort Vaux was severely damaged during this event , destroying the water storage and leading to the surrender of the fort . A total of 12 complete M - Gerät were built ; besides the two available when the war started , 10 more were built during the war . This figure does not include additional barrels ; two extra barrels were already available before the war started , and possibly up to 20 barrels were built , though some sources state 18 . As the war ground on , several Berthas were destroyed when their barrels burst due to faulty ammunition . Later in the Great War , an L / 30 30 . 5 - cm barrel was developed and fitted to a number of Bertha carriages in order to provide longer - range , lighter fire . These weapons were known as the " Schwere Kartaune " or " Beta - M - Gerät " . Surviving examples and replicas . Two Big Berthas were captured by the US Army at the end of the war . One was taken to the United States and evaluated at the Aberdeen Proving Ground . The gun was later placed on display at the United States Army Ordnance Museum , and scrapped at the end of World War II . Claims that another Bertha survived on Krupp ' s proving ground at Meppen , and was used again in World War II in the Battle of Sevastopol , are based on a misconception . It was , in fact , a Gamma - Gerät howitzer , assembled at Meppen after World War I from parts scavenged by Krupp , and it went on to see action in World War II , along with the modern and even larger Mörser Karl and Schwerer Gustav . A full - scale wooden model was built by Emil Cherubin in 1932 . It was displayed in various places in Nazi Germany until 1939 . It was also featured on a postcard . Cherubin had served with a Bertha battery during World War I . Afterwards , he turned his model - making talents to building wooden models for museums , theatres , and other displays . He also built 1 / 4 - scale display models of Bertha and the Paris Gun .