Krupp K5 (Anzio Annie)

History of Krupp K5 (Anzio Annie)

During the First World War, Krupp - a German industrial steel and weapons manufacturer - produced large-caliber railroad guns for the German army. Their most notable creations of this period were the "Paris Cannon" and the large siege howitzer "Big Bertha". In the 1920s, the German army was revived, and the German Army met with Krupp to discuss the need for new railway artillery, which could be transported through the established railway network in Germany and throughout Europe, if needed.

The German army is looking for a new generation of large-caliber artillery that could prove more decisive and improve accuracy at longer ranges. The Paris artillery of World War I could fire large projectiles from a distance of about 70 miles, but if the shell "missed" a mile or two, the target had to be the size of a city. Big Bertha's 2,200-pound shells are strong enough to defend against fortifications, but she inherently lacks the range needed to engage targets more than 9 miles away.

The Paris Cannon was more of a psychological tool against the Parisians, while the Big Bertha was tactically limited on the battlefield.

The German Army understands that it can effectively utilize its extensive rail network in Germany when it is time to move its artillery to new positions in France, Belgium, the Netherlands and beyond, and the situation outside Germany will also be a favorable maneuver . Compared to the slow and bulky nature of self-propelled guns installed on the Army, these railroad guns could travel longer distances. The result, therefore, would be a relatively mobile artillery with lethal firing capabilities that may be more than a psychological tool against the enemy.

Krupp began developing a new heavy rail towed gun system - the "K5" in the late 1920s, and by 1934 the project had produced a prototype barrel with a caliber of 120 mm. The barrel, of course, was specially designed for transport on rail vehicles, and it was mounted in a nacelle that rested on two six-axle bogies with twelve wheels - one at each end. The ends of the nacelle are located directly above and between the third and fourth axles, right in the middle of each six-axle bogie for a maximum weight distribution of 436,000 pounds - a price to pay for this heavy weapon system .

During the development of an early small railroad gun system, the design included a pivot mount that allowed the gun to fire in any direction relative to the rail line it was on. Firing these smaller guns shakes the gun mount on the track, so stabilizing legs were added to prevent the gun from tipping over and falling off the track. A large gun like the K5 is limited by its sheer weight, so it can only move 1 degree horizontally and +50 degrees in elevation. In order to fire more fire from the centerline of the gun, a curved track is required.

For full 360-degree shooting, use the turntable to point the gun in any direction. Due to the minimal travel of the artillery, it was necessary for the engineers of the Bundeswehr to construct special track sections from the commercial railway system at predetermined locations before planned fire operations.

At its core, the K5 railgun has an effective range of up to 40 miles and is extremely accurate due to its rifled barrel (unlike the smoothbore gun, which does not spin the projectile in the barrel before firing). The rifling was reduced to a 12 x 7mm deep groove after tests showed the barrel had broken from the original 10mm deep groove. The high-explosive shell alone weighs about 255 kg and has a caliber of 288 mm. For safety reasons, grenades and required bags of cordierite powder are stored away from the firearm.

Each K5 railway company consists of two artillery pieces, each in its own platoon, while the third platoon houses the required artillery, security (to prevent enemy infantry from sabotaging or defecting), administrative staff, Mechanics (for guns, trains and trucks), cooks and various non-military personnel. In total there are about 85 employees.

Each of the three trains requires two locomotives, one at each end of the line, for mobile artillery and standard passenger and sleeper cars, and special refrigerated cars for powder and wagons to support the required A large number of shells and batteries during equipment use.

The artillery group consists of 42 well-trained artillery officers and men. An artillery officer and 24 men were assigned to operate and fire. A crew of 8 manages the shells, sets timers in each shell, and uses carts to transport the shells from the storage railcar to the artillery.

Some smaller gauges were moved from the car to the guns to support the carriages that carried the individual shells. The powder packs were lifted by cranes on the turret.

The crew on the firing platform requires 2 people stationed at the rear of the gun who will be responsible for raising the shells and gunpowder from the waiting carts to the lifts needed to the ground. The crane then lowered the shells and gunpowder into the breech of the gun.

Six crew members are required to complete this manual process. Others retain ground duties related to artillery firing and electric lift mechanisms. Still others removed the metal casing of the grenade after firing and dumped the used casing on the ground for reuse.

Hire an electrician to supervise and maintain a large generator, which itself must power the electrical system designed to fire and lift the K5's barrel.

The German military used two locomotives to haul the K5 system - one steam-powered and the other diesel-powered. For most of the war, the standard locomotive used by the German army for basic transport (and civilian passenger trains at the time) was the steam engine. Steam engines proved to be more readily available and less expensive to run than diesel engines, and were used in many missions to move the K5 to the shooting range. After deployment, the engine of choice was a WR360C14 diesel locomotive.

Battery packs prefer diesel engines to steam engines, which depressurize the white smoke that makes trains (and guns) easy to spot from the air. As the war continued and the Allies gained complete air supremacy, steam engines were easy targets for attack aircraft, thus taking advantage of natural concealment in the form of railroad tunnels. Enemy planes can also destroy parts of the track, but quickly repair the track.

An interesting design quality of the K5 system is its suspension system, which allows the train to traverse hurried or poorly laid tracks.

The locomotive and wagon parts associated with the K5 are often painted in camouflage to blend in as closely as possible with the natural covering. However, the first production of four guns in 1937 was done at the factory with a dark grey cape. The existing grey was then complemented with brown when the insert was officially ordered. When the K5 was officially dispatched to the Eastern Front of the Soviet Union, the livery was changed to white in anticipation of the winter campaign.

Weapons supplied to the French western front were grey, while those supplied to the Afrika Korps were painted a dark variegated desert yellow.

Once the K5 is delivered to the firing range, it is set to fire at the intended target of interest. Of course, with moving targets, this made the K5's capabilities more difficult for the Bundeswehr's railway engineers, who had to use multiple methods on the battlefield to get the artillery to fire at both moving and stationary targets. If time permits, railway crews can lay curved rails at the firing point, allowing the diesel engine to move the gun horizontally.

However, the turntable eventually became a necessity for the K5 and other similarly sized railroad guns. This heavy-duty platform is specifically designed to allow weapons to rest on it, while allowing the system to rotate and translate 360 ??degrees and up to 50 degrees vertically.

Eventually, a portable turntable was developed for transport on the K5 battery train. When the Wehrmacht conquered European territory, it took with it any useful war equipment left by the enemy - including the valuable hubs left by the retreating French and Belgian forces on the coast.

By the time France was invaded, eight K5 "low draft" guns had been completed, three shipped east along the French coast. The guns were mounted on captured French carousels facing the English Channel coastline in July 1940. Six K5s were aimed at inland targets off the UK coast as well as shipping in the English Channel. With their guns having a range of 40 miles, Allied warships could not approach and fire on these K5s. As a result, many merchant ships were sunk and British ships were forced to sail at night - the best prey for the German U-boat fleet.

The Luftwaffe supplied the vulnerable K5s from the air and protected them from British fighters.

In February 1944, two K5 guns were shipped to Italy to counter the American invasion of the town of Anzio. By early March, these K5s - nicknamed "Robert" and "Leopold" by the German crew - were stationed on Mount Albans above the bridgehead and port area. From this vantage point, two K5s dropped large-caliber shells on seven divisions of the 70,000-strong Allied force (including the U.S. 36th Infantry Division) trying to break through the established beachhead. The invasion faltered, and the surrounding land resembled the trench warfare of the First World War.

Sharp Junkers Tuka dive bombers provided additional air power. During the months of the Battle of Anzio, the Allied VI Army lost 4,400 killed, 18,000 wounded, and 6,800 missing or captured.

Allied soldiers stranded on the beach named the two German cannons "Anzio Annie" and "Anzio Express" because the shells made an express train-like sound as they passed.

Improvements to the K5 family continued until the end of the war. There are always people trying to increase their range, so a smaller grenade was designed - the Rocket Grenade 4331 (RGr 4331). The projectile has a cast-propellant rocket motor mounted on the front of the shell, which can propel it to a range of 54 miles.

At such distances, however, the overall accuracy of the shell is somewhat reduced. Again to improve accuracy, six multi-slotted K5 Vz guns were produced, capable of firing iron belt shells. Another option is the K5 "Glatt", which uses an "Arrow" grenade that requires a large 31cm smoothbore barrel - only two examples of this type have been made. By 1943, the air combat had been tilted towards the Allies, so the German Army believed that the K5 should be converted to a self-propelled artillery system with a PzKpfw Tiger heavy tank chassis.

The caravan required five tank chassis to move the guns - two chassis carried the launch platform, another two carried the barrel, and the other carried the breech group. Some trucks are also needed to transport people, supplies, shells and gunpowder. By the end of the war, development was not complete.

Further planned upgrades to the family fell through as long-range terrorist weapons such as the V-1 and V-2 missiles began to be prioritized and offered more in terms of capability and damage.

On June 7, 1944, when the US military left Anzio, two abandoned K5 guns were found and confiscated. The guns and associated shells were loaded onto waiting U.S. Navy ships and taken to the U.S. Army Ordnance Museum in Aberdeen, Maryland. "Robert" was intentionally damaged by the retreating Germans, although "Leopold" was found to be in better condition.

The Army assembled one of the guns and used it for firing tests. The K5 remained in Aberdeen until 2010, where it was disassembled along with most of the existing Aberdeen exhibits and trucked to its new home in Fort Lee, Virginia.

Despite limitations and optimistic expectations, "Anzio Anne" was perhaps the most successful railroad gun of WWII.

Specification

Basic