Big Bertha (howitzer)

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Big Bertha (howitzer)
Image:Dicke Bertha.Big Bertha.jpg Actual "Big Bertha" in action
Type	Cannon
Place of origin	Germany
Service history
Used by	Imperial Germany
Wars	World War I
Specifications
Weight	70 tn (140 000 000 lb)

Caliber	420 mm (16.53 in)
Muzzle velocity	400 m/s
Effective range	12,5 km

Image:Question book-3.svg

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For other uses of the term, see Big Bertha (disambiguation).

Image:Musee-de-lArmee-IMG 0984.jpg

Model of the road-mobile "M-Gerät" version. Note the ladders for size comparison

Image:Gamma-gerät.jpg

Gamma-Gerät - the railway-mounted variant of the "Big Bertha"

Big Bertha (German: Dicke Bertha; literal translation "Fat Bertha") is the name of a L/14 model of heavy mortar-like howitzers built and used by Imperial Germany during World War I.

This howitzer was named after the wife of Gustav Krupp, Bertha Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach. The name "Big Bertha" was also applied to other railway guns, like the battleship guns of "Langer Max" or the long-distance "Paris Gun".

Designed in 1904 and produced by the Krupp factories in Essen, Germany, in 1914, the L/14 howitzer was a portable 42 centimeter mortar with shells weighing 820 kg each with a maximum range of 12 km, and a maximum elevation grade of 80 degrees. "Big Bertha" was available as the road-mobile "M-Gerät" version mounted on wheels and transported by tractors, and as a railway-mounted "Gamma-Gerät" version.

Only 6 of them were available at the beginning of the war, and they were used to destroy Belgian forts in Liège, Namur, Siege of Maubeuge and Antwerp, as well as forts in northern France. It proved very effective against older constructions, destroying 10 forts in a few days, e.g. Fort Loncin which exploded after taking a direct hit to its ammunition magazine.

Due to its early impressive successes which were exploited by the German propaganda, "Big Bertha" gained a strong reputation on both sides of the lines. It is said that surrendering enemies claimed that resistance to her was futile - even when they have not been attacked with the "Big Bertha" Howitzer model at all (see "Wunderwaffe").

On the other hand, when used during the German assault upon Verdun in February 1916, it proved ineffective as the newer construction of this fort, made from concrete reinforced with steel, could withstand even the large shells of Big Bertha.

Even though all active-duty Big Berthas had been destroyed in or after the war, one of them survived on Krupp's test ground, and was used again in World War II in the Battle of Sevastopol, along with the even larger, modern Schwerer Gustav. The Sturmtiger and the Mörser Karl were two other weapons that re-proposed the concept of the siege mortar.

[edit] Literature

Gerhard Taube: Die schwersten Steilfeuer–Geschütze 1914 - 1945. Geheimwaffen 'Dicke Berta' und 'Karl', Motorbuch-Verlag, ISBN 3-87943-811-0
Axel Turra: Dicke Bertha – Ein 42-cm-Steilfeuergeschütz wird zur Legende, Podzun-Pallas Verlag, ISBN 3-79090-753-7

Big Bertha is also so big that it takes 2 hours and 7 men to load it to just shoot once.