Batterie TODT Railroadgun

The only railroadgun remaining in europe.It stands in france at Batterie TODT.

Category:

Travel & Events

Tags:

• Batterie
• TODT
• Railroadgun

[cleenwerck78]

Heb je geen fotos getrokken nu hij geschilderd is?

[M55q]

Why is it so rusty !!! It is shame!!

[gabos002]

i visited last summer: its huge and amazing. also lot of big bunkers around it:

google: batterie todt

[Jeansschwimmer]

Please read my postings in their chronologically right order

[Jeansschwimmer]

@Jeansschwimmer Granddad' unit was then on the run through Belgium and the Netherlands. They passed airfields with German planes, grounded by the lack of petrol.

Back home in Germany they were regrouped as field artillery,were given 4 inch field guns and sent back to the front, this time at the Eifel region, south of Belgium. Granddad was wounded there and that was the end of the war for him.

[Jeansschwimmer]

@Jeansschwimmer When the allied forces drew nearer, they fired more or less until the last shell- or at least as long as it made sense. The shell was propelled by three sacks of gunpowder to be loaded one by one.

The last ammunition they used to blow the locos and the gun itself. Granddad told me, the steel amost screamed like an animal when it was ripped apart. That was the end of the "Westwall" at Knogge.

[Jeansschwimmer]

@Jeansschwimmer One of Granddad jobs was tightening clamps that held the gun firmly on the rails because of the huge recoil. Once the gun captain forgot that he was still there under the barrel when he gave orders to fire. The partial vacuum behind the shell was so huge that Granddad "followed" it for some 60feet, so did his spanner. He remained deaf for some days.

In one of his letters home he wrote of something like "giving the allies a hot welcome", shortly before D-day.

[Jeansschwimmer]

At the end of WW I ,following the armistice, right wing underground activity led to hiding naval gun barrels from the allies. Those barrels were used in these defensive guns. My granddad was enlisted in '43, then 39 years old, and trained as a gunner. In spring '43 he was sent to Knogge in Belgium and became a member of a gun crew that served one of these monsters. They ran on a circle of rail track, towed by two small diesel locos, for rough aiming, were then carefully aimed by cranking.

[MrHEILDEMFUHRER1]

@M55q IT MUST BE RESTORED ONLY FEW WAS PRODUCED BY KRUPP OF K5 280mm

[Pooshooter5k]

That this is a beast! how do you aim it?

[Victor20376]

@Bunkerfreaks Tijdens WO ll stonden er vier zulke spoorwegkanonnen op zwenkbeddingen tussen Zeebrugge en Lissewege (Westvlaanderen, België). Het waren harde knallen als deze afgevuurd werden... gelukkig werden zij weggevoerd door de Duitsers ( augustus '44) omdat zij vreesden dat ze in handen zouden vallen van de oprukkende Canadezen.

[1Fangio]

I believe the gun nick-named "Anzio Annie" is in great condition and can be viewed

publicly at the Aberdeen proving grounds in Maryland, U.S.A.

They have one of every US tank ever made, and a LOT of others,plus an 18 inch

battleship gun mounted as a shore emplacment. The battle damage to the foreign tanks is visible, although some of it is patched. Inside the museum is gun-nut heaven, with stuff I never even knew existed. Highly recommended for anyone with an interest in firearms.