Немецкая самоходная осадная миномётная установка "Карл"

German self propelled siege mortar

"Karl Gerät" (040/041) (German literally "Karl device"), also known as Mörser Karl, was a World War II German self propelled siege mortar (Mörser) designed and built by Rheinmetall. Its heaviest munition was a diameter, shell, and the range for its lightest shell of was just over Each gun had to be accompanied by a crane, a two piece heavy transport set of railcars, and several modified tanks to carry shells. Seven guns were built, six of which saw combat between 1941 and 1945. It was used in attacking the Soviet fortresses of Brest Litovsk and Sevastopol, bombarded Polish resistance fighters in Warsaw, participated in the Battle of the Bulge, and was used to try to destroy the Ludendorff Bridge during the Battle of Remagen. One Karl Gerät has survived and the remainder were scrapped after the war.

In March 1936 Rheinmetall made a proposal for a super heavy howitzer to attack the Maginot Line. Their initial concept was for a weapon that would be transported by several tracked vehicles and assembled on site, but the lengthy preparation time drove them to change it to a self propelled weapon in January 1937. Extensive driving trials took place in 1938 and 1939 using the first Neubaufahrzeug tank prototype and a scale model to investigate the extremely high ground pressure and steering of such an enormous vehicle. Firing trials took place in June 1939. The full scale driving trials were held at Unterlüss in May 1940. General Karl Becker of the Artillery was involved in the development, from whom the huge weapon gained its nickname. In total, seven Karl Gerät howitzers were manufactured. The first six had the nicknames "Adam" (later "Baldur"), "Eva" (later "Wotan"), "Thor", "Odin", "Loki", and "Ziu"; the seventh, the research and test weapon (Versuchs Gerät), had no name. Delivery of the six production vehicles took place from November 1940 to August 1941. In February 1941, discussions commenced concerning increasing the range of the weapon, and in May 1942, Gerät 041 barrels were ordered for the six vehicles. At a conference with Adolf Hitler in March 1943 it was stated that the first Gerät 041 would be delivered by June 1943, and the third, by mid August. Only three of the Gerät 041 barrels were actually completed for mounting on Karl Gerät Nr. I, IV and V, although any vehicle could be converted to use the smaller weapon. Twenty two Panzer IV Ausf. D, E and F chassis were modified with a superstructure capable of carrying four shells that replaced the turret and outfitted with a crane as Munitionsschlepper für Karl Gerät ammunition transporters/loaders. Two or three of these Munitionsschlepper were assigned to each weapon.

The 124 ton vehicle was propelled by a Daimler Benz MB 503A 12 cylinder liquid cooled gasoline engine or a Daimler Benz MB 507C 12 cylinder liquid cooled diesel engine, but this was mainly used for aiming (the mount had only 4 degrees of traverse on each side), as the engines provided a top speed of only For longer distances the Karl Gerät was disassembled using a special mobile crane into seven loads. The chassis was loaded onto a six axle Culemeyer Strassenroller lowboy trailer. The other parts of the gun were lighter and used four axle trailers. If the trailer with the chassis on board had to cross a bridge that couldn't carry their combined weight the chassis had to be off loaded and driven across under its own power.

The weapon was moved long distances via rail on a variant of a Schnabel car; the whole chassis was hung between two huge pedestal mounted swiveling arms fixed to five axle bogies. When it reached its destination, the weapon was detached from railcars' supporting arms and driven to its intended firing location. The chassis of the ordnance was then lowered to the ground by "raising" the continuous track units' roadwheels by rotating their torsion bar sprung suspension arms to drop the chassis close to the ground to distribute the recoil forces more evenly in preparation for firing the roadwheels for each trackset were also similarly "raised" to allow the tracks to clear the rails while being transported by rail, between the pair of Schnabel railcars. The Karl Gerät proved to have no problems moving over normal soil, but under no circumstances was it allowed to make turns on soft soil lest it throw a track. The chassis had to be backed into position to fire, which expedited movement to a new position, but the land to be used for the ordnance's firing position had to be precisely leveled and the approach route prepared ahead of time to fill in soft spots and any ditches, etc. The mortar itself could only be loaded at zero elevation, so it had to be re aimed between every shot.

The various Karl Geräte used two different types of transmissions, engines and suspension system in a bewildering set of combinations. The table below outlines how each vehicle was outfitted. After May 1944 the gasoline engines were replaced by diesels. Little information is available for No. VII, the experimental model, and the data below must be regarded as unconfirmed. No. I II III IV V VI VII NicknameAdam/BaldurEva/WotanThorOdinLokiZiuNone Ausf.1233456 EngineMB 503 AMB 503 AMB 507 CMB 507 CMB 507 CMB 503 AMB 503 A Transmission3 speed Ardelt3 speed Voith Turbo4 speed Ardelt4 speed Ardelt3 speed Voith Turbo3 speed Voith Turbo4 speed Ardelt Speed10 km/h10 km/h6 km/h6 km/h6 km/h6 km/h6 km/h Range (km)42426060604242 Roadwheels(number per side/rim type)8 rubber8 rubber11 steel11 steel11 steel11 steel11 steel Return rollers8 rubber8 rubber6 rubber6 rubber6 rubber6 rubber6 rubber Torsion bars (mm)2600260021152115211521152115 Track pitch (mm)170170250240240240240 Link per side1331339494949494 Sprocket teeth17171212121212