The Krupp Factory in Essen, Ruhr Area. This former steel workshop of Krupp Company grew into the most important factory enterprise in Germany after the invention of "steel filling" in the mid-19th century. After more than half a century of development, Krupp

Rupp has long been the largest heavy industry company in Germany, mainly in the steel industry. Relatively speaking, the entire Krupp company in Germany often means the German military industry. More than 70% of German artillery is produced by Krupp. Not only

In this way, even in the shipbuilding industry, Krupp still occupies a considerable share.

For many years, as the most important supplier of the German army, Krupp has supported the combat effectiveness of the German army. Since 1914, Krupp has expanded rapidly due to the war. New factories have been put into production, and thousands of

Thousands of artillery pieces of various calibers are continuously transported from the Krupp factory in Essen to the army and navy.

In a sense, no one doubted that Krupp was supporting Germany's war effort. However, unlike in 1871, when no one doubted that Germany would win, now, when the war lasted for nearly two years, no one doubted that Germany would win.

Years later, for every German, the hope of victory seems to be getting slimmer and slimmer. Not seeing the hope of victory is somewhat disappointing, but at the same time of despair, for the engineers and technicians of Krupp Company,

In other words, they must see hope in despair. To be precise, they must use their technology and German industry to help Germany win, at least gain some hope of victory, and technological breakthroughs can often make Germany win.

People have this hope.

Villa Hugel is the villa of the Krupp family. Ever since Alfred Krupp, the founder of the Krupp company, built this villa, it has been the center of the Krupp family.

Alfred Krupp achieved Krupp's glory here. The second generation president Friedrich Alfred Krupp committed suicide here due to the homosexual scandal. His daughter Beta?

Krupp also married Gustav von Bohlen and Onder Halbach here. With the emperor's approval, Gustav took the surname Krupp as Gustav Krupp.

, it was also announced here that he would become the third generation president of Krupp.

For Gustav Krupp, since he became the third generation president of Krupp, the most important thing is to make everyone believe in him and believe that he can be like Alfred Krupp.

Like Krupp, he created a big company. Of course, this was because of the outbreak of the European War. In the past two years, Krupp's military production capacity has expanded several times, making it the largest company in the German industry.

The company with the fastest expansion of strength.

Before the war, Gustav Krupp's factory could only manufacture ten artillery pieces at most every day. But now, Krupp's factory can manufacture more than thirty artillery pieces every day. In the past, it could only manufacture ten artillery pieces every day.

Ten thousand rounds of artillery shells were produced, but now hundreds of thousands of artillery shells can be produced every day, and the artillery produced during the war has a larger caliber and more powerful shells.

As the president of the Krupp Company, Gustav Krupp may have been very diligent. He has always tried his best to play the role of the German Imperial Armorer.

However, in the past year, Gustav Krupp's life has not been easy, and the reason is very simple. The protracted development of the war, while affecting the lives of the German people, also affected his life.

Facing the stalemate on the front, the chiefs of staff have been hoping for a weapon that can break the stalemate in the war.

This weapon to break the deadlock in the war will eventually be developed by these military-industrial companies. In the end, almost all the pressure fell on Krupp, a world-famous military-industrial company, and on Gustav

?On Krupp’s body.

What kind of weapons can break the stalemate in war?….

Poison gas. Already thrown into the war.

Tanks also entered the battlefield.

Planes have already flown to the battlefield. So what kind of weapons can break the deadlock on the Western Front and win victory for Germany again?

A long convoy entered a forest blocked by military police near the Krupp factory in Essen. At the end of two parallel railways, there was a behemoth parked - a railway gun as huge as a Land Cruiser. The tall giant

The cannon is very majestic and magnificent.

The Germans are no strangers to railway guns. In fact, as early as the Franco-Prussian War, the then Kingdom of Prussia had already begun to move large-caliber naval guns onto trains to increase the firepower of its army troops.

At this time, when Erich von Falkenhayn and his entourage stepped out of the car, Falkenhayn and his entourage from time to time cast their sights on Count Gustav Krupp, regarding the man who "could end the war" in his mouth

"Weapons, they only stay in the "introduction" and models, and never see the real thing in the future.

After walking for about ten minutes, what Erich von Falkenhayn saw was truly thrilling. An armored train as tall as a several-story building or even higher appeared in front of him.

, this armored train looks like a steel monster, and the towering gun barrel in front of this steel monster is even more surprising.

At this time, this steel monster is lying there quietly, but anyone will be surprised when they see it. Speaking of this Dora cannon, one has to lament the power of Germany's mechanical industry. You know

, the 800mm giant gun's barrel manufacturing alone is enough to make countless industrial powers retreat in the face of difficulties. This is a giant gun that has never been seen in human history.

After the Battle of the Marne, when the war on the Western Front reached a stalemate, how to deal with the French and the defense lines built by the British became the primary topic of the German Army Staff. At that time, after the Army selected a variety of weapons, it

After Bo showed the model, drawings and design ideas of the "unprecedented cannon", the army was immediately impressed by this cannon. In their view, this cannon with a range of up to 40 kilometers can completely destroy any fortress.

There are no fortresses or fortresses capable of blocking such firepower in this world yet.

Naturally, in the world, only Krupp Arsenal, Germany's largest artillery manufacturer, can manufacture such a huge gun. However, one thing that the German General Staff does not know is that this gun

The giant cannon was not developed by the Krupp Company, but by a Chinese company. Even the Krupp Company, which produces and develops the largest large-caliber artillery in the world, encountered this problem when it was trial-producing this giant gun.

Various technical issues.

In the end, with the efforts of Krupp's artillery engineers, this giant cannon was manufactured bit by bit. At first, in the army, some people were quite critical of spending huge sums of money on this giant cannon. But as time went by,

When the German army faced the British and French defense lines and fell into a stalemate in the war, this made large artillery more and more important.

If the German army was progressing smoothly on the Western Front, perhaps they would never need giant artillery, but now, almost every day, Falkenhayn would ask about the progress of "Alfred". "Alfred" is Gustav?

Krupp adopted the name of Krupp's founder as the name of the cannon when he ordered the cannon. After twenty months of careful production, the cannon is now basically completed.

At this time, when the senior staff generals of the staff headed by Falkenhayn were surprised by the huge cannon in front of them, their mouths were slightly opened, and they all looked extremely shocked. Gustav Krupp was a little excited.

He happily spoke to Erich von Falkenhayn about the power of cannon:

"Its gun barrel has a caliber of 800 mm. The gun is 28.87 meters long and 12 meters high. The total gun length weighs 1,344 tons. The fired shells weigh 8.4 tons. The range is 46.67 kilometers. It can destroy underground shelters below 30 meters.

Even the strongest fortress in the world cannot stop "Alfred"'s bombardment. According to our calculations, only four to six artillery shells are needed to completely destroy a large fortress! It can be said that "Alfred"

"The emergence of "means the end of the fortress era!"….

After the initial shock, Erich von Falkenhayn looked at the two dedicated railway lines and asked.

"How can we send this huge cannon to the front line?"

Falkenhayn has no doubt about its power. After all, anyone with a little common sense will not have any doubt. The only issue that needs to be considered now is how to send this giant cannon to the front line. After all, this is a

A behemoth of more than a thousand tons.

When talking about how to transport it to the front line, the straightforward Krupp was no longer in high spirits, but said somewhat helplessly.

"In order to transport the artillery here, three giant transport trains with special structures were specially designed. The bridges along the way could not bear such a heavy weight, so the trains had to take a long detour."

Then Gustav Krupp continued to introduce:

"After the artillery is sent to the front line, two giant cranes are used to hoist the base, and then the gun mount, barrel and loading mechanism are installed. All the work requires more than 1,400 people to prepare for three weeks to complete. In order to prevent enemy reconnaissance

When an enemy reconnaissance aircraft is discovered, anti-aircraft artillery units and security aircraft need to be deployed, as well as infantry, patrols, and police dogs to patrol day and night within 10 kilometers. Once an enemy reconnaissance aircraft is discovered, chemical troops will immediately deploy a smoke screen.

Cover. The total number of people participating in command, operation, and security is expected to be more than 4,000."

Looking at this giant cannon, Fajin Khan nodded thoughtfully:

"4,000 people serve such a big guy, that's a lot of work. How long will it take to transport it to the front line?"

Regarding this issue, Krupp and experts from Krupp Company have long considered this issue:

"We need 60 train cars, and then we will build a 40-kilometer dedicated railway branch line to the front line, which will take a month."

After pondering for a long time, Falkenhayn looked at the cannon and said.

"Fire a shot!"

Gustav Krupp was embarrassed by Falkenhayn's request. At the insistence of the chief of staff, he urgently recruited the original team from the factory and nearby artillery. An hour later, they were all ready.

Subsequently, Krupp's artillery expert reported to Falkenhayn that the cannon could be fired. Looking at the cannon, Hankingham nodded, and then followed the request and retreated by car to the high-post observation post two kilometers away.

At such a long distance, the cannon is still as huge as a two-story building.

And here, two huge mechanical crane arms stretched out from the two-lane railway train gun, lifting the 8-ton warhead. One of the mechanical crane arms became a lever, pushing the shell into the barrel. Repeat again,

Pushing the missile body in, looking from a distance, more than 1,600 people were like ants surrounding a beetle, serving this behemoth for a huge noise half an hour later.

After the artillery shells were loaded, the officers and soldiers who were like ants immediately retreated towards the armored carriage on the train. It took nearly a minute until no one was seen outside the cannon in the entire train. The reason why these gunners retreated into the armored carriage was because "

"Alfred" cannon is so powerful that it affects the muzzle blast.

When the 800mm gun is fully charged, the chamber pressure when firing is as high as the pressure on the human body, which is equivalent to the feeling of windblown sand hitting the face, which can tear the eardrum and clothes. The positive pressure is continuous

When the time exceeds 0.01 seconds, the human body begins to be injured. The pressure of the blast will cause serious injuries and the pressure will be unrescuable. If it is hit by the blast, it will die on the spot. And the "Alfred" giant

When the cannon is fired, the blast pressure at 50 meters around the muzzle is 30 meters and the pressure at 200 meters is obviously beyond the range that the human body can withstand.

In order to prevent personnel from being injured by the muzzle blast, a shelter for personnel was set up on the train. Before the cannon was fired, the firing command post issued a buzzer warning and the personnel entered the shelter to take refuge. Then a second long sound alarm signal was played.

, when the signal stopped, the giant cannon opened fire...

At this time, a second long warning signal echoed over the forest. After receiving the signal for all personnel to enter the shelter, the artillery experts in the firing command post began to make calls to confirm the firing order.

"It's time to fire, Your Excellency!"

After receiving the call from the front, Gustav Krup turned to Chief of Staff Falkenhayn and said.

"fire!"

Nodding, Falkenhayn turned his sights to the giant cannon and considered the plan in his mind. He knew that maybe this giant cannon could end this war.

Suddenly, in his sight, a huge cloud of black smoke burst out from the huge gun barrel. In an instant, the black smoke turned from smoke to flame, and the weather reflected was red, and the mountains were shaking.

.After the deafening loud noise, the thick smoke and flames instantly enveloped the cannon.

Everyone who was startled by the thrilling sound immediately took their telescopes and looked outside the shooting range, which was dozens of kilometers away. Although it was dozens of kilometers away, they still looked toward the shooting range to determine the power of the explosion.

"Alfred" has two types of shells. The armor-piercing shell weighs 7.1 tons and has a charge of 250 kilograms. The high-explosive shell weighs 4.8 tons and has a charge of 700 kilograms. After the high-explosive shell hits the target and explodes, it can cause unprecedented damage, with a radius of 500
To be continued...