10 Weirdest Weapons Used During World War II

5. The Gustav Rail Cannon - The Germans Used The Largest Weaponry In History

Gustav Rail Cannon
Wikipedia

The Nazis loved to be the biggest and the best at everything - which is probably why they produced the largest cannon in the history of mankind during the Second World War. Used during the German siege of Sebastopol in 1932, the Gustav rail cannon had a 31.5-inch calibre barrel that could fire shells weighing seven tonnes more than 30 miles.

So huge and heavy was the Gustav rail cannon that it had to be moved from location to location in thousands of pieces - and then assembled by more than 4,000 soldiers. Interestingly though, Gustav was used only once during World War II (at Sebastopol) - and it fired just 42 shells, although each of these could destroy entire buildings due to the ferocity with which they travelled.

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NUFC editor for WhatCulture.com/NUFC. History graduate (University of Edinburgh) and NCTJ-trained journalist. I love sports, hopelessly following Newcastle United and Newcastle Falcons. My pastimes include watching and attending sports matches religiously, reading spy books and sampling ales.