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"''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 heavy transport trailer, 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. == Development == 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.〔Jentz, pp. 4–8〕 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.〔Jentz, p. 1〕 In total, seven ''Karl-Geräte'' 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.〔Jentz, p. 17〕 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,〔Jentz, p. 49〕 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.〔Chamberlain and Doyle, p. 262〕 Two or three of these ''Munitionsschlepper'' were assigned to each weapon. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Karl-Gerät」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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