Section 01 Dismantling the Doram Super Large Cannon

  The two Colonels-General of the Army High Command, Brauchitsch and Halder, and the two Colonels-General of the Supreme Command, Keitel and Jodl, came to pay their respects to the Fuehrer.

  The military command structure of the Third Reich was different from others. In theory, the Supreme Command led the three armed forces - the navy, army and air force. However, in reality, the Army High Command controlled the Eastern Front, Western Front and Africa, all under the jurisdiction of the Supreme Command. The upper and lower levels were equal units, even the Finnish military zone on the Eastern Front was not under the control of the Army. This artificially increased confusion, which Hitler's rough intervention exacerbated. He deeply believed that through this division and rule, everyone would obey him. "Great chaos leads to great order." This is the creed of a dictator.

  Keitel and Jodl behaved as the Fuehrer's confidants: both of them grasped Liddell Hart's hands, asking about his well-being, while Brauchitsch only dryly reported on the recent work of the army, Halder seemed much more worldly, with moist eyes saying: "We feel ashamed, the Fuehrer is fighting in the front line, leading by example, going deep into the enemy's lair, being surrounded by the enemy several times, we are feeling anxious."

  The head of state was deeply moved, he was almost misled by Haald's hypocritical words, but as soon as military issues were involved, Haald seemed to be unreasonable: "Along the entire front line, the Russians are like billiard balls, some sections have broken through the line, fortunately I and the commander-in-chief rushed to eliminate the danger. Some sections of winter fortifications were not well built, without depth, and were weak in the face of Russian tanks, such as in the direction of Kaluga, the enemy broke through the fragile fortifications with just one impact."

  "What?" Li De became alert, this was his squatting place, wasn't this a slap in the face?

  Fortunately, Boromir supplemented: "Of course, our army quickly repelled the enemy's attack."

  Li De let out a sigh of relief. Schmundt explained: "It was a fright, but it was the Führer himself who personally directed the repulsion of the attack."

  The two humiliated men stared at each other in dismay, their faces pale with shock, Harald's face slightly flushed.

  The head of state stared at Halder for a while until he lowered his head, then turned to Keitel and Jodl: "What's with you two?"

  Jodl shot a glance at Halder and indignantly reported to the Fuehrer: "The British have driven Rommel out of Tobruk in Libya, he is withdrawing towards Benghazi. We decided to move the 10th Armored Division to Sicily, but these two refused to agree."

  Hald raised his voice, as if waiting for a quarrel: "This is like a rooster crowing at midnight - without regard to timing. After the US and Japan went to war, the Russians in the Far East swarmed in like locusts, the enemy's tanks and planes came from who-knows-where, the 10th Armored Division was always ready to put out fires, how could they leave the battlefield?"

  "Alright, stop arguing." Li De suddenly felt a inexplicable annoyance and changed the subject: "Manstein called, the Soviet captives confessed that under the 27-meter hard rock layer of the main position in Sevastopol, there is a large Soviet arsenal. He requested me to supervise the transportation of the Dora super cannon as soon as possible. Let's go take a look."

  Lee called up Speer and Bormann, and the two of them set off with Hitler to Krupp's works in Essen, Ruhr. The Krupps were a prominent family in German industry from the 19th to the 20th century, and their company was Germany's largest steel and heavy industry conglomerate.

  The entire factory was a self-contained kingdom, controlling many mines and blast furnaces in Germany and the occupied territories, apart from its machine tool production lines for manufacturing large weapons.

  Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach, the current chairman of the board, was a member of the Nazi Party since 1930 and also a member of the SS. He played his role as an armorer of the Third Reich very diligently.

  A long motorcade of cars pulled up to a small building near the Hugel Villa, surrounded by barbed wire and guarded by armed sentries. Krupp arrived here every morning at 9 o'clock and worked until late into the night; now he was making his rounds in the workshops, while his deputy led the way into the office, where Hitler's portrait hung on the wall with the inscription "Together with the Fuehrer to Victory!"

  The deputy said that the young Krupp worked alone here, drinking whiskey and smoking Camel cigarettes in the evenings. He was accompanied only by servants, without friends. Apart from this, he traveled to France, Ukraine, Poland, the Netherlands, Yugoslavia and other countries occupied by Germany. He advocated for the confiscation of industrial enterprises in occupied countries, and by the end of 1941, the Krupp empire directly or indirectly employed 150,000 people, manufacturing cannons, armored vehicles, tanks, submarines and various light weapons for the German army.

  Krupp, wearing a blue worker's uniform, came in, changed into his work clothes, warmly hugged the Fuehrer, shook hands with Speer, and exchanged enthusiastic greetings with the heads of the three branches of the military and the army. He nodded to Bormann. After hearing the purpose of the visit, he gave instructions to his deputy for ten minutes before driving off to a forest several dozen kilometers away that was sealed off by troops and police, where at the end of two parallel railway tracks stood an enormous object - the Dora railway cannon, its towering barrel looking particularly majestic.

  Starting in 1936, to break through the French Maginot Line, the German Army Ordnance began developing a super-large cannon. Krupp, who was also deputy head of the Army Ordnance, took on this task. After years of careful production, it is now basically complete.

  This super cannon was named after the designer's wife, and Krupp enthusiastically told the Führer about the power of the gun: "Its caliber is 800 mm, the barrel is 28.87 meters long, 12 meters high, and the total length is 42.9 meters. The total weight is 1344 tons, the projectile weighs 8.4 tons, the range is 46.67 kilometers, and it can destroy underground shelters below 30 meters."

  When it came to how to transport them to the front line, Krupp's usual enthusiasm was somewhat dampened. Three specially designed giant transporter trains were built just for this purpose, but bridges along the route could not support such heavy loads and had to take long detours.

  "After arriving here, first use 2 giant cranes to hoist the base, then install the gun mount, barrel and loading mechanism. All work was commanded by a major general with more than 1,400 people fighting for three weeks to complete. To prevent British planes from bombing, anti-aircraft troops and alert aircraft were deployed. A large number of infantry, police and guard dogs patrolled day and night within 10 kilometers around. Once enemy planes bombed, chemical soldiers immediately laid down smoke screens for cover. The total number of people participating in command, operation and security exceeded 4,000."

  Li De nodded thoughtfully: "4,000 people serving this big fellow, it's really a show of force. How will they transport it to the front line? How long will it take to get to Sevastopol?"

  Krüger had obviously thought this through: "Sixty rail cars would be needed, then a special 20-mile spur line to Sevastopol would have to be built, which would take a month."

  Li De hesitated for a long time, requesting to open fire and asking to film the scene of opening fire. Krupp looked embarrassed, but under the insistence of the leader, he urgently summoned the original personnel from the factory and nearby artillery, and everything was ready in an hour.

  The commander of the special artillery regiment, Major General Artillery, reported to the leader that it was possible to open fire. The leader nodded and then retreated one kilometer away. Even at such a distance, the cannons were still as huge as two-story buildings.

  。

  Two giant arms protruded from the train cannon, lifting an 8-ton shell. One arm turned into a lever, pushing the shell into the barrel, and then repeated the action, pushing the body in. In the distance, more than 1,600 people swarmed around this massive creature like ants surrounding a beetle, serving it for the sake of a huge roar and applause half an hour later.

  A deafening roar was followed by a thick smoke enveloping the giant cannon.

  Li De called the artillery lieutenant general to his side, carefully inquiring about the detailed technical parameters of the super-large cannon. The lieutenant general answered one by one, even answering three questions at once, and felt proud that he could command this unique large cannon.

  Li De turned to everyone and asked: "What do you think of this magnificent building?"

  Li De heard a chorus of praise, with the only difference being whether it was "good" or "wonderful".

  He smiled wryly and gazed at Jodel, saying: "You're an artillery expert. I'd like to hear your true thoughts."

  "Technically speaking, this is undoubtedly a masterpiece. In terms of practicality, it's just a bit clumsy."

  Li De scratched his boot: "Itching in boots."

  Harold glanced at the leader and said somewhat disapprovingly: "The leader called us here, is it just to listen to eulogies?"

  Li De ignored him and grabbed Krupp's shoulder, saying softly: "Blow it up."

  The sentence was like a shell, blasting Krupp into a daze, he turned around in a circle, convinced that the Fuehrer meant the super-cannon, and beads of sweat as big as beans rolled down. Those generals who had just cheered also opened their mouths wide, as if shrouded in mist.

  Li De gave them an account: the caliber of the Dora cannon is 800mm, slightly larger than the 600mm of the Karl mortar, but its weight is equivalent to 11 times that of the Karl. Firing the Dora requires 1600 people, not including the many personnel surrounding it, while firing the Karl only requires 16 people. Even if the Dora cannon can penetrate 30 meters of concrete, the Karl is not inferior. Normally, it uses propellant charges 1 to 9. If necessary, all propellant charges from 1 to 9 can be loaded together. One shot can also penetrate 25 meters thick concrete or 35 cm thick homogeneous steel plate.

  It is important that Karl can move without disassembly and propel itself, even if only at a speed of 10 km/h. This is still many times faster than the thousands of workers required to move it manually. The Karl howitzer could go from deployment to firing in just 10 minutes, completing preparations in one-third the time needed for heavy artillery, and could fire six to twelve rounds per hour, three to six times the rate of heavy artillery.

  All of these have proven that the Doraleh super cannon is one of the greatest labor-intensive and money-wasting projects, as well as a high-tech face-saving project.

  The commander-in-chief finished, and Jodl shook his head and said: "Whether it's a Dora gun or a Karl gun, the huge warhead can only play an unexpected role when it hits concrete and steel plates directly. If the target is an ordinary trench, then the shell will directly penetrate into the ground, and the explosive power is not much larger than that of a 1000 kg aerial bomb."

  Harold and Brauchitsch asked in unison: "Why didn't you say so earlier?"