BIG BERTHA

Big Bertha, German Dicke Bertha,

a type of 420-mm (16.5-inch)
howitzer that was first used by
the German army to bombard
Belgian and French forts
during World War I. Officially
designated as the 42-cm kurze
Marinekanone 14 L/12 in
Räderlafette (“42-cm short naval
canon 14 L/12 on wheeled
carriage”), the gun was nicknamed
“Big Bertha” by German soldiers after one of its projectiles completely
destroyed Fort Loncin during the siege of Liège, Belgium. A total of 12 Big
Berthas were put into service.
The gun was designed and built under great secrecy by the firm Krupp,
Germany’s largest armaments manufacturer, in the years before the war for
the sole purpose of overcoming modern Belgian and French forts built
of reinforced concrete. At the time of their construction, the Big Berthas
were the largest, most-powerful mobile artillery pieces in use by any army.
The gun could fire projectiles weighing up to 1,785 pounds (810 kg) to a
distance of almost six miles (9 km). The most widely used type of shell was
equipped with a delayed-action fuse that exploded after having penetrated
up to 40 feet (12 metres) of concrete and earth.

Big BerthaA Big Bertha howitzer on the grounds of the Krupp factory in early 1916.Marc Romanych

The gun and its carriage, when fully assembled, weighed about 47 tons
(42,600 kg). The Big Berthas generally operated in pairs, and each was
crewed and serviced by about 240 men. For transport to the battlefield, the
howitzer was disassembled into components and loaded onto five special
wagons pulled by gasoline-powered motor tractors. For long-distance
travel, the road wagons and other equipment were moved by railway cars.
After detraining, the transport wagons were hauled by tractor to the firing
site, where the guns were reassembled. Under ideal conditions a Big
Bertha could be assembled in six hours.

At the start of war, the German army had only two Big Berthas, and both
saw their first action against the complex of Belgian forts around Liège
on August 12, 1914. In five days, they destroyed a succession of forts and
compelled the surrender of the city, thereby opening the way for the
German army to advance westward through southern Belgium on its way to
invading northern France. Farther to the west, the forts around the city
of Namur were similarly battered into surrender by the Big Berthas
and Škoda 305-mm (12-inch) mortars on August 21–25. Two more
successful sieges followed at Maubeuge(August 25–September 8)
and Antwerp (September 28–October 10). In 1915, as more Big Berthas
were built and fielded (for a total of 12 guns), they produced similar results
against Russian forts. The Battle of Verdun in 1916 proved to be the swan
song for the Big Berthas, which were unable to penetrate the reinforced
concrete of the modernized French forts at Douaumont and Vaux.