Paris Gun

The Paris Gun was the name of a set of artillery pieces with which the Germans bombarded Paris during World War I. This oversized railway gun was used from March to August 1918. It was the largest gun used during the war, and is considered to be a supergun.

Related Topics:
Artillery - Paris - World War I - Railway gun - 1918 - Supergun

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Also called the "Kaiser Wilhelm Geschütz" (Kaiser Wilhelm Gun), it is often confused with Big Bertha, the howitzer used by the Germans against the Liège forts in 1914, and indeed the French called it by this name as well. It is also confused with the smaller "Lange Max" (Long Max) cannons from which it was derived. Although the famous Krupp-family artillery makers produced all these guns, the resemblance ended there.

Related Topics:
Kaiser Wilhelm - Big Bertha - Liège - Lange Max - Krupp

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As a military weapon the gun was not a great success: the payload was minuscule, the barrel had to be regularly replaced, and the accuracy was only good enough for city-sized targets. However, the German objective was to build a psychological weapon to attack the morale of the Parisians; not to destroy the city itself.

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It was later one of the inspirations of Gerald Bull in his work on advanced artillery; he researched the history of the Paris Gun and published an extensive book about it.

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