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Railway guns: books - history, types and construction

A book on railway guns? Explore here illustrated books on the history, types and construction of railway guns.

Railway Guns of World War I (Osprey)

World War I was the Golden Age of the railway gun. Even though at the start of the conflict none of the armies possessed any railway artillery pieces and the very idea was comparatively new, more railway guns were used during this war than in any other conflict.
Designed to break the stalemate of trench warfare, the first railway guns were simple, improvised designs made by mounting surplus coastal defence, fortress, and naval guns onto existing commercial railway carriages.

As the war dragged on, railway artillery development shifted to longer range guns that could shell targets deep behind enemy lines. This change of role brought much larger and more sophisticated guns often manufactured by mounting long-barrel naval guns to specially-designed railway carriages.

This book details the design and development of railway guns during World War I from the very first basic designs to massive purpose built "monster" railway guns.
Accompanying the text are many rare, never-before-published, photographs and colour illustrations depicting how these weapons were used during World War I.

Product details

Author:Marc Romanych, Greg Heuer
Details:48 pages, 25 x 18.5 x 0.5 cm / 9.8 x 7.3 x 0.2 in, paperback
Illustrations:30 b&w and 33 colour photos
Publisher:Osprey Publishing (GB, 2017)
Series:New Vanguard (249)
ISBN:9781472816399
Book: Railway Guns of World War I

Railway Guns of World War I

Language: English

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Railway Guns of World War II (Osprey)

World War II marked the zenith of railway gun development. Although many of the railway guns deployed at the start of the conflict were of World War I vintage, Germany's ambitious development programme saw the introduction of a number of new classes, including the world's largest, the 80cm-calibre Schwerer Gustav and Schwerer Dora guns, which weighed in at 1,350 tons and fired a huge 7-ton shell.

This book provides an overview of the types of railway guns in service during World War II, with a special focus on the German railway artillery used in France, Italy and on the Eastern Front, and analyzes why railway guns largely disappeared from use following the end of the war.

Contents: Introduction - French Railway Artillery - Belgian Railway Artillery - German Railway Artillery - Italian Railway Artillery - Soviet Railway Artillery - Finnish Railway Artillery - Japanese Railway Artillery - British Railway Artillery - US Railway Artillery - Conclusion - Bibliography - Index.

Product details

Author:Steven J. Zaloga
Details:48 pages, 25 x 18.5 x 0.5 cm / 9.8 x 7.3 x 0.2 in, paperback
Illustrations:40 b&w and 7 colour photos
Publisher:Osprey Publishing (GB, 2016)
Series:New Vanguard (231)
ISBN:9781472810687
Book: Railway Guns of World War II

Railway Guns of World War II

Language: English

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