Karl Gerat/ カール自走臼砲

Trigger Words : Karl Gerat

The Karl Gerat was a self-propelled gun developed and manufactured in Germany for the purpose of destroying fortifications, including the capture of the Maginot Line in France. Although it was a self-propelled gun, its huge size of over 120 tons meant that its speed was only about 5km per hour, so it was transported on a railroad car to the target area, and then it drove to the target. A total of seven vehicles were produced, including prototypes, and one that was captured by the Soviets is currently on display at a museum in Russia. The shells are about 2 tons (!) of grenades, so they have great destructive power and will blow everything into pieces if they hit something, but they are fired from an 8.45-caliber 60cm gun (later models are 11.5-caliber 54cm guns), so they don't have much range. The maximum range of the early models was only 4,320 m. This was improved somewhat in later models, but it would have been difficult to use them for. After all, they have no defensive capabilities, and they can only move or escape at speeds of 5 to 10 km per hour.

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カール自走臼砲はフランスのマジノ要塞線攻略を始め、対要塞破壊を目的として

ドイツで開発・製造された自走砲です。自走砲とはいえ、120tを超える巨体ゆえ速度は時速5km程度の為、

目標近くまでは運搬用の専用貨車で線路上を運び、そこから目標地点まで自走、というシステムでした。

試作車両含め、合計7両が生産され、ソビエトに鹵獲された1両が現在ロシアの博物館で展示されています。

砲弾はおよそ2t(!)の榴弾ですから破壊力は絶大、当たればみな粉微塵ですが、これを8.45口径の60cm砲（後期型は11.5口径54cm砲）で発射

するんですから飛距離は全然出ません。初期型の最大射程はわずか4320 m。後期型で多少は改善されますが、

使い所は難しかったでしょうね。なにしろ防御力は皆無、移動・逃げるにしても時速5～10kmです。

このカール自走臼砲本体、専用貨車、さらにIV号戦車を改造した専用弾薬運搬車の1セットでどれだけの

費用・労力・時間を要したことでしょう。(ISU-152が何台作れることやらw）