Sword of Light: Humanoid Self-Propelled Artillery

Chapter 313 The Decline of the Giant Cannon and the Rise of the Earth-Penetrating Bomb
It is clear that the Kingdom has realized the huge flaws of this giant cannon, so it has gradually stopped using it.

Although there are records that the Dora Cannon was sent to the front line of Gelora during the final war, it did not participate in the battle and withdrew, and was eventually destroyed by German engineers.

There are also reports that Gustav participated in the bombardment of Warsaw, but there is no conclusive evidence to prove this.

The only documented combat record of the 800mm Gustav Gun is the Battle of Sevastopol, after which the Germans abandoned the gun in 1944.

After all, this was not a practical weapon. Objectively speaking, the Gustav Cannon clearly reflected the Chinese people's fondness for large objects.

It should be said that the successful use of giant cannons to attack fortresses during World War I led the Chinese people astray in their judgment of future military technology.

As aircraft have become more sophisticated, their delivery capabilities for heavy explosives have far surpassed those of artillery.

Due to its fundamental principles, artillery has a far inferior delivery capability compared to aircraft. Furthermore, the increased size of artillery brings with it a significantly greater number of side effects than that of aircraft.

It's important to understand that artillery shells contain far less explosive charge than aerial bombs. For example, the armor-piercing shells from the Gustav Gun weighed seven tons, but contained only 250 kilograms of explosive charge, making them no different from the high-explosive shells of 406mm naval guns.

Even though a high-explosive bomb weighs 4.8 tons, it only contains 500 kilograms of explosives, with the explosive content being only 3.5% and 10.5%.

Even the Tallboy bomb, which emphasized its earth-penetrating capabilities and reduced its explosive charge during World War II, still had an explosive charge of 2.4 tons despite a total weight of 5.4 tons, representing 44% of its weight.

Moreover, aerial bombs can actually be dropped from higher altitudes, have a terminal velocity much higher than artillery shells, and have a much greater penetration capability against underground targets.

Furthermore, aircraft have a natural advantage against such giant weapons; they are essentially natural targets for aircraft.

Therefore, the Allied forces' use of bunker buster technology when facing fortified bunkers can be considered a very correct choice.

This is why later nations stopped developing large-caliber artillery shells and instead began developing high-yield bunker buster bombs.

However, there was nothing that could be done about it, since during World War I, bombers could only carry a few dozen kilograms of bombs!

Who would have thought that it would develop so quickly that by World War II it would be able to easily detonate bombs weighing several tons or even tens of tons.

However, by the time the German army realized this, it was too late. The defeat was inevitable, and the German army had no chance to manufacture large bombers and powerful bunker buster bombs.

Of course, there are also drawbacks to bombers dropping bunker-buster bombs, namely that they cannot get too close to the ground, otherwise they will be targeted by enemy air defense fire.

Therefore, once the distance is increased, the bomb delivery accuracy of large bombers cannot be guaranteed.

After all, without laser guidance or similar technology, whether a bomb can hit its target largely depends on luck.

However, while Wang Gensheng was recalling and pondering the knowledge he had seen before his transmigration regarding the Gustav Cannon, Li Xiu was intrigued by Wang Gensheng's earlier words and quickly asked:
"So, Siling, what's the most powerful cannon? Is it also made in the US? What's its caliber and the weight of its shells?"

Wang Gensheng, having regained his composure, then said:

"Of course it wasn't made in the United States, it was made in Germany and was called the Gustav Gun. Although its caliber was only 800 millimeters, more than 100 millimeters smaller than the Little David Gun, its shells could weigh up to seven tons, and even the high-explosive shells weighed 4.8 tons. Of course, the most crucial thing was that its range could reach 47 kilometers..."

After briefly explaining some data about the Gustav gun to Li Xiu, Wang Gensheng looked at the sky and noticed that it had started to turn from black to blue.

This naturally meant that dawn was approaching, so he immediately addressed Li Xiu and the others:

"Alright, hurry up and get everything set up so we can retreat!" With Wang Gensheng's order, the group quickly retreated to a spot on the mountaintop, a thousand meters away from the explosion point.

Then they began to observe Smith's mine-clearing work.

Seeing that Smith had started using tanks to probe for mines again, Li Xiu couldn't help but say:
"If only we had that Gustav Cannon, with its high-explosive shells weighing over four tons, one shot would kill thousands of people!"

Wang Gensheng shook his head at Li Xiu's idea, saying:
"Even if we had them, it would be useless. We don't have air superiority. Even if we did have them and transported them over, they would just be sitting ducks for enemy bombers! Besides, the era of giant cannons is over. Now it's the era of fighter jets and bombers. The high-explosive shells of bombers are much more powerful than cannon shells."

Wang Gensheng wasn't lying. After all, if the funds allocated for researching the Gustav Gun had been used to manufacture large bombers, they might have been able to build several more.

You should know that back then, a single Gustav cannon cost seven million marks!

During World War II, one US dollar was equal to four marks, so seven million marks would be equivalent to 17.5 million US dollars.

During World War II, a Mustang fighter plane cost only 58,000 US dollars.

The cost of the B-29 Superfortress bomber, which bombed the sister-in-law, was only 630,000 US dollars. In other words, one Gustav cannon could buy three B-29 Superfortresses.

Such bombers, however, can easily carry nine tons of bombs and fly thousands of kilometers.

Therefore, in terms of combat efficiency, it is much more efficient than the Gustav Cannon.

And indeed, this is true; it is much more cost-effective for bombers to carry large bombs than to manufacture giant cannons.

Time flies, and in just half a day, Smith had already destroyed ten tanks.

So that means that in just one morning, Smith advanced a distance of one kilometer, and at this rate...

Smith should be able to break through the minefield and reach Watergate Bridge by tomorrow afternoon at the latest.

The reason Smith was able to advance so quickly was naturally because he developed unmanned tanks.

Simply put, it means the tank driver opens the tank's cab and then uses several ropes to connect the tank's steering controls and throttle, etc.

In this way, the tank driver can operate the tank remotely from the outside without entering the tank.

In this way, even if the tank is destroyed, it will not be able to harm the tank driver who is hiding dozens of meters away.

Because of this method, US tank crews no longer have to worry about losing their lives along with their tanks.

Therefore, the efficiency of doing things has naturally improved by a lot.

Honestly, if it weren't for the need to backfill the craters created by the shells, we might have been able to storm Shuimen Bridge in a single day.

In this way, all Wang Gensheng did after working hard for most of the day was to buy time, just like in the original storyline.

(End of this chapter)