WWII German Dora Railway Gun 1/35 Scale Model Kit

Completed model is over 58" long.

 

The largest gun ever built had an operational career of 13 days, during which a total of 48 shells were fired in anger. It took 25 trainloads of equipment, 2000 men and up to six weeks to assemble. It seem unlikely that such a weapon will ever be seen again.

 

The 80-cm K (E), for all its size and weight, to say nothing of its 'overkill' firepower, went into action on only one occasion. It was originally intended to smash through the extensive Maginot Line forts but when the campaign in the West took place in 1940 the 80-cm K (E) was still in the Krupp workshops at Essen and, in any event, the German army bypassed the Maginot Line altogether. Thus when the 80-cm equipment had completed its gun proofing trials at Hillersleben and its service acceptance trials at Rugenwalde there was nothing for the gun and its crew to do.

 

In June of 1941 the Germans invaded the Soviet Union. During the advance into the Crimea the German Army was halted at the fortified port of Sevastapol. The General Staff called on the Dora to break the siege by bombarding the fortress with its huge 80cm shells. At last the enemy would hear the roar of this giant.