Trumpeter 1/35 280mm K5 E Leopold German Rail Road Gun

  Although from the mid-19th century people started considering imparting  mobility to large caliber artillery pieces by placing them on special  railway mountings, it was WWI that gave the impetus to making the  railway gun an important part of many European armories. The advantages  of railway guns were to quickly concentrated and dispersed as necessary,  and by rapid changes of position they could deliver long range harassing  fire and remain undetected. By 1918 the railway gun was in use by  nearly all the major combatants and among them Germany was the major  country with this powerful armament. But after 1918 the Treaty commissions  scrapped all the German railway artillery. After the NSDAP came to  power in 1933 the German military began a major rearmament program  and on the list of weapons needed were modern railway guns. Before  1933 a great deal of theoretical work had been carried out on future  railway guns but it was not until 1934 that the first practical work  began on two new designs. In time these were to emerge as the K5  (E) and K12 (E). The Leopold had an unconfirmed range of 11 miles  and fired a pre-engraved projectile weighing approximately 550 pounds.  It is fired from a turntable affording a 360° traverse. The  gun has a 70-foot 8-inch barrel held in a sleeve-type cradle. The  barrel recoil mechanism, fitted between two arms projecting downward  from the cradle, consists of two hydro pneumatic cylinders and a  single hydraulic buffer cylinder. A central jack helps support the  tremendous weight of the gun and carriage, which amounts to around  230 tons and also serves as a central pivot for the turntable. The  German Leopold Gun was the largest weapon, which lobbed shells at  American troops at "Anzio Beach". The Leopold supported by 24 railcar  wheels, was mounted on railroad tracks, which led in and out of mountain  tunnels. When not firing, the gun was rolled back into the tunnels  out of the sight of Allied reconnaissance. Although both guns had  been extensively damaged, Allied forces were able to salvage the  Leopold and after reconstruction of the railway, moved the gun to  Naples for shipment to the United States. "Anzio Annie" as the gun  was known to the Allied troops at Anzio, is the only German railroad  gun known to have survived World War II. The Leopold is currently  on display at the Aberdeen Proving Ground in Aberdeen, Maryland.