World War I was the Golden Age of the railway gun. More railway
artillery pieces were used during this war than in any other conflict,
even though at the start of the war none of the armies had railway guns
and the very idea of railway artillery was comparatively new. The
impetus to build and field railway-mounted guns came from the stalemate
of trench warfare. The first railway guns--fielded by the French army in
early 1915--were simple, improvised designs made by mounting surplus
coastal defense, fortress, and naval guns onto existing commercial
railway carriages. These first guns were fielded to primarily provide
heavy artillery support to the frontline infantry. The British and
German Armies followed suit and soon railway guns were employed all
along the Western Front. The use of railway artillery expanded to other
fronts too, with Russia fielding several guns in 1915 and Italy in 1916.
Even the United States--which developed its artillery in close
cooperation with the French--employed several models of railway guns in
the final year of the war. All told, hundreds of railway artillery
pieces were fielded during the war and, at war's end, several models of
super-heavy railway guns were in design for use in 1919.
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. Color illustrations depict the most important
aspects of the railway guns.
