Great German news footage of the Siege of Sevastapol. Begins with urban combat scenes and about halfway through the clip it focuses on the pretty awesome motars and Heavy cannons the Germans employed during the siege.

Description of the conflict...

Germany now eyed the strategic position on the Crimea peninsula still under Soviet control. And though progress was being made, the city of Sevastopol was able to reinforce and supply resulting in some 180,000 Red Army soldiers flooding into the city. Along with an impressive head count, the city sported a fort and defensive fortifications including three rings were constructed. It would seem that this particular target would have to be paid in German blood and sweat.

German Generaloberst Erich von Manstein was charged with the task. Through an initial assault, the Russian defense holds up. A second assault through Operation Bustard is launched, this utilizing 33 massive fortification-busting artillery pieces delivered to the German Army between April and May in 1942. The assault nets some 170,000 Russian prisoners and isolates Sevastopol. Manstein therefore enacts Operation Sturgeon and calls on a 5-day artillery barrage of the city. This is compounded by bombardment from the air via Luftwaffe bombers.

German progress is halted by the valiant Soviet defense. A renewed assault under Manstein's orders yields greater results, with key Soviet hilltop positions and defensive fortifications falling under German control. The damage is such that the Soviets begin their evacuation of Sevastopol.

Germany finally takes Sevastopol and another 90,000 Soviet Army prisoners - and along with that - complete control of the Crimea peninsula and the port at Sevastopol.


The cannons..


Karl-Gerät" (040/041) (German literally "Karl-device") was a World War II German self-propelled siege howitzer (Mörser) designed and built by Rheinmetall. It was the largest self-propelled weapon to see service.[1] Seven guns were built, but only six saw combat between 1941 and 1945. It was used to attack the Soviet fortresses of Brest-Litovsk and Sevastopol, bombarded Polish resistance fighters in Warsaw and participated in the Battle of the Bulge and the attacks against the Remagen Bridgehead. Only one exists today, the others were scrapped after the war.

Schwerer Gustav (English: Heavy Gustav) and Dora were the names of the German 80 cm K (E) railway guns. They were developed in the 1930s by Krupp in order to destroy heavily fortified positions. They weighed nearly 1,350 tonnes, and could fire shells weighing seven tonnes to a range of 37 kilometers (23 miles). Designed in preparation for World War II, and intended for use against the deep forts of the Maginot Line, they were not ready for action when the Wehrmacht outflanked the line during the Battle of France. Gustav was used in the Soviet Union at the siege of Sevastopol during Operation Barbarossa. They were moved to Leningrad, and may have been intended for Warsaw. Gustav was captured by US troops and cut up, whilst Dora was destroyed near the end of the war to avoid capture by the Red Army.

It was the largest calibre rifled weapon in the history of artillery to see actual combat, and fired the heaviest shells of any artillery piece [1]. It is only surpassed in calibre by the American 36-inch Little David mortar and a handful of earlier siege mortars that all fired smaller shells.[2]