Railway Guns of World War I

Description

World War I was the Golden Age of the railway gun. Even though at the start of the conflict none of the armies possessed any railway artillery pieces and the very idea was comparatively new, more railway guns were used during this war than in any other conflict. Designed to break the stalemate of trench warfare, the first railway guns were simple, improvised designs made by mounting surplus coastal defence, fortress, and naval guns onto existing commercial railway carriages. As the war dragged on, railway artillery development shifted to longer range guns that could shell targets deep behind enemy lines. This change of role brought much larger and more sophisticated guns often manufactured by mounting long-barrel naval guns to specially-designed railway carriages. 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 and colour illustrations depicting how these weapons were used during World War I.

Marc Romanych is a retired US Army combat arms officer, and the author of several books for Osprey on World War I artillery and fortifications. He has a BA in History from the University of Maryland and an MA in International Relations from St Mary's University. Interested in the Maginot Line since 1995, Marc has extensively explored its fortifications. He is a member of Association du P.O. de Sentzich, a Maginot Line preservation group. Marc lives near Baltimore, Maryland. Greg Heuer is retired Chief Engineer and Program Manager for Raytheon Company. He has a BS in Electronics Engineering with a minor in Business Administration from New Mexico State University. Interested in the intersection between modelling, art and the history of manufacturing technologies, Greg has extensively researched, studied, and modelled super heavy and railway artillery. Greg lives near Newport, Rhode Island. Steve Noon was born in Kent, UK, and attended art college in Cornwall. He's had a life-long passion for illustration, and since 1985 has worked as a professional artist. He has provided award-winning illustrations for the publishers Dorling Kindersley, where his interest in historical illustration began. Steve has illustrated over 30 books for Osprey.

The photographs and full color renderings between the covers of this book are quite nice, the photo captions and text is very well done. The amount and quality of information presented by the authors is impressive. - AMPS This book does provide an excellent overall view of the development and use of railway artillery in World War I, and is recommended to anyone with an interest in that subject. - Coast Defense Journal If you enjoy history and want to find something different you might scratch--build for your layout, you had best look into Railway Guns of WWI and Rail-way Guns of WWII. I enjoyed them; I bet you will also. - Railroad Model Craftsman