The German 80cm railroad artillery gun Dora was the largest gun fielded by any nation during the Second World War. Only superlatives can adequately describe her. The Dora gun was the largest, heaviest, and most powerful artillery gun in the German Army. She was served by a crew of 500 men, commanded by a colonel. Despite her awesome power she was seldom used. Today, the Dora battery is remembered more as a curious footnote to the Russian Front than as an effective righting unit.

That Dora would be built was a foregone conclusion after the French began construction of the Maginot Line in January of 1930. The rise to power of Adolf Hitler three years later assured the project would receive a high priority. In a sense, the development of the Dora gun was the culmination of an European arms race begun several centuries earlier. This race saw the technology of one nation pitted against that of a rival. One country would develop a powerful gun only to have another country match this development by building stronger and more extensive fortifications.

During the nineteenth century this race intensified with the development of rifled artillery in the 1860's, and the development of the explosive shell twenty years later. However, by the end of the Second World War the massive permanent fortifications, as well as the heavy siege artillery used to destroy them, were all but obsolete. They had been negated by the increasing mobility of ground forces, and the increasing use of tactical and strategic bombers.

The development of Dora began in 1935 when the Oberkommando Heer (OKH) approached the Krupp Development Office. The army wanted a gun capable of penetrating the fortifications of the Maginot Line. The Krupp firm offered three hypothetical solutions based on 70, 80, and 100cm barrels. When Hitler visited the Krupp Essen Works in June of the following year he ordered development of the super-heavy gun, and arbitrarily chose the 80cm barrel without waiting for further tests. Ten million marks were budgeted for the project, and further desigh work was begun immediately. Although the Krupp firm was probably the most experienced builder of railroad artillery in the world, many technical design problems caused by the enormous size and weight of the gun had to be overcome before actual construction could begin. Work began late in 1937 and was not completed until early 1941 when the barrel was completed and proofed. Later that year the completed gun was tested at the Hillersleben test range. Additional tests were conducted in late November at the Rilgenwalde training area, where the 500 man crew was being trained. Probably in late 1941 or early 1942 the 500 man Dora Eisenbahngeschutz Batterie was formally activated.

When the Krupp firm delivered the gun to OKH in late 1941 it was given the name Schwere Gustav by the Krupp engineers. The crew, however, soon renamed it Dora and the name stuck. The finished gun weighed a total of 1329 tons, with an overall length of 140.9 feet and a height of 38 feet.

The barrel and breech alone weighed 400 tons, and had a length of 106.5 feet. In comparison, the next largest German railroad gun (the 28cm K5 E) weighed a mere 218 tons! The weight and size problems encountered during the development of Dora produced several radical departures from earlier German railroad gun design.

The most significant innovation was the use of prefabricated components which were easy to transport and assemble at the firing position. A second innovation involved the use of dual sets of railroad tracks to mount the assembled gun. These tracks were wider than the standard European gauge and were stronger because the ties were spaced closer together. The result was a much improved weight distribution system, and greater stability for the gun platform due to the greater width of the gun.

The one drawback to this system was the amount of time required to prepare the firing position and assemble the gun. This process took 3,000 men three to five weeks to complete, with most of the time spent in preparing the site. Once the sidings and curved firing tracks were completed the gun could be assembled in three to five days.

The Dora gun was designed to fire two types of shells. The first was a general high explosive shell which weighed 4.8 tons and could be fired a distance of 29 miles. In comparison, the 28cm K5 (E) could fire a 563 pound projective a distance of 37.6 miles.

The second type of shell was the 7 ton armor penetrating shell which could be fired up to 23.6 miles. Careful measurement of the muzzle velocity and breech pressure allowed precise adjustment of fire; the dispersion error of Dora was usually 1% or less.

Although a tremendous amount of time and money was invested in the Dora gun, she did not play a major role on the Russian Front and was committed to battle only briefly. The Dora battery left Leipzig for the Eastern Front in last spring of 1942. At that time two Russian fortress areas were under siege.

In the north, Generaloberst Georg VonKuechler's Army Group Nord was besieging Leningrad, while in the south, Manstein's Eleventh Army were preparing to storm Sevastopol. The Dora battery was sent to the latter fortress, where it was assembled at the village of Bakhchisaray. The firing position took two battalions of engineers, supplemented by 1500 local workers, four weeks to prepare.

Once the position was completed the Dora battery was brought forward and the gun was assembled. Attached to the battery were several support units which included two Army flak batteries, the engineer units already mentioned, twenty engineers from the Krupp firm, and various German and Rumanian security forces which were assigned to protect the firing position.

Sevastopol

At this time Sevastopol was probably the strongest fortress in Europe. The city was the home base of the Russian Black Sea Fleet and had been fortified almost continuously since the time of the Goths. The defenses were in three separate belts around the city: they consisted of more than 220 miles of trenches, extensive mineflelds and antitank ditches, hundreds of armor and concrete gun emplacements and pillboxes, and several dozen underground forts similar to the forts of the Maginot Line. Sevastopol was defended by a garrison of 106,000 men.

In order to destroy this fortress, Manstein ordered five days of "annihilating fire" in which 1300 large caliber guns were used. In addition, the VIII Air Corps of the Luftwaffe flew between 1000 and 2000 sorties daily. The results of this massive bombardment were mixed.

While many of the Soviet defenses were neutralized, thus saving countless German lives, it still took three weeks of hard fighting to capture Sevastopol. During the battle the Dora gun was used primarily as a strategic weapon: she was used to bombard rear area positions, forts, and ammunition dumps. During the siege the gun fired only 48 shells at seven targets, although Dora had the capability of firing two to three rounds per hour. This sparing use of ammunition may have been a result of a shortage of the super-heavy 80cm shells.

Although no study exists as to the effectiveness of the gun, Manstein noted that one shell from the Dora battery destroyed an ammunition dump buried 30 meters below the ground. A lucky shot, perhaps, but this incident is indicative of the amount of damage this weapon was capable of inflicting. Against moving targets the gun was useless, but used against immobile targets such as fortifications, Dora was devastating.

Following the fall of Sevastopol, the Eleventh Army was transferred north to Leningrad. Hitler hoped to follow one successful siege with another. Most of the heavy siege artillery, including the Dora battery, remained with the Eleventh Army. The battery was to be stationed north of Gatchina (Krasnogvardeisk) where it would be in a position to bombard Krondstadt and Leningrad.

The first units of the Eleventh Army arrived in the Leningrad area in late August, but had to be committed piecemeal to various sectors of the front where the Russian army was once again trying to break the siege. Following a month of heavy but indecisive fighting the Eleventh Army was in no condition to storm the city. Both manpower and ammunition were severely depleted.

The Dora gun was never assembled at Gatchina even though the siege continued for another 16 months. Most likely, a shortage of the special ammunition combined with a growing lack of air protection prevented the Dora battery from being utilized. No commander in his right mind would commit a ten-million mark, semi-mobile weapon to an area where the enemy was gaining the initiative and the combat environment was becoming more fluid.

The Dora battery made one other brief appearance near Warsaw in 1944 before vanishing in the final months of the war. Parts of the gun and ammunition were found by advancing American troops near Grafenwehr in 1945. Apparently the OKH was only partially successful in preventing advancing Russian troops from capturing the gun. Today the only remaining records of this unusual unit are a handful of photographs and one armor penetrating shell displayed at the Ordnance Museum at Aberdeen Proving Grounds, New Mexico. All the records of the unit were destroyed in the final months of the war.

The Dora gun was a marvel of German technology which could have played a much larger role in the war. Had there not been a chronic shortage of ammunition of all calibers, especially the larger and more expensive 80cm shells, the Dora battery might have been more than a colorful footnote to the Russian campaign.

Applications to DNO/UNT:

The counter mix for Drang Nach OstenlUnentschieden includes ten railroad artillery units. However, the Dora battery is not included in the counter mix. Listed below is a recommended addition to the order of battle for DNO/UNT, and several suggested rules which can be used to accurately integrate the Dora battery into the game.

1. Counter Mix: The Dora battery and accompanying units become available on the April II turn of 1942. They appear entrained on any rail line on the west edge of Map 1. The Dora counter is depicted below. It is accompanied by a 1-2-6 Railroad Engineer regiment and a 0-1-4 Security battalion. (See diagram on page 23.) Three counters should be labelled "firing position" to represent locations prepared for the Dora battery

2. Mode: The Dora battery can be in one of two modes, either the movement mode or the firing mode. The movement mode is used when the gun is disassembled; the firing-mode is used when the gun has been assembled in a prepared firing position. The Dora battery can fire only in the firing mode, and has a defense strength of one in either mode. Any time the Dora unit is in the movement mode and not actually moving the unit is said to be dispersed.

One counter may be used to represent both modes, by placing the appropriate factors on each side of the counter (see above). In order to change from one mode to the other in the movement phase the unit must expend 10 rail movement points.

3. Movement: The movement of the Dora battery is identical to that of other railroad artillery units; see Rule 31D in the DNO/UNT rulebook.

4. Security: The OKH went to extraordinary lengths to insure the saftey of the gun and its crew. Therefore, the Security battalion must remain with the Dora battery at all times until one of the two is destroyed.

5. Stacking: Both the Dora battery and the Security battalion have a stacking value of 1/2. The engineer regiment has a stacking point value of 1.

6. Preparation: Before the Dora battery may assume the firing mode a firing position must be prepared. Only the special engineer regiment may prepare these firing positions. The engineer unit must end its movement phase in the hex where the firing position is to be built, and remain there for one entire movement phase.

If the engineer unit has not moved from that hex at the beginning of the second friendly movement phase, one supply factor is spent and a firing position counter is placed in that hex. Firing positions may only be built in clear or rough hexes containing a rail line, and they must be south of weather line A. Construction may not be started in snow or mud weather conditions. Engineer rules 12C and 12E apply to this type of construction. Firing positions may be destroyed when an enemy unit having a stacking point value of two or more passes through the hex.

7. Ammunition Supply: During the entire course of the war there appeared to be a chronic shortage of the large and expensive 80cm shells. The attack factor value of the battery was determined with this situation in mind.

To simulate the limited ammunition supply, the concept of the ammunition supply point (ASP) was developed. ASP's measure the general level of ammunition for the Dora battery. Every time the Dora battery is used in an attack, it expends from one to five ASPs, at the option of the German player. The attack value of the battery is dependent on the number of ASPs expended. The German player begins the April II 1942 turn with three ASPs. He receives two ASPs per calendar quarter (on January I, April I, July I, and October I). Beginning on the Jan I 1944 turn the number of ASPs received each quarter is reduced to one. ASPs may be accumulated from turn to turn, but no more than eight ASPs may be stockpiled at any given time.

8. Combat: Because of the unique characteristics of the Dora battery there are several modifications in the standard combat procedures. The Dora may only attack when in firing mode, and must be in a prepared firing position. The battery may not attack during snow weather. Because of the two different types of shells fired by the Dora battery, there are two types of attacks: general and anti- fortification.

A general attack may be directed against ground units or naval units in a port. General attacks may be conducted against units up to two hexes away.

When attacking enemy ground units the combat factor of the Dora is added to the attack factors of the other attacking units, if any. The attack factor is equal to the number of ASPs expended in the attack, between one and five.

When attacking naval units in a port or base (such as Leningrad or Kronstadt) the attack value is determined in the same manner as above, one strength point per ASP. However, combat is resolved on the Pinpoint Bombing Table. The attack value is substituted for the bombing factor and is indexed against the die roll. A hit results in the immediate destruction of the target unit. Attacks against naval units in a port may be made in conjunction with conventional attacks by ground units against the port. The attack by the Dora battery is always resolved prior to the resolution of the conventional attack.

The anti-fortification attack is directed against printed fortifications on the map, or against fortification counters. This type of attack may be made alone or in conjunction with conventional ground attacks into the same hex. The anti-fortification attack is always resolved before the conventional attack. The fort attacked must be in a hex adjacent to the Dora battery.

When attacking fortifications, the attack value is twice the number of ASPs expended in the attack. The Pinpoint Bombing Table is used as before, with a "Hit" resulting in the immediate destruction of the fort. Attacks against fortifications have no direct effect on enemy units in the same hex.

9. Elimination: The Dora battery may be eliminated in one of three ways: ground combat, naval combat, or air combat.

If ground units in the same hex as the Dora battery attack and receive an AE result, the battery is eliminated as well. If the hex containing the battery is attacked and the combat result is DE, the battery is again eliminated. If alone and forced to retreat, the battery is eliminated; however, the security battalion can screen the Dora -- the battalion is eliminated and the Dora is allowed to retreat. Screening is not necessary unless the Dora and the security battalion are alone in a hex.

The Russian player may use artillery support from naval units to attack the battery, or combine with ground units to attack the battery. When attacking alone, the naval units attack on the Pinpoint Bombing Table using half of the artillery support factors. A "Hit" results in the destruction of the Dora.

The battery may be destroyed by air units using their tactical bombing factors on the Pinpoint Bombing Table. If the gun is in the movement mode, the tactical bombing factors are halved before the attack is resolved. If the Dora is in a marshalling yard, and the Russian player obtains a hit on the yard, roll the die again; the battery is destroyed on a roll of one or two.