The Paris Gun

9/23/2016 - 9/30/2016

Germany's Paris Gun was a long-range artillery gun that could fire a 210lb shell over 80 miles. The fired shell would travel to an altitude of over 25 miles, making this the highest flying manmade object of the day. Each shell traveled over 3,600 mph. The super-sized weapon was more of a psychological terror than the game-changing weapon Germany hoped for. On March 21, 1918 Paris was bombed, killing 256 civilians and wounding 620 more. The large gun was a maintenance nightmare as it took 80 artillerymen just to operate one gun.