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Pariser Kanone info needed

doppz92

doppz92

Well-Known Member
Premium Member
Hello all.

I couldn't find anything on BOCN so I decided to start this thread, hoping it will lead somewhere... :tinysmile_hmm_t:

I have in my possession a fragment of a shell which was fired on Paris on the 31st of March 1918 and exploded rue Favart as writen on the piece of paper. The fragment is part of the bottom of the shell which makes it easily recognisable when comparing with the drawing taken from the excellent book of Christophe Dutrone: it is a shell fired by one of the Pariser Kanonen.

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It measures about 9 x 5cm, and the thickness of the wall where the driving band was is 28mm. Weight 620g.

Apparently there was 3 cannons and they purely and simply vanished before the end of the war.

Does any of the fellow members have more info on the projectiles and casing? Did any complete shell or case ever survived? Is there somewhere in a collection a surviving example? Does anyone have a similar "souvenir" of the shelling of 1918? I'd love to have info and see pictures. Thank you.
 
There is a book, written by the late Gerald Bull titled "Paris Kanonen - the Paris Guns (WihelmgeschUtze and Project HARP", ISBN 3-8132-0304-2 that has many photos of fired projectiles, fragments, powder charge bags and cartridge case. Published in 1988, it is now out of print.

It doesn't appear to be available for sale at least on Allbookstores.com.
 

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Another book by Herbert Jager ,German Artillery of World War One has a section on the gun ,pages 164 to 176 ,i think its avaible on Amazon though out of print ?.The shells were 209 mm x 960mm and the propelling charge consisted of 3 parts ,the first 111 lbs ,the second 165 lbs both in silk bags and finally a 28cm SK brass case with another 154lbs of powder making a total of 430 lbs for a range of 82 miles.
There were actually 7 guns made and due to barrel wear started at 209mm and ending at 230mm when worn out with the shells been made increasing in calibre ,hope this helps
 
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