Firebird
AH legend
Not exactly what you think-
I’m not a military guy though I am surrounded by many who are-nor am I an artillery fancier. But I saw an episode on the history channel that was simply fascinating and deserves a brief spotlight-the cannone da 149/23 of creste Croce.
Human sacrifice and the need to protect their freedoms placed it atop the Italian alps and modern warming trends have exposed it after 100 years of silence.
The Italians placed it there to protect themselves from invading Austrians/Hungarians. There are a couple reasons the hippo gun was used despite being outdated and surpassed by more modern heavy artillery. The cannons sheer size-weight and mass earned it a mammalian nickname of monster proportions. Firing a 67 pound shell to a distance of over 5.5 miles it had a reach no more modern cannon at that time could accomplish.
Lacking aircraft capable of moving a hippopotamus dead or alive, metal or meat requires massive amounts of pure man power. 200 men, mostly military and some engineers took most of 7 months to drag the obstinate beast up the treacherous mountain to one point, arriving in April and then a better position in June. Originally it arrived at 5180 ft then was broken down into bite size chunks, dragged by men with presumably frost bitten fingers to 8317 ft on heavy wooden sleds.
The wooden tread wheels are still well preserved but the recoil ramps have long since been removed or lost.
Of course after the conflict had ended, no one was volunteering to drag an outdated hippopotamus gun back to the valley floor and eventually the glaciers locked it firmly in history. An amazing piece of history with a story as big as it’s name!
I’m not a military guy though I am surrounded by many who are-nor am I an artillery fancier. But I saw an episode on the history channel that was simply fascinating and deserves a brief spotlight-the cannone da 149/23 of creste Croce.
Human sacrifice and the need to protect their freedoms placed it atop the Italian alps and modern warming trends have exposed it after 100 years of silence.
The Italians placed it there to protect themselves from invading Austrians/Hungarians. There are a couple reasons the hippo gun was used despite being outdated and surpassed by more modern heavy artillery. The cannons sheer size-weight and mass earned it a mammalian nickname of monster proportions. Firing a 67 pound shell to a distance of over 5.5 miles it had a reach no more modern cannon at that time could accomplish.
Lacking aircraft capable of moving a hippopotamus dead or alive, metal or meat requires massive amounts of pure man power. 200 men, mostly military and some engineers took most of 7 months to drag the obstinate beast up the treacherous mountain to one point, arriving in April and then a better position in June. Originally it arrived at 5180 ft then was broken down into bite size chunks, dragged by men with presumably frost bitten fingers to 8317 ft on heavy wooden sleds.
The wooden tread wheels are still well preserved but the recoil ramps have long since been removed or lost.
Of course after the conflict had ended, no one was volunteering to drag an outdated hippopotamus gun back to the valley floor and eventually the glaciers locked it firmly in history. An amazing piece of history with a story as big as it’s name!
