Un raro esempio sopravvissuto dei piercing di calcestruzzo Škoda 30.5 cm Mörser M.11, gli obici pesanti di assedio usati dall'Austria-Ungheria sui suoi fronti italiano e orientale nella prima guerra mondiale, E anche dalla Germania nazista durante la seconda guerra mondiale, si trova fuori dal Museo storico Italiano della Guerra di Rovereto, Trentino-Alto Adige, Italia. Ha sparato conchiglie da 305 mm (12 pollici) che potevano penetrare nel cemento armato fino a 2 m di spessore, soffiare un cratere largo 8 m (26 piedi) e profondo e uccidere i soldati nemici fino a 400 m (1,312 piedi) dall'esplosione.
Questa immagine potrebbe avere delle imperfezioni perché è storica o di reportage.
Rovereto, Trentino-Alto Adige, Italy: a rare surviving example of the concrete-piercing Škoda 30.5 cm Mörser M.11 heavy siege howitzer used on the Italian and eastern fronts by Austria-Hungary in the 1914-18 First World War, and also by Nazi Germany in the 1939-45 Second World War, stands outside the Museo Storico Italiano della Guerra (Italian War History Museum) in Rovereto Castle. This artillery piece fired 305 mm (12 ins) shells that could penetrate reinforced concrete up to 2 m (6 ft 7ins) thick. It could either fire a delayed-action heavy armour-piercing shell, or a lighter shell designed to explode on impact. The light shell could blow a crater 8 m (26 ft) wide and 8 m deep, and the blast could kill infantrymen up to 400 m (1, 312 ft) away. The howitzer or Haublitze was designed for the Austro-Hungarian high command, who wanted a weapon able to penetrate concrete fortresses then being built in Belgium and Italy. It was developed from 1906-9 at the Škoda works in Pilsen, now in Czechia / Czech Republic. An initial 24 were ordered after the prototype was first fired in 1910, and in all, 79 were built. Each howitzer travelled in three sections on trailers pulled by an artillery tractor, but could be assembled and made ready to fire in about 50 minutes. It required a crew of 15 to 17 and could fire about 10 to 12 rounds per hour. Eight Mörsers loaned to the German Army were used early in the First World War to destroy rings of Belgian fortresses around Liège, Namur and Antwerp. Mörsers later saw action on the Eastern, Italian and Serbian fronts. In 1939, Nazi Germany seized 17 Mörsers from Czechoslovakia and gained five more after Yugoslavia’s defeat. They saw service against France, Poland and the Soviet Union. The howitzer at Rovereto is one of only three examples of the original M.11 model to survive, with the others in Belgrade and Bucharest. D0487.A5812
