305 mm howitzer M1939 (Br-18)

305 mm howitzer M1939 (Br-18)
Br-18 in Saint Petersburg Artillery Museum.
Type	Superheavy siege howitzer
Place of origin	USSR
Service history
Used by	Soviet Union
Wars	World War II
Production history
Designer	Škoda
Manufacturer	Škoda
Specifications
Weight	45.7 t (101,000 lb)
Barrel length	6,705.6 mm (264.00 in)[1]
Caliber	305 mm (12.0 in)
Elevation	70 degrees
Traverse	90 degrees
Rate of fire	1 rounds per 3 minutes
Maximum firing range	16,580 m (54,400 ft)

The 305 mm howitzer M1939 (Br-18) (Russian: 305-мм гаубица образца 1939 года (Бр-18)) was a Soviet superheavy siege howitzer used by the Soviet Union during World War II. After the Germans occupied Czechoslovakia in March 1939 they took over the Škoda Works, which had been working on this (Skoda XV) design and a companion 210 mm gun (Skoda VX). After a successful test firing 5 July 1939,^[2] as a result of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact the Germans sold both designs to the Soviet Union. It's not entirely clear that Skoda actually built the weapons itself or merely supplied the blueprints. At any rate, very few weapons seem to have been built; so few, in fact, that there's no record of the Germans capturing any during Operation Barbarossa.

It used the same carriage as 210 mm gun M1939 (Br-17) as well as the same firing platform and control mechanism. It was transported in three loads.

It was most famously used to defend Leningrad during the Siege of Leningrad. The Soviet troops learned that if they fired all of them at the same time and used high-explosive shells, when the rounds exploded at the same time, they would flip over advancing German tanks.^[2]

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to 305-mm howitzer M1939 (Br-18).

Soviet Artillery of World War II (naming convention)
Anti-tank guns	37 mm anti-tank gun M1930 (1-K) 45 mm anti-tank gun M1932 (19-K) 45 mm anti-tank gun M1937 (53-K) 45 mm anti-tank gun M1942 (M-42) 57 mm anti-tank gun M1943 (ZiS-2) 100 mm field gun M1944 (BS-3) 100mm D-10 tank gun
Mountain guns	76 mm mountain gun M1909 (76-09) 76 mm mountain gun M1938
Regimental guns	76 mm regimental gun M1927 76 mm regimental gun M1943 (OB-25)
Divisional guns	76 mm divisional gun M1902/30 76 mm divisional gun M1936 (F-22) 76 mm divisional gun M1939 (USV) 76 mm divisional gun M1942 (ZiS-3) 85 mm divisional gun D-44 107 mm divisional gun M1940 (M-60) 122 mm howitzer M1909/37 122 mm howitzer M1910/30 122 mm howitzer M1938 (M-30) 152 mm mortar M1931 (NM)
Corps and Army level guns	107 mm gun M1910/30 122 mm gun M1931 (A-19) 122 mm gun M1931/37 (A-19) 152 mm howitzer M1909/30 152 mm howitzer M1910/37 152 mm howitzer M1938 (M-10) 152 mm howitzer M1943 (D-1) 152 mm gun M1910/30 152 mm gun M1910/34 152 mm howitzer-gun M1937 (ML-20)
Very heavy guns	152 mm gun M1935 (Br-2) 203 mm howitzer M1931 (B-4) 210 mm gun M1939 (Br-17) 280 mm howitzer M1914/15 280 mm mortar M1939 (Br-5) 305 mm howitzer M1939 (Br-18)
Air defense guns	25 mm automatic air defense gun M1940 (72-K) 37 mm automatic air defense gun M1939 (61-K) 45 mm anti-aircraft gun (21-K) 76 mm air defense gun M1938 85 mm air defense gun M1939 (52-K)