"Karl" (German factory index "Gerät 040" - "installation 040") - heavy German self-propelled mortar, which took part in the Second World War. This mortar was intended for storming fortresses or heavily fortified enemy defenses. A prominent representative of the most powerful self-propelled gun mounts of its period.
The history of "Karl" began in the 35th year of the last century. At that time, the Rheinmetall-Borzig company was developing a rifled mortar for a caliber of 600 mm. This mortar was supposed to be capable of firing shells weighing up to 4 tons at a distance of over a kilometer. It got its name from the general of artillery Karl Becker, who led the design and construction of the self-propelled guns.
2 years after the start of the mortar design, namely in 1937, a prototype of the gun was made. The mortar had a rather impressive appearance, weighed over 55 tons, and threw shells weighing about 2 tons at a distance of up to 3 kilometers.
But at the same time, there was one important drawback of such an impressive weapon. It was his bulkiness. In this regard, in the same 1937, work began on the creation of a self-propelled gun carriage for the mortar. After installing the mortar on the carriage, the total mass of the artillery system was 97 tons. But this was not the final modernization of the Karl. On the instructions of the Wehrmacht, the carriage was covered with armor by the designers, in addition, the gun was modernized and its length was 5108 mm. In this form, the mass of the self-propelled mortar was 126 tons. A prototype mortar on an eight-wheel caterpillar track was successfully tested in May 1940. And already in November 1940, the production of a small batch of mortars began. Production ended in August 1941.
Rheinmetall-Borzig made only six self-propelled mortars. Since these gun mounts were single copies, each of the mortars was named after its own name. The six guns produced were named:
1 - "Adam" ("Adam"), later renamed "Baldur" ("Baldur"), 2 - "Eva" ("Eva"), later renamed to "Wotan" ("Wotan"), 3 - "One" ("Odin"), 4 - "Thor", 5 - "Loki", 6 - "Qiu" ("Ziu")
The first gun mount "Adam" was handed over to the military in November 1940. In April 41, the German army received 3 more mortars "One", "Thor" and "Eva". The remaining 2 mortars - "Qiu" and "Loki" - were transferred to the army at the end of August 1941.
Some evidence points to the existence of a seventh installation, which was called "Fenrir". As far as is known, this mortar did not take part in hostilities and was used as a testing ground. It is possible that this name was given to the prototype built in May 1940.
